Grant and Danny
Blitzing The NFC East, Is It Too Early To Crown Jayden Daniels?
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Hey NFL fans, you can start the season with a big return on FanDul, America's number one sports book. So when you get a hunch in the middle of the game, you can check out the latest stats, view live play-by-play, and so much more on the same page where you place your bets. You'll get started with $200 in bonus bets guaranteed when you place your first $5 bet. That's fandul.com/sportsfan. Never waste a hunch and make every moment more with FanDul, an official sports book partner of the NFL. Must be 21 plus in present in Colorado. First online real money weights are only $10 first deposit required. Bonus issued is now a throwable bonus bets that expire seven days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fandul.com, gambling problem. Call 1-800-522-4700. The commanders seem to have a bright future. It is time for you to plan yours as well. The exclusive sponsor of our show is the law firm, Condorian Murad. They're going to help you update your last will and testament. Set up a trust for you and your family. Schedule a free consultation with our estate planning attorneys today. Visit kmloyers.com. Be sure to tell them we sent you. That's kmloyers.com. You'll get a discount if you tell them we sent you. Remember Friday, we're going to be broadcasting live from the Atlas Brew Works in Alexandria on Mandeville Lane. Stop by. They've got 15 taps, a dozen TVs, plus great food, wings, pizza, a Friday, two to six 30, we're live. Atlas Brew Works in Alexandria for more information. Go to thefandc.com. It is time to spin you around the NFC East and we start on the Cowboys with Donovan Lewis Midday's 96-70 ticket. Dallas sitting now at two and two in the NFC East after they beat the Giants in prime time. But Donovan, that was kind of a hold your nose win against New York, wasn't it? Well, I don't think I've heard it described like that. But yes, I think you're right. It is a hold your nose just trying to survive against a bad team. And you needed that win. Leading up to what we all said, it was a must win four weeks into the season. And that's exactly what it was. And that's exactly what they had to go get. So while it wasn't pretty, it was definitely needed. And now we got to see if they could sustain some type of defensive stand against Iran like they showed against the Giants. So Donovan, it looks like they're a little bit beat up now. Give us some injury updates. Well, the markets longs was placed on IR. So he'll be out at least four weeks. But they expect that to be a lot longer than four weeks. Micah, they're still listening as doubtful. But I just don't think he's going to play. He looked really hobbled when he got off the bus on that Thursday night coming back from New York. So everyone's expecting him to miss at least Pittsburgh and maybe Detroit. And if he does, then yes, this defense is going to be hobbled without the top two pass rushes. And everyone thought that the strength of this team was the pass rush on defense. And now you've lost the two guys that can get to the quarterback. So it's going to be a struggle on Sunday night against Pittsburgh. Yeah, I saw you guys signed KJ Henry, former commander. They drafted at a Clemson in the fifth round off of a practice squad. So who we probably found a Henry wasn't buried. But they're exact right. Henry is here. Probably not the Henry you guys wanted. Think about the matchup just personnel wise, the way the Steelers want to play the way Dallas plays and how that lays out Sunday night football this weekend. Yeah, you know, it's funny because Justin Fields is probably the most dangerous runner that they have. I know they had some injuries to Warren and Harris. I don't know their availability. But if you keep Justin Fields in the pocket, then I think you have a chance, which may do a little. It sounds weird. But if you're not just totally able to rush the passer, maybe he sits back in the pocket and that's maybe your best chance to win it. So as long as he doesn't get outside and can use his legs, I seriously think the Cowboys can have a chance in that game. But if he gets outside with their inability to stop the run, you know, the couple of weeks before, this is like they fixed it against the Giants. But I don't think the Giants have anyone like Justin Fields was able to get outside and run even Daniel Jones can't do that. So they still have their issues with that. So I think the strategy is to try to keep him in the pocket and make him use his arm. If they can do that, then I think they'll be able to survive defensively. Now on the other side, man that Pittsburgh defense is really good. And the Cowboys offense, even in the wind, they just haven't been that impressive. So unless they can run the football, which they haven't shown the ability to do that, and they can get someone else involved other than CD lamb to kind of loosen it up, I think they're going to have their issues scoring the football against Pittsburgh this week. So it should be an interesting matchup. Donovan, where's the Dak Prescott approval rating? I'm thinking of like those old school applause meters where the guys are going up and down from a zero to 100. Where we at? Man, that is a great question. It is one of those like it seems like everyone in Dallas has a lower approval rating because they just have seen so many years of him not being able to get it done when it matters the most. But overall, in the NFL, these are really good quarterback and you've got to have a guy like that in order to try and get