

Outside linebacker Brian Orakpo does help the Redskins line up in a 4-3 sometimes, but his lack of results won’t help offseason contract negotiations. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)

The Redskins are 1-5, and the fans are fired up. You all have plenty of questions, as do the members of this organization, and so far, few answers.

However, we’re going to do our best to tackle as many of the issues facing this team as possible.

Thanks, as always, for taking part in The Mailbag, and keep the questions coming. We’ll do it again next Tuesday. E-mail questions to me at mike.jones@washpost.com with the subject line of “Mailbag question.”

Here we go.

Do you think the offense would work better if Sean McVay started calling the plays? It seems like Gruden isn’t running it enough. Plus it seems as if a lot of time he gets the play in a little late so then they don’t get to process the defense or make adjustments. With both quarterbacks, it looked like they were frustrated sometimes because what it looked to be like they weren’t getting the play (which Jay admitted was the problem once). I thought McVay called plays pretty well in the last preseason game. And I think it would take some stress off of Gruden.

– Justin Nicely

I haven’t had a problem with the actual play selection. There have been a few calls here and there that cause you to scratch your head, but as a whole, I think Gruden has done an okay job. There have been some technical issues with the headset, but for the most part, quarterbacks are getting the call in time to make calls at the line.

I think we all agree that running the ball is what they do best, and need to do more of. But that’s easier said than done. Because of the absence of the running threat posed by Robert Griffin III, defenses can stack the box and better take away running lanes for Alfred Morris. The production on first and second downs has not been what it needs to be, and that makes for third-and-long situations. Cousins hasn’t been good on third downs, and as a result, the Redskins have to punt. So, if you can’t extend drives, you have limited opportunities to run the ball, and then you fall behind and have to throw to catch up, and you can’t complete passes, then your offense isn’t going anywhere regardless of which plays you call.

If there’s one gripe with the play calling, it’s not enough Pierre Garcon. I touched on this last week, and I’ll say the same this week. They need to do a better job of getting him involved. This is a guy that has proven he can move the chains. He had four catches Sunday: first down, first down, stopped short, touchdown. I know the weapons are plentiful, but Garcon needs to have a larger role.

Often you see successful teams stockpile draft picks to eventually get better. They don’t just patch from year to year like Washington does. With that in mind, why not trade some guys on the roster before the Oct. 28 deadline? Surely some veterans would be attractive to other teams who feel they have a shot this year. Several high-round picks would help in the long run.

– Ed Meyers

The NFL trade deadline doesn’t feature the same kind of action that you see in the NBA or MLB. Plus, I’m not sure which Redskins veterans would draw interest from other teams. On offense, you have Trent Williams, Garcon, DeSean Jackson and maybe Morris. But you need those guys. And no team other than Washington expressed serious interest in Jackson when the Eagles cut him. Defensively, Kerrigan and … ? See how bad this roster is? And we wonder why they’re 1-5.

I totally agree they need to build through the draft, but this is going to be a long, methodical process. You just hope that the Redskins have the right kind of people in the front office to select the building blocks in the draft that will help transform this team.

I hate to put you on the spot, but how good is the Redskins’ scouting department? My buddies and I are debating their role in the debacle that is the Redskins football operation over the last 20 years or so, and I admit, the more I think about it, the worse I feel about their competence. Thoughts?

– James Howard

I have real concerns about the quality of Washington’s front office. I know that under Bruce Allen, the Redskins have hard-working guys like Scott Campbell and Alex Santos. They have a mix of experience and youth in their scouting department, so it’s hard to say how good they are. Ultimately, however, they gather information and submit the findings to Bruce Allen, who has never proven himself as a team architect. He didn’t have final personnel say in with the Raiders. Al Davis did. He inherited a strong team in Tampa Bay. Here under Shanahan, he was more of a buffer between Daniel Snyder and Shanahan, and he took Shanahan’s shopping list and went and executed those orders.

Under Snyder, the Redskins have had a true general manager only once, and Snyder wound up firing Charley Casserly, a move he later regretted. Marty Schottenheimer had a smart personnel guy working with him here in John Schneider, who is now in Seattle (and doing quite well), and since then it’s been Vinny Cerrato and then Shanahan/Allen, and now Allen overseeing it all. I don’t know if he can get it done.

