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Tipsheet: Redskins tank while Rams soar
• By Jeff Gordon
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/colu...cle_206a468c-8d3b-550e-8276-6bf1a0d4526b.html
In Year III after the big Robert Griffin III trade, the Rams and the Washington You Know Whos are going in opposite directions -- at warp speed no less.
The Rams are finally realizing their vast potential with draft picks like Tre Mason, Aaron Donald, Alec Ogletree, T.J. McDonald, Stedman Bailey, Tavon Austin, Trumaine Johnson, E.J. Gaines, et al becoming impact players.
For the first time in a decade, the Rams have a team that makes opposing coaches sit up and take notice while looking at game video.
Washington, meanwhile, remains a gridiron quagmire, a sinkhole where football dreams go to die. That once-proud franchise remains hamstrung by a dysfunctional front office under Daniel Snyder, an inexperienced head coach in Jay Gruden and a chaotic locker room.
That team appears ready to jettison Griffin for a middle-round draft pick after sending the Rams a mother lode of picks to acquire his draft rights.
First it was Kirk Cousins replacing RGIII, now he the immortal Colt McCoy.
Here is what folks are writing about that franchise:
Mike Tanier, Bleacher Report: "You know what the umpteenth plot twist in the Robert Griffin III drama has lacked? A financial apology. No Redskins quarterback fiasco is complete until Dan Snyder races down from the owner's box with some homemade chicken soup and a giant novelty check that knots up next year's salary cap like last year's Christmas lights. Shhh, everything's going to be OK, Bob. And even though it's Robert's special day, Kirk, we haven't forgotten about you. Here are some Hot Wheels action playsets! No team commits resource-arson like the Redskins, who burned through two quarterback prospects in under three months and are now starting a journeyman who is an unrestricted free agent next year. With the Donovan McNabb Memorial Never-Again Third String slot on the depth chart at double capacity, Washington has zero quarterbacks on the roster with any real future potential. (And if you were fooled by McCoy's three-touchdown stat line in a 49-27 loss to the Colts, then you are either a complete diehard or a member of the team's front office. Look around and explore your feelings to find out which. Are you surrounded by Redskins paraphernalia and completely frustrated with Snyder? Actually, that does not help at all.)"
Mike Wise, Washington Post: "By default, Jay Gruden is the MVP of another clogged commode of an NFL season in Washington. He’s the only guy with the gumption to say in training camp he liked a lot of things about (DeSean) Jackson as a wide receiver but sometimes D-Jax thinks 'he’s too cool for school.' He’s the only person in the organization to publicly acknowledge Robert Griffin III is not a good quarterback right now, and back it up by benching the very player whose career he was partly paid to resurrect. He’s the only transparent decision-maker in the star chamber to have enough confidence in what he believes wins in this league to already have answered the most important question left this season: Does Washington have a face-of-the-franchise quarterback right now able to take this team to a conference championship game in the next two to three years? No, Gruden said, by benching Kirk Cousins, then Griffin and settling on McCoy, the third-stringer now charged with getting Gruden and this beaten-down, beleaguered roster to Dec. 28 with a modicum of respectability. Maybe he knows it doesn’t matter who’s in there — the QB will be sacked, the defense will surrender the land mass of Montana and it’s all about trying to keep a disbelieving locker room together at the moment."
Judy Bautista, NFL.com: "Robert Griffin III has been benched. Jay Gruden has been brutally candid in his public assessment of him. And when the results didn't improve Sunday, even though Colt McCoy looked better than Griffin, everything else was cast under the unrelenting microscope, revealing a team with problems that don't stop at the quarterback position. There are a lot of big-picture decisions ahead for a franchise that has been at a turning point repeatedly in the past decade. Is Gruden, who was chosen from a crowded field, worthy of his post? Can anybody here assemble a well-constructed roster? And whither Griffin? The final four weeks might provide answers to some of those questions -- particularly regarding Gruden and McCoy's viability -- but that is only the beginning of what feels like another in a long line of rebuilds."
