BR Pod Well-Oiled Machine: Mariota Steps UP! | The Booth Review Podcast | Washington Commanders | NFL

Bram Weinstein and London Fletcher recap the 40-7 victory over the Carolina Panthers, give out the Big Fletch Championship Belt, and breakdown the upcoming clash between the Chicago Bears and their #1 overall selection, QB Caleb Williams. Hosts: Bram Weinstein, London Fletcher Producer: Jason Johnson

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
On today's edition of The Booth Review five and two.
Feeling pretty good, Big Fletch.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
We're well oil machine, who's the diesel fuel?

Speaker 1 (00:07):
And who's going to get Big Fletcher's championship belt?

Speaker 2 (00:10):
This week it's The Booth Review reading the Bell.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
Welcome into the Monday edition of The Booth Review podcast
after a dominant forty to seven win over the Carolina
Panthers with Big Fletch London Fletcher, who I'm now noting
we do this every week. We like to talk about
your stats. Thirty nine and a half, sex two less
than one. Ray Lewis happens to be in the Hall
of Fame. Yes, he played another one more season than

(00:40):
you did too, he did.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Yeah, you know what.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
So the whole Big Flesh thing just to kind of
reintroduce Big Fletch.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
He's my alter ego, uh huh.

Speaker 3 (00:50):
And so I like to hear about what I did, yeah,
or Big Flesh likes to hear about what he did.
And when I talk about Big one of the talking
third part, all.

Speaker 1 (00:59):
Of the Fletch like hearing about what you did. Okay,
I think Big Fletch liked the way the defense played
yesterday too. I'll get into the offense, and we're gonna
spend some time on Marcus Mariota and Jane Daniels and
upfront spoiler, as we're taping this, we don't know what
Jayden's health situation is, so we're gonna find out later today,
just like everybody else, So we'll get into all the

(01:20):
quarterback stuff. I actually want to start with the defense
because there were two things that they had to do
yesterday to win, and that was slow down a running game.
It's the one thing Carolina does really really well with
Chuba Hubbard, very expensive guards that have played very very
well this year, and they have a real number one
target in Deontay Johnson. He had one catch Hubbard at halftime,

(01:40):
had twelve carries twenty five yards, ended up seventeen for
fifty two. Something like that. Mission accomplished yesterday because they
took away the two things that Carolina could do.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:51):
Absolutely, and we talked about this on the air lot.
I was a little nervous about Carolina's offense and going
into that because of their ability to run the ball
and how well Truba Howard had been playing the last
four ball games. He was averaging over one hundred yards
a game, and then you look on you look at
Deontay Johnson, and man, he had that quickness in the

(02:13):
release and he was starting to really get get this
connection with Andy Dalton. I was a little concerned, like, Okay,
they can give us a little bit of a problem.
But then defensively, man, the way they played in that
ball game, starting off with the follower interception, of which
I know we're going to talk about, that really set

(02:34):
the tone for the rest of the game. And they
made Carolina one dimensional for the most part. They really
shut down that run game and they played outstanding football
in a game where you're missing Jonathan Allen, you're missing
Dorian's Armstrong, so you're down two of your premier defensive players.

(02:56):
And the rotation, yeah John Baptist as well, and those
guys on a defensive front really set the toe and
you could tell they took a personal and took the
challenge of saying, hey, we're not gonna let the Carolina
Pathers come in here and try to run a ball
against us.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
Not today.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
Then there's Andy Dalton, who it's funny when you people
think whatever they think of him at this point in
his career. And then I was citing stats yesterday, I go,
you know, when he throws three more touchdown passes, he's
gonna pass Sonny Jurgensen all time. Right when he throws
for a thousand more yards, assuming he plays enough the
rest of the year to throw for a thousand more yards,
he's going past Joe Montana on schedule. He's still a

(03:36):
very productive, very good quarterback and has this connection with Johnson.
When you get him moving around, there's a problem. And
Washington knew this. They went in. The object was to
bring heat on him, get him off schedule, you know,
take their chances with their corners, probably in more of
an island situation than they're probably accustomed to, but probably

(03:57):
like there's matchups a little bit different than they have recently.
They got him moving and they got exactly what they wanted,
which was turnovers. And they've been talking about this four weeks.
In fact, Joe Witt said last week in his press conference,
he goes, we've played six games. I've had one interception
that has never happened in my career, but it was
the challenge was put out there, that's not acceptable, and
there they were two in the first quarter.

Speaker 3 (04:18):
The thing about interceptions is there's kind of just saying
in the defensive meeting room, they come in bunches. Once
you get that first first one, it seems like they
started to come in bunches. And last week we got
the first one against the Baltimore Ravens. Yesterday we got
two against the Carolina Panthers. You mentioned the pressure, the

(04:39):
pressure from from Cleveland Farroh on Andy Dawden kind of
forced him to throw that air and pass that that
Dante follow was able to intercept and really ignite us
and get that stadium in the buzz and just the
electric atmosphere was tremendous. Defensively, we also did a great

(05:00):
job of taking away the quick throws against Andy Dalton.
One of the things that he did and once he
took over at the quarterback spot for the Panthers, his
release time, his pocket time was two point two seconds,
which was the fastest in the NFL. So he was
getting the ball out of his hands quickly. Yes, you
talk about playing on time, playing on schedule. There was

(05:21):
times where we took his initial tha read away, force
him a hold on to the football, get some pressure,
make him move inaccurate throws through another interception of the
manu form. So the game plan they executed it to
a t. From a defensive standpoint.

Speaker 1 (05:36):
Yes on Fouler in the interception obviously kind of got
the ball rolling the right way him. Farrell, you mentioned
him too. I think people forget in camp they didn't
play very much in the preseason, and then both of
them actually had issues that were kind of limiting them
at the end of camp and they were rotating. Farrell's
missed a couple of games. Dante's really gotten up to

(05:58):
speed really over the lineast couple of weeks. You have
felt his impact the last few games, and I think
some of that was a little bit injury related, because
it was under the radar that he was dealing with
stuff at the beginning of the season.

Speaker 3 (06:10):
Where you think about when we interviewed him yesterday on
a postgame interview and he talked about how missing preseason
and how he was kind of a rust. He felt
like he wasn't playing up to his standards. And the
last I know, at least two.

Speaker 2 (06:26):
Games, maybe even three games, he's he's.

Speaker 3 (06:28):
Truly turned it up a notch. And I mean I
think he had two sax agans the Ravens. So you're
starting to feel his impact and why dan Quinn was
so adamant about bringing him with him. He's been with
dan Quinn everywhere he's you know, going all the way back.

Speaker 2 (06:43):
To his Atlanta days.

Speaker 3 (06:45):
They drafted him in Atlanta, he was with him in Dallas,
and now he's brought him here. So he knows what
he brings to the table, especially being down a couple
of guys on that defensive front. He's his play and
his performance the last few weeks have been outstanding and
much needed.

Speaker 2 (07:02):
You know.

