October 19, 2024 • 29 mins
The Commanders are back at Northwest Stadium to honor Darrell Green and get back on the winning track against the Carolina Panthers. Juan Romero from the Commanders broadcast and WFMY’s Logan Campbell discuss key matchups and more.
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Speaker 1 (00:12):
What is up?
Speaker 2 (00:13):
What's going on?
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Commanders fan? This is the Beatdown Podcast. I'm Zach Selby,
your host, senior writer for the Washington Commanders, and Bob's
still no doubt about it, still feeling good about ourselves.
But the Commanders did drop their first loss in about
a month, thirty to twenty three to the Baltimore.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Ravens on the road. A good game.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
They had a chance to win there, but there were
a few key mistakes here and there that ultimately led
to their demise. But they have a good chance to
bounce back coming back on the Northwest Stadium to take
on the Carolina Panthers who are one and five but
still pesky team, still in the NFL, team still full professionals,
and they can still be anybody at any time. And
how they're gonna be able to bounce back, well, that
(00:52):
is exactly what we're gonna be able to talk about today.
And with me we have Wandermera who is part of
the Spanish broadcasting for US, and we also have a
former Commanders alum here. It is a full time employee
of staff alum here, Logan Campbell. She used to work
for US as a team reporter back in twenty twenty,
but she is now a sports anchor and porter for
WFMY out in North Carolina.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
How are we doing, y'all?
Speaker 1 (01:16):
We're doing good.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
At least I'm doing good over here on the Commander's side.
I don't know how it's going down there in North
Carolina right now.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (01:23):
I was gonna say, the vibes might be high for
you guys, but they are not very high for us.
Speaker 6 (01:27):
Here in Charlotte. So this game is.
Speaker 5 (01:30):
Gonna be fun, you know, being a former Commander I
used to work there and being a Commander fan that
having to cover it, it might be a totally different story.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Baron personally, how are the vibes logan? Are you doing
all right?
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Personally?
Speaker 5 (01:42):
Oh? Fantastic, the best that they have been in years, Zach.
So it's been so fun getting to watch the Commanders
this year. It's like a new energy up there.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Yeah, no, you know, it really is.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
And Guinea be a part of this has been, you know,
such a surreal feeling because right now it's we've usually
been like either one or two and four or something
like this heading into week seven, but now we're kind
of the talk of the league and that's a new
experience that I'm not really familiar with, but I'm loving
every second of it.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
I haven't seen a mock draft yet.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
Like other years, I've already checked out mock drafts and
other years, and this year we haven't done that yet.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
So we're yeah, we're more We're more focused on playoff
seating right now, which is even listen even in a
little too too ahead of ourselves ex But anyway, so.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
The listeners know the spiel, they know the deal.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
But for you guys, you're gonna be asking me questions
about about the game on Sunday, you guys are going
to debate, and since it's my show, I have the
tremendous burden rested on my shoulders to pick a winner.
But at the same time, the viewers know and the
listeners know that you should not focus too hard on
(02:52):
the outcome, be more focused on the objective and important
information that these people are providing. Because they are team insiders.
They know the team there's respective teams better than anybody
and without further ado, let's dive right into it. So,
the the Carolina defense has really been struggling a little bit.
(03:13):
Needless to say, they're in the bottom third of just
about every single category, whether it's past total defense of
yards allowed, rushing yards. I think they think they're second
to second or third to last, and league rushing yards allowed.
But at the same time, they do have some really
solid players on their team, like Jase Horn is a
really really good player leading a talented secondary, albeit still
(03:34):
struggling a little bit. And you know they're their defensive
their defensive line has you know, there's some there's some
solid players on my team, maybe playing a little bit
out of position in terms of where they will be
on respective depth charts.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
They hadn't been so banged up. Uh So, Logan, since.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
You are you are the the other teams, guess we'll
let's you start first here.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
What do you think the biggest threat to.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Washington's offenses on this command on this Carolina defense? Because
the Washington off as you know, has been playing on
a historic rate so far, even with the twenty three
point performance they had against the Ravens.
Speaker 6 (04:08):
Yes, that is a high flying offense. Look, Zach, I
mean you touched on it. This defense is terrible. The
Panthers even know that this defense is terrible. We talked
to j C. Forran after their loss to the Atlanta.
Speaker 5 (04:20):
Falcons, and he said, straight up, it's embarrassing how bad
our defense has been this year.
Speaker 6 (04:26):
I mean, yes, they've had some huge injuries.
Speaker 5 (04:29):
You know, Derek Brown has a season ending injury, a
defensive tackle that was, you know, making maybe masking the
problems a little bit more. Jadavian Clowney might not be
able to play. He's out at practice but not going
through the motions. He's just stretching for the first time today,
so he's questionable to play on Sunday. Jack Thompson, their
biggest linebacker is out, so there's lots of problems.
Speaker 6 (04:52):
On the defensive side of the ball. I think the.
Speaker 5 (04:53):
Biggest threat honestly Zach because it's not on the caroline
of Panthers. The biggest threat is if Jeremy Chin or
Frank people who decided mid game, Hey, you know what,
I want to go back to Carolina. I want to
put in my old teammates.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
You know.
Speaker 5 (05:06):
I think the Panthers defense it is what it is.
I don't know if they're going to get much better Personally.
I don't think that there is a huge threat to
the Commander's offense with what they're able to do this season.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Yeah, you know, it's I think that the Panthers are
They're on pace at least from what I've heard, that
they're on pace to be the most scored against team
in at least like the longest and maybe even league
history right now. I mean they're they're averaging dead last
at thirty three point eight points allowed per game. I
(05:40):
think they've had thirty points allowed and eat to the
last three contests and Juan Barring, as Logan said, the
rare end game trade. Uh, you know, I want to
focus on on j C. Horn a little bit because
he probably is I would say, like you know, with
all with Darrick Brown and Shaq Thompson and all those
other players. They even banged Upper out for the year,
(06:00):
like he probably is like their best defensive player right now.
Aout to Madden, He's gonna see a lot of Terry McLaurin.
So how do you think that matchup is going to
play out a lot? Because Terry does he does match
up well against a lot of different corners. He knows
how to play against you know, gazone, he does against
more physical, man coverage corners. How do you expect that
matchup between Terry and Horn to work out on Sunday.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
I expect Kingsbury to probably do some sort of like
the Skuises in the beginning. I seem to think that
Kingsbury he likes to start off with little screens just
to set up test the defenses, to see what type
of defense they're going to play against Terry or specifically
all the receivers in the running backs. But either way,
(06:46):
I mean J. C. Horn is by far their best
defensive player. He is the biggest threat on their defense.
I mean, he's got six pass breakups already on the year.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
He's got the pick.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
I think definitely he could interrupt Washington's game plan a
little bit.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
But at the end of the day, you know who
would have thunk it.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
You know, Washington has too many weapons, I think for
this defense if you stop, you know, Terry McLaurin on
the outside.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
We saw Zach.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
Ertz get it a little bit involved in the game
against Baltimore. It seems to be that they find different
flows throughout the game where maybe you know, on one
drive it'll be Ertz, maybe on one drive it'll it'll
be Eckler, or it'll be maybe even sometimes Dimmie Brown.
