Grant and Danny
Beltway Blitz, Burning Questions For The Commanders In 2024
The seasons may be changing, but the deals at the Sharpest Rides are unbeatable as ever. Hey, what's going on, it's your girl Tasha McKia, and I need you to join the Sharpest Rides for their fall into savings event, where they're offering incredible prices on their massive inventory. That's right, everything is on sale now. Shot from sleek sedans to rugged SUVs and sporty convertibles. The Sharpest Rides has the perfect ride to match your fall adventures. Plus, with their exclusive financing options, getting behind the wheel of your dream car has never been easier. Log on and shop online at the SharpestRides.com, right from the palm of your hands. Or, check other massive inventory in person at the Sharpest Rides, located 2250 South Sea Home Street in Inglewood. Either way, you will fall into savings. Don't miss out, head on over to the SharpestRides.com today and explore the deals that make every season better. 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. Hey NFL fans, you can start the season with a big return on Fandal, America's number one sports book. So when you get a hunch in the middle of the game, you can check out the latest stats, view live, play by play, and so much more on the same page where you place your bets. You'll get started with $200 in bonus bets guaranteed when you place your first $5 bet. That's Fandal.com/sportsfan. Never waste a hunch and make every moment more with Fandal, an official sports book partner of the NFL. As the exclusive sponsor of our show, the law firm Condorian Murad will guide you and your family in the right direction by helping you to draft your will, set up a revocable trust, or create a health care power of attorney. Schedule a free consultation with our estate planning attorneys at kmloyers.com and be sure to tell them that we sent you so that you can get a discount that's kmloyers.com. Welcome back, Grant and Danny on the fan. It is time for our beltway blitz. We do it every day at four o'clock. We'll cover the NFL, the commanders, and right now the nationals. Mark Zuckerman of mass and sports.com joins us to kick things off. Mark, why don't we begin with what was an extremely sloppy series for the nationals. They were coming off of the impressive three-gamer and back-to-back wins against the Yankees, and then they ran out of steam against the Cubs. They gave up seven, five, and 14 runs, and they committed all of the errors, Mark. Yeah, Sunday's game was just atrocious. I mean, it was officially three errors, but it should have been five. And I feel like they kept getting worse. This game went on, and it was a really disappointing series, obviously, given what they had done against the Yankees. And I know we can look at this and say, hey, they're young. The lineup the other day, I think it was seven rookies in there. Nobody over the age of 26. So you understand to some extent that you're going to have things like this, but the bad defense and the bad base running, which you saw earlier in the weekend, this is happening way too much. Davey can talk about it all he wants, but this is something that does have to clean up. But I don't care if you're in your second month in the big leagues or your 10th year in the big leagues. These are things you have to be better at, and hopefully the message is getting across and that they understand that that's just not going to cut it any longer. Mark, how do we view Mitchell Parker's season big picture? He's had a couple of these starts, and it wasn't a meltdown. I mean, it was late bullpen. Give up a touchdown in the extra point, and you mentioned some of the errors in there. But overall still viewing his year as a guy that we weren't sure was a big league or not, as a pretty smashing success, even if he's maybe running out of a bit of steam here towards the second half of the season. Yeah, I think that's the way to look at it. This is a guy that we thought maybe we'd see at some point during the season. Instead, he gets called up two weeks in when Josiah Gray got hurt, makes his debut at Dodger Stadium. It looks really good that night, and I think has exceeded expectations along the way. Now, I mean, is he a finished product? No. Is he have the ability to turn into a front line start in the big leagues? I don't know, but he has shown a little bit of resiliency here. And even when things kind of go bad around him like we saw the other day, he's still found a way to get through six innings. He has a way of just kind of keeping a demeanor that doesn't get too high or low, and I think that can suit him well. The biggest thing he's got to work on, we talked about bad defense. He was among the culprits. He's got five errors this year. Most by any national pitcher in a single season, he's only had 12 defensive chances. That's an atrocious percentage there. That is something he's got to clean up. It's probably not going to happen in season, but this winter, even more than pitching, I think he's just got to work on his defense. Now, I've never seen a worse season defensively for a pitcher fielding the ball in the infield. And I almost, you worry, it's like yip territory now, or it's so mental. Any time he leaves the mound, bad things happen, he's trying to go get to the baseball. I want to go back to something you said an answer ago, though, Mark, when you were talking about some of the defensive miscues otherwise. And you mentioned Davey without going full next Twitter and assuming like every ground ball is dictated by the coaching staff and they're the worst. I am curious about Davey's place in. It's been years of base running blunders. The fundamentals defensively can somewhat be explained away with youth. And guys plan out a position. But I mean, at what point is the message either not getting through or is there no fear that, hey, if I screw up and do three stupid things on the base pads, I'm not getting benched anyway. So what's really the ramification for me being bad at it? Right. And I think it's fair to ask that