Grant and Danny
Your Washington Commanders Are A Good Football Team
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Whether you love true crime or comedy, celebrity interviews or news, you call the shots on what's in your podcast queue, and guess what? Now you can call them on your auto insurance too, with the name of your price tool from Progressive. It works just the way it sounds. You tell Progressive how much you want to pay for car insurance, and they'll show you coverage options that fit your budget. Get your quote today at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates, price and coverage match limited by state law. Uh, why does this room look amazing? What'd you change? Oh, I just got these custom shades from Blinds.com. It's all online, so it's really easy. Great price too. Ugh, I remember shopping for Blinds. I waited around all day just to get a quote. Hi, sorry I'm late. I know you said just the bedroom, but what did you feel about? I feel like I had to say yes, just to get rid of her. All right, just go ahead and sign here and we'll get everything taken forever. And the worst part? Hidden fees. How about you? I chatted with my Blinds.com design consultant on my time. Got free samples and it was all super high quality at a great price. Plus, they make it easy to DIY, or add installation like I did. Blinds.com sounds way better. Way better. And everything comes with their 100% satisfaction guarantee. Plus, check this out. I can control them from my phone. Whoa, magic. ShopBlinds.com for up to 50% off-sitewide and a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Blinds.com rules and restrictions may apply. If you want the real story behind the NFL, you need the "Stinking Truth" podcast. Three-time Super Bowl champ, Mark Schlareth, breaks down the biggest place, the biggest games, and the untold stories that make this game what it is. Follow the "Stinking Truth" in the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. It was a victory Tuesday six days ago, because, you know, when the commanders planned prime time, they deliver their best efforts, but they stayed out West. They stayed on the road. They made it one road trip, and then they went straight to Phoenix to handle their business against the Cardinals. And today, as we convene on Grant and Danny, here on the fan, your Washington commanders at three and one are alone in first place in the NFC East. Danny will be in in just a little bit. He had an ill-timed doctor's appointment in the afternoon. He wanted to get here to celebrate with us. He will be here in short order. Fear not. But the commanders, 42 points. Another offensive onslaught. Another clinical and textbook day for Cliff Kingsbury, Jaden Daniels. And this now vaunted offense destroyed the Arizona Cardinals' road dogs. They went to Arizona. They leave not only winners, but with sideline laughter, jocularity in the fourth quarter. Spin your hat around like your head coach, Dan Quinn, because you're no longer playing in the game starters. Dominance. And for the second time in one short week here, Monday into a Sunday, the commanders were the talk of the NFL when their game had ended. They've got a quarterback right now that everybody loves in Jaden Daniels, the talk of the league, the front runner for rookie of the year offensively. Today, you're hearing people around town suggest. Should we start talking about the MVP award for Jaden Daniels? Settle down just a little bit. But let's enjoy ourselves right here and right now, 42 to 14. Cleveland Browns up next at the artist formerly known as FedEx field, going out to Landover, Maryland for what should be a chance for Washington to get to four and one now. They're favored in the game. And for what will really decide once and for all kind of where I'm going to be with this team. I am uber encouraged. I sit here today thinking they're very good. I sit here today thinking the NFC East is not. I have not been impressed with the Eagles at all at any point this season. They got destroyed by the Bucks and Tampa just like Washington did. I don't think the Cowboys are that good. We know the Giants aren't that good. Why can't this team with an elite offense, a quarterback playing very well? Continue to go out weekend and week out. You know, they're going to have a chance to win because in this league, when you can score and you can move the ball, something we don't know anything about in DC over the years. When you have a quarterback who plays at a high level, something we're remembering what it feels like around here the last couple of weeks. You have a chance every single week and they're going to. So why can't this team continue to win? You tell me, is it because the defense isn't good enough? They were a lot better yesterday. Is it because they can't stop the run? They didn't do that yesterday either. But points don't come from the running game. The Cardinals are evidence of that 14 point scored yesterday for Arizona. By the way, Tyler Murray, I thought was awful. Just seeing ghosts, holding the football, taking on pressure and contact and sacks in the pocket. I didn't think he was good at all, but give the defense some credit. So I wanted to go through some superlatives here for Washington. Some of the stats that are being thrown around just to get the party started, literally and figuratively, on Grant and Danny. Should let you know that we will be joined at five o'clock by Jay Gruden for his weekly Monday appointment on the show. And at three o'clock coming up in one hour, we're going to talk with Luke McCaffrey, the wide receiver who had a monster catch yesterday. Nice catch and run of 17 yards to set up a touchdown. He had a 40 yard catch and run on Monday one week ago today against the Bengals in Cincinnati's coming into his own third round pick. Was been a big part of this offense early this season. So we'll talk to McCaffrey about Daniels, about Kingsbury