Speaker 1 (07:03):
So he came here because of this coaching staff. Yeah,
Jeremy Chin told us that too. Remember we had him
on on the postgame show yesterday too. He's playing his
ex team. It's a big deal for him. He said
he wanted to be here with this coaching staff. It's
already like I think it's already out there that he
turned out more money from other places to end up
signing here. Carolina did want Frankie Luvu back, he chose

(07:23):
to come to play here. Doran Armstrong follows dan Quinn
Joe Witt from Dallas to here like there is something
about that, and I think has been a touch underrated
throughout this entire process. Because I think there's a lot
of disbelief that's going on about what's going on here.
And I understand it because I lived it too. You

(07:45):
played in it where for a very long time, you know.
Someone asked Dan Quinn a couple of weeks ago, so
it was one of the reporters from the Washington Times,
where he said, I think a lot of people are
waiting for the other shoe to drop, right because it
has for twenty years, it has maybe more, and this
is different, and I think we all recognize it's different,

(08:05):
and I've turned the corner on seeing it's different. But
I understand why on the outside that people are still
going wait a minute, like this almost feels a little
too unbelievable. But when you go back to how they
put the roster together, the reasons why these players came here,
that they're performing at this level because they wanted to
be here, to be with this staff. I don't care

(08:27):
what the past was, they weren't here for any of it.
You're starting to get kind of the reasons why this
is happening faster than anybody could have anticipated.

Speaker 3 (08:38):
I think you even go back to obviously there's a
new ownership group and just go back to the process
of Hian Adam Peters and then the process of High
and Dank Quinn and all the coaching staff that they
put together. That process has brought us to where we
are right now. Is a measured approach. And free agency,

(09:00):
they were strategic and not signing a bunch of you know,
just Outlandis contracts. The draft class that they got, Man,
these rookies that they brought in, not just Jaden, but
you're getting Stamer's still getting.

Speaker 1 (09:14):
Program, Newton's gonna be profiled now.

Speaker 3 (09:16):
Newton senate got his first catching, first touchdown of his
career and those guys, Brandon Coleman is starting left tackle.

Speaker 1 (09:23):
Luke McCaffrey.

Speaker 2 (09:24):
Luke McCaffrey.

Speaker 3 (09:25):
So that's this draft class and the players that they
brought free and free agency is the reason why we're
in the position.

Speaker 2 (09:33):
That we are in right now.

Speaker 3 (09:34):
And then but the culture, man that how they compete
at such a high level, and that goes back to
just Dan Quinn and his philosophy.

Speaker 2 (09:45):
And yeah, people are waiting for the other shoot to drop.
I don't know that. I don't think it's gonna draw.

Speaker 1 (09:50):
I don't think it is. They're gonna be because we're
sitting here, we're looking at this. I've been professionally covering
this franchise for a quarter century, been a fan of
it my entire life. I've watched every play that they've
run my entire life, but i've professionally been around it.
I've not been around something like this in my time
covering this. They've had good teams, they've had good coaches, right,

(10:11):
They've had good players like you and Santana and Chris
Cooley and many others that have come through here. But
I have not had a feeling like this. Maybe for
a short period of time with the Gibbs teams in
the second year, once he got back up to speed,
you got that same feeling about what was being built
here and that they were very capable of things. This

(10:32):
one has happened really fast. But I'll tell you what.
When we were in the locker room after that Baltimore game,
that's all I needed to know about where they are.
They were in as they described their first heavyweight fight.
It did not go the way they wanted. Defensively, they
gave up way too many yards and a bazillion big plays.
They give up seven plays of twenty yards or more.
They'd given up ten combined in the four game winning streak.

(10:54):
It was not up to quote unquote their standard. What
do they do the next week? They're playing a weaker opponent,
no if it's to Carolina, but they are right, a
beat up, injured opponent who's limited, don't have an MVP
quarterback playing for them, doesn't have a Hall of Fame
running back playing for them. But what did they do?
They took over dominated, dominated, dominated, And this is what

(11:16):
a special season looks like that off a loss, this
is what you get.

Speaker 3 (11:21):
This is exactly what you get in and you want
to see, Okay, how do they respond at the adversity?

Speaker 2 (11:26):
And I wasn't.

Speaker 3 (11:28):
Sometimes people you worry about teams playing up to their
competition or or down to their competition. I wasn't concerned
about them not being ready to play because of again
being around Dan Quinn, hearing how he talks and tell
the truth Monday and being honest with those guys and
wins and the losses, so holding them accountable in wins

(11:49):
and losses, they were going to be ready to play
the game. The thing that you just have to appreciate
is the brotherhood and you can feel it I mentioned
this when I was you guys did Arizona game, and
I'm watching the video where they gave Cliff Kingsbury the

(12:09):
game ball after after that victory and the reaction and
response that he got from the team and the players
after giving.

Speaker 2 (12:17):
Him that game ball.

Speaker 3 (12:18):
Then you see Frankie Louville in the locker room and
he's doing his you know, uh, what's it called, the
like the hakka hakka something closer, And you see you know,
Frankie Louville doing his hawka, and how they respond to.

Speaker 1 (12:37):
Him with the Rick Flair, dads whatever all that.

Speaker 3 (12:40):
You just you feel like the atmosphere, the fight, the
one to play for each other, the competitive spirit, it's
going to be there in all these games. Yes, win
or lose, that's going to remain.

Speaker 1 (12:54):
Yeah, you know it's interesting too because it's a brand
new team. There's thirty something new players, which staff knew everything.
Really and then to your point, like what I see
often and this is what I think is very unique
about what I've seen here. Why I think this is
so different. They're not looking at one person to speak
for the team. They're not asking for one person to
be the leader, none of that. Like if it's Frankie

(13:16):
Louvo's day, Frankie Louvu gets the game ball and gets
to get everybody to do too, claps in a rick lair.
If it's Mike Sanderstol's day, he speaks. If it's Austin
Eckler's day, he speaks. If it's Jayden Daniel's day, he
seems to defer to everybody else. The whole room is
acting like they have ownership and leadership in it, and
that I think is something that really is standing out

(13:38):
to me about.

Speaker 3 (13:38):
That they wrote take captains. Yes, they picked captains, different
captains for every game.

Speaker 1 (13:45):
Dad Quinn says, they cheer for certain people when they
get the honor, like Jeremy McNichols, who's an incredible example.

Speaker 2 (13:51):
Of all of this.

Speaker 3 (13:53):
Now that's that right there. That that buying right there,
because if a lot of times when you only have
I've been a captain, I don't know, out of my
sixteen years, probably thirteen twelve of those years I was captain,
when you only have you know, a couple guys as
a captain, they tend to be the voice of the

(14:16):
team most of the time. But when you have kind
of a situation in the process that they go through.
It there is a different collect captain for each game.
It forces guys to assume a leadership role and be
willing to speak out.

Speaker 2 (14:32):
And know that hey, I'm.

Speaker 3 (14:34):
Not just a low end person on this roster. I'm
an important, vital piece of what we're trying to accomplish.

Speaker 1 (14:42):
It's really I mean, it's such a weird test case
because it so feels unprecedented, and I think that's why
everybody keeps looking at this going what is going on
here that you would basically tear the organization down, build
it back up immediately and be in position to contend.
I mean, it feels off and straight. But when you
think about all these moves and cranted, a lot of

(15:03):
them have really worked out. They were all done with purpose.
They brought in all of these people four specific roles,
told them what their specific roles were. Many of them,
if we were talking about earlier, had previous relationships with
the coaching staff, wanted to be part of it because
they were buying what was being sold. It had in
the past. It's carried over here. There's a chip on
the shoulder of Cliff Kingsbury, who wants to prove to

(15:25):
everybody in my second go run. You're going to see
what I am. There's a chip on the shoulder of
Dan Quinn, who wants to be a second time head coach,
who has talked openly about here are the things I
think I did wrong the first time, and here's what
I want to get right the second time. You've got
Adam Peters, who's been in line for this for years, right.
He has been offered jobs, i'm sure for five ten

(15:47):
years running to do something like this. He finally gets
his opportunity because he feels like it's the right place
to do it. It's really remarkable what is happening here.
It's really it's this is the stuff movies are made up.
It's wild what is happening right now?

