NFL Week 3 Recap: Commanders over Raiders 41-24 | Booth Review Podcast | Washington Commanders | NFL

London Fletcher, Logan Paulsen, and Bram Weinstein breakdown the Washington Commanders 41-24 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders!

 

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Hosts: London Fletcher, Bram Weinstein, Logan Paulsen

 

Producer: Jason Johnson

 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Coming up on the Booth Review. It was a dominant
win over Las Vegas.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
And talking about that dominant run game, getting the weeds
on that a little bit.

Speaker 3 (00:07):
And somebody's going home with this championship belt that is
coming up on the Booth Review.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Welcome into the latest edition of the Booth Review podcast.
I'm Brad Weinstein with Big Fletch London Fletcher. We're brought
to you by Microsoft Surface Copilot Plus PC and we
are in the Big Bear AI Command Center studio. That
is how you bounce back from a bad loss, London.

Speaker 3 (00:30):
That's exactly how you bounce back. In what a way
to get the game started with that Deebo Samuel's big
kickoff return. Yeah, you want to get your fans in
the frenzy, give the offensive ball in great field position
and you go in. You punch it in, get the
get to touchdown right away to start start to get.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
There were some kind of special teams flew around the
league yesterday. Everybody had it. I mean the Eagles game
ended with the block. There was the block in the
Green Bay game and then a fifty five yardfield goal
to win for Cleveland. I can't believe Jalen Lane's punt
return was topped by somebody. It was yesterday, So it
was a really weird day on special teams. But for

(01:08):
Washington on the right side of it and with Deebo,
this is two weeks in a row now that he
started the game with a big return.

Speaker 3 (01:15):
Yeah, and a lot of people at one point were questioning, like,
why would you have Debo back there returning kicks? Considered
his value that he has and brings to the offense
as a as a receiver and all as a playmaker. Really,
but you want to get your ball in your playmakers
as much as possible. And quite frankly, he's always retired kicks,

(01:37):
so he's used to doing it. He's customed to doing it.
He's well suited for this new kick return format and
it was apparent with yesterday's return. Why he's in that position.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
It's not a traditional play anymore. It's a play for
a running back.

Speaker 4 (01:53):
Really.

Speaker 1 (01:54):
It's blocked, it's set up, no one's charged. It's not
a make the first person miss try to find a seat.
It's a blocked play now, and he is a yards
after catch guy, so this is a perfect spot for him. Unfortunately,
Austin Eckler, who isn't able to do it with it,
he was out standing at it a year ago. I
think you're going to see more and more of this,
and you're seeing teams around the league start to exploit

(02:15):
a lot of this. And this is what the NFL wanted.
They wanted more action on these plays.

Speaker 3 (02:19):
They got it, they did, And I was last year
you watched the new rule rules being implemented and it
was just so many touchbacks that still took place. Making
the kicking to the end zone on punitive to where
it comes out to the thirty five.

Speaker 4 (02:35):
I think they moved the kicker back.

Speaker 3 (02:37):
As well, if I'm correct, to where now you're going
to get more returns and that's what that's what you
would love to see.

Speaker 4 (02:44):
You know.

Speaker 1 (02:44):
I'm going to talk about this later when Logan joins us.
We have a discussion about what the week was, how
big a game this was, what this kind of means
for the season. But you know, you're in those locker
rooms forever everybody gets all hyped up, they run out
on the field. What does it mean when something like
that happens on the first play of the game to
your benefit.

Speaker 3 (03:02):
Oh, it just it ignites you you already amped up
and you know you're ready to go. But when you
get that type of momentum, swinging, energy bringing type of
play to start the game off, it's uplifting for you,
but it's also shill shocking for the opponent. And like
hell defense, from a defensive standpoint, you're like, man, our

(03:24):
first snap is going to be into what the high
red zone, so to speak. So it's a it's a
great momentum swing for your football team.

Speaker 1 (03:32):
And I think equally is important they scored immediately, didn't
even throw a pass. I know Marioto was dropped back
like he was going to throw one on the third and goal.

Speaker 4 (03:39):
He did not.

Speaker 1 (03:40):
He ran for the touchdown, but that's equally as important here.
It's only a shot in the arm if you end
up with seven. And it happened immediately. And then what
we saw was the beginning of what we were going
to see strategically, which I thought was going to be
very interesting. And I want to talk more about the
offense with Logan joins us, but just the idea of it.

(04:00):
I want to get your thoughts on it. Trent Scott
came out early, early, and often they were going jumbo packages.
We saw Senate and Yankoff together a lot. They had
decided amid all the injuries, no Jayden, no John Bates,
changes on the offensive line, no Eckler, no Noah Brown,
that they were going to treat this game differently. And
they came out immediately and forced their will on the Raiders.

(04:23):
All bit short field, but forced their will on them.

Speaker 4 (04:25):
Yeah, the whole Trescott thing.

Speaker 3 (04:27):
So when you lose Baits, how do you find an
adequate replacement for him in the as a run blocker?
Where you got Trescott, who's an offense alignment by design,
so he reports as an eligible receiver. You put you
mentioned having a sending and Yankoff in the game. So
you got three tight ends, trey personnel. Some people call

(04:48):
it thirteen personnel with one running back, three tight ends,
so to speak. And they just physically punched the Raiders
in the mouth. And I mean it was from the
first nap to the last night, the change in the
offensive line. I thought, Chris Paul, Chris Paul played out
stand and he I mean as a run blocker, he was,
he was moving people, he was he was throwing people

(05:10):
out of the club. Just really you saw his his
prowess as a run blocker. He I thought, he I thought.

Speaker 4 (05:17):
As an office aligne, he probably was the best one
on the field yesterday.

Speaker 1 (05:21):
Yes, that's how will he played yesterday or last week
you introduced or two weeks ago. That is Big Daddy Payne,
the Big Daddy Kane. And so, of course our producer
Jason Johnson is texting us for eighties and nineties rap groups. Right,
I got one for you later for the defense, but
for the offense. Since he listed salt and Peppa, Marcus

(05:41):
Mariota's got the Salt and Peppa going up here with
the like.

Speaker 4 (05:45):
I'll tell you what.

Speaker 1 (05:46):
He was mixing it up too. On the field, he
still got it with those zone read keeps. I was
very proud of myself and us for not being fooled
by him, because the Raiders were at times. His superpower
is that fake keep the ball run. He's quick across
the line. It's pretty good.

Speaker 4 (06:05):
So you said he's mixing it up, so sir, mix
a lot.

Speaker 1 (06:09):
Uh, well, let me mix a lot. Their famous DJ
is Spinderella, so that could be.

Speaker 4 (06:14):
That could be. Yeah, yeah, it's there's a lot of
things we can we can play.

Speaker 3 (06:19):
Now, how about this, for I noticed, is not nineties
or eighties wrapped, but the run that Jeremy McNichols had
Ludacris Southern Hospitality.

Speaker 4 (06:32):
Yeah, throw them balls, move, get out the way. Yeah,
that was that type of run. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (06:39):
I appreciate you leaving out one of the words of
the lyrics.

Speaker 4 (06:42):
Move. Yeah. So that was that was That was two
thousand year two thousand. Can I get it? Can I
sneak that into the nineties? We could do all that? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (06:53):
Let me uh, let's talk about the Special teams a
little bit as well. It wasn't just the Deebo thing.
There were two other really prominent moments on Special teams. One,
obviously Jalen Lane was he was lined up at the twenty,
the punt drove him back to the ten, makes the
catch and ends up with what ended up being the
second longest punt return in team history. The record is

(07:14):
held and you shouldn't be returning punts from the four anyway,
so good luck, good luck topping that. But we had
to look it up. It was Bill Dudley nineteen fifty
play about different rules back then completely they weren't ey
wearing helmets, so but Jalen Lane like the sea parted
for Debo, and it almost happened twice. By the way,
for Diebo, there was a second time it opened up

(07:36):
and you could hear the audible gasp from the crowd.
By the time he had hit the twenty five thirty
yard line, we were both aware this was possible. He
just had to beat the punter and then his speed
was on display. They drafted him for this, and they
got dividends on it.

