Ryan Grigson isn’t taking any attacks aimed at him laying down.
Widely criticized for failing to protect Andrew Luck since he joined the Indianapolis Colts as a rookie in 2012, Grigson fired back with a pretty strong statement during an interview on Friday, via Clarence E. Hill Jr. of the Star-Telegram:
“There were a lot of other teams in the league where their quarterback went down and had a better perceived offensive line and all those types of things that are picking real high in the draft,” Grigson said.
Blamo.
The big issue with his statement is that he should have just taken it all the way. There were certainly not “a lot of other teams” that fit Grigson’s description here. He’s clearly taking a shot at the Cowboys, and more pointedly at owner and general manager Jerry Jones.
A minor issue that should also be pointed out is that Dalls didn’t have a “better perceived offensive line” than Indianapolis. It was better, and it’s not even close.
But it is true that the Colts did better than the Cowboys did last year under similar circumstances, going 8-8 despite Andrew Luck missing nine games, while Dallas went 4-12 without Tony Romo, who missed 12 games.
What Grigson is implying with his back-handed barb at the Cowboys is that the roster put together by him in Indy last year was actually better than the one Jones put together in Dallas.
But this isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison here. What Grigson isn’t saying is that he had a qualified backup in Matt Hasselbeck who was a full-time starter in this league for over a decade. Meanwhile the Cowboys failed miserably to protect against a Romo injury and were relegated to Brandon Weeden, Matt Cassel and Kellen Moore.
Jones deserves plenty of criticism for failing to plan ahead at the quarterback position, but despite what Grigson might think he’s actually done a fine job putting together a balanced roster.
Grigson would be better off just doing a better job putting together a championship-caliber roster and protecting his own quarterback than taking shots at other teams and general managers.
What he did, deflecting blame by pointing out the failure of others, was ill-advised and showed a bit of insecurity. He’s got to be on a short leash at this point with owner Jim Irsay and the Colts, and he didn’t do himself any favors pointing fingers under pressure.