Grant and Danny
Logan Paulsen Gets You Ready for Commanders-Bengals
Welcome back to Grant Nanny about two hours and 20 minutes away from kickoff and Monday night football in Cincinnati. We're getting ready to head on over to the stadium as you listen live on the fan This is a burgundy and gold game they presented by rude is your cooling system letting you down score a touchdown with rude and experience peak performance Dominate the season with unmatched cooling power and visit or you UD calm if it ain't rude It ain't right the show is brought to you today and every day by our friends at the law firm of Condoria and Murad They're gonna help you update your last will and testament or set up a trust With your family schedule a free consultation with their estate planning attorneys at KM lawyers calm Visit KM lawyers calm mention us. You will get a discount. We've had a blast with the guys from K&M all weekend long In Cincinnati, but our reason for this trip this business trip is because It's football time in the nation's capital tonight and to join us right now to break this game down from all angles The X's the O's we've got our buddy the longtime tight end with Washington and with Atlanta and San Francisco in the NFL Logan Paulson Logan it's game number one Prime time under the lights for Jaden Daniels. What should we expect from the rookie quarterback on Monday night? Football Yeah, I mean, I don't think the stage is the issue. I think it's the Lou Anoromo defense I think that when I when I watched film of the Cincinnati defense I think they do a great job of disguising a lot of what they do They are kind of the modern iteration of an NFL defense They are coverage first coverage second and then if you want to run the football They're kind of okay with it. They play light boxes So for me, I think it's really gonna come down to cliff and how he insulates Jaden this game You know, can he kind of get Lou Anoromo out of some of these different coverage structures that are kind of tough to see tough to identify because of how well they're disguised and And can we run the football and kind of get them out of out of a game plan that they want to be in now? You know anoromo might kind of approach you differently and say hey, man You know, like the thing that's gonna kill us to stop in the run So they might come out with something completely different but through the first couple weeks of the season They just haven't done that so with regards to J. I think he's gonna be fine I think it really comes down to the game plan how you insulate him how you kind of dictate to this defense What you want because they are very good in the back end and they can make you look silly if you're not careful Look and I want to get in on some of those specifics about playing Cincinnati But first big picture you played in games like this. What is different about prime time and what's different for? I mean, genden is putting for you know, billions of people played in front of packed houses in the SEC But what's different about NFL prime time games? Yeah, I mean Monday night specifically, it's like you're the only show in town Obviously not tonight because check knows playing also, but usually you're the only show in town means everybody's watching and For a guy like Jane Daniels. I think it's a great opportunity to show the NFL kind of some of the stuff We've been seeing from them already, you know, and I think kind of put put your stamp on it and say hey I'm the best record quarterback in this year's class and This is why and I it's because everyone's gonna see this on Tuesday morning everyone's gonna be talking about these games And I think that that's what makes these opportunities special in the NFL is you know When you're in that prime window like there's no one else to talk about and big time players my big time plays and in big moments And so I really can't wait to see him play tonight and see this team play tonight and see if they can put their best foot forward and show Show the NFL that they're not what everyone was expecting when the season started Logan Paulson on Grant and Danny I have been miffed by and surprised by them being the biggest underdogs of the week. What do you make of that? Yeah, I don't really know. I mean maybe I think it's I think it's probably got more to do with Cincinnati kind of being Oh into to start the season. I think there's a lot of people probably assuming that they're gonna come out like gangbusters And really put their foot on Washington's throat and I understand why you know They have you know one of the top three quarterbacks in the NFL They have you know tonight But like one of the best receiving do is in the NFL on full display and again if this game flow gets wonky at all Like if they're down by 10 if I'm they're down by 14 in the first quarter in the first half Like everything that Washington is built on and that they want to do kind of goes out the window and all of a sudden You're putting a lot of responsibility on the young quarterback with a defense that knows how to make You know the best quarterback in football and touch from my homes looks really a time So I think that's something that is probably leading into that is that