Grant and Danny
Best of the Commanders: Week 4 vs. Arizona
This summer, get away in the Hyundai you've always wanted at the Hyundai Getaway sales event. Get the hottest deals of the season on many of our award-winning Hyundai models, which all come with America's best warranty. But get going, because these deals won't last. Add more joy to your journey at the Hyundai Getaway sales event. Now for a limited time, get 1.99% APR for 60 months on the Hyundai Tucson or Elantra. Hurry into the Hyundai Getaway sales event. Offers end September 3rd. Call 562-314-4603 for details. So the huge performance by Jaden Daniel and the win on Monday night footballs got all the experts and all the pundits that talk NFL abuzz about the performance and it was so good. And honestly, we talked about it yesterday, you know, obviously the 90% completion percentage that's unsustainable. It's freak. But man, through three games, I mean, obviously that's propping it up, but 80% completion percentage. I mean, for a rookie and for not to turn the ball over like it's, and it makes sense. See the, you know, they're playing soft coverages and you know, just not throwing downfield a lot. But man, it's just put a remarkable start. You could, you couldn't have asked for a better start. Like, yeah, like in your wildest dreams and scenarios you didn't, you wouldn't have. Did you ever start this game? He'd knock off. I think everybody, even though Cincinnati is only three now. Yeah. I mean, they're a better football team than we are, more established. Much as I say, they're the bangles. I mean, this team in recent years has been very good. And to knock them off on Monday night football in your third game, when you're decided underdog on the road had to feel good for him too. Because I mean, he, he walked around in the shadow of Joe Burrow in Baton Rouge. I mean, he had to follow the Joe Burrow show at LSU. There seemed like there was a little, I wanted to say angst, but there was a little something to that. Definitely. Yeah. There's definitely something there for him to topple him in the third game of his career on the road. Right. Huge accomplishment. So let's listen to what some of the, the experts in the talking heads. Can you preview and tell us? Because I was, I called Travis, I was driving in this morning and I heard Aaron Rodgers jocken him. Yeah. I mean, we're out of his way to jocken. We've got him on a list. We heard your mark chase. Yeah, got the list right here. Chase Daniel. We heard your mark chase after the game. Yeah, who else? We played yesterday. Let's lead off with former quarterback Chase Daniel, what he had to say about Jane Daniels and the commanders. Jane Daniels with a statement when everyone's saying it, I'm going to say it sort of a star is born. If you were watching my breakdowns on YouTube, I've said that I believe he's the most polished passer of the group this early, not that there's not hope for anyone else. Daniel has played so good last night. Aaron Rodgers, you know, it wasn't like he was, everything was off schedule. You know, he, it was, he touched on the Terry, touched on the Terry, last one. I mean, he's, yeah, that wasn't, yeah, that was awesome. And he knew there was pressure and he knew how to get it up and he had to beautiful stop and go on the outside. You know, they're in a zero coverage here. He knows there's one extra guy. He knows where he's going with the ball. He throws an absolute dime. It's really hard to, you got to guide Berlin down. You, you got to put enough air on Terry on that ball so he can stutter go. And then you got to expect where he's going to be when he transitions out of this. I mean, he's throwing the ball as Terry is stuttering. That's an incredible play. Kurt Banker, these two plays that I'm going to show you back to back are the reason why Jane Daniels is so special. Cover zero right here, third and five in field goal range. Jane Daniels is going to drop back. He's going to fade and throw away early and he's not going to give his receiver a chance here. Has nobody hitting him, has no pressure, but he's going to take a guess instead of giving him a back shoulder or putting a little less air on it, putting it to a spot where it's in bounds, he's going to fade away and throw it out of bounds. He made a mistake. But in this moment, the Bengals defensive coordinator said, okay, he doesn't have an answer for zero blitz. He's going to rush it. He's going to miss the throw, whatever. That's not the case. Fast forward, six minutes later, game on the line, same spot of the field, got to have it third and seven. What do we have here? Zero blitz, the same exact call, you have the same receiver, you have the same quarterback, but the quarterback makes the decision. He says, I'm going to stand in here. I'm not going to fade away and I'm going to give my guy a chance. Stands in there, gets smacked in the mouth, threw the ball before the DB, got passed up by the receiver, balls in the air, fixes the throw from before and delivers a dime and a dagger. Jayden Daniels drafted to the Washington commanders, new ownership, new field, new vibes, new legacy. And Jayden Daniels seemingly out of LSU is the guy right now. Now I'm not saying that because his first touchdown pass in the NFL was to an offensive lineman who was very apparently a cue dog in very, very nimble with the celebration immediately afterwards. I'm not saying he's the guy because on fourth down in the fourth quarter, he looks over at the sideline and goes, no, no, let's go. A plot need. We need to keep going. And they go ahead and do it. I'm not saying he's the guy because he answered Joe Burrow in Cincinnati on Monday night multiple times in the second F. I'm saying he's the guy because his entire team believes in him. And that is the only rookie, I think thus far, thus far, where it is very obvious that he has taken over the culture, the locker room and everything. We thought Caleb was going to potentially be able to do it after watching hard knocks up there with the Chicago Bears. And I'll pre-season his one. He has struggled a little bit. He's a rookie in the NFL. Jayden Daniels, it's like a star wasn't born last night because he was already a star. But he is now the brightest light that we have coming out of Washington, D.C. And that includes anyone who becomes the President of the United States. Because in D.C., there's no better city to win in, in my opinion, than in Washington, D.C. I said, I think he's going to be a little bit like Lamar Jackson better in the pocket early in his career, not quite as athletic early in his career. But you know, I love Lamar. I think Jayden Daniels is Lamar, but it'll be a better pocket quarterback earlier. I was told that Cliff Kingsbury went to Dan Quinn and Adam Peters bang the table and said, I've coached this before. It's a combination of Mahomes. It's a combination of Kyler Murray. Mike Greenburn. We all said this was the situation of a lifetime, right? Caleb Williams is walking into the best situation. Any first number one overall pick has ever had. And all of a sudden, three games in were saying, well, Jayden is in a much better situation than Caleb is in. We weren't saying that three weeks ago. Great point. Good job producing excellent. Yeah, that was a good cornucopia of Jayden Daniels. Nice compilation phrase. I know you all know all about compilations, maybe we can replay that later in the show. That's so good. Because if your if your skins fan like me, I know you guys are not. That's porno to you. It's like I've got a giant eggplant in my pants. By the way, we, I think we've kind of undersold how he got plowed into the turf when he delivered that strike to Terry McClure and for the touchdown. Can I be honest with you? He was buried on that. I don't think I actually have seen the hit. He was murdered. All I kept focused on was Terry getting his knee down or whatever. I didn't go back. Go back and watch. I can't remember what bangled D B hit him. I don't know who hit him. But all I know is he took a wicked shot. Did he take a shot to the head or the middle section like, you know, he's extended, you know, like throwing the ball. He might have to wear a rib protectors and make him look a little bigger too. He took a big shot and delivered a dime. Yeah, Terry, my glory. That's that. And there were some other guys I was watching yesterday when I was watching NFL live on ESPN, you know, or Lofsky and Anthony McFarland guys like that. Oh, doc. And why? How could you not? Yeah, you know, after what he did. It's so great. It's so great. Slurpapalooza is what it's becoming. I mean, he's going to have bad games. Every player does. I'm the greatest of all time at bad games. Yeah. And I'm not suggesting he's going to be in the conversation to be the greatest of all time. But he's going to be our guy for quite a while. If we could just keep him out. All right, I was, I'm warned up to watch at four was at four or five pick. I can't yeah, four or five or four twenty five, whatever it is, horned up to see what he does. How about Sanquin talking about like kind of the history of all the bad quarterbacks that Washington's had over the years and the fan base. Just kind of waiting for that guy he said yesterday. I definitely understand our fan base has been waiting for the franchise quarterback, but I also don't want Jaden feeling any ghosts making sure he understands there's only one name on the back of the jersey and this for him. So he's not so we don't want to think about the history, the bad history of that position over the last 20 plus years. He just he just has the humility and the humbleness and the confidence that I don't think it's an issue. He really is a rare bird. And you know, I talked to a couple people and they all say the same thing. I would say people that don't have as an informed opinion as maybe me. But like they'll say, well, Robert had a great first year. Why? Why? You know, you guys think this guy's going to be great. Why? I mean, the time will tell. Yeah. All right. You're right. Time will tell. Sure. The Robert situation was unique. It was different. The one thing I would say was gimmicky. He was a limited guy. And it was fantastic while it lasted. Now, I'm not even suggesting if he didn't get hurt, it wouldn't have lasted longer because I actually think it would have. But this is a different situation. He's a better passer. He's a better a surveyor of the field, better processor, better processor. He's throwing guys open. And we're not even talking about his legs. And he's not a he's not a diva doesn't have all the hubris and everything that that Robert had. I said that at the start of the draft, because everyone's like, Oh, my, what if he gets hurt? What if he tears ATCL? What if his legs snaps in half? Well, he's a good passer. Well, doesn't need his legs are sprinkles. It's a such a bonus. Yes, it's a bonus. The cherry on top. Right. He passes well enough that it's yeah, it's a moot point. And it's a good cherry on top too. Because even on like a bad rushing day, he's going to rush for 35 or 40 yards. That's like his that's his rushing floor. Right. And you're saying that from a fantasy perspective. No, I just mean from like, that's that's yardage that your team needs. Like, he's gaming. He's going to get you out of pickles three or four times again. Aaron Rodgers actually said a great in that interview with McAfee. And I don't think anybody understands a quarterback position better than Aaron Rodgers. Sure. And he's like, listen, first of all, young quarterbacks are playing way too soon. More often than not. But then he talks about how, you know, a lot of people are complaining, we complain about it, all the sideways passing and everything. And he's like, teams are playing more cover to more soft coverages. They're getting smarter. They're forcing you to run the football and just take underneath stuff. That's why you're seeing that. And Jaden is capitalizing and recognizing. I mean, if they're going to give him seven, eight, 10 yards to run, he'll take it. He'll take it all day long. But this is the point I forgot. He said that basically you just got to run your system. You've got to get a guy that can run your system. Jaden clearly can do. And then every game, there's going to be three to five off schedule plays that kind of decide the game. Yeah. And that's where Jaden shines. Three to five. Because when he gets outside the tackles, he's so tough to catch. Well, especially now when he's looking downfield to throw like yesterday or whatever. There's one guy out there. Like we were talking about yesterday. If there's one guy out there, whether it's a safety or linebacker, the end, he's just going to go around them. And all likely. Yes. So you kind of need two or three guys as a defense to kind of, you know, pull him in. And that hasn't happened. So if there's one guy out there, he's just going to go around. Commander's Cardinals, 405 kick. It's the highest total on the board currently, 50 and a half points. That might not even be nearly high enough. Well, based on Monday, it's tough to think that I mean, they're not going to go. They're not going to get. They're not going to never punt. I mean, we're going to understood, right? We're going to have penalties. Yeah, they're going to be going to have steps back. And the Cardinals aren't going to go. They're not going to just never punt. Oh, they may. They may. They may not know. They're not. They're going to make a stop here and there. It's almost impossible to. Well, I'll tell you this, don't hold a team to no punts. They've got an easier spot against the commanders than they did last week against the Lions. Yeah, because that I think there were three points scored in the second half of that entire game. That's fine. But I'm just saying, the odds of not punting over 60 minutes is very, very small. I understand your larger point, but our defense is it's not good, but there's going to be sometimes where the defense steps up and make a stop. I mean, it's going to happen. The over under for punts by the Cardinals is one and a half. I think it's I might take the under. I think it's more likely that they're going to overthrow a guy or drop a pass than the defense steps up. But that's just how negative I am right now. All right. When we come back, we'll get into the junk sports page and it's seven. We will hit the skins and give you the latest movements and the power rankings for the commanders. We'll do that coming up at seven here on the junks. Let's get to the phones. Becky, well, guess what Nick Ackridge joins us next joins us now, rather, from pro football focus. Nick, what up, man? How about those names? I just rattled off. Yeah, that's quite the, that's quite the collection there. A lot of a former former quarterback jersey that I have in my old closet. You got a, you got a Todd Collins jersey? I have a, I have a Brad Johnson jersey. That was, I think that was one of my first ones I got. That's