Jay Gruden joins Grant & Danny every Monday at 5 p.m. during this NFL season, and this week, it was all about points at the beginning and the end – as in his hit started with him calling the Commanders’ decision to kick a field goal with 46 seconds left against Buffalo not a move to avoid being shut out, but to avoid one more crushing blow to their offense.
“I don't think that's the only problem you need to talk about,” Gruden laughed. “I don't think they needed to give Sam how another 4th-and-12 bludgeoning across his forehead either, so it was kick a field goal or have him get sacked again.”
Howell has been sacked 19 times through three games, and the Commanders have tried a lot of different things to bring extra protection, but ‘nothing really worked’ against Buffalo, as he was taken down nine times (almost doubling the season total).
And it seems everyone involved has a hand in that number.
“The most important thing in pro football, especially for a young quarterback, is pass protection. You gotta make sure your quarterback is protected,” Gruden said. “Sometimes it's the linemen’s fault, sometimes the back or the protection scheme, and sometimes the quarterback needs to get rid of the damn ball….they all played a hand in that. You have to make sure your schemes are sound, and if you can’t, you have to figure out ways to get the ball out, get double teams chip, or do different things.”
Howell’s culpability, according to Gruden, is in why he has the knock of holding the ball too long.
“I think he just hangs on to certain guys too long, and by the time he realized they're not gonna get open, that's when the pressure comes and he takes a sack,” Gruden said. “He needs to get off his first progression quicker. He's staring at guys a little bit too long, giving him too much of a chance to win, and then by the time he realizes they're not gonna get open, it's too late for him to get back to his check down or the backside receiving concept. He has to be quicker with his eyes.”
That said, he’s not exactly getting much help from his line OR his receivers, including Danny saying ‘I couldn’t live with myself if I saw the stat sheet and saw Jahan Dotson with two catches.”
“It was the combination of a great job by the Buffalo Bills and a poor job by Washington's pass protection schemes,” Gruden said. “And I think Washington probably needs to take a page out of Miami's book and utilize some of these motions and get these guys some access. I didn’t see a lot of guys open, really, and it’s a big issue; if your receivers aren't getting open and your lines are not protecting, I don’t know what you can do. Nobody's really open and the lines aren’t giving much time, and there's really not a lot of positive things Sam could have done.”
Gruden went into some deep football-ese on why Washington’s offense is struggling in general, and especially so last week, and gave some tips on things they can do to correct it.
But, there is one thing Ron Rivera should have done on that final drive, or even well before it: get Sam Howell out of a game the team had no chance of coming back in.
“I would’ve taken him out at 30-0, because he took four more sacks and got two more hits,” Gruden said. “This is a young quarterback that had a rough day, we understand that but let the veteran come in and finish the game, get a couple handoffs and try to get out of here. You’re still going to be 2-1, don’t do more damage to the kid and have him stand back there and take more bludgeoning. He’s young and needs to play, and that’s probably what they’re thinking, but he’s going to have to learn from it.”
And it would’ve been easy to defend, too.
“He had already taken five sacks and been hit a lot more, so we're just getting them out of game and then get him ready for next week. Simple as that,” Gruden said. “Jacoby can always use a rep or two, because you might have to use him if you're gonna continue to get sacked eight times a game. So, yeah, it's more about protecting the young quarterback and getting his frame of mind right for next week against Philadelphia.”
Take a listen to Gruden’s entire weekly segment with G&D above!
