Is the third season the hardest for Washington Redskins coaches?
Jay Gruden opened his third training camp July 28 with a 13-20 overall mark but also an NFC East title. It's a tricky time, though. The first year is all new experiences and the second year brought some improvement off that experience. So what does the third season create?
High expectations.
If not for a late-season division run, Gruden might have become the sixth Redskins coach to be fired after just two seasons. Recent coaches Jim Zorn and Steve Spurrier were only one game worse overall than Gruden, but Dudley DeGroot was axed after losing the 1945 championship and finishing with a 14-5-1 combined record.
Gruden now joins the three-year club of Jack Pardee, Bill McPeak and Turk Edwards, all of whom were gone before their fourth season after failing to post an overall winning record.
