Grant and Danny
Best of the Commanders: Week 5 vs. Cleveland
"Touchdown, touchdown Washington! What a play call!" You're listening to the best of the commanders. "It is good! Washington wins!" A weekly mix of 106.7, the fan, and 9A the team's best NFL talk to get you ready for game day. We have a very simple question for the listeners. "Are we too high on the Washington commanders heading into their game against the Cleveland Browns?" "They're 3-in-1, they're atop the NFC East, they're the second highest scoring team in the NFC, just behind the New Orleans Saints." "Maybe a little bit fraudulent, they're a little front loaded with their points, and they face the Chiefs Monday night." "Are we too high on the commands?" "But remember how you were talking about them after the first two weeks?" "I'm well aware." "Now this is more recent with Washington after the last two weeks, but if you flip-flopped it, how would you be talking about New Orleans now after the last two weeks?" "But they were averaging 40 a game." "Cakes your answers, it's highly possible. What is the combined record of the teams that they have beaten?" "It's 3-in-9." "Now Cincinnati, I believe, is not as bad as their record. They're 1-in-3." "Well, their run defense is bad." "But, they're going to get a healthy dose of Derek Henry." "The only team they faced with the winning record is Tampa, and Tampa beat them pretty handily." "And the defense has an improved," it did improve in Arizona game in terms of the yardage, but not against the run. "Right." "And so, this game is going to speak volumes, I think." "It's going to be a big test." "And the Raven game will speak volume, but I think it is entirely possible that it's not just us." "Everybody has gotten carried away with the Jaden mania number one selling jersey on fanatics." "He's got slimed because he was Nickelodeon's MVP of the week." "Okay, did you see that but good for him?" "Here's the test. The Browns are coming into Northwest Stadium, and they suck on offense." "They've yet to have a 300-yard game on offense through four weeks." "If they come in here and somehow put up like 350-375 total yards, when they haven't been able to do that all season long." "It's a big issue." "Then you're just going to be like, "Okay, the defense still a fraud even though they held Arizona to 14 points last week." "Like it's still an Achilles heel for them that's going to haunt them throughout the season." "We just had Baldinger on." "And Baldinger lauded the Cleveland Browns defense, so it will be a test for this offense." "I don't know that the defense can really get that much better because they just don't have the personnel." "I think it kind of depends on the opponent. You know what I mean? The opponent has a really bad offensive line that can maybe take advantage of it." "But if they've got a legit quarterback and a good offensive line?" "Yeah." "You can also argue that-" "They'll be able to move the ball on this team." "That the Browns, they've faced some pretty inferior competition as well." "Yeah, sure." "I mean, they've dropped games to the Giants and the Raiders, and their only win is a squeaker over the Jags." "So maybe they just haven't seen an offense like they're about to see this week." "How would you answer your own question, Cakes?" "Are we too high on them?" "I'd say maybe slightly." "I don't think we're way too high on them, maybe a little too high." "Here's how we'll know." "Because the defense still scares me." "The defense is very mediocre." "It's actually kind of terrifying." "Yeah." "So it's impossible. I can't buy them as a postseason threat of any real note." "No, unless they win their next two." "I expect them to beat the Browns." "By the way, that'll also set us back." "I don't expect them." "If they lose to the Browns..." "I don't expect them to beat the Ravens." "I don't either." "In Baltimore?" "I don't either. I think it's a one in twenty shot." "But if they beat the Ravens, then all bets are off." "Then they actually got something." "Oh, yeah." "If they actually have something." "Because it makes no sense on paper." "Cannery will have two hundred and fifty yards against them." "Lamar will have a hundred and fifty." "They're gonna give up four hundred rushing yards." "True, but let's just say they do." "They have it in them." "Let's just say they do." "Because I expect Henry and Lamar to run all over them." "And I'd expect them to lose that game." "Yeah." "But if they win Sunday and they're four and one..." "The Ravens game's kind of gravy." "Because then you get the Panthers bears." "Oh, I know." "I think they have a realistic shot." "I said to get to seven and two." "I know you do." "But I'm just saying." "Even then, it would just be like, you know what, good fortune, good schedule." "You know what I mean?" "Still, you can't get too crazy." "No, I don't think so." "If they beat the Ravens, I'll actually say they're legit contenders." "If they're five and one, they beat Ravens." "If they beat the Ravens in their house, then your expectations get rationed." "What if they lose to the Browns but beat the Ravens?" "I mean, it'd be flooky, but I would still say they're probably content." "If you beat the Ravens, you're just legit." "With their record." "Yeah." "Yeah." "What would that be?" "If I guess we'll be five." "Four and two if they lose to that." "If they lose one of the next two, four and two." "Yeah." "I don't see a scenario where we lose to the Browns and then beat the Ravens." "I mean, that would just be the craziest thing." "All right, we're taking your calls at 800-636-106-7. Are we officially too high on the Washington commanders at this point?" "Are there two offensive explosions? Are they flukes?" "What are the percentages of making a playoff at four and one?" "It's got to be really freaking high." "Well, I think at three and one, we said it was like 64% or something." "Well, to win the division at three and one..." "If you're atop the division after week four, it was right around 68% to make the playoffs." "It's a solid sweat, eBay." "And then just to make the playoffs is 77%." "So you're likely to win the division and you're likely to make the playoffs." "Gotcha." "I mean, think about it. I think the playoffs in the first year after regutting the entire roster." "Right." "And rookie quarterback, whole new staff. I mean, that's..." "A head of schedule." "Look, way ahead." "We're probably jumping a gun because they played four out of seventeen." "Right." "But man, that would be unbelievable." "It'd be great." "And if you beat the Browns and you're four and one, you got basically 80% chance of doing it." "All right, let's advance of these calls. If you want to chime in, are we getting ahead of our..." "Are we too high? Are we too high on our skis?" "Might be. Might be a little bit." "Well, if they continue and just drum the Browns, that's another one where I'm going to have to say..." "We might be really on to something." "And I do expect to beat them." "I mean, if they beat the Browns 31-17..." "Yes." "You're getting into juggernaut." "Well, if they do that, then someone's not happy." "Oh man, if it's 30... yeah, drabs praying for 28 to like 13 minutes." "Is that stressing you out at all? You're just not even thinking about it." "I'd forgotten about it until just now." "Sorry about that." "All right." "It's just thinking about the score." "He wants drabs needs to be like 10-3 commanders at the half." "I don't think they're going to get to 31 points or 31 points." "All right, let's go to Steve in DC. Steve, what's up?" "Hey guys, how are you doing today?" "What's up Steve?" "Right." "Just two things. First thing is, I don't think we're going too high on the commanders." "Okay. Second thing is, I know you guys were talking about this yesterday." "But I think that the Devontae Adams thing will be a suggestion for the simple fact." "When we start getting later on into these late season, and we start playing like we're heading towards the playoffs." "So when we start getting towards the playoffs, we start seeing these later teams that want to start playing as press." "I think we're going to have to, you know, in these corner back start playing these playoff caliber, you know, shut down corners." "We're going to need a Devontae Adams to kind of break free." "Because I know a brown, but I think he's third at best as a receiver." "And also this, I just also heard that Devontae started following Jaden Daniels as of yesterday." "So you might want to look into that." "Interesting." "Because I mean, when we start getting to the playoffs, we're going to need somebody to kind of break free." "Especially if they're double team and Terry." "So we're going to need another outside receiver to put that pressure off of him." "Especially of which, projected to go to the playoffs, we're going to need that extra match." "I think we could play a push for the playoffs." "But I think he takes us over that hump once we get further and later into the season where we need that extra man." "So why not go grab him and take him away from other playoff contenders that might need the receiver like him?" "It just doesn't smell like an Adam Peters type of move to me." "To go get an aging receiver." "I would bet against it if I had to place a bet on Devontae going somewhere, it would be like the Jets or the Chiefs, maybe the Saints." "I don't know. You're right, it doesn't seem like a Washington move." "Somebody told me this, I'm just kidding." "I think