September 18, 2025 • 36 mins
The Autumn Wind is a Raider, and that's who will be coming to Northwest Stadium to face the Washington Commanders in Week 3. Senior Writer Zach Selby chats with SI.com's David Harrison and The Washington Times' Liam Griffin to breakdown the possibility of a Marcus Mariota-led offense, what the Commanders' secondary must do to bounce back and more!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
What is up? What's going on? Y'all?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
This is another episode of the Beatdown Podcast, Week three edition.
I'm your host, senior writer for the Washington Commanders, Zach Selby,
and the Commanders suffered their first loss at lambeau Field
at the hand of the Green Bay Packers twenty seven
to eighteen. Bit of a tough one for sure, stayed
in it, but a lot of errors injuries all over
the place, one of which we will be talking about
(00:33):
later on today. But we're moving on after they have
a chance to lick their wounds, to go to Northwest
State and to play the Las Vegas Raiders, who suffered
a loss on Monday night, late night Monday night football
matchup between them and the Chargers, And how are they
going to do that, especially with Jayden Daniels potentially his
status up in the air. Well, that is what we're
(00:53):
going to be talking about today. We have two new
guests we have. On one hand, we have Lian Griffin
from the Washington Times.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Lee, Am I doing?
Speaker 3 (01:02):
I'm doing good?
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Happy to be here again.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
We're happy to have you as well. And we also
have David Harrison from Sports ills Tree.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Howy you doing?
Speaker 4 (01:09):
Man? I am good? How are you.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
I'm doing doing excellent, you know.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
And also for the people I did to get engaged
over the weekend, so that's very exciting.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
We're still over the moon about that.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Throw that out there, but we'll go ahead and dive
into it here, and you guys know the deal by now.
We're gonna ask these people questions, We're gonna give up points,
We're gonna have winners losers. It will be decided by
me because I am the host and I am burdened
with that purpose. All that said, let's dive in to it,
starting with jayde and Daniels, who I mentioned earlier. He
(01:42):
suffered a knee injury, and his status right now is
we don't know. To be honest, it looks like he's
gonna be going through his return to play process. We
don't know exactly at the timas recording it. It's Tuesday
at six thirty one pm, so we don't know exactly
how much time he's going to be practicing and win
thro your Thursday or Friday, but he will be monitored
pretty heavily to see if he's going to be able
(02:03):
to play or not. If he does not play, the
commanders will have to go with Marcus Mariota as their backup,
and he got to play a little bit last year
against the Cowboys and the Carolina Panthers.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
So we'll start there and we'll start again.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
We don't know, but what if Jaden is available and
how does that game plan change for the Raiders if
he has to miss at least some amount of times here.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
So Leean will start with you and we'll give your thoughts.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Yeah, So I think the Commanders are pretty fortunate in
this situation. Mariota is widely regarded as one of the
more competent backups in the league. Obviously, you never want
your star quarterback missing time, but from every conversation that
we've had with the team, they feel totally confident in
Marcus Mariota's ability to run this offense. One of the
reasons that he got brought in was because of his
(02:56):
ability to run the same system without taking, you know,
too much off the table. So, yeah, you'll probably see
a bit fewer of the of the deep shots that
Jaden has been you know, increasingly comfortable with, even when
they're not connecting, You'll see him take those. You might
see a bit fewer of those with Marcus Marriauda behind center.
But I don't think that you'll see, you know, any
(03:18):
any decrease in the number of like quarterback runs. I
think you're gonna have a lot of that designed run
game for the quarterback and and for the running backs
as well, even with Austin Eckler out, And I think
you'll see a lot more stuff going on behind the
line of scrimmage because that has worked for Cliff Kingsbury
offenses in the past. So things like jet sweeps, screens,
(03:38):
those kinds of things will help your backup quarterback get
more comfortable in that offense if he's called upon on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Yeah, you know, I remember last year, way in the
off season, everyone looked at the marks Mario to.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Signing as a whole hope he never.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Plays, and you know that that that is basically still
true in a sense.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
But he's shown that he can still go out there
and play.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
I mean, his his two performances completion percentage was we're
like against the Panthers and the Cowboys were two of
like his best.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Of like his entire career, and he's.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Through no interceptions. Still shows they had a little bit
of those wheels out there. But he it's been a
while since we've seen him right at least like in
a full capacity, because he didn't miss a significant portion
of training camp. But David will switch over to you here,
and you know, I said, we haven't seen h thin'
get that much time in training camp to really ramp up,
so to speak.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
So are you concerned.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
About how much time he did not get to spend
in this offense and with some of his new teammates,
And if so, I mean, does that affect anything about
how this offense could potentially function with Marcus?
Speaker 1 (04:41):
It has to start.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
I'm not necessarily concerned with how many reps he missed,
so to speak, because I think that, you know, to
a certain extent, the offense gets a little bit simplistic,
and I think because of that, a lot of people
are going to look at if Marcus has to play
over Jade, and a lot of people are going to
look at that as a downgrade. And I think that
if this were to be a season ending situation, then
certainly you could go there. But I think in a
one week situation, it's not a downgrade. It's just different
(05:05):
and in a lot of ways that I could actually
benefit the commanders if it were to happen, like there's
there's a silver lining here that could be very real,
you know, and break through the cloud or whatever you
want to call it, and and bring a little ray
of sunshine to Northwest Stadium one Sunday. And that is that,
you know, Marcus, like you alluded to, like the veteran presence.
You know, people have spoken about jade Daniels and his
tendency to use the right side of the field, whether
(05:26):
it's running, whether it's throwing. He just likes the right
side of the field. Well, every right handed quarterback like
it's the right side of the field, right. But as
you get more reps, more experienced and everything else, you
get to a point where you get you can use
the majority of the field or the entirety of the
field a little bit more comfortably. You know, once you
have all those reps, Marcus Mariotta is there, Marcus Mariota
is going to use the left he's and use the
right he's and use the middle. And I think also
(05:48):
it changes the way the Raiders have to pass rush
because Marcus isn't going to look to extend the plays
the way that Jadeen Daniels does. He's gonna look to
get north and south. So if you're defending Jade and
Daniels as a pass rush, you're trying to bend his
left side in right because you know he's going to
try to go right anyway, so you want to try
to attack him from his blind side, and you want
to extend the right side of the pass rush his
(06:10):
right side of the pass rush to box him in. Well,
with Marcus Mariota, you go bending that left side. He's
just going to find a gap slipped through, get up,
get north and south and get as many yards as
he can. And it's not going to work as well
because he is willing and able to use the entirety
of the field. The same thing with those shots. He's
going to take shots to the left, he's going to
take shots to the right. Although, interestingly enough, this year,
at least two games small sample size, the left side
deep shot has been more successful for Jade and then
(06:32):
the right side, which is not what you expect, but
it is what it is. As far as like behind
the line of scrimmage changes, I do think one significant
thing changes, and I think it's a readoption. I don't
think you run as much readoption with Marcus Mariota because
he's just not as much of a threat to keep
the ball. And again, like on the surface, that might
seem like you're taking away a big part of Cliff
Kingsbury's offense, and to a certain extent you are. This
(06:53):
not necessarily a bad thing because what it allows your
offensive line to do and your blockers to do is
to not have to wonder what's happening behind them. Right Like,
the play changes exponentially depending on if Jaden keeps the
ball or if he hands the ball off. If he
hands the ball off, it's a pretty straight up run play.
I'm going to hit my first Mark, I'm gonna hit
my second Mark up, got my carry on, you know,
down the field, block whatever I need to try to
(07:14):
go and seal that. But if Jaden keeps the ball,
I've got to react to that as well, and the
alignman don't know what's happening until it's happening in real time.
You have a quarterback, they can't do the read option
as much like Mark's Mariota. It simplifies things to the
offensive line, and now you're aggressive blockers like Nick Allagraty,
like Tyler Biadish now they know I got to get
to my first mark, whether that's you know, interior, sior,
(07:35):
whatever it is, and then boom, I'm mine in that safety.
I'm eyeing that linebacker because I know I'm going there.
I don't have to wonder about what's happening behind me.
So in some ways, the simplicity of it, if it
happens in a one week vacuum, actually gives the commanders
a little bit of a benefit because it's not a
season long prognosis.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Yeah, and you know, I kind of want to highlight
on something that you brought it that like maybe not
using the read option as much, I mean for me,
And this is, you know, just a little behind the
current here. I spent a lot of time watching Marcus
because I grew up a Titans fan. I watched a
lot of his career there in Tennessee. And I will
say one of the things he does better than almost
anybody is that mesh point right, the ability to hold
(08:14):
onto that ball just long enough to kind of bait
the defensive end enough to pull him in and then
all of a sudden he's out there. We again, He's no,
he's you know, he's in his thirties and I don't know.
He even said after that long run head against the Cowboys, like, wow,
I don't know if I still have that anymore than
I used to have, but it I do think maybe
that is going to be a part of it. Lee,
(08:35):
I want your thoughts on that, because again, like you
talk about how you know he was brought in because
you didn't want the scheme to change that much, he
had to play, and one way or the other, whether
it's different than Jaden or not, Like the quarterback's legs
in this offense do play a pretty critical role in
how this how this scheme functions.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Yeah, I think I think we have a lot of
times because Marcus has been in the league so long.