there is a very small window here that Washington has to hit In order for them to be successful. I think they can't hit it I'm not saying it's impossible But because of how talented that that Cincinnati offense is and how they can dictate game flow in terms of Getting Washington out of a specific game plan. I think that's probably why I would assume The national line is what it is Okay, Logan Paulson with this here on Grant and Danny How would you expect you touched on this earlier, but I'd love for you to expound go deep How would you expect this Washington offense to attack what they've seen from Cincinnati's defense here both to get Daniels comfortable? But also to produce because you mentioned it the other side. It's probably gonna score some points Yeah, absolutely. I think you know, you know ball control is kind of the greatest myth in all of football You know, but I do think kind of maintaining possession of the football seeing if you can get that Cincinnati offense out of rhythm again, like they've got a new offensive coordinator It looks a little bit clunky at times. They really rely on Joe burrow being kind of magical So there is that but I think defensively, you know, BJ Hill hurt with the hamstring shoulder rank concert with the hamstring They're starting to back up guys You know J to a feeley and Zach Carter or you know on the depth chart and those guys haven't played a ton of football for them And when you watch that Kansas City game, they're getting kind of pushed all over the yard And so I do think there is an element of kind of being physical through the middle of this defense that is lacking I think Washington can definitely take advantage of that, but I do think you know At a room with a defensive corner, he knows what's going on He knows that's that's an area of weakness So I'm really curious to see how they enter this game because you know everyone in the country knows that Washington's gonna try and run the football, but to me what I'm excited to see is how Cliff handles Their response like what is it? What is the solution of the Cincinnati Bengals to stop the run? And then what is Cliff's solution off of it because we can't come out here and just kind of try to pound the football down their throats We're not built that way. Well, we're gonna how we're gonna spread them out How are they gonna play our numbers? Do we get the RPO stuff like we did last week? Do we hit the screen game like the the last week to kind of get the correct numbers And I really can't I mean that's gonna be like the most interesting thing on the first in the first drive of the game Is how what is the Cincinnati Bengals response to this offense? And then what is Cliff's solution of that response and that all happened you on the first 10 players? I can't wait to see if that looks like our guy Logan Paulson joining us on Grant and Danny here on the fan commanders bangles Coming your way tonight Washington trying to get to two in one with an upset win over an AFC foe 133 yards last week for brian Robinson how much of his dominance and how well he's played Is getting back to like 2012 Alfred Morris, they're 11 on 11 and you're benefiting from a quarterback Who's petrifying has a runner versus how much of it is that b-rob's been great I think b-rob's been great. You know, he's a special runner. I think he's just such a big man Who's got great feet great vision, but you know his uh his second longest run of the day Comes on a five-man box, you know, and I said this on another show I did this week I very rarely have seen in my entire NFL career a five-man box versus a six-man blocking surface It just is not Mathematically sound from a run game perspective and you know cliff is a guy through scheme and through formation Earn that response from the New York Giants defense and brian Robinson was able to capitalize on those favorable numbers So it's not even anything to do really with jayden daniels being the runner It's how cliff last week through rpo through pre snap screens Through kind of those quick get them out number count plays in the perimeter Was able to dictate these responses from the Giants and Austin ekler has a 15-yard gain on a very similar look So to me it's a combination of both and obviously b-rob is special and he can run into Unfavorable number looks because you can you can make that one actually can make the extra defender miss You can run that guy over But I do think you got to give a lot of credit to cliff for some of these explosive runs We've seen and again you don't get to 130 yards without a couple explosive runs So kudos to cliff and also through those to b-rob So let's get to the passing game here for this washington offense. I think it's by design I like it by the way sort of building something slowly I think jayden daniels has had more success than any other rookie quarterbacks I think because of that and his skill set Do you what kind of is the next layer to add in Uh this week that you would think uh, you know for washing in this offense for jayden daniels cliff kings brian company So kind of keep building that passing game some of the sophistication maybe for some more chunk yardage Yeah, so I think the thing that should set out to