he would, he would certainly help." "Pure rumor and a birdie whispered in your ears." "Pure rumor, okay." "Pure rumor." "Yes." "But they said that they know Tyree kills, Tyree kills mother." "Okay." "And that there's some interest in going after him." "And this is via Tyree kills mom." "Mom talking to a friend." "Mom talking to a friend that Tyree kill wants to leave Miami." "I don't know." "Potentially." "Maybe he's not happy, I mean, it's kind of a poop show there, right?" "I mean until two it comes back." "So he'll be back in, I don't know, three weeks." "And he's a lot cheaper. I think his contract situation is a lot cheaper than he's going to want it." "He's going to want the big money." "Yeah, he's going to want an extension." "Bill Barnwell from ESPN commented, "Trading for Devonti Adams would be a statement of intent. Assign this franchise will strike when the iron is hot and do what it takes to build a real winner. Adams to the commanders would be the best fit for all parties." "It's opinion." "Ebe the more I look at this matchup, the more I think that the commanders absolutely just can't lose to the Browns." "Well, they certainly are capable." "They're the second worst in the league, 246 yards of offense per game. They average 16.5 points per game. Oh, and here's a bonus. Their offensive line has allowed the most sacks so far through four games." "The offensive line is bad because of the injury." "Those are two things though that we don't do that. Great. We're not great at pressure." "I know they're not pressureing the quarterback, but they pressure Kyle in the last week." "You have to say, last week, they took advantage of a bad offensive line." "Well, what did Baldi just say about the Browns?" "He said that Deshawn had a long touchdown pass, which was called back because of a shaky holding call and other people said that it was Deshawn's best game and he said the defense is legit." "Okay, Deshawn's best game against a bunch of stinkers. Who cares? I'm officially not worried about Deshawn Watson. Chalk me up is officially not worried about him." "Alright, but worried about the defense. Worry about their ends." "Worry about the defense a little bit. Not worried about the Shawn Watson." "I'm not worried about the Shawn, but I am worried about their offense." "Whatever random running back and gouges us up the middle." "Yeah. You're pretty good receivers. I think you're sleeping on this Cleveland game a little bit." "I'll be humiliated if we lose that." "It dovetails on being too high on the commanders and snoozing on the just woefully inefficient unoffense Cleveland Browns." "They should win because I think they'll be able to run all over them and Jayden's been playing great and I think their rush defense has been terrible." "Eckler may be back too, but I think their defense is going to be a little bit of a test." "Yeah, I would agree." "Alright, let's go. Let me see here. There are some at the same way." "But it's there is a player who can kind of bounce and get away from those ends and get out. It's JD." "Alright, a bunch of people want to chime on in this. Some people say we are too high on them. Let's go to Derek in Culpepper. Derek, what's up?" "Derek, are you there? Valdez, is he punched up?" "Okay, let me put him on hold. Let's try Ron. Poolsville. Ron, what's up?" "I think you're just a little bit too high because they haven't played here the Dow of Cowboys or Philadelphia Eagles. I mean, if they get split, the real marker for me that they've arrived would be beating them away. Either one of those teams. I don't know what this guy was like right now." "You don't think the bank will win on the Monday night football? That was an impressive win?" "It was. It was because it was an away game against talent that we know is rare. But you got to be guys in your division." "Hey, they've only had one opportunity to do that and they did it." "It wasn't impressive when E.B. but it brings up the larger point on the defensive side. They didn't force a punt in that game." "I know. Believe me." "We'll continue to take your calls next on the MGM National Harbor. Listen to lines 800-6-3-6-1-0-6-7. Are we too high on the commanders? Are you too high on the commanders heading in to their match up against the Browns this weekend? We'll be right back." "We are very excited now to get B-Rob, Brian Robinson, commanders running back on the line. B-Rob, what up man? Thank you for making time for us." "We're doing well, man. You know, I've been covering you since your rookie year. You've had some ups and downs. The team has had some ups and downs. How much are you enjoying yourself these first four games?" "I was really kind of having a lot of fun. You know, always fun to win, you know, especially, you know, after overcoming a lot of adversity, you know, it was great to finally get the end of the tunnel." "Maybe if you look at your room, your room is super talented yourself. Austin, McNichols came in last week in this unbelievable thing. Is it like a friendly competition that you all have going on in there? Well, you know, yeah, but we want to do our best, but we're poor for each other." "Of course, you know, you always want to maybe have those great relationships with the guys. You got to, you know, work with them training with, you want to push those guys, you expect them guys to push you, push you as well, you know, and it's just part of the competition. So, you know, we never will shy away from that, you know, anything. We just, you know, find ways to, you know, just help each other, you know, get better at, you know, whatever we need to personally, and, um, it shows on game day." So, dude, one thing that's kind of crazy for you, you're in your third offense in the NFL, um, in your three years in the NFL. What do you, what do you like of Cliff's offense? "Uh, I just like how creative he is, you know, he, uh, he doesn't have a simple mind at all, you know, he's very creative. He wants to find ways, you know, any way possible, you know, to get his, you know, his playmakers involved and, you know, get, get the ball in the guard's hands that, you know, don't want to, you know, give us the best chances to win. And he do, he does what a lot of creativity. So, uh, he's very exciting. You know, Cliff has a very exciting, my, for sure. Uh, the commanders are come on, riding a three game win streak. Been on the road, the last two games, um, been out west over a week. The, the, the commanders fans out in Arizona were everywhere. Um, if you want to go, I think they still have some tickets available for Sunday's game against the Browns, commanders.com. Uh, be rough. How excited are you just to get back home, just sleep in your own bed and then play a home game this weekend? "Uh, good, man. Just getting back to the routine, you know, after being on the road, you know, it's just having to go through those circumstances. That's still, you know, being able to be a, you know, true pro about all that business and having to handle the business that needs to be. But, you know, being back home and back on regular programming and scheduling, you know, um, if you were good, you know, just keep this thing for, you know, and just to be back on regular programming." How much, how much did it pull you all together as a team being on the road for that amount of time? You go up to Cincinnati, have a great win, and then you're out in Arizona that whole time and you get a spectacular win there, but you gotta depend on each other when you're on the road. "Yeah, I feel like, um, for the most part, we, uh, we handled that, you know, handled that whole week, you know, with a lot of maturity, you know, as a team, guys, you know, just, you know, being professional about, you know, just preparing, you know, during the week, you know, they're completely different, you know, guys, just make sure we stand on the same page, and preparing, you know, correctly, and, you know, just doing all the small little things, as far as these fields, just make sure that, you know, we were, you know, you know, coming right off of the Cincinnati game and transitioning right into the Arizona game, you know, while on the road, but also, you know, make sure that we was ready to go on Sunday." "Did that, George, did the Alabama game, uh, prior to that, motivate you a little bit for your game the next day?" "That's a, uh, that's a, that's a funny question, workers, like, you know, I always, you know, take a look at the Alabama games, you know, kind of get my, my own mind right before my games, because now I just think about, like, you know, all the times and the moments where I was on that field, just preparing myself for, you know, these moments that I have now, so it's just, you know, it is no good for the months to just see my, you know, see my team, you know, my alma mater go out there and, you know, do it, do it, they'll play at the highest level, like, like how I expect them to just remind me of where I can from and know what I'm used to doing." "Dude, Bearop, what's it like growing up in Tuscaloosa and then playing at Bama? I mean, that's gotta be the whole town revolves around the football games." "It's, um, it's very hard to do, you know, just being a local kid, you know, you know, a lot of local kids get looked over, you know, instantly because, you know, it's so much talent elsewhere, you know, they can go find us work, but just being able to be literally right there at home, you know, my whole entire life and to be able to