to the place where you haven't been. So it's one of those. I don't want to evade the question, but I guess it's about maybe 60, 65% approval rating. But man, I think sometimes that goes even lower than halfway when we add cowboy fans around here. Is there a thought that they're good? No, it's not. They're going to have to show seriously, they're going to have to prove it to their fan base and probably prove it to themselves that they're good. Now, the only asterisk you can put on it is the fact that it doesn't appear that the NSC East, anyone's going to run away. Like Washington's been really good, but can they sustain it? And Philadelphia is what Philadelphia is and they feel like that they're going to be up and down also. So it doesn't feel like you need to have an 11, 12, 13, win year to win the NSC East. So even if you're at 9 and 10 wins, they may get you the opportunity to make the playoffs and anything goes when it comes to the playoffs. So I think that's the only saving grace to what everyone feels is just pretty much an average team. Well, remember, the commanders don't punt. So right, exactly right. They can use that roster spot for someone else. So they don't use that. So yeah, no, it's interesting to see if they're going, if they can sustain this and what they're doing right now with Cliff Kingsbury in that offense is how it's going to be. Boy, that's something I don't think anyone expected this year. So it feels like if that's the case, then the Cowboys got to step it up. And now they have their roughest part of the schedule right in front of them right now. So it gets interesting. Everyone thought maybe they'll be two and two going into this week against Pittsburgh, but then it's Detroit, then it's San Francisco, then it's Atlanta, then it's Houston, then it's Philadelphia. This is a promptly for the Cowboys to try to prove themselves. Donovan, thank you as always, man. Have a great week. My pleasure. See you, buddy. There, sit that deagle sounder, please. Tom Kelly on WIP kind of the joins to talk about Philadelphia. Tom, give me kind of a system check here. Is it glass half full? I know it's funny talking about Philly fans, but it's glass half full because they're in it without some of their best players or is the sky is falling, cancel the rest of the season. Yeah, it's more than the latter after that game on Sunday. I mean, a terrible performance from the defense. We knew the defense wasn't going to be that good, but the real concerning thing, guys, is getting what hurts. I mean, the turnovers, seven turnovers now in four games for him to start the year. He just is not protecting the football, and we know with the Eagles, they're built around the offense. If they're not going to score a ton of points, they're not going to win a lot of games. And even without the injuries, I mean, yeah, he turned the ball over. That's a big concern here right now. So I'm trying not to beat up on hurts that much because he's got no weapons right now either. I mean, John Dodson was starting and is not getting targets or catches. You don't have the wide receivers. It's Barkley and Pray for Rain basically having said that. I mean, there's basically been one year that's not like the others for Jalen hurts when you really look at it. It's that MVP caliber year where Philly got to the Super Bowl. Everything else has been very different and it feels like that's just the outlier. Is that overstated? No, it's not. And I think there's an extra, I guess, sense of anxiety for Eagles fans come off the Carson situation. I mean, you guys had Carson down there and it was very similar trajectory where his second year was so incredible. He never reached those heights again. And you don't want to immediately kind of make that comparison. But with what we saw from Carson Wentz, what we're seeing now from Jalen, them having the same kind of problems, it's hard to not let that fall into your mind. Tom, let's just come to an agreement that we just won't mention Carson Wentz free for both of our benefits anymore. Like just for fun. Like just never say anything. No, all good. You mentioned the defense. I thought this group would be a little bit better. I didn't think good by any stretch of imagination. And and and they're certainly had their moments. I didn't think it'd be back to that like 80 sack as a team thing they did a couple of seasons ago. But I thought they'd be better than last year. How disappointing has it been? Where's room for improvement? Give me kind of state of the union there. Yes, I'm really disappointed. I mean, the big signing on defense was Bryce up from the Jets. They gave them three years, 51 million, 17 per year. And he has, I think, one tackle in four games. Hasn't had a quarterback hit. Hasn't had a sack. And I mean, that's a huge issue considering you traded to Tom Wreck. And we know his situation right now. But yeah, they're not getting the pressure off the edge. And unless that changes, it's hard to see this defense really improving in a significant way. And early by in week five is normally a bummer, just stinks, right? But the way it lays out here with how banged up they are might actually be perfect to regroup come out of the by they've got the Browns, the Giants. We'll see what the Bengals are at that point. But I know the Jaguars are soon thereafter. Is this working out potentially about as well as it could for them right now at two and two? Yeah, and I think that's kind of the hope is we all thought it would be nearly by. But considering the injury situation, you hope after the buy, you get AJ Brown back, you get the Monte Smith back, and you're