me last week got to rewatching the film Is I think clip did a really good job of bringing him along slowly But I also thought maybe he kept it made he kept the reins on him for too long You know, I think there got to a period in the second quarter there where he looked a little unsettled like he hadn't Fallen into the rhythm of the game quite yet And I think you know one of the things about dealing with a young quarterback is like walking that line of protecting them But also allowing them to play and I think he saw in the start of the second half there How effective jayden daniels looked after he made that big throw to zekert So if i'm gonna play call arms and man, you know, I want to try and find that opportunity earlier So when we hit our so we do call our explosive shot plays in the first half He's locked in and ready to go and we're not missing those opportunities down the field like we did versus tampa bay So I think it's you know cliff has done a good job again of being very selective about what he calls his shot plays Which I really appreciate but I think it's also about making sure the young signal callers ready for those opportunities and ready to spend the football down the field So that's something again. I'm also keeping an eye on is like when's the first big throw for him? You know when's the first opportunity for him to kind of sit back in the pocket read it out And deliver the football down the field and you know is that in the first series or that in the second series? But I do expect it to be sooner than it was against the New York Giants Logan paulson grant and danny on a monday evening as we prepare for monday night football Defensively this commander secondary has holes and problems Cincinnati gets t higgins back Jamart she has not gotten going yet obviously But it seems like it's only a matter of time and maybe higgins is the key to unlocking that Uh, what do you make of that part of the match up joe burrow against this secondary? Yeah, I mean I think that's you know when you watch the new England game when you watch the new campus city game Obviously since that those are Cincinnati's first two opponents. I think the one thing that's fixed out is I have never seen more Straight bracket or vice coverage or safety role to a number one receiver in my life You know, and I played with Julio Jones like you just usually you cannot do that Um down and down out the way these teams did I mean, I'm sure there are other like calvin johnson probably saw something like that Early Julio Jones probably saw something like that But without that extra weapon on the opposite side of the field Defenses were really like we're not going to ledge him archie's hurt us and you know, they have uh, Andrea sevis He's a good player come along young player from prince and burden the kind of the speeds throughout Alabama But none of those guys really scare you um in terms of down-to-down consistency But obviously bringing t higgins back. You kind of say do you now lose the ability as the washing defenses? Joe would you need to call those bracket coverages and roll that safety over there Because now there's two dynamic playmakers on the outside and you know, I've kind of kicked around the idea You know, Benjamin st. Juice. I think it's played very consistently through the first two weeks of the season and so maybe you feel like a Um, you like that matchup with st. Juice and t higgins and a more one-on-one type scenario Obviously not straight man to man like obviously i've just sprinkled in there But man cover three quarters cover two Um, and you can still kind of work some of that bracket coverage in Obviously if you do that then one player is going to be in a high leverage situation I would probably pick st. Juice on t higgins But again, like this is the problem of having dynamic playmakers on the outside at least defensively Is it really forces you to be very fastidious about where you're allocating your resources from a coverage standpoint? So that and then can you generate any type of pressure? Um, you know, there's another element that we got that that needs to be considered but from a coverage standpoint I think t higgins return It's really it's probably going to be the key like you were leading to their grant of kind of unlocking jamar chase On the washington's offensive side kind of a similar question, but kind of the opposite angle here How do they get tara mcclorn going and how much of a priority? Should it be right? I mean, you don't want to sacrifice things You don't want to force feed somebody but at a certain point of guys above the threshold Then you have to force it like that you need to force feed tairie kale and juson jefferson jamar chase and company And I kind of wonder what your eval is and what this offense should do Both in terms of getting mcclorn involved. How do they get them more involved? Just kind of where are we at here with 17? Yeah, and I think you know if you look back to that type of big game and you know I'm not being an apologist for the offense, but you know, they missed two kind of deep opportunities to carry down the field One where he's he's wide open like the jane doesn't see it and one where he misses the throw So I