get recruited and, you know, have a, a great recruiting process, you know, from Alabama and the Bearop. Also, still go to school there and do five years there and just, you know, stick to the script, you know, just, you know, whatever was dealt in front of me while being at home and just dealing with it and it worked out for me." "That's great, man." "You look at this, uh, this league now is going more passing, but Cliff comes in here at one point, he was running an air raid, but he seems to want to run the ball probably more than anything else. How does that make you feel, how important does it make you feel to be a part of the running aspect of this?" "Uh, it made me feel great, man. It made me feel counted on, you know, it allowed me to just, you know, be comfortable. It makes me feel like, you know, you can depend on me, the team can depend on me with the ball in my hand. So, the more, the more, you know, opportunities I get like that, the more I'm, you know, come through for my team, and I feel like the more, you know, he trusts me with the ball in multiple situations again, the more you feel like you can depend on me, you know, this all down the line." Talking with Brian Robinson Jr. running back for the Washington commanders, uh, through four games, you've got 375 yards from scrimmage with three touchdowns. Obviously, you're running the ball at a really successful clip, 66 carries for 307 yards, three touchdowns on the ground, but you've also been a threat through the air, eight catches for 68 yards. Kingsbury just spoke to the media out here in the annex, and was kind of saying that you're underrated as a pass catcher, but B-Rob, I wanted to ask you something else Kingsbury told us about, um, he said that in the pre-draft process a couple of years back when Cliff was still in Arizona, that you and he went out to dinner and really hit it off, and Cliff thinks you might have been kind of pissed off that they didn't draft you, but now he thinks everything's cool. Yeah, um, like he said, um, like he said, um, like we had a good, you know, a good sit down, good, no good time, you know, when they invited me out to Arizona pre-draft, uh, you know, it was, it was one of those ones I was like, you know, if you, if you drive me, I'm, you know, I'm confident that I can, you know, I can work with him and kind of build a relationship with, even though I didn't work out, you know, at that time, you know, like, you know, I came back all the way full circle and I remember that sit down that we had, you know, those moments, you know, it was just kind of, you know, he figured out what type of person, you know, Cliff was, what type of energy he had, you know, even though, you know, he wasn't my coach at the time, but like I had a great idea, you know, what type of person and what type of coach he was going to be, you know, if, you know, if he was my coach then or now, you know, yeah, why'd you look forward to this weekend, um, and you start thinking about the Brown, what is it that you all feel you need to do to get another victory? Uh, we just need to do what we do, you know, we prepare, we, you know, you know, just hit off our game plan for our best ability, you know, uh, it's really not about know what nobody else is doing, it's really, it's just about, you know, how we best come out and execute the plays that, that, that we have. And if we do that, go ahead and high level, like which I know we have the ability to do, uh, we are being a great state, you know, for start to finish. Uh, talking with B-Rob, Brian Robinson, Commander's running back, if you want to watch B-Rob and this offense that is cooking, there still are some tickets available for Sunday's game, check it out at commanders.com. Brian, we'll get towards the end of this thing. Obviously, this offense is arguably the best in the league through four games. A lot of people deserve a lot of credit, but Jayden Daniels is the center of this thing. What do you think of the rookie quarterback you're playing with? So, uh, do, do, so now I'm, uh, uh, just, it's a lot different, you know, uh, you know, from watching them, you know, have a house a year to actually playing alongside them. So, uh, you know, playing with him is, you know, it's great, uh, smart. He's a great player, you know, he's smart with the ball and he's just making, you know, just to make sure, you know, he's just not being careless and, you know, turn the ball over and just make sure he's being as conservative as he can to just protect the ball and don't make sure we keep drives going and stay on the field as long as we can. And I just feel like he, he has a great awareness of, you know, that, you know, just being the quarterback and knowing that the ball starts with him first and just disnet out, you know, clean and just, just looking so confident and just growing along the way, you know, I expect that to just continue to grow and you're gonna be a great player in the league. Totally. All right, last question. Um, after what happened to you as a rookie on 8th Street, that first game you run out of the tunnel at, at, at, for the home game and you played, you hadn't played many men over the speakers. How did you arrive at that decision and is that the absolute most gangster entrance in, in the history of pro football? I mean, I haven't really seen anybody else like enter from getting shot a few weeks before notes that I asked to come out and play, play a game. So I would say that's number one, you know, but, you know, just, just to be able to come back, you know, from all of that and still be able to go out and play ball and play the high level. That's a dope there. I don't get myself enough here to floor. Dude, seriously, I mean, you, you should, but that was one of the absolute wildest moments was watching you run out of that tunnel. And I can only imagine the emotions that, that must have been involved. Now getting back home this week. Um, it's not going to compare to that on a hundred different levels, but getting back home this week with that home crowd fired up. You guys are first place in the division, three of the next four at home. A lot of opportunities here. Does this just feel different than any other moment in your Washington career? Oh, yeah, man. Uh, you know, great momentum going on right now. You know, I started to see that was, which is the first, you know, since I've been here. And, um, it definitely some great to build upon. You got a, you know, great, you know, great group of guys that, you know, sees this opportunity and wants to take advantage of it. So, um, coming aside for, you know, what, you know, the position that we're in and what I know we can accomplish, you know, out of this. And, uh, you know, it just is all of us now to, you know, be at our best, you know, when our best is required and not to get complacent with what we've done so far. Well, be key pushing brother. And, uh, maybe I'll see you doing something else later on to show your other talents too. Like what singing? We had our conversation on sideline one day. You know what I'm talking about. B Rob, thanks for the time. Appreciate it. Thank you. Yeah. All right, man. That is commanders running back. Brian Robinson, uh, really, really balling out this year. Almost 400 total yards from scrimmage through four games, three touchdowns. Dude, and if you like this, if this is your sort of thing, um, we showed this on, uh, all ears last night that a B Rob touchdown on the commander's first drive pays you a plus 800. So if you think they're going to score and you think B Rob is going to score on that first drive, just saying five bucks. What? When's your 40? Jay, it's only been a month. Jayden Daniels has played very well. I saw you tweet something to the effect yesterday that it's official. The kid is good. Can we write it in Sharpie that they got their guy that they got their franchise quarterback or should we not rush to judgment? I know you're right at Sharpie, man. This guy had four games. It's been pretty impressive. He, uh, sees the field. Well, he escapes. He can run. He can throw him. He does it all right. He got great poise, Susan. I like the best about him. But he doesn't get rattled. You know, I can tell he can sometimes you can see quarterbacks eyeballs through their face mask. They're so big and scared. But this guy is, uh, he's a surgeon back there. He's, he's got confidence and plays a lot of boys and he's accurate and fun to watch, man. He's fun to watch. What did you make of the response to the first negative play? It seems like they've had in a month, right? The trying to give Terry a shot who I don't think, you know, I think kind of lost his footing wasn't his best throw. Sales guy makes a great play for an interception. And for me, I'm going, okay, that was bound to happen. Good, bad or indifferent. You're going to have a something negative occur in this league where everybody gets paid to play. What's the response? And then it was unbelievable. Uh, what did you make of that? Yeah. I mean, that's, that's just the mental toughness part of it that has to show up throughout the season. You know, it's not always going to be perfect. You're going to have your bad plays, your bad quarters, your bad throws, whatever, but how you respond is just what is the most important? And he responded in a big time way and they responded again when Arizona went down a score to cut up a two touchdowns. They went right down the field and scored again. So their response