October 18, 2025 • 24 mins
Logan Paulsen is live from Dallas and breaks down the hot Dak Prescott Dallas Offense and freezing cold Dallas Defense that Jayden Daniels is looking to torch.
Host: Jason Johnson
Guest: Logan Paulsen
Producer: Jason Johnson
The views and opinions expressed by our analysts and/or hosts are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of the Washington Commanders or any of their representative
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Game Day Live Preview podcast. We're going
down to Dallas. They have the worst d but the
best offense. A little bit of two face there, Ken Batman,
that's JD five. Come in and take over this football game.
I think. So here all the details right now.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Welcome into the Game Day Live Preview podcast. I am
producer Jason and I am here with former NFL tight
end for ten years, Logan Paulsen. He's also a really
good friend of mine. In fact, we talk about life sometimes.
Can I just call each other and we're like, Hey,
how you doing?
Speaker 1 (00:40):
How things going? Yeah? That's good man. But we're talking
about football today though, right.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
I mean, that's what I love talking with you about.
We're just guys talking about football. We're glad you joined us.
For all away games, you're gonna hear me and Logan.
For home games, you're going to get the live show
that's out at DC Prime. Don't miss those. Those are
Wednesdays or Thursday night. Garrie Clark, can I can I
interest you in a sprinkle of Brian Mitchell And every
(01:07):
now and then we'll have a surprise guests show up.
We've had London Fletcher join Santana Moss has been around
so real legends talking about the previewing the upcoming game
for home games. That's for home games. But you get us,
you get well, you're great, but you get me as
just a Joe Schmoll because yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Everyone's tracking like fletches on the road. You know, the
guy Brian's on the everyone's on the road. So if
you can go to those, if you go to C
Prime and get that home experience, that'd be awesome. But
in the meantime we'll try and you know, fill your
fancy here.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Also order the lobster bites when you're there. They're absolutely amazing. Okay,
but Logan, we do want to hear from you because
you're one of the smartest guys I know when it
comes to football.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
It's too nice to be here.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
We've got the Dallas Cowboys, who I am a lifelong
Washington fan and I despise them. So I am going
to ask you, how do we make sure that we
beat the Cowboys in Dallas, which is always tough, but
these rival games they always feel like come down to
the wire. Not always, but they pretty pretty much, especially
(02:07):
since we've had Jade and Daniels in this new regime
in here with DQ. The Cowboys are just like the
Commanders in that they have yet to win two games
in a row or lose two games in a row
this season.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Yeah, So rivalry games are always really fun because they
are you're familiar with those teams, even guys that are
really relatively new to the organization and don't know the
history of the rivalry. Like, for example, when I played like,
I knew that Brandon Graham, I knew his moves, I
knew Jason Babbins moves when they were in Philadelphia. I
knew what DeMarcus were you like to do? And I
(02:40):
understood kind of the defensive front and so understanding that personnel,
it breeds a little bit of contempt kind of like
you know, we talked about in training camp, Jason, how
you get you kind of go against the same guys
all the time. That's what a rivalry game feels like
a little bit. It feels like they kind of know
how to beat you. You kind of know how to
beat them. Who's going to come out of the matchup
more efficiently? Always always a good time. So when it
(03:02):
comes to beating Dallas, do you want to do this offensively?
And defensively or how do you want to do this?
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Yeah, here's how I'm going to do it for you.
I'm basically we know about our team and we've had
we have so many pods. We've talked about them all
week leading up. I want to focus on Dallas here,
and I want to focus on it in the sense
of from a Washington perspective. How are we defeating them?
You do a good film breakdown show that leads up
to this. We have a lot of good content, but
this is where I want you to get into the weeds.
(03:28):
So I want to start with the defense. Then we'll
move over to the Cowboys offense. So defensively, little rough
for them. In fact, they're in the bottom of the
league defensively. They give up the most points, they give
up the most yards, so they are for rushing twenty ninth,
for passing, the worst total, the worst scoring second tours.
(03:51):
They give up a lot of points, almost thirty points
a game average. So are you if you're a Cliff Kingsbury,
if you're Jane and in you're the offense, are you like,
do you have a little confidence going into this game?
Or are you saying yourself, Hey, we still got to
be ourselves. We still got to take advantage of what
(04:11):
they're gonna give us. What are you looking at to
attack this defense? Are you like they're the worst in
the league? Yeah, how does that make you feel?
Speaker 1 (04:19):
So? I think what I would look at first and
think about first is the thing that has been the
most challenging coming out of the Bears game is this
kind of people playing heavy boxes and playing man coverage.
And I say to myself, like, can they do that?
Or will Eberflus the defensive coordinator do that? And my
short answer is like, I don't think so. Eberflus traditionally
(04:40):
has been a softer cover three zone team. He's been
very traditional. So, like an example of his traditionalism is
a couple of years ago, everyone kind of was moving
to these two high safety structures, right think about Vic
Fangio the quarter stuff. We're gonna make everything look the same,
We're gonna disguise at all. And he was like, no,
what man, I'm gonna play cover one to stay with
(05:00):
the cover one thing. And he would get gashed by
these teams with like they would run these like vertical
rop concepts that would really put that middlefield safety in
a bund so in terms of his history, traditionally, he's
been very dogmatic in sticking with his defensive philosophy. So
like people who've asked me, like my dad is one
of them and said, well, what if they just do
(05:20):
what the Bears did? Historically he has not been that guy.
So when you look at the teams that Washington has
had a lot of success against, they're teams that have
a hard time creating a pass rush with four. They
play a lot of his own coverage. Think about the La
Chargers for example, and they don't play heavy boxes. So
when you look at of those three things, the Dallas
(05:43):
Cowboys do two of them a lot. They play a
lot of his own coverage, and they have hard time
rushing with four. They will play heavy boxes, but as
we talked about in the film Breakdown Show, sometimes they
don't fit those runs correctly. They don't like major in
it one hundred percent. So what I would say is
lean into that stuff and Jaidan Daniels, when you can't
rush with four, is going to pick you apart versus
(06:03):
own coverage. Like I think about the throw to Deebo
Samuel's It was in like the second quarter of the game,
Like on that high cross right where they're playing zone
behind it, he's run across the middle of the field.