I think this is his through eleventh season, you know,
like we have this kind of vision of him.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
He's also you know, sporting, like.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
A little bit of an early gray, but like he's
only thirty one years old, and you know, he had
the tendonitis. I think it was in the offseason kept
him out. But I do think that he can still
I think he can still scow, Like I think you
might see his wheels still in this game. Obviously, it's
not going to be Jane Daniel's level of explosiveness. But
I personally don't think that they will completely get away
(09:27):
from that readoption game, especially if like they had on Thursday,
if they have issues running the ball straight up the
gut or you know, in a more traditional run game.
I wouldn't be surprised to see them kind of, you know,
take advantage of that, if those ends are crashing off
the side and really trying to get those runners in
the backfield. I wouldn't be surprised to see Marcus Mario
to keep a couple.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Of those Yeah, you know, you mentioned that gray hair,
and I remember when I first saw him last year.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
I was like, oh my gosh, we're the same age, Like,
how how does that does that work?
Speaker 2 (09:56):
I'm starting to worry about myself here, but yeah, you know,
so Dave, we're gonna switch over to you here.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
And like it's not just about like he's really hit.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
How the defense has to adjust to to Marcus is
about how they rest of the offense and the players
have to part with up maybe adjust to to Marcus
as well on his own team. Does that help players
in an abstract way get like maybe Terry gets a
little more attention here, maybe Deebu gets more involved early or.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Something like that.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
How do you think that it affects the rest of
the personnel and how they're used.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
Yeah, I mean, like I said, you know, I think
you know again, like you use the read option enough
to make sure that the defense knows it can come,
but you simplify the rushing attack and allow those linemen
to just kind of do what they do best and
go forward to just hit people. Well, for receivers, I
think that there's a second level to the mentality there
as well, where a guy like Jaden you know, I
think last year a lot of times we're kind of
talking about his first read, second read run right. And
(10:46):
so if you're a receiver out in the formation and
you're the third or the fourth read, you kind of
know the ball is not likely coming in my way.
So you're you're not going out there sandbag and or
anything like that. But there's just a little bit there's
gonna be a natural, you know, drop and intensity in
how you're ex queuing your routes and how you're ex
schoting your assignment. If you kind of have this inkling
in the back of the mind, the ball is probably
not coming your way. Well, I think that when the
backup comes in, and this doesn't mark as specific or
(11:10):
even Jaden specific, I think across the league, when you
see a backup quarterback come in, you just these players
they did. The receivers run their routes just a little
bit more crisp, the blockers put in a little bit
more energy. The tight ends I have to chip or
something before they release, or running backs or whoever it is,
they chip a little bit stronger, you know what I mean.
There's just kind of this natural tendency of you know,
there's there's more weight on the rest of us, on
(11:32):
the other ten now that you know the main one
of the eleven is off the field. And I don't
think it's necessarily intentional, but I think it's something that, again,
you know, in a small sample size, can help them.
You know, as long as it's just week three now
you get into like and I don't think we're here
just for clarity purpose, But if you were to get
in a week four, five, and six and this is
still happening, then obviously long term it's it's a different effect,
(11:52):
but it's you know, kind of think of it like
almost like a little shot at NOAs like some of
the rest of these guys might get going a little
bit crisp or a little bit faster because Jaden's not
back there.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Yeah, that is an interesting point.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Now I'm wondering if in a weird way, this is
this could be something that this offense kind of needs
to give them a little bit of spark, because I
not necessarily to say that they weren't with al spark
in those last two weeks, but they were definitely there
were moments when he didn't always look like the crisp
unit that it was, and and DC even mentally it's
probably September football, but you know, at the end of the day,
it might instill end up being in.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
A weird way what they need. But we'll move on.
But first, you know, I'll give you both points.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
I like both the points that you guys may and
I think I think they were they were excellent context.
But we'll we'll move over from the offense to the
defense here, particularly with the secondary, because we were we
looked at we looked at the secondary in training camp,
and we saw a lot of really good things with
traying Emos, Marshall Lattimore, Mikey Samerso, back in a traditional position.
You've got Jonathan Jones who provides a lot of really
good depth there and this game it seemed like a
(12:53):
little not necessarily a step back in some ways, but
you do have you do have some questions, right, Jordan
Love throws for two hundred ninety two yards.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
A lot of that is from Tucker Craft, who head.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
To take a monster day with the fifty seven yard
reception one hundred and twenty four yards overall. But you
look in this receiver group for the Raiders and what
may not be necessarily the scariest thing, they do have
a guy like Brock Bowers who are are already one
of the best of their position.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
And Dave will keep over to you here and.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
I'm curious to know, like what your assessment is of
the secondary after that, after that we two game, and
what can they do to have maybe a better performance,
you know, with the guy with against the Raiders with
a guy like like I said, with Brock Powers.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Going to town.
Speaker 4 (13:34):
Yeah, I think I think there's two things that you
have to do if you're the secondary. And the first
thing is, and this sounds really simplistic, you gotta do
your job, man. You know what I mean, you gotta
do your job. Like there's calls, there's checks. You know,
when when when you're getting a push call, you know,
to from one side of the formation to the other,
that adjusts that's supposed to adjust your zone. You've got
to adjust your zone, you know. And it sounds simplistic, right,
(13:55):
but you know, I'll tell you right now. You can
go back to some of the biggest plays of that
Packers game and you go back and you watch the
tape and there's there's checks made, and there's adjustments made
by the appropriate person. In a lot of these plays,
there's one guy. There's one guy that doesn't do the
right thing with that check. And when that one guy,
you know, I talked about this all the time on
my show. Like the trickiest thing about defense is it's
(14:17):
eleven guys operating is one, like we talked about the
offensive offensive line, whereas five guys operating is one. That's
the entire defense. Like, one guy doesn't do their job
on defense, that can mess it up for everybody, you
know what I mean. And when you have a quarterback
who's got experienced quarterback, who's intelligent, a guy like Jordan
Love like like look like that fifty seven yarder man,
I mean, were real about it. Like what the Packers
(14:38):
did there was really supposed to Like the intent behind
it is actually to open up the left side chip
releasing tide end or the right side flat, and neither
of those things came open because other guys did their jobs,
and then the one guy that didn't do his job
opened up the seam to Tucker Craft. That's not even
supposed to be. Like if you were to sit down
the offensive coordinator, say, when we come out in this
(14:58):
formation with this motion, what are we t and open up?
It's actually not Tucker Kraft because you assume that that
guy is going to be where he's supposed to be.
But because one person messed up the look, that's what
ends up happening later on in the game. You know,
they they started getting better I don't want to say
better in communication because we all know, like we're you know,
you're in Lamba, Like the fans aren't loud when Jordan
Love is trying to operate. So that push call or
(15:19):
whatever it is, you know, whatever terminology the commanders use,
I'm using terminology that I know, not theirs. You can
hear it. You know what I'm saying, it's just a
matter of registering it executing it in real time, and
that's what's got to happen more more often than not.
But then the other side of this is, man, Gino
Smith's gonna put this ball up Gino's there's gonna be
opportunities if the Commanders don't come away with at least
(15:40):
one interception in this game. If I was Joewidd junior,
and I'm saying this facetiously or you know, just jokingly,
by the way, hyper hYP hyperbolic, if I were Joey Junior,
no interceptions, nobody's leading the field at the end of
the game. We're all staying on the field. We're all running,
We're all going sideline to sideline impads until I throw up,
Like that's that's how mad I would Because Geo Smith
is going to put this ball in, Jeff, And this
(16:02):
defense has to get a takeaway in this game, like
it can't go three weeks within a takeaway. So those
two things is just take advantage of the opportunity that's
already going to be there because of who you're playing,
and then just do your job. Man, when the check
comes in, just just follow the check.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Yeah, no, I was.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
I was thinking a lot about I'm glad you brought
off that tech craft play because I do see what
you're talking about because you see the safety.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
I don't know what the player.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Was, but he moves over to the left of the
of the of the play, and all of a sudden,
there's just like this wide open spot there for photographer
to go through. But you didn't back up the turnovers.
And I think that is interesting as well, because this
is something that this to this team has emphasized, it
seems like on a weekly basis.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
And while there had been moments where.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
That has yielded some fruit, there's also been moments where
they have even admitted it's not up to where we want.
In the last two weeks there really haven't been that
that even really have many opportunities.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
For turnovers to occur.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
So Liam, let's focus on that with the secondary and
and you know, as Data said, Gino is gonna put
it up. And you've got these guys who are supposed
to have play really well in man coverage like which
I amos Marshall Lattimore like, but a you know, maybe
with with just doing your job, like I mean, how
can this team create more turnovers and give the ball back,
(17:20):
which is the thing again that they have made a
point of like trying to make that there their identity
since DQ and Joe a junior guide into DC.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
Yeah, and that David completely nailed that, Like it is all.