in a much better spot. So that's kind of the thinking at this point. Is this by even though it didn't seem like it was coming at a great time before the season, it certainly seems like it is now. You got to go to the betting window this afternoon. Would you bet on or against the Eagles winning this division this year? Oh, honestly, right now I probably bet against. I mean, we thought before the year it would be a two horse race between the Eagles and the Cowboys. And if that were the case, I'd still still feel pretty confident. But with what we've seen from your guy, Jayden Daniels down there, that is a scary element added to this division now with Washington. So that means right now you would expect Washington to win the division. Right now that would be my fifth. Yeah, I mean, I've been incredibly impressed by what Jayden Daniels has done. That offense is planning a really high level. I think Dan Quinn's done a really good job kind of setting the culture there. And right now I think considering the way these other teams have played Dallas and the Eagles, I think Washington's got to be the favorite. So as you look at what's coming out of this by week here, Cleveland Giants, Bengals, Jaguars, maybe not what you thought before the season, not I mean you, Tom, but like someone like me that thought Cleveland would be pretty good since an addy would be, you know, Super Bowl contender. The Jaguars are windless. The Giants are pretty terrible. I still think. So I think all of a sudden post by week, if guys are healthy, we can have a totally different narrative here as they head to that week 10 tilled at Dallas. Is that something that's on your mind in terms of this opportunity coming out of that by week? Oh, yeah. Absolutely. And that's something that if you're looking at the positive side of it, that's why you'd be positive. Is this schedule coming out of the by? But I mean, they got to go at least three and one in the next four games here because you got two and two, you're four and four, then you have a difficult part of the schedule where you go to Dallas and a few of those divisional games that are tougher than they've seen before the year. So yeah, I think the Eagles really need to come out of this by on fire and and at least win three out of these next four. Tom, thank you, buddy. We appreciate you. Thanks guys. Appreciate it. Be good. Let's talk about the club pulling up the rear right now. And that's a team that is doing so despite looking better the last couple of weeks, the New York Giants. Ryan Dunleavy joins us as we blitz the East on Grant and Danny, the New York Post. Ryan, they beat Cleveland after narrowly missing out on the chance to beat Washington down a kicker. Then they've got the Cowboys in prime time had a golden chance to win but didn't. What's the temperature on the one in three Giants as they get ready for the Seahawks? They're not terrible. Right? I mean, they're not terrible. I would, temperature is like, if that makes sense, the Giants are. We're familiar with half. We've not run for a long time. Yeah, the Giants are not as terrible as some people thought, including myself coming into the season, but they're certainly not anywhere near a playoff caliber team. It just looks like a team that's going to sputter along to a, you know, six, five win season and that'll turn up the pressure on Brian Davele. It'll turn up the pressure on Joe Shane as you get there and you see how it looks like. I mean, they're not scoring, which is driving the fans crazy driving people inside the building crazy because the big thing after last year was to find a way to up the points and their averaging 15 points a game and just to kick five field goals on the Cowboys and they could tell you all they want that it's about red zone struggles. But when you're kicking a 50 yard field goal, you aren't exactly in the red zone. So Ryan, this is probably a tough question to answer, and I'm sure it's hard to quantify, but I got a buddy who's a Giants fan who texted me something along the lines of what you just said. And he's livid. He's furious and I can relate to this as a long time Washington fan. He's like, we're not terrible enough to be terrible so that no one can hide and everybody gets let go and they stop pretending Daniel Jones is the thing, but they're also not good enough to be good. They're in the worst possible place where everybody can excuse things away and and have things like you just said they go, that's red zone struggles and maybe convince ownership that they deserve more shots at this thing. I wonder, hey, how common is that sentiment and be your thoughts? Yeah, I think that's where they've been for five years, right? They've been picking six or 10th or fourth or 12th or they're in that no man's land where they can't break through and become a competitive team and they aren't picking number one or the year they had the number two pick they used to the unsafe one, Barclays. So who's no longer here, obviously. So no, I mean, they are coming no man's land. I mean, they obviously wanted to replace Daniel Jones's path all season preferably with Jaden Daniels or Drake May and they weren't able to trade up and get him and Malik neighbors looks phenomenal, but who's going to be throwing him the ball in the long term? It's not going to be Daniel Jones. So and this doesn't look like a quarterback deep draft. So they're going to have a big question at the most important position going into that season and that's not where anybody wants to be in the fourth year of a regime. You mentioned Malik neighbors. I just don't think a wide receiver can win the rookie