Grant and Danny

Austin Ekeler Joins G&D To Discuss The Win, Jayden Daniels Performance After 2 Games

9.17.24 Hour 4

1:00- Austin Ekeler, star RB for the Commanders, joins G&D to discuss what it was like to have an opening kickoff TD called back plus the energy in the stadium.

33:00- We get to Jayden Daniels performance through 2 games, what do we make of it?

Broadcast on:: 17 Sep 2024
Audio Format:: other

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It's Grant and Danny on the fan, the exclusive sponsor of our shows, the law firm Condorian Marad, will guide you and your family in the right direction, help you to draft a will, set up a trust, create a health care power of attorneys, schedule a free consultation with our estate planning attorneys at kmloyers.com. Be sure to tell them G&D sent you so that they can get you a discount, kmloyers.com. We are fired up to go to the hotline right now. Welcome on to the show Austin Echler, commanders, tailback and the team's leading receiver through two games. Austin, welcome back on G&D. How you been, man? I've been doing well doing well. Thanks for having me back on. You got it. As always, every single Tuesday, all season long, Austin will be with us right here at five o'clock on the fan. So there's so much to get into, but I guess we could start right at the beginning of the game with a 98 yard house call, house call, new kickoff rule, Echler's back there as a surprise on the week one, first return, and it took you all of two weeks to break one for a touchdown, and then it came back via penalty. So let's just start with what you saw as you approached that pile of bodies in the new kickoff. I know what an epic way to start out the season, huh, at the home opener. I just, I was like, there's no way that this is starting it out like this, but I guess here we go. So I mean, the boys blocked it up. I really didn't have to do anything too crazy. That's the beauty of having great blocking. But unfortunately, someone blocked a little too good and obviously got the holding call and brought it back, but still a good way to bring some energy to the home opener. So it couldn't have been any more epic. When did you realize and how did you find out eventually there was a flag down at someone yell at you? Because you guys were celebrating in the end zone for a minute first. Yeah. I mean, so it's still, we still celebrate it because we don't know what the flag is, right? So we're going to go out there and do our thing as far as like, yeah, you know, get everyone pumped up because it's not often you see, you know, one to the house. And so especially with me back there, I haven't returned kickoff since my rookie year. So yeah, I was definitely disappointed to realize there was a holding call, but hey, we still got the most energy that we could. All right. You're such a nice guy. I would wonder if like if I'm you, I might do something post game because obviously you guys got the wind and it's, and it's water under the bridge, but you could just go stand next to Nick Bullock or just kind of stare at him just like just for like extended few seconds and just listen. I'm just kidding, man. Good game. You don't even like you ever do stuff like that? Those kinds of hijinks to break the tension. He immediately came to me and apologized. And so I was appreciated. I didn't even know who got the holding call, but I was appreciative of that. He, he owned up to his mistakes and let me know what happened again. So we're we're straight. We're straight over. So there's no like bottle of wine or anything. Like kangaroo court style after a play like that comes back. No, I think, you know what, we're teammates. We get it stuff happens, you know, we'll pat each other on the back and we'll get on to the next one. Well, more opportunities to do that. How do you like the new kickoff so far? It's kind of weird to ask after you break one. I'm sure you like it a lot more now, but I'm seriously though, it looks funny, but what do you think? It's, it's different. That's for sure. I think it definitely takes out the big collisions of the initial kind of stopping of a body on kickoff return for those guys. So I think for as far as the concepts and why they put it in, I think that works. I mean, still a violent place, still football and people running full speed at each other. So you never take that out of it. So it just, yeah, it just looks funny, but I think it's just one of those things where everyone's got to kind of get used to it. Then you'll be like, oh, yeah, that's how we do it. So I think it's here to stay and I, yeah, I think it's good. Austin, how comfortable are you at this point in this offense in terms of having it be kind of second nature? You just know it intuitively at this stage. How long does it take you? Well, what's really unique about the NFL is there's a base kind of that we have as an offense, but then you start to game plan for every single opponent, right? You have like a new offense, somewhat being installed on every single week. So you'll still have some of your base plays, but then it's like, hey, here's some key plays based off of what we see with matchups with different coverages, different philosophies, from defensive coordinators that we'll try to counter. So it's always the evolving playbook. But for the most part, we know how to communicate with each other. We got to get ourselves straight in that with some of these false starts, which is, which is an easy to fix. Just communication air there with the cadence and everything and being loud. So I feel comfortable, but not necessarily like it's something that I know by nature, because it's always evolving. So that makes sense. Austin, you've done a really nice job and had some big collisions in the backfield and pass pro. And I know that's been a big part of your game because you can't be a past sketching back on the field in those situations. If you're not trusted to pick up blitzers and pick up, DB is coming off the edge. Take me back to when really that became a priority. I can't imagine you were doing a lot of that in college. Maybe you could correct me, but like, how did you get good at that? And for a lot of running backs, it's what