Grant and Danny

Celebrating a Victory Tuesday as Commanders Take Down Bengals on MNF; When Has a Win Felt This Good?

9.24.24 Hour 1

1:00- Grant & Danny celebrate a Victory Tuesday as Jayden Daniels leads the Commanders to victory in impressive fashion on National TV.

23:00- We reflect on the last time Washington got a victory that made you as happy as last night's win did.

Broadcast on:: 24 Sep 2024
Audio Format:: other

It's a whole and oats Tuesday on a victory Tuesday on Grant and Danny coming your way from the tri-state areas where we are still enjoying ourselves after an incredible night in Cincinnati. The Washington commanders on prime time with the country watching on national television under the lights went to a desperate Bengals building a raucous loud environment and moved up and down the field with ease in the coming out party for Jayden Daniels a star may have been born last night Danny Ruier a casual 38 points a five-point win the first place commanders are two and one and it was a style points victory last night many years ago the great stone cold Steve Austin cut one of the all-time promos in raslin history he looked at the ring and said get that piece of crap out my ring talking about jake saig roberts but i might as well be talking about the sitts daddy bangles bro you're desperate that's adorable we've got Jayden Daniels hey joe burrow MVP candidate we've got Jayden Daniels the entire stadium last night felt what i have felt for decades the entire fan base they're in Cincinnati the queen city but maybe it's in katucky maybe it's indiana i don't care they felt what i had to feel for 30 plus years be jealous swallow it taste my pain it's our turn it's our time he is here he wears number five everyone else can line up and kiss 100 of my tuckus just taste the fury that we have what you don't have that was incredible what a joyful perfect evening last night my friend it was masterpiece offensively Jayden Daniels take a bow just an incredible performance near perfection for him 21 of 23 passing he had two incompletions while throwing for 250 yards his first two career touchdown passes he rushed for another so he scored more times last night than he had incompletions as washington's offense for the second time in his many weeks did not punt in fact we're going to have tressway on the show today because he needs something to do we're going to call him at 330 and i don't even know if we need to ask him about the game or really have any kind of a conversation with him i just want to make sure he's alive i want to make sure he's still in their contract he hasn't retired he hasn't quit want to make sure he's going to Arizona or maybe we should just tell him to hang out with his wife and the kids in ashburn because he's not needed anymore your services are no longer needed jadon daniels took your number and essentially your job away as well because this team doesn't punt anymore because he is a cheat code on third and short and fourth and short with what he provides with his feet but it was just so exciting last night to me the dream and the hope with daniels and this is not linear this isn't what it's going to be every single week that shouldn't be the expectation but he had a game last night danny that almost every quarterback in the league cannot have it goes back to my scouting theorem with baseball you take out your notebook you get your stopwatch out right you're scouted a baseball game you you're spitting your sunflower seeds out i see a pitcher throw 97 and i see him rip off a really good breaking ball with feel for a change-up i pack everything up i go home now it's my job to figure out how to get that out of him all the time and locate and pitch with command and get the most out of him but he's got that and ninety nine percent of pitchers on the planet don't jayden daniels had a game last night name the quarterbacks in this organization through the years certainly recently or historically they can't do that they can't taylor heineke on his best day no karson wentz on his best day no alex mith on two legs no alex mith on one leg absolutely not that game that he had last night is kind of the dream didn't just start running at any sign of trouble he scrambled to reset right he's finding wide receivers someone tell cam taylor brit by the way that that was an NFL offense they they involved wide receivers danny mcclorn mccaffery noah brown the army brown all made huge plays as the game went along but how fun was it just to be in that environment and to enjoy back and forth electric offensive football shots being exchanged between an AFC heavyweight supposedly although they're on three and washington what a fun night it was the rare great evening the thing that makes the whole experience worth it for a commander's fan i'm gonna hold on to that one for a while dude and here's and i thought it would go differently i said so in the air i it wasn't just me doing bits or being negative net it's it setbacks are gonna happen you touched on already and this is pro sports it humbles you the best in the world fail you know one so who's gonna make six hundred