There's just options on this team, right, you know, it's
not the household names that you will think of, and
(07:34):
that maybe the rest of the league knows. But at
the end of the day, these guys are getting it done.
They're executing a plan that Kingsbury is you know, focusing
on during the week and right now, right now is
running like a well oiled machine. And I think the
biggest threat to them against the Carolina Panthers is self
inflicted wounds like we saw it against the Giants, right
We saw it here in the red zone against the
(07:56):
Giants where they ran.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Up and down the field on the Giants.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
They got into the red zone so many times and
they had to settle for field goals.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
So you just got to finish drives, you know, keep.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
The mental awareness up and not be their own worst
enemy on offense.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
That's kind of where I'm at too, And I think
and to your point about about spreading it out, you know,
to the different receivers. Thirteen players have caught, have have
had a target for this, for this, for this commander's offense.
So Jade Daniels is doing a phenomenal job ats spraying
the ball around and spraying the wealth and you know,
it's it's funny like during the off season, lot of
(08:32):
people were wondering if there were enough weapons for Jayden
to to effectively run this offense, and it turns out
when you have a guy like him, it doesn't really
matter all that much because he's able to get it out.
And then Cliff Kingsbury obviously has done a ver good
job of getting players open. But Logan, I'll go back
to you here because I think if there's anything we've
learned we can learn from the Ravens game, is that
(08:52):
the running game is so important to the Washington offense.
They were coming in the league second behind the Ravens
and rushing yards per game. Ryan Robinson goes out, and
of course there are other factors involved with this, but
they average I think they're around like fifty two yards
after that game, which it really disrupted their their game
flow quite a bit. And again, like you know, the
(09:13):
Ravens have an excellent defense to stop in the run,
so it's not all on the commander's self afflicted wounds there.
But I would imagine, you know, the Carolina Panthers are
going to try their best to stop Brian Robinson, assuming
he's going to be available or you know, Austin Eckler,
Jerry maybe Nichols. They're going to try to do something
to whether it's blitzing or doing some many different stunts.
Like how do you expect them to address this rushing
(09:35):
attack that has a really good offensive line, really solid
staple of running backs.
Speaker 6 (09:39):
Yeah, I know, you know.
Speaker 5 (09:41):
The main talk though honestly, it hasn't even been about
their running game though for the Panthers that which is
a problem. You know, they're not even acknowledging that. They're
just more worried about containing Jade and Daniels. They're so
worried about Jade and Daniels. You know, he is a
dual threat quarterback going on these big runs they're having
Bright's young and late Jaden Daniels, which I don't think
(10:02):
you can even do that because he is so good
and practice to try and get this defense prepared. But
I think that's one thing that you mentioned. The run
game is so big for Washington. I don't know how
they are planning on addressing that because they're so focused
on Jaden Daniels. Unfortunately, but like we said, their defensive
line just isn't as as good as it could have
(10:23):
been with all the injuries that they've had.
Speaker 6 (10:25):
So you know, I think, you know, stacking.
Speaker 5 (10:27):
The box a little bit more that would be helpful,
you know, having I don't know who's going to even
replace Shack Thompson. I know they've mentioned mixing up personnel
this week to just try and get something defensive going
and creating these turnovers. So I think the biggest thing
is the turnover battle. If they can create turnovers, that's
(10:47):
gonna help. But for the Panthers, what we've seen this
year is if they don't play a perfect game on defense,
they're not gonna win.
Speaker 6 (10:55):
So that's a great question.
Speaker 5 (10:57):
I don't I don't know how they're gonna plan for
it to attack this Washington's offense.
Speaker 6 (11:01):
I simply don't know.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
You know, And I really, I really am curious about
that because I don't.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
I don't.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
I'm not really sure that.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
Even like you said, I don't even sure they know.
Because if you if you don't have Brian Robinson, you've
got Austin Eckley, who's gonna bust a fifty yard run.
You have Jeremy Nichols, who's really underrated I think in
terms of how he's been able to perform. Uh. And
you know, I was a big fan of Jeremy McNichols
going into training camp. I think he's been really really
key to this this running game. And on top of that,
(11:32):
like to the point about the turnover battle, I mean,
Washington is they've only given up the ball three times,
which is you know, that's that's the second fewest in
the league. So the commanders do a very good job
protecting the ball. And if if the commander is able
to do that again on Sunday, it's gonna be very hard.
One real quick just contacting the running game a little
bit before we move on to the next question. How
(11:53):
big is having Brian Robinson back going to be for
this offense.
Speaker 4 (11:57):
As much as they downplayed it going into the game
against the Ravens, I think it was huge. You know,
he absorbs hits, you know, he he takes on defenders
like defenders have to pay attention to him. That there
was some a few runs where Eckler, you can see,
you know, his vision probably you know, let him down
(12:19):
a little bit and maybe Robinson probably would have been
able to get some more yards and some of those runs.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
So I definitely think it was a huge part.
Speaker 4 (12:26):
I mean, obviously the Ravens were going into the game
number one against the rush and Carolina is not the case, right,
definitely not. But at the same time, if you're going
to focus all your attention on Jaden Daniels and the
RPO game, like, then just feed it to Robinson all
day long.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
I think he'll get his well then to go off
of that.
Speaker 5 (12:48):
Last week against Atlanta, their two running backs had combined
three hundred yards, so you would think they would address
the running game after last week's game. But again, the
talk is just a bit about Jayden Daniels. So yeah,
if I'm Washington, I'm feeding it to be rod the
entire time.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
You know, I think that's probably I mean, you just
look at the stats and they just they just point
to exactly that, right, Like, I mean, you cannot find
two more diametrically different defense as opposed to what you
were seeing with the Ravens versus what you were gonna.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
See with the Panthers. The Panthers are on the opposite
end of the spectrum trying to defending their run.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
And you know, with Jane Daniels, like you said, Logan
being so dynamic and just about every part of that offense.
It's really hard to focus on anybody but him because
he really does make that that offense go because of
how smart he is, how Poisy is in the pocket.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
We're gonna move on to the next question, but first
before we do that score update.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
You guys are tied four to four. Uh so, really
big battle here between you guys with the points. I
really like the points they all began so far. But
we're gonna move on to another part of the game here,
which I think is a really big blow for the Commanders.
They lost Jonathan Allen with the torn pactor muscle. He's
gonna be done. He's on ir GO under undergoing surgery.
(14:01):
But it does create kind of a hole for for
this for this uh, for this defense, because of how
you know, reliable he is, his mindset, his leadership.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
It's I mean, there's no other way the way to say.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
It is a loss, and I expect the Panthers are
gonna try to take advantage of that, especially with which
Cuba Hubbard is running.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
You know, with Andy Dalton still, you know, I think
he's probably not the best quarterback right now, but he is.
