January 25, 2025 • 30 mins
The Washington Commanders are headed back to Philadelphia to take on the Eagles in the NFC Championship! Senior Writer Zach Selby is joined by Al Galdi and Juan Romero to break down how Washington can get to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1991.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:11):
What is that? What's going on, y'all? This is another
episode of the Beatdown podcast and we're back. We are here.
We have survived in at least another week because the
Washington Commanders have advanced to the conference championship for the
first time since the nineteen ninety one season. And how
about that win, right, a forty five to thirty one
(00:31):
victory over the Detroit Lions. Is just I remember sitting
there just listening to the broadcast and thinking, oh my god,
this is actually going to happen, because you always want
something like this to happen, right, You always vision and
vision whenever you work in sports, or whether you're like
me or you're somebody else, you always want to be
able to go to a championship game. And still don't
know if it's really it really hit me yet because
(00:52):
I've been working for this team's going on my six
years now and we haven't really gotten close. This is
the first time I've been to playoff games is twenty
twenty longest I've been working this intensely for a season.
But here we are, and it's one of those pincherrself
ones because it truly is, truly is magical and They're
going to have a three match, if you will, against
(01:14):
the Philadelphia Eagles for a ticket to the Super Bowl
in New Orleans against the the AFC champion. And surprise, surprise,
this Eagles team is still as dominant as they were
the first two times that they played the Commanders. Jalen
Carter is phenomenal. Taekwon Barkley has since rushed for two
thousand and five yards in a season. Jalen hurts good,
(01:37):
but we'll maybe he's a little bit injured there. We'll see.
We'll see what he's got going on for the rest
of the week. And how are the Commanders going to
do this? How are they going to advantage to a
Super Bowl for the first time since ninety one and
the first time in dan Quinn's regime. Well, that is
exactly what we're going to be talking about today and
with when we have Wander Marrow from the Spanish broadcast one.
(01:58):
How you doing doing good?
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Doing good? This? As excited as you are? Man Championship week?
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Oh okay through the roof Cloud nine, still am. And
on the other side of this, we have Alcoholty. You
can find him on the Alghaloty podcast out high You.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Doing doing well, super pumped, amazing that we are here.
But here we are, and let the good times continue, guys.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Yes, let the good times keep on rolling. And guys
listening to this, they know the deal by now. They've
listen to this for better part of four months. Now, debates, questions, points, winners, losers.
I get to decide who the winner is. With all
that being said, let's just jump right into it here,
and I think we have to start with this Philadelphia
(02:41):
Eagles defense, specifically one guy, Jalen Carter, because, my god,
as I mentioned at the top of the show, he
has just been a dominant force up front this year. Definitely,
if he's not top of the top defensive tackle in
the league, he's definitely top two or three. This guy
has been a mauler. He has just been this. He's
been the same player in the postseason as he has
been in the regular season. Right he has seven tackles,
(03:05):
two sacks to sixteen sack yards loss, two tackles for loss, twas,
two bass breakups, had a forced fumble he had last
week against the Los Angeles Rams. And he's going to
be a problem for this for this Washington Commanders offense.
That is gonna be without Sam Cosmy as he had
an ACL injury against the Lions and he will be
(03:25):
out for the remainder of the playoffs. Is going to
be again, it's going to be I think one of
the one of the top priorities, if not the top
priority to get a final answer for him. So one,
we shall start with you, what do you do with
this guy? Like, what do you do with Davin Carter?
Especially if you're down you're starting right guard heading into
this NFC Championship matchup.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Well, I think the first thing you have to do
is get hands on him. Don't hold him. I get
your hands on and get your shoulder pads on him.
Don't let him have a free run like he did
to basically kill the game for the Rams last week
and on that last minute drive that the Rams were
I mean a lot of success on he single handedly
killed the game right there. He had freedom run because
of a confusion on the offensive line. I think that's
(04:07):
what you know, Dan Quinn and the offensive coaches need
to make focus here on this game is no mistakes,
no mistakes on the line. Make sure you know your
assignment and always know where ninety eight is at.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Yeah, I think that's definitely the case. And again, even
if you know where he's at, he's he's really hard
to stop because he's got such quick canes, he's got
such quick feed. He's a powerful dude. He's got a
rare blend of skills here and the quarter of PFF
you know, regular in postseason, he's the fourth highest graded
pass rusher for his position. He has sixty five total pressures,
(04:44):
seven sacks. I mean, he's got fifteen his forty three hurries.
I mean this, this dude is such a big presence
in the past game and I think you know, Jaydon
Jane Dannis has proven he can make a guy miss.
But again, Jalen Carter has just been He's been a
big challenge for the for any interior off at the
line that he's gone up against. And I'll go over
you next and we save question. I mean, if you're
(05:06):
Cliff Kingsbury, if you're Jaden Daniels, and you're all this
guy at all the guys in this this oppensive meeting
room trying to figure out how you stop Jalen Carter,
what are you doing?
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Yeah, so I don't think you stop Jalen Carter. I
think you survive Jalen Carter as best as you can.
I mean, Cliff Kingsbury has said it. Now that Aaron
Donald is retired, Carter may well be the single best
interior defensive lineman in the NFL. We saw the at
least somewhat surprising tactic of Trent Scott put in place
of Cosme during the winning at the Lions, but you
(05:37):
know that was an in game thing. I really do wonder,
with a week to prepare, if we see another path
taken and to me and you know it's always tricky
with offensive line play, but just outside looking in, what
you always want to do is get your five best
offensive linemen on the field. In theory, you could do
that if you shifted Andrew Willie from right tackle to
(05:58):
right guard and to put Cornelia's luck is at right tackle.
Wiley has played guard. I don't know that that necessarily
is where he is at his best, but generally speaking,
guard is easier than tackle. So if a guy can
do reasonably well at tackle, he should be able to
do at least reasonably well at guard. I would think
(06:18):
that that's on the table now. We don't know what
you know, Cliff Kingsbury and Dan Quinn are necessarily thinking here,
But I think it starts with coming up with, Okay,
what is our best setup when it comes to starting
front five for this game, and then you go from there,
because look, even if Cosmy was healthy, I mean, Cosmey
had issues with Jalen Carter, like he's a really tough matchup.
(06:40):
So I think you got to figure out, Okay, what
is our best way to make up for Cosmy being out? Personally,
I would do Wiley at guard, Lucas at tackle, and
then you go from there and you hope for the best,
but it's not easy. Carter is a force. The Eagles
defense has been tremendous this season. The Commanders know that,
and this is probably the same biggest concern for Washington
(07:02):
in this game, handling that mighty interior of the Eagles
defensive line. Given that caused me is out.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Yeah, it really, it really is. And again, really tough
for cose Me to see him go out like that,
because I mean, that's one of the biggest fears as
an off the lineman because you're getting rolled up from
the back like that. There's really nothing you can do
about except it's move your feet, and even then it's
kind of a little bit of a gamble. But you
mentioned you mentioned the difference between garden tackle, and I
mean you are right. I mean, gard in some ways
(07:29):
is definitely a little bit easier than tackle. But uh,
you know, I think you know, Trent Scott or Andrew Walla,
do you have the size, I think the girth to
to be able to handle that position swap because you
need to be wide up. But you also have really
quick feed, the ability to pull, and you be able
to dig out those nose guards. You got those three
techniques and work on those combos up to the second level.