The throw to Jaalen lane against the Chargers like, you'll
see a lot of those throws, those free access, easy
throws into space. So that's exciting. And then the other
element of this is even when they do play heavy boxes,
(06:25):
unlike the Bears, they kind of give you a static picture. Right,
we're gonna have our four down linemen. We're gonna have
our three linebackers or our two linebackers and a nickel
and a strong safety, and they are going to fit
the run in their gaps straight downhill. If we know
where our combinations are going. The Commanders offensive line like
we are good enough to block that every day of
the week. And then you get a guy like Bill
(06:47):
or Chris Rodriguez or McNichols who's going to break tackles
because again they haven't tackled very well. So I think
all of those things kind of lead you to a
very confident notion that they're going to be in a
good spot. The Commander's offense will be in a good
spot versus the Dallas Cowboys defense.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
So let me ask you this question. Then, Logan, it
seems like the Bears, who were not great at stopping
the run, coming into the game against Washington, said, you
know what, you're without Terry mcclarin, You're without Noah Brown.
You're struggling a little bit with your past catchers and
your skill positions as far as health. So we're going
(07:23):
to sack the box, try and beat us, right, And
that worked us some success for them, So why would
Dallas not do the same, And if they do do
the same, what's your answer.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
I think it's more honestly of Ibraflus, right. So a
good example of this is in twenty twenty three, I
think they were playing the Chiefs and at the time,
everyone had a ton of success versus the Chiefs playing
two high safeties like Tampa two Cover two, We're not
going to let you beat us deep over the top,
and really stifled that offense and it was one of
(07:54):
their least productive offensive years. Iberflus came to ten and said,
I'm going to do what I do. I'm want to
play Cover three, and the Chansas City Chiefs had the
most productive offensive performance of the season up to that point.
I think it was like Week eight Okay. So historically
he's a guy that like he's seen other people have
success and has not necessarily augmented his He's just going
(08:15):
to do his thing, I think. So now could he
come out and be like, man, we really need to
get this win. I'm going to be a little bit
more aggressive. We're going to play a little bit like
percentage wise. We could still play cover three, we can
still kind of live in the house that I like
to live in. But maybe we run five percent more
man coverage. Maybe we pressure on first down ten percent more. Yeah,
but I don't think you're going to see the total
(08:35):
departure like you saw from the Bears. And I think
you also have to remember the Bears were coming out
of a bye week, so they had a lot of
time to kind of think through these run fits, playing
the runs they were going to see, and you could
feel that in terms of how they were fitting downhill.
So I think this is going to be just a
different animal in terms of how it's a different animal
in terms of how Eberflus historically wants to play defense
and what they've shown up until this point, they don't
(08:57):
have the buy to get it corrected. So again, I
think it's going to be what it's going to be,
and again they can clean up those details. On the
film Breakdown show, we talk about how there's a lot
of good, talented players on that side of the football.
It just getting them all to kind of see it
the same way. Maybe that's where they put their emphasis
this week and they play better. But I do think
that there's a lot of I think you're going to
(09:18):
get what Ebrafus does and he's gonna do what he does.
And so far, so far this season, he has not
been a lot of There's not been a lot of
line stunts, not been a lot of pressure on first down.
So I wouldn't expect that.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Now, what would you say is the game plan as
far as pass rush balance to beating Dallas this week?
Speaker 1 (09:39):
So I think one of the things, I think you're
gonna run the football. I think you want to run
the football. I think you want to get downhill. I
think you want to force those guys to tackle. And
it's not like they're not playing well. I think when
you look at their safeties, in particular, Devon Wilson's having
a very good year. He's a guy that flashes and
makes a lot of plays for them kind of their
their ace in the back end of that defense. So
(10:00):
they do have playmakers, and he's usually the eighth guy
in the box for them. But I think you can.
I think you get after their front. I think again,
like one good secondary player does not a good defense make.
They have Kenny Clark, who's a good defensive tackle. He's
a very productive, a lot of experience. Osa Digwizua also
(10:20):
very talented. But both those guys are a little a
little light versus a run. So I want to push that.
I want to kind of attack that. Dante Fowler is
one of their starting defensive ends. Sam Williams starting defensive end.
Both those guys are smaller pass rush specialists. And so
when you look at like the aggregate of who they are,
they of the eight man active on game day, they
have one guy who's over three hundred pounds, really like
(10:41):
three hundred and twenty pounds, and that's a rookie from UCLA.
So to me, it's like the front small, they're not
overly efficient at stopping the run, and so I want
to run the football. Now. To run the football, I
need to make sure I get first downs. That's another
element here too. So I'm not just going to like
he in, We're not going to run the ball three
times twelve times in a row and goes or a touchdown.
I have to have a diverse, well thought out game
(11:03):
plan that keeps The best term I've heard for this
is keeping a defense unsettled. So I'm going to show
them maybe that thirteen personnel with Trent Scott, we're going
to run a little play action pass right, or we're
gonna run maybe we run a shift out of that
this week, kind of put them off, kind of get
them thinking about different stuff. Then we're going to get
out in our hurry up and we're going to run
(11:23):
some type of novel formation and take a shot down
the field and we're going to slowly just keep them unsettled,
keep their eyes unsettled and find those explosive chunks because
they're making mistakes, they're not playing fast because they're uncertain,
and win. This offense that Cliff Kingsbury is cultivated is
at its best. They're doing that all the time, and
so like, I think that's well within the range of outcomes.
(11:45):
We're gon. We're gonna we're gonna try and run the football,
no doubt about it. But it's in the aggregator, in
the ecosystem of a healthy, diverse, unsettling offense for the defense.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Yeah, you and I have talked at length just among ourselves,
with some of those very friendly phone calls that we
have with each other, building our friendship and our report.
