Jay Gruden on Jayden Daniels, 'fun to watch' Commanders offense: 'You never know how they're gonna hit you'

The Washington Commanders offense had the ball for had six possessions on Monday night against the Cincinnati Bengals: They scored five touchdowns and kicked one field goal. Add in two one-play kneel-down drives to end each half and you get an impressive 38-33 win to move to 2-1 on the young season.

"That was quite the performance," former Redskins head coach Jay Gruden told Chris Russell and Doc Walker on Team 980.

"That's always a good feeling when you are the aggressor on offense and everythings going right for you and you're not into these known passing situations, you're playing with somewhat of a lead," the former NFL head coach and OC said. "I don't remember man 3rd-and-long situations for Washington, that's a tribute to Kliff Kingsbury and the execution of the offense, and, of course, Jayden Daniels."

On the night Washington went 5-for-9 in converting third downs, but added a 3-for-3 on fourth downs to extend drives.

"They had some runs that didn't work out very well," Gruden continued, noting the six times a first down run resulted in 2nd-and-long situations. "But they seemed to get out of their own way a little bit, make some plays with the passing game, Terry [McLaurin] finally got involved a little bit, Luke McCaffrey had a huge third down catch, Zach Ertz did his normal five catches, Noah Brown showed up three times.

"It's fun to watch these guys play because you never know how they're gonna hit you."

And in a game where three different players had multiple rushing attempts and six receivers aught multiple passes, there is some versatility to the Commanders' attack.

"Is it gonna be Jayden on a zone read? Is it gonna be Brian Robinson? Is it gonna be [Austin] Ekeler out of the backfield?" Gruden continued. "Is it gonna be Terry on a deep ball? Is it gonna be Zach Ertz on a crossing route? They had a lot going on, they had a lot of the field to cover for the defense and it's gonna be a problem for a lotta teams moving forward."

From the faith that head coach Dan Quinn showed in going for those fourth-down plays – including two in the second half and one on the Commanders final touchdown drive - it all comes down to Daniels.

"It all starts with the quarterback, man," Gruden said. "And this guy he's got poise out the rear-end. He has no fear. He just looks at the defense and smiles and attacks it every single snap. It's just fun to watch the guy. He's had 76 pass attempts. He's had 47 times whether it's a sack or as a runner with the ball in his hands and has not fumbled once and not thrown a pick once, I mean that's a helluva tribute for a young quarterback."

Gruden added that fans should "take a deep breath" and it will get "tougher and tougher" for the rookie passer, but "what a start for this kid."

"I'd feel really good going to bed at night if I was the coach for the Commanders with this guy coming up," he said.

Of course, the defense remains a problem for Washington.

"Thirty-three points is not quite a bludgeoning, but it's a punch in the face," Gruden said. "They do gotta get better... they did get stops when they had to in the red zone, which is critical. They're gonna give up yards between the 20s and they're gonna have to play good red zone defense the entire year.

"They gotta figure out ways to get the ball back for the offense. They need to create turnovers somehow, some way. That's gonna be important moving forward. They gotta address the secondary a little bit, they can't give up those bombs that easy."

On the slow start to Jon Allen and Daron Payne on the year, Gruden said he's a "little disappointed in their performance so far" because his "expectations for those two guys are Pro Bowl quality and I don't see them pop up on the screen enough for me."

"I just don't see the eye-popping plays that you typically see," he added, "Four or five times a game from Jonathan Allen or the run-stopping, smothers by Daron Payne or quarterback hits by Payne. I just don't see as much as I think I would like."