REVIEW: Coming Up Short Against the Steelers & Quick Turnaround to TNF | The Booth Review | Washington Commanders

The voice of the Commanders, Bram Weinstein, and former Washington linebacker London Fletcher recap yesterday's heartbreaking loss to the Steelers and talk the quick turnaround to TNF against the Eagles.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Coming up on the Booth Review. Oh, London, that close to.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Eight and two.

Speaker 3 (00:06):
Uh yeah, but we have to turn the pace quickly
and get ready for the Philadelphia Eagles them Thursday night.

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Yeah, we'll share some memories, good and bad from hanging
out in that stadium on the Booth Review. Welcome into
today's edition of The Booth Review podcast, powered by Microsoft's
Surface Powering a Better Game. I Brand Whiteside with Big Fletch,
one of the greatest linebackers in NFL history, London Fletcher,
and we haven't done this in a month. London talking

(00:32):
about a game after a lost heartbreaker yesterday.

Speaker 3 (00:36):
Yes, it's definitely a different type of Monday coming on
here and talking about a hard fought game where we
end up coming up just short against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Man,
I thought we had it and you know, we were
in control of the game. But you can see why
Pittsburg is, you know, one of the best chams in
the NFL a year and a year out of what

(00:56):
Mike Tomlin is regarded one of the best coaches and.

Speaker 4 (00:59):
It fail history. But I thought, I thought we let
them get away with that game.

Speaker 3 (01:05):
And you know, we're definitely kicking ourselves, and we want
to close that close, close out the game and win
that game.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
Let's talk a little bit about the things they could control,
the things that they couldn't.

Speaker 4 (01:18):
You work on situational football.

Speaker 3 (01:20):
I'm sure they were talking about, Hey, watch the Harcove,
Watch the Harcives. It was emphasized in the Halloween Day.
Yet you know, you're getting the heat of the moment.
And I'm sure Russell Wilson maybe said, you know, I
don't want to yell at my house as loud as
Russell probably did it. You know, different voice inflections, and
Johnny had a he had he had a middle laps

(01:43):
and end up on us lead to us not getting
another opportunity to to see what we can do.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
Honestly, I mean I was sitting there looking at you
the whole time, going they're not going to seriously run
the ball three times and then punt it back to
Jayden Daniels at the end of the game, Like, have
they not been paying attention because happened at the end
of the first half. Go look at what happened to
the Bears. Go look at what's happened over and over
and over. They were playing with fire. They got lucky
that that happened. I mean, honestly, like, I don't know
and I trust this quarterback. Which is where I feel

(02:11):
a little bit robbed today that in two scenarios we
could add if the referee spotted the ball differently, or
if there wasn't this penalty at the end of the game,
we could have seen Jaden in one of these clutch
end of game moments and we just didn't get to
see it yesterday.

Speaker 4 (02:27):
Yeah, not at all.

Speaker 3 (02:29):
It didn't surprise me that Pittsburgh opted to run the
ball in those situations, because you know, you have two
things can happen when you.

Speaker 4 (02:38):
Throw the football.

Speaker 3 (02:39):
You can have an incompletion, you can have a or
an interception, you know, really even three things.

Speaker 4 (02:46):
You can have a sack.

Speaker 3 (02:47):
So you also don't want to have an incompletion. And
Washington doesn't have to use a timeout, so you want
to make sure they are forcing them to use their timeout.

Speaker 4 (02:56):
So maybe you run it twice.

Speaker 3 (02:57):
And if you're going to throw the football it's a
safe pass, Maybe give Russell a run pass option, get
him out of the perimeter.

Speaker 4 (03:04):
You know something, something that's really safe. And stir Is
also ran for one hundred and forty yards.

Speaker 3 (03:09):
So they're figuring like, hey, you know we've been able
to have some you know, some success run in the football,
so why not runners ball three times force Forest Washington
to use their timeouts. But yeah, I you know, them
get a little bit conservative. Hey Mike, Mike Taland he's
been in a lot of big games, man, and they
don't flinch it. You know that was a pair of yesterday.

Speaker 1 (03:31):
You know, I mean like, I want to get back
in to watching it for a moment, but since you
just mentioned it, because we now we've seen the Ravens
in person. See now Pittsburgh in person. These are legitimate
threats to get to a super Bowl this year. Pittsburgh
feels so old schoolly. We saw it on film coming in.
It's not a surprise. They're running stuff that is age old,
tried and true. This is how you win physical football.

(03:55):
They have a large, imposing group their tight ends or
large and imposing they're running back is kind of Derek
Henry light. They don't do anything really fancy. They run
the ball at you, they run play action off of it.
There's very little formations that for what you're going to
do defensively, you could probably be more inclined to talk
about what they do that's favorable for them and why

(04:16):
they're so successful. But there's something about watching this going
you know, I see all these crazy offenses and we
have one right now that's very creative and very open mind.
It does a lot of different things. These guys are
playing the sport the way it was played in the sixties, seventies, eighties, nineties,
tried and true. They will pound you to death. You
just have to stop it. And I do appreciate it.

(04:38):
And now seeing them, they're built to win. They don't
ask Russ to actually do a ton. They're an impressive
football team.

Speaker 3 (04:45):
Yeah, Now when you've been you know, the head coach
and the structure front off is they've been together for
so long they know it was much like the Patriots
from Belichick went therefore, you know on twenty two years,
however long he was there. They know what their offense
and defensive structure is gonna be. We know what type

(05:07):
of players we want to draft.

Speaker 4 (05:08):
We continue.

Speaker 3 (05:09):
Pittsburgh has always had pass rushers, you know, going all
the way back to as early as the nineties when
when Bill Cowho was running that they're gonna run that
three four defense, has some outside linebacks and rush the quarterback.
They have a huge offensive line, big tight ends, a
big back going back to battest and whoever else you
want to plug and play at that.

Speaker 4 (05:29):
Le'Veon veil and now Naja Harris. They're gonna pound you.

Speaker 3 (05:33):
Run play action not gonna be it's not gonna be
pretty at all times. Their front seven is gonna be dominant.
They'll have you mentioned you you could have also mentioned
they got a playmaker who has the ability to make
dynamic catches as well, and George Pickens. So yeah, we
can we can run the ball on you. We got
these big tight ends, but in critical situations, if we

(05:56):
need to play, we can go to George Pickens and
he's gonna he's the way. The majority of is.

Speaker 4 (06:01):
A contested, contested catches fifty fifty balls.

Speaker 3 (06:04):
Adding Mike Williams to that to that makes the uh,
you know, it's it's a blueprint for success.

Speaker 4 (06:12):
And Pittsburgh they're definitely gonna be a player in AFC.

Speaker 1 (06:15):
And they're they're coming along. Washington caught them off of by.
They're getting healthier. They got They've had five different offensive
line combinations, nine different starters, their line's getting healthier. They
got one of their primary players back for Daryl Patterson,
who's I don't know how they're going to use him,
but he's a weapon. They finally got him back. They
found some ways to utilize him. There was a perfect

(06:35):
storm that was happening here because I'm going to get
into what was happening with Washington. They're off a bye,
they're very good team. They walk in, they're getting healthier.
This team is not specifically in a couple of critical areas.