(07:50):
I think Andrew Willy and Tren Scott do have that ability.
But you mentioned Trent Squatt, and I think he did
do well for what he was given. You know, for
what it's worth, he did have the best pastors in
great cording to PFF, among all of Washington's off of
the lineman. After that game, so one, you know, al
brings up the prospect of maybe maybe moving Andrew Willie
over to guard, putting Cornelis who was the right tackle.
(08:11):
I mean, what would you what would you do between
those two between you know what that first proposition also
just letting Trent s God, just state that guard position
is letting it roll there.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
I mean, we don't see the practices, right, we don't
see what they're doing every day. I mean, they have
an active Chris Paul for most of the year, but
we've seen that he's actually handled guard pretty well at time.
I don't know if that's an option that's on the
table as well. Moving Andrew Wiley to the inside might
be might be probably the best move, because you're right,
(08:41):
we want to put Lucas on the field. He's played
both sides of the line at tackle, and you need
your best offensive lineman. I think Al has a point.
You want your best five out there. And you know,
I think that Andrew has done a great job at
right tackle, but it's not anything that you know, you'd say, oh,
it's a spectacular You're you're gonna miss, you know, something
(09:03):
super out there on the outside. So I think Cornelius
Lucas stepping in for him on the right side and
maybe Wiley on the inside it might be a good combination.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Yeah, I think it might be. And again, this is
one of those things that Cliff d Q, they're not
going to tell us. This is one of those things
that we're not going to see in the open portion
of practice there if they if that is the decision
they go, they're going to tweak that and and play
with that as best they can. And I think it
is very key that, you know, you do have Corniscus
who has played very well at tackle whenever he's been
(09:33):
put in there, and also that experience of guard with Wiley.
It just seems like that would be a good option.
But again, I think I think Trend has shown that
he can at least do some something in the run game,
just straight up against against some guys that granted, Dylan
Carter is a different kind of guy compared to what
they were seeing with the Lions, I think that he
can at least maybe handles on it if he gets
some chip held and he gets some help from the
(09:54):
set from tallabadish or or Andrew Wiley up their tackle.
But al before we move on to the next question,
I want to ask you, like in terms of establishing
this run game against I guess a really really good
you know, deep in the front with the Eagles. I mean,
obviously Jaen card is gonna pay big role in that,
but like, what else can they do to replicate the one
hundred and eighty two yards that they had against the Lions,
(10:15):
because I think that was a really big point in
keeping the town possession and keeping that offense churning while
they were able to establish some points. Yeah, that was massive.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
I mean, it's funny the Commanders have won seven consecutive games,
but that was the best the rushing offense in terms
of running backs had been since the first game of
that winning streak to win over the Titans. I mean,
throughout the winning streak, the rushing offense had not been
that good. Dan Quinn has been pretty you know, blunt
about that. So a lot of what the Commanders did
in the win at the Lions in terms of the
(10:44):
rushing offense was spread the Lions out. The RPO game
really opened things up, and that allowed for the Commanders
to do which I always want to do, which is
run against light boxes. The problem with the Eagles is,
first of all, their defense is not nearly as banged
up as the Lions defense. Second of all, the Eagles
defense is a lot better than the Lions defense. And
third of all, there ain't nothing light about those Eagles boxes.
(11:05):
Well mighty Jalen Carter in the middle, So it's gonna
be a tall task to run the ball as well
as the Commanders did this past Saturday night, this coming
Sunday afternoon. Now, that doesn't mean that that can't happen.
You know, It's funny I mentioned that game against the Titans.
One of the things that gets forgotten about that game.
The Titans went into that game with one of the
best run defenses in the NFL, and the Commanders ran
(11:28):
the ball down the throat of the Titans. So, you know,
we can talk about stats and matchups all we want.
Sometimes it's just about, hey, how you perform on that day.
So I'm not dismissing any possibility, but I do think
we have to be realistic here. I mean, even when
the Commanders beat the Eagles about a month ago. Now,
it's not like the Commanders ran the ball exceptlutely well
in that game, Like that was a Jade and Daniel
(11:48):
specialty that was airing the ball out. And I think
when it comes to offensive success, that's a lot of
what you're going to have to be looking at. Doesn't
mean that you give up on the running game, but
I think that we do have to be mindful of
what happened last Saturday night, Is it necessarily what's gonna
be happening in this Sunday afternoon.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
No, that's that's absolutely true. And I think you know,
it's gonna come down to how much they really trust
the run game, because they they run the ball forty
two times against the Lions, and that's that'd be great
if they were able to do that. I don't know
if they're going to be able to do so, especially
with me the kind of path, kind of passer that
that Jaden is, and also considering what happened with Kenyon
(12:26):
on Mitchell, I think that could be an golden opportunity
for them to establish a good presence through the passing
game and maybe that'll set up the run game. I
think it also b Rob continues to improve the way
he did against the Lions. I think that's a good
positive sign here. We will move on to the next question.
But score update here, you guys are tied heading into this.
Really good points made by both guys, and we're to
(12:46):
move on to the second question here, which will gonna
be the have the Commanders defense deals with Jailen Hurts.
We've been mentioning this a couple of times. He Jalen
Hurts did come out a little hobbled in that game,
and Nix, you're on to say, we'll see how the
week goes. You know, I think it was Jalen Hurts
who's sat out of the game. Look, I finished the game.
That's all that really matters. At this point, he seems
like he's gonna be ready to go, And just from
a competitor standpoint, I would be very shocked if he
(13:08):
didn't go out there and play, because this is a
you never know when you're going to get back out
of this opportunity again, even when you're a talented team
is the Eagles. But he really has not put up
solid numbers of the passer this year. Nine of his
nine games through nine games this year, he throw for
fewer than two hundred yards. And also it just seems
like whenever you put the ball in his hands more
(13:29):
often than not, that's kind of the way that you
beat the Eagles, as weird as that sounds. If you
if you make him become a passer, it makes it
a lot harder for him to do things. So all
will start with you here, and I want to ask you, like,
what's the best way that this secondary and this defense
can take advantage of Jalen hurts deficiencies as a passer
because again hasn't really done what you would want from
(13:52):
from an offense as just talent wise stacked as that
group is. Yeah, it's been an ideal.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
I mean the Eagles, of course two and zero postseason,
but you look at their total net yards passing in
each game, just a buck twenty one in the win
over the Packers, just sixty five in the win over
the Rams. Hurts sacks seven times in that game, didn't
miss an offensive snap, but got fitted for a knee
brace on his left knee during the game. So he's
not one hundred percent now you know, like how much
(14:20):
less than one hundred percent he is? Who the heck knows,
But like he clearly is not one hundred percent. If
you see the sack on which he suffered the safety,
I mean, he did not look like the Jalen Hurts
who we have come to know. You know, it's an
ideal with Hurts because I don't think he's a bad quarterback,
but I think the last year or two has kind
of shown us he's maybe not as good as it
was looking like he might be. Given the restricted mobility.
