The Post Sports Live crew discusses if expectations are different for the Redskins now that Robert Griffin III has returned. (Post Sports Live/The Washington Post)

The Post Sports Live crew discusses if expectations are different for the Redskins now that Robert Griffin III has returned. (Post Sports Live/The Washington Post)

We’ve seen this episode before. The Washington Redskins just beyond the halfway point with a 3-6 record and in need of a dramatic turnaround to save their season. While some of the characters and plot twists have changed from recent years, the underlying theme remains the same.

After their week off, the Redskins resume their season at home against Tampa Bay on Sunday trying to put behind them a tumultuous first nine games under first-year Coach Jay Gruden that have featured more bad and ugly than good.

Evidence of progress under Gruden has been hard to spot. Too many negatives — injuries to key players, shortcomings on offense and defense, and continued signs of dysfunction on the field and off it — have overwhelmed any positive developments.

As Gruden put it, he and his players have “a smorgasbord of things that we have to work on and improve on.”

There have been some positives.

The Post Sports Live crew picks the NFL Week 11 games to watch, including a Patriots-Colts Sunday night matchup. (Post Sports Live/The Washington Post)

DeSean Jackson — the three-time Pro Bowl wide receiver dismissed abruptly by Philadelphia during the offseason and signed by the Redskins to a three-year, $24 million deal — has given Washington a legitimate deep threat. He has an NFL-best five 100-yard games and nine receptions of 40 yards or longer.

Inside linebacker Keenan Robinson — recovered from injuries that had sidelined him since midway through his rookie year — has filled the playmaking void created by London Fletcher’s retirement. The 2012 fourth-round draft pick has 76 tackles, 24 more than safety Ryan Clark, Washington’s next most prolific tackler. Robinson also has 11 / 2 sacks and an interception.

Rookie cornerback Bashaud Breeland, since replacing injured DeAngelo Hall, has shown good physicality, range, speed and instincts. He shined in the victory at Dallas on Oct. 27, recording six tackles, four pass breakups and a forced fumble while helping neutralize the Cowboys’ Pro Bowl wide receiver Dez Bryant. Breeland’s pass deflection on the final play of the game clinched a 20-17 victory for the Redskins, their first win over an NFC East opponent since the last game of the 2012 season.

But those positive contributions haven’t been enough.

Offensive struggles

Washington’s offense has struggled in the two most important categories: It ranks 30th among the league’s 32 teams on third down, converting at a clip of just 34.9 percent, and tied for 18th in scoring, averaging 21.9 points a game.

The rushing attack, which was the strength of the offense in recent years, also has languished. Pro Bowl back Alfred Morris has yet to record a 100-yard game and is averaging a career-low 3.98 yards per carry.

The problems running the ball have proved perplexing, especially since Gruden retained offensive line coach Chris Foerster so the Redskins could continue to run the zone-blocking schemes they used under former coach Mike Shanahan.

Gruden admitted he hasn’t been able to pinpoint the chief problem. Morris, however, blamed himself, expressing belief that he subconsciously has lost the decisiveness he ran with in previous years.

But NFL Network analyst and former Redskins linebacker LaVar Arrington said the problem is the Redskins got rid of their true secret weapon in the run game — Shanahan.

“Mike Shanahan didn’t have all that success he had with running backs over the years for nothing. When you lost him, you lost something that comes with being able to establish a running game,” Arrington said. “You now have a pass-happy [former] quarterback coach. If Alfred Morris comes to the NFL this year as a Washington Redskin with Jay Gruden as his coach, he’s just not the Alfred Morris that we know.

“It’s just not schematically set up to have the kind of success with him running as you did in Shanahan’s offense. You had a run-first offense, and now you have a pass-first, pass-happy offense with Jay Gruden.”

Turnovers also have hampered Washington’s offense. The Redskins have given the ball away 17 times (ninth-most in the NFL), with 12 of those credited to quarterback Kirk Cousins (10 interceptions, two fumbles) during his five-game stint as a starter.

No turnover comes at a good time, but the Redskins’ miscues have come in the worst possible situations.