He is a veteran who knows how to run that
offense and do it more effectively. I guess you could
say than than Bryce Young. Uh so, one, we'll start
with you first here, And how do you think the
Panthers are gonna try to take advantage of that that
hole in the defensive line, especially with how well their
running game has been going over the last few games
(14:39):
or so.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Uh you mentioned it.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
I think Cuba hubbard Is is definitely where this offense
has to go through. Ever since they made the Q
Beach change, like it's been night and day their rush game.
You know, obviously they have Dalton back there, but it's
it all goes through Cuba, and especially right now if
you're playing Washington on the other end, Like if you're
(15:04):
playing against Washington, people like to say, oh, you know,
they're only ranked twenty second against the rush, but I
like to see more of the yards per rush, so
when they want to run on us, they will run
on the Commanders. Like they're averaging five yards per carry against,
which is twenty ninth in the league, Which means if
Carolina keeps this game close and is still able to rush,
(15:27):
they might be able to pick up some good yards
chunk yards in the running game and that will open
up the play action game. And you know our secondary
hasn't been exactly lighting it up either, So definitely, I
think it all starts through the ground, which chub Hubbard,
and the interior of the offensive line, which is pretty
good with Lewis and Hunt at the guard positions. I
(15:49):
think they have a formidable challenge the Washington defensive line
this league.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
They really do.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
And the band is off the line is I think
by far their best position. Really address that in the offseason,
and their numbers probably aren't. They don't scream that they're
one of the better units, but if you just watch them,
they're Their interior, like you said, is just full.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Of these big, nasty dudes.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Who they're they're They're about a stereotypical of an offensive
line as you would you would expect them to be.
Speaker 5 (16:15):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
But Logan, I want you to focus specifically on Cuba
here because if you just look at his stats, he
really is running hard. I think he's fifth and yards
over expected right now, He's averaging about five yards of care.
He's really running hard making that offense go for them.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
What about Cuba makes it? Makes him such a focal
point of that offense.
Speaker 5 (16:35):
Before we get to that, I do have some breaking
news for you guys, Tod Clowney Toll reporters today right
now that he does not expect to play on Sunday,
So there's another hole in our defense. Anyways, let's try
and talk about the positives.
Speaker 6 (16:51):
Chuba Hubbard. He's having a great season. Listen.
Speaker 5 (16:54):
I saw him during training camp. He would stay an
hour after practice was over, just putting in work, getting
an extra rep. So he he is one of the
hardest workers on this team, without a doubt, and that's
clearly paying off because he is a bright spot in
this offense. Like you said, like we've seen him go
on some big runs this season.
Speaker 6 (17:15):
But the problem becomes when.
Speaker 5 (17:17):
Cuba is doing well, for whatever reason, they decide to
switch up the offense and start throwing thirty yard bombs
down the field, which ended up getting intercepted. We saw
that happen twice last game against Atlanta, so you know,
he he is the focal point of this offense. It
is sad, but they do need to keep feeding Tuba
the ball. They're going to run him into the ground,
(17:38):
but he's the one that gets this team going and
moves them down the field and.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
If you look at his his like rushing like totals,
like I don't think he has a He only has
like three plays that are over twenty yards and not
on the ground, but he just has He kind of
reminds me of b Rob a little bit with how
like physically he is at a lot of scrimmage.
Speaker 5 (17:58):
Yeah, he just needs the offensive line that Washington has
now and then you know, maybe he will be at
that next level like b Rob is.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
Playing at and that and that commit that Carolina Panthers
offensive line is a little banged up, which is going
to be probably be a pretty big factor into this game.
So one going into like you can't really replace a
guy like Jonathan Allen one to one, but there are
a lot of guys who are probably gonna have more
expanded roles, and one of them is going to be
Johnny Newton, who talked in the locker room, I think
(18:26):
it was Wednesday, talking about how you think he's really
really ready for this, he feels the confidence of the
coaching staff. What kind of impact do you think Johnny
Newton is going to have because we really haven't seen
all that much of him just because of various injuries
and him being lower on the death chart. But now
that he has a bigger role on this team, what
do you expect out of him?
Speaker 4 (18:45):
You know, before I talk about Johnny Newton, I want
to give the credit to someone that's gone under talked about,
and that's Fadarian Mathis. I think he's come up big
on some some series that I've seen that he's out there,
he is absorbing double blocks, he's getting to running backs.
He doesn't have probably the past rushing skills that the
(19:06):
other defensive tackles have, but definitely a shout out to
him and what he's done so far in the season.
Johnny Obviously, with him, we haven't seen much of him.
I think he's still recovering from two foot surgeries, like
in the offseason, like those things aren't something to take lightly.
I think he probably was just getting his legs under him.
His last couple of games we saw him do basically
(19:28):
you know, a player that stood out against the Ravens
where he was able to shed a block and get
to the running back.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
So definitely, I think with him.
Speaker 4 (19:37):
He had a spectacular career at Illinois, and you know,
he was definitely one of those players that we were
excited to see what he was going to bring as
the second round draft pick in this draft, I think
that many people were surprised that we were going to
take a defensive tackle when we had probably other needs.
So we expected a lot out of him, and I
(19:58):
think he's going to be able to show it now,
most likely against you know, something like like uh Chuba Hubbard,
like we saw against Derrick Henry. They'll probably play a
lot of five down lineman and probably move him to
one of the ends spots and uh, we'll see for
(20:18):
Darien Mathis in the middle. So I'm looking forward to
it and looking forward to see what we get from
Johnny Newton.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
Yeah, and you know, you're right, And that is a
really good point about Fidarian because I think he puts
out he does a lot of things that do not
show up on the stat sheet, and but he makes
that defense like when he's on the field, like Frankie
Lulu and Bobby Wagner, like they have more opportunities because
he's able to eat up those double teams. And that's
something that that he was praised for even going into
(20:45):
the draft process a couple of years ago, about how
like he doesn't really do a whole lot that makes you,
you know, stand out and say, oh my gosh, that's
an amazing tackle. But he lets the linebackers flow and
do their jobs. And you know, considering the way that
Frankie and Bobby are playing right now, that you want
as much of that as you possibly can.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Logan real quick here is you know, I mentioned.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
How like the off the line is kind of banged
up a little bit for the Panthers, Like how confident
do you feel about them going up against this commanders
deep the line?
Speaker 5 (21:14):
Well, and you know it's crazy to say that, you know,
maybe the defensive line for Washington is one of the
weaker points on this team, which is crazy to say
because that wasn't.
Speaker 6 (21:22):
The case for years. But you know, I think just
you know.
Speaker 5 (21:26):
Doron Payne being out or Jonathan Allen excuse me, being out,
that's huge for the Carolina to try and exploit that,
get the run game going, you know, and eat up
the cloth. You know, like I said earlier, they need
to play a perfect game. So if they can take
care of the ball, and you know, maybe Washington this
could be a trap game for Washington.
Speaker 6 (21:45):
So I think.