separates you being in the league or not when you're down the depth chart. Like what goes in your head? There's a lot that goes into it. It's not complicated. It's actually simple, but not easy. All of those things. It can get complicated, I should say, but it's more so, okay, you have to understand who the decorator is and what their philosophy is. What are they trying to do? How are they going to potentially be setting up? And then everything has to do with what is our philosophy on offense? Are we sorting? Are we on a man call? Like what type of protection scheme do we have? Is it play action? Because all of these different plays drop back, three-step, five-step, all of these different plays have different types of protection rules. And so knowing what the play is, knowing what the defense is, doing some studying, marrying those together, walking through it a bunch of times during the week, that gets you to step one. Okay, now you know who to block. Second is actually going and actually doing the blocking. So if you know who to block, you can react even quicker. And the quicker you can react, the less time they have to get to full steam and run you over. And so that's kind of my philosophy is know who's blitzing right at the snap based off of my pre-snap reads and based off of demeanor and stuff like that. And they get myself in a position where I don't have to take on a full charging guy that's 40 pounds heavier than me. Then it comes down to your technique. What's your technique? Me, I'm built with leverage. You know, I'm five eight, so I'm already probably lower than you are. So now it comes down to using proper technique, hands inside, setting a good base and delivering a blow. So I mean, there you go. That's how you pass blocking NFL. All right, I'm ready to go. I'll just go do that real quick. Also five eight, we have very different bodies. We have very different frames on our five eight. I would point out, as you know, from us finally meeting in person in the locker room here the other day. All sinequas with us on Grant and Danny. How much film do you watch in a week before a game? Oh, it's very particular. As far as not like I'm watching games and games and games but more so watching kind of like different linebackers watching different kind of cut ups of what we're expecting to see. I don't want to get bogged down watching too much filming over thinking just seeing really the structure of their defense. And now at this point being in nine years, you showed me the structure that I'm pretty much got what their defense is going to look like. And now it's just kind of studying some of their what we call game records to kind of see how I can affect them, whether it's shipping guys on the way out. If it's a defensive lineman or edge rusher or making sure that I know if it's a linebacker, how they blitz, how they cover, like what is their strength that makes them a game record. So at this point, it's really just particularly kind of looking at guys that can really affect the game in a big way. Austin Eckler with this year on Grant and Danny. So Austin, I was thinking back to our conversation last week during the game. I think it was a reception. It could have been a run, but it was on the left sideline. And I think you went to hurdle somebody and he didn't go down maybe the way that you thought he would and you bounced off him and we're on your feet. And kind of we're looking around like, well, what's wrong with you, dude? Why are you down? And I'm still up. Now I couldn't help but think of that combo where you saying, yeah, I kind of bounce off people. It's sort of what I do. But that seemed like pretty good evidence of that. Yeah, man. That's kind of been the story of Austin. Myself is like, hey, I can run. I'm strong lower body. Good body control as you could see there. Yeah. So I catch the ball down the sideline. I'm running full speed at a corner. I'm like, okay, DB, probably going to go low. And so I start to gather to jump. Well, was I wrong? Yeah. He also jumps, but into me, luckily, I was in a position where I could really brace myself. And then there was a linebacker there that ended up being in the picture too. They kind of got some aftermath of it. And they both fell down. And I mean, when you go airborne and it doesn't work, usually it's carnage. You're on the ground. Fortunately, for your boy this time, I boom, I stick to landing. And I'm just like in my head, like, what the heck? How did I just land that? Yeah. I should have done some like USC celebration move because everyone was on the ground around me. That would have been cool. Or some sumo stamp stomp or something kind of missed opportunity. But next time, next time I get a running airborne, collateral damage around me, I'll make sure to hit a celebration. So you mentioned that like a corner out there, I was going to ask you, when do you go? I mean, it's all split second. You guys are going so damn fast. But when is it hurdle time? When is it shoulder time? When is it show them a little wiggle? Like, like, how do you decide in that kind of split second? It's just repetition and kind of how your philosophy of your brain works. Because some guys aren't like, oh, I'm going to wiggle. I had an inside zone where it was me lying back to one on one. And in my head, it's like, oh, you know, it's like, get around. And it's just kind of like a reaction. Like, oh, get around. Like, and it's like, oh, Jeff's step. Like, I've already been through this scenario going through bags hundreds, thousands of times, you know, hurdle or say, oh, hey, they're going low. That one was kind of preempted. And so, yeah, usually don't do that. It doesn't end up too well. Usually it should be a reaction. If they go low, you go high. And so it's all reactionary based off of their leverage, how fast they're going, your fast, you're going, your positioning is anyone around you. And you kind of adapt to that kind of scenario with what tools you have in your toolbox. So you got to know what tools you have. You got to continue to play within the confinement of your capacity. Luckily for me, it's really kind of just being that kind of scat. Like, I'm, you know, I'm really agile and not