Grant and Danny
Football Friday At Atlas Brew Works, Can The Commanders Get To 4-1 vs CLE?
Hey, NFL fans, you can start the season with a big return on FanDul, America's number one sports book. So when you get a hunch in the middle of the game, you can check out the latest stats, view live play-by-play, and so much more on the same page where you place your bets. You'll get started with $200 in bonus bets guaranteed when you place your first $5 bet. That's fandul.com/sportsfan. Never waste a hunch and make every moment more with FanDul, an official sports book partner of the NFL. Must be 21 plus and present in Colorado. First online real money weights are only $10 first deposit required. Bonus issued is now a throwable bonus bets that expire seven days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fandul.com, gambling problem, call 1-800-522-4700. Yeah, Friday, what's up? Welcome in. It's October 4th, 2024, and you are listening live to 1067 the fan. The Grant and Danny Radio program. We are at the Atlas Brewery out and about in Alexandria. It is awesome here. We have eaten delicious pizza already. There are lots of TVs. No better place to spend a football Friday. We will be here all afternoon long. So come on by and say hello. They got three locations, my friend, Navy Yard, right? I visited the OG. They got a part of their memorial tell you about. Well, this new spot in Alexandria is gorgeous. You got picnic tables outside. Sorry about it. You got this beautiful facility inside. Sorry about it. They're making the pizza right in front of us. I've already had pizza. I'm going to have to pizza again. You can't just make pizza like that in front of me and then be like, okay, Pudgy, don't eat anymore. I'm going right back up there soon. I was a little stun to hear you say that you plan another trip to the pizza bar before we leave because I shouldn't be keeping track. It's not my job. You had three slices already. Yeah. So to say that you're back for more. Not like right now. Right. We'll be here all day. Yeah, like 215. We got time. It's spread out our eating. We got caps tickets for you. The home opener is coming up next Saturday night at Capital One Arena. Those are hot tickets, a hot commodity. We've got your tickets exclusively on G and D. You can get those tickets at four o'clock ahead of the Beltway Blitz right here on the fan. And in one hour coming up at three, Jeff Phelps, who does our job. He is on the radio, but he is in Cleveland in 92.3. Our sister station out there. He's going to stop by to give us the latest on the Browns. We will scout the opponent for Cleveland. They are getting ready for the commanders. Even though Miles Garrett didn't practice much this week, I think Miles Garrett is going to play. He did not practice last week. Then he played and then he had two sacks of gardener mint you. He's one of those dudes and I'm not that concerned. Well, I am concerned this week because he's playing us, but he's one of those guys that, oh, he didn't practice. He's still going to go out in wreck worlds. He's Unicron. He's really, really, really good. Pelter on the wall. That's a DPOY candidate. Every time he gets out of bed, commanders fans just walked in. I got one Redskins jersey. Number 28. Not a Darrow. Bring a super fan. And then I've got fresh off the shelf. Commanders. Yeah. Actual real life in the wild. Commanders. We've been talking about this. You see a little more of that out and about right now with everything going on with the good guys. It was a 0.0 statistical margin of error. Maybe one out of 100 you might see somebody or a confused sample. Now it's a non-zero number. You see it. You actually see the real updated actual live gear. Not like bootleg or makeshift. Not like taped over. They used to say one thing and now it says comms on it or something weird. The real stuff. I am now in the mode where I cannot get enough of commanders content. And I don't mean like the team name as much as this organization. All of the coverage is positive. All of the coverage makes you feel good. I got a text from a buddy today. I'm going to read it. This is the kind of text I'm sure you're getting. A lot of us are getting from people. How great is it having excitement back in the commanders? He then says in parentheses. I hate that being good is going to lead to the name being permanent. I haven't been this fired up in a long time. It's been so much fun listening to you guys consuming all of the media. It feels like a total twilight zone and not remotely real. He goes on to say more. Tell me that doesn't describe how you're feeling. This is just today, Danny. The Jaden Daniels to Terry McClure and touchdown pass to put the game on against the Bengals. The football he threw. The actual piece of pigskin. Okay. He threw the leather. The Hall of Fame now has it on display. Huh? The Hall of Fame just an hour ago posted that that ball is now on display because it was a historical performance in terms of completion percentage for a rookie in prime time. So they have that ball right now in Canton. That would happen today. CNN, not ESPN, not FSN. CNN, the news network, did a segment today in the 11 o'clock hour on the upstart Washington commanders and Jaden Daniels. The hottest team in the league right now. That was what the chiron said. Daniels has been named team captain for the first time. Sam caused me in a video the team put out of him miked up. I thought this was great. You can check my twitter at Greenwich Paulson. You want to see the actual video, but he's talking to Andrew Wiley on the bench. Daniels comes through, daps them all up like keep going, boys, keep going. Wiley looks over at Cosme with a big smile and Cosme goes, it's nice to have five meaning Jaden Daniels. Wiley goes, hell yeah. And then Cosme goes on to tell him how he's having fun for the first time. That was the miked up stuff that the team put out. How fun is this? So it's a combo