million dollars started off a season you know through two months hitting two 19 a couple years ago right stuff happens this is really really hard at this level it's there's no higher league than what they're doing and what was happening last night you touched on it since that it was desperate they needed that one really really really badly their own three now which is unfathomable to me and you still saw the bones of how good that offense is from our chases uncoverable joe bro is excellent and could do so much they did whatever they wanted on offense and yet they were chasing washington's offense which will not punt they're not going to do it there probably a time where i may pressure probably get the field going unit out there nope we've got jadon daniels the other defense the other team is terrified is sitting there cowering in the shadows as we have done for so many years knowing that that third long is about to be converted knowing that the fourth and two the other ocea was smirking because he had something cooked up that was going to involve a scramble or a misdirection or over the top or whatever what an unbelievably fun environment again i know we'll go towards bangles fans they were very courteous nice kind to us i would even say that there was the nicest experience with visiting fans i've ever had i would put maybe lambo field in green bay up there kind of in the vicinity but everybody i think it's because washington's so harmless so we're there with our buddies uh kendorian merad and their crew and and everyone's in burgundy and gold, they're rocking their jerseys. We had a Heineke jersey in the crew. We had a Portis jersey, Sean Taylor jerseys. And everyone just kind of like, oh, cute. These little Washington fans here to see their team get their teeth kicked in. - And they empathized with us. They're like, they know what it's like to be embarrassed. 'Cause they wore the laughing stock for decades, right? A couple flare-ups here and they're recently, they've been very good. And again, they're sort of like, we get it, man. It's tough, it's not fun to be the laughing stock. So they were stunned. Certainly, it was happening last night. - But then when it went the other way, they were like happy for us. It was very strange. Oh, you guys don't get many of these. This is kind of fun for you. So it was a really pleasant experience. We had unbelievable seats, thanks to our guys. Right in the club level, it had about the 15-yard line action in front of us all night long. Check out Instagram at Grand H. Paulson. I posted a bunch of pics and videos from where we're sitting with the crew. But it was a perfect experience. I didn't want to tell one quick story from before the game. 'Cause this, I think sums up how impressive the night was for Washington. So we get into the stadium. And by the way, it's a great downtown here, right across the river. We walked down along the banks of the Ohio River essentially. There's like bars and restaurants between Great American Ballpark where the Reds play and then where the Bengals play. And we're walking in and the drums are being beaten and everyone's, they're like selling boxes of pizza by the four dollars and everyone's just eating in the street. It's kind of wild. And the scenes were great. A couple of people who obviously made the trip were yelling, Grand Annie, you know, and it was like just a big party. It was a football fun time, right? So we're walking into the stadium. We get to our seats. We sit down about a half hour before the kick. And the slow buildup as everyone got to their seats was electric. And then the last five minutes before the kick, there's this app that everybody has on their phone here where basically your flashlight is taken over. And they do this light show. Apparently Thomas told me that we only had a couple of times, like playoff game, maybe the big Bengals Bills game for the top of the conference a couple of seasons ago. But they had this new stanch and they brought out for the introductions with fireworks. And then they did this light show. And then they go into this old school like 1950s anthem they play after every score. So we heard it a lot last night. Yes, there are many scores. And it goes into the Houdet song that they love to scream. Who's going to meet the Bengals or whatever. So this is all happening. I say all this to tell you that we're sitting in our seats. We are moments away from the kickoff. The Bengals are lining up to receive the kick. And the place is out of control. I mean, it is bonkers. New Orleans is one in terms of like the din and the noise and like how thunderous it is. Because the sound can't go anywhere. This is number two now for me. Only because it's a dome though, I would say. Yeah, seriously, yeah. But I have been in having traveled on that beat for four years. Denver, I would have always said, or Seattle, were the loudest I experienced. I would put this right up at the top. Yep. It was so loud. I'm sitting between Darris and Danny. I could not hear anything either of them were saying. So anyway, Cybert's got the ball teed up. He's ready to kick off on Monday night