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Former Redskins head coach Jay Gruden joins Grant & Danny to discuss the devastating injury to Jayden Daniels and the Commanders falling to 0-2.
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00:00Let's talk to Jay Gruden on the Rude Guest Hotline.
00:02Rude, the most reliable heating and air conditioning products in the DMV.
00:06Jay, welcome to the program.
00:07Much appreciated as always, buddy.
00:09Thanks for the time.
00:10How are you?
00:11Well, thank you for having me.
00:12It's a tragic day in D.C. land, unfortunately, but got to get through it.
00:17Got to move past it.
00:18Yeah, it's a disaster again, although I will say I went to bed thinking
00:22Jayden Daniel's season was over.
00:23All the momentum of the day, for what it's worth,
00:26seems like he's going to be back in a handful of weeks, perhaps.
00:29I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, though,
00:31because they did this last year, and it backfired,
00:34and it seems like they're going to do it again.
00:37Well, it was different injuries, I think, last year.
00:39I think, can't we find a brace for his left elbow?
00:42I mean, is there anything that anybody's invented over the last 80 years
00:46that might help his elbow's stability in that regard when he lands on it?
00:49Anything? Anybody? Is there a doctor in the house?
00:52Why wasn't he wearing a brace yesterday, do you think?
00:55I don't know.
00:56Usually when an offensive lineman hurts their knees, they wear knee braces.
00:59I don't know.
01:00If you're at your back, you wear a back brace.
01:02So I don't know.
01:03I don't know.
01:03It's just tragic, you know, the speed option at the two-yard line,
01:06and he trips over the guard, and next thing you know, misery.
01:11Just in terms of where they go from here,
01:13because I think a lot of people are so upset,
01:15people are so mad and disappointed,
01:17they're looking for somebody to blame.
01:18I think that's just bad luck that happened there.
01:21But in terms of going forward, when he's able to come back,
01:24given the fact that this is another significant injury before he's even started 30 games,
01:28how would you handle this, Jay, just in terms of trying to keep him upright?
01:32And, like, what can you do?
01:34He tripped over the guard's foot and landed on his elbow.
01:37I think moving forward, if there is a positive sign,
01:40if you're going to have an injury to a quarterback, make it your left elbow.
01:43I mean, we're an elbow brace, like I said before,
01:45and it's not going to inhibit his running.
01:47It's not going to inhibit his throwing.
01:48So he should be good to go.
01:50Once the doctors say it's stable enough, just let's get it protected and protect them.
01:53But I think Marcus Mariota is a capable quarterback.
01:55I think the more I watch these NFL teams right now,
01:58there's a lot of teams that are struggling right now.
02:00I think we can be competitive and get some wins in Jaden's absence.
02:05And when he comes back, be ready to fire.
02:06So it sounds like you wouldn't have any reservations.
02:09You wouldn't slow play this or essentially be more careful this time
02:13based on the elbow injury history.
02:16A left elbow, I would not be.
02:18You know, if it was a knee or something like that,
02:20or Achilles or something crazy, soft tissue injury like a hamstring, for sure.
02:24Or calf, but a left elbow, I'm just trying to think.
02:27You know, I played quarterback back in a long time ago,
02:29and I don't even use my left elbow.
02:31I think I'd be fine.
02:33Kurt Warner said he played the next week with a very similar injury.
02:36He said he had to change how he did handoffs.
02:37I remember that.
02:38He was handing it off backwards, going each direction with that left elbow tucked,
02:42and he was using his right arm in either way.
02:44So I don't know how much of that.
02:45I mean, there's a big difference between Warner,
02:47who never left the pocket in his life,
02:48and Daniels, who's running around every single play.
02:50I mean, that's the issue.
02:51He wore a brace.
02:52Like, everyone keeps saying, put on a brace.
02:54He wore a brace against the Vikings when he came back,
02:56and he left that game with an injury, too.
02:58Now, it worked because he didn't dislocate it,
02:59but he landed right on it, and he couldn't finish the game.
03:04Well, I don't know what to tell you guys.
03:05I know that I'm concerned like everybody else is,
03:08but we all just got to see him out there.
03:10I don't know how much longer you can wait with a dislocation.
03:13I mean, once the doctors say, hell, it's back in place and it's fine,
03:17he's got to go back in there.
03:18It's not going to get any more – it's not going to get any stronger.
03:20He's got to drink some goat milk or milk or something like that.
03:23But Cole McCoy used to drink milk right from the teat.
03:25You remember that?
03:26Maybe he needs to do that.