Quarterback Robert Griffin III and tight end Niles Paul both had fumbles deep in opposing territory in the 17-6 season-opening loss to Houston. Eight of Cousins’s interceptions came in the second halves of games, five in the fourth quarter.

“You look at three games where we’ve been within a score and had late turnovers, and without them, we win,” Gruden said. “We could be talking 6-3 if we take care of the ball.”

Defensive problems, too

Washington’s defense also has struggled on third downs, thanks largely to a toothless pass rush.

Despite committing nearly $22 million to pass rushers during the offseason ($11.45 million to linebacker Brian Orakpo, $10.5 million to defensive end Jason Hatcher), the Redskins have not solved their pass-rush problems. Orakpo managed just half a sack in seven games before tearing his pectoral muscle. Hatcher has four sacks but has not served as the dominant presence the Redskins expected when they signed him as a free agent from Dallas, Gruden said last week.

Linebacker Ryan Kerrigan has a team-high 71 / 2 sacks.

The pass rush showed life against Dallas, when defensive coordinator Jim Haslett used blitzes repeatedly to hound Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo; the tactic resulted in five sacks. But outside of that, and a 10-sack day against woeful Jacksonville in the second game of the season, Haslett’s “unleashed” defense, as it was described leading up to the season, hasn’t materialzed.

“They can’t get pressure unless they send safety help. They just don’t have impact pass rushers,” one former NFL head coach said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “Hatcher helps, and Kerrigan is a hustle guy, but they need a dominant guy on the edge. They were counting on Orakpo.”

Arrington agreed. “It’s a balance thing,” he said. “Because opponents are able to protect the weak side of the quarterback, it makes it way more difficult for Ryan to do what he needs to do. . . . When you look at their pass rush and why it’s not getting there, especially on the edges, it’s because teams can come up with schemes to keep Kerrigan from getting home with his blitzes, because there’s nothing coming on the other side.”

Also troubling is a lack of turnovers. Only two teams have produced fewer takeaways than the eight Washington’s defense has registered.

Off-the-field distractions

The first half of the season ended in what has become typical Redskins soap opera fashion, with as much taking place off the field as on it.

The week following Washington’s upset victory over the Cowboys on “Monday Night Football” featured the Griffin watch. As Gruden tried to get a feel for whether the quarterback was ready to return from the dislocated ankle he suffered Sept. 14, people associated with the team and around the league speculated whether team owner Daniel Snyder and General Manager Bruce Allen were forcing their first-year coach to play Griffin before Gruden preferred. Gruden denied the claims, as did another team official.

In the hours leading up to the Nov. 2 game against Minnesota, the speculation over who was making the decision to start Griffin drew national attention on ESPN’s pregame broadcast. Adding to the impression of locker room strife and immaturity — ongoing themes this season — a group of teammates unhappy with the club’s media access policy created a commotion during Griffin’s news conference the Friday before the game.

Then came a serious calamity, as two Redskins team buses transporting coaches and players to the game in Minneapolis collided; the first bus carrying Gruden came close to careening down a cliff onto another freeway below.

Gruden said he had to work extra hard to refocus the team before the game.

“From a mental standpoint, you want your team to be thinking about the Minnesota Vikings, period,” he said. “. . . What they have to do instead of reading tweets about ‘There’s locker room separation’ and whatever and having bus wrecks and all that stuff. So there was a little bit of things that might have took our mind off the important thing, which is the Minnesota Vikings, but we can’t let that be an excuse.”

The Redskins lost the game, 29-26.

Redskins players said the bye week came at a good time.

Griffin said it gave him and his teammates the opportunity to have “some time away from the game; get back ready to go, get on a roll when we get back.”

Gruden had mixed feelings about the break, however. He wished the Redskins could have turned around and quickly played another game to erase the memory of the loss to the Vikings. But he also said perhaps the break could help his players recharge mentally.

“We still have a lot to play for,” Gruden said. “Whether it’s for the playoffs, whether it’s for the Super Bowl, whatever, we’re playing for the Washington Redskins and the city here and we’re going to go out and compete and we’re going to go out fighting, that’s for sure.”