necessarily a bruiser. So if I was a bruiser, I'd run them over. That's not necessarily my game plan. Speaking of bruisers, Austin, Brian Robinson ripped off a 40 yard and two 30 plusers this week on his way to a career high one 33 you and him both having field days. You throw Jaden into the mix. You guys ran for two 15 right now. The running game is one of the best in football already. And it just seems like an identity is being established. What did you make of how successful you guys dominated the Giants on the ground? Yeah, Brian Robinson is definitely a punisher. Like, he is that big back who's going to look for content or contact and run you over. Like, that's his philosophy. That's kind of his build. And then he's going to continue to rise. It's not going to be to take this man down. Like, he is strong where we're body 62, 225, you know, just a big running back. And I think it's awesome. I think it's awesome that we have him kind of that punisher type. And then we have myself who's really a pass catcher, make you miss type as well. And so it's a good, it's a good kind of two headed monster that we have in the back field. And you know, you got to give credit to the old line for, you know, the run game getting it started to because they've been doing a good job of making sure we have some gaps as well. So as we continue to put this thing together, we've had a good running plan and it marries up with the past game as always. And so it's just a good complimentary football when we're able to put the ground game together. A little inside football here. How often on a RPO, like you guys RPO'd him to death early in the game with those screens. Do you know generally if it's going to be pulled and thrown or given to you? I'm just curious, like for you, I saw four ineligible man penalties for the line for the Eagles on Monday night football last night on those RPO's that Hertz pooled. I get how hard it is for them. But as a back, like what's that play like? Yeah, I mean, for you, your philosophy is we're running the ball like you have to like you can't be thinking, oh, he's going to pull it because the fact that if you're thinking of that and then now what are you not thinking of? Well, where you need to run the ball and how you need to get there. And so you as a running back just kind of or blocked in on your keys and your read so that when you does hand the ball because you're anticipating that that you can get through where you need to get through. So you're not trying to like read the same defender that he is basically to know. Heck no. Heck no. It's so for us, we're getting it blind. We don't know. We don't know. We don't know who he's reading and where they're at. But as far as, you know, if he's going to pull it or not, we don't know that. Got you. Austin Eckler with the Sierra on GND. So Austin's curious. I mean, obviously you guys are competitors. You want to win the football game. That's done. That's obvious. That's a given. Just wondering how you're viewing this. So me as just a pudgy zilch of a fan, I will take 37 minutes of time of possession, 400 plus yards. We already mentioned the rushing stats. No punts. You guys in the red zone six different times versus you guys weren't able to punch it in a couple of different things happen each time. How do you view that offensive performance for you guys? Obviously the wins most important thing, but you know, is that a hey, it's encouraging look at all the good or is it? Damn, we left some in on the bond. How do you view that as a competitor? There's some good and some bad. There's good that we didn't have to plan. We were able to move the ball and get into scoring position. That's good. Bad because offensively, we'd never scored. And so it's not necessarily like a medium. There's good and bad. You call it how it is and you take it how it is and you learn from it. And for us, yes, we showed signs of being able to consistently move the ball, which is great. We want to build off of that. But what definitely needs to happen is we got to get rid of these red zone penalties that are killing us in the red zone, backing us up. And we got to find a way to get our butts in the end zone because you're not going to win many games if you don't make field goals and can't get in the end zone in this league. Every once in a while, you might sneak a win like we did on a field day of field goals, but you don't want to live in that world. Yeah, no doubt. I think there were five false starts in the red zone where some of those like out of the huddle late or trying to change a player or they all just flinches. Like, what was there a theme there? It's all the above, all of the above. It was loud. It's flinches, it's changing plays. So the great thing for us is the stuff that we can fix, right? It's not, not a matter of, you know, someone's not talented enough or anything like that. Like these are easy penalties that we can easily fix by doing some, you know, just get on the same page, kind of take a, take an extra period to talk through this in a meeting and things like that and a walk through to say, this is how we're doing a red zone. Everyone lock into this cadence and things like that, you know? I wonder if there's someone that's, again, it's been around and seeing some things in this league. I wonder if this is just sort of this off the top of my head here, Austin. Like, I've seen it occasionally happen. I'm just sort of curious if this is something that you would feel comfortable doing or if it would make sense. Like if you see something before the quarterback does, right, where you go, hey, what we've got called in your brain, like, what we've got called is not going to work because of this. Would you be able to go, Hey, Jaden, dude, like, do you see that? Like look over there, don't do that. Let's run something else. Or is it just sort of you got to hope he sees it? Like, how would that work? Yeah, not. I wouldn't do that during the play, you know, that's not that if he if he did miss the call, you talk about on the sideline. But just we have to know as players, especially the right back, I'm right next to him, he is command and seeing all of this. And so he's putting us on the same page. And I'm