We talk about how sometimes rushing attempts for an offense
does not actually dictate how well you do in a game.
And we hear a lot. I used to think this
all the time. It was like, run the ball. If
(12:16):
you run the ball, you'll win the game. And it's like,
well sometimes sometimes, but other times you can run the
ball thirty plus times and you'll lose the game. Why
does that happen, Well, because you're running the ball against
a stack box for two yards. Then you're running the
ball against a stack box for three yards. Now you
have to pass. It's incomplete. You punt the ball, they
go down, they score right, and now you're behind, and
(12:39):
you can't stay if you do that two or three
times a game. You can't stay just running the ball
for three yards four yards at a time because you
can't score quick enough. Now the clock is now going
against you. All that being said, I said, all of
that to say this Dallas a route allows one hundred
and forty or more rushing yard. They've allowed that four
(13:01):
and six games and thirty or more rushing attempts in
every game. Teams like to run on them. So if
we run on them, do you see us winning the game?
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Yeah? I mean if you've got like, if you this
is the thing is you've got an efficient rushing attack, right,
you're going to be fine. Like look at the Chargers game.
I think it's a great case study of what we're
talking about. Like you're able to find some of your
explosive plays through the run game. That's exactly what you're
looking for. Like when you give like Derrick Henry is
a good example, or Saquon Barkley. Like, when you give
Saquon Barkley or Derrick Henry forty five touches in a game,
(13:37):
you're counting on that player to hit a couple fifteen
twenty twenty five yard games in there. And so when
you look at like high level analytics football, you're hunting
for explosive plays. This is a game unlike the one
you describe. Or they're going to play an eight man box,
we're going to average three yards of carry. Unlike that
set up for a game where we're going to have
(13:59):
some of these are going to be explosive runs. We're
going to have a couple ten yard runs, a couple
of fifteen yard runs, a couple easy buttons, and again
that keep us on schedule and let us play the
style of football that we want to play here in Washington.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
And even though Dallas has the worst, yeah, the worst
passing defense, you probably still want to try and run
against them because of their offense, and you want the
clock to tick, you want to keep them off the field.
Let's talk about this offense. They are the exact.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Did I say, yeah? So, this to me is going
to be an offensive driven game. Like everyone, We're going
to talk about the defense here in a second. The
more the offense can possess the football, keep their defense
their offense off the field in terms of times of
times possession. That doesn't mean run the football. That means
let's just get a bunch of first downs and let's
score points. That's going to be the key to this game.
(14:50):
In my opinion, this is going to be an offensive
driven game in terms of alleviating some of the pressure
on the commander's defense.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
So you're saying, have a lot of first downs. It
doesn't matter if you get them through rushing or passing,
just have a lot of guys.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Got to possess the ball. So, like again, I've said
this twelve times this year already. We've got to possess
the football to run the football. We don't run the
football to possess the football. There, it's an inverse statistic
of what people normally think about when talking about football.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Well, they're the second best passing team in the NFL,
and they're the best scoring or a third best scoring team,
and the best overall offensive team in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
They're very better than them. Who's you said, yardage their
second yardage?
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Yardage are first, scoring their third, passing their second. Uh,
I don't know who's first. I probably should have looked
that up.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
It's okay, Yeah, it doesn't matter. We're not playing that team.
We're playing this team.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Yeah, we're playing this year. That's right. I stay focused
on the Cowboys. So my question then is how do
you slow them down? And this leads us into our segment,
stop that logan Dak Prescott. I've never been a Dak guy.
That's because I'm a Washington guy. But man, he looks
good this year. What's clicking for him? And how you
(16:00):
stop that?
Speaker 1 (16:01):
He's doing really really well. Okay, so in high leverage moments,
he's playing probably better than anybody I've watched this year.
I know Baker Baker Mayfield's playing well, but I've watched
Justin Herbert, I've watched you know, a little Josh Allen
this year, and he is just absolutely dealing. Right. So
(16:22):
the thing about their offense is there are these high level,
level leverage moments where Dak looks great, Like on third
and six, he's gonna check the play, throw a touchdown
versus Green Bay. There's a third and two versus Carolina
where he throws a slant ends up being a touchdown.
We break down one of those on the film breakdown
Social makes you check that out. And so, but in
between those moments, the offense is relatively tepid. And so
(16:47):
what I mean by that, it's like, you're gonna get
a boot to the perimeter, you're gonna get a screen,
you're gonna get a quick game, you're gonna get some
type of play action shot. And he checks those down
more than I was expected after watching that, because I
kind of go I watch the highlights and then I
just watch a game or watch I watch all the passes.
So I watch three games worth of passes, and so
(17:07):
the amount of times they're running some type of play
action shot and he's checking it down to the tight
end over the ball for five yards. Then they run
the ball on second and five for a gain of three.
Then he does something good. On third down, they throw
a screen and they just kind of dink and dunk
and chunk little chunk their way down the field until
they hit a fifty to fifty ball to Pickens, or
(17:29):
they hit a slant to Pickens for a touchdown, or
they find Ceedee Lamb on a choice route and he's
breaking across the middle of the field. They are really
so they're really deliberate outside of those moments. So to
me to slow them down, I want to make them
less efficient as inefficient as possible on first down, So
(17:49):
first thing is they run a lot of keepers like
that just jumps off the screen at you. So what
are our rules for our defensive ends. Do we pursue
up field to stop the quarterback? Probably is what I
would say. But if you're going to do that, you
need to have a plan for the cutback on the run.
So do we have the guys play back? Are we
bringing some type of pressure or bringing a line stunt?
That's the first thing. Screens. Defensive linemen need to be
incredibly disciplined with their screen rules. They run a lot
(18:11):
of first down screens, second and seven screens like as
part of their rushing attack, which is surprising. It's a
little unconventional. So defensive line, what are your rules? Right?
And then when we got to stop the run, Williams
they're running back is kind of having a resurgence after
coming out of Dallas. He is a big guy getting downhill.