of two things. One, I'm enjoying the ride and everybody should be. The second part is I feel and this is always so hard. I feel like the team and I'm not in the locker room. I'm not sampling or speaking to 10, 15, 20, 30, 50 players or anything like that. But it does feel to me from far away outside looking in like they're handling this the right way. In other words, what would always happen, I would always like it like they were good, but the rare times they would have a fleeting moment of success. Every season when they started three or something, right? Like, you know, they're two and L coming back from Denver. And here comes Ron Rivera Puffin at his chest. Here come players talking about this is what we knew we were capable of or this and that and like how good are we. There was that vibe as if, yeah, we've arrived. You idiots who don't, who don't trust us yet, who have been suffering for three plus decades under the yoke of this terrible owner who's a buffoon at best, a tyrant at worst, you guys don't get it. We're good, we're for real. We've arrived. And then that let down subsequently always felt worse. These guys, it seems like it sounds like understand. All you've done is put yourself in a nice position. There's so much work. We were talking about yesterday after the Beaudish interview. This week we've had on Monday, we had Luke McCaffrey, who was great. On Tuesday, we had Austin Echler, who's our weekly guest is always fantastic. And then on Thursday, yesterday, we had Tyler Beaudish, the starting center on. And all three of those interviews left you and I feeling the exact same way. What you were just referring to. But after, be honest, we were talking yesterday and I said, it doesn't feel like they're excited about their start. But I'm sure they are to be clear. But you would not know from any of these interviews that they are three and one and have the offense that everybody is talking about and have the quarterback that everyone's falling in love with. They're operating as if they haven't done anything yet. I think that's so important. I did too. And you know, part of that is, I kind of roll my eyes, not at you, but I roll my eyes a little bit where because everyone's enamored and happy with this coaching staff right now, and it should be, by the way, I'm not, it's not a complaint. But simply saying, oh, what an awesome decision, just to stay on the road. It's a business trip. Like I've heard gimmicky things like that before, you know, where Terry Rubisky had the had his guys wear fatigues on the plan and they lost by 50. You know, we've done some of these sorts of deals before with the hokey language and a slogan or be where your feet are or find my due north or arrive violently to the north, whatever the different things are. But there is something to be said for establishing that kind of culture that is, that does seem to be happening where, okay, that's great. You're three and one. That's it. That's awesome. The season has not ended. There's so much work to be done. Embrace that, acknowledge that. Happy three and one should be pleased with your performance. You should be pleased at what's happening. We should all be thrilled and excited. But the, the, I never, I don't want to say it better than this. But one of my complaints always with Chase Young, for example, was he would do something good. And it was a, I've arrived. It's, it's over. Like the debate is over. The jury's out, told you. And it's like, okay, thanks. But there's, there's a whole next layer to it. Where, where are you adding? What else are you doing? And it never really materialized that way. And I'm not trying to pick on the guy. I'm just simply saying that, that to me felt like it was the attitude that came from the organization as well. Where they would put one foot in front of the other and wait for their parade, wait for the congratulations. You know, remember how angry they were internally? That Scott McLuhan was getting a lot of credit for an eight, seven and one season. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, eh, nobody throwing a parade for that, dude. We don't need to re legislate staying out in Phoenix. But I do think it's a lot different than all the other things you just mentioned. It's not a slogan on a t-shirt. It's not one of these cutesy things. There was actual legitimate money spent. Oh, for sure. For sure. I didn't mean to knock. I was trying to offer an example. Sure. But I know it's important to say. To me that that's a big deal that ownership said. Yes. So we're going to cost ourselves a lot of money. But you think this gives us a better chance directly to win more football games? Sure. No problem. And I just think it's kind of common sense that they didn't come back here. They got more sleep. They were fresher. You know, the injured guys that had a chance to play that were banged up, played, and it worked out. So giving them their roses for that. But again, that was last week. We're on to the next and we're on to Cleveland. Danny, a real life chance at four and one through five games. This is going to be the dumbest thing I say all day. Oh, I like it. All right. This will be the if just if you take this quote, if Lou DiPietro who writes all the stories about our show on thefandc.com, Lou DiPietro, if he just makes this the headline and then the story is what I'm about to say, it'll be the dumbest story that anyone's ever written. I like this. There is a big difference between three and one and four and one. Let me write that down. Give me one second. Open up now. I don't want Lou to write that up there. I want to make sure I quote you right. There is a three and one happens, plenty. Big got around here. But for a lot of teams, three and one does happen. Four and one means you got to really screw some things up to not be in good shape. Four and one means at a 70 plus percent clip, you got a chance to go to the play offs. Four and one happened