not a bad one, dude. I mean, not to over analyze something that happened 25 years ago, but Snyder's insistence on running Brad Johnson out of town to let Jeff George get a crack at things really should have been letting us know what direction this thing was headed. Brad Johnson did go on and win the Super Bowl, though. No, I know. All right, Nick. So we are three games into the Jaden Daniels era. Obviously, he wrote a, he changed the script with his performance Monday night. Where are you at as I test analytics test? Yeah, I'm, I'm extremely kind of pleased with where we are through three weeks. You know, after the first two games, I was a little, I had a little concern. There were some stuff kind of showing up on film where, you know, he was missing some stuff downfield, but you know, that's kind of to be expected from a quarterback after two starts. It was some more stuff you would expect a, you know, a kind of veteran quarterback to hit, but some of the stuff like, you know, him constantly scrambling, not really looking to throw when he scrambled was a bit of a problem, but you know, Monday night was a complete flip of that. And he kind of answered a lot of questions there with, you know, when he was scrambling, he was scrambling to throw. And it saved him from getting hit. It converted some big first downs. And you know, he's always going to be a threat in the running game. So I think he's further along than what I, where I thought he would be. And that's just incredible for, you know, three starts. It really is wild. And we just played some Aaron Rodgers audio from his weekly McAfee session. And the thing I've been preaching throughout this process is I really think Daniel's is a pocket passer. He beat you from the pocket. And it just so happens to me he can break, break you all, break off a 80 yard run to Rogers talked about how he won in Cincinnati from the pocket. I think there's more of that to come. I'm curious what your research and analysis shows. Yeah, no, I mean, I mean, at LSU, he, he was, I mean, obviously we saw the game breaking speed out LSU, but he wanted to win within the pocket. And I think his best plays were the deep both. And that's what he was great at at LSU. And you see it sometimes and it kind of led to some of the high staff numbers that he did want to win within the pocket, maybe a little bit, you know, too much. And there were some stuff kind of on the film that showed that he was maybe kind of missing some things. But again, when you have his kind of game breaking speed, the kind of mindset that he has right now of still trying to win within the pocket is a good thing to have. I mean, again, trusting yourself within the pocket and not putting yourself in unnecessary situations is a very good thing. I mean, we see it a lot with young quarterbacks that have that kind of speed and, you know, outer structure ability that they want to, they want to rely on that. And Jaden through three games had not really relied on that as much, especially on Monday night. He was looking to, when it did break down and he did have to get out of the pocket, he was still looking to throw. And that's a huge step forward. Well, that'd be like, like you look at him, like you said, in college, he wanted, he had to unbelievable speed and he took some sass to the thing he can make to play. Will that be like situational, getting certain games where you know, you can get around the edge or other game you fear you can't, where you're sitting in the pocket the other time may take off a little bit. Yeah, I mean, I think it's a thing that he's going to have to kind of learn through experience. And we're going to see some, I mean, we saw some facts, the bad facts that he took in the first two weeks where, you know, he thinks he can get around some stuff and some annoying ones where he doesn't throw it away and loses a couple yards. But it's all kind of a learning experience right now. And in college, obviously, it's a lot easier for him to, you know, break contain and, you know, force mistackles in the backfield, downfield. So it's all kind of a learning experience right now. And, you know, the fact that he's not relying on, you know, constantly, he's just kind of putting his head down, looking to run is a huge sign for me. And one, I was not expecting three weeks in. Let me ask you this question. So a lot of times we always say the guy's going to learn. What's the optimal time for a rookie guy to begin to hit, get those things hit? Is it sometimes during the first year or do they have to be in the second, third year, where the light bulb kind of goes off? Yeah, I mean, it's obviously different for every single one. And CJ Stroud last year was obviously the exception where he just kind of hit the ground running right away and looked like the legit guy there. Usually you kind of see it towards the tail end of their rookie season. And then obviously in the second year, if they kind of haven't, but if they're in the same offense, if they don't really have it kind of figured out by then you could kind of, you can kind of tell, but you know, usually kind of midway towards the end of the season, you can really sort of see things start to click where, you know, they're seeing the same concept against the same coverage and whether, you know, they missed that in the first couple weeks, they're hitting it now. That's kind of the things that I'm looking for. And you usually sort of see it from these young guys, kind of middle of the season later towards the end of the year. Talking with Nick Ackeridge here for Pro Football Focus, of course, Pro Football Focus has got you covered all season long with the best data tools and analysis in the game. Sign up for PFF plus today to unlock all their famous player grades and premium stats. Plus, if you're looking for fantasy tools, they got you award winning rankings from fantasy expert Nathan Johnkey. Listen, check out PFF plus check out PFF. Obviously, I mean, PFF is part of the national football discourse at this point. Let's ask this, Nick, because I know the analytical community, by and large, wasn't too high on Cliff Kingsbury's offense, kind of especially going back to the Cardinals days. You know, a lot of offenses these days are kind of predicated on motion, not a ton of it with Cliff, although I felt like I haven't tried, I haven't chartered it yet, but I felt like we saw more against Sensi. What do you think of the way Cliff's calling this thing through three games? Yeah, I've been, I've been pleasantly surprised. I was, was someone that was a little bit hesitant on that Cliff Kingsbury higher, just based on, you know, what you kind of mentioned with, with him in Arizona, but it's not really the same offense. You know, they are running a lot of screens and I thought through the first, first six quarters of the season that they were, they were kind of heavily conservative with what they were doing. But things started to really open up and you could see it on film in, in week two against the Giants, whether, you know, with, that was kind of when Jayden started to really hit some stuff downfield, but it was open and second half of that Giants game. Yeah, and stuff like that had been open in, you know, week one, we saw the missed shot to Terry downfield, but, and week two in the beginning, the first half, they were thinking that you, again, I kind of mentioned earlier on that you would really want a, a kind of veteran quarterback to hit, recognize. And it was just kind of a bad face sort of argument to me that, you know, Cliff is always just going to run these screens in the short pass and whatnot, but I think he's got a really different offense here. I think, you know, the screens are pretty much just a run play. They're not, they're not, you know, pretty to watch the, the well-executed run play, but it really is just kind of an extension of your running game. Get more guys out on the edge. You get a lighter box and it's helped, it's helped watching his run game, which has been very, very good through three weeks, even before Monday night when, you know, kind of things really exploded. I think I look at like Kansas City because Andy reran the same stuff in Philly, where he used the passing game, the short passing game as an extension of his run. But when you look at Cliff back in Arizona, he ran the football a lot. Yep. And if he can get the runs established here with Austin and Brian Robinson, I think that takes tons of pressure off of Jayden. Yeah. And when you have someone like Jayden, like he had with Kyler, it just makes, it makes things so hard on the defense. I mean, we saw it multiple times when they're going forward on fourth down and even in short yardage, third down situations where you've got that read option threat and the defense is, it's just almost impossible to be, to be right on those plays, where you have that threat of Brian Robinson and then you've got Jayden keeping it. It just puts the defense in such a such a tough spot where in these short yardage options, you've got two threats in the backfield. And so even if you've got a loaded box there, it's still hard for that defense to be right and when and when they are right, they still have to go make the tackle on Jayden, which we saw it is very, very hard to do. Yeah. You talk about the screens being an extension of the run game and how well they've ran the ball and you're correct. I think Jayden's running ability really helps in the run game in that it's 11 on 11 on every run play rather than not having to worry about the quarterback. But Echler might miss some time here. We don't know, but we know at least as of last night, he was still in Virginia while the team's out here in Arizona. What do you make of losing Echler to this offensive? It might just be a game. We're not getting too far down the speculation hole here, but he's been really, really good for them through three weeks. Yeah, it's going to be a loss. You know, he's kind of shown to kind of get back to what he was a couple of years ago with the Chargers. And last year, he was kind of dealing with some injury. So he looked not, you know, his same self. And so I think it's going to be a big loss. I mean, the combination with him and Brian Robinson was a great, you know, kind of different pace combination between the two of them. But I mean, it's time for someone else to step up. I think McNichols played well in the limits. Nazi got. We all saw the big pass block on the huge touchdown at Terry at the end there. And that's someone that's that is now just going to have to step up. And you know, you're going to deal with injuries throughout the entire year. And I think it is a big loss. And we're going to lose it also in the kick return game. But now that just means someone else has to step up now. Sure. I think, you know, McNichols has already been active. I wonder if they bring up Mike Wiley, who I thought looked pretty good in the preseason. Nick, let's switch it over to the defense aside of the ball. Statistically, they rank near the bottom. I imagine your grades have them pretty close to the bottom. I get this question a lot. And I don't love answering it because it's not what people want to hear. Where do you stand on? How can this group improve? Is there some schematic thing that they can do? Or do they need players to get better in a hurry? Yeah, it's a mix of both. It's been rough. I mean, there's no denying that. Like you said, the, you know, the raw numbers are great. Everything is pointing towards the bottom of the league type of defense and, you know, specifically in the secondary, it's rough. And you just, you still really have the guys right now. But one thing that's kind of given me, you know, some encouragement is they are trying to switch things up. It's not just, you know, we saw in years past it, they're just going to try to do the same thing over and over and over again. And it fails, it fails, we're just going to do it again. They're trying to switch it up. You know, they played, they played a lot more cover two on Monday night, which they were playing a decent amount, but they played almost no cover three. And Dan Quinn loves to roam at the cover three and he'll blitz five guys. They ran almost absolutely none of that. They kind of relied on that cover two stuff. They put a lot of cover two man, which, which definitely helped the defense. It kept burrow to kind of dinking down because way down the field. But when they did switch to man burrow kind of carved them up. So as soon as as soon as he saw chase in man, he went to him. Like they tried like hell not to do it. But when they did it, it was immediate. It was on site. Yeah, I mean, single high, he was seven for 705 yards and two touchdown. I mean, it was, it was quickly just the second he saw that it was give me that one more time over for the defense. Seven for seven, 105 yards and two touchdowns. Damn. Yeah. Just questioning. They're trying to switch it up. I mean, they're trying. And again, it didn't work, but they are trying to switch it up. They're trying to do things that are putting their players in less vulnerable positions. How much will a consistent pass rush or better pass rush help? All right. It would help massively. And you know, you're kind of looking at we all kind of knew that edge rusher was was definitely going to take a step back obviously from from last year with losing sweat and young, but you're going to need more from some guys there. It's a rotational unit right now, but no one's really kind of stepped up there. And then, you know, interior, it's been rough for repainting Alan trying to get pressures. They haven't really been up to what we've seen in the past. And so yeah, if you have a bad secondary, you can't have a bad pass rush as well. It's just a recipe for disaster. That's, you know, that's a really well way to frame that because that Brian and I, but you've been saying this for a while now that like everybody loves to dunk on the secondary, but when you're not getting any pressure, what the hell is the secondary supposed to do? But Nick, I like the way you frame that like if one of the two groups is bad, it's bad, but if both are bad, you're in big trouble. Oh, the mad atrocious dude. There was a, I'm sure you've already charted. I just haven't had time because I've been living in airports for 24 hours. There was a play in the second half against the Bengals where they sent six in burrow didn't even have to move off a spot. Like on some level, you're talking about them switching around coverages and and I think they really listen if the three of us dogs are, well, we'll exclude Brian Nick. If you and I, and we are just dogs that are watching tape, right? If we can identify what they should avoid with your marches, it's not like Dan Quinn and Joe Whit aren't aware of that, right? Like they know to try to stay out of man coverage on that dude. But still sometimes just motion and everything dictates it. But if you