Until the Redskins get a true general manager/team architect in that building, they may never get it right. There have been far too many misses, far too few hits both in free agency and the draft over the many, many years prior to this one. Even this year’s draft raises some eyebrows. Murphy looks like he might be serviceable down the road, Moses is far from ready, Long has some promise but isn’t ready. Breeland is being thrown in to the fire, but we don’t know about him yet. Ryan Grant shows flashes. But from there, Lache Seastrunk, Ted Bolser and Zach Hocker are not on this team any more. Shanahan is a smart coach, but why did he not have more success? Gruden is a smart coach, but why is his team off to such a poor start? Personnel, and the people selecting the personnel, perhaps?

Are we seeing the last of Brian Orakpo as a Redskin? He wants to be paid as an elite player but as evident by his dropped interception against the Cardinals and low season sack total, he fails to regularly make the game-changing plays that elite players do. … Would he be willing to negotiate a non-elite deal (3-4 years in the range of $7-8 million/year) with the Skins if the market plays out that way or has Orakpo decided it’s elite deal with the Skins or no deal with the Skins? Or would the Redskins potentially decide he’s not in their future plans, elite deal or no elite deal? Sometimes it’s just better for both parties to move on.

– Farzad

Well, the way he is playing, Orakpo is losing all leverage, and also isn’t giving this team any reason to keep him around. Meanwhile, Ryan Kerrigan has displayed improved versatility, with the ability to play on either side of the line. Kerrigan also ranks among the league leaders in sacks. They still need to see more from Trent Murphy, the second-round pick out of Stanford, but because of their many needs, team officials would probably opt against awarding Orakpo any kind of a handsome deal this offseason. But say he eventually turns the corner and has a breakthrough, in that case, they could possibly work out a more manageable deal. But things don’t look good at this point.



Should the Redskins turn to quarterback Colt McCoy, who last played in the preseason against Tampa Bay? (Toni L. Sandys/The Washington Post)

Have the coaches talked about elevating McCoy to the starter with Cousins performing so poorly and not protecting the football? We kind of know what McCoy is (a career backup), but he has some moxie and might provide a little spark until RGIII returns. I can’t imagine anyone was surprised with the turnovers.

– Rich in Tampa

Jay Gruden said he has no plans at all to go with Colt McCoy over Kirk Cousins, and that makes sense. Coaches continue to say part of Cousins’s problem is he hasn’t had a lot of playing time, and that he has limited reps with the starters. Well, McCoy has had even fewer reps (basically none) with the first team, and like you said, he’s a career backup. For his career, he has thrown 20 interceptions and 21 touchdown passes.

I know that because of the timing, it wouldn’t be totally practical right now, but it seems like the Redskins still have personnel better suited for a 4-3 base defense. With Kerrigan and Orakpo at DE, and Hatcher and Cofield (when healthy) at DT, and Jenkins, Bowen (when he returns) seems like good depth. Robinson at WLB, Riley in the middle, and maybe Compton (if he continues to impress). Should this be something the coaches consider during the offseason if they continue to struggle getting pressure?

– Jey Williams

There actually are plenty of times that the Redskins are in a 4-3 front. Almost half the time in fact. Chris Baker moves over to a tackle spot, Hatcher slides in next to him, Orakpo plays one end position, Murphy comes in and lines up at the other end spot, and Kerrigan serves as a stand-up pass rusher outside of him, or at times, he and Murphy flip-flop. Meanwhile, Robinson and Riley man the middle. Other times, we see Riley or Robinson come off the edge. The Redskins’ problems are more execution-related than alignment-related, I believe. Now, is that because the players aren’t translating what they are being coached to do, or because the coaches aren’t putting them in position to make those plays? It could be a little of both. It’s hard to say for sure, though.

I sense that when Robert Griffin starts a game and we lose, the focus is on what Robert did or did not do. The poor special teams play, suspect defense and questionable offensive line are not given much attention (and dropped passes, fumbles, receivers not keeping feet inbounds). When Kirk Cousins starts a game that we lose (and in two games throws three or more picks) it gets some attention, but the story line becomes how terrible every other facet of the team is. I was out of town for this weekend’s game against the Cardinals. I watched the tape. In my mind it played out like so many NFL games. Close game going down to the wire in the fourth quarter and one team making more plays (see Aaron Rodgers). Kirk looks so nervous and shaky when it matters. What I hear and read in team coverage and social media leads me to believe that Kirk is getting a little more “wiggle room”.