in 2008 under Jim Zorn. They were six and two and they missed out. Very, very different thing with a different coaching staff that wasn't as good in a different quarterback situation that wasn't as good. But that was the last time and the only time, by the way, in the 2000s. Four and one happened in 99. That's my favorite Redskins team ever. And four and one happened in 1996. Three times since I was about six years old, they have been three and one to start a four and one rather to start a football season. The difference between three and one and four and one is more than just the number. So I tweeted this out. I'm putting it out right now at Funny Danny. A really important quote just now from Grant Paulson that I think is really profound. He said and I quote, there is a big difference between three and one and four and one. I think that's the way to put it. That's pretty much what I said. That's the summary. That's the transcript. Yeah, I think that's stick aside, my friend. You're a hundred percent right because as you three and one is a nice start, four and one's a thing. I don't know why, but it is. Does that make sense? Bad teams don't get to four and one. Yeah. Okay, teams don't get to four and one. You know who goes four and one? Good teams. Now Seattle is a bad example because I think they're decent, but hang with me. Their first three games, they won them. They deserve credit for winning them. They played three mediocre to poor teams. They're three and oh, let's say they got their brains beat in by Detroit. They did it was a good game, but let's say they did. You go, okay, yeah, they're three and one, but with Washington, if they lose this Sunday against Cleveland, you can go, okay, they were three and one, but, right? You got to take that away now. Four and one team. I feel like I don't know why, but maybe there was some cemetery back in the day with 16 games and that being the quarter poll. Maybe there's something to that, but you get past kind of the intro. You get past the weirdness of how the offseason plays out. You get past the new sort of paradigm, but no one plays in the preseason and you now throw out a quarter of the sample that we have so far because the first week is so fluking weird. You get to four and one, it feels different. It feels like you've just gotten yourself clear of the nonsense. There's a lot of teams that are two and two. A lot of teams are one and three. Several teams are three and one, and now you're all of a sudden, you're clear of the trash. You're clear of that middle bucket that you've been in at best for 30 plus years. I buy that. If they get to four and one this weekend, in addition to the difference between the quality often of the team that's three and one and four and one that I was just kind of drawing, you've also got the fact that it will be a pretty obvious hurdle that anyone who's been around here understands. This is the letdown game. This is the regression that so often the team that you start to buy in on has where the bottom falls out a little bit. Everybody thinks that commanders are going to beat the Browns. Cleveland has as bad a money situation as in the NFL right now. They're spending the most cash this year. They are the oldest team this year, and by way of DVOA, they are the worst team in football right now at 32. May it's a terrible situation with a quarterback who is both unlikable, for the most part, and who has played badly, right? They're coming to your building. They can't move the ball. They can't score. They haven't gotten to 20 in a game. You're busy hanging 40 the last couple of weeks. This is a game Washington should win as evidenced by the fact that they're favored, as evidenced by the fact that some sport books this week, some sports books have the most leverage out against Washington. That is the most bet on team by the public. This screams letdown situation, coming back home in front of the home crowd. If they handle their business, go beat the Browns and get to four and one, and at that point you're two and oh at home, oh by the way, you're four and one through five. You are sitting pretty in a division that people as of next week will be predicting you to win. That's where we're at. Yeah, that's all in the line, and I will say this. You mentioned the home part of it, and this probably isn't fair. I'm going to say this right now. It's probably not fair, but what's happened so many times is whether it's say, hey, this is a big game at Nubsfield. This is a big game at the X, and it's gone poorly. And so the fan that's spent is harder on Skrilla, the opt in guy, not the tailgate that's the world. He's their rain or shine, you know, he's like the post office, right? The mailman, he's there no matter what. But for everyone else that goes, you know what? I'm going to buy in, I'm going to believe, and they get smacked in the face time after time after time after time. This is how you build something. Not necessarily. Obviously it's easy to say you want a bunch of games, people are happy, but you sell the individual ticket to the individual person, and they go to the game, have a nice time, see a W, beat a team that you should beat and have a blast doing it. You've now built some fans. You've now built some people whose buy-in was rewarded. That was the problem for so many years. The expectations were never met. The buy-in was rewarded with pain at best, inconvenience and and indignity. You don't do that to people enough times in a row. Now you got something. I've got the commanders handling their business. I think they are going to win. I don't really know where this is going yet, and I can't say that I feel like in the end they're going to be a playoff team that makes some run. I'm not there yet, but I was really confident that they'd go to Arizona and beat the Cardinals from Cincinnati. I'm now very confident that they beat the Browns, and maybe it's easy to get there when the last