(14:44):
Given that the Eagles passing offense right now is not hummin'.
I think this is a pressure situation. Some of the
especially like sim pressures from the Rams in the last game,
really gave Hurt some problems. I think that might be
a way to go if you're Joe Wit junior. You know,
Joe Whit does like to blitz a decent amount. Obviously
there's always risk in doing that, but I think you
(15:05):
can get to Hurts here. I mean the guy again,
seven sacks he took in that game against the Rams.
That's that's a very significant number. And when it comes
to the other aspect of the Eagles offense, Saquon Barkley, Look,
he's gonna get his to at least some degree, especially
with how this Commander's run defense has been this season.
And again, you've got to be realistic about things. If
you shut Saquon down, awesome, but you know, are you
(15:26):
counting on that? So I think the path to defensive
success here is can you do a good job against
this Eagles passing offense. I think that you can, especially
if Hertz is in fact ailing. I would like to
think that Marshawn Lattimore in this game will be better
than he was in that last game against the Eagles.
I was a tough spot for Latimore coming off the
hamstring being tasked with AJ Brown. I thought Latimore was
(15:48):
better in the win at the Lions, and I look
for him to continue to do well. Mikey sand was
still is doing really well. Kwan Martin's doing really well.
So I think the Commander's secondary is in a good place.
Noah igbanagany, I don't think he gets enough credit, So secondary,
I think is in a good place. Firts does not
appear to be in a good place. This is the
defensive matchup for the Commanders that actually way well break
(16:09):
in their favor.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Yeah, I mean you mentioned Saquon, and like the struct
of the question, because I mean, the key to the
key to this game at all, it is the stopping Saquon.
If you do that, it's great. But nobody has done
that all year. So it's it's more like, Okay, tackle him, great,
that's fantastic if you can do it. Nobody really has
been able to do so. But one will switch over
to you here and the same sort of question, but
I want to also just kind of focus on the
(16:32):
secondary here. Because it brings up you know, Latimore, Ignogny, Sammer. Still,
all those guys have really seemed to come into their
own recently, especially with Latimore. Seemed like in that that
lines game, he really don't play that one size was
moving around. So what do you what do you see
out of that out of that group there, and how
can they do their job to affect Jalen Hurst's options
heading into heading into Sunday.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Yeah, I mean that's what I was going to say
that you know, in the first few games with Latimore,
you know, you had them following the the number one
receiver all over the field, and I think over these
last couple of games where you've just given him at
least at the second half of the Tampa game, uh
and versus the Lions, he played half the field and
he did well. He did very good. He did very good.
(17:14):
You know, you saw them testing out Sanders still, golf
tested sander Is still quite a few times, and Sander
still came through. So I think the key is our
pass rush and al mentioned it seven sacks. A lot
of those weren't Hurts to be honest, a lot of
those is not on this offensive line. The offensive line
(17:34):
is a great offensive line. But if you confuse hurts,
if you if you give him looks that he doesn't like,
he doesn't like to throw turn off, he doesn't like
to risk throwing interceptions. So you got you have to
get to him. You have to make sure that you're
giving them different looks and confusing him.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
You know, I prefer more coverage than than blitzing him
because he if you know he's hurt, you got you
gotta see this injury report the next couple of days.
If you know he's hurt, he's not gonna run, So
there's no threat of him running. So I feel like
you just need to play the coverage and make sure
that you're confusing him.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Yeah, and I think, you know, the pass rushing against
his offensive line is so interesting because to my to
my eye, the Eagles have the best offensive line of
the game. Uh. They they're they're full of all Pro
They're full of Pro Bowlers. I mean, they're these are
guys that they have homegrown, talent, driven guys are I mean,
they're the best of their craft in a lot of
different ways. So you mentioned bringing the simulated pressures, and
(18:30):
I mean, do you think that's that's enough to get
passes off of the line to put pressure on Jailing
because it seems like whenever he's out there, he just
has all day to throw. And you know, that's probably
one of the reasons why he hasn't been able to
throw the hadn't had to throw the ball so much
because he doesn't really need to, especially with Saquan and
all them. So like, I mean, how do you how
do you is there is there a simple way to
(18:52):
get past this offensive line put pressure on jail In
and maybe the injury plays the part in there as well.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
Yeah, no, there isn't a simple way. I mean a
simp pressure. The idea would that you can confuse Hurts
enough pause, enough pause to wear he's a bit off.
But yeah, the Eagles offensive line is outstanding and there's
probably only so much penetration you're going to be generating.
So the hurt sacks, to Want's point, a lot of
them are going to have to be on him. Now
(19:17):
we know how it is a lot of mobile quarterbacks
take sacks because they're out there scrambling buying time. So
that is part of this equation too. But again, seven sacks,
I mean, that's an unacceptable total. That's not something that
any quarterback should ever be taken. And I don't care
you know what his characteristics happened to be. So yeah,
I mean, we don't know the status of this knee. Again,
(19:37):
it's a weird deal. He did not miss a snap
in that game against the Rims. He played on one
hundred percent of the Eagles offensive snaps. But he got
fitted for a knee brace, So that's significant. Like, that's
not nothing. And again, if you watch the game, he
did not appear to be himself. So we'll see. But
I think there's an overarching theme here, which is the
Eagles passing offense is not in a great place right now.
(19:58):
It's not killing it, it's not thriving the way Saquon
Barkley is thriving. And so if you can keep that
going for just one more week, that very much plays
into the Commander's favor as much as the Commander's run
defense has been an issue the past. Defense, if you
look at some of the stats, if you're looking out
of the season has gone on, it has not been
as bad. Like I don't want to say it's been great,
(20:20):
but it's it's been better, you know, Like I think
you have to differentiate commander's run defense, commander's pass defense,
commander's pass defense. Commanders have gotten some sacks. Commander's defensive backs,
like we talked about, have done some good things here lately.
So I don't think that's so reasonable to think that
this commander's pass defense in this game could end up
being a positive. We'll see.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Yeah, And I mentioned in the knee brace, and I
don't know how much time he's ever played in a
knee brace, but I can tell you that from my
personal experience, it takes a little bit of time to
getting used to just of how awkward it is, a
little bit of a like movement deficiency there. So I
wonder how much that's going to play if he doesn't
wear the knee brace on Sunday, how much of a
(20:58):
factor that's going to play. But one before we move
on here, just kind of focusing on the injury a
little bit. And I mean, one of the things that
I noticed in that second matchup with the Eagles was
how it seemed like they like, once once he got
past the initial commander's rush in the few stands that
he played there really wasn't like too much of an
answer for it. It seemed like he was able to pull
(21:18):
out these big, long chunks of rushing yards whenever he
was just get past that initial rush. So, like, how
how much do you think his inability maybe to move
around is going to play a role in getting Jalen
hurt to stay him is keeping in the pocket. And
do you expect the commanders to test that a little
bit to see how much he can actually move at
least in the first quarter.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
I mean, it would be huge if he's not able
to use his legs because you know who also cooked
in that first quarter when he was in the game
was Saquan After uh you know, he did have that
long run after the series after he got hurt. But
other than that, the Commanders kept them in check for
the rest of the game because the game plan was,
let's dare can he pick get to beat us? I
(22:01):
think it kind of has to switch to list there
for Jalen hurts and this uh you know, hurt passing
game to beat us. You know, let's let's let's bet
on that rather than focus all our attention on on Saquon,
We're gonna we're gonna have to dare Jalen to try
and throw over the top and hopefully you know our
(22:23):
secondary is up for the task this time. You know
that the Kenny pickt did lead a drive that could
have ended the game right there, with the with the drop,
with the drop by Smith right basically before that could
have killed the clock. Now we have to ask ourselves
if you know, if you as a secondary, are you
(22:46):
willing to test that again? Are you willing to take
that risk and make sure that it's on? It hurts
to be either rather than squon.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
We will move on to the final question here and
I will keep the score to myself. I'll do that.