– Greg Williams

I can’t speak for everyone else, but we try to give balance and spread the praise and criticism around evenly. Now, perhaps the expectations are different. Griffin in his rookie season displayed an ability to mask the other deficiencies on offense, and because the unit was putting up yards and points left and right, that bailed out the defense. Last year, when Griffin struggled, he didn’t have that same masking impact. Have the other units received more scrutiny with Cousins under center? Perhaps. But that also could be because of the fact that since the team is relying on an unproven backup, the other members of the team are expected and needed to step up and help shoulder a bigger load, and thus far, they haven’t been able to consistently do this. But the blame has been placed accurately, at least most of the time, I believe. As far as this past weekend goes, the defense, despite all its faults, did give the offense a chance. The defense didn’t give up a touchdown in the second half. But Cousins threw three fourth-quarter interceptions (one returned for a touchdown) and Washington lost by 10 points.

Do you think that RGIII should play this year once he’s confirmed as healthy? Or would it be prudent to keep him off the field, especially if the season is considered as done (now, or by the time he returns)? If RGIII returns this year, do you think his confidence will be up since Kirk Cousins did not lead the team to success and the threat of RGIII losing his job is no longer present?

– Roni Angel

I definitely think he should play, but only one he is completely healthy and once as much rust as possible has been knocked off in practices. It will not do Griffin nor the Redskins any good to rush him back and risk further damage to the ankle, if he comes back before he’s fully healed, or plays woefully, if he returns before fully prepared.



Robert Griffin III, left, leaves the field with defensive end Jarvis Jenkins after Sunday’s loss. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)

The Redskins have to play Griffin, even if only a month remains in the season. They need to find out if he is indeed the franchise savior that they believed he could be when they shipped three first round picks and a second-round pick to acquire him with the second overall pick of the 2012 draft. Griffin still is very much in the early stages of learning this Jay Gruden offense. He knows it book-wise. But the application of those classroom lessons and the execution in games is where he needs work. It’s like any trade, really. You can come out of college knowing what you need to know to go into your profession and to secure a job, but you quickly find that there is so much more to know before you get to the point where you can actually do your job at a high level.

Griffin basically did well in a system tailored to him as a rookie, and last season was supposed to represent the transition into a more complicated program. But the rush back from surgery and the personality clashes with Mike Shanahan hampered this and things failed miserably. Now, Griffin has a different operating system that he needs to master as he works for a new boss, Jay Gruden. The only way he will get proficient in this offense is to play. He will either take his lumps, learn as he goes and eventually develop a good command of this system by the end of the year, or he will prove to coaches that he is not capable of running a pro-style offense, and then they need to decide how to address his future, and whether they need to go shopping for another quarterback this offseason.

If Griffin, even privately, did have any paranoia over Cousins stealing his job, I think he can relax and focus on going out and executing. Unfortunately for Cousins, who is a smart, hard-working quarterback, the suspected weaknesses to his game manifested themselves time and time again, and he has indeed looked like a backup rather than franchise quarterback.

Some analyst stated before the season that the Redskins would have the most explosive offense in the NFL. I understand there has been injuries (Jordan Reed, RGIII, etc.), but I still feel with the weapons we have in Jackson, Garcon, Morris we should be a more efficient/productive offense. What is your opinion on the flux this offense seems to be in? Could RG3 be the answer to reach its full potential? Is he the reason this offense hasn’t been clicking? As always thanks for your response.

– Rob Fox

Despite the 1-5 record, the Redskins have put up numbers.

Washington ranks fifth in the league in total offense (2,375 yards), seventh in yards per game (395.8), third in passing (1,779) and third in yards per passing attempt (8.2). So those are good numbers considering the injuries they have had.

However, the team ranks only 21st in scoring (22 points per game) 23rd in rushing yards per game (99.3), second- worst in turnovers (13) and second-worst in third downs (32.4). So, you see where the problems lie.

I do believe Griffin can help make a difference in these areas if he’s right. With him on the field, and with some runs sprinkled in here and there, defenses can’t key on Morris as much, so the rushing success should increase. Griffin doesn’t turn over the ball as much as Cousins, so those numbers should improve as well.

The big question is whether Griffin can get the ball out of his hands quickly so the offense clicks, and so he can stay healthy. Another big question is whether he can make quick and effective decisions on third downs to help make a difference in that category. If so, then the points per game average increases as well. I know, that’s a lot of ifs. But that’s all we have to go on right now.

E-mail a Redskins question to mike.jones@washpost.com, with the subject line “Mailbag question,” and it might be answered in Tuesday’s Mailbag.

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