Their offensive line's not very good, so kin law pain,
let's penetrate defensive ends. Let's set hard edges, let's keep
(18:34):
it inside, force it back to Frankly Lou Bobby Waigener.
Let's get them to a long down in distance. That's
how you're going to do it. And then in those
long down and distances, their offensive line has a really
hard time holding up. So in those moments long down
in distances, can we find some way to confuse Dak Prescott?
Just make him hold the ball for a beat because
they give up quick pressures like crazy, and I'm not
(18:55):
talking like, oh, like this is a six man exotic
pressure and we got a free runner. It's like guys
are losing. Like there's a couple of plays versus I
want to say it was Lucas van s who's not
a great pass rushers from Green Bay on Tyler Guyden
from Dallas. He's their left tackle and Guyden puts his
hand out to block him, and Venice literally just knocks
(19:15):
it down and just runs right to the quarterback. Ball
gets out. But you can get quick wins on this
offensive line. So that, to me is how I would
do it. Awareness of keepers and boots, awareness of screens,
first down efficiency, stopping the run. Runfits are going to
be super important because then in those third down moments,
Dak's going to do something special, but he can't do
it twenty times a game. He's not gonna do that,
(19:37):
and you win five of those twenty I think so,
and then you win the game.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
So you're saying, just so I hear you correctly, Yeah,
don't freak out if we give up a couple of
big domes replays because Dak's playing at that level seedee lamb.
Maybe out there Pickens is playing great, They're gonna get there.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Ferguson's playing a freak out.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Yes, just keep it mitigated and under control.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
I think that's a great way to put it. Is
like they're going to get a chunk? Can you keep
it to twenty as opposed to forty five in a touchdown?
Like you were talking to me about that clip we
watched on the film Breakdown Show versus Carolina. It's a
slant picking sketches and tried great ball by Dak By
the way, the safety takes a bad angle, it's going
to be a fifteen yard gain regardless. Would you take
a bad angle and ends up being a thirty five
yard touchdown? That cannot happen. We got to make that
(20:24):
tackle has to go down. Now they're good football players.
But this is where it's like all of the things
that dan Quinn has been preaching since day one, tackling fundamentals, basics, turnovers,
those things have to come to light. Those first three
things specifically have to come to life here. We got
to be an excellent tackling football team and we can't.
You know how Joe Junior said, like, don't put a
(20:45):
cape on no capes. Man, trust your teammates do what
they're supposed to do, and they can trust you, and
we got a shot to win this football game.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
When it comes to their passing game, are you looking
at more? How are you you looking to scheme up to?
Confused Dak? Are you looking at does he struggle with
more Man? Does he struggle with more zoom? Does he
struggle with sim press?
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Like?
Speaker 2 (21:08):
How are how does he? Where does he struggle? For
you to say, like, all right, we're gon we're gonna
make him take that beat or is it something that
we haven't seen yet this year and we've got to
be the ones to show the league how to do it.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
The closest one is justin Herbert in terms of like
play style and how they're playing, Like Herbert is more
physically gifted than Dak, but like Dak mentally right now
is playing really well and so well. Again we talked
about on the film Breakdown show, like can you just
make him think for a second that it's something other
than what it actually is? Like that, to me is
(21:39):
going to be the story of this game. So if
you think if it looks like man, he's going to
know where that ball is going to go like, that's
how locked in he is, So can you show him
man roll the cover two. That's honestly how he got
justin Herbert in the second half of that football game.
As we were showing him a lot of man looks,
we'd roll the cover two. It surprised them enough that
the ball stays in his hand and you're able to
(21:59):
get a pressure. And so even though a lot of
their starters are in the lineup for Dallas, the offensive
line quality is very, very similar to what the Chargers
were putting out there a couple weeks ago. Right, So
our guys should be able to get home, but you
just need to get him to go. Oh, that's not
what I thought. And you just need a tenth of
a second, right, because their starting right guard is out,
(22:21):
Cooper BB. Their starting center is out, so they've got
a lot of mismatched pieces in there. Tyler Guiton is
not playing that well. Tern Steele and Tyler Smith are
playing better and they've been they're playing well. You know,
Tyler Smith just got paid like a gazillion dollars one
of the best guards in football. But one guy does
not make a good offensive line. So I think you
can take advantage of this and really put a lot
of pressure on But it starts not with that. It
(22:42):
starts with the secondary disguise and just being like, hey,
he needs to pull this thing down for a beat,
because then we get home and get a pressure.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Okay, Logan, here's how we're going to end this show.
Do we win the game? What do you think?
Speaker 1 (22:55):
I do think we win the game, and I'll tell
you why. I think one of the things about j
Daniels that I love, having played with guys like him,
obviously not to the same level, is when they have
a I actually thought he played pretty well against the Bears,
so that being said, but he had a mistake at
the end that everyone's going to be talking about this
entire week is he is a dude that loves to
(23:16):
prove people wrong. And if he's playing his if he's
playing the best version of himself, which I don't think
we've even gotten yet because he's been he was hurt
early in the year, I think this could be an
outstanding day for this offense. I don't care who's playing receiver.
I think if he's in his bag versus this defense,
I think we have a shot to win this game,
and I think there's a really high percentage that we
get that version of Jane Daniels.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
Thank you so much, Logan. I love talking to you
about baw enjoy being down in Dallas on the sidelines.
I love texting with you during the games as well,
letting you know what my dad thinks. My dad is
a huge fan and often butts heads with you on
what your opinions are or the opinions are of the game.
But it's a lot of fun for me on game
days just listening to you. You can follow Logan on Twitter.
(24:00):
It gives game day updates from the sideline. You'll do
that down in Dallas and I can find you at
Logan Paulsen NFL.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Yes on Twitter.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Check it out there. You also do breakdowns on there too.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Yeah. Sometimes, Yeah, there's a good stuff I'm watching when I'm
going through the film. I'll put that on there also.