of the year award over a good quarterback. We saw last year with Pooka Nakua breaking records and still losing out CJ Strauss who was amazing for a rookie, but just kind of pretty good statistically for a quarterback normally when Nakua had 100 catches and 1500 yards and still didn't win it. So neighbors might be the biggest threat to Daniels, but I can't see him beating Daniels out if Daniels plays at this level, but how about 10 for 127 against Washington 12 for 115 against the Cowboys. He had two touchdowns against the Browns, but he's been ridiculous. He's on pace for one catch shy of the NFL record right now. Yeah, something like over 200 targets too. He's in the concussion protocol right now, so we don't know if he'll be able to play on this Sunday. And that's really the only thing that's going to slow him down, honestly. It's a potential injury. He's tremendous in every regard, the separation, the leaping ability, his hands. I mean, every regard has been tremendous. And you're right. I don't know that a receiver can beat a quarterback if they both play well. I think in a year where all the quarterbacks were average, you're whatnot. It could happen. But I mean, what Jade and Daniel's doing is incredible. And I think it probably Brian Dable's best case to make ownership or the fans is like, hey, the whole world saw on hard knocks. I loved this guy. So like, let me find my next Jade and Daniel. Ryan, really appreciate the time, man. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Yeah, be good. That's Ryan Dunley. He covers the Giants for the New York Post. And that is how we blitz the East. If you're keeping score at home, the Cowboys guest told us he doesn't think Dallas is good. And the Eagles guest said, I don't think they're going to win the division. And I think Washington's going to just so just information. That's all that's happening. Those are the two teams that are supposed to be very, very good. All right. The phone lines have been hot. So we'll open them back up at 800 636 1067. People wanted to talk about the biggest story in town, Jade and Daniels. And the hype train here this week, the national media is all the way in on him and this offense. And they have just kind of decided that the commanders are a wagon and this is a juggernaut. This is what it's going to be after a couple of really, really impressive games and nine days of great football, basically. Are we reacting too much too soon? Are we getting overly excited or is this the correct amount of attention based on how they've been playing and what lies ahead? We're granting Danny on the fan. Hey NFL fans, you can start the season with a big return on FanDul. America's number one sports book. So when you get a hunch in the middle of the game, you can check out the latest stats, view live play by play, and so much more on the same page where you place your bets. You'll get started with $200 in bonus bets guaranteed when you place your first $5 bet. That's fandul.com/sportsfan. Never waste a hunch and make every moment more with FanDul, an official sports book partner of the NFL must be 21 plus and present in Colorado. First online real money weights are only $10 first deposit required. Bonus issued is now with drawable bonus bets that expire seven days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fandul.com, gambling problem, call 1-800-522-4700. We got a long way to go, but the odds, you know, Caleb was like plus 1.50 to win rookie of the year. This guy was like five to one. I mean, he's got a lot of momentum right now if he keeps this up. I mean, look at the division. Cowboys and chambals, bunch of injuries. Eagles look like trash. We know the Giants aren't going to win many games. Maybe you were right. Maybe this is a playoff team, not even a playoff team. I mean, could they win the division? Long way to go, but it's not crazy. Well, I absolutely right now we take Jaylen Daniels over any other quarterback in that division. And I know there are a lot of veteran quarterbacks that of Jaylen Hurts. Jaylen Daniels is the best quarterback in the NFC right now. Oh, I want to repeat again. Jayden Daniels is the best quarterback in the NFC right now. Co-sign. I think right now. I love it. I love it. People will say it as he's a rookie out of his passes. I mean, who's playing better than Jayden Daniels in the NFC right now? That's why I said it looks like the commanders have hit the jackpot at the quarterback draft. Feeling good. Looks like we got ourselves a quarterback in Washington, D.C. My question though is, is it a little bit much from the national media? You guys realize this is possibly not helpful to the cause, right? Is it too much too soon? 800-636-1067. Daniels has been great. The commander's offense has been electric. It has been an absolute juggernaut indefensible unit like as good as it gets. For what I'm going to say is two games. They've been awesome for two and a half games. They've been really, really good. Lot to like. I just think we all need to, the quote Aaron Rodgers, R-E-L-A-X. Just a little bit. I'm not asking you not to get excited in town. You absolutely should. In fact, I want the opposite of not getting excited. I want you to be really fired up. Go to the game. Watch the game. Throw the party with the buddies coming over to watch that you haven't had. Watch a game with you in a long, long time. I'm doing all those things in my real and my personal life. Got to kid the jurors. He's like, we're doing it. But the idea of where he ranks among quarterbacks, he's the guy I would start my franchise with. Only Patrick Mahomes and three guys ahead of him. You