Tag: Chris Russell Show

Jay Gruden on Commanders: ‘It was hard to watch’

Some good perspective from a former quarterback and head coach.

The Commanders took major steps backward in Sunday’s Week 3, 37-3 loss to the Buffalo Bills, according to Jay Gruden.

Gruden was appearing for his weekly appearance on “The Chris Russell Show” on The Team 980 weekdays from 1-4 p.m ET.

“I really didn’t see a lot of separation by the receivers; Buffalo did a great job of matching the routes, playing tight coverage,” added Gruden.

Gruden expressed that for a young quarterback who is getting his first starts in his career, it is difficult for them not to get stuck on a receiver. Thus, when the coverage was as good as was the Bills, Sunday, Sam Howell was then holding the ball, resulting in more sacks and quarterback hits.

For the record, the Bills sacked Howell nine times. When they didn’t sack Howell, they recorded an additional 15 quarterback hits and also intercepted him four times.

The former University of Louisville quarterback stated that during the game, when the coaches are talking to Howell through the helmet technology, they should be reminding him often to “check down.”

Gruden clarified, saying you might not need to do this with an experienced veteran, but you really should be proactive in your communication with an inexperienced guy like Howell.

The former Redskins head coach (2014-19) pointed out there are different ways to help protect your quarterback, saying, “You keep a couple of extra guys in to protect, which means you will only have a two and three-man route. You can also come up with three-level throws. You can double-team a defensive end from time to time to give your outside lineman some relief from time to time.”

The former Bengals and Jaguars offensive coordinator admitted, “It is a head-scratcher because it is not like Robinson (Brian) was getting stuffed each time he ran the ball. He was getting four and five yards.”

“When you have a young quarterback, you have to take some pressure off of him, throwing a screen pass, throwing a bubble screen, getting back to some of those RPOs they had some success with in the third quarter.”

“Really, the biggest problem I had was when it was 30-0, and they kept him in and kept getting him killed. It’s not the best way to build a young quarterback’s confidence… it was hard to watch.”

Local radio host evaluated Sam Howell at Commanders OTAs Wednesday

“I’ve seen a lot of crappy quarterbacks come and go. He [Howell] ain’t one of those guys.”

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Chris Russell, a radio host for The Team 980, wanted his listeners to know what he saw from Sam Howell today at OTAs.

This is how he opened a segment of Wednesday’s show.

“Sam Howell is going to be good at times. He is going to be really good at times.”

“I’ve seen a lot of quarterbacks come and go over the years. I’ve been around this team for 14 years now. I’ve seen a lot of crappy quarterbacks come and go. He ain’t one of those guys.”

Russell continued that even great quarterbacks have times when they struggle with accuracy or mechanics and timing. He then said Sam Howell is not one of those guys either.

“But there are going to be times, probably a bunch of times, when you want to pull your hair out because Sam Howell is not going to connect on something that he probably should.”

Russell reminded Howell’s fans that Howell has a grand total of one NFL game of experience. Further, Howell is learning from different coaches, (QB, OC), learning a different language, learning a different system.

“Sam Howell is going to be late, behind, inaccurate. He is not going to see something. I saw it today, as he was maddeningly inconsistent. He was all over the place. He should have gotten picked about six times.”

“Sam Howell was brutal at times today. When you watched him today, at times you said, ‘OMG, does he suck!’ Awful, inaccurate, late, choppy footwork, hesitation, not good ball location, not on target.”

Russell further elaborated that there were times plays seemed disjointed, nothing was open, Howell was having to scramble to his right, scramble to his left, Brian Robinson missed a block, etc.

“The one thing I do want to point out right now before I go any further. When Sam Howell struggles, you can see it. He is struggling, man. He is on the struggle bus. But when Sam Howell rips it, when Sam Howell sees it, and when Sam Howell knows it, it’s beautiful.”

“If he can do these types of plays five or six times in a game, you are going to say, ‘OMG, finally we have something to hang our hat on at quarterback’.”

“That was my big-picture takeaway from my hour or so today in Command Land.”