I did that last week. I think it add a
little more intrigue. I think we do so again and
we'll stick. We'll switch back over to the offense here.
And I think obviously J Jalen Jayden has to play fantastic,
right he has throughout his entire playoffs. He's top five
(23:14):
and all among all postseason quarterbacks in passing yards, completing
rating QBR. He's he has just been by far. I
think objectively speaking, just about the numbers show the most
consistent quarterback that we've seen throughout the postseason. But aside
from Jayden, aside from those guys. Uh, there are obviously
a lot of other offensive players are there who could
who had a big role in this game. So one
(23:36):
we'll start with you here, really simple, which offensive player
besides Jayden needs to have an impact on Sunday for
the Commanders to punchter take it to the Super Bowl.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
I think it has to be Austin Eckler to be honest.
The first game, we saw a lot of him, especially
in the passing game. Uh. He was basically the only
option that we could throw down to because Philly likes
to dare you to try to throw deep with their
with their two deep safety looks. So he's gonna have
to be eating there in the short game and in
(24:07):
the in the short passing game. He wasn't available for
the second game, which you know, obviously, I think the
Keys took more of that role of his job in
in that game. But I definitely think Austin Eckler being
back it might be a wildcard for the Eagles defense.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
It might be. And for what it's worth, among all
all all pass catchers through the postseason, Austin Eckler leaves
the leads all pass catchers in receiving grade. He really
has been such a key part of this off especially
since he's come back. A lot of people didn't think
he could, but here he is making an impact for
this team. Al will switch over to you same question
aside from Jayden, which after the player needs to have
(24:46):
an impact on Sunday.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
I would say Diami Brown. So if you look at
the two games between the Commanders and Eagles during the
regular season, the loss for the Commanders at the Eagles
in the Thursday night or, Terry mcclaurin ended up being
like a total non factor in that game got taken
out of that game. Second game, Terry was much more
of a factor the win. Five catches, sixty yards and
a touchdown on six targets. But whatever happens this Sunday afternoon,
(25:12):
and look, I don't expect Terry to be taken out
of the game like he was in that first game
against Eagles. But Legals defense is good. Legals secondary has
been really impressive this season. So you know, we can't
just count on Terry necessarily having you know, ten for
a buck fifteen if he does, awesome, But if Terry
is removed from the game to whatever degree, is there
another Commander's receiver who can emerge. And this rise of
(25:33):
Diami Brown this postseason has been nothing short of stunning.
I mean, you look at Diami Brown. Over his first
four regular seasons, he never had at least four catches
in each of at least two consecutive games. He has
had at least five catches in each of these two
games this postseason. I mean, statistically speaking, that's not supposed
to happen, and yet it has. He's doing a really
(25:54):
good job. He has emerged as the team's number two
receiver in these playoffs, as the commander is remember, and
I feel like this gets forgotten. They're playing without their
number two receiver, Noah Brown. I know Dan Quinn doesn't
like to say there's a number two receiver Noah Brown.
Was there a number two receiver this season, like you
go by basically any stat that was the case. Noah
Brown's been out for about a month now, and Diamy
Brown is really stapped up.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
And so you know, with this game, obviously you.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
Want and need Terry to be Terry, and I think
he will be, but you need more than that, Like
it can't just be the Terry McLaurin show. And you know,
as odd as it may sound, I think there is
a need here for Diami Brown to keep doing what
he's doing. He has been a revelation these last few weeks.
You know, there are of course other options. A Lama
days the keys is certainly perfectly capable, but Diamy Brown
(26:39):
has got it going right now. And you know he's
making deep catches. He's generating yardage after catch, which which
is obviously always key. So would love to see Diami
have himself a third consecutive impressed about him.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
You know, I've been really happy for diam in the
last few weeks. He leaves the team in yard lead,
the team receptions. It's taking a while for him to
really get going, but over the last two weeks, I mean,
he's been, as you said, a revelation because you could
argue the Commanders don't win these games without Dimmy Brown.
The clutch catch he had, you know, to get the
(27:12):
get the the the Commanders on the plus side of
the Buccaneers territory to get set up that game leaving
field goal. That insane catch he had uh near the
the goal line of the Lions with a defender like
hand in his face mask, making that catch. His trust
in jaden Is was tremendous, really happy for Dioma to
see what he's been able to do. All right, winner
(27:33):
here this is That's why I always call it a
burden because this was really really tough. You guys were
tied heading into it. Both made excellent points. Both really
made a strong case for the final question here who
As much as I love Eckler, I think I have
to go with Yami and now because as I said,
(27:54):
like there's a big key that there's an argument that
they don't win these games without without Diami. He really
has stepped up. And I think, Alvali, you have won.
You've got your win for the Beatdown podcast in the
NFC Championship. Addition, do you have any words of victory
for us?
Speaker 3 (28:08):
Well, I appreciate that. You know, it's like Jade and Daniels,
you stay humble, you stay focused. Fourth quarter over time
becomes winning time, like Dan Quinn likes to say. And
we did what we could do, but it was not
easy one. It was a very difficult opponent. Not unlike
the Eagles this Sunday afternoon. This was a battle as
big of a battle as we have this Sunday afternoon.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Uh Yes, and one. Again, I appreciate the afford. It
was fantastic And again you made a really good point.
I think Austin ecler is going to have a great
impact in this game as well, because he was one
of my favorite players that we signed this offseason. Actink timetime. Again,
he has proven to be such a big key to
what makes his offense right, makes what I think what
(28:47):
makes them into a really good offense into like a
really great offense.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
And I'm just happy that we can say we need
Diyami to have a big game. You know, if we
didn't have that in a Bengal card two months ago,
I don't think so. Now that he's stepped up and
he's doing good, I'm just happy that, you know, finally
he's getting some shine, he's getting a chance to flourish
into this offense.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Yeah. Same. And look, we're all living in some crazy
times because nobody thought this team was going to be
an NFC championship. Just I mean, just a year into
this new regime for dan Quinn Adam Pears, here we
are and I think, as I said on Twitter after
that game, the Commanders made a statement to the rest
of the world that they're here and they are going
(29:31):
to be a problem for a long time. And hopefully
we will see you guys again next week covering the
Super Bowl, which is just wild for me to even say,
but like al, hopefully the Commanders will be celebrating a
win at Lincoln Financial Field, which by the way, would
be just so sweet, so sweet to be celebrating on
their own on that turf. But anyway, again, hopefully we'll
(29:54):
see you guys next week. No matter what happens, be
sure to rare or be subscribe wherever you get your podcast.