But yeah, man, really looking forward to this game. It's
gonna be a lot of fun to watch this team
get right.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Thanks for listening, like, subscribe, comment, do all those things.
They let us know that you like this stuff that
we can keep making more of it. And Logan, you
want to send us out, that's it.
Welcome to the Game Day Live Preview podcast. We're going
down to Dallas. They have the worst d but the
best offense. A little bit of two face there, Ken Batman,
that's JD five. Come in and take over this football game.
I think. So here all the details right now.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Welcome into the Game Day Live Preview podcast. I am
producer Jason and I am here with former NFL tight
end for ten years, Logan Paulsen. He's also a really
good friend of mine. In fact, we talk about life sometimes.
Can I just call each other and we're like, Hey,
how you doing?
Speaker 1 (00:40):
How things going? Yeah? That's good man. But we're talking
about football today though, right.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
I mean, that's what I love talking with you about.
We're just guys talking about football. We're glad you joined us.
For all away games, you're gonna hear me and Logan.
For home games, you're going to get the live show
that's out at DC Prime. Don't miss those. Those are
Wednesdays or Thursday night. Garrie Clark, can I can I
interest you in a sprinkle of Brian Mitchell And every
(01:07):
now and then we'll have a surprise guests show up.
We've had London Fletcher join Santana Moss has been around
so real legends talking about the previewing the upcoming game
for home games. That's for home games. But you get us,
you get well, you're great, but you get me as
just a Joe Schmoll because yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Everyone's tracking like fletches on the road. You know, the
guy Brian's on the everyone's on the road. So if
you can go to those, if you go to C
Prime and get that home experience, that'd be awesome. But
in the meantime we'll try and you know, fill your
fancy here.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Also order the lobster bites when you're there. They're absolutely amazing. Okay,
but Logan, we do want to hear from you because
you're one of the smartest guys I know when it
comes to football.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
It's too nice to be here.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
We've got the Dallas Cowboys, who I am a lifelong
Washington fan and I despise them. So I am going
to ask you, how do we make sure that we
beat the Cowboys in Dallas, which is always tough, but
these rival games they always feel like come down to
the wire. Not always, but they pretty pretty much, especially
(02:07):
since we've had Jade and Daniels in this new regime
in here with DQ. The Cowboys are just like the
Commanders in that they have yet to win two games
in a row or lose two games in a row
this season.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Yeah, So rivalry games are always really fun because they
are you're familiar with those teams, even guys that are
really relatively new to the organization and don't know the
history of the rivalry. Like, for example, when I played like,
I knew that Brandon Graham, I knew his moves, I
knew Jason Babbins moves when they were in Philadelphia. I
knew what DeMarcus were you like to do? And I
(02:40):
understood kind of the defensive front and so understanding that personnel,
it breeds a little bit of contempt kind of like
you know, we talked about in training camp, Jason, how
you get you kind of go against the same guys
all the time. That's what a rivalry game feels like
a little bit. It feels like they kind of know
how to beat you. You kind of know how to
beat them. Who's going to come out of the matchup
more efficiently? Always always a good time. So when it
(03:02):
comes to beating Dallas, do you want to do this offensively?
And defensively or how do you want to do this?
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Yeah, here's how I'm going to do it for you.
I'm basically we know about our team and we've had
we have so many pods. We've talked about them all
week leading up. I want to focus on Dallas here,
and I want to focus on it in the sense
of from a Washington perspective. How are we defeating them?
You do a good film breakdown show that leads up
to this. We have a lot of good content, but
this is where I want you to get into the weeds.
(03:28):
So I want to start with the defense. Then we'll
move over to the Cowboys offense. So defensively, little rough
for them. In fact, they're in the bottom of the
league defensively. They give up the most points, they give
up the most yards, so they are for rushing twenty ninth,
for passing, the worst total, the worst scoring second tours.
(03:51):
They give up a lot of points, almost thirty points
a game average. So are you if you're a Cliff Kingsbury,
if you're Jane and in you're the offense, are you like,
do you have a little confidence going into this game?
Or are you saying yourself, Hey, we still got to
be ourselves. We still got to take advantage of what
(04:11):
they're gonna give us. What are you looking at to
attack this defense? Are you like they're the worst in
the league? Yeah, how does that make you feel?
Speaker 1 (04:19):
So? I think what I would look at first and
think about first is the thing that has been the
most challenging coming out of the Bears game is this
kind of people playing heavy boxes and playing man coverage.
And I say to myself, like, can they do that?
Or will Eberflus the defensive coordinator do that? And my
short answer is like, I don't think so. Eberflus traditionally
(04:40):
has been a softer cover three zone team. He's been
very traditional. So, like an example of his traditionalism is
a couple of years ago, everyone kind of was moving
to these two high safety structures, right think about Vic
Fangio the quarter stuff. We're gonna make everything look the same,
We're gonna disguise at all. And he was like, no,
what man, I'm gonna play cover one to stay with
(05:00):
the cover one thing. And he would get gashed by
these teams with like they would run these like vertical
rop concepts that would really put that middlefield safety in
a bund so in terms of his history, traditionally, he's
been very dogmatic in sticking with his defensive philosophy. So
like people who've asked me, like my dad is one
of them and said, well, what if they just do
(05:20):
what the Bears did? Historically he has not been that guy.
So when you look at the teams that Washington has
had a lot of success against, they're teams that have
a hard time creating a pass rush with four. They
play a lot of his own coverage. Think about the La
Chargers for example, and they don't play heavy boxes. So
when you look at of those three things, the Dallas
(05:43):
Cowboys do two of them a lot. They play a
lot of his own coverage, and they have hard time
rushing with four. They will play heavy boxes, but as
we talked about in the film Breakdown Show, sometimes they
don't fit those runs correctly. They don't like major in
it one hundred percent. So what I would say is
lean into that stuff and Jaidan Daniels, when you can't
rush with four, is going to pick you apart versus
(06:03):
own coverage. Like I think about the throw to Deebo
Samuel's It was in like the second quarter of the game,
Like on that high cross right where they're playing zone
behind it, he's run across the middle of the field.