Speaker 2 (06:49):
This was going to be close the whole time.

Speaker 1 (06:52):
And this added up to and I think really largely
the sky is not falling here. They lost not an
to a team that looks like could contend, you know,
and I know it's disappointing, but the timing of the
health relative health, especially on the offensive line and the
offensive weapons on Washington versus what Pittsburgh was bringing in

(07:15):
here rested there was a recipe here that this was
going to be very hard to get a win yesterday.

Speaker 3 (07:21):
Yeah, no, absolutely, but you know with that with that
being said, and you you talk about you know, the
offensive live then a little banged up, and I thought
I thought Trent Scott played a really really good football game.
I had had a chance to watch maybe the first
half of the the game from yesterday. He did some
really good stuff. He saw his veteran savviness. They gave

(07:43):
him some help against t J. Watt, you know, in
moments and things like that. The b Rob miss a
b Rob. The two games where we haven't had him,
the game against the Baltimore Ravens and yesterday, those are
those are games when you're when you're playing big, physical
football teams and it's going to be a bride eye,

(08:04):
it's gonna be a four fourth quarter type of game,
and you need you need to be able to run
the ball, you know, effectively and be more balanced on offense.
And you look at the game against the Ravens when
we lost to them, we only ran the ball eighteen
times for fifty two carries. Yesterday against you, yesterday against
the Steelers, ran the ball twenty two times for only

(08:25):
sixty yards, yet we threw it thirty four times.

Speaker 4 (08:29):
Those are that's not the balance.

Speaker 3 (08:31):
That's not the recipe for success and the reason why
we've been able to win, you know, seven games up
to this point. So getting b Rod back healthy and
whole is going to be critical for us in these games,
you know, in November and December. So having a healthy
and hole Brian Robinson Jr. And this is not a
knock against the other Backs or anything at all, because

(08:52):
I thought those guys you have to.

Speaker 4 (08:54):
Have excelled or dominated their roles.

Speaker 3 (08:57):
But b Robs just a different element man, different animals.

Speaker 1 (09:02):
We can talk about Eckeler in a moment. I think
he's been outstanding the last couple of weeks. Yes, specifically
protection in the Giants game for sure, and then he's
scoring touchdowns. They're asking a lot of him. Now all
of a sudden, he's carrying more of a load. I
think he's been excellent the last couple of weeks in
b Rob's absence. When you go back to the Ravens game,

(09:22):
because the Wavens were the way they were playing run
defense at the time, I kind of had the sense
that Washington was going to throw the ball a lot anyway,
And I remember going up there and talking to you
about it, going this is the first time we're going.

Speaker 2 (09:32):
To see a pass heavy Commander's team.

Speaker 1 (09:35):
Let's see how they do against a very good, contending
type team on the road where they're not gonna They're
gonna be a little bit out of their comfort zone.
They're gonna ask Jane to do a lot more of
his arm than he has in the past, and they lost.
So I landed on b rob would have made them better,
but I'm not sure it would have been a critical
difference in that one last week against the Giants, like

(09:57):
they were really Chris Rodriguez was outstanding, el was outstanding.

Speaker 2 (10:00):
You were able to run the ball. But if you
look on the hole, and this is where.

Speaker 1 (10:03):
The trouble spot was coming into this week, because the
Giants don't have the rush defense that Pittsburgh does. But
if you looked on the hole, the per rush average
was down. Everything was a little bit down. All the
signs of why this team needs Brian Robinson so badly
were there and evident, and I did feel like yesterday
was the.

Speaker 2 (10:23):
One of the three that he's missed.

Speaker 1 (10:25):
You were going to feel his presence not being there,
and it showed with one of their roughest outings trying
to get yards on the ground yesterday.

Speaker 3 (10:34):
Yeah, you talked about Philip presidence, and part of Philip
Presidence was Pittsburgh because we were, you know, dropping back
and passing so much. Their their defensive front four and
you know linebacks every now and they they bring their
bringing safety and nickel things like that.

Speaker 4 (10:50):
On blitzes, you felt the presence and they wasn't.

Speaker 3 (10:54):
They only sagged Jayden three times, but oftentimes they're present
keeping it contained.

Speaker 4 (11:01):
He only runs for five yards, just not allowing.

Speaker 3 (11:04):
Him to really get through things, and you know, having
to maybe deliver a throw a hair faster than did
he't want or a hair solda did het want to
because of that presence. Part of part of having a
b robbing the game also is your ability to pounding
pounding team, wear them down, slow down their pass ruts

(11:27):
because now they're a little bit more they're a little
bit more tired because they've been getting leaned on a
lot more. You're not allowed You're not going to tire
out of defense running the ball eighteen times against the
Baltimore Ravens or twenty two times against the Pittsburgh Tilly.

Speaker 4 (11:41):
Another thing, the element of.

Speaker 3 (11:43):
Play action pass play action plass is Yeah, it's also
the it's to suck up the linebackers and safeties on
the second level, but it's also to slow down the
pass rush and when you when we had some success
moving to football. We were early down play action pass
and actually was making some great blocks and things like that.

(12:03):
We were able to make plays in a passing game
with Then you add v Rop to the backfield that
that defense they're gonna be, you know, a cheenly aware
of him and say, all right, we're gonna we're gonna
be gear enough to stop him in in his Russian attack.

Speaker 1 (12:19):
I just you just you feel his presence. He's a
tone setter. He's he's gonna match the physicality of the
team they're playing against.

Speaker 2 (12:26):
That's one of the.

Speaker 1 (12:26):
Really great things that's popped up here throughout this year
is all this you're gonna like the way we get down,
You're gonna like the way we play. You see this
week to week with the physicality that the Commanders put
up against, especially very physical, formidable teams like Pittsburgh. But
there's just these minor differences, like when Robinson runs and
when he's out there, that per rush average just up

(12:47):
a yard more than what it was. Is the difference
between second and eight, second and seven to second and six,
And you know, it's a massive difference for what kind
of calls that they can make on those plays.

Speaker 2 (13:02):
That's where you feel him.

Speaker 1 (13:03):
It is, really it's the physicality, it's the tone, and
it is on the margins here. And I felt like
they were going to miss him big time, and I
think they did yesterday. And hopefully he's healthy soon, you know,
I don't. I don't know if he's playing Thursday or not.
Hopefully he's healthy soon.

Speaker 3 (13:18):
Yeah, and Augre, you know, you say second and six
and let's take it even one more down thirty two,
third one, thirty three is a lot more, a lot
of eager to converts opposed to third and eight, thirty nine,
third and six, and so yeah, we can both agreeve
that b Rob makes a big difference.

Speaker 1 (13:35):
So the other thing that was, you know, unusual was
Jayden not running the ball effectively.

Speaker 2 (13:41):
We haven't seen that this year now.

Speaker 1 (13:43):
He only ran the ball three times, and I think
only one, if I remember right, was actually a designed run.
There were a couple of scrambles, and there was one
late where he nearly got away from an ankle tackle.

Speaker 4 (13:53):
Yeah, yeah, that was it.