It all seemed like communication that that played at Tucker
Craft that we keep referencing. I'm pretty sure you see
you'd have to look at the film again, but I'm
pretty sure you see Bobby Wagner like pointing out like
that someone should be in that zone before before the
pass arrives.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Like that.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
Just that can't happen on a down to down basis,
especially with with when you're facing guys like Gino Smith
and Brock Bowers, who, like fortunately for the Commanders, like
brock Bowers is coming off of injury. He did not
look like his full self last night. And Gino Smith
is coming off maybe maybe the worst game of the
Geno Smith resurrection, if you will, like since his time
(18:09):
with the Jets.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
And so I think.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
If you're that secondary, you have to you have to
be aggressive. Like you two both touched on it, Gino
is wheeling and able to throw that deep ball, and
he's got the receivers as well. They've got receivers over
there who have speed, and so you're going to need
those safeties. Either you're going to use take that safety
help over the top and you're gonna want those safeties
(18:31):
to be aggressive, or you're going to want those lockdown
corners who you you have showered so much praise on
this offseason, and they all had great training camps, but
you have to have that translate onto the field. And
I mean all three of those guys, Trey Amos and
Mikey Samers still a Marshall Latimore, they didn't really have
like stellar, stellar games on Thursday. Amos had that fourth
(18:53):
down pass breakup in the fourth quarter where he flashed
great recovery, he got his hand on the ball to
prevent a touchdown, but he was beat. I mean, if
Jordan Love throws that pass a little bit better, then
that's that's a clear touchdown. And we're talking about you know,
Amos skinning torched and he was the best of those
three corners on Thursday. And so you can't have that
kind of repre performance against the team that's going to
(19:13):
be aggressive and is going to give you those opportunities
because you're you're going up against the Chip Kelly offense,
They're going to throw some stuff at you. And so
that communication and that discipline to stay in your zone
when you have one, and to really match up one
on one and win and make a play on the ball.
That's going to be what it takes. And again it
might sound overly simplistic, but sometimes that's what it takes
(19:34):
on defense to stop the opposition. Like you have to
be where you're supposed to be, You have to communicate
with your teammates, and when the opportunity presents itself, you
have to capitalize on it. You can't have those situations
where this interception gets pulled back because of a rough
in the passer or oh you know, I got a
handout but couldn't couldn't quite come down with it. Like,
you have to convert those things. And if you don't
(19:56):
like Joe whit's gonna start fulming.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Yeah, yeah, he definitely will.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
I think like we should talk about the matchups here
specifically on the outside because this this Raider receiving group,
and I would say of the three that we've seen
so far, it's definitely third on the list in my opinion,
because they don't have they don't have the elite neighbors.
They've got Jacobe Myers up there, and Joby Mayers is
a solid player, but he's not He's definitely not in
that that same tier. Brock Ours is I think my
(20:24):
far the best weapon. But then you've got guys that
Trey Tucker, you got Dante Thornton, Jack Beck. All these
guys are pieces, and this secondary seems like it would
have a better matchup against those, specifically guys like Trey
and Most and Marshall Latimore, who I've said are we're
pretty solid at man coverage. So David, let me I'm
curious to know, like what your assessment is about how
(20:44):
Trey and and Marshal Gould do against these guys and
what they can do to put themselves in better positions.
Speaker 4 (20:51):
Yeah, you know, I think I think a lot of it.
You You you have these mistakes in zone, and as
a decordinatorly we all wonder like where's the where's the
adjustments to try to stop these tight ends and all
that stuff? And I think the adjustment came and as
you go through the process of that game, you see
Joe a Junior go more towards man coverage go away
from the zone coverage, especially the zone pressures and things
(21:11):
like that, And that's the adjustment, right, Like, my guys
are doing better in man than they are in the zone.
And and you know, it's it's funny just the different
sides of the coin that sometimes people don't understand. Is
like in zone, it's easier in the sense that you're
not you know, I mean everything becomes man eventually, right,
I think we all know that. But like in zone
it's a little bit easier because you're not fighting off
the line necessarily. It's more just kind of read and
(21:31):
react and wait for the assignment to come to you
than anything. And in man it's easier. You just you
just I'm covering a lepet whoever it is, Like Eleven's
my dude, I stay with eleven. That's simplistic. But it's
also hard because they do things like rub pick, you know,
mesh all these up to things that they can do
to try to knock you out man beaters, as Marshall
Lattimore put it. And when they see that you're going
into just man because you're not running your zone efficiently,
(21:53):
because you're not communicating, then it just makes it easy pickings, right.
I've seen fans hear the Marshall Latimore comment of you
know what, we went into man a lot and they
just ran man beaters, and people were like, oh, it's
that easy to beat. This defense is going to man beaters. Well, yeah,
when your zone isn't communicating effectively, it is that easy
because your choices are we try to latch onto your
hip and keep you covered as much as possible, or
(22:13):
we continue to miscommunicate in zone and we just leave
you even more wide open, Like which of the negatives
do you want? So that's just kind of what it
leads to with Trey Amos and Marshawn Lattimore. I would
actually say, even though because of all the man beaters,
Marshawn specifically catching a lot of heat kind of gets
you know, exposed a little bit more there. But that's
just just kind of the nature of the business, to
(22:34):
be honest with you, And it sucks to say it
that way because people want to hear a solution. They
don't want to hear like you just got your butt beat,
you know what I mean. But at the end of
the day, that's kind of what it ends up happening.
I think here in this game, Like they're gonna work
on the communication. You know, the guys who messed up
the communication understand they've done wrong. They've done it before correctly.
But I'll tell you what, man, Like, I went back
(22:55):
and I was watching the Raiders. They're their first game
this season against the Patriots, and literally the first snap
is a very similar play to what the Packers ran
to get that fifty seven yard. Like it's kind of
eerie of how similar the play was. Now instead of
editing up with like four guys on one side, the
Raiders end up with three on the one side. But like,
it's very eerie. And in this case, you know, the
(23:18):
same thing. The flat gets covered, the chip releaser gets covered,
and it's the middle linebacker who actually blows the assignment
and ends up opening the back door for brock Powers
that leads to the big play. When you know, Mike
Rabel did not appreciate that from a linebacker, right, So
it's just but it's just another example of like, that's
what these plays are designed do, is put guys in conflict.
And when the Raiders case it was a play action,
(23:40):
the middle linebacker bid up on the play action leaves
the back door open for Brock powers that conflict. How
do you negotiate that conflict, Well, if you negotiate it
within your assignment, you'll be fine. Middle linebacker's not supposed
to bite up on that play action. In that play,
your job is to run fit which comes after you
know it's clicking closed seatball, get ball, whatever euphemism you
want to use. So it's it's again. It just boils
(24:00):
down to assignment football. I'm interested, Zach. I want to
see this. I want to see Joe Whip pull out
of cover two trap. I think that's something that the
Washington commanders could really execute well against Gino Smith. You know,
drop two safeties kind of look like you have those
soft corners, whether it's Marshawn or Trey, bring that pass
rush and Gino, like we said, he's going to put
the ball in play. So if you make him think
that underneath, that underneath shot on the outside is open
(24:23):
when that pass rush is coming there. You know, for
those who don't know what to cover two trap is,
you know that corner triggers. As soon as you see
Geno looking your way with that arm cocking back, you trigger.
You go downhill. You try to get in front of
that ball, and you can do that aggressively, because if
you're wrong, or if you're too late and the ball
gets completed, your safety is also triggering behind you. Instead
of dropping deeper into his cover, he's triggering down behind
(24:43):
you to lay a hit on the receiver. You know
it's risky, it's aggressive, but I think that's the kind
of play that one, if you execute appropriately and accurately,
could lead to a pick six.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
And I think if you say you've got as much
confidence in your corners as as they do, then this
should be something you feel like you should be confident
in doing, and especially guy that Tray and Marshall, who
they're supposed to have these reputations being very good at
banking players in the ball. So we'll see last thing
before we move on to the last question here. And
we've we've mentioned brop hours and I feel like we
(25:14):
have to at least address him a little bit of here, Liam.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
And it's not maybe not as simple as like who
do you put on him?
Speaker 2 (25:20):
But maybe it is in some ways like what is
this secondary's answer for a gual I brought powers who
is physical, strong and runs like a receiver and look
I'm just curious to hear your thoughts and like, what
do you think their answer is for him?
Speaker 3 (25:35):
I mean, it's not that it's not the ideal answer
that you want to hear, but I think the answer
is running running those zones properly. I don't think they're
going to man him up all the time. The answer
is going to be, like you know, Bobby Wager taking
away to send O the field. The answer is going
to be Will Harris, you know, fulfilling his role as
that kind of Swiss army knife on the defense and
(25:56):
playing different roles and hopefully confusing Geno Smith. But I
don't think there's going to be a single, you know,
matchup that they're going to be looking to exploit. It's
going to take that entire defense. But it's gonna take
them living up to their potential. Because we talk about
Will Harris. He had a really rough game on Thursday night,
and I think they have they have pretty grand designs
(26:16):
for him, and he's got a really difficult role in
this defense that he's still trying to figure out. But
part of that role is supposed to be you hear
you know, teams around the league talk about it like
guys who take away the opposing tight end. So guys
like like Derwin James or Kyle Hamilton, those kinds of
of safeties are obviously like great at their craft who
can fill those different roles and take away those kind
(26:39):
of versattle targets for an offense. Ideally you'd love to have,
you know, to help, say, Will Harris, you're not gonna
let rock Bowers get anything. But I don't think that's
exactly how that's gonna work. It's going to take that
kind of aggregate performance from the defense to really work
together to blanket that coverage.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
No, it's it's like dat, I mean, it's eleven players
working as one because you have one guy that's that's
going that they kind of does his own thing and
all of a sudden missus assignment all of a sudden, Yeah,
have like as I brought power, if you're gonna have.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
A good day.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
And on that note, I feel like I got to
give David the point here because he brought the heat
with the with the play breakdown, the conversary traps, all
all that stuff that was excellent but really great points
to buy you two, Liam, and we'll move on to
the final question. And for the sake of making this
a little spicy, we will allow two points for for this.