Speaker 3 (07:51):
You saw the electricity you mentioned being drafted so immediately
when you draft. When he's drafted, you go and you
look at him as a return and you're like, at
worst case scenario, he's gonna be an upgrade and bring
juice to the return game. At worst and as you
mentioned once he got to that to the punter is like, man,

(08:14):
the punter has no chance with a guy like Lane
who can run like he like, with the speed that
he has. The only thing I was worried about there
was a penalty flag on the field and I was like,
that is that against us? However, it happened so quickly
and I was like, well, maybe it was one of
their players running on the on the sideline too long.

(08:35):
You know how to like the gunner spend too much
time out of bounds. That can happen because we hadn't
even made a block when they had through the thrown
the flag yet. So I was like, maybe it's on
on the Raiders, and it turned out it was against them.
But tremendous, tremendous part return. And I think he's he's
only gonna I mean, he's gonna be a phenomenal return.

Speaker 4 (08:55):
Many in this league.

Speaker 1 (08:56):
I love that we learned in the summer that he
has been calling b Mitch up and wanting to talk
to him and wanting to learn from him. We're gonna
talk about the defense in a minute, but like, I
love that Javon Kinlaw wanted to come over to meet
you in person, talk to you, came on the show
with us. He broke some FCC rules with us, that's
all right, right, he didn't leave the words out. I

(09:19):
mean he was talking about anyway. He wanted like, don't
you want to see this, Like, don't you want to
see the players look at our legends and go tell
me what you know, give me the you know, give
me the information.

Speaker 3 (09:31):
Yeah, And that's that's that's the great thing about this game.
And then I thought to any profession you as a broadcaster,
I'm sure there are legends that you looked up to
growing up. They're like, Man, if I had an opportunity
to meet this guy, whoever it may be.

Speaker 1 (09:46):
I mean, we played the Raiders four years ago. When
we played the Raiders out in Vegas, Brent Mussberger was
still calling Raiders games, and I made a point of
I mean, here's maybe one of the greatest broadcasters of
all time. So to your point, I wanted to talk exactly, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (09:59):
And that and what you find out more often than
more often than not, we want to share information anyway
we want. We just we don't want to overstep any boundaries.
We won't let your coaches coach. But if you have
a question and we feel like we Hey, this is
kind of if I can offer a little bit of
nugget or something to you, you take it and leave it.

Speaker 4 (10:21):
Whatever they may be.

Speaker 3 (10:22):
But the fact that hey, b Mitchell should be a
Hall of Fame return man, one of the greatest, if
not greatest returner in NFL history.

Speaker 4 (10:31):
That is wise of Jalen Lane to, Hey, tell me
about return to punch kicks. What were you thinking?

Speaker 3 (10:39):
And it may be something some little thing that you
can implement in your game to help help him out,
to help you out.

Speaker 4 (10:45):
And it's just like that with every position.

Speaker 1 (10:47):
Yeah, we haven't had an elite punt returner with hopefully
is what this is going to be in a while.
The last time they had any punt return go back
for a touchdown was twenty sixteen. Jamison Crowder first go
with the Redskins back then, and now, of course.

Speaker 4 (10:59):
He judge it was really good put.

Speaker 1 (11:01):
Yes, yeah, really good at the Yeah, as ages growed up,
is he an elite one? Probably no longer. We're hoping
that Lane's gonna kind of become that. At one point
in the third quarter we mentioned this on the air,
Washington had more return yards than the Raiders had offensive yard,
which is practically unbelievable and kind of tells the tale
of how dominant this was. I think it really what

(11:23):
it really emphasizes is this was all three phases dominating
the game yesterday.

Speaker 3 (11:28):
It really was defensively and when we talked the special
teams and the offense and rushing for two hundred yards,
but defensively, and then it's going to be the job
that the defensive front did first and foremost, and when
I call it the front, I'm including the linebackers as well,
stopping the Raiders rushing attack.

Speaker 4 (11:48):
They had no rushing game going.

Speaker 3 (11:51):
There were one dimension on in from a coverage standpoint,
and we gave up some big plays and we still
got to kind of clean up a couple of things there.

Speaker 4 (11:58):
But I thought the coverage was very good.

Speaker 3 (12:01):
I thought they did a great job of mixing man,
mixing zone, getting them in some third and longer situations
where you can play with vision on a quarterback for
Geno to hold on for football, I thought they did
a great job of making Geno uncomfortable, got him on
the ground five times that he did. Probably could have
had a couple other ones where he did a nice
job escaping. Some other sacked sacked opportunities. But the defensive

(12:25):
front linebackers Wagner had two sacks. I thought those guys
were outstanding. Yeah, listen, I've been around this a long time.
You obviously played it a long time. You know, when
you have an adverse situation like the game a week ago,
and there are a couple in this, I think this
is prominent for a couple of specific people that I
want to ask you about it is important for everyone

(12:45):
to stay together. You learn that very very quickly. You
have to do that, especially so early in the season.
And in two cases there were changes on the offensive line,
but Josh Connerly was not one of them. And when
Dan Quinn was asked about him because he drew pretty
short straw early season, Brian Burns, Kevon Thibodeaux, Abdul Carter,
Dexter Lawrence to find the next week, Michael Parsons suddenly

(13:06):
is there with a really good, you know front for
green Bay. Here he is drawing Max Crosby three weeks
in a row. Dan Coulin was asked on Friday about
are you going to make a changer because it was
in the wind that Wiley was going to start. I
don't think people knew about Chris Paul at that point,
but it was in the win that Wiley was going
to start. So they were asking him about it, and
he defended him and he said, I don't think you
get better by sitting somebody. We're very confident in him,

(13:28):
and they have said all along, you know, be patient
with him. He is a rookie, he's changing positions. He
drew some serious All Pro welcome to the NFL. You know,
in some cases, in Crosby's case, maybe Hall of Fame
bound type of players. You got to give him a break.
And it's not just him, but it's it's Matt Gay two.

(13:49):
Because he struggled in Green Bay, he had struggled in
the summer. He missed the field goal early and they
threw him out there at the end of the half
on from fifty six he rewarded.

Speaker 1 (14:00):
That's confidence.

Speaker 3 (14:01):
Yeah, that's that's that's a tremendous amount of confidence. Just
looking at the Connery Connerly thing. And you mentioned all
the different past rushers that he's facing. He's made, He's
faced some elite, elite guys especially, I mean the first
three weeks you mentioned the Giants, they got three guys
I mean.

Speaker 1 (14:19):
Outside of Miles Garrett, who's better than those three?

Speaker 3 (14:23):
Yeah, yeah, you got three guys that that he faced
from the Giants and Parsons. Shoot, he's top one, two, whatever, three,
whatever you want to call it. His get on and
it was on the road on a Thursday night.

Speaker 4 (14:36):
Man.

Speaker 3 (14:36):
So we as fans, we tend to get We wanted instantly,
we want everything, the results right now. You want to see, Okay,
he was the first round draft pick. You want to
see him come in play at a at a pro
Bowl level, play at all pro level. It doesn't happen
like that all the time, especially where you're on that

(14:56):
edge as a tackle, and sometimes a lot of times
you're gonna be singled up against the team's best rusher.
And there's not every you can't give a guy help
all the time. There's gonna be sometimes where got to
put it, put his big boy pass on and and
man up, and sometimes they'll get you. Sometimes you'll get them,
but you learn you can't continue to grow. I like

(15:19):
his fight though, Yep. He continues to fight, and he's
gonna learn nuance, his little tricks to the trade, his
get his You watch him, you watch him now, then
you watch him at the end of the year, you'll
be like, dang, this man, he looks like a totally
different prayer. Go back to Jayden first week, Week one

(15:39):
against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and then you fast forward
to the playoff game against the.