And this has been the beat Down MHM.
What is that? What's going on, y'all? This is another
episode of the Beatdown podcast and we're back. We are here.
We have survived in at least another week because the
Washington Commanders have advanced to the conference championship for the
first time since the nineteen ninety one season. And how
about that win, right, a forty five to thirty one
(00:31):
victory over the Detroit Lions. Is just I remember sitting
there just listening to the broadcast and thinking, oh my god,
this is actually going to happen, because you always want
something like this to happen, right, You always vision and
vision whenever you work in sports, or whether you're like
me or you're somebody else, you always want to be
able to go to a championship game. And still don't
know if it's really it really hit me yet because
(00:52):
I've been working for this team's going on my six
years now and we haven't really gotten close. This is
the first time I've been to playoff games is twenty
twenty longest I've been working this intensely for a season.
But here we are, and it's one of those pincherrself
ones because it truly is, truly is magical and They're
going to have a three match, if you will, against
(01:14):
the Philadelphia Eagles for a ticket to the Super Bowl
in New Orleans against the the AFC champion. And surprise, surprise,
this Eagles team is still as dominant as they were
the first two times that they played the Commanders. Jalen
Carter is phenomenal. Taekwon Barkley has since rushed for two
thousand and five yards in a season. Jalen hurts good,
(01:37):
but we'll maybe he's a little bit injured there. We'll see.
We'll see what he's got going on for the rest
of the week. And how are the Commanders going to
do this? How are they going to advantage to a
Super Bowl for the first time since ninety one and
the first time in dan Quinn's regime. Well, that is
exactly what we're going to be talking about today and
with when we have Wander Marrow from the Spanish broadcast one.
(01:58):
How you doing doing good?
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Doing good? This? As excited as you are? Man Championship week?
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Oh okay through the roof Cloud nine, still am. And
on the other side of this, we have Alcoholty. You
can find him on the Alghaloty podcast out high You.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Doing doing well, super pumped, amazing that we are here.
But here we are, and let the good times continue, guys.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Yes, let the good times keep on rolling. And guys
listening to this, they know the deal by now. They've
listen to this for better part of four months. Now, debates, questions, points, winners, losers.
I get to decide who the winner is. With all
that being said, let's just jump right into it here,
and I think we have to start with this Philadelphia
(02:41):
Eagles defense, specifically one guy, Jalen Carter, because, my god,
as I mentioned at the top of the show, he
has just been a dominant force up front this year. Definitely,
if he's not top of the top defensive tackle in
the league, he's definitely top two or three. This guy
has been a mauler. He has just been this. He's
been the same player in the postseason as he has
been in the regular season. Right he has seven tackles,
(03:05):
two sacks to sixteen sack yards loss, two tackles for loss, twas,
two bass breakups, had a forced fumble he had last
week against the Los Angeles Rams. And he's going to
be a problem for this for this Washington Commanders offense.
That is gonna be without Sam Cosmy as he had
an ACL injury against the Lions and he will be
(03:25):
out for the remainder of the playoffs. Is going to
be again, it's going to be I think one of
the one of the top priorities, if not the top
priority to get a final answer for him. So one,
we shall start with you, what do you do with
this guy? Like, what do you do with Davin Carter?
Especially if you're down you're starting right guard heading into
this NFC Championship matchup.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Well, I think the first thing you have to do
is get hands on him. Don't hold him. I get
your hands on and get your shoulder pads on him.
Don't let him have a free run like he did
to basically kill the game for the Rams last week
and on that last minute drive that the Rams were
I mean a lot of success on he single handedly
killed the game right there. He had freedom run because
of a confusion on the offensive line. I think that's
(04:07):
what you know, Dan Quinn and the offensive coaches need
to make focus here on this game is no mistakes,
no mistakes on the line. Make sure you know your
assignment and always know where ninety eight is at.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Yeah, I think that's definitely the case. And again, even
if you know where he's at, he's he's really hard
to stop because he's got such quick canes, he's got
such quick feed. He's a powerful dude. He's got a
rare blend of skills here and the quarter of PFF
you know, regular in postseason, he's the fourth highest graded
pass rusher for his position. He has sixty five total pressures,
(04:44):
seven sacks. I mean, he's got fifteen his forty three hurries.
I mean this, this dude is such a big presence
in the past game and I think you know, Jaydon
Jane Dannis has proven he can make a guy miss.
But again, Jalen Carter has just been He's been a
big challenge for the for any interior off at the
line that he's gone up against. And I'll go over
you next and we save question. I mean, if you're
(05:06):
Cliff Kingsbury, if you're Jaden Daniels, and you're all this
guy at all the guys in this this oppensive meeting
room trying to figure out how you stop Jalen Carter,
what are you doing?
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Yeah, so I don't think you stop Jalen Carter. I
think you survive Jalen Carter as best as you can.
I mean, Cliff Kingsbury has said it. Now that Aaron
Donald is retired, Carter may well be the single best
interior defensive lineman in the NFL. We saw the at
least somewhat surprising tactic of Trent Scott put in place
of Cosme during the winning at the Lions, but you
(05:37):
know that was an in game thing. I really do wonder,
with a week to prepare, if we see another path
taken and to me and you know it's always tricky
with offensive line play, but just outside looking in, what
you always want to do is get your five best
offensive linemen on the field. In theory, you could do
that if you shifted Andrew Willie from right tackle to
(05:58):
right guard and to put Cornelia's luck is at right tackle.
Wiley has played guard. I don't know that that necessarily
is where he is at his best, but generally speaking,
guard is easier than tackle. So if a guy can
do reasonably well at tackle, he should be able to
do at least reasonably well at guard. I would think
(06:18):
that that's on the table now. We don't know what
you know, Cliff Kingsbury and Dan Quinn are necessarily thinking here,
But I think it starts with coming up with, Okay,
what is our best setup when it comes to starting
front five for this game, and then you go from there,
because look, even if Cosmy was healthy, I mean, Cosmey
had issues with Jalen Carter, like he's a really tough matchup.
(06:40):
So I think you got to figure out, Okay, what
is our best way to make up for Cosmy being out? Personally,
I would do Wiley at guard, Lucas at tackle, and
then you go from there and you hope for the best,
but it's not easy. Carter is a force. The Eagles
defense has been tremendous this season. The Commanders know that,
and this is probably the same biggest concern for Washington
(07:02):
in this game, handling that mighty interior of the Eagles
defensive line. Given that caused me is out.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Yeah, it really, it really is. And again, really tough
for cose Me to see him go out like that,
because I mean, that's one of the biggest fears as
an off the lineman because you're getting rolled up from
the back like that. There's really nothing you can do
about except it's move your feet, and even then it's
kind of a little bit of a gamble. But you
mentioned you mentioned the difference between garden tackle, and I
mean you are right. I mean, gard in some ways
(07:29):
is definitely a little bit easier than tackle. But uh,
you know, I think you know, Trent Scott or Andrew Walla,
do you have the size, I think the girth to
to be able to handle that position swap because you
need to be wide up. But you also have really
quick feed, the ability to pull, and you be able
to dig out those nose guards. You got those three
techniques and work on those combos up to the second level.
