Jay Gruden breaks down the mechanics of a Hail Mary with Grant & Danny

What did Jay Gruden think of the execution on the Hail Mary that gave the Commanders their first-ever post-merger walk-off win?

“Well, it worked, didn’t it? So perfect execution,” Jay laughed with Grant & Danny Monday. “Jayden Daniels was incredible buying time and letting his receivers get down and get in position to make a play, and the offensive line was incredible just hanging on those three poor rushers who were gassed. It was awesome to see, it was just well executed.”

You can have a plan, but you never know how it’s going to go, and it’s hard to complete a Hail Mary even as simple a play as it seems. But they got it done, and got the win over another good team on the rise despite not playing their best or cleanest game.

“There were some things wrong, but the most impressive thing I think this team does is they protect the football. You’re gonna win some ugly games like this; Chicago has a good defense and doesn’t give up good plays, so it’s gonna be a grind in these weeks, and you’re gonna have to win ugly,” Gruden said. “I didn't like the fact that they gave up that long touchdown run to Swift, but other than that defense played pretty damn good, and offensively, I thought Jayden did some good things. They didn't finish drives, which is frustrating a little bit, so they'll have that to go over, but overall, I think it was a pretty solid game.”

So when it comes to the Hail Mary, it’s really ‘send everyone downfield and then heave it,’ but what is it that goes into that from a quarterback’s perspective?

“Buy time, especially since they had such a long way to go; the completion before the Hail Mary was critical for them to have a chance to get the ball close to the end zone, but you’re just trying to buy enough time to let your guys get down, then throw it up there as high as you can with some velocity, and let those guys make a play,” Gruden said. “Most quarterbacks throw it out of the back of the end zone at at the end of the half when they don't want to throw a pick for their stats, which drives me crazy, but at the end of the game, you got to keep it in play to give your guys a chance.”

We know what’s supposed to go into it from the defensive end, but Tyrique Stevenson was a little busy, it seemed…and that’s on Matt Eberflus and his staff to deal with.

“First, I'd have a conversation with my staff and say, is anybody watching our guys? We need to take a time out, get these guys to get some poise about them, get their ass back in position where they need to be,” Gruden said. “They had three timeouts, you can't take them with you, they should have called one before the Hail Mary to calm everybody down and got everybody right. And No. 2, the kid has to learn from it. It’s an emotional game out there, he thought he had the win and was talking a little trash, I'm sure he's been getting trash talk by a lot of fans, so he's giving it back, but obviously you can't have that. The kid is very sorry about it and I know the coaches are pissed off about it, but you got to address it and move on.”

Take a listen to Gruden’s entire visit above, as he discusses the final drive in its entirety and how the Bears could’ve defended the final play better, the Commanders’ offensive issues from the game, and much more!