Speaker 4 (15:46):
Nine Day Topic Players.

Speaker 1 (15:48):
In a few weeks, it changed. Remember he was they
were coming at him. He was just leaving the pocket immediately,
and I remember Lee leaving get going. I'm not worried
about him. I like his decision making. This game is
gonna slow down for him a little bit, and when
it does, and I think, you know, hopefully the experience
that Connerly got the first few weeks is everything here
but everything.

Speaker 4 (16:07):
Everybody has dues.

Speaker 3 (16:09):
So Atlada, their pass russ looked really good against the Vikings.
I know they went out invested in pass rushers. We
go to the Charge and know the week after that
Khalil mackis hurry, but I'm sure I guess guys, everybody
has dudes that can rust the passage.

Speaker 1 (16:25):
Yeah, and on mac Gay, I mean, that was a
lot of confidence to put in him, and he rewarded them.
He was one for three. He's three for six on
the season. That's frankly, not going to cut it long term.
It's got to get better than that. But actually the
majority of the kicks have been from fifty plus, so
they have been from distance. And it was really nice
to see them go into the locker room because the
Raiders were getting the ball ten point lead instead of

(16:47):
a seven point lead on a make. That felt reassuring
for all the confidence that they've put into him, Because
there's been a lot of questions from the media about
what are you gonna do about the kicking situation, and
they said, we have we have faith in him. So
what you're seeing here is even with the I don't
know if it's a slow start, but after the Green
Bay game, a lot of questions came up right and

(17:08):
then deservely so yes, so they said, our guys are
our guys, We're here together, We're going to get through
this together. And I thought the matc A thing was
a big deal.

Speaker 3 (17:18):
I've learned like with kickers, I don't shit. I rarely
speak to him in terms of just especially if you're
they're they're different, a little different.

Speaker 4 (17:26):
But Larry is O, the special teams coach, and he's
around man.

Speaker 3 (17:32):
He these guys understand it may just be a tad
bit off, a little just a little thing detailed. That's
often that's getting him, that's prevented him from being lifestyle
from a kicker. And they see him kick every day
in practice or when he when he kicks, so they
know that's why they've expressed the confidence that they they

(17:52):
have in him.

Speaker 4 (17:54):
You reward them yesterday with.

Speaker 1 (17:55):
The fifty six yard fifty six the buzzer.

Speaker 4 (17:58):
Yeah, fifty six at the buzzer.

Speaker 3 (18:00):
Hopefully that momentum carries over for the rest of the
season because you have to be cause you have to
be more consistent. You have to have a situation where
you can rely on your kicker regardless of the distance
to get it done. That's just from a team, from
a confidence standpoint, team standpoint. Everybody you have to be

(18:20):
he has to be more consistent, and hopefully that momentum
carries over all.

Speaker 1 (18:23):
Right, let's talk about the defense a little bit, Eric
B and rakeem for me this week are Pain and
kin Law or if you need a substitute, Duran's Armstrongers
had an incredible start to the season two, but Pain
and kin Law yesterday dominated the center of that line.
Pain had a ridiculous first half against the Raiders yesterday.

Speaker 3 (18:47):
How about we how about we throw all three of
them in the mix and give them run DEMC.

Speaker 4 (18:52):
All right, you know what, I would be the DJ.
You got the who. Now, who's gonna be run, Who's
gonna be DMC, Who's gonna be jam mats a Jay?
Well we'll let.

Speaker 1 (19:01):
Well, I think Dorance is the quiet one. We're gonna
put him as jam Maaster Jay. Actually see Doron's pretty
quiet too, actually, but you feel him on the field,
I can see.

Speaker 4 (19:10):
I can see kin.

Speaker 3 (19:12):
Law with his personality, him being a DJ, I see
him as the DJ. I see him as a DJ.
The Ron Morris DFC. Yeah, and Doris is wrong.

Speaker 1 (19:25):
So I do think yesterday was a really good sign.
We didn't know what we're gonna get from Geno Smith
Week one, three hundred whatever yards lighting up uh the
Patriots and a whim Week two. A lot of interceptions
numbers are way down, quarterback ratings way down. Injured middle
of the offensive line, Jackson Powers. Johnson came back but

(19:45):
didn't play very much, ended up, you know, being out
of the lineup, and you know, so they were recipient
of that rock Powers is not one hundred percent, but
I thought they handled him really, really well yesterday. At
one point in the third quarter we brought up like
he had two catches for four yards, and that guy
is might be I don't even if it's arguabout this way.
He's probably the best receiving tight end in the NFL
going right now. He's outstanding. And then Astra Genty, who

(20:07):
I think is going to be very good but we
saw leading in he like Connerly, it's taking some time
for him. He's going to end up being very good.
He's not quite up the speed in the NFL game yet,
and they held him to sixty something yards rushing and
eighteen came on one place. And they did a very
very good job up front.

Speaker 4 (20:27):
They really did.

Speaker 3 (20:27):
They took advantage of a writer's office line as kind
of influx or beat up, whatever case may be.

Speaker 4 (20:35):
I look at this, I'll talk about I'll talk a
lot about.

Speaker 3 (20:41):
Dictating the terms of the agreement, rules of engagement, all
those types of things. And defensively, you want to be
the ones that are dictating the terms of the agreement.
This is how the game is going to be played,
and we're going to be playing in your backfield, behind
on the scrimmage, disrupting play, stopping a run, make your

(21:03):
quarterback feel uncomfortable, not giving your running back any holes
to run through, and he's gonna it's gonna be a
long day for you guys. Offensively, and that's what I thought.
The defensive front, including linebackers, did an excellent job of yesterday.

Speaker 1 (21:18):
So here's the one thing I want to see. I
cannot believe we're three games in. Don't have a takeaway.
So we were talking a lot last night after the
game that you were telling me kind of stylistically that
it doesn't lead to a lot of opportunities. So could
you kind of like tak me through this because I'm
sitting there watching this and what I remember is stylistically

(21:39):
this aggressive nature. In Dallas, they were a turnover machine
for a few years running. It hasn't come here yet.

Speaker 3 (21:45):
Yeah, So there's a couple of different things that going
to that talk about Russian coverage kind of going hand
in hand helping the coverage. If the cover is great,
that that can lead to more sacks, If the pressure
is great, that can lead to more interceptions. Well, a
lot of it early in the especially in the first
couple of games. We're a ton of man and man coverage,
and we're playing a lot of press man a man,

(22:07):
So you got guys up in the face of the receivers.
You don't have a lot of vision on the quarterback,
eyes on the quarterback. But based on the guys we got,
they feel feel really good about us playing press man
and man. It's a lot more difficult to get interceptions
that way unless you get tips and overthrows, especially for
man and man coverage, because most of the time you're

(22:29):
gonna have your eyes on your man.

Speaker 4 (22:32):
With when you go to the zone.

Speaker 3 (22:34):
Aspect of playing coverage, now you've got eyes, more eyes
on the quarterback. But the thing is you have to
make sure you're getting a lot of pressure on the quarterback.
Force them to have inaccurate throws like the go back
to the Detroit game Jared Goff inaccurate throw, Kawhan Martin interception,
takes it, takes it to the house. So you're gonna

(22:56):
play more zone coverage, but you got that quarterback has
to feel consistent pressure. You maybe get some tips, some overthrows,
and now you got more guys with opportunities to come
away with pigs. As the Russia in the coverage continues
to work in better unison, the turnovers will come, especially
if we're playing more zone coverage, more eyes on the quarterback.