can't get homes sending six and you can't even really impact the play, you kind of got no shot. Yeah, I mean, and that's kind of why this switch things up because, you know, they were sending five a lot of times and weeks one and week two and it didn't work it and get home. And then you've got, you know, corners that you don't really trust on islands out there. So they're going to keep switching up. They're going to try to find clearly, they're going to try to find something that works. And I think that that kind of too high stuff where you're just going to have to live with, you know, giving up some longer drives and kind of holding them to feel goes in the end. I think that's where you're going to have to live with this defense. Last one. Oh boy. Where are you great? Where are you grading out the so line? I think they've over performed. Yeah, I agree. I mean, I think it's been a very pleasant surprise. You know, through the first two weeks, it probably looked better than it actually was just because the ball was getting out so, so quickly. But last week, it was really, really good. I mean, you know, there are currently we've got four guys over a 75 pass blocking grade, which doesn't typically happen with Washington O lines in the past. But right now it's looked really, really good. And I think they've done a really good job kind of patching up that, that, you know, the the left garden center spot, which I thought was the real, real problems last year. And Allegretti's come in in terms of pass blocking. He's been, you know, nearly perfectly charging with just one pressure given up. So right now that it's looking really good there. How is the young buck then blocking based off the numbers Coleman? Yeah. So Coleman's been a bit up and down like they're really rotating him and Cornelius Lucas in right now. So I'm never a huge fan of doing that. I think guys are better when they kind of get a rhythm and are playing, you know, consistently. So he's great right now pass like 55.6, which is just a little bit below average. But, you know, that's kind of to be expected when you're, you're not in as much. And if you're going to lose on one or two reps, it's just going to bring the grade down naturally. But I think he's shown some signs there that, you know, you can kind of keep going with him in the future. But I think Cornelius Lucas has also played really well. So they're kind of in a spot where they don't really want to, you know, take NASA away from Lucas. So I think it's been playing a pretty good job and kind of giving it to Coleman. But I think they're going to keep kind of rotating them in. And I liked what I've seen so far from Coleman. I would just obviously like to see more snaps in a position where they don't have to rush Coleman because Lucas is playing so well. Yeah, I think so. I mean, you know, there was talk about a Coleman played a lot of guard at TCU as well his last year. So there are thoughts maybe he could play a lot of guard. But they clearly like him as the left ACL. But with Lucas playing well and with this offense playing well, I understand why they don't really want to want to switch that up. Biotis has made a huge impact too. But Nick, we got to run, man. This is a bit fun. We're changing again. Yeah. Thanks, guys. Hi, man. Nick Akridge, give him a follow at PFF underscore Nick Akridge. I'm doing it. I don't care what you say. This summer, get away in the Hyundai you've always wanted at the Hyundai Getaway sales event. Get the hottest deals of the season on many of our award-winning Hyundai models, which all come with America's best warranty. But get going because these deals won't last. Add more joy to your journey at the Hyundai Getaway sales event. Now for a limited time, get 1.99% APR for 60 months on the Hyundai Tucson or Elantra. Hurry into the Hyundai Getaway sales event. Offers end September 3rd. Call 562-314-4603 for details. Yeah, we'll be awesome. We'll make it, you know, for the game. And it's the right call for him, not on our short week to go up. I'll have a chance to see what next week looks like then. But we do have a lot of confidence. It's one of the groups that we have a deep crew that can roll strong. And so when called upon, we're certainly ready to do that. And we're also excited for JMac. He's somebody, you know, hasn't got a lot of touches, a lot of opportunities. But I do know that he is somebody when given those chances, he does not miss his ops. Dan Quinn announcing that Austin Echler would not play for the commander's Sunday in Arizona. No wasting time with that announcement already comes down the pike on Wednesday. My guess is they're not even going to fly him out there then. No reason, right? I mean, why would he even join the team? He will join this show though on Friday at 5 p.m. So he'll be in Virginia, presumably when we talk to him and get ready for the commanders and the Cardinals on a football Friday here on Grant and Danny. He mentioned JMac. That's Jeremy McNichols. He barely played it all in San Francisco last year. Couple of snaps on special teams. Never touched the football. He's already had one more run here in Washington than he had with the Niners. That was on Monday night filling in for Echler, but he had two seasons in a row in Tennessee in 2020 and 2021 where he had over 40 carries. He averaged 4.3 yards per carry in 2020, 3.8 yards per carry in 2021. I think they'll use him quite a bit actually in the Echler role, not as many snaps as Austin would get, but on those important downs with pass protection. He had a monster blitz pickup with a deep leader against the linebacker actually on the play where Jayden took the shot and threw the touchdown to Terry McLaurin to win the game. I think they trust him in pass pro. He can catch the football a little bit. You know, he can run it because it's what he's done his entire career and his entire life. So for all those reasons, Danny, I think he's going to play plenty, but this will be the Brian Robinson show to me. You maybe don't use him on third down. You're going to try to spell him. Obviously, you're going to have him thump one early downs, but I'll bet you Robinson, if they stay ahead of schedule and game script is how they want their closer leading, he's going to be close to 20 rushes, probably five or six catches. Yeah, I would think 20 touches in the cards. I think I'll take the overall. I mean, carries. I think he'll be over 20 close to 20 carries over 20 touches for me close to 25. Maybe I think it's going to be a big time be robbed. Yeah, if they're successful, if they're standing on the field, as they have been, if they're standing ahead of the chains, there wasn't a lot of early down running success for the for Washington this past week. You know, Robinson only, I think to the tune of like two and change per carry, you know, hard yards though, in a lot of ways, right? And those are necessary to kind of set up everything else. But I think you're going to see a steady diet of Brian Robinson early and often. And I was surprised he didn't catch a ton of passes once Eckler went out. I thought you'd see a couple of those things, those kind of swing passes are kind of keeping easy stuff on early downs instead of trying to thump down the middle. But there was a plan, a method to that matter, certainly. I'd like to see them spread Arizona out and still have that short passing game going even without Eckler when not with B. Robert McNichols involving the tight ends a little more. Like maybe this has been Senate. Remember, let's not forget, Senate's got some H back to him. He is a tight end, but he also can play that fullback role a little bit. You could go split eye and get him into the flat Larry Center style. You could have him in motion and then a line behind the tackle like a wing or whatever. Some of those I formation and kind of shuffles and looks like it's a lead block, but it's not. You know, you work off the different looks. There's a lot of different ways. I think that they could get him out into space. He has not caught a pass yet. He's been open, plenty, including in this game early in the game. And we talked about this yesterday. Chating Daniels, because he picks up a handful every time he runs, or occasionally will throw it elsewhere and pretty much all the plays that that he made and they made worked out. It didn't matter that he missed Senate on a couple of occasions way down the field. I think Akeman even on the broadcast showed a couple of them and said, Hey, I know this guy isn't doing anything yet. And commanders fans are kind of wondering where he is, but just know on the tape, he's open more often than you think. I was saying the same thing last week at this time about Luke McCaffrey. He was number three among all wide receivers via PFF and separation score. And he popped one for 40 on a fourth and two, which was a great play by Daniels. That was not the design of that play, by the way, to find him was awesome. And he had another catch later in the game again, where he kind of got some separation. But I think we could see Senate without Echler having two or three catches for the first time. And they could use him a little more in that H back full back role as a pass catcher. Someone's got to make up for those Echler touches, right? And it could be the do we force feed for the sake of argument? We, we feed Robinson more. Do we feed MacLaurin more? No, a Brown more? Or do we kind of go against type something we haven't shown just yet, which you just saw this past week. And if there are more tricks in the bag, the easy button is having Austin Echler do it, right? Like, so there's two ways that I think of offense as easy. And I put that in quotes. Easy is you've got a home run threat where you throw it as far as you can and the Sean Jackson goes and catches it. That's easy, right? Tyree kill makes offense easy for teams because defenses are threatened. He could either take it to the house or the threat of them doing so open stuff up. Then there's the my two yard dump off goes for eight. My check down goes for 14, right? That's what Echler does. And that's, I'm saying as valuable, but close to me, right? I'm standing ahead of the chains. It's those hidden yards. There's nothing sexy about Austin Echler catching a screen and going for 14. Well, those are huge drive sustaining plays that are afterthoughts in a game where we saw the throws to Terry MacLaurin and, you know, some of those fourth downs and this and that, that a second and 10 becomes a first down because Echler wiggled his way through 17 different people, broke a tackle, carried two dudes forward and gets a first down straight in the middle of the field. Like those kinds of hidden plays, it makes everybody look smart. That's the easy offense. The first drive of the game was the Echler show. Seven yard plus probably closer to eight run on first down catch for the first down getting play on second and short. Back to back plays, 10 plus yards, chains moved and now you're almost at midfield. That's the other funny thing with this new kickoff rule. When you start at the 30, we were talking about this. You get one 14 or so yard completion in the middle of the field. You're basically at midfield in one play. It doesn't feel like the five yard closer to midfield rule change would make a big difference, but it absolutely has. But then the screen to Echler later on that drive that you're referencing was huge. And then you had the 24 yard touchdown later in the half. I mean, there were two drives that were basically his. So here's your opening drive. You referenced this, but here's the specifics. Echler right tackle eight yards to start the game. Echler, short right pass to the same side for eight yards. There's your 16. And all of a sudden you, to your point, you're just shy of midfield, first and 10 at the 46, first and 10 at the 46, Brian Robinson, no game. That was a theme of the day. They tried to thump him inside and there was not much happening there. So now your second and 10 again, that those are difficult situations for any offense to be in, let alone one with a rookie quarterback and the whole yin and the yang and the blah, blah, blah. You need for there to feel like third down is manageable. How about 14 Austin Echler, a little hitch, a little screen pass it above what we ever want to call it call to smoke. I don't care. But he turned a pass at the line of scrimmage into a 14 yard first down with now you're in sets of territory. Yes, to play you're talking about. And now you're first and 10 from the Bengals side of the field. And where were they there? It was like they're 45. They're 40. They're 40. Yeah. So I mean, we're talking you're basically five yards away from field goal range on three Echler plays to start the game. And you've asked very little to nothing from your quarterback yet. He's thrown two balls behind the line of scrimmage to run back and handed the ball off. And you are now in field goal range almost. And it came that easily for much of the night. But the easy button goes away in Arizona with no Austin Echler. I think B Rob can do some of that. Remember he had the 30 yard catch and run to the goal line in Tampa. So he's got that club in the bag still I think as a pass catcher. And I won't pretend to know what McNichols is capable of because they just haven't seen enough of him. We haven't seen really any of them in that regard in this offense. Ten guys on the field. They're down in seven. This one is launched from a chlorine. He's got it. Touchdown. Touchdown Terry McLaurin. It was a great game on Monday night. That's for sure. We know about what happened the other night. He set the rookie record for the highest completion percentage in NFL history at 91.9%, which 91.3%. We've never seen a rookie do that on 20 attempts. The QBR the other night 93 was the highest in the organization since 2016. The PFF grade 95.9 was the best grade of the season for any quarterback in the highest ever recorded for any Washington quarterback since they started to rank quarterbacks or to measure quarterbacks via PFF. He was number two in the league over the weekend in expected points added per play. He was seventh in the league in average air yards per attempt and the accolades just keep coming in. I'm going to preface what I'm going to say with I am the biggest fan. I was last year. I was all off season. That's who I wanted and through three games I feel pretty good about Jaden Daniels. Three games is too early. It's too early to know for sure that he's going to be great. It's too early to know for sure that he's going to be good. It's too early to know for sure that he's going to be good enough. It's too early to know for sure that they got it right. It's also too early to know for sure that Chicago got it wrong or Denver got it wrong or anybody else got it wrong. It's three games. Yes. Monday night was one of the best quarterback games by a rookie we have ever seen and it took place in front