So if you may, if you win this one, leaue
you still you still got the whole, the whole around,
(27:33):
the whole game.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
We'll move on to the last question here.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
And I think there was a lot of positions that
were that you were wanting more from against the Packers
for a variety of reasons, right, whether it was maybe
is top of the line go up against that pass rush,
or giving the quarterback in some instances, or receivers getting open,
you know, pass away the pattress for the commanders or
the linebackers and the safeties like all that stuff. But like,
what's if there's if if the Commanders are gonna be
(27:58):
able to bounce back and go to two on here,
what's one position that absolutely needs to show a little
bit more here?
Speaker 1 (28:06):
And Liam, we'll start.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
With you, Uh yeah, I'll take the easy option there,
and I will say the offensive line. You can't have
that kind of performance going forward. Like I know, Michael
Parsons is a freak of nature. I know that you're
not going to have to play him twice a year anymore.
But you're back this week and you're playing Max Crosby instead.
That's not it doesn't get it easier. Like every week
(28:29):
you're going to be going against NFL edge rushers if
you're Josh Connerly, and there's there's not going to be
you know, anyone that you can really like rest on
your laurels for. And yeah, it's a tough assignmon going
from the Giants with Brian Burns and Caveon Thibodeaux and
Abdul Carter and going to Michael Parsons now going to
Max Crosby, But like this is what you get drafted
in the first round for, and it's it's not going
(28:51):
to be easy, but that's going to be so crucial
for this offense to get rolling because we really haven't
seen them click yet this season and that that that's
what carried this team through that postseason run, was an
offense that could turn it on when they really needed to,
and we haven't seen them like hit that hit that
second third fourth year this season, and a lot of
(29:12):
that is because they haven't had a lot of they
haven't had a lot of time like for for the passers,
and if you've got a potentially injured Jane Daniels back there,
who's not at you know, running out one hundred percent speed.
You're gonna need to.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
Buy him some time.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
Or if you've got Marcus Mariota, who may not be
quite as spry, then you're gonna want to let him
sort through those reads without being you know, having Max
Crosby breathing down his throat. And I think it's important
to reference in that as well, is that you're missing
Austin Eckler now. And a lot is made about his
ability as a receiver as kind of the safety valve
(29:46):
that checkdown, but what he as as a as an
extra protector, like throwing those chips that veteran savvy can
sound a little bit cliche, but that's really important. And
so when for guys like Jeremy McNichols or Bill Crosskey
Merrick who are going to be taking those snaps, are
they going to be able to help Josh Connery keep
either Jaden or Marcus upright. That's gonna be really important
(30:09):
for them because it's like David said, I mean, the
band's on it. It takes all five guys working together.
And Larimie Tunsel is great, Tyler Biadish is incredibly steady.
But all right, Josh Connelly, what what do you got?
Are you ready to take that next step? Brandon Coleman,
they're looking to rely on him and he's been had
kind of an up and down performance so far this year.
(30:31):
So really it's that offensive line, because it's hard to
get anything going if you don't have full trust in
that unit.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Excellent points, particularly with this stuff about Austin Eckler, like
you don't, like you said, you don't really think about
too much about him as a past expert. He is,
he's he's pretty solid in that regard and that's gonna
that's gonna have a rippling effect not just you know,
in the backfield, but also in the off the line,
in the entire unit as well.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
David, your response, same question.
Speaker 4 (30:57):
Yeah, I think you know, we've we've talked a good
amout about the secondary and then clearly all of us
think that the secondary has to have a better performance.
The only thing I'll add there is I think in
the red zone, you just got to put a guy
on top end underneath the Brock powers and you just
got to make someone else beat you, whether you know
Trey Tucker, ch Kobe Myers, Michael Meyer, like, no distructing
any of those guys, but none of those guys of
Brock Bowers. I'm okay with Geno trying to isolate one
(31:21):
of those guys or try to force it into Brock.
And that's when we talk about maybe you get one
of those opportunities for one of those interceptions. So you know,
we talked a lot about that. So I'm gonn double
down on the old line, but not just the old line,
just performance in general, the communication part of it. Right,
We talked about this understanding of your assignment or anything
else like that. Like Josh Connolly Junior, man, I love
the kid. I think is his future is bright thing.
(31:42):
He's got a lot of tools. He's gonna be fine eventually.
I don't know if that's gonna be week three because
the thing in week two, what you saw a lot
was just a young guy just in the weeds.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
Man.
Speaker 4 (31:50):
I just think that he was just in the bad stuff,
you know what I mean. There's a different word we
use for it where I come from. But he was
in the bad stuff and there was just nothing bringing
him out of it. Because not only was he getting
beat in his one on ones, but when he did
have help. You know, there's several reps there where you
see them come off the line of scrimmage and Austin
neck but very clearly is coming to help his outside shoulder.
(32:11):
But Josh Connelly Junior oversets so much that the defender
beats both of them inside and it's like, dude, you
got to you gotta know where your help is. Right.
If your help is outside, then you kind of know
as a tackle you don't have to kick out as
much you can. Actually, it gives you a little bit
of excuse to kind of cheat a little bit and
not kick it. That's the whole point of having that
help there is is to cheat just a little bit, right,
And he's just so in the weeds man that he
(32:32):
just he's not even understanding where his help is. You know, look,
kudos to his teammates. Nobody's on the under the bus,
nobody's on the field yelling at him things like that.
You know, he's getting coached up on the sideline. But yeah,
I mean, like, those are the things, like you said, Liam,
like your first round draft pick, those are the things
that you have to be able to in the heat
of the battle do better. And I think that coming
away from Thursday night having time to digest it, like
(32:54):
it'll be a little bit easier in week three. But
I mean Max Crosby is a monster, you know what
I mean, Like like that's not if that's not, and
he's gonna catch up either. And I think the good
news is Jeremy McNichols. I mean, we all go back
to Cincinnati, right, But Jeremy McNichols is proven, like he's
a capable UH pass protector. He's he's gonna help if
if it's his job to help Josh Connolly, he's gonna help.
Chris Rodriguez we know is a bowling ball. He's gonna
(33:16):
get out there and do it.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
And Bill.
Speaker 4 (33:17):
I don't think there's anything that Bill isn't gonna try
to do really hard. So they're gonna have good teammates, honestly,
you know, if you're Bobby Johnson and if you're if
you're just off the support your Cliff Kingsburgh, I don't
I don't know. Maybe instead of telling that you know
that running back in the backfield, if you're gonna chip release,
instead of giving him assignment inside outside chip release, whatever
it is, just say hey, listen, just kind of hold
up just kind of stay in the backfield, see what
(33:38):
happens with Josh, react off of it and go you
know what I mean, like, and that's kind of an
unorthodox way of doing it, and it's it's kind of
weird because if you have if he gets beat right
off the line, then you've got this bowling ball of
Max Crosby running at full speed at your running back.
So that's not gonna look great. But it's it's it's
and that's the predicament that a coach comes into, right,
It's like, how do we really fix this because it's
hard for like Cliff can't get in the head set
(34:00):
on second and six is hey, Josh, remember Austin's coming
to your right side, so make sure that you cheat
inside a little bit. That's just not how that works.
So you know, I think that's like it's the it's
on the individual individual performance as well. But again, it
all comes back down to assignment football. Understand what your
assignment is, do your assignment, and usually things are going
(34:21):
to go right nine times at a time.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
Totally agree.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
I agree Max Prowby is going to be that's going
to be a tough matchup for Connory and I'm interested
to see how he bounces back, because he's been a
guy who you you hear about a lot of good things,
but he doesn't make a lot of the same sake twice.
But again, three weeks of having guys like Abdul Carter
than Michael Parsons, then Max Crosby, it's tough. It's a
tough three games, prap for sure. I don't think you'll
(34:44):
you'll find a tougher stretch for the rest of the year.
Speaker 4 (34:46):
But then the Falcons got a couple of young you know,
aggressive pass rushing. Yeah, yeah, I mean, look James Pierce
making me eat a little bit of crow here. Early
in the season, I had bust written all over that, dude.
I mean it's still early, but yeah, he's he's balling
out a little bit too.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
Oh yeah, for sure. So man, final decision here, both
going with the old line? Oh man, I think you know,
I think I.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
Gotta go with lady here because you mentioned the rippling
effects of like having guys like and you mentioned at first,
but having guys like Austin Eckler out and that's gonna
ripple effect for the route, for the offensive line and everything.
I think that's an excellent point because it does put
more pressure on that group. The group is trying to
figure it out still, and I'm sure they will. But
for now, Liam, you have won this episode. How do
you feel about that?
Speaker 1 (35:29):
Feel great?
Speaker 3 (35:29):
And I'm gonna use it to show our praise on
David Harrison one more time, because he talked about Josh
Connell being in the weeds, and the thing I kept
thinking about when I was watching that game bag is
I was thinking about sam Donold talking about seeing ghosts
against the Patriots when he was early in his career.
That's what I was thinking about, was like, man, Josh
Connell is gonna be thinking about about Michael Parsons and
seeing the ghost of Michael Parsons for quite some time.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
So anyway, shout out David Harrison. He's one of the
partest guys on the beat.