The throw to Jaalen lane against the Chargers like, you'll
see a lot of those throws, those free access, easy
throws into space. So that's exciting. And then the other
element of this is even when they do play heavy boxes,
(06:25):
unlike the Bears, they kind of give you a static picture. Right,
we're gonna have our four down linemen. We're gonna have
our three linebackers or our two linebackers and a nickel
and a strong safety, and they are going to fit
the run in their gaps straight downhill. If we know
where our combinations are going. The Commanders offensive line like
we are good enough to block that every day of
the week. And then you get a guy like Bill
(06:47):
or Chris Rodriguez or McNichols who's going to break tackles
because again they haven't tackled very well. So I think
all of those things kind of lead you to a
very confident notion that they're going to be in a
good spot. The Commander's offense will be in a good
spot versus the Dallas Cowboys defense.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
So let me ask you this question. Then, Logan, it
seems like the Bears, who were not great at stopping
the run, coming into the game against Washington, said, you
know what, you're without Terry mcclarin, You're without Noah Brown.
You're struggling a little bit with your past catchers and
your skill positions as far as health. So we're going
(07:23):
to sack the box, try and beat us, right, And
that worked us some success for them, So why would
Dallas not do the same, And if they do do
the same, what's your answer.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
I think it's more honestly of Ibraflus, right. So a
good example of this is in twenty twenty three, I
think they were playing the Chiefs and at the time,
everyone had a ton of success versus the Chiefs playing
two high safeties like Tampa two Cover two, We're not
going to let you beat us deep over the top,
and really stifled that offense and it was one of
(07:54):
their least productive offensive years. Iberflus came to ten and said,
I'm going to do what I do. I'm want to
play Cover three, and the Chansas City Chiefs had the
most productive offensive performance of the season up to that point.
I think it was like Week eight Okay. So historically
he's a guy that like he's seen other people have
success and has not necessarily augmented his He's just going
(08:15):
to do his thing, I think. So now could he
come out and be like, man, we really need to
get this win. I'm going to be a little bit
more aggressive. We're going to play a little bit like
percentage wise. We could still play cover three, we can
still kind of live in the house that I like
to live in. But maybe we run five percent more
man coverage. Maybe we pressure on first down ten percent more. Yeah,
but I don't think you're going to see the total
(08:35):
departure like you saw from the Bears. And I think
you also have to remember the Bears were coming out
of a bye week, so they had a lot of
time to kind of think through these run fits, playing
the runs they were going to see, and you could
feel that in terms of how they were fitting downhill.
So I think this is going to be just a
different animal in terms of how it's a different animal
in terms of how Eberflus historically wants to play defense
and what they've shown up until this point, they don't
(08:57):
have the buy to get it corrected. So again, I
think it's going to be what it's going to be,
and again they can clean up those details. On the
film Breakdown show, we talk about how there's a lot
of good, talented players on that side of the football.
It just getting them all to kind of see it
the same way. Maybe that's where they put their emphasis
this week and they play better. But I do think
that there's a lot of I think you're going to
(09:18):
get what Ebrafus does and he's gonna do what he does.
And so far, so far this season, he has not
been a lot of There's not been a lot of
line stunts, not been a lot of pressure on first down.
So I wouldn't expect that.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Now, what would you say is the game plan as
far as pass rush balance to beating Dallas this week?
Speaker 1 (09:39):
So I think one of the things, I think you're
gonna run the football. I think you want to run
the football. I think you want to get downhill. I
think you want to force those guys to tackle. And
it's not like they're not playing well. I think when
you look at their safeties, in particular, Devon Wilson's having
a very good year. He's a guy that flashes and
makes a lot of plays for them kind of their
their ace in the back end of that defense. So
(10:00):
they do have playmakers, and he's usually the eighth guy
in the box for them. But I think you can.
I think you get after their front. I think again,
like one good secondary player does not a good defense make.
They have Kenny Clark, who's a good defensive tackle. He's
a very productive, a lot of experience. Osa Digwizua also
(10:20):
very talented. But both those guys are a little a
little light versus a run. So I want to push that.
I want to kind of attack that. Dante Fowler is
one of their starting defensive ends. Sam Williams starting defensive end.
Both those guys are smaller pass rush specialists. And so
when you look at like the aggregate of who they are,
they of the eight man active on game day, they
have one guy who's over three hundred pounds, really like
(10:41):
three hundred and twenty pounds, and that's a rookie from UCLA.
So to me, it's like the front small, they're not
overly efficient at stopping the run, and so I want
to run the football. Now. To run the football, I
need to make sure I get first downs. That's another
element here too. So I'm not just going to like
he in, We're not going to run the ball three
times twelve times in a row and goes or a touchdown.
I have to have a diverse, well thought out game
(11:03):
plan that keeps The best term I've heard for this
is keeping a defense unsettled. So I'm going to show
them maybe that thirteen personnel with Trent Scott, we're going
to run a little play action pass right, or we're
gonna run maybe we run a shift out of that
this week, kind of put them off, kind of get
them thinking about different stuff. Then we're going to get
out in our hurry up and we're going to run
(11:23):
some type of novel formation and take a shot down
the field and we're going to slowly just keep them unsettled,
keep their eyes unsettled and find those explosive chunks because
they're making mistakes, they're not playing fast because they're uncertain,
and win. This offense that Cliff Kingsbury is cultivated is
at its best. They're doing that all the time, and
so like, I think that's well within the range of outcomes.
(11:45):
We're gon. We're gonna we're gonna try and run the football,
no doubt about it. But it's in the aggregator, in
the ecosystem of a healthy, diverse, unsettling offense for the defense.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Yeah, you and I have talked at length just among ourselves,
with some of those very friendly phone calls that we
have with each other, building our friendship and our report.
We talk about how sometimes rushing attempts for an offense
does not actually dictate how well you do in a game.