Speaker 1 (13:54):
But he wasn't using his legs much. So I wonder
what you saw from Pittsburgh, because he's been great at escaping.
They used the designed runs, but he's been great at escaping.
That didn't happen yesterday. So what did you see from
Pittsburgh to try to limit him a little bit?

Speaker 4 (14:11):
Yeah, they're they're extremely extremely disciplined in their rush, rush
lanes and integrity.

Speaker 3 (14:16):
They go against Lamar Jackson twice a year, so there
they have great experience going against a quarterback who can
escape the pocket by time, and they didn't allow him
to step up in the pocket. They got great interior
pressure the outside pass rushing, whether it was TJ Wide
at Hegt. Smith, they would bring it. So they were

(14:38):
they were rushing hard on the outside and up the
field and that forces quarterback to step up. But you know,
Haywood and the other defensive tackers did a great job
of getting that push and sometimes they ran games things
like that.

Speaker 4 (14:51):
So it was just wasn't it wasn't really anywhere for.

Speaker 3 (14:55):
Jade to go when the when when the receivers weren't
open right away, then he tried to maybe escape him
by the time, just.

Speaker 4 (15:02):
Wasn't anywhere for him to go.

Speaker 3 (15:04):
As it relates to you know, there was the one
design run that you mentioned that a defensive tackle made
a great play limited Jade to two yards, because if
he doesn't make that tackle, I think Jame's gone. He's
gonna get definitely ten, maybe maybe fifteen, twenty yards and
you know we're probably in field.

Speaker 4 (15:21):
Goal right at that point.

Speaker 3 (15:23):
But the I thought the zone read option or the
read options, they did a job, nice job of just
fortun Jayden.

Speaker 4 (15:32):
To hand that ball off.

Speaker 3 (15:34):
And their linebackers were playing so fast down hell. They
they ran through gaps and sometimes they were on touch,
so they were able to handle the running backs.

Speaker 4 (15:43):
They're telling their defensive lineman defensive.

Speaker 3 (15:46):
Edge rushers, you had the quarterback, and they had a
great defensive plan and they executed it.

Speaker 1 (15:51):
And this is another one that leans back on b
rob a little bit. This is one of those moments
where I don't know if Pittsburgh would have defended, especially
in the zone reads up a little bit differently if
it's Robinson back there as opposed to what was happening.
But we'll just have to see. The Other thing that
was really noticeable early and we were almost like laughing
about it in the booth, is that he's been so

(16:12):
precise Jayden, like almost amazingly to this point.

Speaker 2 (16:16):
In my career still being a rookie.

Speaker 1 (16:18):
The fact that he wasn't early in the game and
at other certain points, and there were some drops too
that occurred. But ye, his lack of pinpoint precision was
striking yesterday, which is if this is what a bad
game looks like for him, we're an incredible shape with him, right,
But that was like what really stood out, I think
to us, we were so accustomed to seeing him thread

(16:41):
the needle and be so accurate and so precise. It
was surprising to not see it that way specifically early
in the game.

Speaker 4 (16:50):
Yeah, yeah, you're absolutely right.

Speaker 3 (16:52):
And I went back and you know, I'm definitely looking
you know, what was going on in the passing game.
There was there were some ties where the I think
the first third down play to he tried to get
to the kids as the kids is running over what
we call a little whip rout or snag route, and
he's working away from the defense and Jaden is getting
pressure and he couldn't. He had to get it out

(17:14):
a little bit faster than he wanted to, and he
tried to. He was throwing the ball outside of the defender,
but because he had had to let it go ahead
faster than sooner than he wanted to. The kids wasn't
out of his break enough so that you know, the presence,
the pressure of.

Speaker 4 (17:32):
The defense of the Pittsburgh steel has played a part
of them.

Speaker 3 (17:35):
There were a couple of times where he tried to
hit some some like uh some home routs in the
middle of the field, and he's trying to hit him
between two defenders, and sometimes he's trying to keep protecting
the receiver from taking a big hit, so he's maybe
trying to get the receiver trying to stop him. Receiver
him won on the same pace, so the receiver maybe

(17:57):
you know, continue to go in the balls behind him,
but Ja is trying to keep him by the hard way,
so they weren't totally on the same phase. There's and
Jayden was an accurate on a couple of other throws.
That the the one that he missed Luke McCaffrey that
would have been a big play. So you know, we
just we have growth so accustomed of him being so accurate.
It was was like, man, you know. But he also

(18:19):
made the great throw to carry down the sideline, and
he has some really nice throws.

Speaker 1 (18:25):
Let me ask you about the offensive line Andrew Wiley
didn't play yesterday. He was active, but he didn't play.
Dan Quinn and talked to us after the game about
how and this falls in line with the way that
they've treated all the players, which is we're going to
do what's best for them, even if it's not what's
best for us in the moment, you know, when push
comes to shove. This is week eighteen. I wonder if

(18:46):
Andrew Wiley is playing in the game where they have
to win. But we'll get there when we get there.
But they haven't pushed Brian Robinson. They didn't rush Marshaw
Lattimore back. I know they want to have him, you know,
as soon as possible. They've done this with a number
of other players with the very careful about it. But
the offensive line, they're in survival mode right now. We've
reached that point in the season where they're fighting through it.

(19:08):
Lucas wasn't available. Colvid's been injured twice already this year.
Was we saw it on the like fighting through it.
He played the whole game. Biaddish ended up going out
for the early drive of the second half, but came
back in fighting through it. We know Allegretti's fighting through
injuries right now, and they were down to what really
is a third right tackle for them, because Lucas would
be a swing tackle on the right side.

Speaker 4 (19:29):
Right he would be the guy available.

Speaker 1 (19:32):
So they're surviving right now. So I mean, how do
you kind of see where the line is at this point?

Speaker 4 (19:39):
You know what?

Speaker 3 (19:39):
That's injuries and attrition that that happens in the national
football They got big, they've done it where when you
think back to off season, pre season things like that,
where the question mark there was a huge question mark
about the offensive line.

Speaker 4 (19:56):
This offensive line has played out stadium.

Speaker 3 (19:58):
As I mentioned, I thought tre Church Scott played a
really good football game.

Speaker 4 (20:02):
He had maybe I think a late he had a.

Speaker 3 (20:04):
Late pressure, a lot of late pressure t J Watt,
you know, late in the game. But you're not gonna
pick the shut out against TJ.

Speaker 1 (20:11):
Why.

Speaker 4 (20:11):
I'm sorry, I don't care. I don't care who you
are the The injuries is just a part of it,
and you're probably right.

Speaker 3 (20:18):
Maybe if it's week eighteen, Wiley plays, I don't know
how much of a factor, knowing that we got a
division game coming up on third in a factor and
where at his you know, because he's been so honest
with us saying, hey, we're always gonna put the players interests.

Speaker 4 (20:39):
Ahead of us.