question. Absolutely is. And you heard him after the game, I think a little stronger than he has been in the past. He was pretty set up with it the other day. And he even said something the effect of, hey, if you don't want to play defense, we'll have to find something else for you to do. So a little bit of a threat there. Now it would be followed through on any of that. I don't know, or even who specifically he's talking about. But the time for this stuff has come and gone. It does not, this should not still be an issue. And we're down to the last four weeks of the season. So there's only so much you can expect right now. But I do believe that next year there is increased pressure on Davey, on his coaches, on Mike Rizzo, and the front office. To see the the fruits of all this, they have the team out there. They're close to having the team out there that they've been counting on for a few years now. And we kind of gloss over the wind and the losses because you say it's a rebuild. But then by the time we get to next year, there should be pressure on everyone to perform and actually see the results at the big league level. And if it doesn't happen, especially early in the year, I think there are going to be some conversations and some pressure. And questions about what are they going to do moving forward with all of those people. I think right now, you kind of understand why it's not the case yet. But I do think 2025 is huge in that regard. And there should be pressure on everyone to be better next year. Along those lines, before we let you go, Mark, real quick, my point is if they don't spend some money as a front office this off season, speaking for myself, I'm going to be loud and I'm going to be angry. I mean, at some point, it's time. Like you had several years to kind of pack it in and do this rebuild thing. And you've shown enough now that if you could supplement with some power in right field or first base, whatever you want to do, you're not that far away. Aren't we there as well to put some pressure on ownership, even higher up to actually go spend some money now? A hundred percent. I think that is the biggest unanswered question and biggest issue of the off season. They have now shown who their core group of players is going to be. They've developed that from within, but you can't do it all from within. You have to have veterans who've done it before. The whole idea of this year was figure out what you have and figure out what you don't have. And I think we have a pretty good idea right now. They need a first baseman. They need at least a starting pitcher, probably a couple of relievers, maybe another bat somewhere in there. They don't have to break the bank, but they do have to start acting like a major league team that is trying to win again. And that includes commitment from ownership to spend money on veteran players. So that, to me, is the pressure of the off season. And then if they do their job, now there's pressure on everyone else to perform come April. Mark, thank you as always, man. Have a great week. Thank you guys. We'll see you brother. Hit that NFL center. Please dares. Our pal Benjamin Brown to go around the NFL. Ben, as we get ready for NFL opening week, congrats to all those who celebrate. Who's going to be better than everybody thinks in your opinion? Ooh, that is definitely the hot, you know, the hot topic they see right now. I think, you know, there's obviously hype surrounding like the New York Jets. I think in a lot of ways, the direction that they're going, they could be really good on a one-year deal. I know I should maybe get some flaxas, but I do think the Carolina Panthers, in particular, are another team that could be, you know, much better than expected, obviously, Bryce Young in year two, kind of the key clog to them actually being relevant in the NFC South. But I'd like to know what they did at receiver. I think they have some young and intriguing pieces that can kind of win at the top of their route to both the, you know, the wide receiver and tight in position. I think overall, you know, if you were kind of down on the NFL, the Carolina Panthers could also be a sneaky good team this year. Ben, I'm just trying to get the wording in my tweet, right? You said NFC South champion Carolina Panthers. Ben's around guarantees super long for something about a red solo cup and what you would do if it doesn't happen, I think. Pretty much, pretty much. Yeah, though it could be interesting. I know there's, you know, obviously you can make a case for almost any team at this point. I would say 31 out of 32 teams, but I like Carolina's structure. I would say that much, but I have to give another show up today. You know, the commanders home town team. I do think that there's like an upside case. So I'm being really good in the in the NFC. Look at him coming out of the tunnel. Just spinning the hits on WWE Raw. Welcome to DC. I love Jaden Daniels. Oh, there we go. Stick aside. How do you feel about Daniel's season ahead? I mean, I, I like it, honestly. And I know that I think the initial question, you know, very much should have been like how does Cliff King's very kind of evolved what he wants to do offensively. I think, you know, we, we at least saw a glimmer of that, you know, end the free season. But I think what they do in the regular season early on is really going to detect both, you know, the short and long term project, you know, the projection of the, you know, the overall team. But I liked what I saw in the free season. I think overall, you know, Terry McClellan could be a guy that can legitimate still be a number one wide receiver option at a number of NFL teams. And I think he, you know, he has been held back at the quarterback position. So if you can kind of unlock that, I think the rest of the pieces do kind of fall in place. And, you know, when you look around the rest of the East, there is some vulnerability, I would say at the top. So for that reason, I think there is a bullish case for the Washington commander here in 2024. What's more likely Cincinnati