Speaker 2 (16:02):
Man?

Speaker 3 (16:02):
I was I was walking around a concourse yesterday heading
up to the booth and I just literally and I
kid you, not not hyperbole, not. I just was smiling
because I saw the amount of fans that were in
the stadium coming to a game. And yeah it was

(16:22):
alumni and Dale Green's retirement church, but it was more
than that. When you saw the amount of fans, the
concourse was packed and this was I don't know at
least an hour before the game, and I'm just like, man,
this is just a beautiful thing. And I I just
was so appreciative that and just you know, talking to
fans and how happy, and met several fans who were

(16:46):
bringing their kids to their very first game.

Speaker 2 (16:48):
Yeah, twelve nine.

Speaker 1 (16:50):
Year olds for very first game.

Speaker 3 (16:52):
And it was just like, man, this is a beautiful thing.
And it's all because of what they've been able to
build in a very short period of.

Speaker 1 (17:00):
Yeah, I think it's bit interesting. Like I agreed with
that question a few weeks ago because I thought it
was pulse of the fan base to ask when is
the other shoe going to drop? Because I think that's
what a lot of people were thinking. They've seen this before.
Team has this good month, you know, but like how
real is this? I think there were fair questions for
a fan base. It hasn't won a lot for a

(17:21):
very long time. Like I grew up in the golden
era of this team. I went to RFK yesterday with
Darryl Green being celebrated was special for me. I was
in attendance at the NFC Championship game where he's at
the goal line knocking a ball down that sends them
back to the Super Bowl. I lived that in my childhood.
There's a generation of people who did not. They have
watched this team be very up and down, a lot

(17:43):
of promises, a lot of new faces, a lot of
Hall of Fame caliber people that have come in here,
but the results were never there, and even when a
good start happened, they were waiting for the other shoe
to drop. I don't feel like that's happening. And I
think what you're seeing in the stadium, what we're feeling
in the area, it's undeniably real. Beyond just that they're good,
like there is something here that is building that is

(18:05):
completely literally undeniable at this point. Agree, all right, let's
talk abou a couple others. Emmanuel Forbes got an interception,
so this is good, right, we want and the coach
have talked about this. He was a healthy scratch week ago.
Uh mainly, and I buy the reasoning. Some of it
was they knew the run game they were facing. They

(18:26):
were going to bring up extra linemen because they felt
that they needed it a rotation against the Ravens offense.
But he still was the choice to not play last week.
So Dan Quinn openly talked. He's very honest with the media.
He said, I talked to him about it. I told him,
your opportunities are going to come here. He was active again.
And you know what, him getting his hands on the

(18:46):
ball is a big deal because that's him. He's confident.
He doesn't care that you think he's skinny. He doesn't
care he's under like. But he knows what he did
in the past. And he was drafted because he catches
the ball and changes games. And I think it's a
big deal that he got an interception.

Speaker 3 (19:04):
Yeah, not only did he get a big get a
big interception, he played a lot of that ball game,
and they were rotating him Sam may Steele, Saint Juice
and also Igbinogheny where those were the three corners at
sometime point. Sometimes when there was only two corners on
the field, it may have been him and Saint Juics.
It may have been him and Sam may Steel. So
he played a lot and he was a major part

(19:25):
of the game plan. What I liked about it was
on an interception, his positioning beforehand. He had great vision
on the quarterback and also had the feel of the receiver.

Speaker 2 (19:37):
Johnson.

Speaker 3 (19:37):
He broke on that ball before Johnson even you know,
ran his rock properly. That's where you say a young
guy who's developing, who's buying in, who's bought in? Hey,
I know I'm not playing, but I'm still doing everything
I need to do in practice, so when my opportunity comes,

(19:59):
I'm prepared. You don't want to He could have kind
of moped around and not fully taken advantage of his
practice reps and not did the things he knew needed
to do to prepare. And when he got his opportunity again,
he flucked the test, so to speak. But when he
got the interception, and I don't know, you had to
notice this the reaction of his teammates. Yes, after he

(20:23):
got that interception, like, man, we feel what you've gone
through and just did the jubilation.

Speaker 1 (20:28):
That took place when I hear the complaints about him.
You know it's funny, I go, I don't think you
know how much as teammates actually really like him. Go
look on social media about how they interact with him.
I see how supportive they are of him. He's a
very young player. He does have talent that he has.
He has a gift for something that this team values
more than anything on earth getting the ball because when

(20:48):
he's thrown his way, he might catch it. Oh yeah,
there's not a lot of corners you could.

Speaker 2 (20:52):
Say that about.

Speaker 1 (20:53):
So I'm hoping that this hits a light bulb for him,
gets his confidence up. And that's been a recurring theme too,
just the supportiveness of the room for one another. For
Jamon Davis for the end of the pre he was
up for who willingly did a position shift right and said, yes,
make me better. I want to, you know, continue my

(21:14):
career under this coaching staff. Like the end of the preseason,
how many games did we see where everybody was cheering
for Trace Mcsorlely trucking people at the end of a
preseason game, or the end of the Miami game where
they were rooting for Jeff Driscoll to try to, you know,
lead a drive down the field. This team's been engaged
with one another from the get go. Whatever they did

(21:35):
to get that kind of chemistry starting being built, they
bought in and it's paying off huge right now.

Speaker 3 (21:42):
Stand on a kind of the cornerback situation here, I
thought Mikey Samer still was outstanding.

Speaker 1 (21:48):
He's getting better and better.

Speaker 3 (21:49):
He was outstanding in that game, he had a big
pass breakup on a third down against the Attae Johnson,
and just the nuance and the the the skill set
of him knowing that they tried to run a rub
route with him, he avoided the rubb rod and was
riding the hip pocket blanket covers makes the pass breakoup
without having a pass the interference penalty. There were some

(22:11):
times in run support or bubble screens where he slips blocks,
makes tackles or forcing the runner back to the pursuit angles.
These are things that you see and this is a
rookie doing these types of things where you're just like, man,
he's really really turning it.

Speaker 2 (22:27):
On the last few ball.

Speaker 3 (22:28):
Games, he's he's on the uptakes, on the climb.

Speaker 1 (22:31):
Yeah, all right, let's talk about the offense for a minute.
So Brian Robinson comes back. Carolina is decimated up front.
They are missing six starters.

Speaker 2 (22:42):
A lot of players.

Speaker 1 (22:43):
Yes, they're giving up a ton of yards on the ground.
If you watch him in their last couple of games
against Chicago and Atlanta, they're getting just pushed off the line.
This is a very good run offense here. So here's
another really good sign that this is a very serious
operation that there is no other shoe to drop at
this point. They took advantage of a team that had
injuries and deficiencies. That's what good teams do. You know,

(23:07):
we're gonna do it to you. You can't stop it.
It's your problem and your issue that you have to
deal with your injuries. We don't care. It's the NFL.
And they rushed for almost two hundred yards.

