Jay Gruden visits both Chris Russell and Grant & Danny across our Audacy DC airwaves every Monday, and this week, on both shows, he professed he would rather see the Commanders go across the country to face the Rams in Wild Card Weekend instead of going back to Philly for Round 3 – meaning, perhaps unlike the Birds with Saquon Barkley’s bid for the all-time single-season rushing record, the Commanders should play to win the game against Dallas and try to hold on to the No. 6 seed.
You can read all about that thought from his appearance with Grant & Lynnell (in for Danny) but when it comes to talking to Rooster, Gruden just had to gush about the resilience of the Commanders – not just Sunday night, but all season – as they got to 11-5 and clinched a playoff berth.
And part of that, well, is the fact that it seems to be different guys, unheralded guys, who are stepping up every week; on Sunday, Zach Ertz had a two-touchdown game and a few others made key plays while Terry McLaurin had eight targets but just one catch for five yards, and it’s hard to believe.
“I’d say they could’ve won only if Jayden rushed for over 100 yards…oh, he did!” Jay laughed. “But yeah, that’s uncommon for a team to win giving up five sacks, having so many penalties, and having your best player only have one catch for five yards. That's unheard of, quite frankly, but Olamide Zaccheaus stepped up and made some big plays, Rodriguez had a nice touchdown, and they’ve done a great job all year long of using different people and having them contribute. All kinds of different people have had their hands in the pot, and that's a good thing moving forward, because now you don't have to rely on one part of your football game; you can rely on a lot of different Avenues to have success on offense.”
Missing so many players, it’s ‘pretty incredible’ to Rooster that the Commanders won Sunday, and while you can say Jayden is the ultimate equalizer, is it really as simple as this team is indeed one for all and all for one, and next man up is always ready to step up?
“Yeah, I mean, you still have to have that great trigger man who everyone believes in, somebody that everybody believes in, but clearly, everybody believes in the quarterback, and that goes a long way,” Gruden said. “Guys will come in at other positions and fill in for injured players, but as long as that guy stays healthy, you're gonna have a chance to win.”