(23:19):
In order to play more zone coverage, though, you got
to get them into a lot more throwing, longer situations.
Third and let's call it probably six plus, ideally seven plus,
and we got the Raiders in a lot of those
situations yesterday and we're able to Geno didn't take as
many chances as he did when he threw like three
picks against the Chargers. Yeah, so the interceptions will come.

Speaker 1 (23:45):
One other thing I just want to clean up from
last week that I want to hear you explain. So
after the Green Bay game, Joe Witt talked about I
disciplined needed to be better, right, And there were a
couple of moments yesterday. The first offensive play of the
game for the Raiders was a big, big explosive play
for Jacobe Myers. They did late when the game was

(24:05):
pretty much sealed up. They found Trey Tucker on a
deep pass and he scored. The result wasn't really in
play there. They don't want to see that happen, but
it didn't really see him play one. Did you think
the I discipline was better yesterday? And can you explain
what he meant because the media kept asking him and
I didn't get a clear explanation of what he meant

(24:26):
by that a week ago.

Speaker 4 (24:27):
Yeah, so.

Speaker 3 (24:30):
I thought it was better, But obviously the first play
of the game was not the way you want to start,
especially coming off that the performance that you had. I
guess the Green Bay Packers and from my discipline standpoint.
Whether you're a deep deep half safety, deep safety, what
a case may be, or you're a guy, a man
and man coverage your responsibility. If you're a pass first defender,

(24:53):
you played a pass first. You don't run up in
there trying to stop the wrong, making tackles for losses,
tackles at the line of screaming. You are a secondary
run defender, so first play ready to come out bootleg
your guys flying up, you know, you got to make
sure you know your responsibility and sure that it's a
run before you go up in there. From a eyes

(25:16):
on your work standpoint I discipline, especially if you're a
man to man, you have to make sure and ensure
that it's not a bootleg, it's not a play action.

Speaker 4 (25:27):
You have to put your hands on your guy. Your
attention has to stay on him. Not a tough part.

Speaker 3 (25:33):
Difficult part is you'll have your hands on him, but
you also may have a run gap that you have
to defend. And sometimes you want to get a little
too too anxious to get to that run gap and
you leave your tight end or your coverage trying to
stop the run, and then he slips out for a pass.
That's what he means by I discipline, being disciplined in

(25:55):
your eyes, and it's not just man coverage, his zone
coverage as well. Knowing what you're that you're looking at
the correct thing first and foremost and the correct person.

Speaker 4 (26:04):
So I thought it was better the.

Speaker 3 (26:08):
Late the last touchdown by Trey Tucker seems like there
was a little bit of a let's call it miscommunication
or Mikey thought if he looked like it was quarters coverage.
Mikey felt like he was probably gonna get a little
bit more inside help from the safety, but he needs
to still stay on top of the receiver, and I

(26:29):
think there was just a little bit of a little
bit of miscommunication thinking that they were gonna double that
receiver down the field. So still some things that needs
to be cleaned up, but you know, I'm sure they're
going to continue to work those things and eventually it'll
all come together.

Speaker 1 (26:44):
Because he gives out the championship belt after wins, I
bet it's going to be a defensive player. So we'll revisit.
What do you think I'm a hover Well, I mean,
I think there's a lot of candidates this week that's
this is actually a tough one. Because it's even if
you do pick a defensive player, there's a lot of
choices there, Pain, Wagner, Armstrong, there's a lot of choicest

(27:09):
Lane got a debo, Mariota. How about the McNichols run.
I mean, there's a lot of yes, a lot of
choices here.

Speaker 4 (27:16):
There's a lot of choices. My job was hard, man.

Speaker 3 (27:18):
I was up late last night trying to trying to
figure out Italian the ballot of us, who's gonna get
that belt?

Speaker 1 (27:24):
All right, we'll get to so we'll revisit the defense
in a little bit. Let's get Logan puls in it here.
It's time for Pulsa from Paulsa from the pine as.
We got to get into the offense a little bit
here from yesterday, which was I thought gonna be the
biggest question market the whole thing. We had Noah Brown
out right, Noah Brown out, John Bates out. So give
me just your general sense of what did you expect

(27:47):
them to do yesterday? And did you think it would
look like that from.

Speaker 2 (27:49):
A tight end standpoint? Is then taking Colson, Yankov and
Benson at both physical tough guys but not necessarily inline
guys and saying how do we maximize them. We're going
to get them in space. We're going to use them
on these kind of zone read get on the corner safeties.
We're going to kick out from off the ball on
sifts and things like that. So I thought, in terms
of maximizing the tight end room without John Bates, it

(28:10):
was going to take an aggregate, and I thought Cliff
did a great job aggregating.

Speaker 4 (28:13):
That's play aggregate.

Speaker 2 (28:15):
I'm over here like so like so like you take,
you take a lot of different pieces and put them
in and you make a hole. It's like you make
a high Yeah, you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (28:23):
So they ran for one hundred and seventy four yards
in the first half. It was the most by you know,
any Commander's team in like fifteen years. But I think
even more importantly this was the raid or strength of
their defense coming into the game. They'd given up what
was it, seventy yards per game to the Patriots and Chargers.
So we're sitting there, I'm walking in going are they

(28:44):
going to be able to throw the ball because I
think they're have a hard time running it, And Cliff
figured it out. So did this team.

Speaker 2 (28:50):
Yeah, So this is kind of kind of interesting, interesting
talking point here. So what I'd say is like when
you look at the run game, right, like the offensive
line I thought did a file, I'd give it like
a C plus B. Mind, it's like they were physical,
they were tough, they were smart, they got most of
the runs targeted correctly.

Speaker 4 (29:04):
Right.

Speaker 2 (29:04):
I think the other thing, too, is like Devin White,
for example, not a real downhill guy, kind of wants
to play over the top and scrape and make play
sideline a sideline. So running those duos earlier I thought
was a nice touch because he's kind of misfitting gaps
sea rods, like maximizing. But that gets me to the
second point. So while I thought the offensive line did
a great job kind of being physical, being competitive, I

(29:25):
think you got to give a lot of credit to
the backs. And so what I mean by that is
when you look at c Rod, like his ability to
set up the first duo, kind of press it front
side it, bounce it to the backside a gap.

Speaker 4 (29:35):
Great job.

Speaker 2 (29:36):
They run an outside zone where the combination gets a
little bit mired. He takes a really tight angle and
then the linebacker steps up. He brings it to the combination.
Then he bounces it to the perimeter. So a great
job by the back there. Bill Krosskimert had a bunch
where he's kind of setting guys up breaking tackles falling forward. Obviously,
the McNichols run breaks a ton of tackles. Debo breaks
a ton of tackles. So I really felt like there

(29:58):
were a couple free runners, like where the combination get
mired down or whatever and no one gets the linebacker
or the safety. And the backs really were the ones
that kind of said, hey, this is blocked for two,
but here's six for you. And I thought that was
so it's really everybody working together. But I think it
really is a testament to the creative nature of the
guys we have in the backfield at the moment.

Speaker 3 (30:17):
Well, I want to I want to stay on the
offensive line. And I think Chris Paul played outstanding.

Speaker 2 (30:25):
You had a great game.

Speaker 4 (30:25):
He he he was, he was phenomenal.

Speaker 3 (30:27):
I thought he was the best offensive lineman, you know,
pass blocking everything collectively in that game. And now he
was moving some people. He was he was kicking people's
out of people out of the club logan.