football. And Danny and I make eye contact. And Danny says, basically screaming next to me so I could hear him. He goes, we're going to get mud stopped. Like exactly. That's how it felt. I mean, and I'm like, I couldn't disagree. I mean, it was just such an amazing environment. And the Bengals needed the game so badly. Their season in a lot of ways was on the line. You go, we're going to get mud stomp. And sure enough, about five plays in two minutes of game later, the Bengals went right down the field with the touchdown to Jamar Chase. It was like taking candy from a baby. And so I see him, by the way, single covered on the left side. And I turn to you and Darris. And I go, I point, it's a touchdown Jamar Chase. Yeah, you called it right before the snap. And sure enough, I think it was Mikey Sanders still that they beat. And it's seven nothing. And it's absolute pandemonium in that place. And I'm going, oh my god, just survive. Just get through this. Never mind if they survive. They walked right down the field and scored a touchdown like it was insignificant. Like they were bored. Like I guess we have to do this. Eventually we're, you guys are going to get them all back. But we got this touchdown, we got to score real quick. But the feeling after that touchdown, at least for you and me and Darris, we're like, you know what, if Jaden has a pretty good game and the offense moves the ball. Let's calm down a little bit. They look professional. I don't care if they win or lose. Like let's just not get embarrassed. Let's go home with some pride. And let's regroup against the Cardinals next week. Like that was kind of the thought. But Washington's got Jaden Daniels. And all week long leading up to the game. The reason I had them covering is not just because now five and a half point dogs or more are 14 and two in the National Football League this year. But what if Daniels has one of those games that makes the hype and the promise and the conversation worthwhile, right? Like supposedly we got one of the great athletes in the league. No, why can't he just go out and be a star? Why can't he play this unbelievable game in prime time? And that was kind of the point all week long I kept going. But what if the guy that were told always elevates his game on the big stage? What if we're told the guy that won the Heisman and was amazing last year was going to be incredible this year, plays like it. This is not an insurmountable task. The Bengals are a bad defensive team that's all in two. And with that loud environment, a seven point deficit that offense trots out onto the field for the first time. Danny, they played on the big board. I thought this was awesome. You actually pointed out to me. There was this sign that said the commander's offense has requested silence dot dot dot. And then it says please act accordingly. And people lost their minds. It was so funny. It was good. But it was so loud. And I'm going, oh my god. Oh my god. I'm thinking this is a three and out. I don't know how you could possibly complete a pass right now. They're trying to communicate with each other. And you're in. You can clearly see one guy's in another dude's ear hole thing like go over there. Come back here. And I'm like, they're going to get plays off. I mean, this is going to be just an all time shellacking. And it could have been different. Couldn't play later. Yeah, 70 yard touchdown drive, 7 to 7. Crowd was quiet. They did not punt. They did not, in that environment that I just described, commit one penalty until the fourth quarter. Not a false start, not a flinch. Everybody should take a damn bow from Dan Quinn to Cliff Kingsbury. This was a freaking Mona Lisa of a painting to Jaden Daniels, who was nearly flawless. Offensively, individually, I'm sure guys screwed things up or weren't perfect. I missed this block. I had this assignment. I didn't catch this pass, whatever it was. I threw this in completion. There's a line to remember the Titans, Danny, where Julius Campbell, the defensive end, goes, we are not perfect, coach. But collectively, as a team, we are 11 and 0, so we are perfect. And if it's OK with you, I'd like to continue to try to be perfect. Collectively, last night, Washington's offense was perfect in that environment that I just described. So there's a-- just thinking about Daniel specifically. One of my favorite nerdy analysts, kind of Josh Norris. So I think he's with underdog fantasy, Podge, if I've got that wrong, but had a great breakdown of a couple different dropbacks in different plays. And this is my favorite thing. So we know we're going to go through all the cool throws, all the amazing moments, the deep shots of Maclaurin, the-- well, it was the game when it touched down, also in Maclaurin, and a couple of the amazing moments. There is a nondescript moment that I want to highlight that kind of proves sort of the point here. And it's this. There was a play where there were only a couple receivers out in the route. I think it was a kind of a play action thing. And Ben's Senate is free, I would say. Middle of the field, about 17 yards away from the line of