Speaker 3 (20:41):
And if he felt like Wiley could not play, it
wasn't not ready, it didn't It didn't do them any justice.
Or we've been doing the player of disservice by putting
him out there. They're not gonna do it, not gonna
do it, regardless of what's on the lines. You mentioned
Marshall Latimar with his b Rob Marshall Latamar. Yeah, this
is a big game. But if you can't, we're going

(21:02):
to arm you. We're not gonna put you out on
that football field. And that's the way it is that.
You know, as far as the offensive line, how many
had he had to rush Mominson yesterday's game, those those
age rushers, Uh, you know, high school gave me, gave
some tough rushes and but hey, to learn, it's a
learning moment. You got great failm Now, Hey, these are

(21:22):
some of the things. As he's continued to learn these
different pass uses in the National Football League, he'll be
better because.

Speaker 4 (21:29):
Of the experience he had yesterday.

Speaker 1 (21:31):
You know, there were a couple of years ahead of
us Detroit, but I watched them last night after they,
you know, beat Houston in a game they had no
business winning.

Speaker 2 (21:41):
They're on the road, they're.

Speaker 1 (21:43):
Making mistake after mistake after mistake, they're down sixteen and
a half. They threw five interceptions, like they showed, say
flashed some number where no team is won trailing by
that many points and throwing that many.

Speaker 4 (21:56):
Then say through five interceptions.

Speaker 1 (21:58):
Right, five interceptions if fifty years okay, and they go
down there and they come back and they win.

Speaker 4 (22:04):
Right.

Speaker 1 (22:05):
So I look at yesterday with Washington, and I don't
know that we know the full character longevity, but that
is as character win as you're gonna get. What Detroit
did last night. I think it's very telling about Houston too,
But like it's a character when it shows you what
they're made of, that they're never going to quit, that
it doesn't matter when things go the wrong way.

Speaker 2 (22:25):
Chris Collinsworth was on the air.

Speaker 1 (22:26):
Going, this is good either way because playoff games, bad
things happen. Can you recover from it when you play
a good team in January when you have to, And
they just showed last night they're capable of it. This
team with the injuries they had. This was not timed
up well, this was a perfect storm. That's a really
good team. They showed up here way more healthy than

(22:46):
they've been. They're coming off a bye. This team made
a lot of mistakes. They muffed a punt, They had
these penalties that attributed to scoring drives along the way,
and in the end, they were a spot away from
maybe winning anyway. They were a defensive penalty away late
from maybe winning anyway. They had a couple of drops

(23:07):
from maybe winning anyway. There's no skyfalling here like that was.
They showed a tremendous amount of character based on relative
health at key positions against a team that's coming off
a break. I gotta tell you, like I am, they've
caught a bad week to be in the situation that
they're in. They could use a buye really really badly.

(23:31):
But I do really appreciate that they were right there,
and it's too bad that it didn't go the right way.
But this is what it reminded me of watching the
Lions last night. There's character here like this could have
spun out the wrong way based on all of those conditions,
and it didn't, and they could have would have should
have won anyway.

Speaker 4 (23:51):
Yeah, they don't make excuses.

Speaker 3 (23:53):
They talk about, you know, rolling with a deep proof
and the whole adage cliche, next man up, But that's
that's really it.

Speaker 4 (24:01):
And you know, you you have guys.

Speaker 3 (24:03):
I was I think I was listening to our interview
with Chris Rodriguez the other day and they were they
were talking about how one of the somebody had called,
you know, was telling the practice squad players, hey, what
time they work out lift was going to be? And
d Q says, you know, don't don't call a practice squad,
Like we're not gonna we don't.

Speaker 4 (24:23):
Call him that. This is all one group.

Speaker 3 (24:26):
Seventy guys, And just the mentality like, hey, you're yeah,
you're not on the fifty three man active roster, but
you are part of this seventy man roster.

Speaker 4 (24:34):
And when your numbers called, go produce.

Speaker 3 (24:38):
And Chris Rodriguez did it last week against the against
the you know, New York Giants. Tren Scott I felt like,
I said, he played a heck of a well football
game man going against one of the premier pass rushers
in the NFL. And and and you know, just that's
just a part of it. Yeah, we would love we

(24:58):
would love a buy at this point in time, but
that's not the reality. Steel got to continue to grind out.
The game is still going to be played on Thursday night.
Whether b Rob plays or whether Marshall Lattimore plays, whether
Wiley plays, or anybody else who's be honest plays, you
know it's.

Speaker 4 (25:14):
Going to be played. So whoever's out there wearing that
w wear that burgundy and gold.

Speaker 3 (25:20):
Or burgundy and white, whatever we're gonna wear, we're going
to be expected to play. They're going to be expected
to play well, and we're going to be expected to
go in there and win that football game.

Speaker 1 (25:28):
We're talking about one other trend with you that I
want to see where you've landed on it and how
you think it can be reversed as we head into
this critical part of the season here where where they're
vying for the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (25:40):
And maybe more division.

Speaker 1 (25:41):
You know, obviously this game Thursday is enormous as they
head towards the idea of being the NFC swinner this year.
Three weeks in a row, they shut out the Bears
in the first half, gave up fifteen second half points
against the Giants, had a nice lead, never was really
felt in any kind of danger, but gave up two
touchdowns late, including one really late that it a game,
and then yesterday against Pittsburgh similarly gave up late scores,

(26:06):
big plays, one late in the game. They're giving up
a lot of points in the second half and they've
been you know, this is a team that's gotten better
and better and better metrically on defense, but the points
are what matters. And this is three weeks in a
row in the second half where they're giving up some points.
So like, what are you seeing in the second half
that maybe this team can kind of like close some

(26:27):
of these whatever loopholes are going on out there to
try to limit some of the scoring against them.

Speaker 3 (26:32):
You know, everybody goes into halftime and they make their adjustments,
you know, on both sides of the ball. And when
you've had success against a team like we had success
on teams in these first half of the game, seems
like these other teams are making their adjustments and we
may not, I won't say make our adjustment. We may
not play certain things the same way or play it

(26:55):
as well as we would have like.

Speaker 4 (26:56):
To the Pittsburgh's doings.

Speaker 3 (26:58):
Man, I looked at this, I had it on my
chart from yesterday and I just looked at Pittsburgh Steelers
were out scoring teams one hundred and twenty one to
forty five in the second quarter.

Speaker 4 (27:11):
I mean in the second half the NFL best they
were plus seventy six points in the second half. Nobody
in the national foot the ball league put up points
the way the Pittsburgh steel is doing.

Speaker 3 (27:25):
You know part of that, Hey, can we play a
little bit better complimentary football things like that. The there
was a bust of coverage, I want to call it
a bunch of coverage. We allowed their back warn to
get out on the third eight situation. They end up
he gets twenty nine yards. They after we opened the
first half with they opened the second half with a touchdown.

Speaker 4 (27:47):
The very next series for Pittsburgh.

Speaker 3 (27:49):
We allowed them to get seven points and they converted
a third and eight. You know when we kind of
lost track of the running back for twenty nine yards.
I think there was another Oh it was a got
them in second and twenty Allow Pikets to make a
convert that for a first down. Mistag with things like that.

(28:10):
So need to be better on the tacklers in that situation.
Need to be a more way of the running back
on that situation. So those are the things that you got.
You have to focus and do all the things the
right way for sixty minutes and obviously we got to
do a better job.

Speaker 4 (28:24):
In the second half. We're doing those things.