Speaker 2 (30:38):
Well, so what I will say about Chris Paul I
agree with you, Like that's his superpower is that he's
crazy strong and he's crazy physical, and he's starting to
finally understand like angles on combinations, like how much of
the guy can take? Where's this guy going to be?
There's a couple though, where they again, like you've played
a lot of football, like the the three technique is
kind of holding his inside shoulder. The tackles trying to push,

(31:00):
they can't get to this backside backer. They're moving that right, Yeah,
but you know the linebacker scrapes over top and there's
a free runn in the hole, and so the back
presses it cuts underneath and maximizes their efforts there. That's
what I'm saying. So I'm not saying that like they didn't.
I think I think people after this game like all
one hundred and seventy four yards like they must be
the second coming of the Hogs or whatever, and they
played well, right, But I think it's it's the aggregate

(31:23):
of saying, Hey, the backs played well. We got good
performances from Chris Paul Wiley played well. Connolly did some
really fantastic stuff in the run game, just like really
experience stuff run a combination, we got to run through
them getting down, you know what I mean. So it
was really the team, the team effort of making it
all work. And then I think Cliff deserves a ton
of credit too, because it's like, hey man, here's a

(31:43):
little zone reads. Let's take Crosby out of this because
we're reading him and we're getting to the perimeter. And
I thought just that it wasn't a ton but sprinkling
in enough of that to kind of yeah, fastballs, change
up sliders, here we go, try to hit it the
head a hard time with you.

Speaker 1 (31:56):
Know, in camp, they were talking about Chris Paul differently
than they had in previous summers. Like you had mentioned,
they always knew how strong he was. They talked about
that about him, how physical and it's just overall general strength.
What they described, at least to me when I talked
to him about it in the summer, was his versatility
had changed. Were you seeing that from him now that
he was on the field.

Speaker 2 (32:16):
I mean, I think you just see like Fletcher's talking about, like,
you know, you can be big and strong, right, and
you can do things from a physicality standpoint that other
people can't do. But I think you have to understand
how to apply it. And that's what I saw from
him in the game. Right, here's a combination. I'm not
going to just like it is a simple and they're
running Awanda, it's so going to the offensive. Right, he's

(32:36):
a left guard. Old Chris Paul would have been short
on the three technique, would have tried to drive him down.

Speaker 4 (32:41):
What to push it?

Speaker 2 (32:42):
Right into the play, he does a great job taking
a good step, get his hat to the place I number,
and just walking this dude off the ball. And so
he's walked people off the ball in the past, but
he's walked them off with bad hat placement where the
guy's falling in on the tackle. Now we've kind of
carved him out. We provide a cutback, like that's the
stuff I'm talking about. It's like, it's not you know,
I think watching him coming out of tu Lane? Is

(33:02):
that where he's from? Tu Lane?

Speaker 4 (33:03):
Is that right?

Speaker 2 (33:04):
Tulsa? Something like that? Anyway, Tulsa, Tulsa, wherever he's from.

Speaker 4 (33:07):
He he was so raw.

Speaker 2 (33:10):
He was like a wild stallion, big, strong and fast,
but there was not a lot of technical refinement to him.
And over the last four years you just see that
coming more and more to the forefront of his game,
and yesterday and honestly throughout training camp, I think you
saw it, and so like there's a reason that we
were all talking about him that way and they mentioned versatility.
I just think he's more football specific in terms of

(33:30):
his execution on some of these techniques.

Speaker 1 (33:32):
Yeah, all right. Andrew Wiley also started at right guard.
What did you see from him yesterday?

Speaker 2 (33:38):
I just think you see a guy that you fled.
You've talked about this. He's like good run blocker. He
is a good run blocker. He has got great foot
quickness to blocks right. He does an awesome job of
being like he's not gonna maul Like. It's a good
comparison Chris Paul and Wiley. Chris Paul's got a little
maller to him, right. You know, he's like three hundred
and twenty five, three hundred and thirty pounds, why looks
like he's three ten. But it's the Footspeed'd like, here,

(34:00):
I'm going to use. My feet are on you, I'm
covering you up. I'm in position you're trying to get
off of me. And I'm so athletic that if my
hands are fit, I could work my hips and stay.

Speaker 4 (34:08):
Covered up on you.

Speaker 2 (34:09):
Right, I'm going to kind of use you to block yourself.
And he understands angles really well. He understands timing really well.
I mean, he's played a lot of football, high level football,
and I think that's what you see from the fletch.
It's not like, oh my gosh, this guy's a he's
six eight three forty and he's just killing everybody. It's
like he just is a smart football player. And I
think he just raises the floor a little bit of

(34:29):
what you can do in the run game because of
that athletic dexterity he brings.

Speaker 1 (34:33):
Yeah, so I want to go back to the backs
too with you. For Chris Rodriguez, he waited a couple
weeks to get the opportunity. You know, I don't know
if he was disappointed or not to be in active
the first couple weeks. You'd have to ask him. They
will say, you know, he changed his body in the
off season. He was working with speed coaches. He had
told us in the summer that you know, last year,

(34:54):
of previous years, he could get up to about twenty
miles per hour a handful of times. No longer you're
seeing it real time out fast he's actually gotten and
with Bill, more and more and more you watch him,
the first guy misses almost every time to your point,
feels like he's setting people up.

Speaker 4 (35:10):
His feel for the.

Speaker 1 (35:11):
Game is growing exponentially. Last week when they lost in
Green Bay, had asked Dan Quick about the run game,
especially just amid Austin Eckler's not here any longer because
of the injury, and he said that, you know two things.
He said, One, we were way too one dimensionals. He
kind of put it on them for the game plan.
But he said secondarily because I asked about Bill's going
to get more touches, right because of what happened here,

(35:32):
and he said he was ready for it. A week
ago we were two one dimensional so they're ready to
put more on his plate as well.

Speaker 2 (35:39):
Well, I think when you just watch him for a second,
like he's a tough tackle and he's a smart runner,
and I think, like all those things you're talking about,
and yeah, maybe he's getting more experience, but I don't know.
I have blocks for runners before that just make you right,
And that's incredibly liberating to know, like, hey, I'm not
in the perfect position here, Like I didn't like I'm
inserting on London bow. Fletcher's gonna win that block now

(36:02):
at ten times right, my hat's in the bad spot.
But if the bat kind of sets it up, presses
the outside shoulder, Fletcher is gonna play over the top
and I'm gonna be able to fit both hands. And
he's made me right now. And so instead of again
a three yard game, he's made the blocker better. Now
it's a six yard game. Fletch still gets the tackle right,
but instead of it happening right here, it happens a
little bit farther down the field. I think you see
his ability to feel that, and then the contact balance

(36:25):
with him has been something that has really jumped out
because again on film in college, you see his ability
to set stuff up, kind of ride the wave. He
had a duo which hit to the front side, there
were a combination that pushed it by he cut it
back all the way across the field. So the vision's
always been there, but the I think the lower half
strength is something that.

Speaker 3 (36:44):
He's I mentioned on the broadcast. It was a run
where he played bigger than his size. He's five eleven
two oh eight and he ran He ran it like
he was a.

Speaker 4 (36:55):
Pounds back. Another thing about so I.

Speaker 2 (36:57):
Got a question for you on that. So you've tackled
also different sizes of running back, right, and so some
people they say, oh he's two hundred five pounds, it's
not a big back. I feel like some of the
hardest backs that tackle are like that two hundred and
five two hundred and ten pound guy because they've got
a little wiggled to them. Also, it's not just like
the battering ram.

Speaker 3 (37:13):
It's well, especially if it's coming in space. But in
terms of running backs, the key with any running backs
they're lower half. They have to strong lower half and
you know, massive thighs or whatever. Contact balance as you mentioned,
and you play under behind your past, have good body
leverage and things like that body lane. He plays tougher

(37:36):
and bigger than his size. One thing I'll say about
him that I was impressed with and I have been
impressed with, is as a young guy, he has a
lot of patience as a running back. So you mentioned
a running back making you right where you don't have
to be perfect, So just being a little bit patient
a lot of times as a young guy, you want
to get any hit it one hundred miles an hour, Well,

(37:57):
sometimes you got to let those blocks develop, be a
little bit more patient and get a line back and
to jump out of his gap and and things like that.
And he he's come into the league with that type
of patience. The only other guy, not the only other guy,
but one guy that I remember being like that early
when I faced was a Ladani and Thomlinson. Now don't

(38:17):
get I don't go crazy and Sam saying he's little
Dana and Thomlinson, But I'm saying the patients that he
that Ladanian had, I see some of those similar patient
that similar patients he's.