of a national audience and I do think if the game had been a Sunday one o'clock game we wouldn't have had these huge declarations that came afterwards. I mean former players, former coaches, you know the so called film experts but you know the guys that at least played the game that are doing film breakdown. They've all weighed in. Jaden was the best quarterback in the draft. Kayla Williams and Bo Nix. We haven't seen McCarthy or Pennix Jr. or who am I missing? Did I just name the six? God Drake May. We really haven't seen Drake May but everybody's convinced massive declarations across the board. Wow. Washington is set for years to come. They finally got their guy. Nobody wants to believe it more than I do and look my gut tells me they got it right. My gut tells me they got it right the night they drafted him but you don't know until you see him play actual games and now we've seen three actual games. One of them spectacular. One of them pretty damn good. The other one, not bad. And of course it's like you're jumping to these conclusions that if he did that in his third game, imagine what he's going to be like in his sixth game, eighth game, 12th game, his second year, third year, seventh year. And I just feel like the stories of these quarterbacks, even the best ones with the exception of a few, a rare few. I mean, my homes didn't really play at all in his rookie season. But when he did play in his second year, it was pretty apparent right away. It was. He was also in his second year. He had a full year to sit behind Alex Smith. And so it wasn't exactly the same thing as playing as a rookie. Josh Allen, nobody thought was any good early on. CJ Sprout, everybody was convinced was great pretty early on. He got absolutely walloped by Minnesota on Sunday. People gave up on Baker Mayfield on Sam Darnold on Geno Smith at one point. People have always shorted Andy Dalton. People have thrown in the towel and Bryce Young already. There's just so many ups and downs to these quarterback careers. And I'm wondering if any of you think you know when for sure it would be safe to say we know. Like when is that time? Is it half of the season? Is it a full season? Is it sometime during year two? Because I'm convinced it's way too early. Three games. Sorry. I've got a hunch. I do have a strong hunch, but I had that hunch going in. So I was predisposed to thinking this was going to work. But still, I've watched enough football to know that three games, one great game, isn't enough. I'll tell you when I think it will be time to at least pound the table and say they got it right. And that time can't come until he faces adversity. We need to see Jaden Daniels and how he handles adversity. You're never really measuring someone until you measure them in the face of stress, of angst, of true, you know, people are questioning you adversity, a bad game, a bad loss, a bad stretch. For me, I think he'll handle it well. I do. I've seen him in college when his team's trailing at Missouri and he's banged up, come back into the game and lead that team to a victory. I saw what he did in Alabama when they had no chance of stopping Bama, but he willed them to a 28, 28 game early in the third quarter before he legitimately got knocked out. I think he's going to handle adversity well. But at the pro level where you're not protected as you are in college, you're now an adult. You're on your own. You know, you're not going back to the dorms at the end of a tough loss hanging out with friends playing PlayStation. I need to see Jaden handle that first moment, the follow up moment to that, maybe a third time on how he handles adversity. I don't think you know until you see somebody struggle a little bit and then how they handle that. I do have a sense that all of the accolades, all of the attention that he's not an attention whore. He doesn't strike me that way. I don't think we're going to be bombarded with hashtags and with social media. I don't I could be wrong. You know, I don't know what his inner circle is. I don't know how the people around him, you know, handle him. There's a lot we don't know. I like everything that's been said. I like what my gut tells me from afar. But we're not going to know until he faces adversity. That's my answer to the question. The question being, when will we know? It may be, I need to see half of a season. It may be, I need to see him in a playoff game or a game that's a true crunch time, win or go home game. For me, I need to see him face adversity and watch how he handles that. Not just on the field, but off of it. 301-230-0980, 301-230-0980. When will you know that they got it right? When will you know that he's going to be great? When will you know in your own mind and heart? Okay, we got one. Finally, it's too early to say it after three games. In my opinion, I have a hunch. I can't declare it yet. Phone lines are open, 301-230-0980. Denton, what's your answer to this question? So my was going to be very similar to yours, just worded a little differently. And the answer would be the game after his first bad game, because you asked for like, is it four games, eight games, 16 games, whatever? It's the game after his first really, really bad game to see how he responds. But I would also just kind of add to that probably by around the eight week mark, you'd have a pretty good idea because it means one of two things. It means one, he's either done what we have said, which is face some sort of adversity and then bounce back from said adversity, or it's taken him eight weeks to have a bad game in the NFL with an abysmal defense, which would just be kind of a stunning revelation. And by that point, I would have a pretty good idea. I'd this guy is clearly the dude, and you can continue to build a roster and you can now focus on building a roster around him. That question that that position is then officially answered. Yeah, I think we, I think we're giving the same answer. I mean, for me, it's how does he handle adversity when first, you know, presented with it? You know, and that is how does he handle it on the field? How does he handle it off the field? We don't learn enough about somebody until they're in those moments, where they're being doubted, where they're being criticized, where the result wasn't what it was Monday night. It was the opposite of what it was Monday night. You know, Pat Mahomes started off his career because I really think in many ways, the Mahomes start to his career is maybe Marino is the only true comp where he was great from the beginning and he never stopped being great, because that's pretty much what Mahomes was. Now they lost the AFC Championship game in his rookie in his second year. But when he started in 2018, okay, the first four game, first five games were wins. There was only two competitive wins. And he threw during that stretch, he threw 14 touchdown passes and no picks in the first four games, 14 touchdown passes, no picks in the first four games, they were 4-0. They actually won the fifth game he played and he threw two picks. But even in the game that they lost that year in his first year of starting, it was a Sunday night game at New England. They lost 43 to 40. He threw for 352 and four touchdowns. Later that year, they played that epic Monday night game. Highest scoring Monday night game of all time ended up eclipsing this Skins Packers game in 83. The 54-51 loss in the Coliseum against the Rams. He was 33 of 46 for 478 and six touchdowns. He threw for 50 touchdowns, 12 picks and 5,097 yards. I mean, like, I'm trying to think has Pat Mahomes really ever faced diversity? Like, they just have never been bad. They've never had like a big losing streak. He's never really played poor football that's led to a losing streak. I mean, last year was probably the worst year of his career and they won the Super Bowl. Did they face adversity? I don't know. When you've already won two of them, can you really face adversity after that? So maybe Jayden's career will take a similar path. Let's hope that would be awesome. But 99% of the quarterbacks, even the great ones, they face that moment where people are doubting them. And to me, he's going to have that moment at some point and how he handles that. And if he handles that well, then I'll know for sure. 301-230-0980. When will you know for sure they got it right on Jayden Daniels? This summer, get away in the Hyundai you've always wanted at the Hyundai Getaway Sales Event. Get the hottest deals of the season on many of our award-winning Hyundai models, which all come with America's best warranty. But get going because these deals won't last. Add more joy to your journey at the Hyundai Getaway Sales Event. Now for a limited time, get 1.99% APR for 60 months on the Hyundai Tucson or Elantra. Hurry into the Hyundai Getaway Sales Event. Offers end September 3rd. Call 562-314-4603 for details. Welcome back to a triumphant Tuesday here on 106/7, the fan presented by Chinega Myos, a 2024 top workplace visit careers with MIOS.com. We head out to the Bette QL guest hotline, coming to you straight from Arizona right now. Jonathan Allen, commander's offensive tackle joins us. He's presented by Main Street Bank, cheer local, bank local, put their team in your office. Visit mestreetbank.com for more information. Jonathan, good morning. Good morning. We're doing well. First and foremost, we need to give you major props for calling us at 6 a.m. Arizona time after a big win last night, traveling out to the western part of the country. We do appreciate that, man. Not a lot of guys would have done what you're doing right now, so it is appreciated. What time did you land in Arizona? I think we landed Arizona around, I want to say, 3, 2, 33, somewhere around-- 2.33 Arizona time, yeah. How gratifying was that feeling? I know you're frustrated, and we'll talk about the defense, because I'm sure you guys want to put better tape out there, etc. But just overall, the win is ultimately what's more important. How gratifying was that win for you? Any time you can get a win, it's always a good thing. Now, obviously, I mean, defense just has to be flat out better. I mean, there's no way-- there's really no way of putting that, but we got the win, and that's all that matters, but we got to do better, we're going to. I saw that you called Jaden the answer. Can you fill us in on why? I mean, you got to know that I'm a big supporter of my quarterback when you but when you play it, I mean, that big time football was making big time throws and big time plays. I mean, I think you just, with his plays, showed why he was a number two overall traffic. Hey, Jonathan, how great was it that his first NFL touchdown pass was a big man touchdown to Trent Scott? I mean, you imagine the pressure on Trent Scott to not drop that ball a Monday night football? Hey, you guys, did they practice that last week? Did they practice that a lot? It was funny because I didn't see that in practice. Now, when the offense of defense got going over our corrections from our career. So, I didn't, I'm like, I'm not in the center of that, but I didn't see that. So, that was a surprise to everybody on the top. I was kind of thinking of a better guy for it to get that pass, and I'm just surprised. John, I hate the harp on it, but I know that Eric wants to ask some questions too about the defense, but when you sit, so can you kind of point out specifically what you guys aren't doing well enough defensively? If I had to say, I mean, and I don't think there's just no one asked about it, taking everything, but in short, I think that we're not executing at a high enough level. I mean, the offense that we're going to give our team better than we're executing defense, and that's just a short answer, and I can call there and give you a thousand excuses, why, but at the end of the day, that doesn't mean anything and doesn't change. We should have to keep better at the end of the day. And I mean, I can tell you that everybody all this defense is dedicated to getting this fix, and we're going to get it first. How many times did you get doubled yesterday, if at all? That was a great question. I have no idea, you know, the thing that's tough about football is you can't let things that you can't control affect you in a negative way. So, regardless of having time to get doubled, regardless of whatever's going on, I got to focus on what I have to do, the next player and try to make that my best plan. So, I try not to even get caught up in all that, because that is not going to do anything except taking me out of a space that's going to be help conducive to helping the team with. What was challenging about facing that offense? Obviously, Tampa put up 37 on you guys. The Bengals didn't punt in this game. What made that offense click against you guys? I mean, you got a weapon like to use your margin. Obviously, we all know what Joe Baro can do, and we put together that the day executed better than we did is just not a good recipe to win football games. So, like I said, after the game, they didn't play. They played one of the best games I've seen. So, they were saving grace for the day for sure. As even we got to be better. Talk to us, literally, like we're stupid and we are. Like, I have an IQ of zero, I think, as far as sort of understanding defense. And Jason kind of touched on, can you just please give us a specific example? What kind of things can the coaches do, or you guys do, to shore up some of these issues? Like running right up the middle on you guys, you know, or whatever it is. Like, can you just explain? Like, what do you do? Do you add extra guys? Do you blitz more? Like, I literally am stupid. I don't know how you fix these things. The thing that's been going on with our defense, right, coach would have said, just like popcorn is like, one of King God could be doing the right thing. One God makes one mistake here. And then he won't make a mistake for another day or for another two quarters. But then one God makes a mistake. And it's just like, you got to get 11 guys to be on the same patient execute at the same time. You can't have 10 guys. Excuse them. One guy having a middle last year, or one guy having a middle left there. Everyone's doing a right. A D tackle comes out of his gap. Doesn't matter what everybody else did. That's the weak making of, you know, things are fun to do. So they're just getting all guys to be on the same case, execute at the same time, or communicate and play fast and play physical. And some others didn't say workloads. I think we are, but obviously fans are going here and I'm not going to make excuses. We got to execute better. So you think you have the talent, for sure, to play way better than this? Oh, I know we just, we just have to go out there and do it. One thing we know about the league, that talent doesn't matter as well as that all the same patient, everybody's not confused. So, you know, that's the challenge for us moving forward. Talking to Pro