scrimmage. He's open, but not in a conventional way. In a-- Jane Daniels needs to manipulate this guy and this guy with both body language and his eyes. And it needed to be thrown a microsecond ago with pace, but also some touch in front of a safety. It would have been, to me, a 400-level quarterbacking type throw, a broken make it, Mahomes makes it maybe a couple other guys in Aaron Rodgers could do it in his prime et cetera. And Jane Daniels needs to see if he doesn't see it, isn't looking for it, or whatever. So then, because nothing's around, pressure happens. He turns it into a five-yard game. It's a nondescript five-yard game. It's a move that doesn't help move the sticks just yet, but keeps them in a positive down a distance. And Norris's point was even when he's quote unquote wrong, talking about Daniels, he's right. That's what's special. That's, to me, the blessing. That's the perfect storm of things that takes what would be negatives for everybody else. And that only isn't a negative for you, but turns it into a positive. Just those little hidden moments in there, whether it's Brian Robinson thumping into traffic for only two yards of carry, a lot of those get lost in terms of productivity or lack thereof. But there were so few negative plays for them. And you mentioned only a couple of false starts that occurred late in there in the fourth quarter, but everything was churning forward. Everything was designed well, scheme well, executed at a high level that we haven't seen in a long time around these parts, man. - No, it was perfect. They were able to stay on schedule and via game script dictate terms. And what I mean by that is like what they did in any situation is amazing. I don't care if you're at home against the Panthers. I don't care if you're on the road in Cincinnati or Kansas City or anywhere else. I don't care if they're playing Stonebridge High School. Like what they did last night was incredible in any environment. But I think what happened was it's easier to play well when you do all the little things correctly. When you never have a penalty so you're never setting yourself up to be behind the chains. When you never lose yards on first down or on a first down run, I think they ran on their first 10, six first downs, first and 10s, mostly with running backs, but occasionally with Daniels. When you're getting six, seven like they did with Echler on the first play of the game. Eight occasionally and it's second and short. It's a play callers dream. So all night long they were ahead of the chains. All night long they avoided penalties. They never turn the ball over. It's just the perfect environment situation for good offense. They didn't really make any big blunders, any mistakes. And so it elevates the tide massively. If you come out next week against Arizona on Sunday and you commit a holding penalty and a false start in the first two drives you might have punted twice. That kind of thing never happened once. So that's number one. The other point you make on Daniels I think is correct which is to say he has the ability to make the bad play okay, right? Which is what happens with running pastors. You know guys like Lamar Jackson, guys like Josh Allen or whoever it is that's a playmaker and a dual threat who's mobile. Where there were a few plays last night where when you go back and you watch you'll go, oh you could have hit that. He ended up scrambling for six and a second and four. Who cares? You see what I'm saying? Oh that guy was open for a first down. Now you throw it to this guy and you got a first down anyway. Which also speaks to Cliff Kingsbury. But we need to give some flowers too. Absolutely. But we beat up pretty good after week one I think deservedly but it was been in his bag just dominating defensive coordinators for two weeks. Now what he did last night to lure in a Romo you can be arrested for in 13 states. I mean that was so irresponsible. And me, the level of assault. He just completely pulled his pants down like your buddy did to you in high school in front of everyone. So embarrassing for in a Romo's. Boxers came down too. Yeah right, I mean right there during the pep rally. The whole school's there. You got your local rival that night. And it all, I mean it's just, it all came down. And Romo's making his speech and now he gets pants. And you haven't taken the Clippers to it a little while. And here comes Cliff and you know like man that was mean. That was malicious. Washington they didn't know which way was up GP. Sorry, go ahead. Three rushing touchdowns in the first half. First time commanders have rushed for three touchdowns and a half since 99 scored the most offensive points in the first half that they have since week three of 2018. They scored on every drive in the last two games now excluding kneel downs. The only team since at least 2000 to score on every drive in multiple games excluding kneel downs in a row. And we saw the first game between both teams last night since 1940. You and I were at with Darison company. Carlton was there. That neither team punted or turned the football over. First time since 1940 that, you