(07:50):
I think Andrew Willy and Tren Scott do have that ability.
But you mentioned Trent Squatt, and I think he did
do well for what he was given. You know, for
what it's worth, he did have the best pastors in
great cording to PFF, among all of Washington's off of
the lineman. After that game, so one, you know, al
brings up the prospect of maybe maybe moving Andrew Willie
over to guard, putting Cornelis who was the right tackle.
(08:11):
I mean, what would you what would you do between
those two between you know what that first proposition also
just letting Trent s God, just state that guard position
is letting it roll there.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
I mean, we don't see the practices, right, we don't
see what they're doing every day. I mean, they have
an active Chris Paul for most of the year, but
we've seen that he's actually handled guard pretty well at time.
I don't know if that's an option that's on the
table as well. Moving Andrew Wiley to the inside might
be might be probably the best move, because you're right,
(08:41):
we want to put Lucas on the field. He's played
both sides of the line at tackle, and you need
your best offensive lineman. I think Al has a point.
You want your best five out there. And you know,
I think that Andrew has done a great job at
right tackle, but it's not anything that you know, you'd say, oh,
it's a spectacular You're you're gonna miss, you know, something
(09:03):
super out there on the outside. So I think Cornelius
Lucas stepping in for him on the right side and
maybe Wiley on the inside it might be a good combination.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Yeah, I think it might be. And again, this is
one of those things that Cliff d Q, they're not
going to tell us. This is one of those things
that we're not going to see in the open portion
of practice there if they if that is the decision
they go, they're going to tweak that and and play
with that as best they can. And I think it
is very key that, you know, you do have Corniscus
who has played very well at tackle whenever he's been
(09:33):
put in there, and also that experience of guard with Wiley.
It just seems like that would be a good option.
But again, I think I think Trend has shown that
he can at least do some something in the run game,
just straight up against against some guys that granted, Dylan
Carter is a different kind of guy compared to what
they were seeing with the Lions, I think that he
can at least maybe handles on it if he gets
some chip held and he gets some help from the
(09:54):
set from tallabadish or or Andrew Wiley up their tackle.
But al before we move on to the next question,
I want to ask you, like in terms of establishing
this run game against I guess a really really good
you know, deep in the front with the Eagles. I mean,
obviously Jaen card is gonna pay big role in that,
but like, what else can they do to replicate the one
hundred and eighty two yards that they had against the Lions,
(10:15):
because I think that was a really big point in
keeping the town possession and keeping that offense churning while
they were able to establish some points. Yeah, that was massive.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
I mean, it's funny the Commanders have won seven consecutive games,
but that was the best the rushing offense in terms
of running backs had been since the first game of
that winning streak to win over the Titans. I mean,
throughout the winning streak, the rushing offense had not been
that good. Dan Quinn has been pretty you know, blunt
about that. So a lot of what the Commanders did
in the win at the Lions in terms of the
(10:44):
rushing offense was spread the Lions out. The RPO game
really opened things up, and that allowed for the Commanders
to do which I always want to do, which is
run against light boxes. The problem with the Eagles is,
first of all, their defense is not nearly as banged
up as the Lions defense. Second of all, the Eagles
defense is a lot better than the Lions defense. And
third of all, there ain't nothing light about those Eagles boxes.
(11:05):
Well mighty Jalen Carter in the middle, So it's gonna
be a tall task to run the ball as well
as the Commanders did this past Saturday night, this coming
Sunday afternoon. Now, that doesn't mean that that can't happen.
You know, It's funny I mentioned that game against the Titans.
One of the things that gets forgotten about that game.
The Titans went into that game with one of the
best run defenses in the NFL, and the Commanders ran
(11:28):
the ball down the throat of the Titans. So, you know,
we can talk about stats and matchups all we want.
Sometimes it's just about, hey, how you perform on that day.
So I'm not dismissing any possibility, but I do think
we have to be realistic here. I mean, even when
the Commanders beat the Eagles about a month ago. Now,
it's not like the Commanders ran the ball exceptlutely well
in that game, Like that was a Jade and Daniel
(11:48):
specialty that was airing the ball out. And I think
when it comes to offensive success, that's a lot of
what you're going to have to be looking at. Doesn't
mean that you give up on the running game, but
I think that we do have to be mindful of
what happened last Saturday night, Is it necessarily what's gonna
be happening in this Sunday afternoon.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
No, that's that's absolutely true. And I think you know,
it's gonna come down to how much they really trust
the run game, because they they run the ball forty
two times against the Lions, and that's that'd be great
if they were able to do that. I don't know
if they're going to be able to do so, especially
with me the kind of path, kind of passer that
that Jaden is, and also considering what happened with Kenyon
(12:26):
on Mitchell, I think that could be an golden opportunity
for them to establish a good presence through the passing
game and maybe that'll set up the run game. I
think it also b Rob continues to improve the way
he did against the Lions. I think that's a good
positive sign here. We will move on to the next question.
But score update here, you guys are tied heading into this.
Really good points made by both guys, and we're to
(12:46):
move on to the second question here, which will gonna
be the have the Commanders defense deals with Jailen Hurts.
We've been mentioning this a couple of times. He Jalen
Hurts did come out a little hobbled in that game,
and Nix, you're on to say, we'll see how the
week goes. You know, I think it was Jalen Hurts
who's sat out of the game. Look, I finished the game.
That's all that really matters. At this point, he seems
like he's gonna be ready to go, And just from
a competitor standpoint, I would be very shocked if he
(13:08):
didn't go out there and play, because this is a
you never know when you're going to get back out
of this opportunity again, even when you're a talented team
is the Eagles. But he really has not put up
solid numbers of the passer this year. Nine of his
nine games through nine games this year, he throw for
fewer than two hundred yards. And also it just seems
like whenever you put the ball in his hands more
(13:29):
often than not, that's kind of the way that you
beat the Eagles, as weird as that sounds. If you
if you make him become a passer, it makes it
a lot harder for him to do things. So all
will start with you here, and I want to ask you, like,
what's the best way that this secondary and this defense
can take advantage of Jalen hurts deficiencies as a passer
because again hasn't really done what you would want from
(13:52):
from an offense as just talent wise stacked as that
group is. Yeah, it's been an ideal.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
I mean the Eagles, of course two and zero postseason,
but you look at their total net yards passing in
each game, just a buck twenty one in the win
over the Packers, just sixty five in the win over
the Rams. Hurts sacks seven times in that game, didn't
miss an offensive snap, but got fitted for a knee
brace on his left knee during the game. So he's
not one hundred percent now you know, like how much
(14:20):
less than one hundred percent he is? Who the heck knows,
But like he clearly is not one hundred percent. If
you see the sack on which he suffered the safety,
I mean, he did not look like the Jalen Hurts
who we have come to know. You know, it's an
ideal with Hurts because I don't think he's a bad quarterback,
but I think the last year or two has kind
of shown us he's maybe not as good as it
was looking like he might be. Given the restricted mobility.
(14:44):
Given that the Eagles passing offense right now is not hummin'.