Speaker 1 (28:26):
Yeah, I don't want to make this a Pittford show,
but they're they're built to win. Like they got a
running game that's going to travel, They're gonna be able
to play in cold weather.

Speaker 2 (28:34):
They're a very physical team.

Speaker 1 (28:35):
They're very good upfront on both sides of them all
like they got a tough team.

Speaker 4 (28:40):
But here's here's the thing, not asking a lot of.

Speaker 1 (28:42):
That quarterback, like like they don't they don't even need
him to make a bunch of big plays for them
to be successful and in very tight, physical games.

Speaker 3 (28:51):
Yeah, no, bram As, as you say, you know, Pittsburgh
built to win.

Speaker 4 (28:54):
But I look at that.

Speaker 3 (28:55):
I look at the third and eight conversion and also
as second and twenty conversion, where in my opinion, just
Burg didn't earn those plays that they've made.

Speaker 4 (29:07):
That's on us. We didn't get enough.

Speaker 3 (29:10):
Depth depth on the on the second to twenty play
allowed you know, a window for for him to be
able to throw that that that ball to to pick
it and we lost track of the running back on the.

Speaker 4 (29:21):
Third eight situation. Those weren't Pittsburgh, you know, earning something,
earning those plays. That's on us. That's on us. We
got to own that. And this is tell the truth Monday.

Speaker 1 (29:33):
All right, Let's talk about some of the defensive players
second straight week. Jeremy Chinz been everywhere, So dah did
you tackle? Second straight week? Got to pick on a
bad throw by Russ Slape and made the play, got
the fumble recovery. Great play Kwon Martin at the goal line.
To see it goes back to again, Pittsburgh could have
scored more in the second half. That was a great

(29:53):
defensive play at the one, right at the one, ye're
driving Chid's there like a couple of weeks ago, Joe,
what Junior said, we need to send him more was
the way he put it. And they've unlocked him the
last couple of weeks. He has been everywhere for them.

Speaker 4 (30:09):
Yeah, and you're absolutely right, and they it was similar
to to.

Speaker 3 (30:13):
Kind of the game plan how they deployed him in
this game against the Steelers, closer to the line of scrimmage,
sitting on blitzes, being he's been very active in the
run front, and for him maybe it was him also
getting used to be more acclimated with this scheme that
he's playing. This is his first year in this scheme,
so you know, initially maybe the first four or five

(30:35):
six games, kind of feeling your way through the through
the scheme, getting more comfortable and when you could take
your shots and you know, your responsibility and all those
types of things, how you fit the communication pieces and
things like that. I think Joe Whitt was saying he's
wanting him to be a leader more and vocal a lot,
be more vocal on the back end because he's a

(30:55):
quiet guy, but really putting pressure on him to hey,
we need you to be a municated back there.

Speaker 4 (31:01):
And with with with a lot.

Speaker 3 (31:02):
Of guys, I forcing him to communicate more it allows
them to really rise to the occasion.

Speaker 4 (31:09):
The reception that you that he had on Russell Wilson, Yeah,
it was a it.

Speaker 3 (31:13):
Was an overthrown ball, but the range that Chen showed
to go out and make that catch and and making
that catch that was an outstanding catch man. Yeah, you're
you're you're spot on with him just really being being
just all over the football field, and you know, that's
a that's something we we we thought we were getting
and we're we're happy that he's he's doing those types

(31:34):
of things.

Speaker 1 (31:35):
Uh, the other guy stands out to me again, and
we're feeling his presence every week. It's Frankie Luvu had
a sack. They're using him in many, many different ways.
They're very creative with him and how they try to
get him to make impact plays. It's interesting.

Speaker 2 (31:50):
I rewatched the Giants.

Speaker 1 (31:52):
Game that the Commanders played a couple of weeks ago
and to get ready, you know, obviously to take on
them and or take on the Steelers, just to rewatch,
and it was it was interesting, like there were some
mistimed or misread moments that involved him where he was
running around the edge and they were running a run play.
So either this was just kind of a mistimed call

(32:15):
or the formation was a change up by the Giants.

Speaker 2 (32:17):
I'd have to ask the coaching staff that kind of
fooled them a little bit. This week was different.

Speaker 1 (32:21):
The energy was there at the appropriate moments, like we
saw him and you.

Speaker 2 (32:26):
Felt his presence.

Speaker 1 (32:28):
Because maybe this does go back to Pittsburgh at fooling
you with what they're doing. They're gonna line up and
they're going to do exactly what they've done.

Speaker 2 (32:36):
They're just daring you to stop it.

Speaker 1 (32:38):
And I did feel Luvu's presence again in a variety
of different ways.

Speaker 4 (32:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (32:43):
Now the the Pittsburgh too is I'm sure they had
a lot of tendencies based on personnel groupings down in
distance where they add on the on the field position.
And with that, that's when you're getting getting your call,
your game plan together, your call sheet together. You have
a team who maybe it's called it eighty percent run

(33:03):
in this situation or an eighty percent pass in this
situation based on personnel down editions formation. So you use
all those different tip bits and nuggets and you get
on the field and like when you got so there's
sometimes when you get one hundred percent deals like this
is a one hundred percent what they do in this
situation with this personnel grouping at this part of the.

Speaker 4 (33:25):
Field or wherever.

Speaker 3 (33:26):
So when you get those type of things and you
got a certain call teed up, you doing it. If
they do something differently, they just got you. But you go,
you go play the play. The data is what they'd
like to call it.

Speaker 4 (33:39):
The data. Yeah, but no, Frankie, Frankie. Frankie's being Frankie was.

Speaker 3 (33:44):
He was more impactful, like you said, in this ball
game as opposed to we felt his presence more in
this game as opposed to last week.

Speaker 4 (33:50):
To get some giants. The guy that I thought played
extremely well. And I don't know.

Speaker 3 (33:57):
If you saw this as well or had a chance
to really dig into it. The rock pay hey hey
played in I'll stand this football game. He didn't, you know,
get the sacks the sack U. I don't even know
how any tackles he had. But when I say he was,
he played a mouster game, just set in. They had

(34:17):
him play a deepensive end three technique nos.

Speaker 4 (34:22):
All, I mean shade he put. He lined up all
over the field.

Speaker 3 (34:26):
And he was controlling people, destroying blass, taking on double teams,
getting off of getting off, getting off blocks, making tackles,
create a push in the pocket.

Speaker 4 (34:37):
Things like that. Man, he played a phenomenal game.

Speaker 1 (34:40):
I mean last year, like you remember, they started moving
him around late and people don't remember it because the
record was what the record was, and people were paying
attention to the little things. But they had moved him
outside last year totally re energized him, and in the
second half of the season he really turned it on
at all those different positions. And this is all new

(35:00):
defense for him too, And we're moving him around a
little bit. And I agree with you. I was gonna
mention him that he really stood out. It's a very
good sign if they're going to get the best to
him now moving forward. He needs your best players to
win in the end, in the critical games. He is
one of their best players. And I felt his presence too.
I agree with you. And there's something about moving him

(35:22):
around a little bit that seems to kind of energize him.

