Jay Gruden opens up about getting fired by Washington: 'I'm not bitter'
Former Washington coach Jay Gruden knew the writing was on the wall the minute he was invited to Dan Snyder’s office. In a season full of rumors about Gruden’s job security, Sunday’s loss to the New England Patriots was the final straw.
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Gruden was fired by Snyder at 5 a.m. on Monday. While you might expect Gruden to be upset about his dismissal, that wasn’t the case, according to Les Carpenter of the Washington Post.
“I’m not bitter,” he said.
The 52-year-old Gruden knew this was coming. Following the 33-7 loss to the Patriots on Sunday, Washington dropped to 0-5 on the season. Washington is one of four NFL teams that has yet to win a game this season.
Gruden knew that performance was not good enough for him to keep his job, according to Carpenter.
“This is a production-based business, and I didn’t get it done,” he said.
There was, however, one thing that did irk Gruden about his firing. During team president Bruce Allen’s press conference Monday, Allen talked about new head coach Bill Callahan installing discipline and execution into the team. Gruden took issue with that, telling Carpenter, “I want to make sure that everybody knows that I actually did work.”
In six seasons with Washington, Gruden compiled a 35-49 record. He led the team to one playoff appearance in 2015, but the team lost its first game in the postseason.
Though 2019 was a disaster, Gruden could draw interest on the open market. Kirk Cousins developed into a viable starter under Gruden’s watch. While Gruden’s overall record wasn’t great, some owners could wonder if things would have been different had Gruden been with a more stable franchise.
Gruden may get that opportunity in the offseason. Until then, he’ll continue to say he’s not mad, just disappointed that Washington let him go.
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Chris Cwik is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik
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