Bowl, defensive tackle, Jonathan Allen brought to you by Main Street Bank, cheer local, bank local, put their team in your office, visit mstreetbank.com for more information. What's Jaden like to be around? Because just watching him on TV, it looks like he has an infectious personality. But he's quite a dude just humble, just comes to work, good energy, hard worker. I mean, he is, you've been to the pleasure to be around. When you have a guy who's good at what he does, confident, but not cocky, there's no there's no rare mix that he's got. So I think we're all, I think we can all say, we're blessed to have him as our quarterback. One thing we saw yesterday was Luke McCaffrey made a big play and we starting to see that. I know pro football focus, they had him as one of the guys getting the most separation in the NFL through the first two weeks. What did you see from him in training camp and through practice? A ball player, I see you got who can just make plays, you know, you might not be the biggest, might not be the strongest, might not be the fans, but you can play football and you can play football in it. It's just fun to watch. I mean, you just love it. I mean, I, I just take your beat of cliche. It's just, it's been in the blood. It's just a football player. And he's showing what, you know, we've already seen all training camp. What about Noah Brown? I keep saying this. It just blows my mind. I understand Houston has great starting receivers, but it just blows my mind that they had like basically six guys. They thought were better or, you know, whatever than him. I just can't believe that they found him to be expendable. How big of an addition do you think he's been? I think he's been a great addition. You know, you bring that back some leadership to the group and not even talking about his play on the field. I mean, you see for yourself, I mean, he just makes play after play. So we're so lucky to have them. Hey, he's just a great guy to have. Jonathan, how bummed was the squad that Austin Echler had to leave the game early? Couldn't make the flight to Arizona with the rest of you guys. He's been so impact, well, not only on offense, but on special teams as well. That's definitely a blow going forward. Hopefully he's back soon. I met off network as a guy that we all get excited every time he touches the ball. I mean, I think you saw after last, what he can do all special teams and different and do it again, but he just brings that Joe and he's kind of almost a heartbeat of this office and some certain situations. So obviously praying for him. I don't know what he injured, to be honest, which I didn't find out so after the game. But one thing I know, I am here to talk to you. And I know he'll be back. I believe he was concussed. Yeah. So he's probably a concussion protocol. John, I'm curious. So you're in Arizona. Today's the day off, right? You'll obviously need some sleep to recover. What do the guys do on the off day? We were arguing, are you allowed to are the guys allowed to play golf in season? Like when you on the road, I can't imagine guys are traveling with golf. This is different. It's like an extended road trip because they're getting ready to play on the West coast after a win too. You might want to play golf. I can't imagine. I don't know anyone that plays golf. I mean, golf is a sneaky physical sport. Like, if you play 18 rounds of golf, back at her to the point now where you got a stretch, you got to warm up like this was many days where I play 18 rounds of golf and I'll wake up the next day and my back and my shoulder and my hips is just throbbing. So we have that in common. Hey, well, trust could do it. Trust doesn't put any more. You guys don't putt. You're going to play 18 rounds of golf. How happy is he? No, man. I mean, what I told her about the every game. I'm like, man, I'm sorry, you ain't damn glad we didn't need you. I mean, first Jaden comes in and takes his number and now he's not punting anymore. Like, what is he? What has he got left? He's a holder, right? He's a whole thing. I can say one thing, Trent has no problem not going out on that. Oh, yeah. He did get in for six plays. He did for holding. Right. Exactly. So what will you do today after you go back to sleep after you hang up the phone? Definitely go get to work out. That's a great question. I have absolutely no idea. This is my first time traveling for a whole week. Oh, they're probably trying to figure out a way to get him a size out here. Yeah, he's especially going on. Get some treatment and, you know, try to get a quick turnaround. I know people don't think about it, but having that extra day and losing that extra day of recovery and preparation is kind of big. So you got to really fight for your recovery and get ready to play on Monday. You guys must be set up in a ball or spot like Scott Dale or something. Oh, it's got to be amazing. Jealous. I'm not allowed for you. It was so late when we came and I have no idea. I would just walk up or straight from our room and pass out. I couldn't even say why I'm out right now. Right. You don't even know what hotel you're in. Hey, John. I know it's not the days in. John, back to, uh, to Jaden. He seems so special with the ability to get first downs. They, they threw a stat on Monday football last night that he has now. The most first down runs by quarterbacks in the NFL. And I'm wondering if you had a, a Jaden Daniels moment in training camp. Now you can't tackle him. You can't hit him, but where he just showed you that elusiveness because he just has that ability where he needs three or four yards where he can just juke a guy and get by him. Did that happen to you at all? Well, of course, I mean, I, I kind of seen earlier on what he kind of broke out the pocket and the defensive lines chasing them. And we're like full speed ball to the wall chasing them. And he's just kind of jogging going through his rig, not really paying us no attention. I'm like, dude, like this dude, but athleticism is unreal. And I, I tell the, I tell the guys all the time, and I'll hate to go against the office. Like I hate, I'll hate to go against the, so I'm going to get quarterback that elite and that just eluses and athletic advantage. Just completely changes the game. You could do everything right as a defense, but just because he's so athletic, it doesn't matter. Now you're going to face one of those type of quarterbacks, a smaller guy in Kyler Murray. Every bit is elusive though. Right. Top draft choice of Marvin Harrison Jr. Obviously you're going to face an offense that can be explosive. I don't know if you've played Arizona recently. What do you think it's going to be like to face Kyler Murray? It's going to be a dog fight. I mean, the last one I'll tell him, I think was 20, 2020. I want to say 2020. I think that was what I'll say. I mean, we all know what Kyler Murray can do. I mean, it's going to be, it's going to be a heck of a time chase. I'm around the field with weapons I got, but you know, I'm supposed to know we got to do the execute better. And you know, we're going to go out there and lay it all out on the line. And that's all we can ask for. Is it hard to see him when you're rushing the passer, when you got an offensive lineman in front of you? Is it hard to see Kyler Murray? It's not hard to see him, but the thing that goes tough is you break. I'll be my bar quick. And as you and him want to watch it, he sees you. Like, do you run at him full speed? Because you know, you know, he's going to make you miss. But do you run at him like hesitant? He's still probably going to make you miss. So, I mean, the thing when you got part of that, you just got to take a shot. You got to have four, five, six minutes of the ball every time. You got to take your shot. You got to play fast. You got to ravage. I mean, it's tough. There's no other way to put it. Can you get good intel? I want to think you could from Cliff being that he coached him. Like, can Cliff come into you guys and say, all right, this is what he really hates, you know, or he's very uncomfortable when he sees this. Is that, is that, is that a thing? Maybe from like D, D perspective, you know what I mean in the past covers. But as far as the decent the line, I mean, we're going to have a heck of a time just getting through them because I've led it to them. So, that's not really something that I feel like would apply to us. But I mean, definitely for the linebackers for the D because like A and coverage, giving him this look and it's going to this look makes it a mix. Well, I have no idea. I'm just giving it an example. Right. I'm going to do a lot of like bring it back to you're going to be a lot of this guy. Sorry. Right. I'm looking forward to it. All right. Well, Jonathan, again, we appreciate you waking up early. Go get that massage, get the rest and we'll talk to you again next week. Hopefully after a win over Arizona. All right. I appreciate you guys. All right. Thank you. Appreciate you. Jonathan Allen, commander's defensive tackle presented by Main Street Bank, cheer local bank local, put their team in your office, visit m street bank.com for more information. When we come back, we'll give you a chance to win a pair of tickets to see Thomas Rhett at chiffy lube live. We also have a pair of tickets to see Metallica as they come to town. They play Northwest stadium in 2025. We'll give you a chance to win those tickets when we come back. Maybe it's a finley. One. Oh, six, seven to fan cool news out of Germany. The Ryan fire have one back to back. World league titles. Jim Tom Sol is their head coach. Jim. Jim Tom's a good dude, man. I'm happy for him. I remember him many years ago telling me how much he loved coaching over there. I used to coach at Scotland. Joining us right now is Tyler Drake. Tyler covers the Arizona Cardinals out here in Phoenix. Tyler. What's up, man? Thanks for making time for us. Hey, how's it going? Thanks for having me on. Doing well, man. Get us up to speed with all things AZ. They kind of seem similar to Washington in that there's a whole lot of offense and not a lot of defense. They're one and two or two games, but they were right in that opener against the bills. What's the word with the Cardinals? Yeah. Yeah. I think you said it perfectly. It's a lot of offense with a defense that they want to get up to speed. Obviously, a lot more talent on the offense is side of the ball than the defensive side. I've got Tyler Murray out there. You got Marvin Harrison, Jr. James Connor, Trey McBride, who obviously is going through concussion protocol still, but yeah, that's really the big thing. They've been competitive in all these weeks. Obviously, they won in week two by a landslide, but yeah, the season opener. Obviously, their offense fell flat in the second half, but they kept it in a one score game. Week three, same deal, really came out on fire and then the offense kind of sputtered and that's kind of the deal with this team right now. If that offense can't really put together a full game or at least three quarters of really good work, then the defense is going to have to make up a lot and that's just been something that has not been able to come through fruition to result in wins in those two games. So if the offense isn't consistent, it's going to be a very interesting game. I'll say that. What is it they want to do on offense? Is it run the ball more or pass? Yeah, so they're built on running the rock. Obviously, Marvin Harrison Jr. is there. That's been the big storyline out here, but it really starts with them getting the run game going behind James Connor. They've got Trey Benson and Amari Demarcado in there too, but James Connor is really their bell cow. Obviously, Tyler can run the rock too, but they really want to run the ball. That's what they did really well against the Rams. That's what they did really badly against the Lions this last week. I think Connor only had nine carries for 17 yards and I think they're two and seven now when he gets under 10 carries. So if that run game isn't going, that that's a big, big, big problem for this Cardinals team. Obviously, a lot of the talks with Kyler, a lot of the talks with Marvin, a lot of the talks with these weapons that he has, but if they can get this run game going, that's going to open up the rest of everything else for this team moving forward. How's Kyler look so far this season? Yeah, he looks comfortable. He looks comfortable. I think a lot of people out here are seeing kind of that next step in his maturity. He did a lot of off the field stuff this offseason with a lot of his teammates and players and that was really cool to see. And then yeah, on the field, he looks very comfortable. Not really, doesn't look lost up there in the new system. Obviously, still a new system. Finally got a full off season of work in it, but he looks like he is taking the right steps forward. I think I really like that he's getting the deep ball going again. Obviously, didn't hit this last game, but in week two, I think he completed all five of them. And that was a pretty impressive feat in itself. So yeah, if you can continue to dial up that, the deep ball, and if you can continue to use his legs in a concerted effort, not a full blown, let's just run, run, run, that's going to bode well for this offense moving forward because obviously we've seen the second studies had to throw the ball. That's from him scrambling. That's from a little bit of O line help, but that's a lot of him doing his own thing at the end of the day. Defensively, what's been their biggest problem? Biggest problem. I would say just getting the consistent pass rush. That's been the big thing right now is Dennis Gardeck, you know, put together a couple of sacks last of this last game, but outside of that, or not this last game, but we too, but outside of that, that's just been the big thing. It's just, it's very hit or miss right now. So if they can get more of a consistent pressure on the quarterback, that could go a long way. I think the secondary is playing a little bit better than many of us would have expected at this point. I think we still would like to see a lot of their second round pick max melting, but right now I think the pass rush, they just, they need some more depth there. David Collins has taken a step forward from being that transitional guy from an inside back or two outside guy. Dennis Gardeck has been playing with his hair on fire and you know, you really know what you get out of him, but beyond those guys, you know, they need somebody to step up and really be another force. I really like what Mack Wilson is doing at the inside linebacker position because he can be utilized as a really good pass rush or two. So maybe they get him some more reps moving forward, but they definitely need to find another guy to really fit in there and be a consistent guy off the edge for this team moving forward. Talking with Tyler Drake here, you can give