After the Washington Redskins were lambasted by the New York Giants in Week 4, Stephen A Smith said Jay Gruden “quit” on his team and predicted the coach would be fired after losing to the New England Patriots in Week 5 (assuming that does happen).
On Friday, after announcing Colt McCoy as his Week 5 starter, Gruden hit back at Smith over his comments.
“I heard about that one. That one is far from the truth. Those are fighting words for me,” Gruden said, per ESPN. “That’s one thing I will never do or have done in my life. I work extremely hard, getting up early as hell and working late and doing the best I can to get ourselves a victory this week. I have a lot of respect for everyone in this locker room and the last thing I would do to these players is quit on them because I know they’re not going to quit on me.”
Gruden entered the 2019 season on the hottest seat in the NFL. Since then, his team has gone 0-4, losing by a combined score of 118-66, and the offense has progressively gotten worse week by week. But clearly, Gruden is not ready to give up on his team, despite the hard times.
Hopefully McCoy can help stabilize things in Week 5. But considering the fact that New England features one of the best defenses in the NFL this year, we’re not holding our breath.