Speaker 3 (35:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
No, David did an excellent job. Here. We're like thirty
seconds away from this zoom any ending.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
But I will say again, great job David, Great job William,
and be sure to rate, review, subscribe every use of
your podcast, guys, and this has been They'll be down.
Speaker 4 (36:11):
H
What is up? What's going on? Y'all?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
This is another episode of the Beatdown Podcast, Week three edition.
I'm your host, senior writer for the Washington Commanders, Zach Selby,
and the Commanders suffered their first loss at lambeau Field
at the hand of the Green Bay Packers twenty seven
to eighteen. Bit of a tough one for sure, stayed
in it, but a lot of errors injuries all over
the place, one of which we will be talking about
(00:33):
later on today. But we're moving on after they have
a chance to lick their wounds, to go to Northwest
State and to play the Las Vegas Raiders, who suffered
a loss on Monday night, late night Monday night football
matchup between them and the Chargers, And how are they
going to do that, especially with Jayden Daniels potentially his
status up in the air. Well, that is what we're
(00:53):
going to be talking about today. We have two new
guests we have. On one hand, we have Lian Griffin
from the Washington Times.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Lee, Am I doing?
Speaker 3 (01:02):
I'm doing good?
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Happy to be here again.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
We're happy to have you as well. And we also
have David Harrison from Sports ills Tree.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Howy you doing?
Speaker 4 (01:09):
Man? I am good? How are you.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
I'm doing doing excellent, you know.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
And also for the people I did to get engaged
over the weekend, so that's very exciting.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
We're still over the moon about that.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Throw that out there, but we'll go ahead and dive
into it here, and you guys know the deal by now.
We're gonna ask these people questions, We're gonna give up points,
We're gonna have winners losers. It will be decided by
me because I am the host and I am burdened
with that purpose. All that said, let's dive in to it,
starting with jayde and Daniels, who I mentioned earlier. He
(01:42):
suffered a knee injury, and his status right now is
we don't know. To be honest, it looks like he's
gonna be going through his return to play process. We
don't know exactly at the timas recording it. It's Tuesday
at six thirty one pm, so we don't know exactly
how much time he's going to be practicing and win
thro your Thursday or Friday, but he will be monitored
pretty heavily to see if he's going to be able
(02:03):
to play or not. If he does not play, the
commanders will have to go with Marcus Mariota as their backup,
and he got to play a little bit last year
against the Cowboys and the Carolina Panthers.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
So we'll start there and we'll start again.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
We don't know, but what if Jaden is available and
how does that game plan change for the Raiders if
he has to miss at least some amount of times here.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
So Leean will start with you and we'll give your thoughts.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Yeah, So I think the Commanders are pretty fortunate in
this situation. Mariota is widely regarded as one of the
more competent backups in the league. Obviously, you never want
your star quarterback missing time, but from every conversation that
we've had with the team, they feel totally confident in
Marcus Mariota's ability to run this offense. One of the
reasons that he got brought in was because of his
(02:56):
ability to run the same system without taking, you know,
too much off the table. So, yeah, you'll probably see
a bit fewer of the of the deep shots that
Jaden has been you know, increasingly comfortable with, even when
they're not connecting, You'll see him take those. You might
see a bit fewer of those with Marcus Marriauda behind center.
But I don't think that you'll see, you know, any
(03:18):
any decrease in the number of like quarterback runs. I
think you're gonna have a lot of that designed run
game for the quarterback and and for the running backs
as well, even with Austin Eckler out, And I think
you'll see a lot more stuff going on behind the
line of scrimmage because that has worked for Cliff Kingsbury
offenses in the past. So things like jet sweeps, screens,
(03:38):
those kinds of things will help your backup quarterback get
more comfortable in that offense if he's called upon on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Yeah, you know, I remember last year, way in the
off season, everyone looked at the marks Mario to.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Signing as a whole hope he never.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Plays, and you know that that that is basically still
true in a sense.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
But he's shown that he can still go out there
and play.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
I mean, his his two performances completion percentage was we're
like against the Panthers and the Cowboys were two of
like his best.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Of like his entire career, and he's.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Through no interceptions. Still shows they had a little bit
of those wheels out there. But he it's been a
while since we've seen him right at least like in
a full capacity, because he didn't miss a significant portion
of training camp. But David will switch over to you here,
and you know, I said, we haven't seen h thin'
get that much time in training camp to really ramp up,
so to speak.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
So are you concerned.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
About how much time he did not get to spend
in this offense and with some of his new teammates,
And if so, I mean, does that affect anything about
how this offense could potentially function with Marcus?
Speaker 1 (04:41):
It has to start.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
I'm not necessarily concerned with how many reps he missed,
so to speak, because I think that, you know, to
a certain extent, the offense gets a little bit simplistic,
and I think because of that, a lot of people
are going to look at if Marcus has to play
over Jade, and a lot of people are going to
look at that as a downgrade. And I think that
if this were to be a season ending situation, then
certainly you could go there. But I think in a
one week situation, it's not a downgrade. It's just different
(05:05):
and in a lot of ways that I could actually
benefit the commanders if it were to happen, like there's
there's a silver lining here that could be very real,
you know, and break through the cloud or whatever you
want to call it, and and bring a little ray
of sunshine to Northwest Stadium one Sunday. And that is that,
you know, Marcus, like you alluded to, like the veteran presence.
You know, people have spoken about jade Daniels and his
tendency to use the right side of the field, whether
(05:26):
it's running, whether it's throwing. He just likes the right
side of the field. Well, every right handed quarterback like
it's the right side of the field, right. But as
you get more reps, more experienced and everything else, you
get to a point where you get you can use
the majority of the field or the entirety of the
field a little bit more comfortably. You know, once you
have all those reps, Marcus Mariotta is there, Marcus Mariota
is going to use the left he's and use the
right he's and use the middle. And I think also
(05:48):
it changes the way the Raiders have to pass rush
because Marcus isn't going to look to extend the plays
the way that Jadeen Daniels does. He's gonna look to
get north and south. So if you're defending Jade and
Daniels as a pass rush, you're trying to bend his
left side in right because you know he's going to
try to go right anyway, so you want to try
to attack him from his blind side, and you want
to extend the right side of the pass rush his
(06:10):
right side of the pass rush to box him in. Well,
with Marcus Mariota, you go bending that left side. He's
just going to find a gap slipped through, get up,
get north and south and get as many yards as
he can. And it's not going to work as well
because he is willing and able to use the entirety
of the field. The same thing with those shots. He's
going to take shots to the left, he's going to
take shots to the right. Although, interestingly enough, this year,
at least two games small sample size, the left side
deep shot has been more successful for Jade and then
(06:32):
the right side, which is not what you expect, but
it is what it is. As far as like behind
the line of scrimmage changes, I do think one significant
thing changes, and I think it's a readoption. I don't
think you run as much readoption with Marcus Mariota because
he's just not as much of a threat to keep
the ball. And again, like on the surface, that might
seem like you're taking away a big part of Cliff
Kingsbury's offense, and to a certain extent you are. This
(06:53):
not necessarily a bad thing because what it allows your
offensive line to do and your blockers to do is
to not have to wonder what's happening behind them. Right Like,
the play changes exponentially depending on if Jaden keeps the
ball or if he hands the ball off. If he
hands the ball off, it's a pretty straight up run play.
I'm going to hit my first Mark, I'm gonna hit
my second Mark up, got my carry on, you know,
down the field, block whatever I need to try to
(07:14):
go and seal that. But if Jaden keeps the ball,
I've got to react to that as well, and the
alignman don't know what's happening until it's happening in real time.
You have a quarterback, they can't do the read option
as much like Mark's Mariota. It simplifies things to the
offensive line, and now you're aggressive blockers like Nick Allagraty,
like Tyler Biadish now they know I got to get
to my first mark, whether that's you know, interior, sior,
(07:35):
whatever it is, and then boom, I'm mine in that safety.
I'm eyeing that linebacker because I know I'm going there.
I don't have to wonder about what's happening behind me.
So in some ways, the simplicity of it, if it
happens in a one week vacuum, actually gives the commanders
a little bit of a benefit because it's not a
season long prognosis.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Yeah, and you know, I kind of want to highlight
on something that you brought it that like maybe not
using the read option as much, I mean for me,
And this is, you know, just a little behind the
current here. I spent a lot of time watching Marcus
because I grew up a Titans fan. I watched a
lot of his career there in Tennessee. And I will
say one of the things he does better than almost
anybody is that mesh point right, the ability to hold
(08:14):
onto that ball just long enough to kind of bait
the defensive end enough to pull him in and then
all of a sudden he's out there. We again, He's no,
he's you know, he's in his thirties and I don't know.
He even said after that long run head against the Cowboys, like, wow,
I don't know if I still have that anymore than
I used to have, but it I do think maybe
that is going to be a part of it. Lee,
(08:35):
I want your thoughts on that, because again, like you
talk about how you know he was brought in because
you didn't want the scheme to change that much, he
had to play, and one way or the other, whether
it's different than Jaden or not, Like the quarterback's legs
in this offense do play a pretty critical role in
how this how this scheme functions.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Yeah, I think I think we have a lot of
times because Marcus has been in the league so long.