Peter King, SI.com: "Eighteen games. Is that enough? That’s how many games Griffin has played since winning the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award 22 months ago. Even if my game plans would be hamstrung by Griffin’s inability to digest the complete playbook right now, I’d still want to see him play, even if he’s capable of only doing 30-40% of what Gruden would ideally like to call. I believe the team’s thinking right now is this: If Griffin approaches the offseason humbled and willing to work hard—and harder in the classroom than he has to at this point—Gruden . . . and Snyder would like to give him another shot to be their guy in 2015. They’d like to see if Griffin can morph into the pocket passer the organization has been trying to mold him into. That’s my view. I think it’s entirely possible that Jay Gruden is trying to save Robert Griffin III’s career, and he feels the best way to do that is to hide him over the next month. It’s a scary thought, and I understand the logic there. But this team needs more evidence to make an informed decision about its quarterback, the most important position in the game. You can’t see that evidence if Griffin is on the bench."
By contrast, look at the positive press the Rams are getting:
Robert Mays, ESPN.com: "The Rams should formally request to be moved to the NFC South for the rest of the season. The 52-0 drubbing of the Raiders is eye-popping, but they’ve played well throughout the last month. Their 31-14 loss in Arizona included a few garbage-time touchdowns for the Cardinals defense, and the Chargers needed a miracle interception at the goal line last week to sneak out a 27-24 win. It’s impossible to know what the Rams are going to look like at the important spots six months from now — quarterback, head coach — but in their past few games, they’ve finally started to look like the sort of team some people expected coming into the season."
Frank Schwab, Yahoo! Sports: "I’ll give the Rams credit for this: Most NFL teams would have talked themselves into just rolling with Zac Stacy at running back for another year. The Rams saw a back in Tre Mason they thought was better, and drafted him despite Stacy having a decent rookie year. And it was the right move, obviously."
Pete Prisco, CBSSports.com: "The Rams have really come together on defense the past six weeks and a lot of it has to do with Robert Quinn getting back to form. He has nine sacks on the season now, three coming against Oakland on Sunday, after not getting any the first six weeks. The Rams will be a feisty opponent for the four teams remaining on their schedule. This team isn't far away from being good. It's too bad they lost Sam Bradford early this season."
Don Banks, SI.com: "The Rams have alternated wins with losses in their past seven games, but that 4-3 span includes victories over Seattle, San Francisco and Denver, and now they’ve proven they can beat bad teams, too. If you’re last-place St. Louis, you must dream of being in this year’s NFC South, where that 5-7 record would good enough for first place in the league’s worst division. The Rams are the first last-place team in NFL history that no one wants to play."
• By Jeff Gordon
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/colu...cle_206a468c-8d3b-550e-8276-6bf1a0d4526b.html
In Year III after the big Robert Griffin III trade, the Rams and the Washington You Know Whos are going in opposite directions -- at warp speed no less.
The Rams are finally realizing their vast potential with draft picks like Tre Mason, Aaron Donald, Alec Ogletree, T.J. McDonald, Stedman Bailey, Tavon Austin, Trumaine Johnson, E.J. Gaines, et al becoming impact players.
For the first time in a decade, the Rams have a team that makes opposing coaches sit up and take notice while looking at game video.
Washington, meanwhile, remains a gridiron quagmire, a sinkhole where football dreams go to die. That once-proud franchise remains hamstrung by a dysfunctional front office under Daniel Snyder, an inexperienced head coach in Jay Gruden and a chaotic locker room.
That team appears ready to jettison Griffin for a middle-round draft pick after sending the Rams a mother lode of picks to acquire his draft rights.
First it was Kirk Cousins replacing RGIII, now he the immortal Colt McCoy.
Here is what folks are writing about that franchise:
Mike Tanier, Bleacher Report: "You know what the umpteenth plot twist in the Robert Griffin III drama has lacked? A financial apology. No Redskins quarterback fiasco is complete until Dan Snyder races down from the owner's box with some homemade chicken soup and a giant novelty check that knots up next year's salary cap like last year's Christmas lights. Shhh, everything's going to be OK, Bob. And even though it's Robert's special day, Kirk, we haven't forgotten about you. Here are some Hot Wheels action playsets! No team commits resource-arson like the Redskins, who burned through two quarterback prospects in under three months and are now starting a journeyman who is an unrestricted free agent next year. With the Donovan McNabb Memorial Never-Again Third String slot on the depth chart at double capacity, Washington has zero quarterbacks on the roster with any real future potential. (And if you were fooled by McCoy's three-touchdown stat line in a 49-27 loss to the Colts, then you are either a complete diehard or a member of the team's front office. Look around and explore your feelings to find out which. Are you surrounded by Redskins paraphernalia and completely frustrated with Snyder? Actually, that does not help at all.)"