Speaker 1 (38:27):
Got tonson had a burst that was unusual. So when
he did make that cut, he was gone.

Speaker 2 (38:33):
I was gonna say the thing that I think also
to kind of and I don't even know if you
know I was gonna say this, but like he's patient,
but then he accelerates violently through the hole in the
way that is cool because you see patient runners and
you know they don't have it, but yeah, you got it.

Speaker 4 (38:47):
Yeah, Like when it's there, it's there.

Speaker 1 (38:48):
Ladania Thomlinson had the zero to sixty that was really
changed him when he got open. I think you see
what Jamiir Gibs to when he makes a cut and
he goes, you get that zero to sixty speed.

Speaker 2 (38:58):
Yeah, you know that's a different that's a different animal.

Speaker 4 (39:00):
Right.

Speaker 1 (39:01):
Let's talk about Marcus Mariota. So in the locker room,
when we talked to him after the game, I thought
he said something that I've heard him say before, but
it was re emphasized here. So he hand started a
game since twenty twenty two. He made a few appearances
last year for the team and had really good numbers,
and I think that's why there was confidence. And they were,
you know, saying, we have two starting quarterbacks on this team.
We feel really confident with him. They talked openly about

(39:23):
how everybody sees how he puts the work in, so
they reward him with putting the work around him. I
think you saw that in the effort yesterday. But he
said something to us London that really stood out to me.
And he said, because the way things ended in Atlanta
were unusual for him, and then he had the backup
year in Philadelphia and then he came down here joined
Washington a year ago, he needed to rekindle the fun

(39:44):
of the game. And he said that again to us yesterday.
He said, when I'm having fun, I play really well.
And this offense seems to suit him. Cliff's scheme seems
to suit him. He's executing at an extremely high level.
I can't think of a bad decision he made throughout
the course of the game. And he's having fun doing it,
and that seemingly is very important to him.

Speaker 4 (40:05):
Yeah, it's it's a kids game. And you mentioned fun
this the NFL.

Speaker 3 (40:09):
When you get to the National Football League, it's a
business and we understand that part of it, but it's
also the game that we grew up loving to play
and having fun. And for him, if you think about
we talk a lot about superpowers, we'll go back to
when he was at Oregon and he won that Heisman Trophy.

Speaker 4 (40:28):
What was he doing just out there making plays?

Speaker 3 (40:31):
And Chip Kelly's office, ironically the zone readsed RP hole
to just out there having fun, making plays, kind of
off off off of schedule, on some things off script
a lot of times. And and he mentioned the offense
being suited to allow him to have fun.

Speaker 2 (40:47):
Yeah, and I think again he'd better really solid performance.
I don't want to take anything away from that, but
I think Cliff really called an outstanding game, like really
put him in a good position to be successful because
you go back and watch all the throws he's not
in like high leverage. Hey man, we're gonna sit back here,
We're gonna call protections, we're gonna deal, We're gonna read
this coverage out every single time. It's like, no, bro,

(41:08):
Here's here's a couple quick screens, right, easy setups. Here's
some play action deep digs. The linebackers are tied to
line of scrimmage. We got really clear throwing windows or
playing single high. And I think understanding kind of how
to insulate a quarterback. Like even the protection plan I
thought was great, kind of insulating Connory taking some off
of his plate, just maximize what Mariota did. And so

(41:30):
you know, if you ask, if you able to ask
them to go out there and just be like, hey man,
here's fifty dropbacks, go win. It's this game. I'm not
sure that's the best way to go about it. But
here you kind of say, hey, we're gonna do some
zone read, We're gonna do some RPOs early, get you,
get you comfortable. Here's a little bit of quick game.
Here's some stuff that like formationally like with the jet motion,
we're gonna run this. They're in zone coverage. We're gonna
run up fast to the flat. We run a quick

(41:51):
hitch the hook player vacates easy throws there on first down,
like just get on bases, right, we don't need to
hit home runs. And I think he's just when this
when the plan fits the player at a high level
and you've insulated him, especially having not done anything. That
was something we talked about not a lot in training
camp because the Achilles ten and night is.

Speaker 1 (42:08):
Yeah, he barely practiced throughout the summer.

Speaker 2 (42:10):
Yeah, and it was just you could just tell they
called stuff he was comfortable with. They executed at a
high level. And the sequencing of plays I also thought
was excellent. So yeah, if you I have fun when
I'm comfortable with the game plan, and you could tell
he was very, very comfortable the game.

Speaker 1 (42:24):
Cliff really earned his money this week, and that was
a that was an interesting hand he was dealt. You know,
you're changing two guards. Eckler's out, Bates us out, Noah
Brown's out, Jaden's out, and all of a sudden you
got to walk in there and come up with the game.

Speaker 2 (42:36):
You didn't really feel it though.

Speaker 4 (42:37):
I didn't.

Speaker 3 (42:37):
Ye though, now he did it, and that's that's they
They went in there and they the game plan. I
meant to again, the physical mindset. We're going to run
the football. We're gonna have three tight ends on the
on the on the field, a lot won't punt the
Raiders in the mouth, and we're gonna, like you say,

(42:57):
a quick game, some r PO, some zoies days like that.
It was a it was a tailor made offensive game
play to the guys that they had playing.

Speaker 2 (43:06):
But I also think the other thing too, is he
called that he was able to call that game because
of how they were able to find explosive plays and
other avenues. Right, get an explosive kickoff return, you get
an explosive punt return. We're able to get points and
field position off of even even like Jalen Lane, like
the fifteen yard return here, the ten yard return there,
like those things.

Speaker 1 (43:26):
People almost had a second. He almost broke a second.

Speaker 4 (43:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (43:28):
So that's what I'm saying, is like your ability to
play that field position field position game and be an
advantageous looks the whole game. We don't need to be
super creative. We don't need to find explosive offensive chunks
as reticently, but they did. But they also had the
special teams to support it. You know, like, let's say
you need five explosives at a game, right, you get
two from special teams that lead to points directly right,
and then offensively you found three more. Right, there's the

(43:50):
exposive play to Terry, there's the explosive Pinnacles run, and
there's that explosive like deep incut that they ran that
they completed. Right, So there's five plays and it's all
nice as an offensive coordinator when you don't have to
worry about two of them.

Speaker 4 (44:03):
Yeah, yeah, all right.

Speaker 1 (44:05):
I want to ask a big picture question to you guys,
like I live in two worlds, one with you guys
in the bubble to a degree, right, and then I
live outside of the bubble with the media, you know,
all the different media things that go on, right, And
I really think that this let considering what happened yesterday,
considering what happened the week before and what the week

(44:26):
was leading into it, that what ended up occurring yesterday
to me was finally putting twenty twenty four to bed
that it's been and and for good reason, an overarching
storyline of this whole thing leading into this season, you know,
because of what they did four and thirteen to twelve
and five, that quarterback, the culture that was built, all

(44:47):
the ownership putting all the money into it, the turnover
of the roster, the miraculous run that they made. Then
the schedule comes out and the NFL is confirming that
we think you're the team. Twenty twenty four has hung
over this group really throughout the entire thing, and I
think for good reason, Like can you back this up?