him a follow at T Drake for sports, Cardinals reporter for AZ sports. What's the injury situation for the Cardinals? Dan Quinton specifically mentioned Buddha Baker as a really big problem defensively for Arizona. Just that's a guy that's all over the field been playing at a high level on the back end of that Arizona defense for years now. I saw he's on the injury report Marvin Harrison's on there. Trey McBride has been a stud tight end. He's in the protocol, I think, where they had injury wise. Yeah, yeah, that's it's a big week for the injury set of things. Just like you said, I think Buddha's dealing with the quad. He was limited yesterday. Marvin was limited as well. It didn't look like anything was really pulling Marvin back just from the open portion that we can see and we can report on. Then, yeah, you've got Trey McBride in concussion protocol. You've got Kelvin Beacham who's dealing with a hamstring issue injury. He's there starting right tackle right now with Jonah Williams out. He's going to be a guy that they really need to get healthy, especially with week 3 starter Jackson Barton going down on the IR with a toe issue. The depth that right tackle is super, super thin right now. They're going to have to do something if Beacham can't go. He was back out there practicing though, so that's a good sign moving forward. Then, yeah, with Trey, we'll have to see if he's out there to non-contact or is he today, that's a really good sign moving forward. But, yeah, there's quite a few injuries that are some big-time injuries for this Cardinals team, for sure. They look like they're both of these teams looking in the mirror like they're dealing with the same things. Offensive. Yeah. Defensive. And you got injuries all around. Yeah, it really is. It really is. And how ironic is it that it's Cliff coming back to town? I mean, it's very much like you've got the rookie quarterback who can do it through the air. Do it with his legs. You've got these injuries. You've got to deal with. You've got an offense that's outplaying the defense. I mean, it's just it is a mirrored match up this week for sure. How much do folks here care about Cliff's return? Like how big it's funny, I was at Jayden Daniels availability yesterday. I don't know if you were there, Tyler, but it was there's a pretty good local crowd to it. Phoenix reporters and a lot of questions about his time at Arizona State. And I just found that kind of interesting, but not particularly germane to what I do. And the cliff story, the cliff story I feel like is kind of similar. How big of a deal is it out here that you've got Cliff coming back? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I wasn't there. I was actually at Cardinals. I did hear you ask a couple questions though. So I was like, okay, he's in town. That's good to know. But yeah, it was very interesting to listen back to that Jayden interview. And yeah, kind of the same thing. I think it means more for the ASU fans and the people that covered ASU. With Cliff, I think a lot of people still, you know, kind of go back to that 2022 ending and kind of see like, hey, this just kind of fell apart. And obviously everything happened after that. I think the contract extension timing, the offseason before his firing really had a part of that. You've got the dysfunction that was happening on the team off the field issues. That's really, I mean, obviously not completely on cliff. But he was running the show at that time. I think some people still care out here. I really do. I think especially if the Cardinals were in a worse spot and they really didn't have a passport at least a idea of where they want to get to. I think it'd be a lot more louder. But being that Jonathan Ganon and Monte Ospur has come in and kind of turn the page, got a new culture, got a new foundation set. I think people are kind of moving on. But I can tell you right now, I think when he goes into State Farm Stadium and Cardinals fan see him, there's going to be quite a few boos coming out right away. I'm not. I'm not going down. Are they going to go in? No, no, no, go for it. Yeah, I just think, I just think, yeah, I think it's very, they've got to find a scapegoat and they're going to have one on the field on the opposite sideline. So why not be him? I mean, you've got, you've got Steve, kind of working for clutch now. So I mean, I don't know if they can find him on the sideline right now, but you can at least find one of the guys that was on that old regime, well, I cliff nose calamari. Or anybody concerned about him knowing him so well, because he fought for him to come here, get drafted at high, that they're going to attack, have an approach on defense to try and affect him and make him have to do things that he's not comfortable with. Yeah, yeah, I think that's definitely a thing. And I think it goes both ways, too. I think there's going to be a lot of, I think there's a lot of stone and turning over here of, hey, you used to play, you used to practice against close offense. Hey, Buddha Baker, what did you see during his time here? Hey, Tyler, what did you see? What is, what are his tendencies? And we talked to Tyler yesterday, he said he really couldn't give him much, what's different, just because new system, totally different things that are reliant on other things now. But yeah, there's definitely going to be some familiarity there that I guarantee you both sides are going to try to exploit. And it's going to be on, it's going to be on the guys to really recognize, hey, I've done this too much. When Cliff was in town, maybe I do need to switch this up or vice versa. So I'm going to be really looking at that kind of cat and mouse game of like, all right, here's Tyler, he likes to run. What are they going to do to contradict that? And yeah, so it's going to be very interesting to see kind of the chess game going on between the two sides. Mazarati Marv lands on the injury report. He has been, I mean, he was good week one, fantastic week two, and then just got completely shut down last week. Just kind of a receiver learning the NFL. Did Buffalo do something? It was not Buffalo last week. Detroit, the Buffalo got it first week. Did Detroit do something that he couldn't figure out, or the offense couldn't figure out? What's the deal with Harrison, a rookie that has all the promise? Great potential. Yeah, yeah. So actually he got shut down big time in week one. He only had three targets, one catcher, four yards. They really didn't move him around or put him in any motion situations. So that was kind of the thing there and really, yeah, yeah, and Buffalo didn't give him a chance. I mean, they had a lot of, they had a lot of double team on him a lot. I mean, they had a lot of cloud coverage on him, that first game. Second game, obviously, I think they knew that they needed to push the envelope a little bit more and get him involved. You saw that, you saw his incredible cats that he made on that first touchdown. The second one was just as impressive with his ability to kind of read the defense and just shoot out down the field. Then this last week, you know, I thought he came in and started hot, but I think that run game kind of fizzling out, they were able to kind of just lock in on limiting the pass game. And that took a lot away from him. Took a lot away from other guys too. I really thought Greg Dorch was going to have a big game just because of what we saw these guys out of the slot do against the Lions his past couple of weeks. And I think he might have been maybe dealing with a little bit of a hammy still, but he was even limited too. So I think all in all that run game really is going to set the tone and really open up that passing game moving forward. And that's where they're going to beat you if they can do that and then fire one over the top to Marvin, that's the way that this carnal team wants to win. So kind of getting for two days out now, I mean, this game is coming. What is what's your gut tell you? It's an interesting spot because Arizona's got the one and two record, but you know, they've also had to play a bills team that's pretty loaded or at least playing on fire early this year. Detroit's coming off an NSC title game appearance. Washington's coming off the big win, but they do have the short week. Kind of how you feeling about this game on Sunday? Yeah, I really do think it's going to be one of those just offensive attacks, first offensive attacks. I think the Cardinals, it really is going to come down. I think of Justin Jones was not on the IR in that that run defense was a little bit more sound. I'd have a little bit more confidence in the Cardinals, but just given what I've seen at the gym and those guys, like they really have figured out a way to utilize all of his strengths. You know, it's going to be close. It's tough for me to really nail one down, but I think I'm going to go with the Cardinals on this one. I think they're going to play with a little more little more juice knowing who's on the other side. Obviously, they're not going to say that they're looking into that, but I think we all can know that they've got a former head coach on the other side that they want to try to go beat. And obviously, Tyler and Jaden, I know that you heard that too yesterday. They've met at the mall one time. So that was a really funny exchange. Just talking with Tyler about that. But I'm going to go with what I don't think about that. So yeah, he just said, yeah, I met him one day. Hold on one second. Just let me get our audience up to speed. So remember that Jaden Daniels played, he started his college ball out here in Tempe at Arizona State and was here for three seasons before he transferred to LSU. And then obviously he had so much success with the Tigers. But he said when he was here at Arizona State, he was just walking around the mall one day and he saw Kyler Murray. And so he just went up and introduced himself. I heard Jaden's version of events. Now, Tyler's going to give us Kyler's version of events. All right. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah. So yeah, so you basically said, yeah, I just met him or he came up and said what's up to me. And he really just said, like, I really appreciate, you know, what he's about, what he's doing. He also talked about kind of how he left ASU and had a lot of scrutiny from his former teammates and stuff like that and how Kyler had a similar thing moving from A&M to Oklahoma. So like, you could kind of see their career path. There's a little bit of a similarity there. So he just, he just talked very highly of the young quarterback and said that he likes what he's about. He, he just thinks, yeah, thought really highly of them. It was a cool, cool little thing that we really didn't expect to hear from. But yeah, we were kind of sitting there thinking like, where was, is that yes, the mall superstition mall over in Scottsdale? Where are these guys meeting at? Like, wow. At the mall. That's, that's funny, man. What, um, how has Connor started the season? I've, that guy is clearly just a kind of a throwback runner, super physical, gets downhill on everybody. Washington hasn't stopped to run very well. How is caught James Connor look to start the year? Yeah. I mean, he's looked really good. I think just outside of this last game, just that nine carries for 17 yards was nothing, but he also really didn't get a chance to do much. So, uh, yeah, like you said, traditional downhill runner wants to put you in the ground while he runs over you or stiff army or do whatever. And he's just a good dude too. Like, there's really, the way he goes about his business, he might be one of those guys that plays for a while as a, as an old time running back just because of how he treats his body and goes about his business. He, he just all about work. And I mean, he's a great story. Being able to come back from what he, when he fought, uh, you know, cancer and all that, like just an incredible story. So yeah, he, he very much, they want to get him going. And against the team that isn't as great against the run, they are going to make that a very, very, very concerted effort to get him going from the start. Hey, can I ask one random one before we go here, Tyler? Just this is a dude who as a guy that lives here and is clearly all over the sports scene. And I know you cover the Cardinals, but I'm guessing you're aware of the Phoenix Suns. How is, uh, how has Bradley Beale been received out here? Oh, man. I'd say it'll help very well. Yeah. Well, okay. Let's, let's take it this way. Like we, the big three model, I would say he's probably the boss of the three. So take that for what you will, uh, the third of the three. Yes. The Chris Bosch of the Dwayne Wade and LeBron James and Chris Bosch trio, uh, the original super team. But yeah, Chris, I think you disrespecting him, man. That's no, that's no disrespect to Chris Bosch. That's just how it, that's just how it comes off to somebody who grew up watching that other big three. But, uh, but yeah, I would say he's, he's the, it's been mixed. He, you could tell that he's got some scoring ability, but I feel like fans aren't really seeing that. And then you've got the added point of, hey, we, they needed a point guard. So they, they went in there and had, you know, point book, point Beale. I, I don't really know how well that all worked out. I think point book is a lot better than point Beale in my opinion. But, uh, yeah, I think it's a process. I think if he can come out and put together a couple of good games, some fans might might get back in his corner, but I definitely think it's the mixed reviews right now. Probably some mixed reviews. That sounds a lot. Hey Tyler, thanks for the time. I appreciate it, man. No problem. No problem. Thank you guys. All right, bro. Tyler Drake, give him a follow at T Drake for sports. You know how you can tell a dude is young when the Bosch LeBron Dwayne Wade is the first big three, like, like Robert Parrish, Kevin McHale and Larry Bird didn't play together. You know what I mean? They didn't call it big three back there. Sure. They made it. They made it. They were all in the team already. Right? Yeah. Exactly. Um, I am stunned, Brian, that Bradley Beale is not well received by the folks that we do get paid properly. You don't play like that. They have a problem with you. When we return. Oh, we got Bleep you today. Yes, they do about that. Hi, noon. We're open in the falls. We're going to play some Dan Quinn audio. Nobody go anywhere. This summer, get away in the Hyundai you've always wanted at the Hyundai Getaway sales event. Get the hottest deals of the season on many of our award winning Hyundai models, which all come with America's best warranty, but get going because these deals won't last. Add more joy to your journey at the Hyundai Getaway sales event. Now for a limited time. Get 1.99% APR for 60 months on the Hyundai Tucson or Elantra. Hurry into the Hyundai Getaway sales event offers end September 3rd. Call 562-314-4603 for details. Does that Monday night win? Whether it's Daniels's performance, the offense going a second straight game without punning the fact that in a hostile environment, the commanders put on a clinic with the football, just how they handled themselves. Does any part of it change how you feel about this season? Your prediction for what they're capable of win total wise this season. Absolutely. 