No Danny on Monday, and no Commanders game on Sunday, so it was just Grant Paulsen and Jay Gruden shooting the breeze about NFL Week 14 when coach joined GP for his weekly spot on Monday.
But, there were two Commanders topics of note to discuss, the first coming as Jay and GP previewed Monday Night Football – what kind of a fit would current Bengal Tee Higgins be in Washington’s offense?
“I think he fits well; he’s a big guy, he’ll do a lot in the running game as well as a physical-type guy, and he’s a good red zone target too with the back-shoulder fades,” Gruden said. “He can also do all that stuff in the red zone, so he’d be a good compliment to Terry. I think he's a good player and physical-type player, and an easy target for a quarterback; those guys that are 6-foot-4, they don’t have the blazing speed but they're very friendly targets. They find the open spaces and they're easy to hit.”
He would give the Commanders the big body they lack, and the current WR1 might be the perfect complement for him, too.
“I think you gotta have somebody opposite him that can really run, and fortunately, Terry can really run. You need to have somebody with more speed out there like they have Ja’Marr Chase,” Gruden said. “You don't want him to be your No. 1 and have your No. 2 guy another guy that's not a very fast guy. You gotta have some speed out there; not saying Tee can't run, but I just think you need a little bit different type of receiver for your opposite receiver.”
The other talking point happens to be a look ahead to a closer milestone, the NFL playoffs – and with the battle for the No. 1 seed being between the Eagles and Lions, and Washington likeliest to be the No. 7 seed, would you rather start your playoff journey in Philly or Detroit?
“They’ll both be tough, and I wouldn’t be too upset going to Detroit and really getting Jayden after that defense,” Gruden said. “I think Philly’s defense is a little bit harder, but let’s wait and see how they do against Philly the second time, because that'll tell a lot about how they match up; even a Thursday night game, it wasn't like that was a massacre, it was a close game, so let’s see how they face off – but playing in a dome, fast track, Jayden Daniels’ speed and Terry McLaurin’s speed, I like the offense’s chances. Defensively is where there would be an issue, obviously, but defense is gonna be an issue against Philadelphia as well. But I like our chances offensively to really put up a lot of numbers against Detroit.”