I think this is a pressure situation. Some of the
especially like sim pressures from the Rams in the last game,
really gave Hurt some problems. I think that might be
a way to go if you're Joe Wit junior. You know,
Joe Whit does like to blitz a decent amount. Obviously
there's always risk in doing that, but I think you
(15:05):
can get to Hurts here. I mean the guy again,
seven sacks he took in that game against the Rams.
That's that's a very significant number. And when it comes
to the other aspect of the Eagles offense, Saquon Barkley, Look,
he's gonna get his to at least some degree, especially
with how this Commander's run defense has been this season.
And again, you've got to be realistic about things. If
you shut Saquon down, awesome, but you know, are you
(15:26):
counting on that? So I think the path to defensive
success here is can you do a good job against
this Eagles passing offense. I think that you can, especially
if Hertz is in fact ailing. I would like to
think that Marshawn Lattimore in this game will be better
than he was in that last game against the Eagles.
I was a tough spot for Latimore coming off the
hamstring being tasked with AJ Brown. I thought Latimore was
(15:48):
better in the win at the Lions, and I look
for him to continue to do well. Mikey sand was
still is doing really well. Kwan Martin's doing really well.
So I think the Commander's secondary is in a good place.
Noah igbanagany, I don't think he gets enough credit, So secondary,
I think is in a good place. Firts does not
appear to be in a good place. This is the
defensive matchup for the Commanders that actually way well break
(16:09):
in their favor.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Yeah, I mean you mentioned Saquon, and like the struct
of the question, because I mean, the key to the
key to this game at all, it is the stopping Saquon.
If you do that, it's great. But nobody has done
that all year. So it's it's more like, Okay, tackle him, great,
that's fantastic if you can do it. Nobody really has
been able to do so. But one will switch over
to you here and the same sort of question, but
I want to also just kind of focus on the
(16:32):
secondary here. Because it brings up you know, Latimore, Ignogny, Sammer. Still,
all those guys have really seemed to come into their
own recently, especially with Latimore. Seemed like in that that
lines game, he really don't play that one size was
moving around. So what do you what do you see
out of that out of that group there, and how
can they do their job to affect Jalen Hurst's options
heading into heading into Sunday.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Yeah, I mean that's what I was going to say
that you know, in the first few games with Latimore,
you know, you had them following the the number one
receiver all over the field, and I think over these
last couple of games where you've just given him at
least at the second half of the Tampa game, uh
and versus the Lions, he played half the field and
he did well. He did very good. He did very good.
(17:14):
You know, you saw them testing out Sanders still, golf
tested sander Is still quite a few times, and Sander
still came through. So I think the key is our
pass rush and al mentioned it seven sacks. A lot
of those weren't Hurts to be honest, a lot of
those is not on this offensive line. The offensive line
(17:34):
is a great offensive line. But if you confuse hurts,
if you if you give him looks that he doesn't like,
he doesn't like to throw turn off, he doesn't like
to risk throwing interceptions. So you got you have to
get to him. You have to make sure that you're
giving them different looks and confusing him.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
You know, I prefer more coverage than than blitzing him
because he if you know he's hurt, you got you
gotta see this injury report the next couple of days.
If you know he's hurt, he's not gonna run, So
there's no threat of him running. So I feel like
you just need to play the coverage and make sure
that you're confusing him.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Yeah, and I think, you know, the pass rushing against
his offensive line is so interesting because to my to
my eye, the Eagles have the best offensive line of
the game. Uh. They they're they're full of all Pro
They're full of Pro Bowlers. I mean, they're these are
guys that they have homegrown, talent, driven guys are I mean,
they're the best of their craft in a lot of
different ways. So you mentioned bringing the simulated pressures, and
(18:30):
I mean, do you think that's that's enough to get
passes off of the line to put pressure on Jailing
because it seems like whenever he's out there, he just
has all day to throw. And you know, that's probably
one of the reasons why he hasn't been able to
throw the hadn't had to throw the ball so much
because he doesn't really need to, especially with Saquan and
all them. So like, I mean, how do you how
do you is there is there a simple way to
(18:52):
get past this offensive line put pressure on jail In
and maybe the injury plays the part in there as well.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
Yeah, no, there isn't a simple way. I mean a
simp pressure. The idea would that you can confuse Hurts
enough pause, enough pause to wear he's a bit off.
But yeah, the Eagles offensive line is outstanding and there's
probably only so much penetration you're going to be generating.
So the hurt sacks, to Want's point, a lot of
them are going to have to be on him. Now
(19:17):
we know how it is a lot of mobile quarterbacks
take sacks because they're out there scrambling buying time. So
that is part of this equation too. But again, seven sacks,
I mean, that's an unacceptable total. That's not something that
any quarterback should ever be taken. And I don't care
you know what his characteristics happened to be. So yeah,
I mean, we don't know the status of this knee. Again,
(19:37):
it's a weird deal. He did not miss a snap
in that game against the Rims. He played on one
hundred percent of the Eagles offensive snaps. But he got
fitted for a knee brace, So that's significant. Like, that's
not nothing. And again, if you watch the game, he
did not appear to be himself. So we'll see. But
I think there's an overarching theme here, which is the
Eagles passing offense is not in a great place right now.
(19:58):
It's not killing it, it's not thriving the way Saquon
Barkley is thriving. And so if you can keep that
going for just one more week, that very much plays
into the Commander's favor as much as the Commander's run
defense has been an issue the past. Defense, if you
look at some of the stats, if you're looking out
of the season has gone on, it has not been
as bad. Like I don't want to say it's been great,
(20:20):
but it's it's been better, you know, Like I think
you have to differentiate commander's run defense, commander's pass defense,
commander's pass defense. Commanders have gotten some sacks. Commander's defensive backs,
like we talked about, have done some good things here lately.
So I don't think that's so reasonable to think that
this commander's pass defense in this game could end up
being a positive. We'll see.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Yeah, And I mentioned in the knee brace, and I
don't know how much time he's ever played in a
knee brace, but I can tell you that from my
personal experience, it takes a little bit of time to
getting used to just of how awkward it is, a
little bit of a like movement deficiency there. So I
wonder how much that's going to play if he doesn't
wear the knee brace on Sunday, how much of a
(20:58):
factor that's going to play. But one before we move
on here, just kind of focusing on the injury a
little bit. And I mean, one of the things that
I noticed in that second matchup with the Eagles was
how it seemed like they like, once once he got
past the initial commander's rush in the few stands that
he played there really wasn't like too much of an
answer for it. It seemed like he was able to pull
(21:18):
out these big, long chunks of rushing yards whenever he
was just get past that initial rush. So, like, how
how much do you think his inability maybe to move
around is going to play a role in getting Jalen
hurt to stay him is keeping in the pocket. And
do you expect the commanders to test that a little
bit to see how much he can actually move at
least in the first quarter.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
I mean, it would be huge if he's not able
to use his legs because you know who also cooked
in that first quarter when he was in the game
was Saquan After uh you know, he did have that
long run after the series after he got hurt. But
other than that, the Commanders kept them in check for
the rest of the game because the game plan was,
let's dare can he pick get to beat us? I
(22:01):
think it kind of has to switch to list there
for Jalen hurts and this uh you know, hurt passing
game to beat us. You know, let's let's let's bet
on that rather than focus all our attention on on Saquon,
We're gonna we're gonna have to dare Jalen to try
and throw over the top and hopefully you know our
(22:23):
secondary is up for the task this time. You know
that the Kenny pickt did lead a drive that could
have ended the game right there, with the with the drop,
with the drop by Smith right basically before that could
have killed the clock. Now we have to ask ourselves
if you know, if you as a secondary, are you
(22:46):
willing to test that again? Are you willing to take
that risk and make sure that it's on? It hurts
to be either rather than squon.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
We will move on to the final question here and
I will keep the score to myself. I'll do that.
