Grant and Danny
Beltway Blitz: Nick Akridge on the Commanders
hit that local 53 sounder. Our guy PFF stick afterwards joins us to break down what we saw last night. Nick, we were there and I still kind of can't believe it. What the hell happened? How was this offense this good? Yeah, that was that was a near flawless performance from an offense. Yeah, it was tough to believe something that we're we're definitely not accustomed to. But I mean, I kind of touched on it in the past that you know, there were shots that were open for this offense that they just hadn't hit on yet, that it was coming. And yeah, it definitely did in a big way. So much of last night was Daniels being excellent, obviously, but they were ahead of script in on script and ahead of schedule, I should say, no penalties, no turnovers, like nothing negative, nothing less than ideal, hard to replicate that clearly. But what can you take out of that is sustainable about last evening, do you think? Yeah, I think it's the run game. And I think it's what what Cliff has kind of started to to develop with the team. And you know, he gets a lot of crap for the screens. You know, I'm one of them. I the screens are it's not a fun watch, but you know, it is an extension of your run game and it sets you up in positive situation and it puts you in spots that you can be successful. And so I think that run game that that sort of short yardage stuff that they keep doing is something that you know, that can prove to success. And I think, you know, we saw a flip of the script of what happened with the Giants and every time they got down on the red zone, something awful happened with Valley. This time, like you said, it they probably can't replicate this flawless of a performance, but it is kind of really good to see that run game really, really start to work. So I have long beaten the drum here for Austin Echler, I think they need to give him the ball more their first drive they gave it to him a bunch, he saw the touchdown run later on, and then the opening kick off the second half again, he's such a weapon. He obviously went out of the game, concussed, didn't make the trip with them to Arizona just yet. If he's it has to miss some time, that to me is a bigger loss. I think maybe people are realizing going to his role and what you've seen from the usage of him. Yeah, I think he's just an explosive back. I mean, I think, you know, thoughts that he was, you know, sort of washed up and a little bit old was kind of wrong. I mean, I think he was dealing with a lot of injuries last year, which kind of led to some of his struggles. But you can see it every time we touch the ball. I mean, two weeks at a row now, he's almost taken a kick return to the house, one he did, but got called back for penalty. And he's just an explosive explosive guy in it. It's just a weapon that, you know, we've talked forever about the lack of weapons on this offense. But he's one right there that you can get. You can get the ball pretty easily to him. So I kind of agree, I think it could be a pretty big loss. A lot of conversation over the last week, really two weeks about Terry McClorne, this show and many others about kind of where he's at in the big picture for for a buck and one touchdown last night at the 55 yard catch. And then at the game ceiling, unbelievable touchdown from Daniels, when Jaden and he called game last night. Would you make a Terry McClorne's performance? Yeah, I think this was similar to what we've seen in terms of him getting open. And the first two weeks, you know, I touched on it a bit earlier that, you know, he was getting open downfield. We saw it in the bucks game, you know, the miss the miss shot downfield that Jaden missed. And there were multiple opportunities in the Giants games well to get in the ball. You know, same with Luke McCaffrey, those two seem to consistently be getting open. And I think you just saw a flawless performance from Jane Daniels in the offense. And it all finally clicked. And I think it's just, you know, they're just going to keep going for Terry. All right, Nick, we've talked a lot about the offense and Jane Daniels. And we should. Here's a little bit of a thunderstorm gathering around the parade. If if the Bengals make a very makeable field goal and they don't not convert on two extra points, they went for two twice, didn't get it, then they have 38 points just like Washington did. This defense, it's still this defense, isn't it? Yeah, it's still pretty rough. I think one sign of encouragement is I do think that they really try to switch things up. They kind of saw the first two weeks that things weren't working. They played a lot of single high cover three stuff these first two weeks. And it was not working at all. They switched it. They played a lot of cover to a lot of cover two men. And that really, really worked. And every time they switched to single high man coverage, Baro kind of ate them up. So I think you see the script going forward for this sort of team is that you're going to need to just keep things underneath you. You can't really trust these guys to play man coverage on the outside. They try to switch the interest. So he played out wide the entire game for a time all year. And he actually played pretty well outside of that one, the touchdown early on, he was he was pretty solid. Ignogany kind of struggled in the slot. They just basically switched their roles. So I think you just kind of see that you don't have the guys to play man coverage the way you want. You don't have the guys play the single high that you want. So I think you really just kind of have to stick with this cover two stuff, keep them underneath and just don't give up the big place. Nick, thanks, buddy. We appreciate you. Yep. Thanks guys. See you check out Nick Ackrich PFF for Grant and Danny here on the fan in the fast paced world of attacking. Speed is everything. And that's where the Furon 7+ shines. Engineered for accuracy and precision at a rapid pace. It's your secret weapon on the pitch. Experience, overall comfort and precise striking. Even in the game's fastest moments, the nylon outsole with its V-shaped stud configuration is designed for firm ground, giving you the grip you need to outmaneuver your opponents. Step up your attacking game and learn more and purchase the Furon at New Balance dot com.