Former Washington head coach Jay Gruden joined the show to discuss the Commander losing to the Eagles in the NFC Championship game.
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00:00Jay Gruden joins the show each and every Monday after games with us on Grant and Danny normally
00:07at five but Adam Peters and Dan Quinn have their end of year press conference today
00:11which will take live so we've got Jay Gruden right now. On air and on the road,
00:14Jay Gruden is driven by the Tedbritt Automotive Group, Tedbritt Ford and Chantilly in Fairfax,
00:18your F-150 headquarters, Tedbritt Chantilly Lincoln and Tedbritt Chevrolet in Sterling,
00:22home of Tedbritt for life, lifetime vehicle coverage, see and shop them all at tedbritt.com.
00:27Jay, 55-23, losers in Philly yesterday in the NFC Championship game, where should we start,
00:36what went wrong? Well, you know, the first play of the game wasn't very good for Philadelphia's
00:42off that 60-yard touchdown, you know, that wasn't good but I think the second fumble was the one
00:46where it was a straw that broke the camel's back because the kickoff return, you know,
00:52still there's a fighting chance there then Philadelphia went down a score to add ball
00:56second half and it just got out of whack there but the turnovers obviously we talk about them
00:59all the time, a couple penalties here and there and just some uncharacteristic mistackling.
01:04How do you think Jay Daniels played? He played fine, you know, I think there wasn't a lot of
01:10help around him, the running game was really non-existent again, I think Eckler and Robinson
01:14averaged about two yards a carry and he can't do it all on his own, you know, he has to have
01:18some kind of running game to help him out, put the pressure, take the pressure off him a little bit so
01:22he gets some plays outside the pocket but I think he's completed his ass off and he played pretty
01:27damn good. Yeah, looking at it, 19 carries from running backs for 51 yards, it's just a major
01:34issue for them that they never really could fix down the stretch. What about their defense? I
01:40understand they're putting some bad spots with the three fumbles that turned into 21 points,
01:45four turnovers that turned into 28 but you can't give up seven every single time a team gets a
01:50takeaway and they did and then they allowed 55, they didn't cover Brown, they didn't cover Smith,
01:56they didn't cover Goddard, they didn't stop Barkley, Hurts looked healthy, like what did
02:00they take away? It didn't look like they took away anything which is a problem, you know,
02:06you think if they're going to try to put all hands on deck to stop Saquon then they might give up
02:10some passes to AJ Brown or Devontae Smith or Goddard, I understand that but first play of the
02:16game he went for 60 and his next carry is another touchdown so he had two carries for 64 yards and
02:20two touchdowns his first two carries so I don't know, they did not play well in any phase,
02:25they didn't tackle very good, they took bad angles and they were put in bad situations by the fumbles.
02:31I think Philadelphia's defensive line probably isn't going to get enough credit as you sort of
02:35go back and look at this thing but they were super disruptive, I thought that group was better than
02:39Washington's O-line, your thoughts there? I think going into the game I thought both lines for
02:44Philadelphia were better than Washington's, I think the offensive line for Philadelphia is better
02:48than the defensive line for Washington and the same goes for the defensive line for Philadelphia
02:52better than offense, that's always a concern, you always want to win the line of scrimmage battle,
02:56I thought Washington would have to play a damn near perfect game which they've done,
02:59they played damn near perfect against Tampa the second half, they played damn near perfect against
03:03Detroit, you know, to carry that perfection over three weeks in a row on the road is very difficult,
03:08they just couldn't, they couldn't do it. Where are you at on Marshawn Lattimore moving forward?
03:14I don't know, he had the injuries when he first got here, he's always been a competitive guy,
03:18he's always been one of the top corners in the league, I just don't know if that competitive
03:23spirit gets him into trouble too much, he's always fighting it seems like and hasn't made many plays
03:28for us, he made a play at the goal line on the tight end, he covered the tight end, probably was
03:32passing interference but I think he's good enough to keep in your building and try to get better
03:36then but I don't know what the contract situation is with him, how much they're married to him,
03:41I don't know but I know he's a good player, he's worth moving forward with.