not in every single one of his quarterback meetings. So it might be something that I think because I heard something else, but he might be seeing something else totally different. Gotcha. And so there's no chance I'm ever going to be like, Hey, Jaden, check it to this. You know, because that's just kind of stepping out of what is on my plate as far as far as responsibilities. And I was, there's things that I see, you know, was like, Hey, they're dropping me in the flat, you know, things like that, like, or Hey, Hey, coach, they're bringing down the free safety. I would more so talk to one of our coaches and then get that related to that Jaden would know if we need to check out of that stuff like that. Yeah. Austin, there are a few things prettier in football. Again, baseball, the most beautiful thing you can see is like a perfectly executed hit and run, right? In football, the perfectly timed and designed screen. Oh, I get steamed up. There were two awesome designs from Cliff. One was a center screen. It looked like designed to you maybe on like that little Texas route where you come back. Oh, yeah. And you got two dudes on the hashes just walled off. And you kind of like a surfer through a wave all ass between both of them. That was awesome. And then the throwback screen that was clearly designed for you as well. Either a thought on both of those is fine, but was one of those better executed, did you think? Did you have a favorite like design to that week? Yeah, funny thing is the throwback wasn't even a screen. I was just checked out. I just have to be wide open over there. Oh, wow. I was helping chip the end. So a check down can turn into big plays, too. But that the screen across the middle, yeah, that was that was the thing of beauty for sure. And it's so hard. Here's the thing is and all NFL teams go through it. It's so hard to simulate those types of plays and practice because you don't know if you're going to get a true rush from the guys from on defense or playing a sniff it out right away. You're kind of just like, all right, let's just go in here and try to make this thing work. And even, you know, some of our online were talking about like, yeah, we had no idea how that was going to play out, but it played out perfectly for us. And like you said, it was a thing of beauty getting right down the hashes and picking up a first down on like third, like 15. Awesome. Obviously, no spoilers here. It's like a like a super secret embargo of like a movie trailer or something that's coming out. But the more you and Brian Robinson throwing the field together, I think the harder it's going to be for defenses. Like, does it feel like there's more in store in that regard? Just kind of keeping them on their heels and guessing. Look, I think Brian and I have done a good job of when we have the ball in our hands, make it something happen. And there's only one ball. So whether we're both on the field or not or for Tim or me, I think it just comes down to, Hey, if we can get the ball in our hands, we got to continue to do what we've been doing and build them off of what our team has been able to build off of with us in a dynamic way, right? Or continue to find different ways to get the ball in. It's out wide, whether it's in the screen game, whether it's running off tackle tosses. I think the things happen as we're on the same page, you're making plays and, you know, our team is doing the same around us. So no telling. I have no idea it comes down to whether it's our matchup, who we playing, do we match up? Well, you know, what's going on with potentially injuries and things like that. So it's a whole, it's a whole ecosystem, you know, algorithm that these coaches are trying to you know, find the best way to try to attack. Ducky sauce on Twitter, one of our listeners said, please ask Austin about his winning the angry run award. So NFL networks. Good morning football. I didn't see that. Did you win the award for the flying knee today? Apparently I won an award for yeah, for jumping in the air and, you know, trucking a guy in the air and then like sticking the landing. There you go. What do they give? They give like a little sword or something. Yeah, like a mallet or something. I don't know. They get all hyped up for person boy. Hey, it's a cool little segment. I didn't actually know about it until today, but I saw the video that they made and seems like they got good energy over there. So I'm thankful for any recognition. Yeah, it's another trophy for the case, dude. What? What is there? It is obviously like touchdowns are the best. Well, what's something like kind of hidden small could be pass pro or something else where like in the film room, you and maybe the other running backs are going nuts, like something that we wouldn't notice at home. Oh, that we wouldn't notice at home because I'm going to say, well, touchdown is obviously a nice one, but I can notice those. You can also, but you can also notice like like making people miss like winning one on one. That's another one that like we're big on. As far as like big in the in the room, because it depends on who you are to pass pros. Another big one, right? Just great solid pass pro. Like that's something that like the chip where you get a guy off balance and just drill him. Not even that. It's just like when you just like, you know, stone a guy in the hole and it's just like, that sounded a little weird, but um, you just like sturdy in there and you're just, you know, boom, you got your job done and put quarterback with it with sit in the pocket. Like that's something that we get, we get excited about and just, I mean, good fundamentals and runs too. It doesn't have to be like a gash like, hey, you found the soft spot and then you fell forward for another two, three yards drag at somebody. Like that's something that's like nice. Like that's good football right there because not every run is going to be a huge run. But hey, what can you make when it's a little cloudy? So those are a couple, just a couple of moments left with our guy Austin Echler once a week joins us here on Grant and Danny kind enough to do so all season long on the fan. We will continue to incorporate more and more