I think this is his through eleventh season, you know,
like we have this kind of vision of him.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
He's also you know, sporting, like.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
A little bit of an early gray, but like he's
only thirty one years old, and you know, he had
the tendonitis. I think it was in the offseason kept
him out. But I do think that he can still
I think he can still scow, Like I think you
might see his wheels still in this game. Obviously, it's
not going to be Jane Daniel's level of explosiveness. But
I personally don't think that they will completely get away
(09:27):
from that readoption game, especially if like they had on Thursday,
if they have issues running the ball straight up the
gut or you know, in a more traditional run game.
I wouldn't be surprised to see them kind of, you know,
take advantage of that, if those ends are crashing off
the side and really trying to get those runners in
the backfield. I wouldn't be surprised to see Marcus Mario
to keep a couple.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Of those Yeah, you know, you mentioned that gray hair,
and I remember when I first saw him last year.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
I was like, oh my gosh, we're the same age, Like,
how how does that does that work?
Speaker 2 (09:56):
I'm starting to worry about myself here, but yeah, you know,
so Dave, we're gonna switch over to you here.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
And like it's not just about like he's really hit.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
How the defense has to adjust to to Marcus is
about how they rest of the offense and the players
have to part with up maybe adjust to to Marcus
as well on his own team. Does that help players
in an abstract way get like maybe Terry gets a
little more attention here, maybe Deebu gets more involved early or.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Something like that.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
How do you think that it affects the rest of
the personnel and how they're used.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
Yeah, I mean, like I said, you know, I think
you know again, like you use the read option enough
to make sure that the defense knows it can come,
but you simplify the rushing attack and allow those linemen
to just kind of do what they do best and
go forward to just hit people. Well, for receivers, I
think that there's a second level to the mentality there
as well, where a guy like Jaden you know, I
think last year a lot of times we're kind of
talking about his first read, second read run right. And
(10:46):
so if you're a receiver out in the formation and
you're the third or the fourth read, you kind of
know the ball is not likely coming in my way.
So you're you're not going out there sandbag and or
anything like that. But there's just a little bit there's
gonna be a natural, you know, drop and intensity in
how you're ex queuing your routes and how you're ex
schoting your assignment. If you kind of have this inkling
in the back of the mind, the ball is probably
not coming your way. Well, I think that when the
backup comes in, and this doesn't mark as specific or
(11:10):
even Jaden specific, I think across the league, when you
see a backup quarterback come in, you just these players
they did. The receivers run their routes just a little
bit more crisp, the blockers put in a little bit
more energy. The tight ends I have to chip or
something before they release, or running backs or whoever it is,
they chip a little bit stronger, you know what I mean.
There's just kind of this natural tendency of you know,
there's there's more weight on the rest of us, on
(11:32):
the other ten now that you know the main one
of the eleven is off the field. And I don't
think it's necessarily intentional, but I think it's something that, again,
you know, in a small sample size, can help them.
You know, as long as it's just week three now
you get into like and I don't think we're here
just for clarity purpose, But if you were to get
in a week four, five, and six and this is
still happening, then obviously long term it's it's a different effect,
(11:52):
but it's you know, kind of think of it like
almost like a little shot at NOAs like some of
the rest of these guys might get going a little
bit crisp or a little bit faster because Jaden's not
back there.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Yeah, that is an interesting point.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Now I'm wondering if in a weird way, this is
this could be something that this offense kind of needs
to give them a little bit of spark, because I
not necessarily to say that they weren't with al spark
in those last two weeks, but they were definitely there
were moments when he didn't always look like the crisp
unit that it was, and and DC even mentally it's
probably September football, but you know, at the end of the day,
it might instill end up being in.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
A weird way what they need. But we'll move on.
But first, you know, I'll give you both points.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
I like both the points that you guys may and
I think I think they were they were excellent context.
But we'll we'll move over from the offense to the
defense here, particularly with the secondary, because we were we
looked at we looked at the secondary in training camp,
and we saw a lot of really good things with
traying Emos, Marshall Lattimore, Mikey Samerso, back in a traditional position.
You've got Jonathan Jones who provides a lot of really
good depth there and this game it seemed like a
(12:53):
little not necessarily a step back in some ways, but
you do have you do have some questions, right, Jordan
Love throws for two hundred ninety two yards.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
A lot of that is from Tucker Craft, who head.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
To take a monster day with the fifty seven yard
reception one hundred and twenty four yards overall. But you
look in this receiver group for the Raiders and what
may not be necessarily the scariest thing, they do have
a guy like Brock Bowers who are are already one
of the best of their position.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
And Dave will keep over to you here and.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
I'm curious to know, like what your assessment is of
the secondary after that, after that we two game, and
what can they do to have maybe a better performance,
you know, with the guy with against the Raiders with
a guy like like I said, with Brock Powers.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Going to town.
Speaker 4 (13:34):
Yeah, I think I think there's two things that you
have to do if you're the secondary. And the first
thing is, and this sounds really simplistic, you gotta do
your job, man. You know what I mean, you gotta
do your job. Like there's calls, there's checks. You know,
when when when you're getting a push call, you know,
to from one side of the formation to the other,
that adjusts that's supposed to adjust your zone. You've got
to adjust your zone, you know. And it sounds simplistic, right,
(13:55):
but you know, I'll tell you right now. You can
go back to some of the biggest plays of that
Packers game and you go back and you watch the
tape and there's there's checks made, and there's adjustments made
by the appropriate person. In a lot of these plays,
there's one guy. There's one guy that doesn't do the
right thing with that check. And when that one guy,
you know, I talked about this all the time on
my show. Like the trickiest thing about defense is it's
(14:17):
eleven guys operating is one, like we talked about the
offensive offensive line, whereas five guys operating is one. That's
the entire defense. Like, one guy doesn't do their job
on defense, that can mess it up for everybody, you
know what I mean. And when you have a quarterback
who's got experienced quarterback, who's intelligent, a guy like Jordan
Love like like look like that fifty seven yarder man,
I mean, were real about it. Like what the Packers
(14:38):
did there was really supposed to Like the intent behind
it is actually to open up the left side chip
releasing tide end or the right side flat, and neither
of those things came open because other guys did their jobs,
and then the one guy that didn't do his job
opened up the seam to Tucker Craft. That's not even
supposed to be. Like if you were to sit down
the offensive coordinator, say, when we come out in this
(14:58):
formation with this motion, what are we t and open up?
It's actually not Tucker Kraft because you assume that that
guy is going to be where he's supposed to be.
But because one person messed up the look, that's what
ends up happening later on in the game. You know,
they they started getting better I don't want to say
better in communication because we all know, like we're you know,
you're in Lamba, Like the fans aren't loud when Jordan
Love is trying to operate. So that push call or
(15:19):
whatever it is, you know, whatever terminology the commanders use,
I'm using terminology that I know, not theirs. You can
hear it. You know what I'm saying, it's just a
matter of registering it executing it in real time, and
that's what's got to happen more more often than not.
But then the other side of this is, man, Gino
Smith's gonna put this ball up Gino's there's gonna be
opportunities if the Commanders don't come away with at least
(15:40):
one interception in this game. If I was Joewidd junior,
and I'm saying this facetiously or you know, just jokingly,
by the way, hyper hYP hyperbolic, if I were Joey Junior,
no interceptions, nobody's leading the field at the end of
the game. We're all staying on the field. We're all running,
We're all going sideline to sideline impads until I throw up,
Like that's that's how mad I would Because Geo Smith
is going to put this ball in, Jeff, And this
(16:02):
defense has to get a takeaway in this game, like
it can't go three weeks within a takeaway. So those
two things is just take advantage of the opportunity that's
already going to be there because of who you're playing,
and then just do your job. Man, when the check
comes in, just just follow the check.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Yeah, no, I was.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
I was thinking a lot about I'm glad you brought
off that tech craft play because I do see what
you're talking about because you see the safety.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
I don't know what the player.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Was, but he moves over to the left of the
of the of the play, and all of a sudden,
there's just like this wide open spot there for photographer
to go through. But you didn't back up the turnovers.
And I think that is interesting as well, because this
is something that this to this team has emphasized, it
seems like on a weekly basis.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
And while there had been moments where.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
That has yielded some fruit, there's also been moments where
they have even admitted it's not up to where we want.
In the last two weeks there really haven't been that
that even really have many opportunities.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
For turnovers to occur.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
So Liam, let's focus on that with the secondary and
and you know, as Data said, Gino is gonna put
it up. And you've got these guys who are supposed
to have play really well in man coverage like which
I amos Marshall Lattimore like, but a you know, maybe
with with just doing your job, like I mean, how
can this team create more turnovers and give the ball back,
(17:20):
which is the thing again that they have made a
point of like trying to make that there their identity
since DQ and Joe a junior guide into DC.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
Yeah, and that David completely nailed that, Like it is all.