Speaker 5 (21:47):
Who knows, who knows maybe maybe the Panthers will come
out they had like a heart to heart conversation in
the locker room after last week's loss, after being one
in five, and maybe they'll look like significantly better than
they've all seasons. So hopefully the offensive line, you know,
like it. Like we've said, they are banged up, but
maybe something they had to come to Jesus moment this
(22:07):
week and they'll just play slightly better to keep this
one a close game.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
Yeah, I'm really interested to see what what that matchup
is going to be like, because you know, you're right,
like the Carolina off off of the line is banged up.
But last question here score update, though, I think the
point you made one about Fadarian really really stood out
to me, So I got to give you a point ahead.
But logan, you still have you still have one more
(22:33):
question to get back up here. And it's really simple,
you know, beside the quarterbacks, because obviously Jaden is going
to be a big factor on Sunday and he Doll
is gonna be a big factor on Sunday, that's obvious,
But like other than those guys, which player do you
think on either team will have the biggest effect on Sunday's.
Speaker 5 (22:50):
Outcome, I think, to be honest, I don't. I think
it really depends on how Jadeen Daniels plays. I think
that if Washington, you know, maybe gets a little lackluster
and Carols but the ball and creates the turnovers and
Carolina somehow capitalizes on it, I think that that could
(23:12):
really flip the outcome of the game. We've said this
time and time again for Carolina, if they are not
playing a perfect game in every single phase, they're not
gonna win. So they have to play a little bit
more than perfect and create some turnovers and capitalize off
some off the turnovers.
Speaker 6 (23:30):
That's gonna be the biggest outcome.
Speaker 5 (23:32):
So I think on Washington side, it's Jayden and Daniels
taking care of the ball, but then on Carolina side,
it's jac Horn.
Speaker 6 (23:39):
I think.
Speaker 5 (23:39):
I think if he can create those turnovers off of
these big passes that we know jade Daniels is gonna make,
that's gonna be the difference maker in this one.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
I like that. Like that because you're right.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
I think Jase Horn is really going to be quite
the quite the matt with Terry.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
I think he's gonna see a lot against Tammie. I
think Lamede'sakias might get out there, and no brown as
as really well, so he could also see any of
those guys.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
All right, One same question, which player on either team
you think is the biggest effect on today?
Speaker 1 (24:09):
All right? So I need I need them to release
the dogs and by that I mean Frankie Louvu. I
need another Frankie Louvu game because he disappeared last week
against the Ravens.
Speaker 4 (24:21):
I don't think it's through fault of his The Ravens
had a good game plan against him, but there was
two games in a row that he popped, that he
came out, that he jumped out of.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
The screen on what he was doing. So I need
him to be blitzing all the time.
Speaker 4 (24:36):
This is a quarterback any Dalton that you know where
he's at, You like, you know he's going to be
in that pocket. You need to send him pretty much
all the time to the quarterback, bring him down or
obviously on rushing downs to the running back. And I
think that's going to be the key to this game.
A little bit of Bobby Wagner, but it's mostly on
Frankie Louver. I think Bobby Wagner was kind of called
(24:58):
out to be honest by Wait on the press conference
this week about these miscommunications, uh that that were going
on with these plays. So I think it's they're going
to take you a little personal. But I think Frank
lou was gonna be the one that's going to have
the big game.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
Wen.
Speaker 5 (25:15):
Can I just say that if you're going up against
the Carolina Panther and you're a former Carolina Carolina Panther,
chances are have a great game. We saw that with
DJ Moore when they play the Chicago Bear.
Speaker 6 (25:25):
So I think you're.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Correct, that's correct.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
And you know, Lulu has just been as he gets
more comfortable, you can see it on the field, right,
Like he's got he's got this quickness that I would
love to see him russ the pass or even more
because I know, I know they have other responsibilities.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
That they need him to do, but he's just so
fun to watch.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
I see another post game speech, right, you know.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Yoh yeah? Like that that got me fired up. So
I watched that about twenty times. Taking to that Ravens game.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
It got me ready to run through a brick wall.
I would never I would have any effect at all
of the game. But I maybe want to suit up
for sure. Okay, so final results here Again, the burden
has arrested on my shoulders.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
And Logan, you know I love you.
Speaker 6 (26:09):
You know you know I thanked like the Panther season
is going.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
We will always be friends no matter what. But one,
I gotta give the win to you.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
The Fenerie Mathis uh stuff, the one, the the Frankie
Lulu stuff like that was that was all so key.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
Do you have any parting words of victory for us?
Speaker 5 (26:29):
No?
Speaker 4 (26:29):
I mean, first of all, Logan, you were tasked with
something that that was, you know, kind of hard, and
to point out how Carolina could get tied to win
this game.
Speaker 5 (26:42):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (26:42):
And and no offense any given Sunday, right, anything can
happen on the field. Uh, as far as this Sunday.
But I think Washington, we saw it against the Browns
where I thought it was gonna be a trap game.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
I think this year is kind of different. I think obviously, Zach,
we we've been around.
Speaker 4 (26:59):
The team for a little bit in these last couple
of years where we get hyped up for these games
that are supposedly Washington's favorite at home, you know, big
home crowd coming out for the team and it just
lay a big dud, right, So I think this year
is different, and I expect that on a day where
Daryl Green is getting his jersey retired, the team will
(27:21):
pick him up as well.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
And you know, granted, like you know, the Panthers are,
you know, their professionals. They can win on any given Sunday,
like you said, but if they go in there and
handle their business, I think things should be should be
okay real quick before on the way out. Daryl Green's
memory is getting retired on Sunday. You guys have you know,
been fans and grew up around here and all of
the other stuff. The importance and significance of that, you know,
(27:44):
a Hall of Fame player getting honored.
Speaker 4 (27:46):
Like that for me personally, you know, he was one
of my favorite players coming up growing up as a
kid here in the nineties and you know, seeing him play,
seeing him not go to another team actually you know,
having his jersey and being able to wear it for
years and years, so it didn't fit me anymore, you know,
because he actually stayed on the team.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (28:07):
Definitely, definitely someone that deserves to have his jersey retired.
Hall of Famer obviously, you know, getting treated right. And
I hope that him and his family enjoy this moment
that they're going to have this weekend.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
And Logan, Logan, I know you you you you and
I weren't around it for quite as long to see
to see you know, hidjeogens like prime years. But I
mean it's obviously you've heard the stories about how great
he is.
Speaker 5 (28:34):
Absolutely, I mean, growing up in the Washington area, that
was the first jersey I got was er Yeah, and
every year, you know, when you get bigger, you get
new jerseys, and I always got his jersey. I still
have his in my closet, and throughout the years, I
was never embarrassed to wear that jersey. I was always
excited about getting a new green jersey. And just you know,
(28:54):
he's been such an important piece to this organization and
it is so well deserved. And I can't wait to
see what Washington does for him. I just know the
videos that they're gonna post, they're gonna give me chills.
So congratulations to him. I mean, I can't I couldn't
think of anyone better to deserve that honor.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
Should be fine, should be a really really cool, historic
moment for everyone involved. Everyone's gonna be able to be
there to see the game, but guys, we will see
you next week. Hopefully we are talking about a win.