hear it, right? I mean, there is a who can say the thing, the most friendly Jaden Daniels thing, competition going on among all the NFL analysts right now, from the 10,000 foot viewer. They're not watching every single play. They just look at the box score and see it for in completions. And they didn't punt and they're going, oh my God. And that Monday night game is the best thing that could have happened too. Yeah, for sure. Because it was on national TV with the world watching us. So this is the opposite of what we're used to. So here's what I'm going to try to draw my dividing line. If you'd like to be excited, enjoy yourself. Have fun. I am. I'm excited. I'm having a great time. What I'm not going to do is make a declaration. And I think if I can try to translate for my pal, Gran Harrison, Paul, that's a whole other thing from King George, by the way. He's given away a tootsie pops in the King George parade. The distinction for me is excitement. Yes. Definitive declaration closing the book. No, well, that's obvious, right? I think I think that's all it is. Because what the what the analysts are doing is closing the book. He's the best in the NFC. He has he's played great to this point, settle down. But if you're a fan, you'd like to be excited. I got no issue with that. There's more to it than that. But yeah, that's definitely part of it. Like what's happening is we are running a marathon, let's say, and Jaden Daniels just got out of the blocks like Noah lost leading through a mile and a half. And he is really far out in front of everyone. And everyone's just like coming out to like hug him and gasper's autograph and stop him. And I'm like, let's let him keep running a little while longer. I don't think it's happening locally necessarily, but we are reacting to some extent to the national stuff. But there's just no benefit to me to throw the party yet is all I'm saying. Why? We can throw the party at the end of the season. By the way, it looks like we're going to need to. It looks like we should. It looks like we should start planning to go to party city to buy the hats and to buy the napkins and to buy the plates. And if you want to start pricing things out, if you're feeling pretty good, like I am about this kid right now and how he's played, he's blown me away. I get it. But that's different than Rich Eisen's wearing the hat and blowing the little thing that you have at the party that unravels, you know, and the confetti's coming down. It's just all fast. What do they call that thing at the party? You know, like the New Year's thing, it's super loud and extends and retracts. Love them. They're quiet though. I think the other part of it for me is maybe I'd feel differently if it was four straight games of this, then I would get it a little bit more. After week one, the commanders had been destroyed. Their offense didn't look good and Daniels just ran everywhere. It wasn't a bad performance, but the entire story in town was like, oh, this is not really what we signed up for. This is not what we want. It was his first game and it's irrelevant. But that was week one. Like, let's not rewrite history here. Week two, they got sacked five times. He had four sacks and one half of football was on his way to an eight sack game before they made some adjustments and he kicked butt in the second half. They couldn't involve their wide receivers again. It was just a screen fest. And then things changed in the second half, the Giants game, and they beat a bad New York team without a kicker. Again, not a problem. It wasn't upset, but we don't need to rewrite history. The Bengals game was the one of the most impressive performances I've ever seen a quarterback. Like legitimately full stop at any age, any level, any amount of experience. For a rookie, it was, I couldn't wrap my head around it. It was unconscionable. It was amazing. This past week was really good too. It wasn't on that level. It didn't need to be, but it was just casual and easy and making a bunch of easy throws look easier. And he made the great throw to McCaffrey. There are a few of those and scrambled when he showed up and he kept the ball in the pocket when he showed up and he did all the things correctly. It has been back-to-back banner games. It has been a quarter of a season where the numbers speak for themselves. I'm a numbers guy. We've never seen this, but a couple of times, Dak Prescott, I tweeted something today. Like, teams don't get off to these starts with rookie quarterbacks. Danny, by the way, is that funny, Danny. Twitter and Instagram, I'm at Grand H. Paulson. If Washington wins on Sunday against the Browns, they'll be the third team since 1950 to start four and one with a rookie quarterback. The 16 Cowboys with Dak and the 73 bills with a guy named Joe Ferguson. I remember Joe Ferguson, who used to hand the ball to OJ Simpson. Like, those are the two teams that have ever done this before. The numbers, we've gone through all the superlatives of highest completion percentage ever and no rookies done this or no quarterbacks done that. It's amazing. I'm not saying it isn't, but it was Monday into Sunday. That's what it was. That's all it took. And now we're just all sure? Everyone calmed down. There's no race. It's like what my dad used to say, "I had to do my homework after dinner, I remember." And as fast as I could, I would get through it. And I'd be like, "We checked my homework and I'm waiting for him." He's like, "Hang on, hang on, where are you going? You don't have nothing else to do." And I'm like, "I want to go upstairs and watch Jodie White." I want this to be over so bad, there's