It all seemed like communication that that played at Tucker
Craft that we keep referencing. I'm pretty sure you see
you'd have to look at the film again, but I'm
pretty sure you see Bobby Wagner like pointing out like
that someone should be in that zone before before the
pass arrives.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Like that.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
Just that can't happen on a down to down basis,
especially with with when you're facing guys like Gino Smith
and Brock Bowers, who, like fortunately for the Commanders, like
brock Bowers is coming off of injury. He did not
look like his full self last night. And Gino Smith
is coming off maybe maybe the worst game of the
Geno Smith resurrection, if you will, like since his time
(18:09):
with the Jets.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
And so I think.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
If you're that secondary, you have to you have to
be aggressive. Like you two both touched on it, Gino
is wheeling and able to throw that deep ball, and
he's got the receivers as well. They've got receivers over
there who have speed, and so you're going to need
those safeties. Either you're going to use take that safety
help over the top and you're gonna want those safeties
(18:31):
to be aggressive, or you're going to want those lockdown
corners who you you have showered so much praise on
this offseason, and they all had great training camps, but
you have to have that translate onto the field. And
I mean all three of those guys, Trey Amos and
Mikey Samers still a Marshall Latimore, they didn't really have
like stellar, stellar games on Thursday. Amos had that fourth
(18:53):
down pass breakup in the fourth quarter where he flashed
great recovery, he got his hand on the ball to
prevent a touchdown, but he was beat. I mean, if
Jordan Love throws that pass a little bit better, then
that's that's a clear touchdown. And we're talking about you know,
Amos skinning torched and he was the best of those
three corners on Thursday. And so you can't have that
kind of repre performance against the team that's going to
(19:13):
be aggressive and is going to give you those opportunities
because you're you're going up against the Chip Kelly offense,
They're going to throw some stuff at you. And so
that communication and that discipline to stay in your zone
when you have one, and to really match up one
on one and win and make a play on the ball.
That's going to be what it takes. And again it
might sound overly simplistic, but sometimes that's what it takes
(19:34):
on defense to stop the opposition. Like you have to
be where you're supposed to be, You have to communicate
with your teammates, and when the opportunity presents itself, you
have to capitalize on it. You can't have those situations
where this interception gets pulled back because of a rough
in the passer or oh you know, I got a
handout but couldn't couldn't quite come down with it. Like,
you have to convert those things. And if you don't
(19:56):
like Joe whit's gonna start fulming.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Yeah, yeah, he definitely will.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
I think like we should talk about the matchups here
specifically on the outside because this this Raider receiving group,
and I would say of the three that we've seen
so far, it's definitely third on the list in my opinion,
because they don't have they don't have the elite neighbors.
They've got Jacobe Myers up there, and Joby Mayers is
a solid player, but he's not He's definitely not in
that that same tier. Brock Ours is I think my
(20:24):
far the best weapon. But then you've got guys that
Trey Tucker, you got Dante Thornton, Jack Beck. All these
guys are pieces, and this secondary seems like it would
have a better matchup against those, specifically guys like Trey
and Most and Marshall Latimore, who I've said are we're
pretty solid at man coverage. So David, let me I'm
curious to know, like what your assessment is about how
(20:44):
Trey and and Marshal Gould do against these guys and
what they can do to put themselves in better positions.
Speaker 4 (20:51):
Yeah, you know, I think I think a lot of it.
You You you have these mistakes in zone, and as
a decordinatorly we all wonder like where's the where's the
adjustments to try to stop these tight ends and all
that stuff? And I think the adjustment came and as
you go through the process of that game, you see
Joe a Junior go more towards man coverage go away
from the zone coverage, especially the zone pressures and things
(21:11):
like that, And that's the adjustment, right, Like, my guys
are doing better in man than they are in the zone.
And and you know, it's it's funny just the different
sides of the coin that sometimes people don't understand. Is
like in zone, it's easier in the sense that you're
not you know, I mean everything becomes man eventually, right,
I think we all know that. But like in zone
it's a little bit easier because you're not fighting off
the line necessarily. It's more just kind of read and
(21:31):
react and wait for the assignment to come to you
than anything. And in man it's easier. You just you
just I'm covering a lepet whoever it is, Like Eleven's
my dude, I stay with eleven. That's simplistic. But it's
also hard because they do things like rub pick, you know,
mesh all these up to things that they can do
to try to knock you out man beaters, as Marshall
Lattimore put it. And when they see that you're going
into just man because you're not running your zone efficiently,
(21:53):
because you're not communicating, then it just makes it easy pickings, right.
I've seen fans hear the Marshall Latimore comment of you
know what, we went into man a lot and they
just ran man beaters, and people were like, oh, it's
that easy to beat. This defense is going to man beaters. Well, yeah,
when your zone isn't communicating effectively, it is that easy
because your choices are we try to latch onto your
hip and keep you covered as much as possible, or
(22:13):
we continue to miscommunicate in zone and we just leave
you even more wide open, Like which of the negatives
do you want? So that's just kind of what it
leads to with Trey Amos and Marshawn Lattimore. I would
actually say, even though because of all the man beaters,
Marshawn specifically catching a lot of heat kind of gets
you know, exposed a little bit more there. But that's
just just kind of the nature of the business, to
(22:34):
be honest with you, And it sucks to say it
that way because people want to hear a solution. They
don't want to hear like you just got your butt beat,
you know what I mean. But at the end of
the day, that's kind of what it ends up happening.
I think here in this game, Like they're gonna work
on the communication. You know, the guys who messed up
the communication understand they've done wrong. They've done it before correctly.
But I'll tell you what, man, Like, I went back
(22:55):
and I was watching the Raiders. They're their first game
this season against the Patriots, and literally the first snap
is a very similar play to what the Packers ran
to get that fifty seven yard. Like it's kind of
eerie of how similar the play was. Now instead of
editing up with like four guys on one side, the
Raiders end up with three on the one side. But like,
it's very eerie. And in this case, you know, the
(23:18):
same thing. The flat gets covered, the chip releaser gets covered,
and it's the middle linebacker who actually blows the assignment
and ends up opening the back door for brock Powers
that leads to the big play. When you know, Mike
Rabel did not appreciate that from a linebacker, right, So
it's just but it's just another example of like, that's
what these plays are designed do, is put guys in conflict.
And when the Raiders case it was a play action,
(23:40):
the middle linebacker bid up on the play action leaves
the back door open for Brock powers that conflict. How
do you negotiate that conflict, Well, if you negotiate it
within your assignment, you'll be fine. Middle linebacker's not supposed
to bite up on that play action. In that play,
your job is to run fit which comes after you
know it's clicking closed seatball, get ball, whatever euphemism you
want to use. So it's it's again. It just boils
(24:00):
down to assignment football. I'm interested, Zach. I want to
see this. I want to see Joe Whip pull out
of cover two trap. I think that's something that the
Washington commanders could really execute well against Gino Smith. You know,
drop two safeties kind of look like you have those
soft corners, whether it's Marshawn or Trey, bring that pass
rush and Gino, like we said, he's going to put
the ball in play. So if you make him think
that underneath, that underneath shot on the outside is open
(24:23):
when that pass rush is coming there. You know, for
those who don't know what to cover two trap is,
you know that corner triggers. As soon as you see
Geno looking your way with that arm cocking back, you trigger.
You go downhill. You try to get in front of
that ball, and you can do that aggressively, because if
you're wrong, or if you're too late and the ball
gets completed, your safety is also triggering behind you. Instead
of dropping deeper into his cover, he's triggering down behind
(24:43):
you to lay a hit on the receiver. You know
it's risky, it's aggressive, but I think that's the kind
of play that one, if you execute appropriately and accurately,
could lead to a pick six.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
And I think if you say you've got as much
confidence in your corners as as they do, then this
should be something you feel like you should be confident
in doing, and especially guy that Tray and Marshall, who
they're supposed to have these reputations being very good at
banking players in the ball. So we'll see last thing
before we move on to the last question here. And
we've we've mentioned brop hours and I feel like we
(25:14):
have to at least address him a little bit of here, Liam.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
And it's not maybe not as simple as like who
do you put on him?
Speaker 2 (25:20):
But maybe it is in some ways like what is
this secondary's answer for a gual I brought powers who
is physical, strong and runs like a receiver and look
I'm just curious to hear your thoughts and like, what
do you think their answer is for him?
Speaker 3 (25:35):
I mean, it's not that it's not the ideal answer
that you want to hear, but I think the answer
is running running those zones properly. I don't think they're
going to man him up all the time. The answer
is going to be, like you know, Bobby Wager taking
away to send O the field. The answer is going
to be Will Harris, you know, fulfilling his role as
that kind of Swiss army knife on the defense and
(25:56):
playing different roles and hopefully confusing Geno Smith. But I
don't think there's going to be a single, you know,
matchup that they're going to be looking to exploit. It's
going to take that entire defense. But it's gonna take
them living up to their potential. Because we talk about
Will Harris. He had a really rough game on Thursday night,
and I think they have they have pretty grand designs
(26:16):
for him, and he's got a really difficult role in
this defense that he's still trying to figure out. But
part of that role is supposed to be you hear
you know, teams around the league talk about it like
guys who take away the opposing tight end. So guys
like like Derwin James or Kyle Hamilton, those kinds of
of safeties are obviously like great at their craft who
can fill those different roles and take away those kind
(26:39):
of versattle targets for an offense. Ideally you'd love to have,
you know, to help, say, Will Harris, you're not gonna
let rock Bowers get anything. But I don't think that's
exactly how that's gonna work. It's going to take that
kind of aggregate performance from the defense to really work
together to blanket that coverage.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
No, it's it's like dat, I mean, it's eleven players
working as one because you have one guy that's that's
going that they kind of does his own thing and
all of a sudden missus assignment all of a sudden, Yeah,
have like as I brought power, if you're gonna have.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
A good day.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
And on that note, I feel like I got to
give David the point here because he brought the heat
with the with the play breakdown, the conversary traps, all
all that stuff that was excellent but really great points
to buy you two, Liam, and we'll move on to
the final question. And for the sake of making this
a little spicy, we will allow two points for for this.