(45:08):
Right throughout the summer, it was a prevailing storyline, and
after Week two, like I think we all found out
we're not in Kansas anymore, like you know, like this
is really a new team in a new year. This
week was everything to me. What is this team going
to be about? Not last year's team anymore? What is

(45:29):
this team going to be about? And what they did
yesterday I think ended the discussion of what twenty twenty
four was and gets us focused on what twenty twenty
five can be.

Speaker 4 (45:39):
Do you think so?

Speaker 3 (45:41):
I think the team put twenty twenty four in the
back barner a long time ago. They did, but it's
going to coaches.

Speaker 1 (45:49):
The people like us that talk about it.

Speaker 4 (45:51):
Yeah maybe yeah, so we need to move on. We
need to move off. They moved off, and I think
there's going to be so much more. You still got
so much more.

Speaker 3 (46:03):
Football left, yes the season, and the media is still
going to bring up twenty twenty five, twenty four.

Speaker 1 (46:09):
I think a different less of it now, that's after
what happened this week.

Speaker 2 (46:14):
Knock on wood. I'm so maybe this is the old
the old ballplayer in me, Fletched, But I agree hundred
percent with you because I'm like, if they lose, if
they lose a bad game to La or Atlanta, excuse me,
it's like, well, what where's all the magic? Where's the
It's like this, you got to win.

Speaker 3 (46:28):
Again, they don't game, somebody's going to continue to talk
about something because there's going to be some narrative leading
it to that game that that makes twenty twenty four relevant.

Speaker 4 (46:41):
It's as a storyline.

Speaker 2 (46:43):
They beat they beat Atlanta last year, and here it
is and and so again, like I think I think
that's probably the player in me, maybe in us where
and I don't want to speak for Fletch, but I'm
always like, it's the next one, and there's still the
history is still there, the conversation is still going to
be there. And I think that's what dan Quinn has
done such a great job of is like we can
talk about whatever we want to talk about and it

(47:05):
is still relevant to the discussion if you're on this
side of the fence, right But when you're on that
side of the fence, it's like, we got to be
where our feet are. We got to take care of
our work right now. And I think that's what this
team has done a great job. Like it's so fun
doing the game Plan Show with dan Quinn because if
you ask him any question about looking back or looking forward,
he just won't answer it. He's like, I haven't thought
about it because I don't care about that. I care
about this right now, in this moment, and so as

(47:28):
much as maybe you feel better about it, like yeah,
as a player, I don't.

Speaker 4 (47:32):
Feel better about it right right.

Speaker 1 (47:33):
But I'll give you an example. Last week, Joe Witt
did his weekly press conference. Joe Witt was asked about
something for twenty twenty four. He said, I don't talk
about twenty twenty four any more. Two questions later, he
was asked about something that wasn't about twenty twenty four,
and he brought up twenty twenty four any and he
said to the reporter, he goes, Ben standing, he goes,
I apologize. I told you I don't talk about that,
and here I am talking about that. You know, the

(47:54):
reality is like we get to tell their story. It's
a privilege to do that through the course of their games.
Ours our job not to pretend that the whole story
isn't happening. And I'm telling you, as a media narrative,
up until this point, twenty twenty four was. I feel like,
off of what happened a week ago in Green Bay
to what happened as a bounce back yesterday, it's finally

(48:16):
I think the moment where everyone's going to realize this
year is different, whether the players want to ignore twenty
twenty four or not or try to dictate a narrative
which they never can with the media.

Speaker 4 (48:28):
So let me ask you.

Speaker 3 (48:28):
This team goes on a five six seven game win streak, Right,
you don't think twenty twenty four is not gonna be missed.

Speaker 2 (48:36):
Well, you don't think they're gon asked about twenty twenty four.

Speaker 1 (48:38):
Well, let me ask this then, do they ask the
Ravens or the Bills or the Eagles who are in
the playoffs a lot about previous years. It's different with
this team is they haven't done it in a while.
Each team becomes its own separate entity. Until Washington does
this year after year, they're going to have to live
with what I felt was a cloud over them of
the accomplishment. This was the week I think you does

(49:01):
no question.

Speaker 3 (49:02):
You just said they're not going to He basically said
they're not gonna lead twenty twenty four.

Speaker 1 (49:07):
If I think they can off of this week, this
was the week that I think that they can.

Speaker 4 (49:14):
The players have left it. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (49:15):
Well, I'm saying, from a media standpoint, go on a
five six, seven game win streak, you're all of a sudden,
I don't know what would make a record nine and one,
AID one, AID and two, whatever the case may be.
You don't think they're not gonna be storagemen like, man,
can this team repeat? Going back to the NC Championship game,

(49:36):
this is a team that can challenge the Eagle they
took them to. They're going to be more stories from
twenty twenty four that comes up. They just that's just
how it goes.

Speaker 2 (49:45):
I think you answered this question though, because you said, oh,
they don't talk about it with the Bills, they don't
talk about it with the Ravens, they don't talk about
it with the Chiefs, right, And it's because there's a
history of doing it right. And so to me, a
history of doing it would be let's build a history,
let's build a culture for here. And I think, like,
to me, I understand what you're saying. I understand, I
understand your perspective. But to me, it's gonna take this season,

(50:07):
yeah to a race too, thought, it's gonna foundation you
gotta do something this year.

Speaker 1 (50:12):
We gotta do something where you got the earned expectations,
you actually lived up to them to whatever degree that
looks like, which is getting to the playoffs and getting
you know, and then circumstances dictate what is the Lions
were missing half their defense when they played Washington in
the playoffs. And but the Lions are even a good
example of this a few years ago when they had
their first kind of breakout year finally and then they
had to back it up live with all the expectations,

(50:34):
got all the night games, and all of a sudden
they did But so maybe we are still a little
ways away from it. For me, this past week, what
they did yesterday told me everything about what this team
is about, not the previous one. What this team is about.

Speaker 4 (50:49):
So for you, I like that. I like that you
say it for you. So now you feel like you
moved on. We moved on. This is a totally different team.

Speaker 1 (51:00):
Yeah, I didn't.

Speaker 3 (51:02):
I need you to make your media guys realize that
your media buddy, because I'm not media brod your media.

Speaker 4 (51:09):
Yeah, I'm not. I love I love this.

Speaker 1 (51:13):
I'm not media. While talking into a microphone on a
show that's disseminated as.

Speaker 4 (51:18):
Media, I'm a guy just talking for football.

Speaker 1 (51:23):
I got all right, let's get back to the Game's
time to hand out the belt Big Fletchers Heavyweight Championship Belt.

Speaker 2 (51:30):
Second, I think Jason has something special for you and
something special for you.

Speaker 4 (51:35):
We had a surprise. Yes, let's see what Jans got
going on.

Speaker 5 (51:47):
It's time for the Big Fletch Commander Heavyweight Championship. Introducing
the challenger Bobby Wagner and the reigning defending undisputed Big
Fletch Commander Heavyweight Champion.

Speaker 2 (52:11):
Dron Pain.

Speaker 4 (52:16):
We are stepping up, man. We have stepped up our
We have stepped it up.

Speaker 3 (52:21):
So as you can tell by the intro, we do
have two defensive players fight it out for the belt.
And there was there was a lot of candidates. I
thought Mariolda was a he could have been a candidate.
And candidate Debo, Jayden Lane, Nick Nichols McNichols, shoot uh,

(52:43):
Doris Armstrong. He had, he had a nice ship, He
had a heck of a game. But as I mentioned,
two guys, you so pain. He had the belt.

Speaker 4 (52:53):
He got it from the win against the New York Giants,
and we only get this belt out after wins. Excuse me.

Speaker 3 (53:00):
So Payne was the defending champion, Bobby came in, he's
the contender. Let me let me, let me let you
know what the champion did the Ryn Payne had a
monster game. Six total tackles, four solos, one TfL, one
QB hit.

Speaker 4 (53:18):
But it's just impact on the game. Like you felt
his presence all game long, his energy, you know what
I mean.