thing you saw going into the Arizona game was the clinic they put on against the Bengals, and the last thing I saw going into the Browns game now was the clinic that they put on against the Cardinals. I think they win. I think they're four-in-one, and I think next week I'm all the way bought in on this being not only the ascending program that it's been pretty clear it's been the last couple of weeks, but this is a real legitimate football team that people don't want to play. It's going to take another week of protecting the quarterback at a level that I didn't really see coming. It's going to take another week of Daniels protecting the football frankly. Him continuing to be a passer, wanting to be in the pocket more than run, which has certainly been the case the last couple of weeks, but I've come around on the fact that I think this team is actually pretty good, and I've been down on the Cowboys since the summer. I've been down on the Eagles since the summer. I just assume those teams would both be around 10 wins and wash them to be around eight. Not anymore. Not if you're four-in-one. If they beat the Browns next week, I'm going to be willing to start having a conversation about this being a division champion type team. Yeah, because it all puts it on the table. Again, we kind of went through the math, and when it comes to math and records, winning percentage and stuff, I was harking back to 2019. The point that you and I were making then was the season is not over at 19 and 31. They've not played well. They've been injured. They've dealt with some adversity, but you're backing yourself into a corner. You have to do X in order to be a playoff team. Well, then they did X. They did it. X meaning just the winning percentage of the rest of the way. You got to go whatever it was. 620 ball the rest of the way, and that's what 100 win team does, and then that's exactly what they did. What's side now is if you're four-in-one, you've got to go six and six. And you win 10 games 10 and seven. And if you're, you know, if that's 6.5 and 5.5, if that swings your way, just so happens to the field goal goes in or it doesn't recover the fumble, you don't. If you win seven more games, that's your first 11 win season in 30 plus years. Right. Just like that. By starting four-in-one, you now can have those conversations, and it's not ridiculous. And it's not just tricking the Kool-Aid April. I've been trying to slow myself down because it's basically, as I kept saying, it was six good days of football, and it was actually six great days of football. It's really been two impressive weeks. It's a four-week season, but the Bucks game wasn't, and the Giants' first half was bad and second half was good. So I kind of give them a C overall, but it's been two really good weeks. So I've tried to slow my role a little bit, but even when I remind myself that Kingsbury offense is always get off to a great start and then cool, like the Dolphins of the last couple of years with McDaniel, even when I remind myself that there's going to be times when Daniels isn't playing at this level because it's just natural for a young quarterback, that they're going to be behind the chains, that they're going to turn the ball over, that they're going to commit penalties in the first three quarters. You know, all these things that they have never done the last two weeks, I still come back to, I think this group has something cooking. You watch the miked up clip that they're putting out of different players and that the whole brotherhood shtick that they're talking about. It almost doesn't matter like how good it truly is if they believe it is, and you're starting to see that too. But let's open up the phones. MGM National Harbor listener lines next at 800-636-1067-800-636-1067. Do you think the commanders get to four-in-one, or do you think this is a letdown spot against the Browns back at home and they take a small step back? Grant and Danny with you on the fan. Hey NFL fans, you can start the season with a big return on FanDuel, 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 fanduel.com/sportsfan. Never waste a hunch and make every moment more with FanDuel, an official sports book partner of the NFL. Must be 21 plus and present in Colorado, first online real money weights are only $10 first deposit required. Bonus issued is now a thrallable bonus bet set expire seven days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com, gambling problem, call 1-800-522-4700. Grant and Danny out and about at the Atlas Brewery in Alexandria today. Come on by and say hello, we will be here for another four hours until 6.30 on a football Friday. The commanders are getting ready for the Browns. They are on the precipice of a four-in-one start for what would be just the fourth time since 1999. Pretty incredible. 2008, the Jim Zorn-led Washington Redskins got off to a four-in-one start. That '99 team was four-in-one and this year's commanders under Dan Quinn with Jaden Daniels at the controls can pull it off. Do you think they will? This has been the typical letdown spot over the years. Everybody is picking them. They are favored at home. They are the most bet on team this week by the betting public. Feels like maybe the carpets gonna get pulled out from under us, but maybe you see it a different way. Because it has nearly every time on these. The exceptions are ones that you all remember right now. Top of your head. 2012 against Dallas went in the finale to win the division, but I tell you how it feels to me. It feels like they are the better team. They're gonna win. Let's go to Carlos in Saverna Park to get started on Grant and Danny. What's your confidence going in to Sunday against Cleveland? Confidence level is we're ready for one and I'm just looking forward to the Baltimore game to be honest with you. I already got my ticket to the Baltimore game and if you don't have a ticket, you better buy one now because there are $200 for the nosebleeds. Listen, man. You said they're the oldest team that we're playing. They're the worst team right now in football. As long as you don't see DeShaun Watson from Christmas Pass of Houston, we're already 4-1. We're on the Baltimore. All I'm doing is all I'm worried about is are we gonna stop Derek Henry from rushing 200 yards and are we gonna stop the more Jackson from rushing 200 yards. So that's my confidence level, Grant, Danny. There we go. Let's be Baltimore. Appreciate you, dude. That call should scare a lot of people. I know. I just want to reiterate, I don't want to yuck anybody's yum. I don't want any rain on any parades. 