So if you may, if you win this one, leaue
you still you still got the whole, the whole around,
(27:33):
the whole game.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
We'll move on to the last question here.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
And I think there was a lot of positions that
were that you were wanting more from against the Packers
for a variety of reasons, right, whether it was maybe
is top of the line go up against that pass rush,
or giving the quarterback in some instances, or receivers getting open,
you know, pass away the pattress for the commanders or
the linebackers and the safeties like all that stuff. But like,
what's if there's if if the Commanders are gonna be
(27:58):
able to bounce back and go to two on here,
what's one position that absolutely needs to show a little
bit more here?
Speaker 1 (28:06):
And Liam, we'll start.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
With you, Uh yeah, I'll take the easy option there,
and I will say the offensive line. You can't have
that kind of performance going forward. Like I know, Michael
Parsons is a freak of nature. I know that you're
not going to have to play him twice a year anymore.
But you're back this week and you're playing Max Crosby instead.
That's not it doesn't get it easier. Like every week
(28:29):
you're going to be going against NFL edge rushers if
you're Josh Connerly, and there's there's not going to be
you know, anyone that you can really like rest on
your laurels for. And yeah, it's a tough assignmon going
from the Giants with Brian Burns and Caveon Thibodeaux and
Abdul Carter and going to Michael Parsons now going to
Max Crosby, But like this is what you get drafted
in the first round for, and it's it's not going
(28:51):
to be easy, but that's going to be so crucial
for this offense to get rolling because we really haven't
seen them click yet this season and that that that's
what carried this team through that postseason run, was an
offense that could turn it on when they really needed to,
and we haven't seen them like hit that hit that
second third fourth year this season, and a lot of
(29:12):
that is because they haven't had a lot of they
haven't had a lot of time like for for the passers,
and if you've got a potentially injured Jane Daniels back there,
who's not at you know, running out one hundred percent speed.
You're gonna need to.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
Buy him some time.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
Or if you've got Marcus Mariota, who may not be
quite as spry, then you're gonna want to let him
sort through those reads without being you know, having Max
Crosby breathing down his throat. And I think it's important
to reference in that as well, is that you're missing
Austin Eckler now. And a lot is made about his
ability as a receiver as kind of the safety valve
(29:46):
that checkdown, but what he as as a as an
extra protector, like throwing those chips that veteran savvy can
sound a little bit cliche, but that's really important. And
so when for guys like Jeremy McNichols or Bill Crosskey
Merrick who are going to be taking those snaps, are
they going to be able to help Josh Connery keep
either Jaden or Marcus upright. That's gonna be really important
(30:09):
for them because it's like David said, I mean, the
band's on it. It takes all five guys working together.
And Larimie Tunsel is great, Tyler Biadish is incredibly steady.
But all right, Josh Connelly, what what do you got?
Are you ready to take that next step? Brandon Coleman,
they're looking to rely on him and he's been had
kind of an up and down performance so far this year.
(30:31):
So really it's that offensive line, because it's hard to
get anything going if you don't have full trust in
that unit.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Excellent points, particularly with this stuff about Austin Eckler, like
you don't, like you said, you don't really think about
too much about him as a past expert. He is,
he's he's pretty solid in that regard and that's gonna
that's gonna have a rippling effect not just you know,
in the backfield, but also in the off the line,
in the entire unit as well.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
David, your response, same question.
Speaker 4 (30:57):
Yeah, I think you know, we've we've talked a good
amout about the secondary and then clearly all of us
think that the secondary has to have a better performance.
The only thing I'll add there is I think in
the red zone, you just got to put a guy
on top end underneath the Brock powers and you just
got to make someone else beat you, whether you know
Trey Tucker, ch Kobe Myers, Michael Meyer, like, no distructing
any of those guys, but none of those guys of
Brock Bowers. I'm okay with Geno trying to isolate one
(31:21):
of those guys or try to force it into Brock.
And that's when we talk about maybe you get one
of those opportunities for one of those interceptions. So you know,
we talked a lot about that. So I'm gonn double
down on the old line, but not just the old line,
just performance in general, the communication part of it. Right,
We talked about this understanding of your assignment or anything
else like that. Like Josh Connolly Junior, man, I love
the kid. I think is his future is bright thing.
(31:42):
He's got a lot of tools. He's gonna be fine eventually.
I don't know if that's gonna be week three because
the thing in week two, what you saw a lot
was just a young guy just in the weeds.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
Man.
Speaker 4 (31:50):
I just think that he was just in the bad stuff,
you know what I mean. There's a different word we
use for it where I come from. But he was
in the bad stuff and there was just nothing bringing
him out of it. Because not only was he getting
beat in his one on ones, but when he did
have help. You know, there's several reps there where you
see them come off the line of scrimmage and Austin
neck but very clearly is coming to help his outside shoulder.
(32:11):
But Josh Connelly Junior oversets so much that the defender
beats both of them inside and it's like, dude, you
got to you gotta know where your help is. Right.
If your help is outside, then you kind of know
as a tackle you don't have to kick out as
much you can. Actually, it gives you a little bit
of excuse to kind of cheat a little bit and
not kick it. That's the whole point of having that
help there is is to cheat just a little bit, right,
And he's just so in the weeds man that he
(32:32):
just he's not even understanding where his help is. You know, look,
kudos to his teammates. Nobody's on the under the bus,
nobody's on the field yelling at him things like that.
You know, he's getting coached up on the sideline. But yeah,
I mean, like, those are the things, like you said, Liam,
like your first round draft pick, those are the things
that you have to be able to in the heat
of the battle do better. And I think that coming
away from Thursday night having time to digest it, like
(32:54):
it'll be a little bit easier in week three. But
I mean Max Crosby is a monster, you know what
I mean, Like like that's not if that's not, and
he's gonna catch up either. And I think the good
news is Jeremy McNichols. I mean, we all go back
to Cincinnati, right, But Jeremy McNichols is proven, like he's
a capable UH pass protector. He's he's gonna help if
if it's his job to help Josh Connolly, he's gonna help.
Chris Rodriguez we know is a bowling ball. He's gonna
(33:16):
get out there and do it.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
And Bill.
Speaker 4 (33:17):
I don't think there's anything that Bill isn't gonna try
to do really hard. So they're gonna have good teammates, honestly,
you know, if you're Bobby Johnson and if you're if
you're just off the support your Cliff Kingsburgh, I don't
I don't know. Maybe instead of telling that you know
that running back in the backfield, if you're gonna chip release,
instead of giving him assignment inside outside chip release, whatever
it is, just say hey, listen, just kind of hold
up just kind of stay in the backfield, see what
(33:38):
happens with Josh, react off of it and go you
know what I mean, like, and that's kind of an
unorthodox way of doing it, and it's it's kind of
weird because if you have if he gets beat right
off the line, then you've got this bowling ball of
Max Crosby running at full speed at your running back.
So that's not gonna look great. But it's it's it's
and that's the predicament that a coach comes into, right,
It's like, how do we really fix this because it's
hard for like Cliff can't get in the head set
(34:00):
on second and six is hey, Josh, remember Austin's coming
to your right side, so make sure that you cheat
inside a little bit. That's just not how that works.
So you know, I think that's like it's the it's
on the individual individual performance as well. But again, it
all comes back down to assignment football. Understand what your
assignment is, do your assignment, and usually things are going
(34:21):
to go right nine times at a time.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
Totally agree.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
I agree Max Prowby is going to be that's going
to be a tough matchup for Connory and I'm interested
to see how he bounces back, because he's been a
guy who you you hear about a lot of good things,
but he doesn't make a lot of the same sake twice.
But again, three weeks of having guys like Abdul Carter
than Michael Parsons, then Max Crosby, it's tough. It's a
tough three games, prap for sure. I don't think you'll
(34:44):
you'll find a tougher stretch for the rest of the year.
Speaker 4 (34:46):
But then the Falcons got a couple of young you know,
aggressive pass rushing. Yeah, yeah, I mean, look James Pierce
making me eat a little bit of crow here. Early
in the season, I had bust written all over that, dude.
I mean it's still early, but yeah, he's he's balling
out a little bit too.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
Oh yeah, for sure. So man, final decision here, both
going with the old line? Oh man, I think you know,
I think I.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
Gotta go with lady here because you mentioned the rippling
effects of like having guys like and you mentioned at first,
but having guys like Austin Eckler out and that's gonna
ripple effect for the route, for the offensive line and everything.
I think that's an excellent point because it does put
more pressure on that group. The group is trying to
figure it out still, and I'm sure they will. But
for now, Liam, you have won this episode. How do
you feel about that?
Speaker 1 (35:29):
Feel great?
Speaker 3 (35:29):
And I'm gonna use it to show our praise on
David Harrison one more time, because he talked about Josh
Connell being in the weeds, and the thing I kept
thinking about when I was watching that game bag is
I was thinking about sam Donold talking about seeing ghosts
against the Patriots when he was early in his career.
That's what I was thinking about, was like, man, Josh
Connell is gonna be thinking about about Michael Parsons and
seeing the ghost of Michael Parsons for quite some time.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
So anyway, shout out David Harrison. He's one of the
partest guys on the beat.
Speaker 3 (35:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
No, David did an excellent job. Here. We're like thirty
seconds away from this zoom any ending.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
But I will say again, great job David, Great job William,
and be sure to rate, review, subscribe every use of
your podcast, guys, and this has been They'll be down.
Speaker 4 (36:11):
H
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