Nobody expected the Washington Redskins to be good in 2015. With all the noise that surrounded the team entering the year, such as keeping Robert Griffin III on the roster despite a much-needed breakup, the GM’s wife accusing a reporter of sleeping with her husband to get scoops, and the obliviousness of Washington owner Dan Snyder, the team was going to be entertaining, but for the wrong reasons. Plus, on paper, the team wasn’t very good.
With that dysfunction and a 4-12 record in 2014, many analysts including Pro Football Talk, ESPN and CBS Sports ranked Washington dead last in preseason power rankings. Surprise, surprise, the 2015 Redskins are in the thick of a playoff race (albeit in a terrible NFC East) with a 7-7 record. Coach Jay Gruden told reporters he used those power rankings as motivation, reports Pro Football Talk.
“[Y]ou’re always looking for ways to motivate your team,” Gruden told reporters on Wednesday. “Football is hard enough as it is. It’s a grind, obviously. But if you can find unique ways — and there’s a lot of doubters and a lot of haters that really had a lot of negative things to say about this franchise before the season about this team, and you should take it personally. This is their jobs. This is what they are paid to do. We have a lot of pride in this locker room, and for people to give us no respect whatsoever is insulting and it is a motivational tool. I’d be stupid not to use that, in my opinion – to an extent, obviously. But to challenge these guys and let them know that, ‘Hey, this is where we are. This is where we need to get. That’s a long way.’ I think they’ve accepted the challenge and have come a long way. But I try not to buy into what people say, but to an extent, I think it was important to let them know what the views are. It wasn’t just one publication — it was ESPN, it was PFT, it was CBS. It was all of them that had us in the 30, 31 or 32 [range]. It is what it is. We still have a long way to go obviously but we’re proud of what we’ve done so far but we have a long way to go.”
Gruden should be proud of his record, even though Washington hasn’t won a game against a team currently over .500 and considering his division is terrible. Nitpicking aside, it doesn’t take away that he’s defied extremely low expectations and coached a team many expected to a be a disaster into a contender (technically) – even if they’re still not a great football team.
Who knows, maybe Gruden will coach his team to a Super… *bursts out laughing*
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