11 days ago, they were one in one and they barely beaten the giants and they'd got blown out by the Bucks. And now my guy is saying no way Cleveland beats them. Bring on the rabies. Yeah, I'm on to the rabies. And again, it's such a hard balance, right? Because I found myself talking almost out of both sides of my mouth. I'm going, it's okay to be excited. It's okay to realize that this is actually meaningful. Starting three and one with Rex Grossman is not. This is this is Jayden Daniels for God's sakes. This is a GM. All the things that you would ever want. There's a difference between that and those other kind of fraudulent bits and nonsense. That said, I'm also going, let's all be patient. Let's all exercise and call. You don't have to be patient to just not say that an opponent can't beat you or that you're not looking at this game. You're looking at the next one. And I get that there was probably some schtick there, as he's saying, Washington's better than they are one in three. There is only one team that's 0 and four in the entire league, by the way. That's the Jacksonville Jaguars. I'm not telling you they're the worst team in the league. I will say statistically, as I pointed out last segment, if you look at the DVOA metric, which accounts for essentially evening out the playing field for commonality of opponent and stadium and all the metrics and just a really good catch all statistic for value, the Browns are dead last in the league. And the reason for that, that they're 32nd, is that their offense has just been so putrid. So that's what I like about the matchup is, where are the commanders susceptible? Defense. Where are the commanders going to have a problem? That underbelly you can cut open. Is Cleveland good enough to do it? They scored 17 on the Cowboys with a lot of garbage time. They scored 15 on the Giants and they scored 16 on the Raiders. Their only win was against 0 and 4 Jacksonville. And it was one of the uglier performances of the year by both teams. I think it was a 17, 13, 18, 13 win, something like that. So when you look at it that way, Danny, they're just not a very good opponent. The question is, can Washington play above the level of the competition? Can you take advantage of that, right? I mean, because it's obvious. I mean, the numbers speak for themselves. Cleveland's weakness is what? It's quarterback play and an offense in general that's been pretty inept. No, no nip-chah, that's now finally official. Although we probably knew that, but now it's official. But they, you know, their offensive line has been good in your in recent years. They could thump. They've got two pretty good receivers that you'd like to have and Judy and Maric Cooper. But it's quarterback play. That's been the issue. Is Washington defense, is their defense good enough to take advantage of a bad opponent? That is the essential question. Offensively, they certainly are. We know that when you play a bad defense, it looks like what they did against Cincinnati where you can't stop them. Can this group, for one week, they played great against Arizona, I thought pretty damn well. I'll take that performance side unseen the rest of the year. Can they do that to a bad Cleveland offense? If so, they'd be to my three scores. If that's the case, this is a nice test for that group specifically. The Browns design was defense, run the ball, make a couple plays with DeShawn Watson. They don't run it that well, and their defense has not played at the level they need it to. And Watson's been terrible. So at some point you go, "Well, what do we have to hang our hat on?" Essentially. But Jerome Ford has two runs he's ripped off of 36 against Jacksonville and 35 against the Raiders. If not for those two runs, he'd be averaging around 35 yards per game this season. There's a big drop off between Chubb, who's back at practice, and the guy that's actually toting the male for them, Ford who just hasn't been as good. Let's go to Sean and Fredericksburg on Grant and Danny live today from the Atlas Brewery in Alexandria. What's up? So that first call all literally gave me a pit my stomach. I'm rethinking going to the game. I was off the game. I just, you know, Grant, I'm the same age as you, and I've just seen this story so many times. And I think I had a PCSD. Like, I can't believe all the national hype. I can't believe what I'm watching. And Queens, Kingsbury just, you know, carving up defenses. I just can't believe it yet. And I don't know if I'm gonna go to the game. I might tell my tickets there. I'm terrified. You should definitely go to the game because you've been waiting too long. And thanks for the call. Thank you, buddy. You've just been waiting too long for these vibes. Just imagine the pregame tailgate, the parking lot, the excitement, the energy, the juice. It feels so different to be around fans at a time when everybody is hopeful and excited. And you just haven't had enough of those days. It's also going to be 73 degrees or whatever and beautiful on Sunday. So plan that tailgate, get out to the stadium and enjoy yourself. But I'm like him. I'm watching all the coverage, beaming and excited and not really fully understanding it. But I also know this is how it works. It's just never Washington's turn. But