And we hear a lot. I used to think this
all the time. It was like, run the ball. If
(12:16):
you run the ball, you'll win the game. And it's like,
well sometimes sometimes, but other times you can run the
ball thirty plus times and you'll lose the game. Why
does that happen, Well, because you're running the ball against
a stack box for two yards. Then you're running the
ball against a stack box for three yards. Now you
have to pass. It's incomplete. You punt the ball, they
go down, they score right, and now you're behind, and
(12:39):
you can't stay if you do that two or three
times a game. You can't stay just running the ball
for three yards four yards at a time because you
can't score quick enough. Now the clock is now going
against you. All that being said, I said, all of
that to say this Dallas a route allows one hundred
and forty or more rushing yard. They've allowed that four
(13:01):
and six games and thirty or more rushing attempts in
every game. Teams like to run on them. So if
we run on them, do you see us winning the game?
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Yeah? I mean if you've got like, if you this
is the thing is you've got an efficient rushing attack, right,
you're going to be fine. Like look at the Chargers game.
I think it's a great case study of what we're
talking about. Like you're able to find some of your
explosive plays through the run game. That's exactly what you're
looking for. Like when you give like Derrick Henry is
a good example, or Saquon Barkley. Like, when you give
Saquon Barkley or Derrick Henry forty five touches in a game,
(13:37):
you're counting on that player to hit a couple fifteen
twenty twenty five yard games in there. And so when
you look at like high level analytics football, you're hunting
for explosive plays. This is a game unlike the one
you describe. Or they're going to play an eight man box,
we're going to average three yards of carry. Unlike that
set up for a game where we're going to have
(13:59):
some of these are going to be explosive runs. We're
going to have a couple ten yard runs, a couple
of fifteen yard runs, a couple easy buttons, and again
that keep us on schedule and let us play the
style of football that we want to play here in Washington.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
And even though Dallas has the worst, yeah, the worst
passing defense, you probably still want to try and run
against them because of their offense, and you want the
clock to tick, you want to keep them off the field.
Let's talk about this offense. They are the exact.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Did I say, yeah? So, this to me is going
to be an offensive driven game. Like everyone, We're going
to talk about the defense here in a second. The
more the offense can possess the football, keep their defense
their offense off the field in terms of times of
times possession. That doesn't mean run the football. That means
let's just get a bunch of first downs and let's
score points. That's going to be the key to this game.
(14:50):
In my opinion, this is going to be an offensive
driven game in terms of alleviating some of the pressure
on the commander's defense.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
So you're saying, have a lot of first downs. It
doesn't matter if you get them through rushing or passing,
just have a lot of guys.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Got to possess the ball. So, like again, I've said
this twelve times this year already. We've got to possess
the football to run the football. We don't run the
football to possess the football. There, it's an inverse statistic
of what people normally think about when talking about football.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Well, they're the second best passing team in the NFL,
and they're the best scoring or a third best scoring team,
and the best overall offensive team in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
They're very better than them. Who's you said, yardage their
second yardage?
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Yardage are first, scoring their third, passing their second. Uh,
I don't know who's first. I probably should have looked
that up.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
It's okay, Yeah, it doesn't matter. We're not playing that team.
We're playing this team.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Yeah, we're playing this year. That's right. I stay focused
on the Cowboys. So my question then is how do
you slow them down? And this leads us into our segment,
stop that logan Dak Prescott. I've never been a Dak guy.
That's because I'm a Washington guy. But man, he looks
good this year. What's clicking for him? And how you
(16:00):
stop that?
Speaker 1 (16:01):
He's doing really really well. Okay, so in high leverage moments,
he's playing probably better than anybody I've watched this year.
I know Baker Baker Mayfield's playing well, but I've watched
Justin Herbert, I've watched you know, a little Josh Allen
this year, and he is just absolutely dealing. Right. So
(16:22):
the thing about their offense is there are these high level,
level leverage moments where Dak looks great, Like on third
and six, he's gonna check the play, throw a touchdown
versus Green Bay. There's a third and two versus Carolina
where he throws a slant ends up being a touchdown.
We break down one of those on the film breakdown
Social makes you check that out. And so, but in
between those moments, the offense is relatively tepid. And so
(16:47):
what I mean by that, it's like, you're gonna get
a boot to the perimeter, you're gonna get a screen,
you're gonna get a quick game, you're gonna get some
type of play action shot. And he checks those down
more than I was expected after watching that, because I
kind of go I watch the highlights and then I
just watch a game or watch I watch all the passes.
So I watch three games worth of passes, and so
(17:07):
the amount of times they're running some type of play
action shot and he's checking it down to the tight
end over the ball for five yards. Then they run
the ball on second and five for a gain of three.
Then he does something good. On third down, they throw
a screen and they just kind of dink and dunk
and chunk little chunk their way down the field until
they hit a fifty to fifty ball to Pickens, or
(17:29):
they hit a slant to Pickens for a touchdown, or
they find Ceedee Lamb on a choice route and he's
breaking across the middle of the field. They are really
so they're really deliberate outside of those moments. So to
me to slow them down, I want to make them
less efficient as inefficient as possible on first down, So
(17:49):
first thing is they run a lot of keepers like
that just jumps off the screen at you. So what
are our rules for our defensive ends. Do we pursue
up field to stop the quarterback? Probably is what I
would say. But if you're going to do that, you
need to have a plan for the cutback on the run.
So do we have the guys play back? Are we
bringing some type of pressure or bringing a line stunt?
That's the first thing. Screens. Defensive linemen need to be
incredibly disciplined with their screen rules. They run a lot
(18:11):
of first down screens, second and seven screens like as
part of their rushing attack, which is surprising. It's a
little unconventional. So defensive line, what are your rules? Right?
And then when we got to stop the run, Williams
they're running back is kind of having a resurgence after
coming out of Dallas. He is a big guy getting downhill.
Their offensive line's not very good, so kin law pain,
let's penetrate defensive ends. Let's set hard edges, let's keep
(18:34):
it inside, force it back to Frankly Lou Bobby Waigener.