has been outstanding the last three weeks. They, uh, you know, they don't, they don't blink and they pick with a plan. I think Cliff has done a great job of not forcing the too many throws down a throw. They still mix it up with the runs and some of the design quarterback runs. And then obviously the quick game and some play passes and, uh, he keeps them in defense under heels. That's for sure. Jay, they've punted three times in four games, once in the last three ways, right? He's got the easiest job in America. I mean, he does. I mean, poor guys got to hold every now and then, but he can play more ping pong now. I mean, I'm telling you what it didn't miss any ping pong games over the years. It's just pretty good at it as you know, but they scored on 24 drives and they have 19 incompletions offensively. What do you make just overall of what Kingsbury's doing and how do you summarize for us like what he's doing so well? Well, I think it's, uh, it's just a combination thing. It's not one thing. He's got a great game plan together. He's mixing them around and pass inside zone and not just inside zone, but he does a lot of different run concepts from pulling guards and, you know, pinning them defensive ends and pulling attack holes and doing a lot of different things and, uh, and then the zone reads and the RPOs and all that stuff off of them and then the play pass. So he's doing a good job of keeping the defense off balance. Now the offense have done a great job of staying positive down of distance, staying ahead of the chain. So they're not in sports in third and long and they're playing ahead the last three weeks. So they're not coming from behind. They're not one to mention all when Cliff or any good offensive play caller has every play. It is disposal on a drive. It's fun to call plays, you know, when you have to eat right when you have to delete like three quarters of your playbook because you're one dimensional. It's not that fun, but he's done a great job of keeping teams off balance. You look at Arizona, what they try to do, they're getting plans to rush a drop eight and only rush three guys. They did it like 12 times and and Jay just stood back there like a statue just had great poise and just waited for guys uncovered and dropped time. So you know, and then they tried to rough five and he got any scrambled outside through a guy in flat. I mean, so I don't know what you do as a defensive coordinator against this guy. Teams are having trouble trying to figure it out. Jay Gruden with us here on Grant and Danny, you mentioned this offense. Want to get to the offensive line here, Jay, I think Sam Cosme's good. I think he'd play and start for most teams in this league. I'd probably say the same about Tyler Biotich. I'm a fan of his. I think he's probably, you know, middle of the pack, you know, maybe on behalf of the league center. The other guys, I don't know that they'd be day one starters on most offensive lines yet as a group, I feel like they're playing really well together. What do you see from that? Oh, yeah, I've been impressed with the rookie. I think Brandon Coleman has done some good things in a running game and has held his own in the passing game. You know, like I said before, they've done a good job at changing his launch spot. So he's not sitting and taking five steps, drops and waiting for high crossers and deep daggers and all that stuff. They're moving around or changing up the launch spot. So the lineman are having some fun. Cosme is doing a good job at right guard. I love Tyler. You know, he did good at Dallas last year. And obviously, Andrew Wylers, a veteran guy who knows how to play and they're letting these guys come off the line of scrimmage and be physical. And they're not asking for the past protector every time. I think the addition of Zach Kurtz and obviously, John Bates, a tight end and the rookie tight end, they've got a now physical presence at tight end, which helps the running game, which they didn't have last year. It makes a huge difference. Jay Gruden on Grant and Danny here on the fan. One thing I noticed yesterday, more so than in the Cincinnati game, like in the Cincinnati game, whether it was the Terry deep shot or the touchdown in the corner, some incredibly low percentage generally throws that Daniels was able to drop into the bucket. And he second in the NFL and completion percentage over expected this year, but they have the highest expected completion percentage of 73%. And when I watch some of these other teams, you know, whether it's the bears with Caleb Williams or whatever, it's not as easy. Like a lot of stuff around the line of scrimmage. I joke about the horizontal raid, but the expected completion percentage for Daniels this year, 73%. Now he's actually 82 because he's plus 9%. But I guess my question is that's a scheme thing, right? That's a cliff thing. Your thoughts on that? Yeah, no, they do have a lot of, you know, bubble screens built into the running game, which are easy completions. He's going to get, James is going to get seven or eight of those a game. Cliff's going to dial him up a little quick game or flaps or release screens or bubble screens or, you know, Brian Robinson, a swing pass or equity, whatever it is, or Nick Nichols, you know, he's going to get seven or eight of those. He's going to be eight for eight. And then the rest of them, he's going to have to make good decisions with the football. You know, Cliff did try to get after their defense with some double posts with some high cross and deep, deep, deep throws, but Jayden did some good things with making the right decision, just kicking out to the flat or finding the completion somewhere else. So I think his decision making has been good is why his completion percentage so high is not forcing the ball. The only ball he tried to force was the interception of Terry, you know, and that wasn't a terrible, he just sailed it a little bit. So his decision making has been on point. He's keeping the chains moving and Cliff's calling a good game. It's a good combination to have. Jay, talking about Cliff, what's that like going back to a place that you've coached before? I know everybody likes to tell you it's not a big deal. I know this when I saw a girl that I dated 15 years ago, I sucked in my gut and tried to pretend that I was confident. You know what I mean? Like it's human nature, right? Oh, yeah, for sure. You want to go back and you know, prove that you are a capable coach. You know, when you get fired, it's no fun and people doubt your ability to coach the game. Sometimes you need a second opportunity. Maybe I could get one one day. I doubt it, but who knows? But it's always good to go back to a place that you were and kick their ass. That's for sure. I know Cliff is excited about it and he did some good things in Arizona, but over the long haul, he didn't do good enough job. So he let go. But now he's making his mark back again. I'll probably be head coach next year or the year after. Jay, what do you make of the receiving core down the depth chart outside of McClorin? Now, there was so much made all off season about they don't have enough talent. They don't have enough weapons. And they got an offense that can't be stopped right now. Zacchaeus went ham yesterday. Noah Brown's been good. We had Luke McCaffrey on the show a couple hours ago. He doesn't get a lot of targets, but he seems to be open a lot and doesn't drop the ball. What have you thought of their wide receiver group? Well, they've been steady. They've made plays when they have to. You mentioned number 14. I still don't know how to pronounce his name. You can go with O.Z. People that don't know how to say his name. O.Z. Yeah, the ex Eagle. He did some good things. And obviously, Noah Brown, the steady guy's got good hands. He's a physical guy. He's a presence in the running game. He's not going to drop the ball. He's not a speedbird merchant, but he can get open. I think Luke McCaffrey is finding his way. He's making some plays when he has to. So, obviously, Terry's a big guy. And obviously, Zacchaeus is one of his favorite targets. The back side of the back, he'll do some good things. But the key is Jayden. I think he just takes what the defense gives him. Now, eventually, some teams are going to challenge these guys to play some tighter man-to-man with a spy on the quarterback. And these guys are going to have to separate somehow, someway. But they're going to play zones and loosen up their coverages and play spot drop zones. Jayden's got to find a short guy, the intermediate guys. And he's done that so far. So, the key test will be when they play a good defense with some corners. They can rush a passer with four and see who can separate other than Terry. Yeah, to that point, McCaffrey told us they really have seen very little man at all. And we were asking about... He's one of the top guys in terms of separation percentage in the league. He basically said, "Look, I'm just kind of finding spots to throttle it down," or whatever. But he said, "We really haven't played man." I just don't think they're going to see that much, man. A, you barely see it in the league. I don't know what the percentage is generally. You'd probably know better than I would on how much man you even see. But also, it seems like teams are petrified to turn their back to Daniels. Yeah, that's what I said. You had to play the spy on a quarterback. And Arizona played man and one time they rushed three. He