Be sure to rate reviews, subscribe wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
And this has been the Beatdown.
What is up?
Speaker 2 (00:13):
What's going on?
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Commanders fan? This is the Beatdown Podcast. I'm Zach Selby,
your host, senior writer for the Washington Commanders, and Bob's
still no doubt about it, still feeling good about ourselves.
But the Commanders did drop their first loss in about
a month, thirty to twenty three to the Baltimore.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Ravens on the road. A good game.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
They had a chance to win there, but there were
a few key mistakes here and there that ultimately led
to their demise. But they have a good chance to
bounce back coming back on the Northwest Stadium to take
on the Carolina Panthers who are one and five but
still pesky team, still in the NFL, team still full professionals,
and they can still be anybody at any time. And
how they're gonna be able to bounce back, well, that
(00:52):
is exactly what we're gonna be able to talk about today.
And with me we have Wandermera who is part of
the Spanish broadcasting for US, and we also have a
former Commanders alum here. It is a full time employee
of staff alum here, Logan Campbell. She used to work
for US as a team reporter back in twenty twenty,
but she is now a sports anchor and porter for
WFMY out in North Carolina.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
How are we doing, y'all?
Speaker 1 (01:16):
We're doing good.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
At least I'm doing good over here on the Commander's side.
I don't know how it's going down there in North
Carolina right now.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (01:23):
I was gonna say, the vibes might be high for
you guys, but they are not very high for us.
Speaker 6 (01:27):
Here in Charlotte. So this game is.
Speaker 5 (01:30):
Gonna be fun, you know, being a former Commander I
used to work there and being a Commander fan that
having to cover it, it might be a totally different story.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Baron personally, how are the vibes logan? Are you doing
all right?
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Personally?
Speaker 5 (01:42):
Oh? Fantastic, the best that they have been in years, Zach.
So it's been so fun getting to watch the Commanders
this year. It's like a new energy up there.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Yeah, no, you know, it really is.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
And Guinea be a part of this has been, you know,
such a surreal feeling because right now it's we've usually
been like either one or two and four or something
like this heading into week seven, but now we're kind
of the talk of the league and that's a new
experience that I'm not really familiar with, but I'm loving
every second of it.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
I haven't seen a mock draft yet.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
Like other years, I've already checked out mock drafts and
other years, and this year we haven't done that yet.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
So we're yeah, we're more We're more focused on playoff
seating right now, which is even listen even in a
little too too ahead of ourselves ex But anyway, so.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
The listeners know the spiel, they know the deal.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
But for you guys, you're gonna be asking me questions
about about the game on Sunday, you guys are going
to debate, and since it's my show, I have the
tremendous burden rested on my shoulders to pick a winner.
But at the same time, the viewers know and the
listeners know that you should not focus too hard on
(02:52):
the outcome, be more focused on the objective and important
information that these people are providing. Because they are team insiders.
They know the team there's respective teams better than anybody
and without further ado, let's dive right into it. So,
the the Carolina defense has really been struggling a little bit.
(03:13):
Needless to say, they're in the bottom third of just
about every single category, whether it's past total defense of
yards allowed, rushing yards. I think they think they're second
to second or third to last, and league rushing yards allowed.
But at the same time, they do have some really
solid players on their team, like Jase Horn is a
really really good player leading a talented secondary, albeit still
(03:34):
struggling a little bit. And you know they're their defensive
their defensive line has you know, there's some there's some
solid players on my team, maybe playing a little bit
out of position in terms of where they will be
on respective depth charts.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
They hadn't been so banged up. Uh So, Logan, since.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
You are you are the the other teams, guess we'll
let's you start first here.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
What do you think the biggest threat to.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Washington's offenses on this command on this Carolina defense? Because
the Washington off as you know, has been playing on
a historic rate so far, even with the twenty three
point performance they had against the Ravens.
Speaker 6 (04:08):
Yes, that is a high flying offense. Look, Zach, I
mean you touched on it. This defense is terrible. The
Panthers even know that this defense is terrible. We talked
to j C. Forran after their loss to the Atlanta.
Speaker 5 (04:20):
Falcons, and he said, straight up, it's embarrassing how bad
our defense has been this year.
Speaker 6 (04:26):
I mean, yes, they've had some huge injuries.
Speaker 5 (04:29):
You know, Derek Brown has a season ending injury, a
defensive tackle that was, you know, making maybe masking the
problems a little bit more. Jadavian Clowney might not be
able to play. He's out at practice but not going
through the motions. He's just stretching for the first time today,
so he's questionable to play on Sunday. Jack Thompson, their
biggest linebacker is out, so there's lots of problems.
Speaker 6 (04:52):
On the defensive side of the ball. I think the.
Speaker 5 (04:53):
Biggest threat honestly Zach because it's not on the caroline
of Panthers. The biggest threat is if Jeremy Chin or
Frank people who decided mid game, Hey, you know what,
I want to go back to Carolina. I want to
put in my old teammates.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
You know.
Speaker 5 (05:06):
I think the Panthers defense it is what it is.
I don't know if they're going to get much better Personally.
I don't think that there is a huge threat to
the Commander's offense with what they're able to do this season.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Yeah, you know, it's I think that the Panthers are
They're on pace at least from what I've heard, that
they're on pace to be the most scored against team
in at least like the longest and maybe even league
history right now. I mean they're they're averaging dead last
at thirty three point eight points allowed per game. I
(05:40):
think they've had thirty points allowed and eat to the
last three contests and Juan Barring, as Logan said, the
rare end game trade. Uh, you know, I want to
focus on on j C. Horn a little bit because
he probably is I would say, like you know, with
all with Darrick Brown and Shaq Thompson and all those
other players. They even banged Upper out for the year,
(06:00):
like he probably is like their best defensive player right now.
Aout to Madden, He's gonna see a lot of Terry McLaurin.
So how do you think that matchup is going to
play out a lot? Because Terry does he does match
up well against a lot of different corners. He knows
how to play against you know, gazone, he does against
more physical, man coverage corners. How do you expect that
matchup between Terry and Horn to work out on Sunday.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
I expect Kingsbury to probably do some sort of like
the Skuises in the beginning. I seem to think that
Kingsbury he likes to start off with little screens just
to set up test the defenses, to see what type
of defense they're going to play against Terry or specifically
all the receivers in the running backs. But either way,
(06:46):
I mean J. C. Horn is by far their best
defensive player. He is the biggest threat on their defense.
I mean, he's got six pass breakups already on the year.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
He's got the pick.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
I think definitely he could interrupt Washington's game plan a
little bit.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
But at the end of the day, you know who
would have thunk it.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
You know, Washington has too many weapons, I think for
this defense if you stop, you know, Terry McLaurin on
the outside.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
We saw Zach.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
Ertz get it a little bit involved in the game
against Baltimore. It seems to be that they find different
flows throughout the game where maybe you know, on one
drive it'll be Ertz, maybe on one drive it'll it'll
be Eckler, or it'll be maybe even sometimes Dimmie Brown.