questions from listeners as we go to. I know something that you want to do a lot of two things. One, what'd you do with the off day today? How'd you spend your Tuesday away from the park? Yeah. So my off day is pretty much consistent of all the same things for me and it's really building all of the ecosystems that I have outside of football. So right now my app experience is kind of my baby that I'm nurturing and building and putting out to the market. It's a fan engagement platform that helps colleges and professional athletes connect with fans. So that's what I've been doing today. I've had a ton of calls with teams getting things together. We're really learning from a lot of our processes now. And so that's pretty much it. I went in and got to work out as well. Got some treatment. I'm about to go down to George Town actually with my wife now and have dinner with with one of her friends. So a good active productive off day. Well done. Do you ever need food Rex? We're your guys. We can't help you with PassPro. We will help you. No work out tips here. But food, we got you. We got nothing but good advice on that front for you. And then the other thing I wanted to know was before we let you go Monday night football, man. Next time we see we'll be under the bright lights. Joe Buck Troy, I've been the whole country watching in Cincinnati coming from the AFC, a place you've been too many a time. I'm sure. But is there any added juice national TV prime time Monday night? What's your thoughts? I mean, there's definitely some added juice because it's a prime time game. Absolutely. But the thing is we're already matched out on juice when we go play our game. So that's just another thing to add on top of it, I guess. But in the most part, we're ready to go with every game. So prime time we'll take it normal, kick off, you know, 11 o'clock, one o'clock. It doesn't matter. We're ready to go. Awesome. As always, my friend, we'll talk to you next week, man. Hey, yeah. Looking forward to it, boys. Have a good one. Thank you. Got it. Austin Echler. Absolute stud. I wish that 98 yard major, Tuddy would have held up for him. The hold was away from the play. It was like that's a touchdown, dude. I just did just stand next to the guy. Jayden Davis, two games in. How we feeling? What have we liked so far? What do you guys think so far? We'll get into the quarterback next on Grant and Danny. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Whether you love true crime or comedy, celebrity interviews or news, you call the shots on what's in your podcast queue. And guess what? Now you can call them on your auto insurance too, with the name of your price tool from Progressive. It works just the way it sounds. You tell Progressive how much you want to pay for car insurance and they'll show you coverage options that fit your budget. Get your quote today at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive. Progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates price and coverage match limited by state law. Nothing is more important than getting a good night's sleep. And when you don't get the rest you need your whole day is thrown off. That's why it's so important to choose the right mattress. Sleeping on a purple mattress is truly a unique experience because purple mattresses are made with a gel flex grid. The gel flex grid is an innovative material that moves with your body to relieve pressure in areas like knees and hips and support in others like your back. It feels soft where you want it and supports where you need it. Purple mattresses instantly adapt when you move. You don't sink in and get stuck like with memory foam. And thanks to over 1400 airchambers in the gel flex grid, you will sleep cooler on a purple mattress. Purple has a wide variety of mattresses from the original purple mattress to the restore hybrid collection that combines gel flex grid with coils and the rejuvenate lux collection, the height of luxury with over 112,000 to 5 star reviews to prove it. Visit purple.com to find the perfect purple for you and enter code podcast 10 to get 10% off. Presented by T-Mobile, the official wireless partner of Odyssey Sports. With an awesome network and great savings, there's never been a better time to join T-Mobile. Visit your neighborhood store to make the switch today. It's time for pitch hit and run, the official youth skills competition of Major League Baseball. Give the kids in your community a chance to flex their superpowers and they can earn a trip to the national finals of the 2025 World Series presented by Capital One. So go ahead, be the one who powers their dreams, and sign up to host the local pitch hit and run event. It's a free and fun way to promote baseball, softball, and your organization. To learn more, go to pitchhitrun.com. We're still learning too, and Jayden's just going into his second game. We had some ones down the field that we would have liked to have seen him take. Some of the ones even on the scrambles to remain a passer as you're coming closer towards the line of scrimmage to throw it down the field. You're probably referring to some of the RPOs that would have worked in there. One of the things I did like about the way that we did able to control the possession of the ball, I think there was probably 35 runs and 23 completions. And if you're 55, 56, I think you made it up being like 58 somewhere in that neighborhood. Sam, what then happens is time of possession, you know, now can become a factor more plays. And so although we missed the mark in the red zone, I was pleased to see us, you know, taking care of the ball. It is a Tuesday, which means commander's survivor. Go to Facebook.com/grant and Danny now to vote. One of the players off the island who still remains, only a manual 4% home in a week one. And to give somebody immunity, Brian Robinson was immune this week. You won't need to use it, because he was maybe the best player on the team on Sunday, running for 133 yards. But who gets immunity this week? You're going to vote right now, Facebook.com/grant and Danny. I guess it's a decent time, Danny, for you and I to cast our ballots since we have not yet. So first things first, who are you giving