Bengals win the AFC North or are well under 500 missed the playoffs entirely? I could see any scenario therein. But which one of those is more likely that they're bad or really good? Yeah, I still think they're really good. I think, you know, obviously last year, you know, some outlier type situations, especially, you know, from the injury standpoint, I still think there's a number of questions about where they are at at a secondary standpoint. But, you know, this is still Joe Burr. I think if he is neither, shouldn't he believe, you know, a top three, top four quarterback in the NFL, I think they can win the AFC North. I do think outside of, you know, an injury to Joe burrow, I don't really see them having the kind of wheel sort of come off season that they did last year. So I do think it's probably just a little bit more likely AFC North. I think they're, you know, second in odds, basically right now, I would actually probably lean in their direction as far as what I would rather bet, you know, in the Ravens or the Bengals at their current price right now. What do you think of the Dallas Cowboys coming into the year? I would say I was very concerned that there is, I think, you know, obviously, you know, what we would expect is the sort of, you know, second place outcome, you know, 10 and seven season. But I think there is a downside risk to the Dallas Cowboys that maybe you resolve a little bit now that CD Lam's lost and loaded, but there still are scenarios where, you know, this team goes south, that press got to not hear your next year. And they're not even really relevant, I would say in the divisional race. And I do think that's probably the one major fundamental shift from where the Cowboys were at last season to this season. And I think there is that sort of like downside risk that's just a little bit of a wider distribution than what it was at in prior seasons. I could easily see them, you know, not really be competitors whatsoever. And I think that's maybe the scary thing. And the narrative that people have built up, and I do still think it's probably justified invalid even after the CD Lam extension. So I think that may be another reason why I do think that, you know, then if the east is, you know, wide open and there could be a surprising team that potentially went back to vision. For the AFC South, Houston or the field, if you've got to go to the betting window. And so that is, I think that is a really relevant question. You know, I expected the Texans, obviously, the multi-team this off season. They very much lived up to that billing. And I, but I, what I did not expect is, you know, the number of moves that they made to really build around CJ Stroud. And for that reason, the fact that, you know, that would be something that I would very much want to push, you know, from it, from a team standpoint and even a fan standpoint, I think that's hard not to buy into. So although I don't think Trevor Lawrence is as bad as what people are saying or projecting right now, I still think there's, there's enough there with the Houston Texans that I am kind of buying into the hype with that one, in particular, for sure. Ben, it is great to hear your voice on a football week, buddy. Thank you. Thanks guys. Enjoy it. Enjoy the rest of the week. It's going to be a great one. It's your brother, man. We appreciate you. Let's talk local football. The local outfits on the road in Tampa on Sunday, week one to kick off a brand new season. We're joined now by the beat writer for the Washington Times, who covers the commanders and all things DC sports, Liam Griffin. So, Liam, why don't we start with, I think you were at FedEx, we took the tour together of everything they were trying to do over it now, Northwest Stadium. What do you make of just the brand new literal and figurative can of paint on this organization going into a new year and the excitement in the fan base as we have arrived at week one? Yeah, no, the bar is obviously pretty low for commander fans, but I think you take what you can get. You mentioned that fresh coat of paint and that's something that all right, you can tell that the new ownership group at least cares about the product that they're putting on the field and the stadium around it. So, I think there's a lot of reasons to be optimistic, if for no other reason, then you're approaching competence within the organization. Is this version of Cliff Kingsbury's offense going to look pretty much exactly like it did in Arizona or is this kind of, has there been a massive update? Are we expecting like a 2.0 patch here where it looks different? So, that's something that I'll be really interested to see when I'm done at Tampa this week is how much Cliff Kingsbury has taken from his time in Arizona and how much he's really adjusting and iterating on that. When Zach Earth was talking earlier in the off season, he was with Cliff in Arizona, he said, no, it was pretty much the same stuff we were running with the Cardinals. But like I said, the NFL was that not for long league, so I'll be interested to see how much he does change. Obviously, a lot was made in Arizona about Cliff Kingsbury. It was always putting DeAndre Hopkins on the same side of the field. We saw that with Terry McClellan in the preseason. So, really, from what we've seen so far, and given that it's only preseason, it's only training camp, it looks to be very similar to what they're running with the Cardinals. Our guest, Liam Griffin, covers the commanders for the Washington Times. We didn't get to see this defense on the field as a starting unit for a single snap. It didn't play pain around whenever we saw Bobby Wagner. There are major questions about the secondary and even those guys played a very light load in the preseason. What should we expect from Joe Witt's side of the ball? So, based on what we saw in Dallas last season, Joe Witt, Dan Quinn, it's not going to be the exact same things that we saw there, but we could definitely expect a lot of that mentality. This cover three zone, this cover one man where they use their