Speaker 3 (53:26):
His energy, the House of pain. Big Daddy Paine was
on full display yesterday.

Speaker 4 (53:33):
My god old.

Speaker 3 (53:35):
Future gold jacket. Bobby Wagner eleven total tackles, six of
them solo, tackles. Yes, wow, six solos, two sacks, two TfL,
three quarterback hits. He's currently thirty in the NFL International
Football League in tackles with thirty two, He's making a

(53:56):
strong case this is all this is like that match
Canelo and Crawford, that type of build up, that's that
type of moment Canelo comes. He that's a champion. Crawford
is a challenger. Pery was a champion. Wagged there's the
challenger and no big fletchers command as heavyweight champion. Belt

(54:21):
ghost too, Bobby Wagner.

Speaker 2 (54:25):
I knew that was gonna happen. I knew that was
gonna happen from the second you introduced it.

Speaker 1 (54:29):
Why now that you made this all this production, Jason,
do you have anything in the budget to get Michael
Buffer in here? Because that's what we need now.

Speaker 4 (54:37):
So let me you guys, how do you feel about
the belt? Who I gave it to? Bobby?

Speaker 2 (54:42):
Are you?

Speaker 4 (54:43):
I think it's if y'all got other you got other
guys chime in on it.

Speaker 1 (54:46):
I think you couldn't go wrong with a number of
the people yesterday, But you are missing a name that
wasn't a contender for this spell is that a big
name that you missed for a contender for the spelt?
Dan Quinn? No, dan Quinn, who got bloodied in the game,
but he got run over, hit his head, teammates were

(55:08):
wiping blood off his nose, comes out and does a
halftime interview on the television broadcast, says I'm fine, joins
us in the locker room and is like, I don't
want to talk about me at all. I'm ready to go,
And he ended the interview with, go take a lot
more than that to keep me away from where we're going.
So dan Quinn, I think should have been a contender
for that belt.

Speaker 4 (55:28):
You know what, You're right, d Q was a contender.
She should have been.

Speaker 3 (55:33):
Hindsight, Hey, hats off to the cut guy. But I said, DQ,
he should have left the blood just right there, just dripping,
just running down his face.

Speaker 2 (55:42):
I mean, he didn't have like it was Buddy in
the post game too. The only thing I'd say is
it's usually it's hard to beat the what is it, incumbent? Yeah,
the champion the champion, right, And I'm great he played
did he? I thought he played well off to maybe
defend to maintain it.

Speaker 4 (55:59):
Maybe it was a draw. It was a draw.

Speaker 2 (56:00):
But but I know, but Bobby had two sacks.

Speaker 3 (56:02):
Ye had two sacks, and he had he had another
pressure gino like eleven tackles. Man, and those tackles were
at or near a line of scrimmage or some cases
behind the line.

Speaker 2 (56:12):
Would you be happy with that performance if you played linebacker?

Speaker 4 (56:15):
Two sacks?

Speaker 2 (56:16):
Yeah, yeah, would be hit.

Speaker 4 (56:19):
What's your how many?

Speaker 2 (56:20):
How many secks do you having a game?

Speaker 4 (56:21):
What's your I've had I've had two in a game before.

Speaker 2 (56:24):
How many? What's your like most single tackle games?

Speaker 4 (56:27):
Take a tackle game?

Speaker 2 (56:28):
Yeah, talking like fifteen or something.

Speaker 4 (56:31):
Come on, man, let's be this big fletch twenty uh
what twenty one? S twenty one?

Speaker 1 (56:37):
You're looking that up? I'm looking that up. That's true.

Speaker 4 (56:40):
Did I tell you that multiple twenty time? Did I
tell you my story?

Speaker 2 (56:42):
Did I tell you? Should I tell you the story
about about Fred Jason? So we're in here talking the
other day and and Fred's like, you know, one one
year I played with Bruce Smith and blah blah blah
blah blah, this stuff's going on. He goes, I had
ninety tackles in a season. Look it up, you know
how thirty.

Speaker 4 (57:04):
In college. Now, in college, I had a twenty nine
tackle game twenty nine.

Speaker 2 (57:08):
But in the pros, my my career high those are
So you're saying solo twenty one tackle.

Speaker 4 (57:14):
No, no, no, no, not We'll combined, don'tkay. But that's
so my career probably solo solo tackles in the game,
probably fifteen.

Speaker 1 (57:21):
He told us yesterday, how many punt returns did you
return for? You said that after Jaalen they returned. You're like,
I've returned punts for touchdown. I had a kick kickoff college. Yeah,
I had a kickoff return for a test it against Union.

Speaker 4 (57:35):
You just no, No, I was messing. I was messing
with the yard.

Speaker 3 (57:37):
Gard So but the thing is, you, guys, the surprise
that you no surprise when I when I tell you, guys,
these accomplishments I've had, Jason, I'm more more overwhelmed with
the surprise. Like I'm not fras Mood. I'm not known
as a liar.

Speaker 1 (57:55):
Like linebackers don't typically return kickoff.

Speaker 4 (57:58):
That's why I was a four lineback is also on
World four three? Are you, Jason? What do we got? Okay,
So your tackles in the game just football nine. John Carroll.
Oh my god. All right, but in the UNFL September twenty.

Speaker 2 (58:21):
You had.

Speaker 1 (58:24):
Who as a member of the Rams instead of Bills Rams.

Speaker 4 (58:27):
I had to I had two twenty tackle games here, yeah,
stop really as an old man, that's.

Speaker 1 (58:39):
We're getting you the championship Hall of Famer right here.

Speaker 4 (58:42):
Yeah, and here's here's a d here's another thing.

Speaker 3 (58:45):
Since we all kickoff retires, and y'all can fact check this,
you realize I retire kicks in the in the pros too?

Speaker 2 (58:53):
Really when in uh in Saint Louis, Saint Louis.

Speaker 4 (58:57):
And Buffalo, I have twelve kickoff returns in the pros.

Speaker 2 (59:03):
Dude, you're a bad man. Bro, you're a bad man.

Speaker 4 (59:06):
So Fri Smood, I've never done that. He's never done
that either, I mean, but it's not all about me.

Speaker 2 (59:11):
You almost had more tackles.

Speaker 1 (59:12):
Congratulations, Bobby red Smooth, though not ashamed of being at
the media at all, exactly zero shame.

Speaker 2 (59:20):
So you had more tackles than Fred in one game
than Fred had a season.

Speaker 3 (59:24):
Look returns, No, that's one season. That was one season.
I got twelve total.

Speaker 4 (59:33):
Yes, that was yes, that was what were the up back?
Twelve returns.

Speaker 1 (59:41):
Career.

Speaker 4 (59:43):
Are you the up back? No, man, I was, I was.
You were back there, yeah, kind of a back. So
it was uh.

Speaker 3 (59:51):
So we had most of the time we would have
one return guy and then I'd be kind of offset.

Speaker 4 (59:58):
Wasn't part of the wedge if there were kicks he
couldn't get to. Hey, you're the off returner. Yeah, I'm
off Returner's not truly off returner. But yeah, we had guys. Hey,
we rather kick of the to him.

Speaker 3 (01:00:11):
Londa think, Okay, he's a linebacker as opposed to our
kickoff returnament. Man, I'm gonna I'm gonna get that ball
out to the thirty four US.

Speaker 1 (01:00:19):
You know, he's played quarterback in three games of the NFL.

Speaker 4 (01:00:24):
I did not.

Speaker 1 (01:00:26):
All Right, everybody, that'll do it for this edition of
the review. We'll see you next week after the Falcons
game Booth. Review was filmed at the Big Bear AI
Command Center Studio. Big Bear AI offers Mission Ready AI
for a rapidly evolving world, proudly protecting the Washington Commanders
and its fans.