03:28I don't remember that, but Cole also was –
03:30Yeah, he got hurt a bunch, too, didn't he?
03:31He should have probably drank more milk, it sounds like.
03:33That didn't help him either, but maybe he'll help Jaden.
03:36He got hurt a few times, too.
03:37Jay Gruden is with us on Grant and Danny on the fan.
03:40So on a much bigger picture here, it sounds like you're not kind of as,
03:46I guess, perilous in how you feel about this as Danny and I,
03:50but it felt like yesterday, to me, was organizationally a sea change
03:54in the way of, like, I can't ever trust that this guy can stay on the field.
03:59I mean, when do you, as an org, start thinking about that?
04:01He's so good when he plays.
04:03Yesterday he was unbelievable.
04:05But in terms of – you don't have to make the decision today.
04:07There's 15 games left.
04:09But obviously there's no extension coming right now unless something changes.
04:13You know, if it goes really sideways and you're terrible again
04:15and you're firing a coach and you're picking high, you know,
04:18there's going to be talk about whether or not they should be in the business
04:21of a quarterback.
04:21Like, how does all of that work together, in your opinion,
04:25when he's this talented but he also can't go three games without getting hurt?
04:30Well, that has to be in the discussion for sure.
04:32I think the backup quarterback, who's now the starting quarterback
04:35for the Commanders, also went through that.
04:37He was a high draft pick, and he got hurt an awful lot.
04:40And that hurt his ability to make a huge contract, a big major deal, I believe,
04:44because he's a really talented player, Marcus.
04:46And I don't know how many injuries he's had in the past, but it's been a lot.
04:50So, yeah, it is something that people have to keep their eye on, man.
04:54Are you going to give this guy, the franchise, the keys of the car,
04:58and you're not sure he can play more than four games a year?
05:00It's a major concern.
05:02That was a concern of him coming out.
05:04Everybody knew he was really talented, but at the frame that he has,
05:06everybody was concerned about his ability to stay healthy.
05:09And I said, no, he's too good of an athlete.
05:11He can avoid the hits.
05:13He fell down and landed funny.
05:14I mean, it's not like he got tattooed in the pocket or running for a first down,
05:18hit by a safety in the face.
05:20I mean, this is just an accident.
05:22So, yeah, I don't know.
05:23I don't know what the answer is.
05:24I wish I did.
05:25But I think once he's ready to go, you've got to get back in there
05:28and see what he can do and finish the season off.
05:31Jay Gruden with us here.
05:31And on air and on the road, Jay Gruden is driven by the Ted Brick Automotive Group,
05:34Ted Brick Ford and Chantilly in Fairfax, your F-150 headquarters.
05:37Ted Brick Lincoln and Chantilly and Ted Brick Chevrolet and Sterling,
05:40all home to Ted Brick for life.
05:41Lifetime vehicle coverage.
05:42See and shop them all at tedbrick.com.
05:44You were here for the end of kind of the Griffin saga,
05:47so you didn't live through the 12 high, the 13 low,
05:49and kind of everything in between.
05:50But when you inherited that situation with multiple quarterbacks starting for you
05:55in terms of some of the injuries and kind of that rotation that had to happen,
05:58what did you hear about walking in to that situation when it came to Griffin?
06:04Well, he was healthy when I got there.
06:06You know, a lot of people have hurt their knees before.
06:08They get it rehabbed and they have surgery.
06:10That's a really good surgeon.
06:12I think Dr. Andrews did.
06:13He's one of the best surgeons in the country.
06:15And he was fine.
06:16He was healthy.
06:18I think he broke his ankle against the Jaguars for one of those games early in the season.
06:22And then we had the quarterback carousel going around.
06:25And Colt was a starter.
06:26And then he hurt his neck.
06:27And then it went back to Kurt.
06:28And here we go.
06:30It's very difficult, man.
06:31He just can't predict.
06:34He can't foreshadow injuries and preview, hey, what's going to happen if he gets hurt?
06:38I mean, you want your quarterback to play and play as often as possible
06:41and have that position as stable as possible.
06:44Because without a stable quarterback, you have really no chance in the National Football League
06:48to be successful.
06:49You've got to find that guy.
06:50And that guy's got to play for you every single week and every single year
06:54for you to have a chance to win Super Bowls.
06:56Do you still think there's a legitimate chance that Daniels can be that durable player,
07:01that he comes back braced up, gets surgery this offseason,
07:05and that he can string together a few years without injuries with his frame
07:09based on what we've seen?