athletic safety to plug up the middle of the field with man-to-man outside. That's what they're going to be looking for, and they're going to be sprinting to the ball. That is what the defensive philosophy really stretches. It's just, "Okay, the scheme itself is not that complex. You need to perform. You need to execute. You need to be fast to the ball. You need to break up passes, make turnovers." So, that's something that we'll be looking for in Tampa, is just how well this defensive back group in particular is able to adjust to this scheme. And you're also looking at, in Dallas, one of the reasons that this defense in this scheme was so successful was that you had Michael Parsons rushing the passer as an absolute freak of nature, and Jonathan Allen and Duran Payne are great players, but nobody in the league is Michael Parsons. So, we'll be interested to see whether they're bringing more pressure and how they adjust with the personnel. You've got to bet the entire Griffin Fortune on the following. Who has more touches this year? Robinson or Echler? If you're going straight up touches, I'm going Echler. If we're going rushing attempts, we're going carries. I'll be going Robinson, but Austin Echler is really this young quarterback's best friend. I think you'll see a lot of touches for him in ZachArts in these kind of steady veteran presence for Jayden Daniels, especially when you're looking at an offensive line that has some questions going into the season. And Jayden Daniels is someone who is prone to taking pressure, or at least he was during his collegiate career. So, I could definitely see a lot of outlet passes for Austin Echler throughout the season. Correct. Liam, correct me if I'm wrong. You're a woodbridge guy, right? You're from the area? Yeah. No, I grew up here. I grew up following the team, been to preseason playoff games as a kid. So, you know, I'm very familiar with the organization. But you're younger than we are. What's your earliest memories of this organization from when you were. Yeah. So, my earliest memories, two things came to mind, and that is Patrick Ramsey with the first quarterback. Let's go. Yeah. That was my guy. That's the first guy I remember watching, and then watching Sean Taylor play defense from the secondary and absolutely annihilate people with something that I will never forget and is what kind of turned me into a fan. Yeah. Well, then that's kind of where I was going, was I'd imagine you were old enough to remember Sean Taylor. What did you make of the decision to redo the statue? And you were in the room when Josh Harris said that they're going to do it the right way, and they wanted to honor him correctly. Yeah. This is such a no-brainer decision for the Harris ownership group. You look at how the team treated Sean Taylor after his death. The players obviously honored him. But Dan Snyder never really did that much. It took forever for the team to officially retire his number. Nobody wore it, but there was no official efforts to do that. The wire mannequin was a complete and unmitigated disaster. So building a statue and also saying wherever we move next, wherever the next stadium is, the statue is coming with us. This is a part of our future of our organization is honoring this path. I think it's a clear and obvious step in the right direction as someone who is so important to the fan base. Liam, as a, as a woodbridge guy, I look forward to you and I meeting in person over a couple appetizers. I'll tell you why I needed a police escort to get out of Potomac senior high school in the greater woodbridge area when I was in high school. Appreciate it, man. Thank you. I look forward to it. See you soon. Thanks, bud. There's Liam Griffin of the Washington Times on our Beltway Blitz here on Grant and Danny. Next, burning questions in week one going into the season. What still don't we know? Where are you most intrigued, curious and worried about this team? What is your burning commander's question five days out? We'll get to that next. We can open up the phones at 800-636-1067 on GND. This season's may be changing, but the deals and the sharpest rides are unbeatable as ever. Hey, what's going on? It's your girl, Tasha McKia. And I need you to join the sharpest rides for their fall into savings event, where they're offering incredible prices on their massive inventory. That's right, everything is on sale now. Shot from sleek sedans to rugged SUVs and sporty convertibles. The sharpest rides has the perfect ride to match your fall adventures. Plus, with their exclusive financing options, getting behind the wheel of your dream car has never been easier. Log on and shop online at thesharpestrides.com right from the palm of your hands. Or check other massive inventory in person at the sharpest rides located 2250 South Sea Home Street in Inglewood. Either way, you will fall into savings. Don't miss out. Head on over to the sharpestrides.com today and explore the deals that make every season better. And tell them that your girl, Tasha McKia sent you the sharpest ride, affordable, sexy, sharp. 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. Doors take us to summers away or winter adventures and afternoon getaways. Your dedicated fidelity advisor can help you open those doors by working with you on a comprehensive plan to help you reach your wealth's full potential because doors were meant to be opened. Visit fidelity.com/wealth. Investment minimums apply Fidelity brokerage services LLC member NYSE SIPC. Hey NFL fans, you can start the season with a big return on Fandal, America's number one sports book. So when you get a hunch in the middle of the game, you can check out the latest stats, view live play by play and so much more on the same page where you place your bets. You'll get started with $200 in bonus bets guaranteed when you place your first $5 bet. That's Fandool.com/sportsfan. Never waste a hunch and make every moment more with Fandool, an official sports book partner of the NFL. Must be 21 plus and present in Colorado. First online real money