Let's get them to a long down in distance. That's
how you're going to do it. And then in those
long down and distances, their offensive line has a really
hard time holding up. So in those moments long down
in distances, can we find some way to confuse Dak Prescott?
Just make him hold the ball for a beat because
they give up quick pressures like crazy, and I'm not
(18:55):
talking like, oh, like this is a six man exotic
pressure and we got a free runner. It's like guys
are losing. Like there's a couple of plays versus I
want to say it was Lucas van s who's not
a great pass rushers from Green Bay on Tyler Guyden
from Dallas. He's their left tackle and Guyden puts his
hand out to block him, and Venice literally just knocks
(19:15):
it down and just runs right to the quarterback. Ball
gets out. But you can get quick wins on this
offensive line. So that, to me is how I would
do it. Awareness of keepers and boots, awareness of screens,
first down efficiency, stopping the run. Runfits are going to
be super important because then in those third down moments,
Dak's going to do something special, but he can't do
it twenty times a game. He's not gonna do that,
(19:37):
and you win five of those twenty I think so,
and then you win the game.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
So you're saying, just so I hear you correctly, Yeah,
don't freak out if we give up a couple of
big domes replays because Dak's playing at that level seedee lamb.
Maybe out there Pickens is playing great, They're gonna get there.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Ferguson's playing a freak out.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Yes, just keep it mitigated and under control.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
I think that's a great way to put it. Is
like they're going to get a chunk? Can you keep
it to twenty as opposed to forty five in a touchdown?
Like you were talking to me about that clip we
watched on the film Breakdown Show versus Carolina. It's a
slant picking sketches and tried great ball by Dak By
the way, the safety takes a bad angle, it's going
to be a fifteen yard gain regardless. Would you take
a bad angle and ends up being a thirty five
yard touchdown? That cannot happen. We got to make that
(20:24):
tackle has to go down. Now they're good football players.
But this is where it's like all of the things
that dan Quinn has been preaching since day one, tackling fundamentals, basics, turnovers,
those things have to come to light. Those first three
things specifically have to come to life here. We got
to be an excellent tackling football team and we can't.
You know how Joe Junior said, like, don't put a
(20:45):
cape on no capes. Man, trust your teammates do what
they're supposed to do, and they can trust you, and
we got a shot to win this football game.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
When it comes to their passing game, are you looking
at more? How are you you looking to scheme up to?
Confused Dak? Are you looking at does he struggle with
more Man? Does he struggle with more zoom? Does he
struggle with sim press?
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Like?
Speaker 2 (21:08):
How are how does he? Where does he struggle? For
you to say, like, all right, we're gon we're gonna
make him take that beat or is it something that
we haven't seen yet this year and we've got to
be the ones to show the league how to do it.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
The closest one is justin Herbert in terms of like
play style and how they're playing, Like Herbert is more
physically gifted than Dak, but like Dak mentally right now
is playing really well and so well. Again we talked
about on the film Breakdown show, like can you just
make him think for a second that it's something other
than what it actually is? Like that, to me is
(21:39):
going to be the story of this game. So if
you think if it looks like man, he's going to
know where that ball is going to go like, that's
how locked in he is, So can you show him
man roll the cover two. That's honestly how he got
justin Herbert in the second half of that football game.
As we were showing him a lot of man looks,
we'd roll the cover two. It surprised them enough that
the ball stays in his hand and you're able to
(21:59):
get a pressure. And so even though a lot of
their starters are in the lineup for Dallas, the offensive
line quality is very, very similar to what the Chargers
were putting out there a couple weeks ago. Right, So
our guys should be able to get home, but you
just need to get him to go. Oh, that's not
what I thought. And you just need a tenth of
a second, right, because their starting right guard is out,
(22:21):
Cooper BB. Their starting center is out, so they've got
a lot of mismatched pieces in there. Tyler Guiton is
not playing that well. Tern Steele and Tyler Smith are
playing better and they've been they're playing well. You know,
Tyler Smith just got paid like a gazillion dollars one
of the best guards in football. But one guy does
not make a good offensive line. So I think you
can take advantage of this and really put a lot
of pressure on But it starts not with that. It
(22:42):
starts with the secondary disguise and just being like, hey,
he needs to pull this thing down for a beat,
because then we get home and get a pressure.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Okay, Logan, here's how we're going to end this show.
Do we win the game? What do you think?
Speaker 1 (22:55):
I do think we win the game, and I'll tell
you why. I think one of the things about j
Daniels that I love, having played with guys like him,
obviously not to the same level, is when they have
a I actually thought he played pretty well against the Bears,
so that being said, but he had a mistake at
the end that everyone's going to be talking about this
entire week is he is a dude that loves to
(23:16):
prove people wrong. And if he's playing his if he's
playing the best version of himself, which I don't think
we've even gotten yet because he's been he was hurt
early in the year, I think this could be an
outstanding day for this offense. I don't care who's playing receiver.
I think if he's in his bag versus this defense,
I think we have a shot to win this game,
and I think there's a really high percentage that we
get that version of Jane Daniels.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
Thank you so much, Logan. I love talking to you
about baw enjoy being down in Dallas on the sidelines.
I love texting with you during the games as well,
letting you know what my dad thinks. My dad is
a huge fan and often butts heads with you on
what your opinions are or the opinions are of the game.
But it's a lot of fun for me on game
days just listening to you. You can follow Logan on Twitter.
(24:00):
It gives game day updates from the sideline. You'll do
that down in Dallas and I can find you at
Logan Paulsen NFL.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Yes on Twitter.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Check it out there. You also do breakdowns on there too.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Yeah. Sometimes, Yeah, there's a good stuff I'm watching when I'm
going through the film. I'll put that on there also.
But yeah, man, really looking forward to this game. It's
gonna be a lot of fun to watch this team
get right.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Thanks for listening, like, subscribe, comment, do all those things.
They let us know that you like this stuff that
we can keep making more of it. And Logan, you
want to send us out, that's it.
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