Tag: Chris Cooley former Redskins TE

Chris Cooley amazed by Sonny Jurgensen

Chris Cooley offers the ultimate praise for Sonny Jurgensen, thankful to be a part of his life.

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Chris Cooley knows greatness when he sees it and he readily has praised Sonny Jurgensen over the years.

The two-time Pro Bowl tight end out of Utah State was a Redskin from 2004-2012 and then was employed as a member of the team’s radio game-day broadcasts from 2013-2019.

Jurgensen had begun working the broadcasts in the 1981 season with Frank Herzog and Sam Huff. When Huff needed to step aside due to health issues, Cooley was hired as his replacement. Cooley then had the opportunity to work with Larry Michael and Jurgensen during the 2013-2018 seasons. In Cooley’s final 2019 season, it was a two-man booth with Michael doing the play-by-play.

A guest on the “Kevin Sheehan Show” podcast Thursday, Cooley, with no preparation, spoke to Sheehan glowingly of Jurgensen, the man, and fellow broadcaster.  Cooley was happy for Jurgensen that his No. 9 is finally being retired Sunday at FedEx Field in the 2022 season finale against Dallas.

“It was amazing for me to get to know Sonny. As a player, he was always amazing, as he and Sam were always great to me. Many times on the bus on game days, I would sit with those two, have a chance to talk with those guys about their careers.”

“As I called the games, I was so appreciative to have had Sonny as part of my life. He was great with my children. He was great with my wife.”

“He was unbelievable as a player, unbelievable as a broadcaster. And without saying anything else about who deserves jerseys retired, for everything that Sonny did as a part of Washington, he deserved his jersey retired a long time ago.”

“It is somewhat unfortunate, in my opinion, that it is game number 17 in a non-impactful game. Like you said earlier, there will be more Cowboy fans. But the fact of the matter is they are retiring his jersey, and it will be forever that his jersey is retired.”

“It is something that he gets to be a part of while he is still alive, his family gets to be a part of, and I am so proud of all that he did.”

“I have always been amazed by Sonny.”

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Chris Cooley: ‘The Commanders have glaring protection issues’

Chris Cooley identifies a major problem with Washington’s offense.

Sunday night’s game at FedEx Field against the Giants is huge for both teams’ playoff hopes.

You may recall the Giants really got after Taylor Heinicke. The Commanders experienced difficulty in protecting Heinicke against the Giants. Chris Cooley addressed this and here are a few excerpts of Cooley describing what he observed to Kevin Sheehan on Sheehan’s podcast.

“They have glaring protection issues. And they know they have glaring protection issues because they are max-protecting 70% of the time.”

Cooley was alluding to how the Commanders are keeping tight ends in and running backs as well to block, trying to protect Taylor Heinicke, but that means they are also on these instances running only three-man routes combinations.

“Dude, that is 1977 Don Coryell. That is really hard to execute in the NFL right now, and you are really putting a lot on your quarterback to make big-time throws down the field. It is a hard deal to get done in three-man route combinations.”

“You cannot turn guys loose off of the edge… The Giants were getting free hitters on five-man rushes. I get it when you stink at protecting, but this is a consistent problem for Washington.”

“You cannot score points in the NFL this way. You can score 20 points. You can find a way to execute and make a couple of throws on a couple of drives, But you cannot consistently drive the ball down the field and score when you are max-protecting 70% of the time.”

“The first sack-fumble was a max-protect. But when one, two or three is not open, where are we going with the ball? If you are max-protecting and you look to the right and then back to the center and if both are not open, you are gone! Go (run) or get out of the pocket, one or the other. Make something happen or run.”

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Washington legend Chris Cooley: ‘I am very thankful’

Cooley reiterates how thankful he is to the fans and organization for his NFL career.

Honestly, Chris Cooley should NOT have been misunderstood.

Cooley had declared on the Wednesday edition of the “Kevin Sheehan Show” podcast that he would not be attending this weekend’s Washington Commanders Alumni/Homecoming to be honored as one of the franchise’s 90 greatest players.

Yet, there were fans on Twitter and other social media criticizing Cooley’s decision not to attend. Some went as far as saying he didn’t appreciate the fans voting for him the honor of being one of the 90 best players.

Yet, if fans were simply better listeners, they would have understood much better what Cooley had actually said… and didn’t say. We here at Commanders Wire quoted him accurately and in the proper context of Wednesday’s dialog between Cooley and Sheehan.

But Friday, there was Cooley, making another good effort for those fans who frankly have not yet developed the ability to listen or read well. He is to be commended for his efforts and patience.

Here is what Cooley told Sheehan on Friday’s podcast.

“Funny, because I have had a couple of people call me that are close to me, and everybody knows exactly what I meant specifically, and that seems to be enough.”

Sheehan simply agreed, “Right.”

Cooley reiterated and elaborated a bit on his Wednesday statement, not contradicting himself in the least.

“But, to be very clear, this does NOT have to do with the name change. Although I did say when it immediately happened (with you) that it does feel like a different team with the name change. That is not the reason at all. But it’s easy for me in that sense to say, ‘I played for this team, and now they are that team.'”

“I am very thankful to everyone, again, who voted, to the fans, to everybody that was a part of my career, really incredibly thankful. It was an unbelievable ride. I was proud to be part of one organization my whole career; it meant the world to me.”

“I don’t want this to come off as dismissive or unappreciative. That is not what this is about. I am not trying to be the bad guy, and I am just not going to. I am not going to try to be that.”

“I don’t want to talk about why or what. I want to end with; I’m just not interested in being a part of the Washington Commanders right now. I talk about them with you (Sheehan), but I am not interested in being a part of them at this point.

“And I don’t really have anything else to say. I am not blaming anybody. This is where we are today.”

Sheehan (in my opinion) wisely chose not to even respond or to attempt to get Chris to empty any more of his heart. He simply permitted Cooley to speak for himself and left it that, concluding that segment of the podcast.