had a spy on the quarterback, tried to play a little two man, and that didn't work out. You can play, he rushed forward. But the problem, when he rushed forward and have a spy on the quarterback, you lose that middle field player that helps with all the crossing routes and all of that. So, that's a problem for defense as well. So, the teams aren't a bind, man. They're in a bind with how they're going to defend this guy. So, eventually, I would imagine somebody's going to be able to get home with four and place the man to man with a spy on them. But I don't know. I don't know if maybe they won't be right because Dallas really doesn't have the ability to do that. I don't think Philly does. You know, and I don't think the Giants do. They don't have the corners to do it either. They play them next, you know, they play them five more times. So, I don't think they'll see much man to your point. Is this why everyone's looking for the quarterback? Who can run? Well, you got the combination. Totally. I mean, if you can't, but I'm saying, like, nobody's looking for Derek Carr anymore, right? I mean, the idea is you need everyone's looking for like Josh Allen, so to speak. And I know there's only a couple of those guys. But my point is, is this why? Yeah, because the coverage, as you see, you're limited. You don't see any two, man. You don't see any match coverage. You know, you see a lot of different coverage with the quarterback that can't really move. It's difficult. A lot of ton of blitzes for God's sake. So, he had to pick up blitzes like our blitz period used to be like forever, you know, trying to pick up all these damn blitzes at practice, because, you know, Kirk wasn't much of a runner and you had to pick them up. But with a runner, you know, a lot of those blitzes, they're afraid to do because if he breaks contain, like he will, there's nobody there. So, it's scary. The defensive coordinators, like I said before, I think the first week, I think he'll see a lot of spot drop zones and drop eight, some four man rushes with, I try to get as many eyeballs on the quarterback as they can. And hopefully, he makes mistakes and try to enforce it in the coverage. Jay, for the non-Jaden Daniels part of the running game, what are you seeing that's so effective? The last couple of C's here. Bany, I mean, everybody won around the ball. Scott Turner loved running it for 2.2 yards of carry numbers approximate. It looks like there's gaps in places to go. And it just seems that everybody's got momentum. It doesn't matter who they hand the ball off to. They're able to find some yardage there. What are you seeing in this run game and it's making it so good? Well, I told you the most important thing they had in tight end presence. So, I don't think the guys before Cliff had tight ends that could hold the point of attack, walk the backside, be physical with the double teams, helping tackles and do all the things necessary. Tight end need to do in running games. Zack Urz has done that in his career. John Bates is very good at it. And obviously, the rookie's filed solid at it. So, that helps him have physical off at the line. And I like the way he's running the ball. He's doing a lot of different ways. He's running spread them out, running inside zones. He's running outside zones. He's running some pin and pole plays, which are good. He's changing it up and doing a good job. And the linemen are pretty effective. They're not great pullers, but they're effective enough and they're getting out there. But the inside zones are getting a lot of movement. Brian Robinson has great vision. He's finding holes. And even this Jeremy McNichol's guy, he bounced one out for a 27-year touchdown. I have no idea where the defense was. But, you know, they're hitting different gaps and they're making defenses cover every blade of grass. And if they settle down and bring everybody up and run, he'll just fire out a bubble for you in the fairy mackerel. So, it's very difficult to defend because a cliff is making them defend every blade of grass. So, now that we've seen four games with somewhat progression from week one to week four, I remember week one, I was not thrilled. I think a lot of fans were pretty ticked off as well. Just will look pretty vanilla, pretty, you know, like just let's not screw anything up and let Jayden Daniels kind of play Superman for almost three and a half quarters. And they didn't weren't able to do much against Tampa Bay in week one. Since then, it's been a steady build into this juggernaut. Now that you look back at the long road, what about that plan, maybe is more crystallized, maybe makes more sense now, now that we have a month of data going back from the before the first game to right now? Well, one is they've been able to establish the run and they've been playing with the lead. Like I said, the whole playbook is open. They're not forcing the one-dimensional calls. They're not forced to throw on a 12-yard hook route on third and 10 or that, you know, waiting for people to uncover and all that stuff. So, they've been ahead of the chains and they've been able to run in different personnel groups, two tight insets, one tight end set, and they're hitting different areas of the field inside the home. They can run right. They can run left. They're doing a lot of good things in that regard. But the key is the same head of the chains. That's why New Orleans is the first two games. They were unstoppable because hell, they had second and two, first and 10, second and two, first and 10. They were just gutting people. Now they are forced to throw the ball. They're not as effective, but you know, I just think they're doing a great job on the first second now, which is critical and pro football nowadays. Jay Gruden is with us on Grant and Danny here on the fan. Let's broaden this out to some other teams around the NFL. We've asked you a couple times early this season about Caleb Williams. The Bears got a defense led 24-18 win over the Rams. Williams, though, at least the line was better, 17 of 23 for a buck 57. Touchdown, no picks. Was he, was the performance kind of with the line like better than he had been? Yeah, they got the win. He didn't turn the ball over too much. They still struggle a little bit, but you know, Swift had a big hit in the running game, which helps out a lot and they got to turn over defense and the punter, third punter. Holy, who's this punter for Chicago? Good guy. Oh, they just drafted him up. That kid was like a mid-round pick. Two to the one. Yeah, so it's so poor Rams had to drive 98 yards every time and in Chicago, a great field position throughout the game and they got away with the victory. But Caleb is looking better. He's making some better throws, but he's still, in my mind, in the first four games, not even close to what Jayden was doing. Houston won this weekend, Jay, but looked a little shaky doing so. They lost the week before it didn't play very well. Where are you out on the Texans? I like the Texans. I think they have great coaching staff and obviously CJ Stroud's ice water in his veins. Very similar approach to the game as Jayden Daniels, both of them see the field very well. They don't get rattled at all and CJ got the two-minute drive down there and was very patient. Just took what the defense gave them and got the last touchdown. You know, the Jaguars in the Texans have always played tough games and then there's very similar a lot of these division rivals are going to play tight games despite what you think the records are or what the score should be. A lot of pride in these locker rooms and they're going to play hard and CJ just came out with another gritty victory like he always does. How are the Chiefs who are 4-0 despite not being really good offensively at all? Now they've lost their only true weapon in rice with Pacheco already sidelined. Kelsey's been very, very pedestrian. Mahomes is off to arguably the worst start of his career. I mean, he is I think second in the NFL and turnover where he plays right now. How are they going to continue to score and move the ball? I don't know. It's going to be tough. You know, Patrick can only do so much. They got to have somebody that can uncover Xavier Worthy had a big hit last week, but they got to find somebody else. For she, Rice does a lot more than people think as far as his physicality to the game that he brings on the shallow crosses. He catches them and splits them and all that stuff. I don't know where they're going to find a guy for that. Kelsey, you'll have to do a lot of that. You've got to get in better shape, but I imagine he'll be the go-to guy and somebody else have to merge. I don't know who that will be, but it's tough on Pat. I don't care how good you are at quarterback. You got to have somebody that could separate right now. They don't have anybody. So it'll be a struggle that spags. We'll keep them in games because they play great defense and Andy Riddle call a great game to figure out ways to get somebody wide open for touchdown and will probably win close to you until they get some weapons back. Do you get the sense with Kelsey that it is a little bit of just getting him back in game shape? Yeah, he's older. He's getting slowed down a little bit, but he's still got a great feel for the game. He could find holes in the zone as far as man-to-man separation. He's probably not quite as good as he used to be, but I'm sure he can do a little bit of that. But they're going to put a