07:12I mean, he played five years of college.
07:15Did he have any injuries in college?
07:17I don't recall that he did.
07:18Not like this.
07:20No, no.
07:20So I think he can.
07:22I mean, he's proven he can.
07:23Played Arizona State for a couple years.
07:25Got the crap beat out of him.
07:26He played LSU.
07:27And then he had a great rookie season with the Commanders.
07:32Took him to the NFC Championship.
07:33So, yeah, he's proven he can last 17 games.
07:34He just had a couple flukes, man.
07:36And hopefully that's what they are and they don't happen again.
07:39So in terms of where the team is here, Jay, lost in all this,
07:42obviously we're talking about Daniels, rightfully so.
07:44It's such an important and major story.
07:46That overhaul defense, they spent a whole bunch of money on it,
07:49and they couldn't stop Dallas at all.
07:51Just kind of give me your thoughts there.
07:53Yeah, that was a tough day.
07:55You know, they did get a stop there late in the second quarter,
07:57and Washington had a chance to go inbound 17-13 or tied up 17-17
08:01after that, you know, debacle of the option play.
08:07I thought they had their moments of playing pretty good.
08:09They rushed the passer, had a couple good blitzes,
08:10but the secondary to me is where they're hurting right now
08:14and hurting bad.
08:14So I think they've got to find some fix somewhere.
08:17I know that Robertson's a player they got from Detroit,
08:19and St. Estrell, they're both small guys.
08:21They both seem like nickels to me, not outside corners.
08:25Razul Douglas has been in the league for a long time,
08:27and obviously Amos is hurt, so they've got to find answers on the back end,
08:30not just corners, but safeties as well.
08:34I don't even know how to answer this,
08:35so I'm asking you a question that you probably can't answer,
08:38but I'm just curious for whatever input you've got.
08:41This is two straight years where they've been decimated by injuries.
08:44I know when you were here, you had one year specifically
08:47where the O-line especially was destroyed, I remember.
08:51But is there a way to quantify the injuries?
08:55Is it just luck?
08:56I mean, do you dive into and research how you're doing things
09:00in terms of preparation and practices and training?
09:06It just seems like two straight years, they've got guys dropping like flies.
09:11Yeah.
09:11No, we did everything.
09:13Tried everything.
09:13Tried lighter practices.
09:15We tried to be more physical.
09:16We tried everything.
09:18And we lost so many guys, I can't even count.
09:20And when you start losing quarterbacks, running backs, tight ends, tackles,
09:24linebackers, I mean, you've got no chance in this league.
09:26The backups just aren't quite as good.
09:28You're pulling your practice squad guys up week three and week four.
09:31You're going on the streets and trying to find some veteran free agent
09:34to play guard for you against Seattle.
09:35It's not easy to do.
09:37It's very difficult.
09:38Teams are going through it already.
09:39I looked at Dallas defense last night, and they already were without Obershaw.
09:44Winners got hurt.
09:45P.J. Lott got hurt.
09:46Kobe Bryant got hurt.
09:47So guys are dropping, and nobody knows the real reason for it.
09:51Some teams have tough training camps.
09:52Some people don't, and people still get hurt.
09:54What have we seen from the offense before Jaden Daniels' injury?
10:00Yeah, I thought it was good, man.
10:02I thought they were playing good, really.
10:03I thought, you know, the first drive was obviously a three and out.
10:06The drop ball by Terry McCord.
10:08Not drop.
10:08I thought he caught the ball in the end zone.
10:11Diggs had a nice touchdown.
10:12I thought De'Ami Brown had the touchdown at Mariota.
10:14They should have been called a touchdown.
10:17And then they had the 15-play drive there at the end of the half.
10:19You'd love to see them get points somehow, some way.
10:21They come out of there with nothing, and then to lose your quarterback just is like a kick
10:24right in the gut.
10:26So, yeah, I think they were doing some good things.
10:28Terry got involved in a little bit of horrible offensive P.I.
10:30call on Terry.
10:32But, yeah, it's just not much you can say, man.
10:35The quarterback got hurt, and he's out for the next three or four weeks.
10:38It's devastating.
10:40That OPI was awful, by the way.
10:42They called him for the most innocuous kind of like, I don't know, he was like getting
10:47jammed and just gets hands on a guy and breaks inside.
10:50They called an OPI.
10:51Might have been worse than that route.
10:54That's how you teach that route.
10:55Get inside, release, be physical with him, and explode out of your cut.
10:58He did exactly what he's taught.
10:59It was a great play.