know we saw that. It was just an amazing game. We don't get enough of these. And it's why today is a celebratory Victory Tuesday, a Hall of Nodes Tuesday on Grant and Danny. But let's do this next. Let's open up the phones for the first time at 800-6-36-1067. We'll push game balls and gasses. And today it's just going to be game balls and game balls. Game balls and also game balls. We can beat up on the defense a little bit tomorrow if we need to. But game balls and game balls today. We'll do that at three o'clock. Next, when is the last time you were this jacked up about a win? It was this hard to go to bed because you just wanted to keep reading the content. It was this easy to wake up and throw your gear on. When is the last time you felt this type of joy and excitement about a commander's victory? 800-6-36-1067 is the number on Grant and Danny here on the fan. Reset the play clock, babe. Don't. The three seconds left. Daniels flips. He's got another. And this time it's Trent Scott. Tackler was the extra offensive lineman. And what a night for the commanders. Yeah, I don't know if that's a record that your first touchdown pass goes to a offensive lineman. But I saw him coming off with it, so I thought that was pretty cool. But more than anything, just executing down the red zone. Last week, obviously, we had some frustrated not that we were making kicks, but frustrating that we were kicking. And so tonight to have the ability to score down there, I thought it was huge for us. Hall and Oates Tuesday on Grant and Danny on the fan. The commanders went to Cincinnati and beat the Bengals ass. Hung 38 on 18, trying to get right. Washington's offense, terrific all night long. We are at Thoms Watch Bar, the Hollywood Casino, downtown in the sports book in Lawrenceburg in Indiana. The tri-state areas have been kind to the boys. We've been traveling all over Kentucky, Cincinnati, and Indiana the last few nights. It has been a lot of fun. We are flying back to the DMV today. So that fat guy touched down there for Trent Scott, the thick six, as it were. Later in the show, I want to play Kevin Harlan's call to get in and break it down. It's just so good. But there's a little discussion after the game it sounds like between Trent Scott, the lineman who will never again cut your touchdown, and Jaden Daniels, who threw his first touchdown pass, as we all bet it, he would, to an offensive lineman. Who gets the football? It would be intuitive generally for the Heisman Trophy winner, the face of the franchise, the guy hopefully who's going to be the answer here for many, many years to come, to just keep the football. But Trent Scott, man, he's an offensive lineman. He doesn't get to do that. So Danny, I ask you, Trent Scott or Jaden Daniels, who should get the ball? It's Jaden Daniels, and I don't think there's any question about that. Trent Scott, that's adorable, that's a cool story. You're the answer to a trivia question, hopefully, that's people we're going to care about in a long time. Respectfully, I'm not that interested in Trent Scott. I need Jaden Daniels to get everything at all times. So it's his football, as far as I'm concerned. I'd give it to Trent Scott if I'm Jaden. And I would say, listen, man, just give me a few hundred more of these coming for me. This is the one you're going to get. So you enjoy this one. I'll keep my dime to Terry McLorin, which was one of the most amazing throws I've seen in person. He got destroyed on that play. And he knew it too. Absolutely walloped. Basically, crown of the helmet to the chin, laid out on his back, annihilated. He threw the ball into the corner of the end zone when Terry was still not even at the defensive back, who was playing off coverage. You normally wouldn't even run that play there, but McLorin called the play, went over to the sideline, told Cliff Kingsbury, put me on the right by myself, let me run a go ball, and let's go home. Let's win this football game. And Terry after the game was essentially saying how, this was the first time I was empowered, and they trusted me to let me call my number, and they said, okay, let's do it. And they ran it anyway. That play, by the way, had a 10% chance of being completed via next-gen stats at the moment of the throw. The lowest percentage chance of a completion for a completed pass all season in the NFL. By far the throw of the early year for Jaden Daniels, it was just amazing. But this was Daniels after the game talking about the football in question. We'll get to that in just a couple of moments. The number is 800-636-1067, 800-636-1067 on Grant and Danny, here on the fan, I wanna hit the phones in a moment. Danny, why don't you answer the question that we're gonna go to the phones on here. When is the last time you felt this excited about a commander's win? - November 22nd, 2012, against the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving, there would been some nice moments for sure of that season, but they were three and six going into the bye week. They'd beaten Philadelphia who was kind of falling apart in a little bit of a mess, and they were four and