it takes two weeks basically of doing something and then Dan Orlovski and Swagoo want to tell you about it, right? I mean, that's basically what it is. If you're something for a couple of weeks, if you play a month of football and you're the hot noise, then all the networks are going to be talking about you. Now they'll beat you up next week. As soon as you lose to the Browns, they'll tear you down and they'll have a new team to talk about next week. You know, and then it'll be that Kirk Cousins threw for 500. Here come the Falcons or whatever. There's going to be another shoe dropping. But that's why I'm not buying into it. I'm just enjoying it. That's that's the distinction, right? It's buying or or 100% belief versus I just know that I'm having a great time. How many teams would you rather play this week than the Browns? I think that's a small list. How many teams in football would you say? I would trade a game against Cleveland Sunday to play that team. There are not many at this point. I mean, would you rather play the Jags or the Browns? I was going to say, even though Jacksonville has been terrible, they've been 98 for the last two years and you figure like there's a good performance somewhere coming for a team that hasn't won yet. Lawrence might have gotten off to the worst start at quarterback in the league. I still would take him over to Sean Watson. Yeah, it might it might look like, honestly, Miami, because they can't do anything with their current offense and scheme. New England might be New England. Might be Jacksonville. The Giants again, I could always play them. See, the Giants just beat the Browns. I know. I would I would much rather play Cleveland than New York again. New York almost beat me and my place. That's true. I was there. Yeah. So no, I wasn't there. Were you there? No, I would never go. Did we just find something out? No, he was at Northwest Stadium. Just me and I watched it from home. I don't ever go to that stadium ever. But yeah, like, I don't know that I'd rather play Carolina right now with with the Red Rifle. Slinging it, you know, so it's a small list. I think that's another good way to look at it. I think the only team I'd rather play this week than the Browns is probably the Patriots. I wouldn't even put the Dolphins on that list because Tyree kill and Jalen Wattle are healthy and still exists. Let's go to Manoj in Brooklyn on Grant and Danny. How are you Manoj? Hey, guys. What's up in the new year? Sure. You as well. The game going to the game this weekend. I already bet the skins already bet the over. But I have a bad feeling about this, mostly because every game I go to, they pretty much lose. But also the injuries to B. Rob and Noah Brown, I think are bigger than like, yes, this offense has been sick and James Austin. But I think those those matter, especially the receiver one, also actually the running back one too. And then this this is like the same thing. You know, we played the Browns two years ago late in the season and it was a get right game for Deshawn and he's never lost to us before. And it just feels like the Browns are a team that can get rolling on offense versus us. And then their defense will just come hunting for Jayden and we're going to be a tough spot. It's a good phone call and I like everything you said, except I just don't know that that game's relevant at all. Carson wench through three picks. By the way, I think that was that you can be eliminated game. Wasn't it? I believe it was that we can be eliminated. Was that Bron Rivera post game you could be eliminated? That was the Browns game, I think. And then that night they got eliminated, I'm almost positive. But having said that doesn't matter matters a little. Kind of does. I think it always matters. Well, it can be eliminated. Yep. And you should be too. Noah Brown, that's an out won't help. That goes without saying. I don't think it's a deal breaker. He's caught three balls a week. They've been pretty big catches and he can do something seemingly that other guys can't do with his size. But they've gotten a lot out of Luke McCaffery. His role is going to grow. They've gotten plenty out of Alamides Aquias, at least in terms of this past week. He was their leading receiver. And Deami Brown's going to have to step up. Maybe it's a Terry McClurengame. Maybe it means in terms of size in the middle of the field instead of Noah Brown, Zach Earths instead of having three or four catches has seven or eight. But if Brown had had like a six catch 90 yard game last week, a couple of 100 yard games, I'd feel like that's more damaging. The key one to watch is Brian Robinson. And he's posted on social media thumbs up emojis. I'm assuming he's going to play. I'm hopeful of that. And that's what it's trending towards certainly. We'll find out a little bit more today with that Friday practice, usually one of the telltale ones. But your report about Brown, I think, is really good. And and here's why what they've shown each week is there's going to be a different person. We know thinking about from Kingsbury and this offense's perspective. We know there's going to be a time, a place, a person that you have an accounted for or you're not looking for or you haven't thought that we're going to utilize that we will. Last week was the was the Zacchaeus game. I would bet it's not too straight Zacchaeus games. I bet you someone else has the week. As you mentioned, could be arts, could be McCaffery, maybe running some more of those, you know, Noah Brown looks. This could be the week Ben Sinid has his three or four catches. I don't think he has one this year. This could also be, you know, any of them, million things. They could run two running backs at the same time. We'd make the equals the next week could be his calf free season. Yeah, Luke season. Why not? Let's go five for 70 with the kid. Feel good about it? Five for 70. Five for 70. Let's do this. Is he catches a