homework portion of the program. This doesn't need to be a race. Let's go to Steve in the Beltway on G&D. What's up, Steve? Hey, buddy. This is Mama Stu. This is not Steve. Oh, Mama. It says Stu, not Steve. That makes more sense now. I apologize. Do you want to just be Steve for the call or are you good? You could be Steve if you want. Mama Steve, or no? No. Mama Steve is better. No. How you doing, guys? Thank you for the call, man. What? No problem. One of the previous callers kind of hit it on the head, kind of stole my thunder. Like these national pundits, like they, you know, we, they'd have the likes of like, you can go back to like Rocklesburg in his second year. He was young. In my homes, his second year, he was young. You know, Herbert, you know, we've seen, they've seen these things come out of the gate and even with them, they jumped on the bandwagon early. So I'm not surprised by this. When I'm with you guys, like, I love this kid. I love what he's doing. So far, he's done some things that we have not seen from a rookie. And so there's room for optimism and hope, especially for our fan base fall, we have suffered over the last 25 years. But, you know, at the same time, like these guys, you know, they're looking for the next thing. They're always. So, you know, he is the perfect, you know, wagging to jump on at this point. That's actually a great point to do. Thank you for the call. They're looking for the next thing. That's such a good way to put it. But I remember this for CJ Stroud last year, because it hadn't happened yet. Because remember, they weren't getting off to gangbusters starts and they were playing fine. But like, it wasn't until we looked up after like six, seven, eight, nine games and went, Hey, have you noticed it Houston's way better than everybody thought? And this kid's legit in the truth. I mean, because it also, you don't have a hundred yard and a touchdown running game. He's got four rushing touchdowns. Like Washington's offense when they talk about it, it's Daniels. Yeah, because he's scrambling for, you know, 60 yards a game with four touchdowns. Like people cannot help themselves with like running quarterbacks. No, totally. And there is like a coolness, like the sex appeal to it. To me, it's the perfect storm. Okay. The ingredients that I was that I was saying, I always talk about like I'm always bringing this up. But the ingredients to me are pretty simple. Team that was terrible. That's now cool. One check mark, quarterback that has unbelievable highlights and runs around check. And then three, like your national television performance. And then thing number four is the new thing to be excited about. Like nobody's throwing a CJ Stroud party anymore. That's old news. That long time veteran, the second year he's made 17 starts or whatever. Last year, four games in CJ Stroud had thrown for 384, 280 and 306 in his games, two, three and four. Okay. He had six touchdowns and no picks at this point. He had only been sacked 11 times. It was eight yards per attempt. He was playing at an elite level four games in last year, monster numbers. I don't remember anything like this and whether it's right or not. And I think it's because he stands in the pocket and throws the football and he doesn't run all over the place. I think it's because they were two and two and people still do that. That's right. That's different than three and one where the squeaker over the giant. It is when you're a tourist on the national media scene that looks up and goes, I got a Monday night football highlight where he kicked ass and look at these numbers. I'm not saying it's right. I'm saying that's what happened. We finally got a guy in the cool kids club. And so his incompletions cooler than everybody else's. Now, I will say he done throwing in completions, which helps. Let's go and Lorton. Hey, Bill, what's up? Hey, Grant. Hey, funny down. How you doing? Good man. Yeah, I'm super excited about the commanders. Jay and Daniel's what Cliff King's birds doing and all that. But it's too much too fast, Grant. We're not even eight or nine games in the season. And Jay and hadn't seen a lot of defenses. We don't see the Ravens. We'll see sailors. But let's come to break for a minute. Okay, it's special what we're saying. It's hard not to get over our skis. And I understand that. But really, for me, it's less about the fan reaction. I don't think the fans that I honestly think the fans have been even more reasonable than I could have expected. I'm talking about more national media narratives and stuff. But I think Stu made a good point or mama Stu. I mama Stu. Thank you. Mama Stu made a good point. They're just they're looking for the next thing. Always there. They're selling you the next thing out the window of like, here's why you got to watch us because we've got the Jayden Daniels breakdown and they're on to the next. But I asked where was this for Stroud at this point? When he had had, I would say, maybe the Ravens game against an elite defense in week one wasn't that good. I'd have to look that because I started on to then it wasn't until weeks five or six. I remember I don't remember exactly the week, but it was like, Hey, wait a minute. Have we noticed that Houston's actually pretty good and he's good, but he was already awesome. Like they weren't winning. I don't find they were two and two. He he had not thrown a pick as a rookie quarterback, thrown 40 times a game and was one of the pat leading passers. I think he was leading the NFL and passing yards and and was at six to zero touchdowns to picks. And it was just kind of like, oh, and CJ Stroud's