There's just options on this team, right, you know, it's
not the household names that you will think of, and
(07:34):
that maybe the rest of the league knows. But at
the end of the day, these guys are getting it done.
They're executing a plan that Kingsbury is you know, focusing
on during the week and right now, right now is
running like a well oiled machine. And I think the
biggest threat to them against the Carolina Panthers is self
inflicted wounds like we saw it against the Giants, right
We saw it here in the red zone against the
(07:56):
Giants where they ran.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Up and down the field on the Giants.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
They got into the red zone so many times and
they had to settle for field goals.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
So you just got to finish drives, you know, keep.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
The mental awareness up and not be their own worst
enemy on offense.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
That's kind of where I'm at too, And I think
and to your point about about spreading it out, you know,
to the different receivers. Thirteen players have caught, have have
had a target for this, for this, for this commander's offense.
So Jade Daniels is doing a phenomenal job ats spraying
the ball around and spraying the wealth and you know,
it's it's funny like during the off season, lot of
(08:32):
people were wondering if there were enough weapons for Jayden
to to effectively run this offense, and it turns out
when you have a guy like him, it doesn't really
matter all that much because he's able to get it out.
And then Cliff Kingsbury obviously has done a ver good
job of getting players open. But Logan, I'll go back
to you here because I think if there's anything we've
learned we can learn from the Ravens game, is that
(08:52):
the running game is so important to the Washington offense.
They were coming in the league second behind the Ravens
and rushing yards per game. Ryan Robinson goes out, and
of course there are other factors involved with this, but
they average I think they're around like fifty two yards
after that game, which it really disrupted their their game
flow quite a bit. And again, like you know, the
(09:13):
Ravens have an excellent defense to stop in the run,
so it's not all on the commander's self afflicted wounds there.
But I would imagine, you know, the Carolina Panthers are
going to try their best to stop Brian Robinson, assuming
he's going to be available or you know, Austin Eckler,
Jerry maybe Nichols. They're going to try to do something
to whether it's blitzing or doing some many different stunts.
Like how do you expect them to address this rushing
(09:35):
attack that has a really good offensive line, really solid
staple of running backs.
Speaker 6 (09:39):
Yeah, I know, you know.
Speaker 5 (09:41):
The main talk though honestly, it hasn't even been about
their running game though for the Panthers that which is
a problem. You know, they're not even acknowledging that. They're
just more worried about containing Jade and Daniels. They're so
worried about Jade and Daniels. You know, he is a
dual threat quarterback going on these big runs they're having
Bright's young and late Jaden Daniels, which I don't think
(10:02):
you can even do that because he is so good
and practice to try and get this defense prepared. But
I think that's one thing that you mentioned. The run
game is so big for Washington. I don't know how
they are planning on addressing that because they're so focused
on Jaden Daniels. Unfortunately, but like we said, their defensive
line just isn't as as good as it could have
(10:23):
been with all the injuries that they've had.
Speaker 6 (10:25):
So you know, I think, you know, stacking.
Speaker 5 (10:27):
The box a little bit more that would be helpful,
you know, having I don't know who's going to even
replace Shack Thompson. I know they've mentioned mixing up personnel
this week to just try and get something defensive going
and creating these turnovers. So I think the biggest thing
is the turnover battle. If they can create turnovers, that's
(10:47):
gonna help. But for the Panthers, what we've seen this
year is if they don't play a perfect game on defense,
they're not gonna win.
Speaker 6 (10:55):
So that's a great question.
Speaker 5 (10:57):
I don't I don't know how they're gonna plan for
it to attack this Washington's offense.
Speaker 6 (11:01):
I simply don't know.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
You know, And I really, I really am curious about
that because I don't.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
I don't.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
I'm not really sure that.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
Even like you said, I don't even sure they know.
Because if you if you don't have Brian Robinson, you've
got Austin Eckley, who's gonna bust a fifty yard run.
You have Jeremy Nichols, who's really underrated I think in
terms of how he's been able to perform. Uh. And
you know, I was a big fan of Jeremy McNichols
going into training camp. I think he's been really really
key to this this running game. And on top of that,
(11:32):
like to the point about the turnover battle, I mean,
Washington is they've only given up the ball three times,
which is you know, that's that's the second fewest in
the league. So the commanders do a very good job
protecting the ball. And if if the commander is able
to do that again on Sunday, it's gonna be very hard.
One real quick just contacting the running game a little
bit before we move on to the next question. How
(11:53):
big is having Brian Robinson back going to be for
this offense.
Speaker 4 (11:57):
As much as they downplayed it going into the game
against the Ravens, I think it was huge. You know,
he absorbs hits, you know, he he takes on defenders
like defenders have to pay attention to him. That there
was some a few runs where Eckler, you can see,
you know, his vision probably you know, let him down
(12:19):
a little bit and maybe Robinson probably would have been
able to get some more yards and some of those runs.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
So I definitely think it was a huge part.
Speaker 4 (12:26):
I mean, obviously the Ravens were going into the game
number one against the rush and Carolina is not the case, right,
definitely not. But at the same time, if you're going
to focus all your attention on Jaden Daniels and the
RPO game, like, then just feed it to Robinson all
day long.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
I think he'll get his well then to go off
of that.
Speaker 5 (12:48):
Last week against Atlanta, their two running backs had combined
three hundred yards, so you would think they would address
the running game after last week's game. But again, the
talk is just a bit about Jayden Daniels. So yeah,
if I'm Washington, I'm feeding it to be rod the
entire time.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
You know, I think that's probably I mean, you just
look at the stats and they just they just point
to exactly that, right, Like, I mean, you cannot find
two more diametrically different defense as opposed to what you
were seeing with the Ravens versus what you were gonna.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
See with the Panthers. The Panthers are on the opposite
end of the spectrum trying to defending their run.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
And you know, with Jane Daniels, like you said, Logan
being so dynamic and just about every part of that offense.
It's really hard to focus on anybody but him because
he really does make that that offense go because of
how smart he is, how Poisy is in the pocket.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
We're gonna move on to the next question, but first
before we do that score update.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
You guys are tied four to four. Uh so, really
big battle here between you guys with the points. I
really like the points they all began so far. But
we're gonna move on to another part of the game here,
which I think is a really big blow for the Commanders.
They lost Jonathan Allen with the torn pactor muscle. He's
gonna be done. He's on ir GO under undergoing surgery.
(14:01):
But it does create kind of a hole for for
this for this uh, for this defense, because of how
you know, reliable he is, his mindset, his leadership.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
It's I mean, there's no other way the way to say.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
It is a loss, and I expect the Panthers are
gonna try to take advantage of that, especially with which
Cuba Hubbard is running.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
You know, with Andy Dalton still, you know, I think
he's probably not the best quarterback right now, but he is.
