- The Washington Times - Sunday, September 13, 2015

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

LANDOVER — Washington Redskins coach Jay Gruden said this following his team’s 17-10 season-opening loss to the Miami Dolphins at FedEx Field.

“Well, it felt like our guys were competing, number one,” Gruden said. “I felt good about where we were in the first half. We did some good things. The whole game, we did some good things on both sides of the ball.”

Then, soon after, the coach of the Redskins said this: “We didn’t come out with the same attitude in the third and fourth quarter.”

What does that mean?

Were they bored? Tired? Did they not try as hard?


SEE ALSO: Kirk Cousins ‘battled and came up short’ in Redskins’ season-opening loss


I know what someone means when they question my attitude, and it’s generally not good.

Maybe it’s something different at Redskins Park, I don’t know. But if we are going to assume he meant the general definition of attitude — “manner, disposition, feeling” — then the coach of the team said his players didn’t particularly have a great attitude when it came time to win the game.

That is, unless Gruden means the ballet definition of attitude — “a pose in which the dancer stands on one leg, the other bent back.”

He could have. I don’t know.

He went on to say that he felt that they have “a different room in there.”

“I feel like our guys are competing,” he said. “They’re staying together. I didn’t see a lot of heads down when they came off the field.”


SEE ALSO: SNYDER: Alfred Morris, potent rushing must continue for Washington’s success


And later, he said, “We have a lot to clean up, but one thing you’re looking for as a coach when you come away from a football game is, how hard did they play, and are they competing? I think they are playing hard to compete and they all stayed together, which is a good thing right now.”

They just didn’t have the same attitude for half the game.

I’m sorry, but that is a Jim Zorn press conference.

I don’t think the attitude of Redskins fans was particularly great, either, although that I understand.

Miami is 1,052 miles from Landover, yet you would have thought it was just a stone’s throw from FedEx Field with the large contingent of Dolphins fans in the stands on Sunday.

This wasn’t the Pittsburgh Steelers or the Dallas Cowboys, for crying out loud. This was the Dolphins, who don’t even draw well in Miami.

“That had to be the best road showing from our fans,” Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill said. “They impacted the game.”

There were more Miami fans in the stands Sunday than for an entire Marlins homestand. And, it was a glorious day, the first game of the season — supposedly, when it’s too early to have a bad attitude.

This was the start of the Kirk Cousins era, something to look forward to.
That era began by completing 21 of 31 passes for 196 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions for a quarterback rating of 68.8.

I’m sorry, but that’s a John Beck stat line.

“We battled and came up short,” Cousins said. “I guess we’re all pretty tired of that around here. We’ve done that too many times. So, eventually the tables need to turn, the tide needs to turn.”

For Gruden’s sake, the tables, the tide, all of it better turn soon — like next week, when the St. Louis Rams, coming off a season- opening win over the defending NFC champion Seattle Seahawks, come to FedEx Field.

If Washington opens the season losing the first two games — both at home — and then have to turn around to head to the Meadowlands for a Thursday night game against the New York Giants, the season is over. Done. Finished.

They will come home in Week 4 to face the Philadelphia Eagles with a stadium full of Eagles fans. Then, it won’t matter much whether they are “on the right track,” as Gruden said Sunday.

Then, Gruden — who declared “this is Kirk’s team” when he ousted Robert Griffin III, who was inactive, and named Cousins the starter for the season — will face the reality that this is Dan Snyder’s team.

• Thom Loverro is co-host of “The Sports Fix,” noon to 2 p.m. daily on ESPN 980 and espn980.com.

• Thom Loverro can be reached at tloverro@washingtontimes.com.

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