11:00And then the De'Ami touchdown.
11:02How's that not a catch?
11:04The Dean Blandino's in the booth saying it's a catch.
11:06The head of referees is saying it's a catch.
11:09And the referees on the field, and they go to replay, say it's not a catch.
11:11How can that be?
11:13We don't know.
11:14I really don't.
11:15It made no sense to me.
11:16It made absolutely no sense.
11:19Jay Gruden is with us on G&D.
11:22Jay brought to us this year again by your friends, Danny.
11:25Yes, indeed.
11:26On air and on the road, Jay Gruden is driven by the Ted Bird Automotive Group, Ted Bird, Ford,
11:29and Chantilly in Fairfax, your F-150 HQ.
11:31Two, Ted Bird, Lincoln, and Chantilly in Ted Bird, Chevrolet, and Sterling all home to
11:34Ted Bird for Life.
11:35Lifetime vehicle coverage.
11:36See and shop them all at TedBrett.com.
11:39So, Jay, your final season here, you guys started 0-5 before they made the change.
11:46And I bring this up, and hopefully it doesn't get here, but I think Jay dropped, so we'll
11:51have to get him back on in just a moment.
11:53But I want to get his input on what it's like when you feel that pressure mounting, because
11:58they're 0-2 with Seattle coming to town.
12:01They could be 0-3.
12:02And next thing you know, you've got a trip to London.
12:04They don't have a bye after that.
12:06So, what is that like in the building?
12:10As I just, you can literally feel that scene under you getting warmer and warmer and warmer,
12:15and you keep looking at the schedule.
12:16And next thing you know, it's the Eagles and the Rams and the Niners.
12:18There's no break here, no break there, yeah.
12:20It's got to be tough.
12:22But his last game, I think, was against New England, if memory serves, in Week 5.
12:26It sounds right.
12:27I remember it was just this, everything's piling on, it's just the pressure mounts.
12:32That's kind of what we're talking about here, Jay, and Jay Gruden's back with us.
12:34When you look at this group, and they're 2-12 in the last 14 games, the one win was with
12:40Josh Johnson against Philly backups when they quite literally did not care in the final game
12:44of the season.
12:45And now they're 0-2 to start this year.
12:48Can you go back to your final year, that pressure that sort of mounts when you kind of have
12:52a sense, just because you're a human being with senses, and you recognize, hey, this
12:56isn't going great, and you can kind of feel that, kind of the world crashing around you?
13:00Yes, that's exactly what it feels like.
13:02The world's crashing around you.
13:03You've got people pointing at you as you're walking by, and everybody's quiet when you
13:06walk by, and doors are shut in the office, and people are making phone calls, trying
13:10to find their next job.
13:11It's not fun.
13:12So they've got to get out of this rut somehow, someway.
13:15Coach Quinn's got to rally the troops, rely on the defense, maybe take a page from Brian
13:19Florey's book and start blitzing the hell out of people, and try to do something to
13:23change the trail of where they're going right now, because right now it's bad.
13:29I mean, it's only two games right now.
13:31They've got Seattle next, which is part of why I feel like it's going really sideways,
13:35because we're just banking on that being difficult, but it's the league.
13:38They could come out.
13:39They could beat them, I suppose.
13:40When did the heat start turning up where you started kind of thinking, okay, I'm in
13:45a little bit of trouble if we don't get a win?
13:47That wasn't as quick as week two, right?
13:50Oh, yeah.
13:51It was the start of the season, actually, when they decided not to re-up my assistant
13:56coach's contracts.
13:57I had one year left, and typically with one year left on a contract, assistant coaches
14:00get a second year, just for the stability for the families and all that stuff.
14:04They said, no.
14:04I said, okay.
14:05We're in big trouble, boys.
14:07We've got to win early, and we lose the first game.
14:09We lose the second game, and yeah, and then all hell broke.
14:14I thought I was going to get fired after week three or four.
14:16Luckily, they kept me for the New England game.
14:18Thanks for that.
14:19That was very nice of them.
14:20Good New England team, and that might have been, you were down to the backup QB in that
14:24game, too, weren't you?
14:27We went back to Colt that game.
14:28He finally got healthy.
14:29I said, I'm going to go down.
14:30I'm going to go down and throw Colt in there and see what he can do.
14:32We scored on the first possession of the game, and after that, it was a bloodbath.
14:36But yeah, so that's it.
14:39So they're in dire straits now, all of a sudden, after just a couple weeks, right?
