The Commanders are really giving the Ted Britt Auto Group their money’s worth this year with our weekly visits with Jay Gruden, as Monday’s visit to the Rooster put us into the twenties for the season.
Not exactly what anyone envisioned even as late as Opening Day, but the Commanders won their 14th game of the season Saturday and are headed to Philly for the NFC Championship Game.
“It was hard to pick that one, with Detroit coming off of a bye and well-rested coming off a big win against Minnesota,” Jay told Rooster. “They played great all season long, and we all know about their injuries on defense, but still, to get a whooping like they got by Washington, nobody could predict that one. That second quarter was as good of football played by one team in a quarter as I can remember a long time. It was awesome to see."
You can listen above as Gruden breaks down some of the biggest moments of Saturday’s win as only he can with the Rooster, but we have to look forward – so what does Jay like about the third and deciding matchup this year between the Commanders and Eagles?
“Especially against a running quarterback, you want to have eyes on the quarterback so he doesn't escape and gut you with his legs, so I think you're gonna see a lot more zone this week from Vic Fangio and Philadelphia,” Gruden said. “He likes to play a lot of zone and he'll sprinkle in some man, but they lost Quinyon Mitchell, so they'll probably be relegated to a lot of quarters and Cover-2 and Cover-3, and just try to change it up in that regard.”
The offensive line will be paramount, too, as Sam Cosmi is out, so Trent Scott or someone else will have to deal with the beast that is Jalen Carter and the run-clogger that is Jordan Davis in the middle.
“If everything's equal, I'm sure they'll turn us the protection to Jalen Carter, unlike what the Rams did late in the game when they let them get one-on-one and it ended with a sack/fumble for Matthew Stafford.
That's what we got to try to avoid,” Gruden said. “I’m sure Tyler Biadasz will do a good job directing his help to cover Carter, and sometimes your back will have to step up and block a blitzing linebacker from time-to-time, but you're better safe than sorry, and you gotta try to do the best you can to get four hands on that guy every time.”
That’s his take on the Commanders on offense, and, well, we know where we’re looking on D…
“All fingers point to Saquon and the running attack of Saquon and Jalen; we know Jalen’s banged up and that’ll help a lot, but they rushed for almost 300 yards and consistently do it,” Gruden said. “That should open up things for AJ Brown, but it really hasn't. and that’s the thing that makes you scratch your head: why aren’t Brown and DeVonta Smith more of a factor when your running game is so potent? You’d think you’d be getting some unbelievable looks for these guys to have some big plays, but they're really not capitalizing – so all eyeballs gotta be on Saquon and Jalen, and then let the coverage guys stand up and see if they can throw it to beat us.”
Jalen Hurts’ potential injury on a play where he was twisted around really limited the Eagles’ offense a bit late against the Rams, so perhaps getting an offense that had just 129 passing yards on Sunday to have to do better than that is the key?
“It’s a big dilemma they have; I don't know what the reason is why they can't throw the ball better, with the athletes that they have on the field – they have a good offensive line, so it’s not like the quarterback's getting hit every time, and they have a good tight end, a great running back, and two excellent wide receivers.”