touchdown? Okay, or he or he catches five passes. Or he goes for 50 plus yards. On Monday, we all get together after the show and go eat Chili's chocolate lava cakes with vanilla ice cream in honor of Luke McCaffery. Okay. Okay. Now you would have to hang out with us after the show. Yes, that's where it gets tough. Like the show would end. So it's over? Yes, the show ends. And rather than running out the door and pretending to have an event that you don't have, you will have to then hang out with Ryan and me and Daris for like another, probably like an hour and 20 minutes. Oh, if you count commute, that's not even including the commute. No, if you count commute, you don't have to be at Chili's long enough to order and eat your chocolate lava cake. Can I get it to go? No, you have to eat it with us. That's the whole point. But if I got it to go to container, I can eat it faster. He's Danny. I'm Grant. You're listening to the fan. October is the best month for sports. I swear it. Last night is a good evidence as to why you're listening to the fan. Grant and Danny on the fan on a football Friday. We got caps tickets to the home opener a week from tomorrow on the 12th. The capitals will be taken on the devil's to get a brand new exciting season of hockey started. We got your tickets right at four o'clock on the fan. We are live today out and about at the Atlas Brew Works. We are in Alexandria at Atlas Brew Works. This place is awesome. We've had delicious Andy's pizza. We've been enjoying ourselves for the last hour and a half or so. We will be here until six 30. The vibes are strong and there is plenty of burgundy and gold making its way through the door. That is neat, man. It's the kind of thing that, you know, as a fan, you start to languish and get frustrated and ticked off for years and those. Why do I do this type of questions? You know, like you're you're you're you're wandering up through and waiting in this long line. You get punched in the nose. Well, that was terrible. I'm not going to do that again. And then you find yourself back in line. You do it over and over and over and over again. It's fun just to have fun again. I know that sounds trite and silly and stupid, but that's what's happening. It's it is okay to opt into this recreational activity, this this voluntary interest that we all sign up for and have and get some reward out of it. The October vibes kicked off in strong fashion last night. I've long said this is the best best month of sports. We talked yesterday on the show about the fact that it was the first of 55 straight days with a football game either by way of college or pro football, which I mean that's hard to top just in and of itself. But obviously you've got the Major League Baseball postseason, which is underway. You've got the NBA and the NHL both kicking off this month. We just told you we're giving away the caps home opener tickets in about an hour and 10 minutes. Everything's going. It's just that time of year where all the sports are on, the weather is turning, the wife and I were looking at weekend dates to see when we want to get the kids out to some pumpkin patches. Like I love the fall. I love October and last night is the proof. That's all you need. That is the proof to me sitting on my couch, two TVs going. I got Thursday night football on one and a wild card playoff game on another. So the two big moments in sports last night that happened about 20 minutes apart. It felt like the Falcons in overtime walking off the bucks and Peter Lonzo of the Mets hitting an incredible three run home run to win a game. Do you realize the Peter Lonzo home run in the ninth down two to nothing to win three to two for the Mets was the first ever lead taking home run in the ninth inning of a winner take all playoff game ever that had never happened before. The drama was insane. This was the ball on Mets radio vibes of the 2019 nationals. William says here's the pitch. Twinging a fly ball to right field pretty well hit. Freeling back at the wall. He jumps. It's gone. He did it. He did it. Peter Lonzo with the most memorable home run of his career. Pumps his fist as he rounds second. It's a three run homer. He's given the Mets a three to two lead. They all pour out of the dugout. Alonzo on his way to home plate. They're waiting for him. He hits the plate. His first congratulated by Nemo. Hooked by Lindor. There are a dozen Mets waiting for him outside the dugout. Peter Lonzo keeps this fairy tale season going with the fairy tale swing of his career. Three to two New York. First of all take a bow how he rose. What a call that was absolutely unbelievable. Now I know we hate the Mets and I know Pete Alonzo himself can kick all the rocks. Danny that was a moment last night. Yeah. I mean that was so cool. And it well yeah it was amazing. It caused something that makes me happy. But that wasn't that was incredible. I mean what a remarkable thing. I mean there are I hate saying this. You and I have been talking about this both on and off air. This has that 2019 that's five to it. And I wanted to stop. I have had enough. Enough of this Mets thing. Who will you root for and don't do the cop out? Who will you root for? Someone's got to win the series. Phillies are Mets to get to the LCS. I guess the Mets. Really? Over the Phillies? Yeah. Oh I'm all in on the Phillies. Well of course sure. I mean you love them and you've rooted for them your whole life. You express joy. You're like I just love seeing former Nat's thrive in Philadelphia. That's not a tattoo right there on your lower back. I'm sure that's your that's your granddad. Phillies P. Yeah. Yo I love seeing I'm a fanatic and then there's all there's a arrow. My kids do love Philly fanatic. Of course they do. I'm not going to lie about that. Like you love mascots and like you think Bryce was like smart and good to do what he did. I think Mets fans are more insufferable than Phillies fans. Mmm. That's