Speaker 2 (23:17):
Again.

Speaker 3 (23:18):
Man, there's nothing more demoralizing from a defense than a
team just running a football like you know they're gonna
run it. They know you know they're gonna run it,
and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it.

Speaker 2 (23:31):
B Rob.

Speaker 3 (23:32):
What I love about b Rob is we talked about
how much we missed him last week in the Baltimore game,
and yeah, the Ravens a number one rank rush defense
in the league. Think about b Rob is with some
of the because of his size and his forward body lane.
Where one of the other backs may have gotten two,
maybe three yards, b Rob's gonna get four or five,

(23:53):
even possibly six yards because of that body lane. And
now you're operating in second and five thirty and two's
thirty and one thirty threes, a lot more manageable down
and dish is where the playbook is kind of opened
up a little bit more so just having him back
on the field, and you saw what he's able to do,
having those that rushing they had two rushing touchdowns or

(24:17):
one rushing touchdown. Just be rob physicality and this run
game that travels weekend and week out. You're going to
be able to run the ball. All the misdirection stuff
that they're doing. James Daniels his first run, all the misdirection,
you're pulling guards, you're pulling tackles. It forces you as

(24:37):
a linebacker. You don't know where the ball is at
and does a quarterback have it?

Speaker 2 (24:41):
Does it?

Speaker 3 (24:41):
Running back have it? Who has the football? So you're
going to be half a second slow and by that
time you're getting alignment hitting you in the face, or
a quarterback running back play ast you or be Rob
you know doing this thing, or Austin Neckler or Jeremy McNichols.

Speaker 2 (24:57):
So it's I mean, that running game is awesome.

Speaker 1 (24:59):
I'm described it is. He's gas in the tank to
them that like because just the way he plays. He's
a favorite of mine because just the way he plays.
For a couple of years now. Just his physicality reminds
me of the old school Redskins, the Hogs, Riggo Gerald Riggs,
George Rogers, Ernest Beiner, Stephen Davis. He's very tough running

(25:20):
backs that nobody wanted any part of in the fourth quarter.
He reminds me of that. And last week after he
missed the game, Cliff Kingsbury described it as what he
brings to us emotionally, let alone his play on the field.
People just feed off of they see what he's doing.
Dan Quinn reiterated it too. He said, this is what

(25:41):
we want to be him. We want everybody to be him,
like emotionally, this is how we want to play every run.
He was talking to us in the post game, but
he's like, I know what I can do, and I
know what I bring. And he's right, it's not ego
or cockiness. He recognizes that when he's going, this whole
team is going.

Speaker 3 (26:01):
Just going back to when I first saw b Rob
Rubb back in the preseason years ago, a couple of
years ago, I said, he reminded me of two to
two Hall of Fame running backs. He has feet like
Frank Gore as a linebacker. I'm going to a game plan.
I'm studying a running back. I'm studying the guys. I go,

(26:24):
I'm going against Frank Gore had these great feet. He
was able to get in there to cut jump cuts,
I mean, getting picked his feet up and put him
back down so quickly. He has the feet of a
guy like a Frank Gore, and he has the body
lane of an Eddrin James where you don't see him
getting knocked backwards because he has the four body lane.

(26:45):
And this is guy six foot two running with that
type of forward lean, So it's a hard it's a
hard target to hit. With his ability, his feet and
that body lean, he's going to be extremely productive. And
he has that billy for bigger back to get what
we call skinny through a little small hole increase and
things like that. So I mean the guy he said,

(27:08):
I love him. I love the way he plays a game.

Speaker 1 (27:11):
So you told me yesterday you were nervous going into
this game.

Speaker 2 (27:14):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, for one of the first times.

Speaker 1 (27:17):
It's my job to be nervous, to be ready for anything.
I was not, though it was based mainly on the
injuries that Carolina has, where I looked at them and
I go, they can't stop us, like not with the
personnel that they're putting out there, short of weird fumbles
or some kind of like weird bounces of the ball.
I knew we were scoring thirty. It was just a

(27:37):
question of how much were we giving up now nervous,
I didn't think we were gonna lose.

Speaker 3 (27:41):
I just thought it might be a shootout because our
defense had been stopping a run up until that point,
and coming off the game against the Baltimore Ravens, where
you know you don't stop the run the way you
need to stop it, and they were now Downathan Dallen.

Speaker 2 (27:57):
You know, Doris, I'm strong, and so I'm like, man,
this could be a shoe.

Speaker 3 (28:01):
And added dog had been playing some decent football for
the path. So I was a little.

Speaker 2 (28:06):
Nervous, I admit it.

Speaker 3 (28:08):
But for the others, I did not think the Carolina
Pathers gonna beat us.

Speaker 1 (28:13):
Just do it in a new day. I'm trying to
tell you the other shoe isn't drop it here London.
We're in a new day. We're a weekened opponent walks
into our house off of a loss.

Speaker 3 (28:23):
We're gonna take care of business. But did you see
we have to admit we didn't see forty to seven.

Speaker 1 (28:28):
No, especially after Jaden got hurt. I mean, at that point,
I'm going, okay, let's just manage the game here, which
was maybe the biggest surprise of all of it. Nothing
was tailored back from Marcus Marioti when he came out there.
Thought dan Quinn was interesting when we spoke to him
after the game where he said, there's a completely different
call sheet that is ready for Mariota. But you know,

(28:50):
at face value, it looked like Cliff wasn't held back
at all once he came into the game.

Speaker 3 (28:55):
Right, yeah, Now, he said, they got two game plans,
you know, the Mariota play that that they really like
calling from mary Oda. He started, he came into the
game little, a little rusty, and he mentioned that, you know,
it took him a little bit to get his feet
under him, and the defense was continuing to do what
they did.

Speaker 2 (29:12):
But once, I thought, once he.

Speaker 3 (29:14):
Started making plays off schedule, started to scramble a little bit,
started to run around, and that muscle memory that that
playmaker mentality came back. The touchdown passed that he threw
to Zach Hurtz, Oh my goodness, that was a dart.

Speaker 1 (29:28):
That was a dart on the move. Yes, that drive
in general, I think told me everything. So they get
the ball back with two something on the closs right.
It's a great punt. They're pinned at the eight yard line.
They run a run play and let it get to
there's no no rush. They let it get to the
two minute warning. Carolina oddly doesn't use a timeout. Okay,

(29:50):
they're down twenty to nothing. They're not using good time
three timeouts, they're using. Washington then runs another play, a
short run player, short passway. I don't even remember, but
it was not down the field. It's third and whatever.
Carolina doesn't use a timeout, clock's running. It was like
almost like they thought there was some gentlemen's agreement that

(30:11):
Washington was just gonna run, you know, maybe get a
first down and just run the clock out and take
a twenty nothing leading to the break. And at that
point I think Kingsbury goes, if you're not gonna try
to stop us, or you think we're just gonna sit
on the ball, you're wrong, And they opened it up.
That was amazing. And I'll tell you what, if I'm
the Carolina people, I am asking the coach why were

(30:33):
you not calling timeouts to try to get the ball
back at the end of the half because the end
result looks awful.