couple eyeballs on him at all times now that he's the only weapon, so it'll be a little bit tougher on him moving forward. But I think when it's all said and done as a season wears on, he'll make more and more plays and be more of a force. But in the meantime, they got to find somebody else. I don't know who that's going to be. Speaking of weapons coming back, Jay, I'm still an Eagles believer. Doesn't look real good right now this minute as they got smacked around this weekend and have kind of been struggling, but no Devontae Smith, no Lane Johnson, no AJ Brown. They got a bi-week here now. I feel like when they do get some of these guys back, there's still going to be a force to be reckoned with in this division in the conference, but it's getting harder to prove that. Your thoughts on the Eagles? Yeah, you know, they're classic underachievers right now. They're not playing as good as their talent level suggests they should. Obviously, losing the two key weapons hurts a lot against Tampa Bay, those two wide-outs, he much and Lane. If they get those guys back, they'll be fine on offense. I'm worried about their defense. They don't get any pass rush-ups, not getting anything. Jalen Carter is not playing like a pro-bolt defense. The three techniques should be and they're giving up a lot of big plays. They don't rush the passer very well. They don't blitz very much. Nick Fanjo has been very conservative in his approach because I think he's afraid of the corners. Derry Slays get a little bit older and the rookie Quinnian Mitchell is struggling a lot. So they got problems on defense. So when they get their guys back on offense, they got to go back to the talented type of offense, control the clock, keep their defense fresh and they'll be fine. Mitchell, first round pick. Oh, by the way, Jay, before we let you go, Monday night football, we got a double dip tonight. I'm sure you'll be locking in on both games. Titans, dolphins, Miami's going to Tyler Huntley at quarterback. So this will be their third starting QB in three weeks and then Seattle Detroit. The Seahawks have a chance to get the 4-0. Really would be their first quality win, frankly. Detroit hosting them tonight at 8-15 in the second game. What do you like this evening? I like Detroit. I think Seattle got four defense linemen out. I think Detroit runs the ball and gets back to their pounded, grounded, pound-type waves that Dan Campbell likes. So I think they'll get the victory and I think Tennessee will come in and make it play good. I think they'll get back to to to Pollard and get him the rock and the spears will get going and Bill Callahan will have some nice cool design runs. I don't know if they'll work or not, but they'll try. But they got to keep will of it from hurting them. He's got to throw in completions and not turn the ball over. And I think Tennessee will get the win. Miami's, they should be better. You know, but Huntley's is a tough call for a quarterback just coming off the couch to start a quarter, start a game on Monday night football. I know he's played a lot. He's a he's an effective guy. But I think Tennessee's defense is pretty damn good. They had a great defensive tackle. They get great corner, a couple good linebackers. So I think Tennessee gets it done. Jay, thank you as always, man. We'll talk to you next Monday. Hopefully about a four and one football team. How cool would that be? That'd be awesome, man. Thanks for having me, fellas. Thank you. There's Jay Gruden with us on Grant and Danny every single Monday at five o'clock. Yeah, it was the only catch, but it was a great throw. He had a couple of them in the second half. I pointed them out during my game take. You can download the Odyssey app and listen to this show in its entirety. You can certainly stream it. You can go to the team 980 dot com and listen to the show or show today as is the case every day is presented by T mobile head to T mobile dot com and get a great deal on an iPhone 16 pro 42 to 14. They are in many respects right now. The most productive offense in the NFL and the quarterback has played historically great for the first four games of his career and really for the first four games of any career rookie or otherwise and is truly right now playing at an elite level. What does that mean moving forward? Well, let's ask our Washington insider Ben standing who's with us every Monday and Friday in this noon slot. He took my back from Arizona after being out there all week. That's exactly what I would have done. I would have gotten out of Dodge last night. You've been five, six days since you've been home. Hopefully you've got some coffee. You're ready to roll. We start where we start every week after the game. Give me your big takeaways. Yeah, it's been eight days because we left the day before the Monday night game. So yeah, it's been it's been a journey. Coffee is lacking at the moment. Otherwise we're hanging in there. I basically didn't sleep on the on the red eye home and I was just sitting there trying to process what you know everything in. It is really hard to process what is going on here with this group. I the Jayden part is the easiest part to explain because you know, it was the number two pick in the draft. You won the Heisman. There was a lot to like, you know, you were certainly one of the first people I heard talking about him in such reverential tones and that you know, he's just continued to improve the poise, the accuracy, all that I get. It's just the rest of it is just so fascinating because this is still a roster that has, you know, several holes that the talent is not particularly robust at certain positions. That's not a knock. This is the reality of the situation when your team is, you know, rebuilding, recalibrating whatever you want to say and yet every week this is getting more and more interesting because of how it's developing. Now the defense this week for the first time this year, you know, really stepped up and was a viable partner to the offense and, you know, the confidence is clearly very high right now. A lot of it has to do with the quarterback. I suspect a lot of it has to do with the fact that it's no longer the, you know, the Snyder scenario that that's all part of the past and, yeah, it's really remarkable. I mean, you know, if you told me there were going to be three and one, I'd be like, wow, okay, I don't know if I see that but sure, okay, but to do it this way we're like the historical stats for the offense are off the charts crazy. So this is, yeah, it's really, it's really hard on some level to figure out how this is happening but it is absolutely happening. Yeah, that's a good last point because before the season started not really knowing what to expect. If somebody had said three and one, you would have said, all right, they play Tampa, they play the Giants, they play Arizona, you know, maybe they eked out a couple of good wins. It's not that. It's what we've witnessed with our own eyes with respect to this offensive football team in the quarterback in particular. And, you know, you talk about the rest of the roster and, you know, it's not the most overwhelmingly impressive roster player by player but I think there's something that happens, Ben, you know, in a franchise when you have a guy at quarterback that it is apparent is the real deal. It just elevates everything around it. And I think that's a big part of what we're seeing. It's amazing the belief that the offensive line has in itself. The running backs having themselves, the receivers and Terry's gotten untracked here the last couple of games defensively knowing that, hey, you know, we don't have to be great. But if we just can get off the field a couple of times, our guy's going to put up 35, you know, we'll be okay. There's a lot of that going on I think right now too. And I'm wondering, you know, how that manifests itself in a post-game locker room after a win like that, after the win on Monday night. You know, what vibe are you getting from the rest of the locker room about Jaden Daniels? You know, it's kind of the same one that's been there this whole time, except now we're going back to the offseason in terms of his work ethic, his presence in the locker room is quite confident. He's part of the group. But now it's, you know, there's actual game tape evidence to show what's happening. And, you know, yesterday was the day to talk a little bit more about the defense, right? Because they, you know, real, really shut down the passing game with Kyle and Murray. And I was talking to Dorence Armstrong afterwards, and he obviously had a huge sack on that fourth and one right before halftime. He had one and a half sacks total. And, you know, we talked about the defense and what, you know, what was happening, what changed. And then I said, you know, before I let you go, how about the quarterback? And he just kind of turned his head in my direction, just like, dude, like, what, what, what the hell? And everybody is just so wildly impressed. And yeah, I mean, there's absolutely something to be said for that with what you said about the confidence that gets spread in the locker room that think, hey, we're always going to have a shot here because of this guy. Do you think that's a secret sauce that a lot of winning teams have when you have that guy? But I think that's the part that's the part here that's so interesting. You're like, to what extent? I mean, again, it's one thing if he was playing well, this is so off