hard. What smells worse? You know what I mean? Like the rotten egg or the skunk or both. They can all go to hell. But it's yeah it's um that's a hard choice honestly. To me it's to me Philly fans are worse. Mets fans are certainly irritating. I went to school with a bunch of them. That was their howie Kendrick grand slam against the Dodgers moment basically. Yeah. It was just breathtaking to watch. Again that had never happened before. To be down in the ninth inning to hit a home run to take the lead in a winner take all game and playoff baseball. We've never seen it. And by the way they were killing Alonso in New York killing him. He'd had a terrible game 163 double header game 161 162 whatever the hell that was and then a terrible start to this series and a rough finish to the season and a down year. They were running him out of town as a pending free agent. And now they're all singing his praise. I always loved the guys. Look my favorite man ever. They got to be signed. No matter what the cost is. The other game I was watching last night was the Falcons and the Bucks went to overtime. That was just amazing. Kirk cousins in prime time five hundred and nine yards and four touchdowns a walk off winner. Mooney moving. That's fired. That's caught and that is charged. That hard is going to take it to the end zone. The most improbable win for the Atlanta Falcons. Now thanks to Al Michaels for waking up. I was going to say Al Michaels little juice. Huh? Huh? No. Yeah. That was terrible. No. Didn't quite meet the moment for me but we won't critique the call anymore than we need to. How about that game? The Falcons with 12 seconds left got a completion on a slant that supposedly was a call they changed in the huddle. Like Zack Robinson sends in. We got to go to the sideline. Actually you know what Kirk let's bang the slant. Let's see if we can spike it. If we can't we lose anyway who cares and so they do that and with one second left they get a spike then there's a delay of games so a 48 yard field goal becomes a 53 yard field goal. Youngweight who knocks it through they go to overtime they get the coin toss and they go win. Cousins the first quarterback in the league's history to throw for 500 yards in a game where his team never had to lead on one pass attempt. They were chasing the game never by more than a field goal or a touchdown but it was always one possession but they couldn't get any stops so they were always behind by like three points. First quarterback NFL history to throw for 500 plus yards and lead his team to a win without throwing a single pass with his team in the league. So I can't explain how we got there. I mean that was remarkable and not taking anything away from Cousins and the Falcons but when you on fourth and 15 with a buck 52 left throw an interception and the other team clearly has the ball because then interception. They do. I'm going you can't lose that game right. Like at that point can't isn't it like so they went for the fourth and 15 which I would not have done. I would have punted they had three time outs you could have gotten them to run it three times and burn three time outs. They decided the analytics said go for it and the reason is if you get it you still have the ball. You have more time but if you don't then they're already basically in field goal range so you let them run three plays call your time outs if you want then they kick and it's still a one possession game because you were down three now you're down six and you need to go get a touchdown. So basically it was just like well at least they're not going to drive the length of the field against my defense and spark by Atlanta. I mean again I've taken it away from. I just if I'm Tampa I'm going oh they I had the ball yes with the lead with a buck 44 left and I lost that game. That would be that would be hard to stomach tough that would be real tough to swallow on drive by the way. So they had the ball. There's a holding penalty that knocks them out of field goal range on the play with what was a very obvious hold. The Falcons got away with a face mask on the tackle should have probably been offsetting penalties redo the play if you redo the play rather than the penalty they probably can still kick a long field goal if they make it. It's a six point game and they still win regardless they don't they punt the Falcons for the third time in five weeks go down the field to win a football game. If the Falcons are involved it's going to be a one score game. I'll tell you that right now. You can take that to the bank and also speaking of Tampa Bay I can't get over this kind of stuff. These are the kind of things that just would drive me crazy as a fan. They have the ball with three minutes left and they're driving. Then they fumble that one and you go okay Atlanta is going to go down and score and then they held whatever just a remarkable bit of time. I don't know where this is all headed with cousins in Atlanta because they drafted Michael Pennix. Presumably to play next year. Certainly the besties look this year. I mean cousins will probably be traded at the end of the year but he's got three game winning drives in five weeks for them. He's got 15 now since 2017 which is four more than any other quarterback. I'm going to be fascinating to see if they can continue to play well what happens there based on the draft that they just had but an amazing night both for playoff baseball and for the NFL's fifth week kicking off. Speaking of week five the commanders in the Browns on Sunday Jeff Phelps 92 3 the fan in Cleveland joins us to scout the Browns next. Hey NFL fans you can start the season with a big return on Fandal America's number one sports book. So when you get a hunch in the middle of the game you can check out the latest stats view live play-by-play and so much more on the same page where you place your bets. 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