weights are only $10 first deposit required. Bonus issued is now a throwable bonus bets that expire seven days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fandool.com gambling problem call 1-800-522-4700. Dear Autumn Leaves, you won't be covering roads alone this season. Toyota's lineup of cool, colorful vehicles is ready to ride by your side. Take on fall in a trail tackling Tacoma or go for the powerful tundra. Head to toyota.com for more info or visit your local Toyota dealership today. Toyota, let's go places. I couldn't be more excited. I can't believe it. It just felt like the blink of an eye that we're here now and just laughing at it on the field with a couple of coaches. I assume we got there and I assume we'll be in Tampa. I think I'm the most excited but I think our fans should really, really be excited about this next week and what to come with this team and that kind of leads me to my answer. I think I'm really excited about everything. I'm really excited about our offense with Cliff and the way he runs it and the guys that are executing it. It's going to be a really fun offense to watch. It's going to be a fast offense and it's going to put defenses in a mind with what we do. Then defensively, I really love how fast and physical the guys are playing a mindset of the guys and the leadership on that side of the ball too. I'm honestly just really excited about how we play and how we're going to play and the style of how we play. I don't want to get too much into specific some certain areas but I just can tell you that I'm not exaggerating when I say how excited I am about everything. As Adam Peters, general manager, the commanders, this is Grant and Danny. It is time to line up some burning questions in week one. We are five days away from Washington's opener at Tampa Bay against the Bucks at Raymond James Stadium. Have you been to that stadium by chance? No. One of my favorites in football. Very, very nice place to watch a game. Now, I have not checked the weather. Perhaps one of you guys can dig on that and just figure out what it's going to be in Tampa Bay on Sunday because it early season can be hot. Yeah, hot and gross and sweaty and unfun. But I love that stadium. It's got the big pirate ship. The annoying part would be if they're scoring touchdowns. You're the cannons. Cannon's going to go off. But I've got great memories there. I was there in 1999 sadly for a playoff loss, but Washington led 13 nothing on the precipice of the NFC Championship game. Be mentioned, just ripped off a kick return and what would be his final return ever with the then Redskins. And then the Bucks came back to in 14, 13, maybe a bogus PI on Liam on Evans and Sean King leading the comeback, not that it still haunts me to this. I don't think about it much. Not my favorite Redskins team ever or anything. They were lining up for a game winning 51 yard field goal. Dan Turk snap never got back to Brad Johnson and the rest is history. But had that game been there a couple of times subsequently as well when I was on the beat. But I do like that stadium a lot. That's where they'll be playing on Sunday. So let's get into some burning questions. If you got one hit us up on the phones, your number one question that you wish it a crystal ball to be able to answer or something that a lot of times this goes into like concerned territory, but it could just be curiosity. Yeah. Like what's it look like? 800 636 1067 will hit the phones hard in just a moment. Sure to wide receiver. We know term of corn. We got that we're good. Upper 70s catches just over a thousand yards, maybe five, six touchdowns. Good to go there. Who is it? Is it is it is it is a key a situation? Is it really down me Brown? Is it Noah Brown? I don't know the answer to that. I'm fascinated to see. And also do we even need it? Is it something that's even essential to this offense? Is this a running back tight end and terra McClure in production? Or are they spreading you wide? Everyone's going to get a chance to eat. I have no idea about that receiver spot is Brandon Coleman just going to be rolled out with the starters at left tackle. I think there's a chance of that for sure. I don't think you list them top of the depth chart. If you're not ready for those questions, at least, like the default should actually be to do the opposite of that. Unless they're just going to come out and say, Oh, we did it in alphabetical order. It's going to be Lucas. They're battling whatever, but six foot four 320 pounds. A lot of teams viewed him as a guard of Washington said, uh, this guy can play tackle. He's pretty athletic. He's got a huge wingspan and giant hands and arms. To me looks like a guard body, but he moves like a tackle. I was so impressed by him at practice for a couple days out there in a row. And then he was just like gone. We didn't see him again. But what if Brandon Coleman is the big fella at left tackle right away and plays well, we got a whole different combo to have about that. Oh, one, which Zach hurts is it? Is it dynamic Zach hurts of a couple of years ago that can do a little things after the catch little wiggle, little all around football type game? Or is he, I think it was Aaron shots. Maybe you called him this. I could be wrong. I apologize if I miss miss attributing a catch and fall guy. Not that interested in catching fall guys. He's honest with you. I'm more interested in rumbling after the catch, punishing smaller members of the secondary after the catch, making guys miss after the catch, being a threat after the catch, not catch and fall. But who's arts is Andrew Wiley going to be able to hold off all comers at right tackle. Let's say Coleman does soon take the left tackle job away from Cornelius Lucas. Why not play Lucas if you like him so much at right tackle. Lucas is played on the right side of bunch. He's been a swing tackle, right? If he's been the left tackle starter over Coleman and you feel so good about Coleman that Lucas loses his job, if so fact though, doesn't that mean that he might make more sense at right