immunity to Austin? I mean, it's not something I thought I would be doing, but he made all seven field goals. And that was instrumental. Those were the points he accounted for every single one they had. Not any one kick was more difficult. Maybe than another 45 yards, I think was the long for the day, but you know, that operation, it all takes us one bad plant foot, one push, one overcompensating, whatever. He made all seven kicks. That's why they won. Yeah, he is an option. Just so people know that the name's still available. Jaden Daniels, Austin Echler, Terry McClorn, Deyami Brown, Zachar, it's Brandon Coleman, Sam Cosby on offense. And then on defense, the details, Allen and Payne, the linebackers, Wagner and Lou Voo. And then in the secondary, Benjamin Saint used Quan Martin and Jeremy Chin because you already took Austin cyber. And because I think he could need it more than other guys, potentially, I'll go Benjamin Saint used had the huge peanut punch takeaway that may have actually saved the game. The Giants were driving with a chance to go up 10. He knocks the ball loose. The Jeremy Chin recovers, gets the takeaway. He also had a couple of pass breaks up breakups in the game as well. So I will go based primarily on that one big play, but his performance in general, BSJ, I thought was much better and is deserving of immunity going into a tough matchup. You may need it with Jamar Chase. How about your immunity? Oh, voting off. Excuse me voting off the island. This one is harder. So there's nobody that's I'm going, Oh, what a bum. We played terrible or they're bad or this wasn't good. I mean, a couple nominees caused me at a couple false starts, especially in the red zone. You know, some things weren't great. Tell me Brown hasn't been productive through a couple of games, term of corn, too much, you know, uh, demanded deposits in the bank for him to get voted off, although he didn't do much this past week. Brown did have two catches and got a big first down in the first drive. Yeah, I voted for Brandon Coleman to be off again, not because he was bad or not, you know, as he did something crazy wrong, didn't play a ton when he did. I don't think this got counted because there was a penalty on the play of it. Thibodeau whooped him, beat him like a drum, drill, Jaden Daniels ended up being a penalty away from the ball and they got five yards out of it. So it gets lost in the stats, but I voted for him to be off. But again, this wasn't one of those get off my island Emmanuel Forbes type situations. Yeah, that's a good one. I'm going to go Jeremy Chan. I thought he missed a handful of attacks. That's probably a better one. Yeah. And maybe it was like, you know, three officially or something, but there were too many times where I saw him, you know, not making a tackle, um, not to beat up on him. But like you said, there's nothing overly obvious. There's three or four guys you could vote off and be fine with it. But it wasn't like last week where there's someone just screaming at you saying, Hey, vote me. Yeah. I'm probably like the coaches voted him off too. No longer worthy of being around in the next week on commander's survivors. So the votes are piling up. Darris is going to tabulate them at facebook.com/grantanddanny got about 20 more minutes to vote. I'm sure you saw this Danny, but I did want to call attention to this. First of all, on the caps front today for the Washington capitals, Alex Ovechkin turned 39 years old. I got in my feels a little bit and sent out a tweet on this today. Alex Ovechkin is entering his 20th season on the day he was drafted in June of 2004, 20 years ago now. I was weeks away from getting my driver's license. I was 16 years old. I was going into what would have been my junior year of high school and I was about to get my driver's license. I'm now 36 with three kids living in my second home and I have white in my beard. He just keeps playing and he keeps scoring goals. No athlete in DC sports history, but I would even say in any sport in history has ever given me more joy than Alex Ovechkin. You know, it's weird for me because the caps have always been kind of like even though I cover them on television for monumental sports a little bit as an analyst, so to speak, or what I consider to be like a fanalist role almost doing these alt casts. It's not to say I've never had a credential to them or anything, but they've always been the team. I'm really a big fan of I wear the jersey and I go to the games. There's just not a player who's given me more. And when you add up 20 years of memories, Alex Ovechkin, who has changed the landscape of sports in this town more than any other player. I just think we were missed if we didn't say happy birthday. Yeah. Number 39 to Alex Ovechkin. I didn't know that him and James Wood, by the way, share a birthday because James Woods turned 22 today. So happy birthday to James as well. But Ovechkin ready to kick off season number 20. And they made an announcement today on his birthday that the caps are bringing back the black screaming eagle sweater that I love so damn much. They wore them a bunch that in the capital, but with the the black sweater a couple of seasons ago, then they went away from them last year. They're bringing them back for six games, which means more importantly, they'll be back in rotation being sold easy to get your hands on. I love that look. I don't know where you're at on the black sweaters. It's been the rock, the red era for a long time, but they're Ove's favorite and they're my favorite. Do not move me. As you might expect, I mean, to me that that reminds me of Yarmy or Jogger and like Adam Oates and Joe, as you know, and kind of that pre OV failure. That's what that reminds me of, whether that's the exact right error timeline. It just, it doesn't feel right to me. Like, to me, it's the red. It's that old school red, white and blue with the kind of the cheesy capital across it. You know, like that's the thing that I've always fallen in love with. But yeah, having the occasional alternate jerseys is pretty neat. I'm into that. I know you hate any kind of Jersey talk. Do you like, is it just as simple as I don't care. It's Jersey, or do you