I did that last week. I think it add a
little more intrigue. I think we do so again and
we'll stick. We'll switch back over to the offense here.
And I think obviously J Jalen Jayden has to play fantastic,
right he has throughout his entire playoffs. He's top five
(23:14):
and all among all postseason quarterbacks in passing yards, completing
rating QBR. He's he has just been by far. I
think objectively speaking, just about the numbers show the most
consistent quarterback that we've seen throughout the postseason. But aside
from Jayden, aside from those guys. Uh, there are obviously
a lot of other offensive players are there who could
who had a big role in this game. So one
(23:36):
we'll start with you here, really simple, which offensive player
besides Jayden needs to have an impact on Sunday for
the Commanders to punchter take it to the Super Bowl.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
I think it has to be Austin Eckler to be honest.
The first game, we saw a lot of him, especially
in the passing game. Uh. He was basically the only
option that we could throw down to because Philly likes
to dare you to try to throw deep with their
with their two deep safety looks. So he's gonna have
to be eating there in the short game and in
(24:07):
the in the short passing game. He wasn't available for
the second game, which you know, obviously, I think the
Keys took more of that role of his job in
in that game. But I definitely think Austin Eckler being
back it might be a wildcard for the Eagles defense.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
It might be. And for what it's worth, among all
all all pass catchers through the postseason, Austin Eckler leaves
the leads all pass catchers in receiving grade. He really
has been such a key part of this off especially
since he's come back. A lot of people didn't think
he could, but here he is making an impact for
this team. Al will switch over to you same question
aside from Jayden, which after the player needs to have
(24:46):
an impact on Sunday.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
I would say Diami Brown. So if you look at
the two games between the Commanders and Eagles during the
regular season, the loss for the Commanders at the Eagles
in the Thursday night or, Terry mcclaurin ended up being
like a total non factor in that game got taken
out of that game. Second game, Terry was much more
of a factor the win. Five catches, sixty yards and
a touchdown on six targets. But whatever happens this Sunday afternoon,
(25:12):
and look, I don't expect Terry to be taken out
of the game like he was in that first game
against Eagles. But Legals defense is good. Legals secondary has
been really impressive this season. So you know, we can't
just count on Terry necessarily having you know, ten for
a buck fifteen if he does, awesome, But if Terry
is removed from the game to whatever degree, is there
another Commander's receiver who can emerge. And this rise of
(25:33):
Diami Brown this postseason has been nothing short of stunning.
I mean, you look at Diami Brown. Over his first
four regular seasons, he never had at least four catches
in each of at least two consecutive games. He has
had at least five catches in each of these two
games this postseason. I mean, statistically speaking, that's not supposed
to happen, and yet it has. He's doing a really
(25:54):
good job. He has emerged as the team's number two
receiver in these playoffs, as the commander is remember, and
I feel like this gets forgotten. They're playing without their
number two receiver, Noah Brown. I know Dan Quinn doesn't
like to say there's a number two receiver Noah Brown.
Was there a number two receiver this season, like you
go by basically any stat that was the case. Noah
Brown's been out for about a month now, and Diamy
Brown is really stapped up.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
And so you know, with this game, obviously you.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
Want and need Terry to be Terry, and I think
he will be, but you need more than that, Like
it can't just be the Terry McLaurin show. And you know,
as odd as it may sound, I think there is
a need here for Diami Brown to keep doing what
he's doing. He has been a revelation these last few weeks.
You know, there are of course other options. A Lama
days the keys is certainly perfectly capable, but Diamy Brown
(26:39):
has got it going right now. And you know he's
making deep catches. He's generating yardage after catch, which which
is obviously always key. So would love to see Diami
have himself a third consecutive impressed about him.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
You know, I've been really happy for diam in the
last few weeks. He leaves the team in yard lead,
the team receptions. It's taking a while for him to
really get going, but over the last two weeks, I mean,
he's been, as you said, a revelation because you could
argue the Commanders don't win these games without Dimmy Brown.
The clutch catch he had, you know, to get the
(27:12):
get the the the Commanders on the plus side of
the Buccaneers territory to get set up that game leaving
field goal. That insane catch he had uh near the
the goal line of the Lions with a defender like
hand in his face mask, making that catch. His trust
in jaden Is was tremendous, really happy for Dioma to
see what he's been able to do. All right, winner
(27:33):
here this is That's why I always call it a
burden because this was really really tough. You guys were
tied heading into it. Both made excellent points. Both really
made a strong case for the final question here who
As much as I love Eckler, I think I have
to go with Yami and now because as I said,
(27:54):
like there's a big key that there's an argument that
they don't win these games without without Diami. He really
has stepped up. And I think, Alvali, you have won.
You've got your win for the Beatdown podcast in the
NFC Championship. Addition, do you have any words of victory
for us?
Speaker 3 (28:08):
Well, I appreciate that. You know, it's like Jade and Daniels,
you stay humble, you stay focused. Fourth quarter over time
becomes winning time, like Dan Quinn likes to say. And
we did what we could do, but it was not
easy one. It was a very difficult opponent. Not unlike
the Eagles this Sunday afternoon. This was a battle as
big of a battle as we have this Sunday afternoon.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Uh Yes, and one. Again, I appreciate the afford. It
was fantastic And again you made a really good point.
I think Austin ecler is going to have a great
impact in this game as well, because he was one
of my favorite players that we signed this offseason. Actink timetime. Again,
he has proven to be such a big key to
what makes his offense right, makes what I think what
(28:47):
makes them into a really good offense into like a
really great offense.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
And I'm just happy that we can say we need
Diyami to have a big game. You know, if we
didn't have that in a Bengal card two months ago,
I don't think so. Now that he's stepped up and
he's doing good, I'm just happy that, you know, finally
he's getting some shine, he's getting a chance to flourish
into this offense.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Yeah. Same. And look, we're all living in some crazy
times because nobody thought this team was going to be
an NFC championship. Just I mean, just a year into
this new regime for dan Quinn Adam Pears, here we
are and I think, as I said on Twitter after
that game, the Commanders made a statement to the rest
of the world that they're here and they are going
(29:31):
to be a problem for a long time. And hopefully
we will see you guys again next week covering the
Super Bowl, which is just wild for me to even say,
but like al, hopefully the Commanders will be celebrating a
win at Lincoln Financial Field, which by the way, would
be just so sweet, so sweet to be celebrating on
their own on that turf. But anyway, again, hopefully we'll
(29:54):
see you guys next week. No matter what happens, be
sure to rare or be subscribe wherever you get your podcast.
And this has been the beat Down MHM.
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