Speaker 3 (35:25):
Yeah, it probably forces him to I'm gonna be able
to and then sometimes it might be hey, this the winkly.
We want to get you rushing against him, you know,
things like that. So it similar to think about about
what they've done with with Jeremy chan bringing closer to

(35:45):
the line of scrimmage, sitting on Bliss is a lot more,
you know, those types of things kind of getting him
involved early in the game. So with a guy like
the pay he goes into the game knowing, hey, I'm
gonna be a lot of multiple positions will get opportunity
to go against his tackle.

Speaker 4 (36:01):
I mean, h Pittsburg's their left their left tackle. Maybe
it was Ty. I think it was their left tackle.

Speaker 3 (36:08):
He tried to try to block Paint on the run
player page suns stud him up, got it, got him
with one arm, just hold of destroyed, gets rid of him,
and makes a tager for no no Gay. So that
was the type of thing that he could do.

Speaker 1 (36:24):
One other name I want to bring up because he
didn't make his debut, and I know everybody's hopeful that
Marshaun Latimore was going to play sooner rather than later
when they acquired him at the trade deadline. He had
missed the last Saints game that he was a part
of because of a hamstring injury that was a carryover,
and that's the reason why he did not play this
past weekend. So with the quick turnaround, until we hear
from Dan Quinn, et cetera, we don't know if he's

(36:46):
available or not. And so I go into this saying,
I don't know whether he's playing Thursday or not. We're
gonna find out very soon because they're gonna have to
put out an injury report on Tuesday. So we're gonna
find out very soon, whether he's able to go or not.
I would just say this because I know a lot
of people saw some big plays, especially late, and are
screaming for we need him on the field, we need
him on the field. I would advocate not to rush him.

(37:08):
Like the point of getting him in here is for
the long term. The last thing you'd want to do
is stick him out there marginalized and have him exacerbated
and defeats the purpose of getting him in the first place.
So I hope he can play, and maybe he can,
and this is a moot point, but if it isn't,
I would advocate, don't fall under the pressure and this

(37:30):
coaching step hasn't the whole time to put him out
there because you feel like you need him against AJ
Brown on Thursday. I think you wait till he's ready
to and then you unleash him on this defense. I
don't know if you feel the same way.

Speaker 4 (37:42):
Oh, they're not. He's not playing until we can wish.
We hope.

Speaker 3 (37:48):
You know, whether you're a fan, whoever you may may be,
he may even want to play, but unless he is
one hundred percent and he can fully you know, play
at the level that he's to play like ron fuol
speed and changing direction, all those types of things with
hamsterring injuries.

Speaker 4 (38:07):
Unless you feel like you can fully.

Speaker 3 (38:09):
You know, let it all go, let it fully loose,
especially playing that type of position where you're gonna have
some you know, thirty forty fifty yards sprints, chasing covering
receivers down the fielding and you're doing this for sixty minutes,
for sixty seventy plays in the ball game. If they
don't feel like he can do that fully, he's not

(38:31):
going to touch that field. But in Thursday night, next
next game against who we play, the Cowboys or whoever
we're playing. And you know, so I'm not When he's
out there, I'll be happy. But until then, I'm not
gonna I'm not gonna concern myself with it.

Speaker 1 (38:47):
All right, So let's let's turn the page here. You
had to do this before this Thursday thing has become
the norm.

Speaker 2 (38:53):
It's tough, gotta.

Speaker 1 (38:55):
Go on the road, difficult opponent, Yes, big game here,
and you got to turn the page on what is
a heartbreaking loss. So what's Monday in the building for
the locker room as they try to get rid of
yesterday and move on, really, really really quickly.

Speaker 3 (39:10):
Yeah, it's it's it's tough, especially when you when you're
dealing with the loss. You know, you got to kind
of put that family to bed. You know, the different
things that that you could have done better. So you
have to have those meanings. You have to have you
tell the truth Monday and go through that. But then
you're now it's time to also switch gears to get

(39:30):
ready for the Philadelphia Eagles. A lot of times when
you haven't lost, the best thing about it is, man,
I get to go out and play on a Thursday night.
I don't have to sit around and wait until Sunday.
So having that short week is actually a benefit. When
you're coming off for loss. It's say, go be a
how can you get your body, you know, ready to

(39:50):
play on on on Thursday night? And depending on you
know where you're at in career, how many how many
STAPs you've had on your body, That process may be
been longer for others and it could be different for others.
But doing all the things you need to do to
recover and get yourself ready for that that Thursday night game,
it's it's more difficult on a team that's traveling because

(40:13):
you got to go through that part of you know,
short we've traveled and the very great thing is not
a it's not a long flight to to Philly, but
it's still you know, has another element to that, uh,
that Thursday night game. But you know, you can turn
the page and you start preparing for Philadelphia today and
they'll start looking at you know, looking at that field today.

Speaker 1 (40:36):
Big difference obviously with them is Saquon Barkley now being
in that uniform. I don't know how much you've seen
of their rush offense, which has been formidable with running
backs that clearly aren't as good as him. He's a
Hall of Fame caliber player. He did the ridiculous backwards
leap frog. Honestly, when their offense wasn't really going going

(40:58):
early in the season. He was the reason why they
were winning games by being prolific on the ground. So, yes,
how do you think about Saquon in that offense?

Speaker 3 (41:11):
Man, it's almost not fair said, it's similar to we
did the Baltimore game when it was talking about you know,
the NFL allowing Derrick Henry to join the Baltimore Ravens offense,
and Lamar Jackson done the same fair but.

Speaker 4 (41:25):
Same similar situation.

Speaker 3 (41:26):
When you think about Philadelphia's you know, over the last
few years, they've had the best, if not.

Speaker 4 (41:33):
The best, one of the best offensive lines in football.
And I know Jason Kelsey.

Speaker 3 (41:37):
Had retired with the senator they got now I think
his name is Jerkison if I'm if I'm mistaken.

Speaker 4 (41:44):
If memory served is correct, they haven't missed a beat.

Speaker 1 (41:48):
So let's talk about Jaalen Hurts a little bit. A
few years ago, Zone reid was the dangerous thing that
they had with him. He was an expert at it
and was killing people. They've got away from that. Only
they can really answer this. Some people think it was
maybe too many hits. His knee wasn't, you know, as
strong as it was specifically a year ago. He don't

(42:10):
see a lot of that kind of running from him,
but he is dangerous. How do you think about Hurts
now at this stage of his career.

Speaker 3 (42:19):
I think they'll have to be strategic and he'll have
his moments where he'll he'll keep it because you know,
even if he's running it, let's call it two, three,
four times a game with those zone reads, we have
to prepare defensively for that. It's it's just how it is,
and that's how it goes. We have to spend a
little bit of time of of you know, prepared for that.

(42:41):
They may go in there with similar type of game
plan with that that the Pittsburgh News had against us. Hey,
we're going to maybe attack our attack the attack Saquon
and on his own read and force first to keep
the ball. You kind of pick your poison. Would you
rather than have safe running the ball? Who would you have?
Whether I have hurt? I think the answer is I'd rather,

(43:04):
you know, hurts to keep the ball. So I'm gonna
be tackling going right at the safe part in any
potential read option type plays, and you know, and and
when he when he does run rally and making tackles
limit those games.