actively not like the look? It doesn't. Yeah, it doesn't get to the point of active dislike. Okay. Like, but it does remind me of Yarmy or one of my least favorite athletes of all time. So like, I, when I see that jersey, I picture him, which means I'm not happy. Like that, you see what I'm saying? Like, I have associations like that where, for example, most, a lot of people are happy about the gold pants. I think Bruce sound immediately. Like, that's, it's not voluntary. It's a spasm. I hear gold pants. I hear Bruce patting himself on the back, getting sore from doing all this. Pat in his own back, just so excited that he brought the gold pants back. And so they annoy me. But that doesn't mean they shouldn't wear it. I'm just saying that's my association. That's nobody's fault. Jayden Daniels was rocking gold pants. You like him. I'd like to thank Jayden Daniels when you see gold pants. If we, if you get a few more W's, we can start talking about that. Talk Jayden Daniels and how he's played through two games next on G and D top of the hour coming up in 20 minutes. Buy yourself on the two and O teams in the NFL. You're listening to the fan. [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] G and D on the fan. We're taking you to 6.30 Nat's baseball from City Field in New York tonight. We'll preview the nats on the mats before we get out of here coming up in about 30 minutes. Two games in Jayden Daniels outperforming his rookie peers. We talked earlier about how he has both out rushed and out past Caleb Williams and Bo Nix to this point ugly start to the season for both of those guys. By the way, are you worried about either of them in the big picture? I was looking at odds of who the next quarterback to be benched is. Neither of them are high on the list as you'd expect because it's two games in top half of the first round picks. Neither should be benched. I'm not suggesting that's the case, but in Bo Nix's case, at least Zach Wilson is an interesting player behind him on the depth chart, whereas Caleb Williams is going to have a leash longer than the line at the DMV. Williams not worried. Nix worried. I mean, I've been in college for seven years or whatever. He's like on his van Wilder plan, wasn't special, hasn't been special, probably overdrafted by Denver, but Sean Payton thought he saw kind of this Drew Brees 2.0 type deal. I just, I don't see it. I don't know that it's going to happen. I don't think the surroundings are great. I don't think Denver's particularly good. I think that's going to be kind of a mess. I'm worried about him, not yet on Williams. I just think there's too much talent there. So with that in mind, he's been better than those two overall through two games. How do you feel about Jaden Daniels? Really good. Really good. The, the gear that or the thing that he has that not everyone else does when all hell breaks loose, when it's not good, where, you know, I'm just picking someone that's had a great start with Derek Carr who's got a 100 trillion quarterback rating. Derek Carr gets sacked or Derek Carr has to throw it away. Jaden Daniels picks up 14 because he made people mess and he escaped and stuff. And that, that elite thing taking negatives and turning them not only into lesser negatives, but into positives is incredible. It's, it's the thing I've dreamed about. It's that playmaker gene where you rip somebody's heart out, where you think they're in the grasp, that thing of that Carson Wentz moment. Somebody years ago, when he's in Philadelphia, where three different defenders have a chance to bring him down. He ducks under them somehow and throws up 70 yard touchdown. You go, Oh my God, that was the worst thing that could have happened. A 13 yard loss is now a touchdown and we're boned. That thing that he's got, what needs to grow in his growing is the calm, 72 and sunny, drop back, pat the football, find my receiver, maybe buy a little time, move around a little bit. And you saw that growth in the second half. But overall, his pastor numbers, you already mentioned rank favorably among rookies. He's kind of holding his own with the rest of the NFL, not among the best of the best by any stretch and that shouldn't be the expectation. But he's right there in a whole bunch of categories based on how they're basically team things up for him. Sure. On what is a, you know, a very easy way to kind of pick up yards in the passing game. And you know, there's a lot of guys that could put up a lot of the numbers that he has as a passer to this point. It hadn't been a lot of high difficulty throws, but no reason to knock that. Here's where I am. I feel really good as well about him as a runner. I knew I would. I feel really good about the offensive development around him. They are great at running the ball because of him. They're getting teams to go 11 on 11. Brian Robinson is better because of him. Austin Echler is better because of him. I think they're receivers eventually. Zach Ernst, Terry McCorn, the rest of them are going to be better because of him. As a passer, I can't say I feel really good yet, but I am encouraged. I'll tell you when I felt really good. The second half against the Giants, which is his most recent half. And I hope he builds on that. But I'll save really good as a passer for when they are, you know, score a touchdown. They have scored one in non-garbage time against Tampa Bay. They have moved the ball pretty much at will, to your point, mostly because he's been able to run and they've been able to run. But when they get their passing offense on track, when they've got receivers catching balls down the field a couple of times in a half, then I'll go really good. When he starts resetting after leaving the pocket and throwing and like makes that leap, then I'll feel really good. But overall, I think I'm excited. I think he's been, as a passer, I'm going to say, solid as a football player and a playmaker overall, he's been good. And he has not been in problem in any way. That's what I'm excited about. He hasn't turned the ball over. He hasn't put it in harm's way. Now, I know if there's somebody sitting there going, well, why would he put it in harm's way? They don't really throw down the