the chart as the various stats dictate that it's just like, wait a minute, are we? I mean, like, I don't know, maybe you've already had the conversation I haven't and I'm not ready now. But, you know, if he wanted to, I don't know, 10 best quarterbacks in the league, is it more than that? Like, how do you think he what did we list? He's sixth or seventh in the MVP odds race right now, the MVP odds race. Is he one of the 10 best quarterbacks in the game right now, the way he's playing easily? It's not even a debate. You know, here's the other thing that's interesting about it is that he's not doing it because he's a great dual threat quarterback, which he is. There are several quarterbacks with many more rushing yards on the season than he has through four games. He's sitting back in the pocket and slicing people up like he did yesterday. And then he's outside the pocket starting to slice people up. One of the things I was going to ask you about, because, you know, we talked all off season about just what were we going to see offensively? We've seen so many different things through the first four games. I don't have it added up, but I'm going to guess that he was under center as much as he's been under center all season long. And we're certain to see a lot of the Shanahan elements zone run bootleg off of that. Him on a quarterback keeper bootleg. I mean, you got no shot defensively of making that play any less than an eight yard play. Yeah, no. I mean, that's the other part is like, you know, the Bengals cornerback Cameron Taylor Britt made the comment about before the Monday and I came about this was like a college offensive where they were running it. And like, you know, obviously that's, you know, insulting a bold and board type of comment. But, you know, like, it's not like they have, you know, completely gone to the, you know, all pages of the playbook here to bring things that they are, you know, have taken things a little slowly, which is reasonable, right? I mean, you know, made things a little less complicated, but, you know, with each week, you know, a little bit more get that and a little more gets changed. And it continues, it continues to grow. Look, I'll say, yeah, it's, it's, you know, it'll give kudos to Cliff King's very, of course, not just getting the win over his former team, but, you know, he continues to put Jayden Daniels in the best position. And, you know, I go back to the preseason, you know, after he, after Jayden did the audible in that Jets game to throw the 42 yard pass in the next week, I ask King's very, you know, what, you know, what do you kind of make of that? And he was like, hey, he's the one under center. I'm not. I want him to tell me what he is seeing and make calls, accordingly. That just does not seem normal for a rookie quarterback. And it's just continued to, to be this way, you know, throughout. And I thought when telling him yesterday was what Jayden said that he was asked about the interception and whether, you know, what, what was said to him afterwards about it? And he, and he could look puzzled and goes, yeah, I don't think we had any conversation about it. You know, I'm sure that some general notes, you know, but it wasn't like some heavy hand that, hey, kid, you got to, you know, don't do that. He, you know, he's making so many, he's making so many, you know, excellent decisions, which has been, again, a comment they've made all along that it doesn't feel like they, you know, they don't need to treat him in a way that they wouldn't treat this a regular, a veteran quarterback who's been there done that rather than a guy who's only in his fourth game. It's, you know, to keep this thing. It's remarkable. It's incredible. But you know, this really is, you know, nuts to see what's happened so far. Yeah, that's interesting. I didn't, I have not listened to Jayden's presser yet. There was, there was a converse. You could see the television cameras picked up Cliff going over to talk to Jayden real quickly was very brief. It certainly doesn't look like it gets to him at all. You know, he's not going to, he's not going to back off. I mean, I, I think, you know, that throw just wasn't one of his better throws. He had a throw late in the game to know a Brown that he overshot him by five yards. You know what? Quarterbacks throw interceptions and really good quarterbacks make some bad plays. But I still think the worst play of the year was his first play of the year, Ben, the one to, to, to Brian Robinson Jr. in Tampa that went backwards for a loss of 15 yards. I don't think we've seen anything remotely close to that since. So let's talk about the defense. It was better. But do you share in my concern still that this is a defense that I give. I'm thankful that Arizona, like you mentioned the third one and the fourth and one. Why are they not throwing those? Why are they not running the football? I mean, Connor is going to get five six yards on almost every carry. There were a couple of stops, but it was better, but I'm still not sold in terms of minimizing the overall concern. I have it. I have in it. What say you? Oh, no. Yeah. No, I, I, I'm still skeptical about that. I mean, the Cardinals ran for like, well, like 180 yards somewhere in that range. It's just that they weren't because the passing game just completely died off after the opening drive that they were effectively a one dimensional team. And that also helped. I'm sure the pass rush, you know, get after, get after Murray. But, you know, I haven't had a chance to go watch the, that was back to tape. But, you know, to, to their credit, you know, the secondary was clearly giving Murray some fits on the play where Armstrong sat them. He just said, hey, look, and the guy at the quarterback held the ball a bit long. And I guess he couldn't find anybody down the field. So, you know, credit to the defense for that. But, you know, I still have a lot of questions about the cornerback situation. You know, again, this was a really good pass rush performance getting after Murray. But, you know, well, let's see it consistently, you know, at least with the offense, you know, this has now been, you know, even in the Giants game, but they didn't score a touchdown. They scored on every single possession. So, you know, that part's been been there. We've seen that here on the defense. I do agree with you. There is, there are more questions to answer. But, you know, like you said earlier, if you could just be decent, you don't have to be top 10, just decent. The way the offense is playing right now, you know, that's enough. I mean, essentially that's what happened in the Bengals game. The Bengals, you know, didn't turn the ball over, but they were stopped and had to kick vehicles just enough to give the offense that advantage. So, yeah, I agree that there's more, more to come for this group. But, you know, Joe Wood Jr. to his credit when we were in Arizona midweek said, hey, look, we're not where we need to be. There's a lot we need to fix. But I'm telling you, we're a lot closer than people think. And it sounds like coach speak. But, I mean, you know, the proof is in the, is in the win. They certainly were a lot closer, you know, to delivering that performance in their eyes. I think the rest of us thought. Yeah, you can't underrate just the snowballing of, you know, the snowball effect of confidence throughout a team. I mean, we see it when we watch teams all the time. It's like, they're not very good here. But all of a sudden, the other part of the team is so good. And, you know, the context of these games change when your offense is as good as theirs. The score got pretty much out of control early in the third quarter. And so, that just led to even better defensive results. I mean, if you're going to ask this tiny, you know, diminutive quarterback to drop back into the pocket, and then you're going to get a lot of good results against him. And the score and the content creates some of those opportunities. You don't know what it would have looked like had the game been close. But I hope they got confident from yesterday. And I hope at the same time, it's a teaching opportunity because they got gashed again by the other team's running game. The other team just decided on a couple of key spots to let the quarterback go back and throw it from the pocket, which was a big mistake. All right. So we've had all these conversations. We're talking to Ben standing, of course, at Ben standing on Twitter. He writes for the athletic, he wrote extensively after the game last night, go read it, subscribe, couple of bucks, he's got a podcast called Last Man Standing. You can get that wherever you get a podcast. So you and I have had this conversation back and forth, you know, even before the season started, but certainly after, you know, the giant and the Bengals win. I think now we are in, it's about this year. I'm not suggesting that Adam Peters doesn't have a once every two weeks get together to do a capital planning and a long term budget session. Okay, with with the front office, of course, they should be thinking that way. But this is about now taking advantage of you have to in the NFL, because these opportunities don't come around. There's no guarantee of taking advantage of having an elite offense as it stands now, we'll see against Baltimore and Cleveland to good defensive teams. And so do you think if the offensive results continue and they're, let's just say, win a couple of more games and