six. It didn't really feel like anything special was happening. It felt like this is a nice novelty act, but the offense had really scuffled since putting up 38 points in Minnesota more than a month before, and they'd been shut down by Pittsburgh, by Carolina. The Giants had beaten them when they couldn't execute very well, and it wasn't going in the right direction. And they came out, and also, ironically, I suppose, put up 38 points on Thanksgiving against Dallas and could not be stopped. Little did we know at the time, that was gonna be win two of that seven win stretch that catapulted them to the playoffs, but this isn't just a gimmick that the league has adjusted to, this is real, and we have something really special. - So I was thinking about my favorite games that I've either attended or watched over the years, and I was at most of these, but I came up with five before last night, since 2012, so 12 years of football, that I would consider to be the games that made me really proud to be a DMV guy who grew up rooting for this team, and to be the dad of a kid who, this morning, is wearing a Jaden Daniels jersey as he's hanging out on the playground. 2017 was the last time there was a game that I thought leaving the game, it was like, oh my God, that was amazing, what a feeling. And it was the Sunday night football went over the Raiders, it was early in the year, Kirk went 365 and three through the air, and they dominated the two and oh Raiders team in week three, do you remember that? - Of course, yeah. - 'Cause that Raiders team had come off a 12 win season the year before. - Yeah, they were really good, they were two and oh, and Washington whooped them. I thought, maybe the commanders, I guess it wouldn't have been the commanders at the time, but maybe the Redskins are pretty good. The year before that, 2016, a lot of these are based on prime time, I think that's actually a big part of it, 'cause it just feels different if it's not a one o'clock Sunday game. But how about that windy game for the Redskins and the Packers in 2016 on Sunday night football? Another really good opponent in Green Bay under the lights. And in that game, remember 42-24, Washington, they had the huge Rob Kelly game, I think you ran for 130. Oh, I love Rob Kelly, man. - Rob Kelly, man. - Kirk went 375 and three through the air. 2015, when they won the division championship in Philadelphia in week 16, division title on the line between the Eagles and the Redskins, Cousins 365 and four through the air. That was kind of one of those nights they won a division championship. Is that cheating? 'Cause it's a playoff clinching win. - No, it's not cheating at all. - Okay. - 'Cause you're excited. You're talking about your excitement level. - And then there was three in 2012. I would go with the week 17 game where Griffin, Alfred Morris, 200 yards, three touchdowns on the ground, win the division at FedEx Field against the Cowboys. The Thanksgiving game you referenced. And then the Saints game in week one of 2012, the debut of Griffin, where Robert threw for 320 and a pair. And he also ran for 50 yards. And Alf and his debut ran for a couple touchdowns and 95 yards for Kyle Shanahan. So those are, I just went through six games if you count last night. Has my favorite games of the last decade plus. That said, to answer the question directly, Danny, the last time I felt as hopeful and as excited and that little voice in the back of my head saying, maybe this is a thing, maybe they're good. Maybe they got the guy. It was as loud as it is this morning. Week one, 2012 in New Orleans. That's what last night felt like to me. I woke up this morning going, don't get ahead of yourself. Don't rush to judgment. Everyone everywhere is going to be throwing the party and saying it's over and saying nothing matters. Everyone's gonna have the big, we got the guy's celebration. And after last night, God is it hard not to think that way. There's no reason to rush. We don't have to slam the gavel today. But I have not felt this way about this team since I have after the Griffin game in week one in New Orleans. And it's because of the quarterback, how young he is, how good he looked. How can you not feel good this morning? How can you not feel like everything is possible? - Yeah, 100%. I mean, in the ups and downs of that season, if you remember, and I know you obviously were on the beat and you were there firsthand seeing all these different things, but the start was incredible. And then that swoon happened where they got beat by Cincinnati, Griffin was concussed against Atlanta. And there was all the, is he running too much? What's happening? What are we doing? And is the offense really that good? And you know, 'cause they were kind of in a slump. By week happens, Shanahan does the, we're evaluating everybody, which doesn't sound like a team. It's about to rip off seven in a row. And then of course they did, it was this magical ride. So like the, the undulations of that year, you go back to that New Orleans game where nobody'd see anything like it, you went, oh my God. Like this is on, this is so beyond what anybody