Paulsen: Tell us about your win-loss record, Bruce Allen

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Photo credit Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

If wins and losses are the most important statistic to Redskins team president Bruce Allen, then why not hold the team president to that same standard, Grant Paulsen of 106.7 The Fan wonders.

Paulsen's critique comes on the heels of remarks made by Allen with regard to how he views new franchise quarterback Alex Smith.

"Our research told us about the type of person he is, and the type of leader he is and competitor," Allen said of Alex Smith this week. "His statistics are easy to see. There's three quarterbacks who have 50 wins in the last five years. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that might be the type of guy you'd want on your football team."

JP Finlay (NBCSN): And so for you, are wins and losses the most important statistic when it comes to the quarterback position?
Bruce Allen: Wins and losses is the most important statistic when it comes to equipment manager, a team president, a quarterback, a running back, a guard or a coach. Yeah.

"Wins and losses is the most important statistic to a coach or a team manager. Apparently this is high school basketball now," Paulsen said Tuesday. "How about team president? How about general manager? The roles that you've had here. Now, luckily for you, Bruce Allen, I'm not dumb, and I'm not simple-minded, so I know better than to just evaluate an individual based on wins and losses in a team sport. So I'm not going to hold you to the standard of your horrific, and absolutely embarrassing 35-61 mark here in Washington, because I don't do that."

"But your statistics are easy to see, too," he said. "And it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that you're not the type of guy that I want running my NFL organization, with your 35 wins and your 61 losses. It is a shame that you don't hold yourself to the same standard that you do NFL quarterbacks. It is so absurd, and so bothersome to me, that my favorite sports team is run by a 'wins-and-losses, tho' thinker, because, what people hear when I talk about this, is this idea that I don't care about winning or losing."

"That, by the way, irritates me more than anything else," Rouhier chimed.

"It's a problem. That is not what I'm saying," Paulsen said. "My point is never that winning and losing doesn't matter. My point is that evaluating any one player -- whether it's a quarterback, or a cornerback, or a defensive tackle -- based on a team's record, and when I ask you, 'Why are you bringing this guy in? Why do you like him,' you say, 'Well, he's won 50 games! You can't argue with that!'

"No. No. No. No. No. The team he played for won those 50 games and he was a big part of that."

That 35-61 record Paulsen cites, by the way, is the team's record under Allen minus the two seasons (2015-16) in which Scot McCloughan was general manager, when the Redskins went a combined 17-14-1. That figure puts Allen at a winning percentage of .364.

But the Redskins are 52-75-1 overall in the eight seasons since Allen took over the front office, good for winning percentage of .406 (still not good).

In Allen's view, Smith -- at an 88-62-1 overall quarterback record in 12 seasons -- has been a significantly better quarterback than, say, Kirk Cousins (26-30-1) over six seasons.

"Tell me that you liked that he was the best deep-ball thrower in the league last year," Paulsen said. "Tell me that you liked his touchdown-interception ratio being magnificent throughout his NFL career. Tell me that you liked that he won't beat you, and he won't turn the ball over, and tell me that you love his leadership and his moxie, and the fact that he's been through and gutted through a ton as an NFL quarterback since being a disappointment going (first overall), and rising from those ashes."

"But don't look me in the face," he continued. "Do not tell me, that because this guy, quote, 'won a lot of games,' he's easy to like. Again, you should be so lucky, Bruce, that I don't start every show with your record, 35-61 in Washington, because it's fireable and it's absurd that you've never really been called into question with the operation that's been run here.
"However, luckily for you, I'm a process guy, not a results guy. And I see the improvements that have been made. I see that bad has become average. I see that tumultuous has become pedestrian. So I'm not going to kill you for your record, because I am not a moron, luckily for you. But since you are, I guess Alex Smith is now Tom Brady."
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