After Colt McCoy broke his leg in the Monday night loss to the Philadelphia Eagles and the Washington Redskins were forced to go to their third quarterback this season in newly signed backup Mark Sanchez, Redskins coach Jay Gruden talked tough.
“We cannot feel sorry for ourselves,” was what Gruden told his players in the locker room following the loss.
After Sunday’s 40-16 debacle at the hands of the eight-loss New York Giants at Ghost Town Field, Gruden didn’t have quite as much bravado. In fact, when I asked him a question in the postgame press conference — why was there seemingly a disconnect between their preparation during the week and their play on Sunday — he asked everyone to feel sorry for them.
“I don’t know … yeah, there’s a disconnect,” he said, his eyes starting to widen and his voice rising. “We have a quarterback who just got here. We’ve got two offensive guards we named starters yesterday, so there’s a disconnect there. There’s three of our starting 11 guys that just got here a little bit ago, so there is a disconnect there. We also lost Jordan Reed in the first quarter. There’s a major disconnect there. That’s four pretty good players, four key players that aren’t out there, what have you. So two starting guards, a starting quarterback. I’d say there is a disconnect there.”
I’d say that is a lot of woe-is-me for someone who asked for no sympathy the week before.
The point of the question was not to anger Gruden. It was actually a follow-up to what he had said when he first began the press conference, when he declared, “That product we put on the field today was not a reflection of the guys’ work during the week in practice.”
Well, if that’s not a disconnect, then what is it? Amnesia?
There is a disconnect everywhere when it comes to this organization. There is a disconnect between reality and Bruce Allen, the Prince of Darkness and leader of the morally-backrupt Redskins management that claimed accused woman-beater Reuben Foster on waivers last week 48 hours after he got out of jail.
That move effectively made the franchise public enemy No. 1 in the league’s efforts to change its perception on domestic violence.
There is a disconnect between the damaged Redskins fan base and this organization. They claimed “paid attendance” was 57,437 Sunday at Ghost Town Field, but that’s a disconnect from the number of people who were actually in the stands to watch their 6-6 Redskins fight to save their season. And of those who braved the cold, many were Giants fans.
When Saquon Barkley scored on his 78-yard touchdown run less than halfway through the second quarter to give New York a 17-0 lead, if you closed your eyes and listened to the crowd, you would have thought it was Adrian Peterson crossing the goal line.
There is a disconnect between Gruden and his players when it comes to this so-called great preparation and practice they seem to leave behind at Redskins Park when they have to take the field to play.
Safety D.J. Swearinger — who is among the Redskins players who has talked about the disconnect between the fans and the players — was asked about Gruden’s comments that the performance wasn’t reflective of the work they put in during practice. His reply? “No comment.”
And there may soon be a disconnect between Gruden and his job.
Somebody has to pay for a loss like the one that took place at Ghost Town Field Sunday, and, with the Redskins (now 6-7) on their fourth quarterback, league washout Josh Johnson, replacing Sanchez and a defense that is giving up 200 yards rushing a game, there may be more losses like this one to finish the season with three games remaining.
The biggest disconnect, though, is between the Washington Redskins and success.
It’s nowhere in sight, not in the rear view mirror in this century and not in the crystal ball looking ahead.
Allen, the team president and the son of George Allen, a franchise icon, is the most hated figure among the dwindling fan base.
Doug Williams, senior vice president of player personnel and another franchise icon, the Redskins’ winning Super Bowl XXII quarterback, shamed himself last week with his tone-deaf defense of the signing of Foster, so much so that he had to apologize publicly.
Gruden will likely tell us several times before the season ends how they got out-coached. The $94 million starting quarterback Gruden spoke of, Alex Smith, is reportedly struggling with complications from surgery for his broken leg and may never play football again.
Forgive the inhumanity, but carrying that contract moving forward for a quarterback who can’t play is like another salary cap penalty engineered by Allen. And right now there is no quarterback in sight in the future for this team.
And Dan Snyder is still the owner.
⦁ Hear Thom Loverro on 106.7 The Fan Wednesday afternoons and Saturday mornings and on the Kevin Sheehan Show podcast every Tuesday and Thursday.
• Thom Loverro can be reached at tloverro@washingtontimes.com.
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