had expected or hoped for. We didn't see it in the preseason. We had no clue. They kind of took the league by storm. And then that late season run made it seem, hey, this is more than a flash in a pan. This is more than something that people hadn't seen. This is for real. And we of course know how it ended. And so there's a lot of us, myself included, where I'm pretty scarred from that. Where I'm feeling these feelings again, you know, and the last girl that did that, left me at the altar and broke my heart and ripped it out and shot my heart with a 12 gauge and then lit it on fire with a witching ceremony. So I'm a little bit reticent to hope again, but I'll be damned if I don't feel those feelings. - You're the guy on the bachelor who's like, I just put my walls up. I can't take my walls down. I've been burned too many times. - My walls, that's a great thing. - Your walls are up, man. - I do. I have my Johns up. - You know what happened last night? Washington took the field against a Bengals team that is better than them. And the commanders had the best player on the field and that evened everything out. I will also say, though, that I think the Kingsbury plan was amazing. - I grew this. - Because I don't want to take anything away from Jaden Daniels. The throw he made to Terry down the field on the 55 yarder was a dime. - That's a Rembrandt right there. - You cannot walk that to the player better. And that wasn't even his best throw to Terry. The touchdown that McClellan was even better. But they had receivers open all night on huge downs and distances. Like there was never really a play where Kingsbury got got by Enorama. Was there? Third and one, fourth and one, fourth and two, fourth and four. Zach Ernst was always open. They always had an answer. There was one step ahead of Cincinnati. It was just a clinic to watch. And while we're talking about fourth downs, Dan Quinn went for a fourth and two on the opening drive from the 34, the 30 yard completion of Luke McCaffrey, who had his own coming out party last night. Fourth and one at the 33, they went for it, got four yards. That was the Jaden Daniels scramble. He kind of ran, basically powerful, lowered his shoulders, Lamar style. And then fourth and fourth to 39, late in the game with 4.30 to go, they could have kicked a long field goal, would have been like a 52 yarder. I don't know that I trust Cyber there, so they rolled the dice, put the ball in Daniels hands, and Earth's got free for nine. But there were three for three on fourth down in addition to being really good on third down. Now let's hit the phones next, 800-6-36-1067. We will let you guys give us your thoughts on this game. By way of this question, when was the last time you were this fired up about this football team? We're Grant and Danny on the fan. - I just call it Jovans, did you have an issue with that? Do you feel like those are? - That's not what we do, that's not what we do. We praise our own team, praise the other team. We don't need to take shots like that. The team hasn't punted in two weeks. They've scored on every single possession the last two weeks. So I've got a tremendous amount of respect for what they're doing over there. I've known Cliff a long time. I knew paired with that quarterback. This is going to be a very dangerous offense to play against and they've proven that so. - Holla notes, triumphant Tuesday. Grant and Danny on the fan, the voice of Zach Taylor, the 0-3 head coach of the Bengals, who took his shoe post game there with his cornerback, Cam Taylor Britt, who called Washington's offense a college offense. - Pretty good college leading up to the game. - As I said last week, I really didn't think he meant it as a pejorative. It kind of is, and by the way, a lot of the league is college and NFL blended together. Guess what, it's super effective. That's what it is, it's an effective offense. But it looked a lot different last night, I will say. Through two games, at about four times the rate of most offenses in the league, their throws to wide receivers were behind a line of scrimmage. Last night, their throws to wide receivers were often really far from the line of scrimmage. - So that's the down field you're looking for there. - Way, way down the field. - Yeah, I would love to find out. And it's hard of hearts, what do you think? - Commanders, Holder, Tresway. We'll be on the show today at 3.30 here on Grant and Danny. We just need to check in with him, that's all. He's in Arizona with the rest of the team, getting ready for the Cardinals. They flew out last night to stay the entire week, out in Phoenix, but we haven't seen him, and we miss him a little bit, and we're not sure if he's still on the team or not. So we'll check in with Tres to 3.30. Let's get to the phones, 800-636-1067's the number. Last time you were this excited. Tony, Long Island gets us started on Grant and Danny. What's up, Tony? - Boys, how are we feeling today? - Pretty damn good, sir. - Not bad. - Oh, my God. Listen, I mean, Danny, you stole my thunder. I haven't felt this good since that Friday morning, after Thanksgiving with RG3. But