03:45The way I understand it is they can get out of the contract for nothing right now
03:49but they gave up a three, a four and a six right so that's unlikely or it's two years at 18 million
03:55which if he's playing like a legitimate number one corner that's a discount as you know,
04:00two and 36 basically remaining on that deal but he's not playing like that so it feels
04:05like a pretty big decision even though I'd be stunned if he didn't come back.
04:09Yeah, it is especially with the depth of corner they have, they don't really have any other
04:13corners you know, I think St. Juice has worn out his welcome, obviously San Astro they kind of
04:18like to move back to nickel but he played good at corner, after that you know you're gonna have
04:21to draft one, you have to get a free agent, whatever it might be, we like to use if you
04:25can keep Lattimore in the building and he is your corner then you can draft somewhere else,
04:29position a meter in the first second round. Where are the NJ Grudens with us here on GND,
04:34where do you think they're most lacking in talent? I mean listen, the ride was unbelievable,
04:37I'm just sort of thinking about yesterday where Philadelphia's roster is just so stacked from top
04:41to bottom, where was the most glaring deficiency for you where you go man, Washington just doesn't
04:45have the horses? I think defensive line, defensive ends, pass rush number one and then another
04:53playmaker on offense whether it's a running back or wide receiver, you know Terry's a great player
04:57but there's no juice out there that can really get the big play, De'Andre Brown had a couple
05:01there late in the year but they need another big play threat other than Terry McCormick on offense,
05:06another dynamic pass rusher that can really get home with a four-man rush and end
05:10ideally. Yeah, I've been screaming into a megaphone since mid-season about a speedy
05:15running back, you know a home run hitter, they haven't had one here in years and years and years
05:20as you know, I mean especially post you being here like Alf was kind of a you know four and a half
05:25yard when it's going good but a home run for him was like 25 yards, he was a singles and doubles guy
05:30but you know someone who could strike up the band even if you got to take that guy at number 28
05:34overall, I think would be a godsend. What would you think about using an asset on running back?
05:40Yeah, I think so, I think the running back position has become a little bit more
05:45needy, look at Derrick Henry and Saquon and Jameer Gibbs, Jameer Gibbs was taking 12 I think
05:49everybody laughed at Detroit for taking him and I think Detroit made the right pick there, you know
05:53so if you get a dynamic back that can hurt you out of the backfield in the passing game and the
05:57running game like Gibbs guy, you got to take him because these guys are hard to find, you know
06:01these three yards and cloud of dust running backs man, it's just hard to continue to commit to the
06:05run when you're not popping any big ones and you got to pop some big ones, you got to have some
06:09home run hitters on your offense to help Jaden out. Why do you think Philadelphia did such a
06:14good job on Terran McCorn over these three games? Well, they play a lot of zone and they you know,
06:19they didn't play a whole lot of man, they play a lot of zone and they you know, they blanket it
06:22pretty good, they have some safety help over the top and then they know where the help is,
06:26they're very well coached on defense over there with Vic Fangio and then you know, they get
06:30pressure, the interior pressure, it's hard for quarterback to wait for Terry to get open in the
06:34second and third windows when Jalen Carter is running right up the middle, right at your face,
06:38he's six foot six and then you get the speed rush of Nolan Smith and yeah, so it's just very
06:43difficult for Terry to get open in a game like that, it has to be second, third window type
06:47throws and he just Jaden didn't have time to get there. Speaking of throws through windows,
06:52how about the fake punt, Tress Way, your former punter, Tress who had completed two passes in
06:58his career, I think both when you were the coach on fake punts in 16 and 18, he went back to the
07:05well, this one was called soda, I think your fake punt was called pluma but this was soda for the
07:12pot pass, what do you think of Tress? Yes, it was awesome man, that was a good call, that was a
07:16gutsy call right there in her own 30 yard line, that was and I think of all year, if no one went