Speaker 4 (43:18):
A J.

Speaker 2 (43:19):
Brown A J.

Speaker 1 (43:20):
Brown is my opinion, one of the top five best
receivers in the NFL right now. Been a major problem
for this team over the last few years since he's
showed up there.

Speaker 2 (43:31):
How are you thinking about A J. Brown Thursday night?

Speaker 3 (43:35):
Well, I'm thinking about you know, we'll definitely deploy a
different defensive strategy.

Speaker 4 (43:40):
I believe Joe Wick Jr. Dan Quinn, they know.

Speaker 3 (43:45):
The Philadelphia Eagles, they They've had battles with this this
team against Jayleen, you know, Jalen Hurts and and and
a j. Buck Brown and Smith, so they know they
noticed these wide receivers for them, they don't have a
plan thet know how to do how to deal with them,
you know.

Speaker 4 (44:03):
So I'm not I don't feel like.

Speaker 3 (44:06):
It would be a similar type of results or type
of games that AJ has had in the past, just
because of maybe, let's say the defensive strategies will be
vastly different.

Speaker 4 (44:18):
Have a good point.

Speaker 1 (44:20):
We both have a lot of homework to get ready
for these games, and in these short weeks, it's tough,
you know, to turn around and like I typically just
want to get ready for the team and the here
and now.

Speaker 2 (44:29):
But throwing on a.

Speaker 1 (44:31):
Couple of those Cowboys Eagles games from a year ago
might be very instructive to figure how were we actually
thinking about dealing with them? How did Dallas deal with
them a year ago? I might have to go take
a look at that.

Speaker 4 (44:46):
Oh no, it's definitely worth worth looking at it. And
I'm sure.

Speaker 3 (44:50):
The the the Eagles, they may they don't probably look
at it.

Speaker 4 (44:53):
A little bit, but you know, they have enough.

Speaker 3 (44:55):
They have they'll have ten games of our defense with
with Joe wid Junior it leading the charge. But if
you any opportunity or edge or advantage you think you
can have, it would be who you not to go
back and look at that those games and hey, how
did they do how did they how did they find
the defend the zong reads? How do they match up

(45:16):
with the receivers? Did they lean a safety over the
top of Brown? Did they how did they cover Smith?
Those types of things, So you know, it's it makes
sense for you to go back and look at those
things and just to kind of get an idea of
what that what that game plan could potentially look like.

Speaker 1 (45:33):
This is gonna be an interesting one too. I mean,
obviously we've been part of these last couple of years
where they've been extremely physical, very close games between these
these two teams. This is going to be interesting this
time around. This is a whole new group Jaman Daniels
and company. They haven't been on a losing streak yet.
They have not lost to in a row to anybody.
Daniels we saw him in the locker room. He does

(45:55):
not like losing. He said that Tess conference where someone
asked them abou it and he just didn't even know
what to say other than just to say, I really
don't like losing. You could feel this in this locker room.
We were in there when Sam Cosmy spoke, but heard
about it that he got up and spoken. He's someone
who's really eloquent, great guy, but doesn't do a lot
of that, so he felt compelled to get up and

(46:18):
say something as a leader on the team. I think
I liked what they said after the Baltimore loss, which
was the last one that they've had, and I like
what I'm hear coming out of this one. I think
it's a tall task, it's a turnaround, tough place to play,
very good team. A lot of injuries at the wrong
time for this team that I don't like that adds

(46:39):
up to this is going to be tough. But I
like what I hear and the mentality that they're bringing
to all of this as they head into what is
going to be a this is this you know, they
go up there and win, everything is back on the
table again for them.

Speaker 4 (46:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (46:57):
Now, bram, as you were talking, I wouldn't looked at
the box score from from the Eagles Cowboys game last night.
They heard rushed the ball seven times for fifty six
yards and two touchdowns.

Speaker 4 (47:09):
I didn't I didn't look at the game look at
the game.

Speaker 3 (47:12):
I was still kind of licking my wounds from yesterday's
lost to to the Steelers. Yeah, he ran the ball
seven times and fifty six yards and had two rushing TVs.

Speaker 4 (47:22):
A J.

Speaker 3 (47:23):
Brown five receptions for one hundred and nine yards. So
you know, the problems are the problems. We'll have to
I'm sure will have a great player ready to deal
with those guys and see how how Philadelphia response to that.

Speaker 1 (47:38):
So, like, I'm not in the business of counting anybody out,
but the Giants just lost in Germany either two and eight.
Washington's already swept them, They've already lost one to the Eagles.
They would take a miracle for them to get back
into any kind of discussion about a race. Dallas is
really going the wrong way, Dak's going on. I are
their media.

Speaker 2 (47:57):
Is just.

Speaker 1 (48:00):
Hear is so off about them that for them to
kind of turn this around and be a factor again
for a division race feels unlikely. At this point.

Speaker 2 (48:10):
They've been blown out at home.

Speaker 1 (48:11):
Someone told me some number that they're like minus one
ten in point differential at home this year, Like they've
been blown out over and over and over at home.
So it's it's hard to figure without Dak, especially that
they'll turn it around, turn it around. This two team race,
I mean that's where we are right now, two team
race for this division, and meeting one of two is
in a couple of days. As you think about what

(48:33):
is now going to be the last seven games of
the season, two of them against them, what is the
difference for Washington to be a division winner, let alone
a wild card playoff.

Speaker 2 (48:45):
Team this year.

Speaker 4 (48:47):
I think there's gonna be.

Speaker 5 (48:49):
I was playing the time of football we played to
win those seven seven games, having an outstanding run game
and being more battles on offense, not being and so
relying in the passing game.

Speaker 3 (49:02):
You know, just obviously having getting a healthy b Rode
will make a difference. Defensively, we can't have the penalties
that that hurt us. We can't have allowed teams to
you know, drive ninety yards, have these long long drives
against us. Have to limit explosive plays not allowed, you know,

(49:22):
especially thinking about the Eagles, because we've got two games
against them, not allowing their wide receivers to to have big,
you know, chunk yards plays, dealing with Saint Kwon Barkley.

Speaker 4 (49:33):
We got to be we got to be great to
run defense could be for us.

Speaker 3 (49:40):
One of those games won't be any different than the
recipe has for us.

Speaker 4 (49:45):
One of the games we've already won.

Speaker 1 (49:48):
They've got the schedule gets favorable after this one. Let's
see if they go up there and win it. They've
got two more home games before the bye week, both
of them against under five hundred teams, one aforementioned Dallas,
which listen, I've lived this rivalry my whole life. You don't.
There is no guarantee of anything either side in that rivalry. Still,

(50:13):
you know, you feel like you got a real good
shot at home against a team that's very marginalized. Then
they'll play another under five hundred team. They got a
shot here to be set up for a run post
thereby and a big time run if they can go
up to Philadelphia and knock that team off on Thursday.
So this is feeling like you want to show the resolve,

(50:35):
the toughness, the resiliency, the We're going to be there
no matter what state our team is in.

Speaker 2 (50:41):
Don't discount us.