14:43Just with all the things swirling around him, some of the injuries, et cetera, with a great
14:46opponent coming to town.
14:48What do they do?
14:49Where do they go from here?
14:51Well, I think Marcus does some good things.
14:54We've got to make sure he stays healthy, for God's sake.
14:56I talked about his injury history.
14:58But he's an adequate player.
14:59He can win some games for Washington.
15:01He's already proven that.
15:02He's a good player.
15:03He can get outside the pocket, use his legs.
15:04I'm more concerned about the left tackle.
15:06He got hurt.
15:07Cosme got hurt at right guard.
15:08I think he had a concussion.
15:09Hopefully, he's okay.
15:09He doesn't have any concussion history.
15:12So yeah, the offensive line is already kind of a mess.
15:15Now, with those two guys out, I don't know what that's going to look like.
15:18Especially against the Seattle defense, for God's sake.
15:20So that's the biggest concern.
15:22I think you've just got to stick to your guns a little bit.
15:24Try to come up with some gimmicky-type plays.
15:26I know Blau tried a couple back-to-back on some double passes.
15:29One was wide open, and Antonio missed it.
15:32The other one was a screen pass.
15:34Something of that nature.
15:35But it's going to be tough sledding, because it's hard to run the ball against Seattle.
15:38And we know when they can rush the passer, it's hard to protect against Seattle in known
15:43passing situations.
15:44So somehow keep it close.
15:46Play good defense.
15:47And keep the offense off the field.
15:49And try to kick some field goals.
15:50And keep it close.
15:51And win at the end.
15:51That's the only thing you can do.
15:52Like we did against Seattle on the road.
15:54Yeah, it was a great game.
15:55I remember there was like the long cousins to Doxon in the rain, diving catch.
16:00Like 11 guys out in that game.
16:02That was pretty impressive.
16:03Last one for me would be, you speak about Blau and some of the trick plays they called.
16:09I actually thought this was way better.
16:11Now, Dallas' defense is way worse than Phillies.
16:14But it felt like they got receivers open.
16:16You combine the two quarterbacks on the day and their efficiency.
16:19And this is without the De'Ami touchdown catch.
16:21They rolled incomplete and a near touchdown for McLaurin that got dropped.
16:25And it was still 22 of 33 for right around 200 yards and two touchdowns.
16:31I thought the passing game looked way better.
16:34Yeah, it did.
16:35They did a pretty good job of mixing it up.
16:36Rashad White had a couple hits in the running game.
16:38And obviously, Jaden scrambling early in the game really helped out a lot.
16:42He had some big, big, I think 60 yards rushing.
16:44That helps a lot when your quarterback does that.
16:46And I think they can still have an element of that with Marcus
16:49because he's really good with his legs.
16:50He kept plays alive in the second half there and did some really good things.
16:54So, moving forward, I think they're going to have to rely on Marcus' ability to run
16:57and make some plays with his legs.
17:00Who's the guy they need to get more out of to remain competitive here without Jaden Daniels?
17:07Oh, my God.
17:08Everybody.
17:08I mean, is Chig ever going to – is he hurt again?
17:11I mean, tight end play needs to get better.
17:13The running game needs to get better.
17:15Obviously, Terry McLaurin's got to come up with some big plays.
17:17I know they tried really hard to get up some big plays down the field.
17:20He had to drop in the end zone on the double pass.
17:22It was just overthrown a little bit.
17:24I think Terry's a big one.
17:27Stephon Diggs doing what he does in the slot.
17:28Antonio doing his things.
17:30I think they do a good job of mixing it up, getting everybody involved.
17:33But figure out a way to manufacture a couple big plays would be huge.
17:37Jay, thank you as always.
17:38We appreciate you.
17:40You got it.
17:41Thank you, guys.
17:41Thanks, buddy.
17:42Jay Gruden will be with us all season long Mondays after the game at 5 o'clock.
17:47This does sound today a little better than maybe anticipated.
17:50Maybe this is not going to result in surgery.
17:53Adam Schefter's saying Jaden Daniels does not want to have surgery.
17:57There is the possibility that he could play through the pain if he braces up.
18:02The question for you guys on the phones at 800-636-1067, do you think if he were to come
18:08back in a few weeks and wear a brace, he can stay healthy?
18:12Do you think if they fix this issue where whenever he plants with his hand on the ground, his elbow
18:18pops out of place, and that doesn't happen anymore this season, is the brace the answer here?
18:23And then they can bring him back and keep him on the field and have a season.
18:29800-636-1067.
18:31GND.
18:31GND.
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