and one of the great offenses in football right now when he joins us in a little over 55 minutes. But here's what took place yesterday. Number one, the commanders got to three and one. This is the first time Washington has been three and one through four games since 2011. Now that was a Rex Grossman led commanders team, by the way. Okay, that was a known week three and one based on schedule, some good fortune. I was on that beat. I remember this like it was yesterday a couple of weeks after that. In fact, Grossman got benched for John Beck. That's how good that team was. There were three and one, but it was fool's goal. This feels different because when you're three and one based on quarterback play, when you're three and one with an offense that can score, when you're three and one and you've got a rookie under center who looks to be your future, a little different than the journeyman veteran who's not playing that well as you're squeaking out victories, but you got to go back 13 years. This is something that should happen every couple of years, whether you're good or not. You just, you get a schedule that's favorable. You play okay in the first month, whether you're good or not. You stub your toe into three and one every now and then, not here. Not where you haven't won 11 games since 1991. Not where you haven't won a playoff game in 19 years, but Washington is three and one. The commanders have scored 30 or more points in consecutive games now. They had not done that since weeks 10 and 11 in 2017. Our guest today at five o'clock, Jay Gruden was the head coach then calling plays for curco cousins. That's how long it's been since this team went back to back scoring 30 points. They get it. They're very excited. First time that Washington has scored 30 plus points in consecutive games and won both of those games since weeks 16 and 17 of 2015 when Gruden cousins in Washington clinched the division, you're going back nine years ago to find the last time the offense was able to put up points like this and wins. Oh, this one was fun. This might have been my favorite stat from yesterday in terms of what this offense is doing and how much they're cooking right now in the lab. Cliff Kingsbury, listen up. You handsome sharp, jawed, well manicured, bearded, play calling savant. The last time Washington scored at least 38 points in consecutive games. Monday into Sunday, they did that. Bengals Cardinals weeks 11 and 12 of the 1991 season. One of the greatest teams of all time. One of the greatest offenses of all time on their way to a Super Bowl. There's one guy in the audience who's not standing up and cheering. What's your problem? Oh, he said he wants some Jaden Daniels superlatives. Don't worry. Audience member, I've got that. Daniels has completed at least 85% of his passes in two consecutive games. The first quarterback in NFL history to have two consecutive games with 85% or higher complete in the history of the league. I like that one. I like what they're seeing. Speaking of Daniels, 82.1 completion percentage. So far through four games, the highest in history by any quarterback since 1950, minimum of 100 attempts. And lastly, what we're seeing from Daniels historic, he's got a passer rating that's been 96 or better and a completion percentage 82 or better. He and Dak Prescott back in 2016 when he took the league by storm. The only rookie quarterbacks in NFL history to have posted those numbers in four straight games. [applause] Everything's looking up for the locals. I hope you like the team name because if they keep winning, it ain't going anywhere, okay? They are three and one and they look legit. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Whether you love true crime or comedy, celebrity interviews or news, you call the shots on what's in your podcast queue. And guess what? Now you can call them on your auto insurance too with the name of your price tool from Progressive. It works just the way it sounds. You tell Progressive how much you want to pay for car insurance and they'll show you coverage options that fit your budget. Get your quote today at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive. Progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates. Price and coverage match limited by state law. Uh, why does this room look amazing? What'd you change? Oh, I just got these custom shades from Blinds.com. It's all online, so it's really easy. Great price too. Ugh, I remember shopping for Blinds. I waited around all day just to get a quote. Hi, sorry I'm late. I know you said just the bedroom, but what did you feel about? I feel like I had to say yes just to get rid of her. All right, just go ahead and sign here and we'll get everything taken forever. And the worst part, hidden fees. How about you? I chatted with myblinds.com design consultant on my time. Got free samples and it was all super high quality at a great price. Plus, they make it easy to DIY or add installation like I did. Blinds.com sounds way better. Way better. And everything comes with their 100% satisfaction guarantee. Plus, check this out, I can control them from my phone. Whoa, magic. Shoplines.com for up to 50% off site wide and a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Blinds.com rules and restrictions may apply. If you want the real story behind the NFL, you need the stinking truth podcast, three time Super Bowl champ Mark Schlerath breaks down the biggest place, the biggest games and the untold stories that make this game what it is. Follow the stinking truth in the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. But yesterday to me was about their clinical offensive display again. They went nine of 12 on third down. Couple reasons for that. Number one, they stay ahead of the sticks. They have great success on first down. They're a good second down team. They run the ball really, really well. When Daniels keeps the football and scrambles, he