field and he hasn't had to throw to any covered receivers yet. I think there's probably been, I don't know, two or three passes through two games where there's been a defender anywhere near the guy that caught the ball. I get it. But the other guys are throwing picks. They've designed something for him that is safe that does keep the ball coming out quickly. And I think that's a good thing, not a bad thing. So I feel good, man. And I think people should be excited because it could not be going this way. Like it could be going worse where they didn't have their best half passing the football in their most recent half. But this was always my point was the floor because he can run is just not that low. Like so far to me, he's been great running the ball. They haven't really done much passing the ball. And it seems like you and a lot of people feel like it's, it's awesome. And that's what you get when you get a great playmaker who runs the football all over the place. I just need to see a little more from the passing game till I'm maybe on that level with you. Sure. And I don't understand that the I don't hold the he's doing what's asked of him against him though. And I'm not saying you do necessarily, but it's it's something where, you know, it's the same argument we have with about Brock Purdy in the system and what matters most. Well, what if he's executing what he's asked to do, then that's pretty good, right? We don't want him going or doing something. Sure. But the degree of difficulty on the ask is significant if we're talking about the player, like they had a third goal inside the 10 yard line where they decided to just run it and kick a field goal. I don't know why they did that, but a month from now, when they feel better about quarterback, they're not going to do that. You know what I'm saying? They're going to ask him to fit a ball in a window and make a throw. Like, I agree with you. He's executing the offense. Well, but my point is I think the what they're giving him is very little, which is smart. That's what they should be doing. That's what Kingsbury should be doing. I'm just not throwing a party yet after, you know, almost half of their completions in this last game were behind the line of scrimmage, which I would also call those plays. But it's just a factor in breaking it down is all I'm saying. Totally. These are these are all important data points. Just as when you add it all up, again, I think he's holding his own extremely well through two games as as a rookie, you know what I mean? With with with that's among anybody. There are guys that have absolutely been unbelievable through through a couple of weeks that I'm not comparing them to. And you know, nor should we, but among kind of the where the league is and where it's trending through a couple of weeks in terms of passing totals and yards and nobody's really heaving it down field with great a plum. There's only a couple teams and players that are. No, but the problem I would just say is maybe it'll be different in a month. And if that's the case that we can reassess, they had a good half of football. There's only been four of those. The sample size is like going into the game. I don't know that you felt that same way about their passing attack. We had a very different conversation all last week. So there was one half that was different than that. And yeah, it's a small enough sample where now it does feel a little bit different, which is good. But that's just because we've seen the first six minutes of the movie. So that's right. I mean, it is, it is intended area yards are exactly this. And all of a sudden business picks up around the league where people start eating up chunks of yards. And there's 300 yard pastors all over the place again. And we're still doing this. Then we go, okay, but right now this is what's happening in the league. Well, his completed area yards though are second worst in the NFL. Only Caleb Williams is lower. So it's not just the intended for me on balls. They actually complete out of 30 some quarterbacks in the league. He's been second to last. Now, again, that that's not me being discouraged in any way, but I'm it's not like he ranks in the top five in every category. I mean, they're asking a little bit less of him, which they should. We were talking about this earlier. Kingsbury's had a better plan for him and has gotten him off to a better start than the coordinators have for those other two quarterbacks. So again, I say when not lost there, but there's nothing wrong with that. But at the same time, it's just worth acknowledging like there have not been many. Whoa, look at that throw middle of the field between the linebacker and the safety. Like I still got to wait on some of those. That's all. Are we buying or selling the teams off to two and O starts? And are we concerned about any of the teams off to O and two starts? We'll get into that next on Grant and Danny. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Whether you love true crime or comedy, celebrity interviews or news, you call the shots on what's in your podcast queue. And guess what? Now you can call them on your auto insurance too, with the name of your price tool from Progressive. It works just the way it sounds. You tell Progressive how much you want to pay for car insurance and they'll show you coverage options that fit your budget. Get your quote today at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Price and coverage match limited by state law. Presented by T-Mobile, the official wireless partner of Odyssey Sports. With an awesome network and great savings, there's never been a better time to join T-Mobile. Visit your neighborhood store to make the switch today. It's time for Pitch Hit and Run, the official youth skills competition of Major League Baseball. Give the kids in your community a chance to flex their superpowers and they could earn a trip to the National Finals at the 2025 World Series presented by Capital One. So go ahead, be the one who powers their dreams and sign up to host the local Pitch Hit and Run event. It's a free and fun way to promote baseball, softball, and your organization. To learn more go to pitchhitrun.com [BLANK_AUDIO]