100%. I didn't think they had that offensive performance in them at any point in time. I didn't think you could take advantage of a bad defense. I thought they were the Get Right Week for everybody. It's to the point where in some big money fantasy leagues that I'm in that I come in with one of my good buddies, they were one of the teams that we had listed as let's stream a defense against them. Let's treat them the way we would treat the Giants or the Jaguars now or the Panthers when Bryce Young was quarterback, et cetera, because they're not going to score very much because they're so limited. That's not the case. This offense has gotten steadily better each week. The week before was a great sort of a kind of harbinger for this where they didn't punt. They moved up and down the field and red zone sabotaging but of their own doing, prevented touchdowns. Well, you take away some of those sabotages and you score a bunch of touchdowns. You never stop scoring touchdowns, apparently, if you're this offense. Now, that's not, they're not getting 38 points a week. This isn't the greatest show on turf Rams, but I didn't think they had that ceiling. I thought their ceiling was a lot, lot, lot, lot, lot lower. So egg on my face. So yeah, I have certainly upped kind of what I view as their offensive ceiling because I've just seen it. That was tremendous. And I didn't think they'd get their all year. I would be lying if I said Monday night has not changed how I feel about this season and what they're capable of this season. Jaden Daniels in week one and week two was basically exactly what I thought he was going to be early this year. Jaden Daniels in week three blew me away. Which isn't to say that I didn't think he would make the throws that he made. Although those are low percentage throws and they were amazing. I've always kind of like everybody else. You watch him in college. You see the arm talent is there. You go out to one training camp practice. You can see he's immensely accurate. He's got that. It's never been a question of can he do it in terms of standing in the pocket and making throws. It's does he want to do that? What does he want to be? Does he want to be a throw first quarterback or does he want to take off and run 16 times like he did in his first game ever. And that's kind of what I was and still to some extent I'm curious about. But he can obviously do everything you need him to do with his arm. But I think week one and week two Jaden Daniels and week three Jaden Daniels are two very, very different guys in terms of the decision making running versus throwing leaving the pocket to reset to throw versus just head down taking off trying to go get yards with my feet. Just a different guy. That performance coming this early in his career. Maybe it ends up being an outlier in a month and it was just a fun thing. I think it has to change how you feel. That was a really special quarterback and performance. Similarly, I was skeptical of Cliff Kingsbury. I still have questions about Kingsbury. But through a couple of weeks now, week one again, not withstanding. But the majority two of their three games, they've had all the answers offensively. They have moved the ball up and down the field. Now, the Bengals defense is terrible. The Giants defense is not particularly good. The one good defense they've played they really struggled with. But you're going to play a lot of defenses that aren't that good. You get to play Dallas twice as an example, a terrible matchup on paper for Washington, meaning from their perspective, I think it's a great matchup for the commanders when they've got the football. That's two games that are going to be on your schedule. Just top of my head. There are plenty more like that. I think you're going to be able to move the ball on the Eagles who aren't particularly good defensively. Those are the top two teams in your division. I worry about Washington's defense because I don't think it's going to get a whole lot better. I just don't think they have the personnel and the secondary to be very good. The more we watch this thing, the more it becomes evident, that's going to be a year long problem. I hope they'll improve. I don't know how they couldn't. Yeah, one is more than zero. They are the eighth worst defense in terms of DVOA, which basically like takes a lot of basically stuff out of the equation to level the playing field for how you're performing eighth worst in the DVOA stat era ever. It's just been ugly. They're the worst cover team by far in terms of EPA per play allowed in the league. So that worries me. It's not going to come as easily as it did this past week. They're going to commit penalties like they were able to avoid that they're going to turn the ball over more than zero. Yeah, the fumble that you recover on a miraculous play by the Allegretti isn't recovered. And now all of a sudden the game is different. They've they've caught a couple of breaks here and there. So yeah, things are going to equalize. I'm 100% with you. But I think I'm actually answering two questions here. The question is, has your season thought on this team changed? What do you think they're capable of your prediction for the year? And to that, I have to say yes, it has because they are better offensively. The Kingsbury thing is working better than I thought. And Daniel's playing the game. He just did. I did not expect this early. The other question I started answering when I got off track there is, could they be really good? And I think that's a whole different thing. You see what I'm saying? Of course I do. Yeah. Here's why they're not going to win 11 games or whatever. That's different and hey, you thought they'd go seven and 10. Or do they have a higher ceiling than that now? And I just don't know how you could have watched Monday. Maybe it's unsustainable to some extent. I get that the Bengals are over the season and they're just not as good as everyone thought. Still, people think that they're better than they are and I don't really get it. But it's not about the Bengals. It's about Washington. They are Luke McCaffrey made plays. The Ami Brown made plays. Terry McClure and look like he was 25 again. It was a really eye-openingly impressive performance where we saw the best of a lot of guys. So here's this. This is how I'm viewing it. I know it's sort of answering ancillary questions based on the on the main question, but I think it's instructive. So before the season started, I go, I think their offense is going to be a two and a half or a three. And the games that they win are, you know, Jayden Daniels, miracle work, scramble, 80 yards like Griffin against Minnesota, or, you know, something kind of you win a slug fest like they did against the Giants beating another bad team who can't do anything on offense. And I thought their defense would be also like a three or four out of 10, not good, but also not atrocious. Well, I was wrong on both counts. Their offense is a higher number than that TBD where they finished, but it ain't a two or three. And their defense probably isn't that good. Their defense is probably worse. It's probably a one or one and a half, even just sort of not even opponent dependent. So how we get to the record, how that affects things, that'll be kind of fun to find out. But to me, I'm going, my evaluation of the offense for the season now looks to be so completely dead wrong. Because I didn't think they had that in them. That's the part that I'm stressing here. Week one, week two, okay, you know, we sort of, you could excuse each one. Okay, it's the first time they're spoon feeding Jayden Daniels trying to bring him long slow. Week two, okay, the Giants stink. Week three, I'm not saying the Bengals are good, but you don't do 38 points and you don't punt even against crappy defenses. There are plenty of bad defenses that force a punt here or there that get you're more than two in completions. There are more. There are plenty of defenses that over the last several seasons where Daniels would have had more in completions than total touchdowns in that game. That offensive performance was so great. I'm going, okay, I was wrong about what I thought their offense was or could do. Yeah, for me, it's actually two weeks to, you know, not just the one. It's the Giants game and the Bengals game from an offensive standpoint that have me ready to reassess a little bit through three weeks. So for myself, I never thought they were as bad offensively as you did and I've never hated their personnel to the same extent that you do. Having said that, I didn't, I wasn't high on it. I didn't love it. This was not the greatest show on turf, but I really, really liked the Echler edition. He's been outstanding. I think Noah Brown is a decent enough wide receiver to type. The fact that he was available as a godsend. I actually think Zacchaeus, who's been very limitedly involved. The Ami Brown can serve roles. It's not to say they're going to be good or scare anybody, but the way they use receivers, I just don't think it's going to be what they major in or care a whole lot about. It's a lot of stuff at and behind the line of scrimmage for the most part. It's going to work out the way they've run the ball. Brian Robinson going for a buck 30 against the Giants. The Bengals then said, "Okay, guess what? Brian Robinson's not going to beat us." And Washington said, "Cool." And they threw it outside. So you saw them do the thing they want to do. Then a week later, a team bow up and say, "You're not going to do the thing you want to do." And Washington said, "No problem. We've got another way to move the football." The fact that they've been able to zig and then zag and then zig again gives me some hope as well. So yeah, for me, the sight line has changed. How good are they? Probably a different conversation we can have, but it would be hard pressed. I think to find people who shouldn't be optimistic about them, maybe out kicking their coverage a little bit after a game like that Bengals game. And this is the ultimate scene as a football fan. We all know it, right? The one-week big reaction, but that's why to me, I go back now over what is a three-week sample and the growth that we've seen. And it's first in goal from the four. Daniel's is going to walk it in for the touchdown. Yeah, he had not yet thrown his first touchdown. That would come, I think, on the next drive to Trent Scott, which will create a trivia question, hopefully down the road. Because to really have a trivia question about something you did early in your career, you had to go have a career, which the first three games certainly indicate he's off to one here in Washington. 38-33 Washington last night over Cincinnati. If you're just checking in, I doubt you are. But really, the co-lead or the co-headline, if not the headline, was one of the more memorable performances by a quarterback in recent franchise history. And really, going back historically, one of the better quarterback games, period, rookie or veteran in franchise history. Jaden Daniels was 21 of 23 for 254 yards. As I mentioned, he accounted for 293 of the available 390 yards in the game. You know, based on the number of drives they had, their starting field position minus 10 yards in offensive penalties. That's pretty good. Do we have Ben? I think we have Ben, Ben Standing, who joins us on Mondays, Fridays, but Tuesdays after game days. He was there in Cincinnati last night at Ben Standing on X on Twitter, read him on the athletic, of course, and listen to his podcast, Last Man Standing. So let's start where we always start after a game. This one clearly special and memorable. But what were your big takeaways? A buddy of mine texted me this morning and asked me, you know, that grew up, you know, I was a fan of the team and he stole a fan. He's asking me, when I'm watching this game, do I get any rushes like a fan because it was so fascinating to see what Jay Daniels was doing? And I was like, no, but I did get the rare feeling of being excited knowing that everybody else was going to be excited for reasons that I used to be excited for, if that makes sense, because what that was, you know, people get worked up or wins. And you know, that's fine because, you know, because people want to see that. But where is it going? Right? That was always the issue for the last 15 years. Even when the reposter moments were like, okay, but what's going to happen now? The feeling's pretty low. The whole, you know, cleaning out all the baggage room before and then bringing in this kid to help fill in that gap and then for him to deliver that performance. And it's not just that he had a spectacular game because these things can be one off. It's seen, for me at least, the progression from the from from the summer to the preseason to the first game to the second game to the third game and how in certain cases, especially things look like the poise in the pocket, the improvement has been so obvious each and every time. And to have the, you know, that calm, that calm, that that that poise, you know, when things are, you know, getting tense. I mean, the Bengals didn't go away, you know, Washington's offense was killing it. And then to, you know, to make the fourth down throw to Earth on that on that last drive to then, of course, throw just an unbelievably preposter is done to Terry McCorn for the touchdown. You know, I don't know where this is going. None of us do. But the fact that it might be going somewhere that's pretty amazing is, wow, it's quite the moment to see. And I, you know, we're a typically cynical bunch in the press box for, I think, fairies, you know, based on having covered in this team. And I think we were all fan bases. It should be should be cynical, skeptical. Because they've never given us a reason to be anything but that. Yeah, no, 100% but like, yeah, so, you know, it was pretty, it was pretty fun. And, you know, the funny part was the one person who seemed to be the calmest, at least around us about everything that happened was the quarterback, you know, the locker room, of course, they're, you know, collectively, they're all hyped and loud. And, you know, we asked by Jayden, it was just praise on top of praise that with him, he was like, yeah, you know, I think I did all right. I think I did well. We won. I know what I know the work I've put in. So, it's great to see it happen. But he didn't, you know, I've been around plenty of other athletes who've had big games, big moments, and they're sticking