tackle than Wiley who struggled a bunch, including in the preseason where it wasn't pretty all the time. I just, I'm not writing him in pen yet. I think he's the starter. I get that. But if Coleman ends up starting at left tackle, I would like to see what it looks like with Coleman and Lucas. That might be your best offensive line. Are we going to hurry up all the time? Back in the day, the Buffalo Bills realized, Hey, we're really good with, in a two minute drill with Jim Kelly getting to the line, calling the plays, getting into Thurman Thomas and Andrei Reed, James Lofton and company, not allowing the other team to to to to to to sub to change things out, making guys tired. If we dictate to them, well, they ran it all the time pretty much. They it began and then I think was the 89 AFC title game and kind of continued. This has been what we saw in the preseason. They don't huddle and get to the line and they kind of keep going with some tempo. I love that personally. I know a lot of old school football people are going, you got to use the full 40 and run the dang ball. None of that matters unless you get first downs, shaking to the egg style. But are we going hurry up all the time? Can't wait to see it. He's Washington going to be able to generate enough pass rush to bail out what is a very average secondary in terms of personnel. And does that pass rush have to come from the interior as it has the last few years, or can they actually get some pressure off the edges? Dorins Armstrong, nobody really knows this guy yet. We've seen him almost zero in the preseason, the former Dallas cowboy, Cleo and Ferrell. What about Chavante Jean Baptiste or Dante Fowler, the speed edge rusher who we had on the show told me he thinks he could quietly have a really, really good season. He's primed for a breakout again. He had a 11 sack year, a few seasons ago, things he can get back to that level. Is it have to be paying Alan Newton, Mathis, in between the guards, pushing the pocket or might they actually get something off the edges and who other than Armstrong solidifies themselves as being able to rush the quarterback? I would bet on Fowler, but it's wide open. Are we exclusively a shotgun team? I know we saw that in Arizona for Cliff Kingsborough and company, but some people thought, Hey, maybe that's because Colin Murray is about five or three numbers approximate. Well, Jay Daniels is not a 6, 4, 6, 5, but he came from an offense where that's pretty much what they did. We saw a lot of that in the preseason. How much under center are we getting and how much is it? No, no, no, we're in the shotgun all the time with running back, maybe to one side of the other, a lot of read option, a lot of zone read, a lot of, you know, kind of RPOs based on those specific looks. How much shotgun and how close to 100% is Brian Robinson said throughout the off season, he was and he didn't use these words, but he made it pretty clear. He's held back by Eric, the enemy, the amount of commitment to the run and the idea that they just didn't want him to be a big factor last year. All right. Well, they're going to run the ball now. My burning question is, what's in the tank for Brian Robinson that we haven't seen? My burning question is, how much better are you than what you've put on film to this point? If you look at efficiency for him, he grades out, I would say, well, but certainly not near the top of the NFL, kind of a middling tailback. If you look at things metrics like yards per attempt or rushing yards over expected, it was kind of similar year to year. It was a 4.0 yard per carry guy. If in fact, it's going to happen. It probably has to start happening right now. So, is this the year burning question? Does Brian Robinson show that what he talked about all off season commit to me? Believe in me. And I'll take you where you want to go. Is he able to deliver the goods? There's a television show that you absolutely sleep on back in the day called Murphy Brown, sorry, Candice Bergen. The whole one of the themes of the show was she had a new assistant pretty much every week and they run some funny guest stars go a lot of different things. It's like an office, right? Yeah, I was like, definitely remember it, but I never watched. Yeah. So it was actually pretty well done, pretty funny. Oh, lady, always very current. Yeah, she was she was really good. The assistant job constantly turned over. That's Washington's center position. There have been approximate. I look us up approximate numbers here. In the last few seasons, seven trillion centers. They can't get that position right. They've tried, they've signed, they've promoted internally. They had had guys that also play guard kind of look over, enter Tyler Biotish, hold over from from Dallas, not hold over, but a guy that came with Dan Quinn from Dallas to hopefully anchor that position. He's not all world, but at least solidifying that spot, adding some cohesion of that offensive line to help out their young rookie quarterback. Hopefully they found a solution there to a position that's been a bug a boo. Shout out to Matt on Twitter, who sent me an update on the weather in Tampa. He says for Sunday, it looks like 88 degrees with a 60% chance of rain. Yuck. In fact, during the game, 4 p.m. at kickoff, about 40% chance. And then the chances are 60% for the rest of the window. Is it a bit of a hot take that I actually hope it's disgusting and rains a lot there? Yes. Here's my thinking. I'm not so sure. I hope the Washington's better, defending the past. I'd rather it be a little bit mucked up. I don't want Mike Evans and Godwin and company to be able to run free. I'd like less throwing, which I get. And I think the more rain when they're on defense throughout the year, probably the better. Trying to hang with receivers. Yeah. I just want Jayden Daniels on dry fields as often as possible. Oh, I smell what you're cooking there. And yeah, I also think him running around and making plays. Like I don't need him slipping and sliding. Just give me 72 and sunny. Let's see what the kid