Speaker 3 (30:39):
For Oh yeah it did and that was you, Mary Old.
And that's when he really started to get confidence going.
He had a like a five or six yard completion
to Earths might have been second to ten or third
and five or something like, I can't remember. And then
there was a comeback to Terry and that it was

(31:00):
one of the first balls I saw that. It felt
like he threw on time where all right, trust it,
let it rip. Star starts to get to fill in.
I think he hit another one to Noah Brown. So
he got into a rhythm and they went into their
uptemple mode and next thing you know, we're getting another touchdown.

Speaker 2 (31:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (31:19):
I like this was just another sign up. Like last week.
They posted some stat during the Ravens game where they're like,
Washington's gone no huddle in up tempo more than double
any other team in the NFL's obviously working for them.
They came in with the number two ranked offense off
the look if they're number one now after scoring forty yesterday,
they didn't stop doing it when he went out there right,
they're up twenty seven and nothing. They didn't stop doing

(31:42):
it while he was out there.

Speaker 3 (31:44):
They just ran their stuff, and you would think at
some point, okay, we're up twenty seven, then maybe we'll
take a little bit more time to.

Speaker 2 (31:52):
Snap the ball. It's their identity.

Speaker 3 (31:55):
They didn't take their foot off the gas, which we've
seen countless where teams get up being in the first
half and.

Speaker 1 (32:02):
They just I thought when they came out at half
time they were gonna run the ball. That that's what
I thought.

Speaker 3 (32:06):
Yeah, take their foot off the gas. Team the other
team gets a little momentium. Next thing you know, you're
in a dog fight in the fourth quarter when you
should have blown that team out. But they did not
take their foot off the gas, and they continue to
execute their office and they run ran it too perfection.

Speaker 1 (32:21):
Now I'm not advocating they should have done this or
should have been thinking about this, but there was one
opportunity karmicalley for this team at the end of the
half that I would love.

Speaker 2 (32:29):
To have seen them do.

Speaker 1 (32:30):
Not that anyone would have been thinking about this, but
when they scored with ten seconds left, it was twenty
six to nothing. Had they gone for two and made
it twenty eight to nothing going into halftime, retiring the
number twenty eight in Washington history. That would have been amazing. Yeah,
that would have been amazing.

Speaker 3 (32:47):
It would have been amazing. However, if you you go
for two, you're up twenty six. Does that feel like
a little bit a bit much?

Speaker 1 (32:58):
Yes, of course. It was just like they had a
fourth and one in the red zone and they kicked
a field goal, And I said to you on the
are I go they go for all of these. They
don't want to run up the score, right, But they're
kicking a field goal here because they're being cognizan that
they're trying not to run up the score. But when
they had that fourth and one, I'm like, they always
go for these. They are hyper aggressive. They went for

(33:18):
a fourth and four against the Ravens early in the game.
You knew if this was a tighter game they would
have gone for that, but they chose to back off.

Speaker 3 (33:25):
That would that would have, like you said, to have
it twenty eight none of that halftime, that would have
been day Dale Green's jersey is being retired.

Speaker 2 (33:32):
That would have been amazing.

Speaker 1 (33:33):
Yes, all right, So let's talk about Jaden now for
a little bit. So first drive gets injured somewhere, We're
not sure. All the video sluts to try to figure out,
did it happen on the first run, did it happen
later whatever? He injured his ribs. All we know is
he injured his ribs. We don't know to the extent,
and we're gonna find out with you later today. All right,
Mario to comes in. Everything works great, Fine, that's very

(33:58):
reassuring to see that. I think long term, we all
understand number five needs to be out there for them.
No offense to Mariota. So as you kind of think
about this moving forward without knowing to what extent the
injury is, how are you kind of thinking about him
in the short term future.

Speaker 3 (34:15):
Well, just like you said, not knowing the extent of
the injury, he's whether it's he's going to be extremely
sore this week, So how much he's able to practice,
you don't know. The good thing is Mariota will be
able to take the majority, if not all, of the
first team reps, so you'll be able to have him
get more of a timing with his receivers in a

(34:38):
game and in a game situation, he'll get that rhythm
and timing with a with a Diami BROWANNT like he
missed him early on the I felt like they just
weren't in sync.

Speaker 2 (34:48):
Because they probably hadn't practiced together.

Speaker 3 (34:50):
So that'll be that'll be the benefit of you know,
if Jayden has to miss a little bit of the
practice time. But you never know how how things will
kind of take shape. I know this is a game
has been flexed into the four to twenty five window
and the number one overall draft pick against the number
two overall draft pick.

Speaker 2 (35:10):
Let's not lose sight though. This is the eighth game
of the season.

Speaker 3 (35:13):
Also, so if there's a situation where and I know
they're not going to put him out on that field
if they feel like that he would be putting himself
in harm, they.

Speaker 1 (35:21):
Didn't do it. Robi we further, they helped him out
for the purpose of getting him through the rest of
the season. They wanted him to play, and from what
I could tell, he might have been able to, but
they felt it was in his best interest, in the
team's best interest. So I agree with you with Jase.

Speaker 3 (35:35):
So so, yeah, we want to see number one versus
number two pick. But again, I know they're going to
do the best for Jaden, thinking long term, thinking big picture.
Why so you know, I'm anxious to see what will happened.
And I feel like if Jamie kan't go, marry Oldy'll
be more than capable to lead us to.

Speaker 1 (35:55):
A victory if he can. And that would probably be
on an assumption the aren't broken, right, that's that's a
bad scenario. If that's the case, I probably miss some time.
If that's the case, we'll find out. But let's say
it's a pain maintenance thing and they do determined he
can go and he wants to go. Does that change
how Cliff is going to think about calling the game,
because I would assume you don't want to expose him

(36:19):
either way.

Speaker 2 (36:20):
Two hits, Yeah, no, you definitely don't.

Speaker 3 (36:23):
I've dealt with some some Cardilige issues before in my
in my ribs and I practice with him.

Speaker 2 (36:30):
It's it's painful.

Speaker 3 (36:33):
And then in the game, I gotta what you call
it pay and killing an injection. I was able to
do everything I needed to do in that game, and like,
you feel great now after the game?

Speaker 2 (36:43):
Oh yeah, you're back in pain.

Speaker 3 (36:45):
But you definitely want to limit the amount of of.

Speaker 2 (36:49):
Hits he's taken. If you if possible.

Speaker 3 (36:51):
So, but the zone reading a run, that's part of
our our identity. Now you're not gonna have the design
to truly desire quarterback runs and even Jay that he'll
probably if it's a zong read, he's probably gonna hand
it off.

Speaker 2 (37:07):
You may see more.

Speaker 3 (37:08):
Rpo stuff where it's either run or bubb or run
or or quick slant. If if that's the case, so
you know, assumed he's is just a.

Speaker 2 (37:16):
Pain tolerance thing.

Speaker 3 (37:18):
They got they got something for that, and he can
be able to play in that ball game.

Speaker 2 (37:23):
Definitely.