do think there have been opportunities for tarry down the field You just got to hit some of those and I think we know and the new york giants I think they did a good job like clip. Like I said has been selective and very deliberate about calling. He's explosive plays Uh, or his shot plays. Excuse me and um and they covered him up well. So I think there have been opportunities It's just you know, I think the quarterback's done a good job in the giants game at least of not forcing it And it's just like at some point those are going to hit You know, they're not going to cover it correctly. They're going to drop a guy in coverage They're going to their eyes are going to be bad and terry's going to be behind the defense for an explosive play So I think i'm just being patient with regards to that because on film i've seen the opportunities It's just about connecting on a couple of them and then all of a sudden, you know You go from kind of middling offensive production to finding these explosive plays to terry and I really can't wait to see it But it's definitely in the cards. Hopefully it happens tonight versus the Cincinnati bangles How do you feel like washington's offensive line and past protection has held up? Yeah, I mean, I think i mean if you go to give again a lot of credit to cliff in terms of how he's called the game I think he understands what those guys do well, you know, like they're they're pretty physical Specifically on the interior in terms of being like dexterous movers and good run blockers I think wily falls into that same bucket And I think overall from a protection standpoint when you do leverage or when you limit the total number of dropback pass efforts And these those guys are going to perform better. So I think game flow again I go back to that game flow thing. It's allowed them to be more conservative with that group I think as a result the production's been better. Have they been perfect? No, but I do think they've been very serviceable and passable in terms of their production over the first two games and I hopefully again they can maintain that level of Of kind of consistency cliff can in terms of calling the game because if the game flow gets weird and you drop back a lot Like I do not like any of the match-ups that try hundreds of head and sing draws in terms of left tackle production He's a special player. I mean like the 33 win rate over the first two games of the season It's absolutely an insane number like just for some context like to run pain was at 10 Year you had 13 sacks or whatever that was 11 sacks. So like it's just You got to make sure you stay out of those situations. You call the screens. You call the quick game You use the RPO use the zone read and manage those those down in distances really effectively and manage the game flow as best you can Because he can absolutely take over a game and again like he can make any tackle in the NFL looks silly You mentioned drawing pain where if he and john allen been production wise What are you seeing on film that teams are doing to try to neutralize them? Well, I think when you look at again the giants like they did a really good job of having a very sound game plan Especially in the first half of that game with a lot of play action lots of double teams on the interior Lots of kind of max bro bringing a tight end bringing a back Ensuring double teams on the interior players and that's gonna affect everybody's production And also, you know again like managing to down in distance like when you can run the ball effectively on first down and get to a second and five And a third and then then a third and two like you can't rush the passer from the 32 Right. You got to make sure you're you're defending the run as well. So I think I think if you look at the Tampa bay game, they were a little bit more aggressive Tampa bay was in terms of trying to throw the football They put their offensive line in more high leverage situations Which I do think Cincinnati will do and I think when you look at the interior of the offensive line here in Cincinnati like Cordell uh vulsen is a guy that is a good player, but he struggled a little bit in past protection situations Specifically against new England Patriots. So I really liked that match up for john and doron Um in terms of the right guard there. So or the left left guard, excuse me So that's something I would just keep an eye on. I think you're going to get more leverage match ups in terms of Fintanettias and care. They want to throw the football. They're going to get eligible's out They're going to make those five guys inside stand up and and try to win one-on-ones And I do think john and doron are good enough Especially given some stunts and movement pre snap to kind of win some of these one-on-one match ups and uh Hopefully create some pressure on joe burrow All right logan. What's your prediction bangles commanders? Paycore and Cincinnati tonight under the lights the second of two monday night football games Yeah, I'm going to say it's uh, I I do think I think their commanders do a good job of kind of come out here and put their best foot forward But for some reason I think the return of t higgins makes me a little bit nervous. So