looks like. I don't really care what happens on defense in the first quarter or two of the game or maybe even in the first quarter of the season. If you want to look big picture, I just I want to see Jayden Daniels and I want to see it pretty. But it's going to be very hot. And it sounds like there are chances of rain in Tampa Bay. But those are some of our burning questions on the commanders five days out. What is yours? We're going to hit the phones hard next at 800-636-1067-800-636-1067. We're Grant and Danny. [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] She'd be here on the fan. Grant Paulson, Danny. Who? Hey, in a football, Tuesday, in a football week. We're talking football all week long because a real game happens in two days and Washington plays on Sunday. At the moment, at 800-636-1067, the conversation is thus. What don't we know yet? What's your burning question? What are you excited to figure out? What are you excited to learn about when it comes to this weekend, when it comes to Washington's game? There's a whole bunch on the table for me. A lot of it obviously revolves around Jay Daniels, but really, it's about the offense. What's it going to look like? How are they going to do it? How are they going to protect Daniels? How are they going to maximize Daniels? How much running is going to happen? How much hurry up are they going to do? How are some of the pieces there where they bet big on an unheralded receiving core outside of Terry McCorn? How does that hold up? How does their untested left tackle hold up? Right? A guy that we didn't see in the preseason, that half the league thought was a guard, but they're just going to roll with Brandon Coleman. Apparently, maybe it's not. There's a lot of things going into a GP. To the phones, we go 800-636-106-7. Kevin and Arlington, what's your burning question? Kevin. Hey, fella. Great talking with you. Thanks for taking my call. So I had one after the tackle situation. You laid that out beautifully, Grant, because like you, if in fact Coleman starts, we know Lucas is better than Wily. We just know that. So it would be interesting to see that make Wily the swing tackle. And as far as Trent Scott, boy, I wasn't impressed with him at all. I'm still hoping for after the first week that we go out and get a veteran offense to tackle that to the next two or a place Scott. Well, in fairness, Kevin, hopefully you don't see Trent Scott, right? Because there's three guys in front of him on the depth chart. Fair enough. Fair enough. I just, you know, injuries happen and got helpless if Scott sees the field. But to me, the quarterback position is another one where, okay, I was actually talking with Lionel yesterday on the radio and he was, you know, surmising that, you know, they're going to start, say, juiced and forged. And I'm like, wait just a minute. I don't do that. It should be, in my opinion, from what I've seen, it should be Davis and Sam Raskill, who can handle the boundary because he's the best damn corner on the team. And, you know, for me, Forbes is like James and Davis. He's a recognition project number one at this point. That's what he is. Well, it certainly feels that way. I appreciate the phone call, phone call, we're going to squeeze through as many of these as we can, always appreciate you. The reason Lionel said that, the reason I felt that way, and it's listed that way in the depth chart, that's what they've done every day at practice pretty much. It's pretty obviously St. Giust Forbes Davis kind of in that order outside. Now I'm with you. I'd like to see more Sam Raskill against two receivers. They've got to find a way to get him on the field. If he can't play outside and he's excellent in the nickel and he just can't play the boundary for some reason, which would seem odd because it feels like playing inside is way more difficult than being outside where you can use the sideline as your friend, then we can reassess at that point. But I would like to see Sam Raskill on the field on every snap at corner, regardless of if you're using two or three. Because right now I'm going, oh, really? So he comes off the field. I'll take my chances with a tight end against one of their guys, right? And in a two receiver set, then I will versus three. If I feel like there's an advantage when you've got a good nickel corner, well, and I'll do something where there's no nickel corner on the field or I'll try to take advantage in a different way. Dylan McGrady on Twitter says, are we finally going to have a good line backing core? That's my burning question. On paper, it's great. But can we finally be good? You better? I mean, investing in Wagner and Lou Vu the way that they have, I think they're going to have an excellent line backing group. The Jordan McGandry hurts because that depth was going to really help them to that guy can play. He was a mid round pick at a temple. He'll be back at some point later in the season though. Let's go to D and Percival. You're burning commander's question five days out. Great. And Danny, my guys, thanks for taking my call buddy. You bet, bro. All right, man, listen, this is, I got a lot of questions, of course, like any other commander saying, but my question is, my gut has been telling me that Quinn has in the other guy, the GM, Peter's, they've kept, they've kept McCafford kind of on the hush, hush on purpose because they know this guy is his dad reincarnated. I mean, he said, if you look at his take, he's his route running is actually ridiculous. He catches the ball. And I think Senate, I think Senate was Rupert. I think those two, a lot of people are surprised that he started. I think he is going to be a big surprise and people are going to be like, wow. So that's, that's what I think, I think they're doing it on purpose. They've kind of hush, tush kept them down in the, you know, in the basement and let him, let him go on game day. Appreciate you, dude. There's not really a reason to do that though. You need to get him his reps to prepare him. I guess your point is if the opponent doesn't know