playing well. He was the number two overall pick also. 800 6361067, Grant and Danny on the fan. [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] Here's another way to put it. Welcome back, Grant and Danny. I've been workshopping this. I think we're just at a point in sports media and analysis in giving the take where we can't say Daniel's is doing an incredible job reading everything out. Daniel's is playing awesome ball. Daniel's is done this exceptionally without then like whatever the conclusion is like, I always say this with our show sometimes. Sometimes I do these prerequisites to a conversation or these qualifiers where I'm going just because I'm giving you these opinions on a player does not mean I don't like the player. Like if I watch a next game and a guy was over four with three strikeouts and he got picked off for space and he had a miscue in the field and I'm crushing him, you might hear that and go, oh, you don't think that guy's very good. No, I just am now analyzing his game or his week or his month. And I think we're at a point where, and I do this all the time too, we all do. I'm not suggesting I'm above this. None of us are. But we're just to hop from that to the next lily pad, which is this is what somebody is rather than saying we've seen a month of football. And by the way, about half of that is what we're all really, really excited about, about two games of football. So we just jump to the next thing. So if everyone was just keeping all the praise and saying how great he's been and going through all the superlatives and reading off all the stats, I don't think I'd have any issue. It's the, he's the best in the NFC where I hear that and I go, Oh my God, what is happening? Or I don't know if I would take CJ Shroud over him. What are you talking about? One of them might be better than the other in Daniels. The other is put him in Sharpie legit, a top seven or so quarterback in the NFL, moving forward period. I learned my lesson on this a long time ago, when Air Rogers was had dealt with some concussion stuff. If you recall, they now put that in the rearview mirror and it's turned into a pretty good career after this. But I remember at the height of Griffin, mania after the Minnesota game or some kind of thing, I don't remember, you know, whatever that whatever the moment was that was just incredible. Maybe it was after Thanksgiving when I was just riding a high, having eaten so many carbohydrates and stuffing and they beat the the hell out of the Cowboys. Would you trade Griffin, Farron Rogers? I said, no, seven Pro Bowls, three MVPs later. I think I probably would make that deal. But at the time, I was so caught up in that mania. I understand that pathology, but now I've got a little more experience. Now I've kind of learned. All I know right now is I'm having a blast. I'm going to continue to do that until the ride's over and then I'll get off and figure out where I'm going next to Disneyland. But at this moment, this is great. This is fun. I'm dreaming of what's possible again, but it's the it's the gavel slimming definitive's that I just kind of I'm kind of going, uh, it feels a little premature. It just makes me nervous. Isn't the right word. It's just like unnecessary. Am I making sense at all? Yeah. Kind of why it's it's annoying to me a little bit. I feel like I think it's the general 24 seven news cycle manifesting itself in this way. It is way more national than local too. I will say. Yeah, it's the it's the we have to have the definitive take. We have to have the we can't just go. He's having a great season. It's it has to be the greatest that has to be the better than everybody else's season. There's no more season that could possibly happen until the next one happens. And what's the flip side of that? Like he plays a disappointing game against the Browns. He gets sacked, fumbled, throws a pick. You know, they punt God forbid like four times they actually pawn or something. And now now what's the conversation? You just everyone changes their take like no, those two games were still remarkable. Let's go to Ryan and Clifton on the fan. Amen. Hey guys. So speaking of two baseball nerds, as you guys are, you know, you I think you'll appreciate the concept of regressing to the mean. Now we don't know what Jaden Daniels mean is yet, but is his is his trajectory going to carry forward where he's the most accurate passer in NFL history? Probably not, right? And so I think I agree with the other colors. Like let's let's slow it down. Let's calm down on the he's the greatest quarterback in the NFL now. And let's understand that he's going to have some games where he gets sacked four or five times. He's going to have a two or three pick game coming down the road. That doesn't change the fact that he's good and that he's better than what most people have expected so far. But, you know, we need to find out where the mean is for Jaden Daniels over time versus expecting that this trajectory is going to carry forward. So it's a really, really good we put that in some smart points. I'm going to use one of his points, though, to make two quick ones. He said, is he going to be the most accurate passer ever and lead the league and completion percentage this year? Probably not. And to that, I would say two things. One, maybe he does. Okay. But there's a lack of context to suggest that how they're operating their offense is to throw the ball at the line of scrimmage at a really, really high rate beyond what is normal. I don't dislike this for the record. Just acknowledging at a clip right now where 73% of his passes are expected to be complete out of his hands. 