steals a couple of yards. They're often in third and two, third and four. Very manageable down in distances. Nine of 12 on third down. Just back breaking to a defense. They racked up 450 yards, 6.7 yards per play yesterday. They did punt. That's bad. Okay. They had not punted in two straight games. We don't believe in punting around here. We find punting to be unacceptable. We demand perfection from our team in the nation's capital. We don't believe in punting. Trustways, a holder is not a punter. One punt in three weeks now, by the way. In fact, the crazy, crazy stat on how often they've been scoring as opposed to punting. Jaden Daniels on the season has fewer incompletions than they have scoring drives. Oh, thank you. They can do that for all the stats all day. I mean, they can. I understand. They're happy. But seriously, think about that for a second. Now, that's a Daniel stat to an extent. He's been accurate. But really, that is a scheme stat. That is a Kingsbury stat. They're getting receivers open. They are making throws oftentimes very easy. And Daniels is executing the plan. What blows me away about him is the decision making, the poise, the ability to get through everything the way he needs to. But that's staggering, the way they're moving the football. We haven't seen anything like this in years and years and years around here. I don't know about you guys, but I'm on a bunch of text chains with buddies during these games. And they all basically had the same tone in the Bengals game. And it carried over to the Cardinals game. The gist during the Bengals game was what is happening? What team is this? How is this happening? Is this my commander's team? Like that was kind of the gist of the text. Those were the vibes on Monday night. Yesterday, the vibes were, oh my God, are we good? People can't, they don't know what to do with their arms. They're like, wait a second. This is real, right? Is this a dream? Nobody knows what to do because we've never seen. Your boy is 36, got a few kids, got a mortgage, got cars in the driveway that I pay for. They have not moved the ball like this and been in offensive juggernaut like this since I was in diapers. It doesn't happen around here. It is right now. And what's amazing is while there's going to be ebbs and flows, it'll get more complicated and more difficult to move the football. You're not always going to be ahead of the chains. The longer you do something, the more it becomes what you are and just what you do. It becomes the expectation. So last week I sat here and I told you guys, it's going to be really hard to replicate the Bengals game. And I still believe they're not going to have another one like that. But my point in saying that is you don't have games where you don't commit penalties. They did not commit a penalty offensively again until the fourth quarter. When that happens once, it's staggering. It's crazy. It doesn't make sense. You assume it's a fluke. When you do it two straight weeks, you go, well, something that they're doing is obviously helping them in that regard. Maybe it's somewhat sustainable that they just don't commit penalties. Well, they haven't turned the ball over all year. After week two, we're saying they're probably going to go on the road. Now, tough environment prime time turned the ball over. They didn't do it. Now they did have one turnover yesterday. Jayden Daniels through his first pick. I don't care at all. I liked him throwing that pick. If we're being honest, because he's pushing the ball down the field into a small window and throw into a guy that wasn't already open, clapping for the football. That's what the league's about. You're going to have to make those throws. So you make that throw, you see what happens. It works or it doesn't. You recalibrate, you go back to the drawing board. You guys care about interceptions way more than I do. They're not all created equal. So I got no problem with that pick at all. By the way, one turnover best in the NFL right now, through four games for the Washington commanders. But after two games of what is a very similar script, moving the football, not punting, scoring on almost every drive, not committing any penalties, never being behind the chains, having early down for a second down success, setting up third and short, moving the sticks on third down, getting receivers, spraying all over the formation, catching footballs on the fly. The feel yesterday was, wait a second. Is this something that can actually continue? And I think the answer is yes. I really do. They ran the ball all over the Cardinals, 216 net on the ground. B-Rob 101, I thought he was terrific. I'm glad he's finally getting his roses around the league because he's a good hard runner, thumper, just not a guy that gets the type of respect in my opinion that he deserves. We set all week on this show, and I think everybody did, but we really harped on the Austin Echler loss because he'd been fantastic. I thought it would be a huge loss for Washington, not Echler, because of how good he'd been as a pass catcher, number one, in pass protection, second, and as a rusher third. You know what good teams do? They tell Austin Echler, "He'll up. We'll see you next week." And they call on some guy who's not as good, and that guy has a great game. And that's what Washington did. Jeremy McNichols go have a day. Six catches, excuse, six carries, 68 yards, eight and a half a pop, had a 27-yard touchdown that was perfectly blocked. Barely got touched. I mean, think about this. Washington is eating people's lunch, and they're doing it with Terry McClurent and who catching the football. Who's their number two receiver? Is it Luke McCaffery, who's going to be on the show at three, who has drafted it number 100 and gets targeted a couple times a week? Is it Noah Brown, who they signed three hours before the season started? After the Texans said, "No, thank you," and cut them? Yesterday