Speaker 1 (37:23):
Well, Mariota, I want to go back to something we
were talking about earlier with kind of like the purposeful
signings that occurred here that are all kind of working
out so far to have the season that they've had.
I think Mariota is one of them. Like Mariota walked
this walk, number two overall pick, Heisman Trophy winner, has
seen it all in his career, right. Kingsbury had said
back in camp when we asked about him, he said

(37:46):
he loved him in college. He was intrigued by him,
what he was able to do, the heat. This is
the type of player he always wanted to work with.
Now has the opportunity to do this. Mariota has been
nothing but supportive of Daniels throughout this entire process. Daniels
has said when asked about him that he's been really
good with helping him kind of navigate all the different
things that are going on. And then there he was

(38:07):
going out there and looking like the number two overall pick,
Heisman Trophy winner, And it's been some time for him.
I would imagine today he feels pretty good because that's
what he was capable of early in his career and
here it was. It's been a long road to see
one of those for him, because we mentioned I think
it was the first time he threw for over two
hundred yards in like four years, two four years something

(38:28):
like that, Like it had been a while for him.

Speaker 2 (38:31):
I think about what we would do.

Speaker 3 (38:34):
What he was with the Falcons a couple of years
ago and they came in here, he was hurting us.
I mean, he was killing us running the football. He
seemed to be on top of his game, this passing
game that he's playing in and with these receivers he looked.

Speaker 2 (38:50):
On point man. Just you can see the confidence.

Speaker 3 (38:53):
Going and developing as a as a game went on
Like again, some of those time and Rob plays, he
was just letting him rip and trusting Hey, trusting the
receiver to come back and be at the spot they're
supposed to be at, and and again once he's able
to add lib make plays create. I love the fact
that because he's so seasoned, he gets out of the pocket,

(39:15):
he's scrambling, but he's keeping his eyes down the field
for open receivers. From a defensive standpoint, that puts a
lot of pressure on you as a as a secondary
contained type of guys. You're like, you're kind of in
a bind. Do I come up to try to stop
him from ganging yard scrambling or do I stay back
in coverage? And that that that hesitancy has intends by

(39:37):
a defender allows more plays to develop and and big
plays to develop.

Speaker 1 (39:44):
He was feeling it too. I mean the drive we
talked about the end with the throw of the Ertz.
He had a throw in between defenders to McLaurin that
was outstanding at the dart. Yeah, he threw, so his
confidence was back up, and I think he was talking
to him afterwards too. He's just, like he admitted he is.
There's just so I'm going on here. We're all so
connected that everybody seems to step up, and it was
nice to see him do that because he knew what

(40:06):
was wrong. Even when he signed here they had the
number two overall pick. He knew what they were going
to do. Like It wasn't like it's some big surprise
to him, but he came here. Brian Johnson's a big
deal with this, came here from Philadelphia with him, had
a relationship with him. His staff is part of this
story here too, how deep specifically on offense that it
is the people who are coaching these players. He's just

(40:28):
another piece of there's something really special going on here
that him, in all the different roads that he's traveled
to get to this point, could show up. And when
it was ten to nothing, you could not have convinced
me they were scoring thirty more points at that point.
Jade went out and there it was anyway, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (40:44):
No, I was.

Speaker 3 (40:45):
I thought it was okay, maybe this might be a
defense not allowed him to score any any more points,
you know, forty didn't see it, it'd be a forty points.

Speaker 2 (40:54):
But again I was just mayo.

Speaker 3 (40:58):
I would have talked about and we actually the preparation
that it takes to be a backup quarterback. It's still
trying to prepare as the starting. They mentioned how after
practice he's out there with the practice squad guys going
through the script, so he's getting his reps in and
you know that takes a lot of commitment, a dedication.

(41:21):
It's time consuming because this is after the practice is over,
so you're going out and you're going through that script
and running the plays and doing all that type of stuff.
So you know, shout out to him, Shout out to
the practice squad guys for you know, get getting him
ready to play.

Speaker 1 (41:34):
We have some interesting, like you know, quarterback things that
have occurred this year throughout the league, like Sam Darnold's
having a great year. He might not have projected to
be the starter in the first place till JJ McCarthy
got hurt. Andy Dalton we saw yesterday. Obviously, the record
is what it is, and the Bright Young situation is
a whole different situation. Russell Wilson played last night, made
his first start with Pittsburgh. He and Justin Fields, I

(41:56):
think they're going to decide as we go along here,
who's best served for them to be the starting quarterback
for them but he was very good in what was
his debut with Pittsburgh. So maybe there is you know,
if this is a short term we got to be
without Jaden for a week or two, hopefully it's nothing
more than that. It's that at all, we might be
all right here.

Speaker 2 (42:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (42:17):
No, again, what Mariota did, he's proved. He proved to
us and and everybody else the NFL that and this
is not just a one man team. Jayden is a
tremendous part of what we're doing. I mean, he's played phenomenal,
he has played lifestyle. But the way they've built this

(42:38):
team to where there's so many pieces, you know, it's
a welled oil machine, so to speak. We got we
got a lot of parts to this, to this, to
this machine, and we got guys that can get JOBB done.
Maybe you laid on a running game a lot more.
Maybe it's a game where you know, heck, we rush
for two fifty or three hundred yards. Each game is

(42:59):
going to play us helf out a little bit differently.
But I'm in or maybe hey to get the defense
has to step up and do what they did, the
special teams, all those things. We're capable of winning multiple
in multiple different ways.

Speaker 1 (43:10):
You brought up the parts. Jason's very happy with you
because his bit this week is we are a well
oiled machine, and he wants to put names to the
parts of the machine. So we got the radiator. Who
do you think the radiator is? Of the commanders this year?

Speaker 2 (43:25):
A radiator? Man, let me see what we'll give you.

Speaker 1 (43:29):
I'll tell you who the radiator is. I think that's
actually the coaching staff, Joe Witt, Junior, Cliff Kingsbury, all
the assistant coaches. I think they're they're the like they're
keeping the airflow perfect throughout the season. They're the radiator.

Speaker 3 (43:45):
I'll let you radio. I'm gonna go with the pistons.
I think the pistons are the offensive line. Offenses lie
the piston They're they're fine, you know. So I'm going
with the offensive line.

Speaker 1 (43:57):
I had b Rob as the pistons, but I got it.

Speaker 3 (44:00):
I I'm afraid.

Speaker 2 (44:03):
Because b Rob all right, spark plugs.

Speaker 1 (44:06):
So I put spark plugs. I put Eckler, McCaffrey, McNichols,
spark plugs of like people that maybe Eckler doesn't fall
in this category, but like McCaffrey, McNichols. Every week there's
like a moment with one of them where you're like, oh,
I get it now. These are kind of the parts.
Senate had a moment yesterday. Spark plugs.

Speaker 3 (44:26):
You know what, I've got to go back because I'm
changing pistons. The pistons is the receivers, the wide receivers
for that.

Speaker 2 (44:36):
Spark plugs.

Speaker 3 (44:37):
I really like your your running backs and uh Eckler,
I throw I even throw the samar still in there.
Spark plug, yes, and Frank, I have Lulu as the motor,
motor energy.

Speaker 2 (44:52):
Listen, the diesel fuel be.

Speaker 1 (44:54):
Rob Okay, use line. I mean, if we're gonna do
the diesel thing, then we might as well talk talk
about the running back of the offensive line. If we're
going to go back in history and talk about it,
the diesel and the hogs were the diesel fuel of
the whole thing.

Speaker 2 (45:07):
I'm going b rob Dlai. I'll throw Bobby Wagner in there.

Speaker 3 (45:12):
Yes, I had he's a fuel, the motor, the motors,
the offense of line. Okay, the motor is the offensive line.