73%. There are guys in the league with an expected completion percentage that are like 55%. They're just making longer throws or different throws or more complex lower percentage chance throws, whatever. So if he does lead the league in completion percentage all time, which I don't know that he will, I guess my point is that needs to be contextualized in some sense. Also, if they're going to continue throwing around the line of scrimmage, does that catch up to them? Do teams start playing at the line of scrimmage? And is that one of the reasons why the offense slows down in three weeks? Like these are all things that should be a part of the conversation. Now completion percentage in general is just not as sad. I care that much about for this reason. I think it can be misleading. I care about CPOE, which he's second in the NFL in. Oh, by the way, he's 9% over the expected completion percentage out of his hand at 82%, which means he's been awesome. But that's a stat I care a lot more about because you can complete 100% of your passes next week with Kingsbury if they just throw a bunch of swing screens. Great and Danny here on the fan. Yeah, completion percentage matters to me that as long as the context you're talking about it. So in other words, if this isn't a good example, but bear with me, I'm just thinking of someone that has a huge air yards per attempt. If Anthony Richardson was completing 70% of his passes, I'd go, this is the greatest quarterback season we've ever seen because he's doing, he's risking the ball, throwing it down the field, completing every pass. He's not. Of course, his completion percentage is terrible, but he throws the ball further down the field than anybody else. Pat Mahomes has an intended air yards per pass attempt to 5.6, the fewest in football right now, tells you what they're doing and how they're doing it. Then you add in, you see what Daniels is doing and Mayfield and Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson. All these guys, the league at this point is throw it close to the line of scrimmage because defense are taking away deep shots more often than not. So completion percentage matters relative to whatever else is doing. There are more sevens in front of completion percentage numbers. And then again, it's only for four weeks, things localized that I can never remember. It used to be if you weren't a 60, you were a bum. Now it's if you're not at 70, what are you even doing? I saw a heat map yesterday from some analytics site where defensive players line up now versus over the years. And it's just like read for like heat, right? For like the number of bodies. And it's just so different. Now they're all further back where they used to be all at the line of scrimmage. So yeah, it's all part of it. But also like, I want to get back to the none of this really matters as long if they're moving the ball and scoring points and not punting, then none of this matters. I think we're operating on the premise that this is not going to sustain itself where they never punt and they score on every drive it. And then you start kind of picking more nits. Let's go to Joe and Ashburn on GND. What's up, Joe, gentlemen, how you doing today? Good. I'll tell you, I'm I'm so excited, but I'm also looking over my shoulder because the national media loves to build them up so they can tear them down later on. And I fear that's what they're going to try to do. We had this issue with Brad Johnson when the ownership brought in Jeff George and a locker room cancer and that destroyed that franchise guy. You had RG3 trying to run an offense that nobody knew how to run or at least the Redskins didn't at the time. And you had Alex Smith where we lost a couple offensive linemen, then we lost him, then we lost another quarterback and we lost another. So my question is do we have the depth in the offensive line so that we can absorb the injuries of the big guys because they're keeping him in the pocket with very little pressure and every single one of those receivers is also catching the ball. They're keeping it off the carpet. If it hits them in the hands, they're bringing it in and that we haven't seen there haven't been this this string of just drop balls. And of course, the running game is great. It is, but I want I want to give him the credit that he is the straw that stirs the drink. The running game is great mostly because of him and the line is better mostly because of him making them right with his feet. I'm not to say they're not playing well, they are. The receivers are really good and haven't dropped passes and been very efficient, but I think he's making their life easier. Occasionally they get wide open because he's moving around and extending. So yeah, he is a product of a really healthy good situation right now, but he's making all those guys a lot easier. You know, their lives are easier. Their jobs are easier because of what he provides. But I think it's a good phone call eight hundred six three six one oh six seven if you want to hop in. Do you feel like the national media heaping its praise listing Daniels now as one of the top quarterbacks already in the NFL is warranted and reasonable and and a non-issue or do you think it just seems aggressive and a little too quick after a couple of banner performances by this commander's offense and by Jaden Daniels. Also, I want to get you up to date on everything going on and play off baseball before we get out of here. It's been another epic day on the diamond. You're listening to Grant and Danny on the fan. 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