Jay Gruden tells Grant & Danny how Brian Robinson's absence may have hamstrung Commanders vs. Ravens
Been a while since Jay Gruden had to break down a loss during his weekly visit with Grant & Danny, but that’s exactly where he was on Monday after a seven-point loss in Baltimore.
But, as much as he was neutralized in the running game and held in the pocket, Jayden Daniels still played very well in Jay’s eyes.
“I think he played well. They didn't get the win but he had no running game to help him out, and they played from behind a lot; if he had a concern or something he hasn't really done yet it was play from behind, because they got beat pretty good by Tampa Week 1, but he did good against a pretty good Baltimore defensive front,” Gruden said. “He was competitive, and he was accurate for the most part; missed a couple throws, but I thought he did good. Nothing was fundamentally wrong with him, probably a couple he wants back, but he played well.”
Daniels had three designed runs that got nothing and then three scrambles, so he was neutralized there – and, perhaps, the lack of Brian Robinson was a big factor in that?
“I think that had a little bit of an impact, because you don't wanna overload Austin Ekeler and give him the ball 25 times a game,” Gruden said. “Baltimore came into the game holding teams under 60 yards rushing per game, so we knew that was gonna be an issue, but for the most part, I think Baltimore's plan is play the way they normally play. They have two very good safeties that get involved in the run game, and in the passing game, keep them in the pocket and play good tight man coverage, get on the receivers. That’s probably the only issue offensively right now, is you're concerned about somebody outside of Terry getting some separation on a consistent basis when you're playing against a good defense with a formidable pass rush.”
Without the threat of Robinson, too, Kliff Kingsbury’s playbook was a little more limited.
“I think he’s more unlikely to call some of his inside zones; they called a couple, and had a couple good zone read concepts that I liked, but for the most part, I just think sticking with the run, like they had in their four-game winning streak, didn’t happen,” Gruden said. “I just think he probably got away from it a little bit more and went to the passing game for a couple of reasons; one, they didn't have B-Rob, and two, they were behind a little bit and felt like they had to match score for score with Baltimore. They saw Cincinnati threw it all over the yard, and maybe thought we can throw the ball against these corners, and I have no problem with that.”
The only problem with that?
“I think that was my concern about the offense coming into this year, was having somebody else other than Terry that can do some serious damage,” Gruden said. “In their four-game winning streak, they had different guys step up, and Jayden was spreading the ball around to different guys. But I just feel like when push comes to shove, if Terry is getting guarded by a good corner and he gets shut down a little bit, somebody else has to step up. and I'm still not confident in one of those other guys stepping up.”
Listen to Gruden’s entire segment above!