this is very different. This was staggering. So I can give you just some things that I'm feeling. With RG3, you know, you always felt he was playing beyond his capabilities in the NFL. There was a wild, reckless style to him that he didn't have at Baylor. What you see with Jaden Daniels is exactly who he is. The LSU tapes had no lives. There's a calmness, there's an easy, smooth part to his games. And, you know, I'm gonna give you guys an analogy, and I know you may not like it. I don't know if you're gonna like it. But what I was watching yesterday, you see all the confidence Dan Quinn had. What I was watching yesterday, to me, watching the game as a fan, he brought a calmness to me, watching the game of confidence. Go for it on fourth. Go for it, do it. He had that Derek Jida quality, where he was slowing down the game for us, and the defense, it was a much faster game. - So let me-- - RG, go ahead. - Well, appreciate the phone call, but thank you. I wanted to get right to that. - Go ahead. - I wanted to get right to that one point that you made, about the, that, let's go for it. You know, the Derek Jida mentality. When I went back last night, we got to the hotel, we immediately re-watched the game. And me and the guys from Kian and Wasim and the crew from Kandorian Murak. And we're sitting in our room, and we're watching the game. And the first thing that stands out in addition, all the amazing plays and the big throws, was Daniels on fourth imploring to stay on the field. That's a Lamar-like, I'm the cheat code. It's fourth in short, they cannot stop me, they cannot stop us. I'm not coming off the field. That mentality is awesome. Right after they get a big first down on the fourth, ESPN kind of zooming in on his face mask, and you see him yelling to the sideline Danny to Dan Quinn. And frankly, Kingsbury probably like, give me the play, give me the play, he's, and they're trying to slow him down. Quinn is literally on the sideline, and he's doing like the, the push down motion, like, settle down, we're gonna be okay. And Jaden's going like, no, no, no, gas. Like, I got this, let's go, let's go make plays. He's got that instinct and that motor. And sometimes you wanna control that if you're Dan Quinn and slow everything down. But I thought it was a really good night for Quinn, with the fourth down decisions. There was a sequence late, we're on second down. They show Kingsbury calling a play. He's got his eye-hop menu in front of him, and Dan Quinn's in his ear Danny. And he's already saying you can see, he's like, we're going for this. So on second down as he's calling the play, well I had a third down, he's letting him know. If we get to a fourth, we're going for this, you got two plays. But he was just, it seemed like he was operating a step ahead, and he was on it all night long. - Jaden, that's absolutely right. And it's the kind of that, wherewithal and the calmness, I think that Tony was talking about, that you're looking for. Now there's still some of those mechanical moments where a timeout happens where it probably shouldn't, or you know, after a big gain, it looked like they were a little frantic, getting the play and et cetera. When you silence the crowd, I understand when it's hard to get everybody lined up, when everybody's going badass, and everyone's yelling at you and you can't really get everybody where you need them to be, then you've got to burn a timeout to save a five-year penalty, whatever. But some of those logistical things aren't perfect, and maybe we never will be, to satisfy some of the dorks among us, to care about that sort of thing. But it did feel like this wasn't too big for Dan Quinn. Whereas, not to beat up on his predecessor, but a lot of times it did. It felt like Rivera's just gonna sit there and look stoic, 'cause he has no other answer. It's gonna sit there, but his arms folded, because it was too big for him. Like, the game had passed him, and it didn't feel that way last night, certainly. - It sounds like revisionist history to say, "Oh, the game was too big for Robert," or like, "He was smoking mirrors when he was playing." Well, I don't know if that's fair. I will say, and this is not hindsight-becoming wisdom. This is something you and I argued a little bit about at the time, if you remember, but like, I always felt this way. They were mixing potions in the lab for him. I mean, it was a lot of half-the-read fields, and the drift route behind the linebackers on play action, off-of-read option. I mean, last night was a pretty sustainable-looking model, but you had the team-off balance that you're playing, and they never really knew what was coming, and you were just ahead of them on everything, and that comes from no penalties, no turnovers, playing with a lead. - Yeah. - Like, everything is ideal, and that happens probably 20% of the time, so that's gonna be the challenge moving forward. When's the last time? You guys felt this good about the commanders. That's the question on Grant and Danny. We'll do game balls and game balls next hour, plus at 3.30, commander's holder. Tres Way joins the show right here on the fan.