EB's solution to the Commanders' swoon: 'Let Jayden Cook'

You can blame the Cakes Curse, you can get mad at JP for flip-flopping on the 2024 QB class rankings, you can look at Kliff Kingsbury’s second-half swoon – whatever you do, though, if you can find a way for the once 7-2 Commanders, now losers of three straight, to get back on track, please forward your services to Ashburn.

At 7-5, the ‘Manders are now 2 ½ back in the division with a loss to the leader on the docket, and it’s only thanks to two divisions in the NFC not even having a seven-win team right now that they’re still the No. 7 seed if the season ended today.

“If the playoffs started today they’re in, but you’ve not made things easier for yourself by dropping a very winnable game,” JP said. “I'm not saying I'm not saying it's impossible, because it's still possible, but it is improbable that they win the division. They play the Eagles again and still have time, but very unlikely, so they’re going to be battling for a Wild Card.”

The hard part, in JP’s mind, is something John Keim and Craig Hoffman also observed on the show on Monday: get the running game going again.

“They had a running game yesterday with Jayden Daniels, who had seven carries for 76 yards, but their running game with Ekeler and B-Rob, and you want to throw McNichols in there, has kind of vanished,” JP said. “And I don't know how you fix that because the offensive line isn't as good as it's been.”

“Here’s what I would do: three words – let Jayden cook,” EB said. “Put it on his shoulders. He’s the best player. You gotta let him pass, you gotta let him run, you gotta let him scramble, so you gotta max protect.
You can help him out a little bit, maybe run some motion, give him a few clues as to what kind of defenses they're in or whatever, move your guys around. But at the end of the day, we always say we got to get the ball in the hands of our best player, and that’s Jayden Daniels.”

Sow whether it’s throwing, or using his legs, just let the No. 2 pick do his thing.

“Stop with all this ‘three yards and a cloud of dust’ on first down, or these wide receiver screens that don't do jack – let Jayden throw the ball,” EB continued. “I'm not talking about like fly patterns or 40-yard bombs down the field; let him throw over the defense, he'll figure it out. Will he have some off throws? Sure, but he's the best player, so LET’S PUT THE SEASON ON HIS SHOULDERS! He’s doing the best he can with these bums, so be a little bit more creative and let Jayden cook. Last year we had a quarterback with half the talent dropping back 40 to 50 times. Let the man cook.”

Cakes is with it, because of that lack of running game.

“Obviously if your running backs were healthy, and you're still mowing down your opponents by rushing for 150-plus yards per game, you stick with that formula, but that formula has been upended,” Cakes said. “So now you're kind of forced into leaning into Jayden.”

“I think they tried to do that a little bit with the running yesterday. It seemed more assertive, like, they were just like, ‘well Jayden, let's just run a QB sweep,’” JP said. “I like that because that's what makes him special. His legs make him special; not saying he's not a good thrower of the football, but his legs make him special, and they cannot run the football right now with their running backs.”

Take a listen to the whole conversation above!