Mike Wise, Washington Post: "By default, Jay Gruden is the MVP of another clogged commode of an NFL season in Washington. He’s the only guy with the gumption to say in training camp he liked a lot of things about (DeSean) Jackson as a wide receiver but sometimes D-Jax thinks 'he’s too cool for school.' He’s the only person in the organization to publicly acknowledge Robert Griffin III is not a good quarterback right now, and back it up by benching the very player whose career he was partly paid to resurrect. He’s the only transparent decision-maker in the star chamber to have enough confidence in what he believes wins in this league to already have answered the most important question left this season: Does Washington have a face-of-the-franchise quarterback right now able to take this team to a conference championship game in the next two to three years? No, Gruden said, by benching Kirk Cousins, then Griffin and settling on McCoy, the third-stringer now charged with getting Gruden and this beaten-down, beleaguered roster to Dec. 28 with a modicum of respectability. Maybe he knows it doesn’t matter who’s in there — the QB will be sacked, the defense will surrender the land mass of Montana and it’s all about trying to keep a disbelieving locker room together at the moment."
Judy Bautista, NFL.com: "Robert Griffin III has been benched. Jay Gruden has been brutally candid in his public assessment of him. And when the results didn't improve Sunday, even though Colt McCoy looked better than Griffin, everything else was cast under the unrelenting microscope, revealing a team with problems that don't stop at the quarterback position. There are a lot of big-picture decisions ahead for a franchise that has been at a turning point repeatedly in the past decade. Is Gruden, who was chosen from a crowded field, worthy of his post? Can anybody here assemble a well-constructed roster? And whither Griffin? The final four weeks might provide answers to some of those questions -- particularly regarding Gruden and McCoy's viability -- but that is only the beginning of what feels like another in a long line of rebuilds."
Peter King, SI.com: "Eighteen games. Is that enough? That’s how many games Griffin has played since winning the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award 22 months ago. Even if my game plans would be hamstrung by Griffin’s inability to digest the complete playbook right now, I’d still want to see him play, even if he’s capable of only doing 30-40% of what Gruden would ideally like to call. I believe the team’s thinking right now is this: If Griffin approaches the offseason humbled and willing to work hard—and harder in the classroom than he has to at this point—Gruden . . . and Snyder would like to give him another shot to be their guy in 2015. They’d like to see if Griffin can morph into the pocket passer the organization has been trying to mold him into. That’s my view. I think it’s entirely possible that Jay Gruden is trying to save Robert Griffin III’s career, and he feels the best way to do that is to hide him over the next month. It’s a scary thought, and I understand the logic there. But this team needs more evidence to make an informed decision about its quarterback, the most important position in the game. You can’t see that evidence if Griffin is on the bench."
By contrast, look at the positive press the Rams are getting:
Robert Mays, ESPN.com: "The Rams should formally request to be moved to the NFC South for the rest of the season. The 52-0 drubbing of the Raiders is eye-popping, but they’ve played well throughout the last month. Their 31-14 loss in Arizona included a few garbage-time touchdowns for the Cardinals defense, and the Chargers needed a miracle interception at the goal line last week to sneak out a 27-24 win. It’s impossible to know what the Rams are going to look like at the important spots six months from now — quarterback, head coach — but in their past few games, they’ve finally started to look like the sort of team some people expected coming into the season."
Frank Schwab, Yahoo! Sports: "I’ll give the Rams credit for this: Most NFL teams would have talked themselves into just rolling with Zac Stacy at running back for another year. The Rams saw a back in Tre Mason they thought was better, and drafted him despite Stacy having a decent rookie year. And it was the right move, obviously."
Pete Prisco, CBSSports.com: "The Rams have really come together on defense the past six weeks and a lot of it has to do with Robert Quinn getting back to form. He has nine sacks on the season now, three coming against Oakland on Sunday, after not getting any the first six weeks. The Rams will be a feisty opponent for the four teams remaining on their schedule. This team isn't far away from being good. It's too bad they lost Sam Bradford early this season."
Don Banks, SI.com: "The Rams have alternated wins with losses in their past seven games, but that 4-3 span includes victories over Seattle, San Francisco and Denver, and now they’ve proven they can beat bad teams, too. If you’re last-place St. Louis, you must dream of being in this year’s NFC South, where that 5-7 record would good enough for first place in the league’s worst division. The Rams are the first last-place team in NFL history that no one wants to play."
