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Jay Gruden spent almost six seasons as the head coach of the Washington NFL franchise. During that time, he dealt with a lot of quarterback questions, from Robert Griffin III to Colt McCoy to Kirk Cousins.
Now, Gruden analyzes games from afar and is a weekly guest on “Russell & Medhurst” on The Team 980 and joined the show Monday to talk about Washington’s Week 16 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
In the loss to the 49ers, head coach Ron Rivera benched quarterback Taylor Heinicke in favor of former starter Carson Wentz. After the game, Rivera didn’t say if the move was permanent but that a decision would come quickly ahead of the preparation for the Week 17 game against the Cleveland Browns.
Gruden thought Heinicke played well against the 49ers, especially in the first half.
“I think Taylor played one of his better games in the first half, contrary to popular belief,” Gruden said. “He played well, he had some good third-down conversions, he had a nice touchdown pass, he moved around in the pocket. And then he had the two unfortunate plays to start the fourth quarter, the sack-fumble wasn’t on him, and the interception, I don’t think was on him either after watching the tape.”
Heinicke did have some impressive conversions on third down. Considering the Commanders struggled to run against San Francisco, Heinicke’s conversions looked even more impressive. Washington seemingly lived in third-and-long vs. the 49ers.
Gruden’s comment on the interception was interesting. If you watched the game copy, it looked like a terrible decision. However, when you watch it back, as Gruden did, there is reason to believe Heinicke was expecting something different from his receiver. After the game, Heinicke took full responsibility for the interception.
As for the move to Wentz, Gruden understood the move from a coaching perspective.
“It’s unfortunate for Heinicke, but as a coach, and you’re down three scores, and you need to get chunk yardage back, I think it was probably the right decision to go to Carson at that time,” he said. Gruden explained his decision by noting Wentz’s arm strength can give you more chunk throws.
Who would Gruden roll with for the final two games?
“Heinicke is the guy that kinda got them in this position to make this playoff run, so I personally, would stick with Heinicke, but that’s just me,” Gruden said. “But I wouldn’t be surprised if they went with Wentz.”
Rivera will name his starter soon, and it would be a surprise if he goes with Heinicke against the Browns.