07:23to uh big champions and uh that was a great call and a great execute, that's a great athlete,
07:28he can run, he can throw, he can play ping pong, he can do it all and thank god we found out he
07:33could play ping pong, good ping pong players, Chris Russell was worried that he wasn't going
07:37to get to play ping pong in the locker room as you know, yeah, yeah, he could play ping, I think he
07:43could, he's damn near good enough to play the olympics on a ping pong, he's that good, wow,
07:48that's hilarious, Jay, ultimately as a, as a, you know, as a guy, obviously coached here and
07:55then that was a, you know, an impartial observer, I'm still like in the upset phase just because
07:59it's philadelphia, their arrival, etc, I'll eventually be able to turn the page to what an
08:04unbelievable run, what a season, what a great start, this, that, the other thing, when were
08:08you able to kind of turn the page as a coach to sort of the business at hand, after the season,
08:14yeah, it takes a while, it's hard, it's a, it's a, it's a terrible feeling losing your last game
08:20knowing you have no more games to play and you didn't achieve your goals, so it'll be tough on
08:24these guys, but they got to turn it over really quick, they got to start addressing the roster,
08:27they have a lot of guys on a one-year contract, they got to make sure they keep the right people,
08:31they got to get ready for the draft, they have a lot of good things going, positive things going
08:35right now, they got to maintain that positivity and do the right things in pre-agency and then
08:39the draft, because they have a very, very bright future with this quarterback, they just got to
08:43make sure they pick the right people around them. Would you feel comfortable if you were them
08:47rolling the three tight ends, just running it back with Ertz, who wants to return, had a big
08:52game yesterday, but he's more of an 18-wheeler than he is a, you know, a coop at this point,
08:57and then Ben Sinnott, the rookie, didn't really do anything, wasn't given much of a chance,
09:01he's the one that caught the fake punt, but that was like his play for the year, basically,
09:06and then John Bates is a blocker, but you know, I watch Goddard, man, it'd be nice to have a
09:10weapon at that position, it's not that I don't want to bring Ertz back, he's invaluable, but
09:15he just drafted Sinnott, who might be able to be the underneath guy of the Ertz next year,
09:19I'd just like to have someone who could push the ball down the seam a little bit and
09:22put pressure on a defense vertically, I don't know, where are you at on tight end for them?
09:27Yeah, I'm on the same boat, I think Ertz is, if he still has some juice, I think he's working,
09:32because he is a guy that can also block, and that's important, they got to make sure they
09:36keep the guys in house that can block, because the running game's got to get better, there's
09:39no question about it, and those two guys are functional at blocking tight end, so if you pick
09:44one of them, fine, Sinnott can take Bates' place, possibly, and then you drop another one to
09:49develop and maybe be a threat down the middle with his legs and some speed, yeah, we desperately need
09:55some big-time threats, speed threats, you know, other than Terry. Jay, before we let you run,
10:02um, huge, obviously, evening for you last night, um, you know, we know, obviously,
10:08you know how familiar you are and how familiar we all are with your love for Samaj P. Ryan,
10:13an unbelievable play, fourth down, I think he had two snaps in the game, but that big one was big,
10:18Jay, how awesome was it for you? Pumping your fist, I'm sure.
10:24Oh, my, Jay P. Ryan, yeah, that's a good old-fashioned play, you sent three one way,
10:29all crossing routes, get the pick on the linebackers, sneak your back out the opposite
10:32flat, and, uh, work to perfection. Old, reliable Samaj P. Ryan with the game winner.
10:392035, we're gonna be having Jay on, he's gonna be talking about Mahomes to Samaj to get to a
10:4619th straight Super Bowl. Unbelievable. I mean, Samaj, he's still doing it as a freaking pass
10:51catcher. He's a closer, man, he's a closer, trying to tell you guys that for many, many years.
10:56You did, like, seven years ago when he was playing for you, you tried to tell us.
10:59That is true. He's Mariano Rivera. Jay, we appreciate you being flexible with us today,
11:04buddy. Thanks so much for the time, as always, and we will chat again next week.
11:08Thank you, guys.
11:08You got it, brother. There's Jay Gruden, long-time coach,
11:12calling plays in the NFL, and of course, the head man here in D.C.