Speaker 1 (50:42):
This is a massive message potentially about where this organization
and this specific team is.

Speaker 2 (50:50):
If they go up there and knock the Eagles.

Speaker 4 (50:51):
Off, Oh that absolute a game.

Speaker 3 (50:58):
It's football. Television will be us. Everybody will be watching.

Speaker 4 (51:03):
Man.

Speaker 3 (51:03):
I don't know if you probably pay attention to it.
Seems like every time you flip on sports of sports
on the on the channel, they're talking about the Washington Commandments. Man,
they're talking about us. Imagine were going there first place,
you know, right now on the line, going there and
knock them off.

Speaker 4 (51:22):
Oh man, it would be crazy. Crazy. But I know this.

Speaker 3 (51:28):
I know Dad Quinn, the way he handles his business,
the way they look at you know, prepare and focus
on the fight that's right in front of them.

Speaker 4 (51:38):
They're only looking at this.

Speaker 3 (51:39):
Game against the Philadelphia because they're not looking at, hey,
we do this. We got these two ups. They're not
thinking about what's down the road. We can do that
because you know, we're not going to strap it up
on Thursday night. But if they if they going there
and had no business, yeah, that that that definitely sets
you up for for the really you know, do some

(52:00):
do some damage.

Speaker 4 (52:02):
Be in a great position. I have told say, all.

Speaker 1 (52:04):
Right, let's do no championship belt. By the way, this week,
we don't do it off of losses, so the championship
belt stays in the hands of the current champion. Let's
do story time here for a minute. You gotta have
some doozies from playing in Philadelphia, but think about playing
in Philadelphia.

Speaker 3 (52:22):
Oh man, I shot you put me on the spot here, Yeah,
I play it.

Speaker 4 (52:29):
I love philip was one of my favorite places to play.
I just.

Speaker 3 (52:35):
All the stadiums that I played in on the road,
that might have been my favorite, just because the fans,
they're gonna be very engaged.

Speaker 4 (52:42):
They're gonna let you know how they feel. They what
did I football?

Speaker 3 (52:47):
My first time playing there with with Washington, We're driving
into the stadium and they started egging our bus, throwing
through the eggs in our bus, and you know, having
a few choice words, and you know, the fingers saluting,
and as we're going out of that tunnel getting ready
for the game to start, I mean they yell, they're
over the over the batisters.

Speaker 4 (53:09):
Or whatever, yelling the railings, yelling choice words.

Speaker 3 (53:12):
And I felt like a gladiator coming into that uh,
into you know, the arena, so to speak. And I'm
loving and I'm just like, oh, yeah, are you not
in the tame because I'm about to entertain you believe
believe me.

Speaker 4 (53:26):
We beat the Eagles on that Monday night football.

Speaker 3 (53:29):
So that's that's one of my one of the ones
that that comes up comes to mind right away, and uh,
you know, we.

Speaker 4 (53:37):
We've had some success.

Speaker 3 (53:38):
We had some success in Philly when I was when
I was wearing the burgery goes. But I loved it, man,
because their fans are going to be extremely engaged.

Speaker 4 (53:46):
They're gonna say some choice words to you.

Speaker 3 (53:49):
But it's nothing like going in there and what and
what are that football game against the team like that.

Speaker 2 (53:54):
You know, it's really funny every time I go up there.
The honest thing is the.

Speaker 1 (53:59):
Great food scene there, great entertainment, great city. You go out,
everybody is so nice, and then you go to their
game and it's like Thunderdome. It's like they've been given
permission to be different people. Like you'd think that this
is how they act all the time because of the
perception of what happens at the games, But if you
go out in Philadelphia, they couldn't be nicer. Like it's

(54:23):
it's like some kind of strange permission structure occurs when
they walk into that stadium, they become completely different people.

Speaker 4 (54:31):
You're probably right, because you know we'll go out and
go to restaurants.

Speaker 3 (54:37):
This even when I was planned, I would go, hey,
we get into the city, I'm go out and have
some food and eat and Nate lottimes. They knew who
I was, and you know, some places you might not
want to be in a certain restaurants, like I don't know,
they might put something in my food, having I want
to toilet all whatever.

Speaker 4 (54:56):
But really wasn't like that. Man.

Speaker 3 (55:00):
They hey, man, I respect you. I love the way
you play the game. Even to this day, I'm traveling.
We're traveling with it's all around the city and you know,
all around the country.

Speaker 4 (55:11):
And you run it too.

Speaker 3 (55:12):
Fans of different teams all over and the Eagles fans
they'd be like, hey, man, oh man, I love the
way you play the game.

Speaker 4 (55:18):
And you know, even though I'm an Eagles fan, they'll
start that out.

Speaker 3 (55:21):
Even though I'm an Eagles fan, I appreciated the way
you play the game, and you know, stuff like that,
very respectful.

Speaker 1 (55:29):
The one I remember most too, and we'll leave it
with this was you know, well, There's been a lot
of them through the years that I've gotten to cover.

Speaker 2 (55:34):
Be around the Sean Taylor.

Speaker 1 (55:36):
Game where he had the big defensive play that turned
the season ended up in a playoff year years ago,
was incredible.

Speaker 2 (55:43):
That was an incredible moment there.

Speaker 1 (55:44):
Late in the season. But the one we did a
couple of years ago when Philadelphia was undefeated and it
was on Monday Night football, it was the b rob game.
I remember you walked up from the field and said,
I just saw Brian Robinson and he told me He's
going to go ham on them. Yeah, that he did.
That's one of the most that we've done together that

(56:04):
I can remember. That. That one sticks out to me
as the don't assume anything because that team was rolling,
they were undefeated, This team did not have a lot
of expectations on it. Walked up there and physically mauled
that team.

Speaker 2 (56:19):
And I'm hoping we get something like that on Thursday night.

Speaker 4 (56:22):
Man. That was That was the thing of beauty. And
for for you know, the viewers who may not know
what ham is, it's an acronym for heart. As a yeah,
you figure it out.

Speaker 3 (56:36):
He just had just look in his eyes and I'm like, man,
and sure enough he was.

Speaker 4 (56:42):
He was running that rock and I think we ran.

Speaker 3 (56:45):
A bomb about forty times, maybe even more than forty
times in that game.

Speaker 4 (56:49):
Yeah, just just a think of beauty for for takeaways
in that game.

Speaker 3 (56:54):
It was, it was, it was executed to perfection going
in there physically dominated that performance, dominated that team and
undefeated Eagles team, as you mentioned. But it's gonna it's
gonna take a valiant effort this this Eagles team.

Speaker 4 (57:09):
It's tough.

Speaker 3 (57:10):
They they realized they've been in a lot of battles, a
lot of a lot of fights. They know what's in
state right now. You know, first place is all on
the line of the division. Even though we still got
a lot of games left.

Speaker 4 (57:22):
You you win that first one and you kind of.

Speaker 3 (57:24):
Put yourself in, you know, in the driver's seats, you know,
at this point in time.

Speaker 1 (57:29):
Yeah, I can't wait for It's could be great on
Thursday night up in Philadelphia. That'll do it for the
Booth review for Big Flutch on Bram. We'll see you
after the Eagle game.