He is a veteran who knows how to run that
offense and do it more effectively. I guess you could
say than than Bryce Young. Uh so, one, we'll start
with you first here, And how do you think the
Panthers are gonna try to take advantage of that that
hole in the defensive line, especially with how well their
running game has been going over the last few games
(14:39):
or so.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Uh you mentioned it.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
I think Cuba hubbard Is is definitely where this offense
has to go through. Ever since they made the Q
Beach change, like it's been night and day their rush game.
You know, obviously they have Dalton back there, but it's
it all goes through Cuba, and especially right now if
you're playing Washington on the other end, Like if you're
(15:04):
playing against Washington, people like to say, oh, you know,
they're only ranked twenty second against the rush, but I
like to see more of the yards per rush, so
when they want to run on us, they will run
on the Commanders. Like they're averaging five yards per carry against,
which is twenty ninth in the league, Which means if
Carolina keeps this game close and is still able to rush,
(15:27):
they might be able to pick up some good yards
chunk yards in the running game and that will open
up the play action game. And you know our secondary
hasn't been exactly lighting it up either, So definitely, I
think it all starts through the ground, which chub Hubbard,
and the interior of the offensive line, which is pretty
good with Lewis and Hunt at the guard positions. I
(15:49):
think they have a formidable challenge the Washington defensive line
this league.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
They really do.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
And the band is off the line is I think
by far their best position. Really address that in the offseason,
and their numbers probably aren't. They don't scream that they're
one of the better units, but if you just watch them,
they're Their interior, like you said, is just full.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Of these big, nasty dudes.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Who they're they're They're about a stereotypical of an offensive
line as you would you would expect them to be.
Speaker 5 (16:15):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
But Logan, I want you to focus specifically on Cuba
here because if you just look at his stats, he
really is running hard. I think he's fifth and yards
over expected right now, He's averaging about five yards of care.
He's really running hard making that offense go for them.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
What about Cuba makes it? Makes him such a focal
point of that offense.
Speaker 5 (16:35):
Before we get to that, I do have some breaking
news for you guys, Tod Clowney Toll reporters today right
now that he does not expect to play on Sunday,
So there's another hole in our defense. Anyways, let's try
and talk about the positives.
Speaker 6 (16:51):
Chuba Hubbard. He's having a great season. Listen.
Speaker 5 (16:54):
I saw him during training camp. He would stay an
hour after practice was over, just putting in work, getting
an extra rep. So he he is one of the
hardest workers on this team, without a doubt, and that's
clearly paying off because he is a bright spot in
this offense. Like you said, like we've seen him go
on some big runs this season.
Speaker 6 (17:15):
But the problem becomes when.
Speaker 5 (17:17):
Cuba is doing well, for whatever reason, they decide to
switch up the offense and start throwing thirty yard bombs
down the field, which ended up getting intercepted. We saw
that happen twice last game against Atlanta, so you know,
he he is the focal point of this offense. It
is sad, but they do need to keep feeding Tuba
the ball. They're going to run him into the ground,
(17:38):
but he's the one that gets this team going and
moves them down the field and.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
If you look at his his like rushing like totals,
like I don't think he has a He only has
like three plays that are over twenty yards and not
on the ground, but he just has He kind of
reminds me of b Rob a little bit with how
like physically he is at a lot of scrimmage.
Speaker 5 (17:58):
Yeah, he just needs the offensive line that Washington has
now and then you know, maybe he will be at
that next level like b Rob is.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
Playing at and that and that commit that Carolina Panthers
offensive line is a little banged up, which is going
to be probably be a pretty big factor into this game.
So one going into like you can't really replace a
guy like Jonathan Allen one to one, but there are
a lot of guys who are probably gonna have more
expanded roles, and one of them is going to be
Johnny Newton, who talked in the locker room, I think
(18:26):
it was Wednesday, talking about how you think he's really
really ready for this, he feels the confidence of the
coaching staff. What kind of impact do you think Johnny
Newton is going to have because we really haven't seen
all that much of him just because of various injuries
and him being lower on the death chart. But now
that he has a bigger role on this team, what
do you expect out of him?
Speaker 4 (18:45):
You know, before I talk about Johnny Newton, I want
to give the credit to someone that's gone under talked about,
and that's Fadarian Mathis. I think he's come up big
on some some series that I've seen that he's out there,
he is absorbing double blocks, he's getting to running backs.
He doesn't have probably the past rushing skills that the
(19:06):
other defensive tackles have, but definitely a shout out to
him and what he's done so far in the season.
Johnny Obviously, with him, we haven't seen much of him.
I think he's still recovering from two foot surgeries, like
in the offseason, like those things aren't something to take lightly.
I think he probably was just getting his legs under him.
His last couple of games we saw him do basically
(19:28):
you know, a player that stood out against the Ravens
where he was able to shed a block and get
to the running back.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
So definitely, I think with him.
Speaker 4 (19:37):
He had a spectacular career at Illinois, and you know,
he was definitely one of those players that we were
excited to see what he was going to bring as
the second round draft pick in this draft, I think
that many people were surprised that we were going to
take a defensive tackle when we had probably other needs.
So we expected a lot out of him, and I
(19:58):
think he's going to be able to show it now,
most likely against you know, something like like uh Chuba Hubbard,
like we saw against Derrick Henry. They'll probably play a
lot of five down lineman and probably move him to
one of the ends spots and uh, we'll see for
(20:18):
Darien Mathis in the middle. So I'm looking forward to
it and looking forward to see what we get from
Johnny Newton.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
Yeah, and you know, you're right, And that is a
really good point about Fidarian because I think he puts
out he does a lot of things that do not
show up on the stat sheet, and but he makes
that defense like when he's on the field, like Frankie
Lulu and Bobby Wagner, like they have more opportunities because
he's able to eat up those double teams. And that's
something that that he was praised for even going into
(20:45):
the draft process a couple of years ago, about how
like he doesn't really do a whole lot that makes you,
you know, stand out and say, oh my gosh, that's
an amazing tackle. But he lets the linebackers flow and
do their jobs. And you know, considering the way that
Frankie and Bobby are playing right now, that you want
as much of that as you possibly can.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Logan real quick here is you know, I mentioned.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
How like the off the line is kind of banged
up a little bit for the Panthers, Like how confident
do you feel about them going up against this commanders
deep the line?
Speaker 5 (21:14):
Well, and you know it's crazy to say that, you know,
maybe the defensive line for Washington is one of the
weaker points on this team, which is crazy to say
because that wasn't.
Speaker 6 (21:22):
The case for years. But you know, I think just
you know.
Speaker 5 (21:26):
Doron Payne being out or Jonathan Allen excuse me, being out,
that's huge for the Carolina to try and exploit that,
get the run game going, you know, and eat up
the cloth. You know, like I said earlier, they need
to play a perfect game. So if they can take
care of the ball, and you know, maybe Washington this
could be a trap game for Washington.
Speaker 6 (21:45):
So I think.