how involved he'll be or how good he is, maybe you can catch them off guard. But I don't know, I would have rather just gotten him as many snaps as possible. He mentioned that he's going to start. I think he's referencing that depth chart that came out with the team's game notes for their first game, which is not gospel. I still think in a two receiver set, he's not going to be one of the guys on the field in week one. I would think it's McClorne and then probably either Alama Deza Kias or Deami Brown. I think the reason they listed it that way though is McCaffrey has kind of been used outside a lot, whereas the other guys have been used in the slot and were listed at that part of the depth chart. So I don't know how telling it was, but you just look at the proof is in the fact that in conference USA, he went from playing quarterback to wide receiver. His first year, he had 58 grabs for 720 yards and six touchdowns. His second year Danny McCaffrey went 71 for 992 and 13 touchdowns in the American conference. He's been a receiver for like an hour and he's already figured it out. Indeed. I mean, the, the, the pedigree obviously as the caller mentioned is pretty good. There's guys in that McCaffrey family that could play a little bit. So if the, if the question is, who's more likely to figure it out quickly, McCaffrey or other, I'd probably go McCaffrey. Here's a really good burning question from Dave and Woodbridge. Dave, you're on G and D. Hey, guys. So a lot of excitement here, but I'm definitely worried that the kicking game, I feel like we haven't had a kicker since mostly in low Miller. I want some consistency for the next six to eight years of where we're going to stand with this guy. We just, you know, traded a pick for him. So worried about it. Do they have the answer at kicker on the roster right now? They traded a draft pick for Kate York. So you know, they're going to give him some leash presumably because they could have just waited until everybody got cut and then signed somebody for nothing. But Danny, they traded. I know it was a late round pick. It's still something. But they decided, Kate York, we, we, they sought him out. You know what I mean? They went after him. They didn't just say, well, let's see who falls to us and we'll pick one of those guys. No, they evaluated the landscape, found the guy they liked, and then they went and gave up a pick to solve their problem. He was two for two in the final preseason game. My big fear is that they were going to be in the kicker carousel pool all season. Hopefully York keeps them out of that. Yeah. You want, you want that to stick, especially because as you mentioned, you could have waited a day or two till, you know, the guys that lost kicking battles all around the league got cut, had a feeding, feeding friends that you signed somebody, you hope that because you committed earlier that that guy works out just, it just little things like that go a long way to credibility. I know the players in locker room, maybe don't care near as much about that sort of thing, but it just would feel good as a fan or somebody that's invested in this team to have the front office when they go, we know best to have that workout. One of our favorite guests that we have under in the football season every year, also one of the best to talk to on the NFL. CBS is Charles Davis. You see him on NFL network all off season as well. He'll be on the call of the Patriots and the Bengals. Let's get his thoughts on Jaden Daniels, the commanders, and the rest of the NFL live next top of the hour right here on Grant and Danny. The seasons may be changing, but the deals and the sharpest rides are unbeatable as ever. Hey, what's going on? It's your girl, Tasha McKia, and I need you to join the sharpest rides for their fall into savings event, where they're offering incredible prices on their massive inventory. That's right, everything is on sale now, shot from sleek sedans to rugged SUVs and sporty convertibles. The sharpest rides has the perfect ride to match your fall adventures, plus with their exclusive financing options, getting behind the wheel of your dream car has never been easier. Log on and shop online at the sharpestrides.com right from the palm of your hands, or check other massive inventory in person at the sharpest rides, located 2250 South Sea Home Street in Inglewood. Either way, you will fall into savings. Don't miss out, head on over to the sharpestrides.com today and explore the deals that make every season better. And tell them that your girl, Tasha McKia sent you the sharpest ride, affordable, sexy, sharp. 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. Hey NFL fans, you can start the season with a big return on FanDul, America's number one sports book. So when you get a hunch in the middle of the game, you can check out the latest stats, view live play by play, and so much more on the same page where you place your bets. You'll get started with $200 in bonus bets guaranteed when you place your first $5 bet. That's FanDul.com/sportsfan. Never waste a hunch, and make every moment more with FanDul, an official sports book partner of the NFL. Must be 21 plus and present in Colorado. First online real money weights are only $10 first deposit required. Bonus issued is now a throwable bonus bets that expire seven days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanDul.com gambling problem call 1-800-522-4700. Dear Autumn Leaves, you won't be covering roads alone this season. Toyota's lineup of cool, colorful vehicles is ready to ride by your side. Take on fall in a trail tackling Tacoma, or go for the powerful Tundra. Head to Toyota.com for more info or visit your local Toyota dealership today. Toyota, let's go places. If your day sounds like we need the report ASAP. You deserve Mandela. If you've persevered through. You deserve this rich golden lager with a crisp or refreshing taste, or if you overcame. You deserve this ice cold reward. Mandela, the mark of the fight. Trick responsibly. You're imported by crime in Port Chicago, Illinois.