Jay Gruden is back for another season analyzing the Commanders with Grant & Danny every Monday – normally at 5 p.m., although the debut came in the 6 p.m. hour this week – and even after seeing all the changes and hearing all the hype, he knows that even if you can’t take too much stock in a Week 1 loss, there was a lot to be concerned about with Washington’s performance in Tampa.
“You can't get too high after a win or too low after a loss, but there are some major concerns after one game,” Gruden said. “I talk about the defense: not a lot of pressure, coverage was poor, took some poor angles tackling the ball carriers; Tampa Bay has got a decent offense, but they're not that good. There's no reason to put up 37 against Washington's defense. That’s No.
1, and No. 2, just got to get Jayden reps and get him some work, and I think over the course of the season, he'll continue to get better and better. Once they trust him a little bit more in the pocket, they trust the left tackle a little bit more, they'll be able to do some more things down the field, but right now it's a Chinese fire drill; he’s scrambling for his life and just running for yards. So they got to get him protected and let him work his magic, and hopefully that'll happen coming up if they get some more weapons around Terry McLaurin.”
Gruden thinks a lot of teams were having some concerns about pass rushes, saying ‘I’ve never seen so many screens in one week of football,’ but getting a rookie QB some easy completions isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
So what did Gruden see from Jayden Daniels in general?
“He’s just got to calm down and relax a little bit. I studied him a lot in college at Arizona State, he looked to run more than he did to throw, and I think he went back to his old ways a little bit,” Gruden said. “A lot of that was the pass rush was there and a lot of the receivers weren't getting a lot of separation either, and this isn’t LSU where he's got Brian Thomas and his other receivers getting open all down field. These guys weren't getting open a whole lot so he had to run, so hopefully moving forward, we get some completions where he can see the field a little bit, get some balls on basic crossing routes or something where the receivers can get open and get some separation.”
And soon, because 16 carries (including 11 scrambles) per game is not sustainable.
“The scrambles are gonna happen, he's gonna have five or six of those a game through the entire season, because that’s what he does well, so I wouldn't limit that because he’s gonna make some big plays outside the pocket,” Gruden said. “I'm a little concerned with the designed runs inside the tackles; he’s not a very big guy, and they ran one weak side just right between the tackles, and the last touchdown he ran as an option and he cut up right into the defensive linemen; that is a dangerous play for a quarterback to stick his foot in the ground and run right behind the center-guard area, because you can just get smashed. He got in, but I don't like those. Let's get him outside the pocket, do some zone reads and things of that nature where he can avoid contact to get to the sideline if he has to.”
Perhaps Kliff Kingsbury’s offense was being ‘very protective’ of the QB by being simpler, and things will change as time goes on, but…
“There’s definitely a feeling out period with your offensive coordinator and your roster, and once you see these guys make plays on game day, you're gonna utilize them more and more as the season goes on,” Gruden said. “But I don't know who else we're throwing the ball to. I still think we need another weapon outside of Terry, but I don't know who that is.”
Listen to Gruden’s entire visit above!
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