Speaker 1 (45:21):
I already had him in there as a let's see
spark plus spark plug.

Speaker 2 (45:25):
He's diesel fuel. He pissed.

Speaker 1 (45:28):
Yeah, I don't like he seems to the hybrid.

Speaker 2 (45:32):
He's a motor.

Speaker 1 (45:33):
To me, he seems to epitomize the way he that
these guys want the whole team to play, and he's
kind of all of that. He's like all of that energy.
So he's the motor to me.

Speaker 2 (45:42):
The offensive line is the motor. I agree.

Speaker 1 (45:44):
I like diesel fuel b Rob offensive line because that's
like kind of an homage to the past, which means
the pistons have to be I've lost this. I lost
I don't know you had to you had I don't
I've lost the thread. Now, Yeah, we're good, We're good,
we got, We're got. You're all great guys. You're all
great guys. All right, time for Big Fletches Heavyweight Commander Chang.

Speaker 4 (46:08):
And now it's time for the Big Fletch Heavyweight Commander Champion.
Chair introducing the defending undisputed Big Fletch Heavyweight Commander Champion,
Frankie Louvu.

Speaker 1 (46:27):
Get this off of wins. I think what last week, Well,
the voice from God will tell you it was Louvo.

Speaker 2 (46:33):
Yeah, yeah, all right, all right.

Speaker 3 (46:35):
So Frankie Louvo, he's the heavyweight champion right now, he
has Big Fletcher's heavyweight belt. The challenger, the guy who's
up for challenging Frankie Louvo After yesterday's performers, I gotta
go with.

Speaker 2 (46:50):
Dante Fowler, get the sack.

Speaker 1 (46:53):
The stats two tackles, one sack, a pick touchdown.

Speaker 3 (46:56):
All right, two tackles two we say, two tackles, a sack,
a sack on one pick, one touchdown. Frankie Suh Louisville
stats in the yesterday's game. Two tackles to assist, one sack.

Speaker 2 (47:14):
This is a tough one.

Speaker 1 (47:15):
How are you not picking Fowler?

Speaker 2 (47:19):
This is a.

Speaker 3 (47:19):
Competition on it his follow against Louisville for who's the
who gonna walk away with the bill? This is solely
based off yesterday's performance against the Carolina Patches.

Speaker 2 (47:30):
D D D.

Speaker 1 (47:33):
And no.

Speaker 2 (47:35):
Have you watch champion Dauntae Fowler.

Speaker 1 (47:41):
You know that was his first ever interception. Jacker, his
first ever interception, and he ran.

Speaker 2 (47:47):
What he got. But I was impressed with the moves
that he made. Once again, he hurd the guys.

Speaker 1 (47:54):
He looked like a running back and he watching though
he was running at a gas. He got down to
twenty yards right, because the whole time, I'm like, he's
to get there.

Speaker 2 (48:00):
I think you have a ran seventy yard with somebody
chasing you.

Speaker 1 (48:05):
No, and I never will either. All Right, one more thing,
I've congratulations Dante Faller, but deserving of it, deserving of it.
All right, one more thing before we get to a
little preview, because we have a good game coming up
this weekend. We got flexed into the four to twenty
five spot national game. I want to ask you about
a comparison for this team and something that you played on,
just to see if it kind of messes with you,

(48:26):
because five and two is unexpected. This team has really
come together for all the reasons we've talked about. It
was extremely impressive. When I know people are gonna poo
poo it because it was Carolina, but like, you beat
anybody forty to seven, and oh, by the way, your
quarterback got hurt on his first offensive drive. You did
something really right and it's just the epitome of kind
of where this thing is going. You played on the

(48:49):
greatest show on turf rams right, and the thing that
people forget about when it turned for them was it
did happen kind of overnight, like that was a four
and twelve team. And then the next year Trent Green
gets hurt and Kurt Owner comes in. Kurt Owners not
the number two overall pick who won a Heisman Trophy,
And you guys had one of the greatest offenses of

(49:10):
all time and that went on a good, what three
to five year run where it was the greatest show
on turf And number of these people are Hall of
famers now, Tory Hold, Isaac Bruce, you know, Marshall Falk,
Kurt Warner, and then hopefully you in the very near
future as well, Yeah, Orlando Pace, hopefully you in the
very near future. Does this Can you compare this at
all to like it that? It's the one part of

(49:32):
this that seems to compare to me. I don't think
anybody saw that coming when it happened, and I think
now in twenty twenty four, nobody saw this coming together
so fast with this team.

Speaker 3 (49:42):
Yeah, it's I don't want It's hard for me to
compare it to that because that not offense.

Speaker 2 (49:49):
Both are explosive. Yes, it was.

Speaker 3 (49:51):
That offense was you know, more of an aerial attack,
and man it was it was two plays in the
end zone.

Speaker 1 (49:56):
So it was just Warner's accuracy.

Speaker 2 (49:58):
Yeah, A see his story.

Speaker 3 (50:00):
It was a storybook, you know, Disney World type movie
because of his story and all that other stuff. Defensively,
we were we were top five defense as well. That's
that's the thing that people don't talk about a lot.
But I will say this, the quick turnaround and also
the kind of tempered you know, people just kind of

(50:22):
waiting to see is this real? Those are comparisons where
like is this real? The Rams? Are we a legitimate contender?
And as the season continued to progress and go, and
we just kept winning and blowing people out, and it's like, no,
we're We're legit. And I think that's what that's That
would definitely be a similarity where people will find out
and realize, no, this is this team is legit and

(50:45):
they're here to stay and they're not going anywhere.

Speaker 1 (50:47):
So like obviously Dick for Meal is not dan Quinn,
but I think similarly, very personal relationships with his players.
They want to play for him. I know you had
the experience and you've ben close with him for years.

Speaker 3 (51:01):
Yeah, I will say that the camaraderie, the chemistry, just
we we hung out a lot off the field, love
being around each other. I see that from a similarity standpoint,
These guys seem like they enjoy being around each other
and that true family type atmosphere, and it was the
head coach who set that culture.

Speaker 1 (51:21):
You know. It is interesting though, like back in the summer,
it's not that anyone well, no one was asking Washington,
are you gonna have a breakout year, because I don't
think anyone just perceived it to happen for so many reasons.
Rookie quarterback, it's not typical for it to happen, thirty
new players, new coaching. It's just baked in that it's
gonna be whatever it is. The Eagles and Dallas both
have very good teams, so nobody's projecting them to even
win the division, right, But in the summer you could

(51:42):
feel the confidence. But until they start playing, it goes
back to we're waiting for the other shoe to drop.
History here of not winning very much with the Rams.
I think that's where that's where I kind of see
the similarity too. But you lived it where there couldn't
have been anybody in the summer that was like, you
know what, you know, guess what, They're gonna be the
best team in the NFL. There's nobody that could have
possibly been.

Speaker 3 (52:03):
Saying the Rams and the Bengals were the losing his
teams in the nineties. As you mentioned the year with
ninety eight ninety eight season we went four and twelve.

Speaker 2 (52:13):
So there was Dick Vermeill. He was He was coaching
for his job.

Speaker 3 (52:19):
There was no if as a butt, no secret, no
mystery to that he was coaching for his job.

Speaker 2 (52:24):
He was.

Speaker 3 (52:25):
I think they won maybe five games his first year
in ninety seven, for his second season in ninety eight,
So I mean, this was it.