was the Alamedes Echias game from a Virginia product, bounced all over the league. They have Alamedes Echias and Jeremy McNichols carrying them on drives, who have a combined 15 different stops in the NFL. McNichols has been on a dozen teams at different points, getting signed, getting cut, getting signed, getting cut, and that outfit can't be stopped. What we're seeing is really special in terms of the preparation, the execution, the design, and the players deserve all the credit as well, the way that they're making it all work. Daniels, accurate, composed, stellar under pressure yesterday. One of my big fears about his college portfolio coming in was, "How's he going to deal with pressure?" Yesterday, he got a big old sweet check mark. I believe he was pressured 13 times, didn't throw an incompletion, didn't have a sack, got out of the pocket any time he was touched. You can't do better than that. It was 10 of 10 passing. And while I'm making this about the offense, because frankly, that's why this team is good and that's why they have a chance to win, moving forward against Cleveland and both more than anybody else they're going to play. The defense was much, much better. And I give credit to Dan Quinn and Joe Wick, because I think they made in-game adjustments. Last we forget, Arizona returns the opening kick to the 40. They're first in 10, they go on a 55-yard drive like they were throwing against air. They walk right down the field, they take a 7-0 lead. Same thing happened against the Bengals, by the way. You're on the road, now the Bengals environment was way more hostile and difficult to play in, because it actually looked like that was a home game in Phoenix, based on what I could see on TV. But the offense takes the field already down 7-0, and they go right down the field and tie the game, carbon copy. The difference this time was, instead of just being worked the rest of the game by Burrow and Chase and Higgins and Zack Moss, the defense bowed up. They actually got back to back three and outs at one point. They generated their second takeaway of the season for goodness' sake. I thought Frankie Louvoo was a complete monster, just an animal. What a performance. Only had seven tackles, had a half sack force fumble, but he flew all over the place, just going on missions where he was blowing up blockers, taking people on so that his teammates could make plays in the backfield. Louvoo was phenomenal. This was the game I envisioned when they signed him. The rookie showed out Daniels really good. Brandon Coleman played half the snaps. I thought he was sensational at tackle. McCaffrey was going to join us coming up in 40 minutes. Big catch when he was called upon. Sin it, some huge blocks. What's not to like? The good guys are three in one. They've got a rookie quarterback on a rookie contract. It looks like a baller. And maybe the most fun part of the whole thing, they have one of the most dynamic, prolific, exotic, efficient offenses in football for the first time since when. Everyone goes back to 12. Yes, they were number one in yards per play. Their offense didn't function like this really at any point in 12, if we're being honest. They're number one in completing passes. Number three in yards per pass attempt. They're the best third down team in the league. They're number three in rushing. They're number second and scoring number second. I don't think it works that way. They're number one in points per drive. They're number five in overall yards per game. They're fourth in yards per play. They're second in being the hardest team to force three and out in the entire. As I said, the one turnover is the lowest rate in the league. They're EPA offensively per play first. What a blast to watch. This has been amazing. This is the team that you guys normally hate watch. The team that you have to watch. It's an obligation. You don't have to watch them right now. We get to watch them right now. It's fun again. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Whether you love true crime or comedy, celebrity interviews or news, you call the shots on what's in your podcast queue. And guess what? Now you can call them on your auto insurance too, with the name of your price tool from Progressive. It works just the way it sounds. You tell Progressive how much you want to pay for car insurance, and they'll show you coverage options that fit your budget. Get your quote today at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive. Progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates. Price and coverage match limited by state law. Uh, why does this room look amazing? What'd you change? Oh, I just got these custom shades from Blinds.com. It's all online, so it's really easy. Great price too. Ugh, I remember shopping for Blinds. I waited around all day just to get a quote. Hi, sorry I'm late. I know you said just the bedroom, but what did you feel about? I feel like I had to say yes, just to get rid of her. All right, just go ahead and sign here and we'll get everything taken. It took forever. And the worst part, hidden fees. How about you? I chatted with myblinds.com design consultant on my time. Got free samples and it was all super high quality at a great price. Plus they make it easy to DIY or add installation like I did. Blinds.com sounds way better. Way better. And everything comes with their 100% satisfaction guarantee. Plus check this out. I can control them from my phone. Whoa, magic. Shoplines.com for up to 50% off site wide and a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Blinds.com rules and restrictions may apply. If you want the real story behind the NFL, you need the stinkin' truth podcast. Three-time Super Bowl champ Mark Schlareth breaks down the biggest place, the biggest games, and the untold stories that make this game what it is. Follow the stinkin' truth in the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.