Philadelphia Eagles: Could Jay Gruden’s firing actually be a bad thing?
After a half-decade of mediocrity, could Washington’s decision to finally fire Jay Gruden leave the Philadelphia Eagles with a more formidable foe down the line?
Jay Gruden isn’t a bad football coach, he just isn’t a good one.
Like not even a little bit.
While at times, his teams have been pretty good, with last year’s iteration going so far as to challenge the Philadelphia Eagles for a Wildcard berth with the strength of their defensive front and old school power running game, it always felt like fool’s gold to assume Washington would make a legit push for the division, let alone win a Super Bowl.
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But after the organization’s decision to fire the younger, less charismatic Gruden brother was made official on Sunday, hours after yet another ugly loss dropped the team to a league-worst 0-5, things could take a less than advantageous turn in our nation’s capital that could ultimately hurt the Eagles moving forward.
Yes, I’m serious.
As we’ve all seen over the last half-decade, a simple head coaching change can do wonders for a team with some talent, especially one with a promising young quarterback in place. While leaks from within the organization made it clear that Gruden wasn’t a huge fan of Dwayne Haskins when the front office drafted him, it’s entirely possible that the organization could hire a new coach to build a scheme around his skill set.
While I personally don’t find Washington to be a particularly desirable destination, Daniel Snyder has shown a commitment to spending money if needed to try (and mostly fail) to field a winner. With over half the season left to evaluate the talent on their roster, Washington could aggressively pursue the coaching market once things open up in February, and have a head start on other teams looking to make a move.
Again, this doesn’t matter if a team simply hires another Sean McVay clone with no head coaching experience, but what if they actually land someone good?
For how fun it’s been to razz Washington fans like Mike Scott for their team’s throwback (out of touch) approach, what if the team defies the odds and hires an offensive dynamo with a clear vision to win with a critical passing game?
What if the team were to replace the offensive equivelent of a wet blanket with a flashy name like Kellen Moore, Urban Meyer, or *gasp* human Heisman factory Lincoln Riley?
Could Washington one day become… good? I shudder at the thought.
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So in summation, while Washington’s decision to fire Jay Gruden isn’t going to make them any better this season – they very well may go 0-16 – or in the immediate future, identifying a deficiency and making a change gives the team and their fan base hope; hope that could come back to bite the Philadelphia Eagles if they knock their next coaching hire out of the park.