Speaker 5 (21:47):
Who knows, who knows maybe maybe the Panthers will come
out they had like a heart to heart conversation in
the locker room after last week's loss, after being one
in five, and maybe they'll look like significantly better than
they've all seasons. So hopefully the offensive line, you know,
like it. Like we've said, they are banged up, but
maybe something they had to come to Jesus moment this
(22:07):
week and they'll just play slightly better to keep this
one a close game.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
Yeah, I'm really interested to see what what that matchup
is going to be like, because you know, you're right,
like the Carolina off off of the line is banged up.
But last question here score update, though, I think the
point you made one about Fadarian really really stood out
to me, So I got to give you a point ahead.
But logan, you still have you still have one more
(22:33):
question to get back up here. And it's really simple,
you know, beside the quarterbacks, because obviously Jaden is going
to be a big factor on Sunday and he Doll
is gonna be a big factor on Sunday, that's obvious,
But like other than those guys, which player do you
think on either team will have the biggest effect on Sunday's.
Speaker 5 (22:50):
Outcome, I think, to be honest, I don't. I think
it really depends on how Jadeen Daniels plays. I think
that if Washington, you know, maybe gets a little lackluster
and Carols but the ball and creates the turnovers and
Carolina somehow capitalizes on it, I think that that could
(23:12):
really flip the outcome of the game. We've said this
time and time again for Carolina, if they are not
playing a perfect game in every single phase, they're not
gonna win. So they have to play a little bit
more than perfect and create some turnovers and capitalize off
some off the turnovers.
Speaker 6 (23:30):
That's gonna be the biggest outcome.
Speaker 5 (23:32):
So I think on Washington side, it's Jayden and Daniels
taking care of the ball, but then on Carolina side,
it's jac Horn.
Speaker 6 (23:39):
I think.
Speaker 5 (23:39):
I think if he can create those turnovers off of
these big passes that we know jade Daniels is gonna make,
that's gonna be the difference maker in this one.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
I like that. Like that because you're right.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
I think Jase Horn is really going to be quite
the quite the matt with Terry.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
I think he's gonna see a lot against Tammie. I
think Lamede'sakias might get out there, and no brown as
as really well, so he could also see any of
those guys.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
All right, One same question, which player on either team
you think is the biggest effect on today?
Speaker 1 (24:09):
All right? So I need I need them to release
the dogs and by that I mean Frankie Louvu. I
need another Frankie Louvu game because he disappeared last week
against the Ravens.
Speaker 4 (24:21):
I don't think it's through fault of his The Ravens
had a good game plan against him, but there was
two games in a row that he popped, that he
came out, that he jumped out of.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
The screen on what he was doing. So I need
him to be blitzing all the time.
Speaker 4 (24:36):
This is a quarterback any Dalton that you know where
he's at, You like, you know he's going to be
in that pocket. You need to send him pretty much
all the time to the quarterback, bring him down or
obviously on rushing downs to the running back. And I
think that's going to be the key to this game.
A little bit of Bobby Wagner, but it's mostly on
Frankie Louver. I think Bobby Wagner was kind of called
(24:58):
out to be honest by Wait on the press conference
this week about these miscommunications, uh that that were going
on with these plays. So I think it's they're going
to take you a little personal. But I think Frank
lou was gonna be the one that's going to have
the big game.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
Wen.
Speaker 5 (25:15):
Can I just say that if you're going up against
the Carolina Panther and you're a former Carolina Carolina Panther,
chances are have a great game. We saw that with
DJ Moore when they play the Chicago Bear.
Speaker 6 (25:25):
So I think you're.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Correct, that's correct.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
And you know, Lulu has just been as he gets
more comfortable, you can see it on the field, right,
Like he's got he's got this quickness that I would
love to see him russ the pass or even more
because I know, I know they have other responsibilities.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
That they need him to do, but he's just so
fun to watch.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
I see another post game speech, right, you know.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Yoh yeah? Like that that got me fired up. So
I watched that about twenty times. Taking to that Ravens game.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
It got me ready to run through a brick wall.
I would never I would have any effect at all
of the game. But I maybe want to suit up
for sure. Okay, so final results here Again, the burden
has arrested on my shoulders.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
And Logan, you know I love you.
Speaker 6 (26:09):
You know you know I thanked like the Panther season
is going.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
We will always be friends no matter what. But one,
I gotta give the win to you.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
The Fenerie Mathis uh stuff, the one, the the Frankie
Lulu stuff like that was that was all so key.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
Do you have any parting words of victory for us?
Speaker 5 (26:29):
No?
Speaker 4 (26:29):
I mean, first of all, Logan, you were tasked with
something that that was, you know, kind of hard, and
to point out how Carolina could get tied to win
this game.
Speaker 5 (26:42):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (26:42):
And and no offense any given Sunday, right, anything can
happen on the field. Uh, as far as this Sunday.
But I think Washington, we saw it against the Browns
where I thought it was gonna be a trap game.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
I think this year is kind of different. I think obviously, Zach,
we we've been around.
Speaker 4 (26:59):
The team for a little bit in these last couple
of years where we get hyped up for these games
that are supposedly Washington's favorite at home, you know, big
home crowd coming out for the team and it just
lay a big dud, right, So I think this year
is different, and I expect that on a day where
Daryl Green is getting his jersey retired, the team will
(27:21):
pick him up as well.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
And you know, granted, like you know, the Panthers are,
you know, their professionals. They can win on any given Sunday,
like you said, but if they go in there and
handle their business, I think things should be should be
okay real quick before on the way out. Daryl Green's
memory is getting retired on Sunday. You guys have you know,
been fans and grew up around here and all of
the other stuff. The importance and significance of that, you know,
(27:44):
a Hall of Fame player getting honored.
Speaker 4 (27:46):
Like that for me personally, you know, he was one
of my favorite players coming up growing up as a
kid here in the nineties and you know, seeing him play,
seeing him not go to another team actually you know,
having his jersey and being able to wear it for
years and years, so it didn't fit me anymore, you know,
because he actually stayed on the team.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (28:07):
Definitely, definitely someone that deserves to have his jersey retired.
Hall of Famer obviously, you know, getting treated right. And
I hope that him and his family enjoy this moment
that they're going to have this weekend.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
And Logan, Logan, I know you you you you and
I weren't around it for quite as long to see
to see you know, hidjeogens like prime years. But I
mean it's obviously you've heard the stories about how great
he is.
Speaker 5 (28:34):
Absolutely, I mean, growing up in the Washington area, that
was the first jersey I got was er Yeah, and
every year, you know, when you get bigger, you get
new jerseys, and I always got his jersey. I still
have his in my closet, and throughout the years, I
was never embarrassed to wear that jersey. I was always
excited about getting a new green jersey. And just you know,
(28:54):
he's been such an important piece to this organization and
it is so well deserved. And I can't wait to
see what Washington does for him. I just know the
videos that they're gonna post, they're gonna give me chills.
So congratulations to him. I mean, I can't I couldn't
think of anyone better to deserve that honor.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
Should be fine, should be a really really cool, historic
moment for everyone involved. Everyone's gonna be able to be
there to see the game, but guys, we will see
you next week. Hopefully we are talking about a win.
Be sure to rate reviews, subscribe wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
And this has been the Beatdown.
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