their test out. And he was like, yeah, this is kind of what I do. And I think on some level, I know this is a day for all the film nerds to get out there and show everybody on tape. Wow, look at this. Wow, look at that. And I think that is only going to tell you part of the story. His demeanor, his presence is, I think, so much of why, for me, has stood out throughout the last several months, because that's not something that everybody has. A lot of guys are great athletes can throw the perfect pass. But to have that presence, that guy's gravitate towards, to let you know, not only did I kind of expect this to happen, but I'm ready for this moment. I just think there's so much about about this kid. Yeah, I mean, the other stuff that really, we can see, but they really can feel and understand and know is just as important as, oh, by the way, when he started off to take it, when he started off, you know, running, he didn't see Luke McCaffrey downfield, or he didn't see Noah Brown downfield. Thank you for saying that. Now, look, I understand what you've said about, you know, where is it going, you know, and you and I've had this conversation a little bit here and there over the last couple of weeks. It should not be exclusive, because the conversation about where is it right now is appropriate, you know, for me it is. And I've, you know, I've had that conversation with you over the last few weeks. These NFL seasons are these individual, you know, entities and packages, each week of it is, you just don't can't and you can't predict the future. You don't know what you're going to have down the road. You don't know what the competitive landscape will be. Each one of these seasons are, you know, are gifts. And every once in a while, it may not look like it before the season starts, but all of a sudden when you start to actually play the games, you realize, hey, we can be one of these teams that fights for a playoff spot, makes the playoffs just like, you know, six or seven other teams. So let's focus on that for a moment. What can they be right now? Because I think last night with respect to this season should be a conversation shifter for some. Um, yeah, I mean, look, the, the offense, two straight games in Trisway is, you know, had, had, had the best seat in the house, other than getting, not having to hold kicks. He's just kind of walking, no puns in two games. They still haven't had a turnover all year. You know, some, these are pretty efficient, pretty spectacular numbers. And Jayden Daniels, you know, he's already showing that he, you know, more than just belongs in this league. I mean, you know, look, this team still is devoid of offensive playmakers. It didn't feel like it though last night because the way he played, give Cliff King, very a lot of credit for using the pieces that he had to the best of everybody's ability. So I think from the offensive standpoint, and look, the offensive line had a, had a really good game and then Brandon Coleman, you know, and Lucas, they split snaps at left tackle, but Coleman is another ascending player that they have. You know, it looks like he's only getting better. And so that's huge. And you know, this was obviously the first game, Terry McCorn busted out. So I think offensively, there's definitely a lot of reasons to be hopeful. And I zero problem with that. The other side of the ball, that's where, I mean, we need to see, I mean, you know, Michael Phillips and I were on a thread earlier, he said, can you imagine if some, if you didn't see the game, if somebody told you the Bengals didn't punt and score 33 points at the, what, what the result was? I mean, the defense has got to get so much better, but they were fortunate that they held the Bengals to, you know, some field goal attempts and Washington was only kept that, you know, was only do that at once, right? So it's, you know, half the game, there's still a lot of concerns. I don't know how to say that otherwise, but at least on the offensive end, you know, it is looking like they belong. I don't want to keep seeing them getting these shootouts, especially against a team like the Bengals who have the weapons to get ahead of you and to make it tough. But Jayden Daniel showed, you know, even, you know, he wasn't, he wasn't too worried about that. So I think the offensive side, you know, has shown some good stuff. I just think that the defensive side, there's still a lot to be desired. Fortunately, the breaks have gone, they're watching away the last couple of weeks, but that to me is where it's like, you know, hard to say how far this can go if the defense isn't going to get significantly better. Yeah, there's, you know, there, and I've mentioned, there's a limiting factor right now on what can be achieved. But in the NFL, when you got seven of the 16 that qualify for the postseason, we've seen many a team with outstanding offense and an outstanding quarterback end up, you know, winning more games than they lose. It just kind of runs out of juice when you got to stop somebody in January. And I think we all understand that we are talking to Ben standing. Look, a big part of the three games, but definitely last night early and then on the second half kickoff has been Austin Echler. What do we know about his concussion? And can you tell me, was it the kickoff or was he in on a play after the kickoff in which he got hurt? Yeah, he had a run after the kickoff. And I believe that's the play. He got hurt. I looked at the all 22 on it. It's a little hard to tell. He got it looked like a couple of guys kind of hit him at the same time. I don't know if there was like a shot to the helmet or not. But, you know, look, somebody got at least a clean hit. He went on more from Dan Quinn later today. He stayed back in Cincinnati while the rest of the team flew ahead to Phoenix for the game this week. They had a couple of a team doctor and a trainer stay back with him. So don't know more than that for now. Obviously, concussions are a tough deal. And, you know, I don't know, I can't project what may or may not happen. But obviously, if he's, you know, unable to, you know, get clearance here in the next day or two, that his status for first Sunday is going to be pretty, pretty dicey. But yeah, no, I mean, you know, he, I love that, you know, we've talked about this over the last few weeks that for all the talk about who's the second receiver. And my answer is basically, I think it's the two running backs. And the fact that they started out the game with both of those guys, Robinson Echler, on either side of Daniels. And that, yes, exactly. Take your best players and figure out a way to use them. And they did that. Echler has continued to be just so effective at just slithering power back. And of course, he has in this spectacular kick return. It's two weeks in a row, right? But he's, no, yeah. Yeah. Two weeks in a row, he's had a huge kick return. Obviously, the one against the Giants was called back. But this one set them up in great spot. So yeah, he's been, he's been a weapon. Obviously, Robinson's wasn't his best game in terms of the yards per carry. But he scored on the ground as well. And I'll just add that, you know, on the, on the, being, I'll throw to Terry McCorran, Jeremy McNeil is the one in there in the backfield. Presumably, that would have been an Austin Echler play. And, you know, he, I've said to you before, I didn't really quite understand why they felt compelled to have to keep Jeremy McNichols when I'm sure he would have cleared waivers and then it could brought him up for the practice squad or whatever. But the justification for keeping a guy like that is you want to have a veteran behind quarterback for exactly what he did. He leveled the guy coming in to go after Jay Daniels, but gave enough time that led through the ball. So yeah, good, good work from him. And hopefully Echler is able to come back soon because, you know, he's been definitely a huge factor. Yeah. He picks up one. I mean, they, they, they lined up like it was zero coverage. They actually dropped two players back into the middle of the field on on third and seven. But there was still a free rusher. But you're right, he did a good job stepping up. And that's always, those are always like reasons that you end up with a guy like that versus the kid Wiley who looks so impressive or maybe a Rodriguez. It's because if we have to play them in an actual game that matters and our quarterback has to drop back, he'll know what to do. You know, when we say, Hey, we need you to pick up that, you know, gap in terms of a potential rusher. And he did so in that case, although, man, Jaden still took a pounding. How happy was everybody for Terry McCorn's breakout game of 2024? Yeah. Yeah. No, for for sure. He definitely was a very happy guy in the locker room. Terry after the game, we were walking from the press box to the visiting locker room area. Terry was like one of the last guys that come off the field, and obviously he played at Ohio State to the breakout fans there. And we can hear it was, I was like, wait, what am I hearing here? And I realized that people were chanting Terry, Terry. And you're like, what is that? What? And then you realize it's like Ohio State fans hearing for that one of their guys. Yeah, he was, he was really happy. You know what's fascinating about Terry McCorn? It's like, look, he even gets some separation on the 55 yarder. But obviously, it was tight coverage on the, on the second, on the touchdown. I mean, it was opened by NFL quarterback standards, but not like open open, right? That's why it was, it was a next chance that said it was the lowest for a touchdown. It was the had the lowest probability for happening of any touchdown this year in league. He's so good at the contested catches. I think that's why he and Taylor Heineke worked so well because he was kind of, you know, as he kind of said, throw the ball down and Terry's down there somewhere. He's as great at those, the concentration, the hands, and we saw that on that play. So, you know, again, I talk about the, the evolution of Jayden Daniels, you know, that first week, he's clearly a bit jittery in the pocket, jumping out, jumping out too quickly. That's why he had all, you know, what, 16 carries or 16, you know, runs officially. Then the next game, the first half was kind of the same, but in the second half, it started to slow down. He stays in the pocket, hits Noah Brown down the field. And now it goes further. Now he's throwing it even, you know, further down the field and he, yeah, he stayed in that pocket. Like you said, Michael got one guy, he still got popped, but he stayed there. And, you know, a lot of the times it is as simple as that is the quarterback in a, you know, weight long enough for the receiver to get open and, you know, the, the throw was particular, but the catch, you know, it can't underrate that. He's getting almost, you know, midway to the, to the end zone, the, you know, inside the end zone, the, the sidelines right there. Perfect pass, but you still got to make the play and he did just that. Yeah, you know, in, in looking at that play again on third and seven, you know, they drop two guys back into coverage. One of them's clearly a spy because it's third and seven. And we've already seen this program where, you know, pressure, and then he gets out of it and then he's moving the chains with his legs. I do think, and we talked about this earlier that had, let's just say, Terry not gotten the knee down or whatever, they would have kicked the field goal there. They weren't going to go for a fourth and seven, but this team with this quarterback is going to have an opportunity for a lot of four down sets. Not necessarily deepen their own territory, but, you know, fourth and three, this guy, they're so, you know, they're so multi in terms of what they can do with a quarterback that is dual threat. All right, last one for you. I think the online may not be getting the kind of credit they deserve. I mean, we've talked about it a little bit here. I'm curious as to what you think. I thought Biotish in particular was really good last night. I think Lucas has played well. I think Alec Greddy and Cosby do a good job. You know, we talked all off season. Number one concern for everybody. They needed to upgrade the online. Sometimes the coordinator and the quarterback make a difference. Go ahead on the online. Yeah, no. I mean, definitely for sure. I mean, again, Kingsbury did a really good job. You know, the, I don't think anything is changed in terms of Lucas and Andrew Wiley. I mean, Lucas is, every time he's come in, he's played over the years, he's been effective. But over time, there's diminishing returns. So what happens with him? We get past week six, six, seven, etc. Except that now Brandon Coleman is there and he, I thought that that did some good work. So, yeah, the interior part of the line figured to be the strength. The question was the tackles. You know, Wiley's been, had some struggles earlier this year, but you know, hey, yeah, they've done a good job. And yeah, having a guy with Jayden Daniels ability to slither in and out of, of hold, get away from pressure, you know, covers up for so many other concerns. But yeah, that was a really good game. Trey Hendrickson's been one of the top pass structures in the league, and he was fairly quiet for the most part last night. So yeah, no, you got to give them a lot of credit. Like I said, the offense has been, you know, pretty good. It's just been, you know, the questions on the other side. But yeah, no, it's been, it's been impressive. And, you know, again, yeah, Jayden Daniels stuff, wow, you know, I mean, this is what the great quarterbacks do. I mean, he covers up so many issues. This is why you don't have to go spend crazy money at receiver, because this guy makes the extra play to make what you have work. Same thing with the offensive line. Obviously, you always want to get as good as you can at any of these spots. But yeah, he, he's making everybody look better. All right, I gotta go. I'll talk to you later. Thanks for doing this. Yeah, yeah, there was a Hendricks Hendrickson sack. I mean, he had one really good play. I didn't think Jayden had a shot on that one. That was what set up second 20, I believe, on that final drive. All right, something about their offense. I haven't talked about when we come back. Kevin Sheehan showed the team 980 and the team 980.com. This summer, get away in the Hyundai you've always wanted at the Hyundai Getaway sales event. Get the hottest deals of the season on many of our award winning Hyundai models, which all come with America's best warranty. But get going because these deals won't last. Add more joy to your journey at the Hyundai Getaway sales event. Now for a limited time, get 1.99% APR for 60 months on the Hyundai Tucson or Elantra. Hurry into the Hyundai Getaway sales event. Offers end September 3rd. Call 562-314-4603 for details.