Speaker 2 (52:33):
This was it for him.

Speaker 1 (52:34):
Did you know though, in the summer or early in
the season, like did you have to see it to
believe it? Or did you know early people are underrating us?
Underrated's not even the right word for it, because you
guys ended up being the best team in the NFL
by far. Specifically offense.

Speaker 3 (52:50):
We knew that offense was going against that offense every
day of practice. We knew they were going to be
a problem. They had so much speed. And then we
traded for Marshall Falk. So the speed Marshall Falk drafted
Tory ho Isaac Bruce, who hadn't been healthy, was finally healthy.
I mean, we knew what offense was gonna put up points.

(53:11):
Now defensively were we going to be able to and
we were a solid defense the prior you was it
going to be what we're going to be able to
put it all together?

Speaker 1 (53:20):
Yeah, well that's interesting because that's what's happening here. Yes,
because I don't know how they would qualify at the coaches,
but you know, on certain areas like the run game defense,
they've given up a ton of passing touchdowns this year.
They hadn't been getting a lot of turnovers. They want
to see that turn the corner. And what we're finding
here is is this offense is a well oiled machine

(53:40):
to the point where the backup could come in. And
I know that's not your normal backup. That's a long
time veteran who's a Heisman Trophy Winnerho's been a starter
for a long time. But still he's the backup, and
you still like nothing changed you're walking up and down
the field. It does feel very well oiled to the
point where if the defense can get marginally better from
where it is, there might be special things.

Speaker 3 (54:03):
And I will say this too. Special teams was a
huge part of our success. We had great coverage units,
but our returns, our return game, we had a couple
kickoff returns for touchdowns, a couple of punt returns for touchdowns.
So we want to see we've been Our coverage units
have been outstanding. I feel like we're on the cusp

(54:24):
of breaking some of these returns, whether it's in the
punk game or the kickoff return game. You know that's
those are going to be elements that you know, if
that those things started to pop up to watch out.

Speaker 1 (54:36):
We don't have a nickname yet for this team. They
got great show off turf. Let's see what happens a
little more time for nickname.

Speaker 3 (54:41):
Yeah, let's let's just take it one game before we
start throwing out nigga.

Speaker 1 (54:46):
I'm in it. I'm wrapped up in it, and you
know what, I believe what I see, So you know what,
I'll take your submissions and recommendations for nicknames for this.
I'm not gonna say I'm a picket, but I'll take
the recommendations because it's hard to not look at this
and go that's real. And we have a special season
in front of us, and they got some decisions to

(55:06):
make as the trade deadline approaches because you know, I
would argue this team should bolster its roster and give
these guys a shot them in.

Speaker 3 (55:16):
Yeah, and you know, I'm sure they're doing that due
diligence on people that are out there and they know
they're available. But you also got to figure would that
person be the right fit for your locker room? Those
are the things that you got it way heavily. Yeah,
he might be a great talent, but is he the
right person to bring into what we're doing here.

Speaker 1 (55:37):
They got a good locker room going here. I think
that's a big part of this. All right, this is
a good one. This weekend, CBS flexed it. They want
the number one versus number two quarterback. We'll find out
later on this week if we're going to get that.
Chicago started a little slow, especially on offense. Caleb had
a couple of rough games. They've been surging. Their defense
is very good, their offense has a ton of weapons.

(55:58):
Is a heck of a test.

Speaker 3 (56:00):
It is a heck of a test, and you know,
I wish Chicago hadn't got it going so so quickly.
So so and then they're coming off a bye week
as well, so they'll have a little bit more time
to kind of prepare, but again, I expect us to
stick to our guns and in terms of our game plan,
do what we do extremely well. They'll be favorable matchups

(56:21):
for us, and I'm sure that the Bears will feel
like they have some matchups that they like. I think
the pass rush will be key in this game against
the Chicago Bears, because you don't want Caleb to be
back there sitting around. And I think that's where he's
really at his best, when he's able to go off
script and be in that pocket and you know, start

(56:42):
to run around and do different things.

Speaker 2 (56:43):
So I'm being able to.

Speaker 1 (56:44):
Boath on that with him. There are some ghastly errors, yes,
and there are some Mahomesy like plays, and I think
we can all agree. And I'm rooting for him. He's
local and they played a Conzact. I'm rooting for him,
you know, And I hope he has a great career.
I hope it's the first the many between these two quarterbacks.
Maybe not so much Sunday, but I'm rooting for him.
He's gonna be good.

Speaker 2 (57:05):
He's gonna be good.

Speaker 1 (57:05):
He's when he gets the feel for it. He's gonna
get real good. I think he's still in the middle
of He's gonna play his way very instinctual, but at
this level it's gonna cost him sometimes.

Speaker 3 (57:16):
It is sometimes, and I think you know him developing
and getting understanding NFL defenses, like the speed of NFL defenses,
the disguises and things like that. But the Bears looking
at their defense and I don't know the stats and
where they are in terms of stopping a run. I
know they've made a lot of plays down the stretch

(57:39):
last season, but are they going to be at app
to be able to stop our run game. We don't
know who's gonna be the quarterback, so you know, those
depth type of things gonna change, are they I know
they got a heck of a corner in Jalen Johnson,
so it'll be a fun match.

Speaker 2 (57:58):
Motivated, get fun matchup. I can't wait to see it.

Speaker 1 (58:00):
Yeah, Quinn called last week the first heavyweight fight that
they had. I don't know if this is heavyweight yet,
but it's close, and it's close, and it's NFC game,
and that's a four and two team. They're a contender too,
and go look at their weapons that they have. They're
feeling very positive that they might have a special season
ahead of them too.

Speaker 3 (58:21):
I really, man, they got they got weapons. But I
was so impressed with the defensive game plan that Joe
would put Joe with Jr. And his coaching staff put
together against the Carolina Panthers. I'm I'm looking forward to seeing,
like how they're gonna what kind of plan we're gonna
have for DJ Moore, Keenan Allen over there now.

Speaker 2 (58:41):
So roll ma doonzy you know.

Speaker 3 (58:44):
Those co co comment Yes, So just just that's the
great thing about this sport. Every week you have a
new challenge. And if you can't get up for this game, man,
which I know we will be up for the game.
This is gonna be Saturday Sunday at four twentyna be special.

Speaker 1 (59:04):
I think it's gonna be the first of many between
these two teams over the next however many years. With
these two quarterbacks and where things are kind of going,
it feels like the roads over the next few years
may be going through one of these two spots.

Speaker 2 (59:17):
I just hope they're going through Northwest Day they were
so old in Chicago.

Speaker 1 (59:22):
A playoff game with Chicago, it will go a long
way to making that happen and they went on Sunday
at least.

Speaker 3 (59:27):
Yeah, I would I would rather have those playoff games
at Northwest.

Speaker 1 (59:31):
Go ask Daryl Green about that. He had a good
answer about that.

Speaker 2 (59:34):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll be up in the booth.

Speaker 1 (59:37):
But this windows closed for once maybe minus four whatever.
It is, all right, Big Fletch five and two. It's
feeling pretty good. I can't wait for this weekend.

Speaker 2 (59:47):
Ah man, I'm looking forward to it. Feeling great.

Speaker 1 (59:49):
All right, that'll do it for the Booth review. We'll
see you next week.