i'm going to say Cincinnati gets the win But the commanders keep it have a competitive outing jane dana says a good performance doesn't turn the football over And throws his first touchdown pass, but it isn't enough ultimillion a loss. So Logan, thank you, buddy. I always appreciate it Thanks guys. Appreciate it Always love talking to logan paulson on a game day Getting his thoughts before kickoff danny your turn for a prediction. I don't like this matchup I'm nowhere near as confident as you since sennady is a sleeping Giant here and I think washington just doesn't have the fire power to match it I think of sennady scores and I do think they'll be able to score washing his defense hasn't shown the ability to stop Anything at any time and I think sennady's better than either of the two teams They've played on that side of the football just kind of waiting to break out with the return of t higgins I like a 27 16 since sennady win here. Let me be clear. I'm not particularly confident I don't think it's that like I don't really see a good path to washington winning the game I guess for me I think that the line is a little quirky in a week where there were a lot of Worst teams playing good teams on the road and the line didn't reflect that This one is pretty substantial and I think that was even early in the week before they knew t higgins was going to play My point is just that there is a chance with jade and daniels that he plays an exceptional game It's been so long frankly years since washington has had an equalizer You know player that if they're the best player on the field at that given moment Nothing else really matters and I think with him running around I don't trust him to this extent as a passer yet But there are plays to be made through the air He might be able to rip off one of those easy button 55 yard runs and now it's first and goal from the seven I also don't want to completely dismiss How monstrous and impressive he was on the biggest stages constantly on his way to the hyzeman And the fact that this is his first real chance to send that national message on prime time on natty tv And so i'm just kind of more open to the possibility of a big jade and daniel's running game I think maybe then it sounds like you are because I think that could be the equalizer My prediction is still that the bangles win, but I do like washington to cover I'm going to say something like 32 Uh 25 30 to 24 even 30 26 something in there, but I think the commanders Maybe it's a back door But I think they get within the threshold of what is the biggest line of the week in the the nfl in week three Yeah, I mean for that to happen there's got to be a little bit We saw last week and I don't think you can count on that most weeks. I don't think most weeks the the giant's defense is going to show up But it would you know, it means that you got some strike plays It would mean that a couple big plays like you're talking about whether it's via the run Whether it's you hit one of those passes that logan was alluding to one that wasn't thrown in week one and one was overthrown In week one and tampered by the terra mcclorn. Maybe it's no brown. Maybe it's somebody else's turn But it means that you got something easy right or it means a higher red zone conversion percentage than zero percent out of six trips The flip side though to my vision would be One of these typical Disasters over the years on prime time where you turn the ball over early you you muff a pond or you fumble a kickoff or something ridiculously Silly happens where just the bad football team does the bad football thing and that's where it gets sloppy ugly early I'm already petrified about jamar chase and t higgins that is a bad matchup on paper But maybe joe burrow hasn't played at a very high level yet Maybe he throws the ball right into somebody's hands or you get a batted ball pick at the line of scrimmage You know, that's the other path. I think for sure. Oh, we're going to get on the road because we got to get to the stadium Yeah, we're going to the game, dude We got to thank our buddy thom for letting us hang out at thom's watch bar today here at the sports book at hollywood casino In lorenceburg. We are in indiana But we're going to by way of kentucky end up in ohio in just a few minutes to watch football I think that's pretty clear. I think that's exactly how it's going. If you're keeping score at home That's what we're doing and when thom expanded to me on the phone. I wasn't quite sure But it is actually extremely easy Yeah, it is easier to do that than to drive from my house to the station any given day I agree with that. Yeah, but hopefully it'll be an entertaining evening pregame is coming your way in just a bit You know that show we'll get you locked in for kickoff and then the commander's ideally danny won't embarrass us Wouldn't that be nice? That's the floor just be normal The ceiling is dare I say it a stunning victory monday tomorrow I only ask just behave reasonably just behave like a normal football team Please we'll be back at thom's watch bar with a show to recap everything tomorrow until then enjoy the pregame Thanks for hanging out with us on grant and danny Thank you for coming.