Jay Gruden Must Call a More Balanced Offense for Washington Redskins

Never mind who his quarterback is, Washington Redskins head coach Jay Gruden must call a more balanced offense. That means leaning more on his team's excellent ground game.

So far this season, Gruden has skewed his play-calling heavily toward the pass. It's a trend that started when Robert Griffin III was under center, and it's become more prevalent with Kirk Cousins at the helm.

It's a strange and wasteful strategy that isn't making enough use of this offense's best asset: the ability to run the ball successfully.

When a team has two-time Pro Bowler and dual 1,000-yard rusher Alfred Morris in the backfield, the running game has to be a bigger factor. But a look at Washington's run-pass ratio through four games shows that it's not:

Week	Game	Running Plays	Pass Plays	Result
1	Away vs. Houston Texans	23	37	6-17
2	Home vs. Jacksonville Jaguars	42	36	41-10
3	Away vs. Philadelphia Eagles	28	48	34-37
4	Homes vs. New York Giants	17	33	14-45

Notice the disparity in each of Washington's three losses. Bear in mind as well that some of these runs came via quarterbacks scrambling away from pressure, so the ratio is even more skewed in some cases.

It's significant that the team's one win of the season, the Week 2 stomping on the Jacksonville Jaguars, came when Gruden called more runs than passes. But this isn't necessarily a call for the team to be a run-first offense, although it's easy to think of worse ideas.

After all, Washington has a scheme in place that opponents fear. The zone stretch play, with its trademark one quick cut and specific blocking techniques, was the best thing installed by the Shanahan regime.

It's a system that has produced numerous 100-yard rushing performances for various backs in the Washington offense. Runners such as Ryan Torain, Evan Royster, Roy Helu Jr. and Alfred Morris have all benefited from the way the scheme stresses defenses.

Matt Rourke/Associated Press

However, this is more about balance than emphasizing one facet of the offense. Even a ground game as proficient as Washington's wouldn't stay that way for long without a credible complement through the air.

The problem is that Gruden isn't using success running the ball in a complementary way. He's not using it as the foundation for a play-action passing game every defense in the NFL would struggle to defend.

At this point, let's uncomfortably take a cue from the archnemesis Dallas Cowboys. A team many believed would be rooted to the bottom of the NFC East standings is sitting pretty at 3-1.

Offensive balance is the main reason why. Specifically, somebody has finally convinced—presumably via hypnosis—head coach Jason Garrett to give ace running back DeMarco Murray the ball.

With Murray replacing erratic quarterback Tony Romo as the fulcrum of the offense, the Cowboys have excellent symmetry in their play-calling. That's helping keep defenses off balance and making Romo a more efficient quarterback.

Brandon Wade/Associated Press

Consider the Cowboys' latest win, a 38-17 trouncing of the New Orleans Saints. Romo threw 29 passes, while the Cowboys ran the ball 35 times.

You can omit six rushes from Romo, showcasing his familiar improvisation skills. So that's 29 passes and 29 planned rushes. How's that for balance?

Murray rushed for 149 yards and two touchdowns on his 24 carries. Meanwhile, Romo completed 22 of his 29 passes, including three scoring throws. A quarterback not often noted for his efficiency has become unerring off play action.

The result of all this balance and complementary offense is a Cowboys team tied for a share of first place in the NFC East, along with the Philadelphia Eagles. Meanwhile, it's the Redskins who are propping up the division.

Nobody can say the Cowboys are more talented offensively than Washington. Morris is certainly Murray's equal, at the very least. Dez Bryant and the underrated Terrance Williams are a terrific receiving duo. But they are no better than DeSean Jackson and Pierre Garcon.

Rich Schultz/Getty Images

The only difference is that Washington's hated enemy is doing a better job of running an offense that suits its best players. Gruden shouldn't have to borrow a page from the Cowboys to know what the right formula is for Washington.

The mere presence of Morris should ensure that. He's become a guaranteed product in the backfield, as Redskins.com writer Andrew Walker noted:

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He’s been a model of consistency ever since, and in the Redskins’ Week 2 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars Sept. 14 at FedExField, he eclipsed the 3,000-yard career rushing mark in his 34th-career game, the fastest in team history.

Entering Thursday night’s game against the New York Giants, Morris had ran the ball 670 times for 3,141 yards and 22 touchdowns. He’s had 21 rushes of 20-plus yards, and last season, turned in a career-long 45-yard touchdown run.

Morris doesn’t earn his yardage by breaking runs to the outside or relying on some nifty moves to juke defenders out of their cleats. No, instead, his 4.7 yards-per-carry average in two-plus seasons has been earned the hard way.

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There's no reason not to use Morris more than the pitiful 12 carries he earned against the Giants. Gruden can't even use the excuse of falling behind early rendering the run a non-factor.

The Redskins were within 10, at 24-14, early in the third quarter. That came after Morris had run all over the Giants to get Washington back in the game.

But Gruden soon reverted to type, putting Cousins at the mercy of a rampant Big Blue pass rush and an opportunistic secondary. The week before in Philadelphia, Gruden refused to use the run to help protect a lead built by the pass.

Morris had sustained a knock that made things a little trickier on the ground. But it doesn't always have to be Morris taking the carries.

Roy Helu Jr. has been impressive every time he's touched the ball this season. But he needs more touches; specifically, he needs to be given more carries as a runner.

That same thing goes for fullback Darrel Young, a talented runner and excellent all-around weapon, who is tragically underused, even though he already has three touchdowns this season.

Even undrafted rookie Silas Redd took his chance to impress against the Jags. He gained 41 yards on eight carries, including a 14-yard scoring scamper.

But a look at the paltry number of touches given to the supporting backs shows talent being wasted:

Runner	Carries	Yards	Average	Touchdowns
Roy Helu Jr.	15	80	5.3	1
Silas Reed	8	41	5.1	1
Darrel Young	3	3	1.0	1

If there's not even balance in the running game, how can there be any for the offense as a whole?

Of course, sticking with the run—or rather the unwillingness to do just that—has been a long-term criticism of Gruden the play-caller. ESPN 980 reporter Chris Russell noted as much after the season-opening defeat in Houston:

But it's time for Gruden to break a very bad habit. He cannot continue to expose inexperienced quarterbacks, playing behind a shaky offensive line, to a strong pass rush.

That formula was a disaster against both the Texans and the Giants. It will lead to a nightmare of epic proportions against the Michael Bennett-, Cliff Avril-led Seattle Seahawks in Week 6. So will leaving an injury-hit and vulnerable defense on the field for long stretches because the offense isn't owning the clock on the ground.

Gruden has to call a more balanced game. He must make the run a more viable threat to create opportunities off play action.

That's the only way to make this offense more consistent, rather than a unit that feasts on points one week and is anaemic the next. It's also the only way to make Cousins, who has tossed five interceptions already, less error-prone.

Fixing the Redskins demands that Gruden must balance the strength of his team. Until he does, Washington will remain mired in turmoil.

All statistics via NFL.com.