NFL Washington Redskins

Washington Redskins’ Third-Quarter Season Grade

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By @calling_allfans

Washington Redskins

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There was hope for the Washington Redskins and their fans prior to the 2014 season. Their starting QB Robert Griffin III was finally going to enter a season healthy, it looked promising that their defense would be much improved from 2013, and their division wasn’t exactly the toughest division in 2013.

However, RGIII got hurt again, both the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys sit at 8-3, while the Redskins sit in last place in the division at 3-8.

When Griffin got hurt early in the season and backup QB Kirk Cousins looked good in his stead at first, a debate about whether or not Cousins should remain the starter when Griffin was healthy ensued. Then Cousins came crashing back to Earth, and when Griffin was eventually healthy again, he resumed his role as the Redskins’ starting QB.

RGIII has loads of talent, but other than 2012, that hasn’t translated into a lot of wins. He missed time this season with his injury, but he has only thrown two TDs with three interceptions on 119 attempts, and he’s fumbled the ball four times.

Even though Washington ranks ninth in passing (253.2 yards per game) and 16th in rushing (112.00 yards per game), they struggle to put points on the board, averaging only 19.7 points per game (23rd). The Redskins and new head coach Jay Gruden need to figure out how to score more points if they want to be competitive.

To try to achieve that goal, Gruden, somewhat shockingly, announced that Colt McCoy would start at QB in Week 13. Washington may simply be trying to drum up interest in McCoy for a possible future trade, or the organization may feel they made a mistake giving up so much in their trade with the St. Louis Rams so they could move up and select Griffin.

Washington’s defense has actually played pretty well this season, ranking eighth against the pass (230.3 yards per game) and ninth against the rush (100.7 yards per game), but they struggle a little bit to keep teams from scoring. They are currently allowing opponents to score 24.8 points per game (20th) and that’s not good enough, especially with their offense severely struggling this season.

That being said, the defense is not really the reason why the Redskins are having trouble winning games. Their offense is the real problem; two of their three wins have come against the Jacksonville Jaguars and Tennessee Titans, and they’ve lost to teams they should have beat, including the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Minnesota Vikings.

Gruden and the Redskins can try changing QBs and benching Griffin, but they have more issues on offense than just him, and McCoy is probably not the answer.

Third-quarter grade: D+

Justin Patrick is a New England Patriots writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @calling_allfans, like him on Facebook and add him to your network on Google. You can also email him at [email protected].

 

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