maybe they lose a couple at the same time, do you think they'll treat this season aggressively in trying to add a couple of spots defensively to their team? Yeah, I mean, it does give me some 2020 vibes, right? We're like, you know, very low expectations. And then was it like week four or five around Verra looks at the standings in the NFC East and says, you know what, if we could win this thing, we're like, really? He did say that. Oh, what's going on? And then, of course, it did work out that way because the rest of the division was kind of a mess. And, you know, it's a some degree that's the case here again. You know, you know, you know, the point you made about how, like, they didn't go aggressively in, like, free agency this offseason. And that was an indication that this was about the future more than about the moment. I've said this repeatedly about how, you know, they were building for 2025 and that they're not, quote, trying to win this year. And, of course, there's a bunch of morons who think that that means, like, the people, it's amazing to me, in 2024, people don't understand what, you know, when we say a team is taking or recalibrating or whatever, that it's not the players and the coaches, they're trying to do everything you can. It's about the organization building the roster, how they're valuing their future assets, etc. That's what it's, that's what it's about. Of course, the players are trying to win. And now that they're three and one, right, it does now beg the question, what is Adam Peters going to do here, the trade deadlines, what about a month away? So it's conceivable that, yeah, if this keeps going, that they do look to make some kind of a move. But that said, I don't, I still don't, I still have a hard time imagining he's going to trade away, you know, any kind of top draft picks for, for this kind of help that I could see, you know, again, like said, cornerback, you know, I've been saying for a while, there's still some guys out on the street, at least by name recognition, are seem like viable options. But I don't get the sense that they have been looking into that market and spending the kind of money it would take to bring in a couple of, you know, one or two of these guys that are out there. We got a month and there are more games here. But I just, here's what I think the all of these guys, you know, end up coming to the conclusion on, they understand how fickle and how fleeting these opportunities are. And it would be one thing if they were just, you know, barely narrowing, narrowly getting through these games, and there was no nothing super impressive about the mark. But they had, they may have, they may have an elite offense and an elite quarterback. And that changes the calculus on everything for this year, in my opinion. Yeah, look, I think, you know, everybody's been starting to eye that Ravens game in week six, you know, the Browns, this, the next opponent, you know, been kind of a mess. But they still have, you know, formidable defense. And so I think these next two games will probably give, you know, it's more data regardless, but it'll give a better field exactly where this offense is. And I think at that point is when, you know, you can pass that Ravens game, depending on how that goes is where, you know, again, the calculus maybe changes officially. I will just say that, you know, while I don't think the Josh Harris has, you know, say, you know, he's not pushing Adam Peters to do X, Y, or Z, you know, again, he is the guy that did the process with the Sixers or allowed that to occur. And of course, that team was miserable for several years. I'm not comparing it to here. But the point is he was willing to to be patient in order to put this team in a better position long haul. He said very early on this year, it's not hard to get to eight and eight. The hard part is building a contender. So that's far. I'm saying like, I don't know that you're going to want to do that they're going to want to do too much when it comes to adding help. But yeah, maybe there are ways to get a little bit more somewhere here or there going forward. But again, if this the next couple of weeks continue to look like we've just been witnessing, you know, it may be in all bets or off situation. Did you have a favorite play from yesterday on offense? Uh, favorite play from, I mean, there's a lot to choose from. Yeah, I don't have my favorite, but you know, to the point of like this confidence and just how it is burning everywhere. I mean, the fact that Jeremy McNichols, who I believe did not have a carry since 2021 had one career touchdown, he comes in to replace Austin Eckler who that was a concussion that 27 yard run. I mean, it wasn't like, you know, he, he looks like a guy who you were expected to be part of a rotation or was a been there done that type running back away. He was aggressive, uh, evaded the, the, the tacklers. It's not that that was the most dynamic of plays per se, but just the idea that anybody is seemingly coming in right now and getting this done. I mean, the key is when we played 18 snaps yesterday and you led the team in yards, uh, you're receiving yards. This is what is so interesting. And again, it's that some of the parts is bigger than the whole, uh, deal right now. And, uh, you know, plays like that that McNichols was making, you know, I mean, like Brian Robinson didn't pull, he played the same amount of snaps percentage wise relative to the two games where Eckler was in there the whole game. I mean, they didn't like say, okay, Brian, now you go be the guy. No, they, they brought in these other guys. They also had the keys to some work in sort of that Eckerl role. And, uh, I think that to me is, it's not a play, but just the idea that you can just, the system is getting in, in such a way that they can plug in kind of anybody right now. And it's still going. I just find that incredibly fascinating. Did they get out of the game healthy? Uh, we'll find out more from Dan Quinn later, but Nick Allegretti, uh, had an ankle issue right near the end of the game and they ruled him out. But at that point, you know, the game was over. He, uh, was told, said afterwards that he was, uh, okay. So we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll take what is word for now. Tyler Owens, uh, you know, one of their, uh, underactive creations, uh, in a special teams contributor, uh, had a, uh, had a shoulder issue. Uh, so we haven't heard from him, but other than that, far as I know, uh, yeah, they seem to be, uh, okay. You know, knock on wood on that perspective for Sunday. Uh, you know, the, well, we'll ask Quinn today. We, you know, that, that, that once he was ruled out early in the week, you know, kind of moved off of, off of that. So we'll have to see where they're at. Obviously they get back to the normal schedule this week, um, after being on the road for a bit. So, um, you know, we'll see how Echler fits in to, to, to all that. Um, one thing, just to sort of add about this sort of conversation overall before, before we go, you know, going back to the summer and everything, you know, the, the, the question of like, well, how much are they going to show, right? How much are they willing to talk about what's happening here? How much are they going to show in preseason? I, I know teams don't typically show much, but, you know, everything was new. Rookie quarterback, maybe he got in play and obviously they didn't do too, too much. But the one reason, the biggest reason why both of the coordinators said this is they've got the element of surprise on their side. The rest of the league does not quite know what is about to happen. Yeah, you can study Kingsbury's pack tape and Joe with et cetera, but it's new personnel. Uh, it's, it's taking advantage of what you have on the team and, you know, covering up what you don't and Kingsbury as we've seen is, you know, he's expanded his bag of tricks. It's not completely the same deal that he had before. And all these defensive seem to be very formics by what, by what they're witnessing. The wonder is how long does it take for teams to come up with the wrinkle that they see that could potentially slow this down a bit? I'm not saying that they will, but at four games, I don't think this has happened yet. But at some point here, these other teams are going to be like, all right, hold on a second. What's going on here? What do we have to do? What are we, what are we seeing? And I think at that point, you know, again, A, when does it happen? And then B, what's the adjustment to the adjustment? That, that I think is sort of maybe the next thing to watch here. Again, I don't know if it's going to be with this week against the brands or, you know, week 10 or maybe not. So they all see that, but at some point they'll be an adjustment by the defense based on what they're doing that would that, you know, they haven't had a worry about yet. Oh, I'm interested to see what Jim Schwartz does, you know, this week with the talent and, you know, see if they're healthy and see what they do a quarterback, if it's going to be James instead of to Sean. But Jim Schwartz, as a defensive coordinator, has been known to really try to fool and, and, and, and confuse young quarterbacks, usually in an aggressive way. And he's got some defensive ones. So this will be the biggest test in terms of the defense they face in the coordinator. They faced since the opener. The big difference is, is Cleveland struggles to score, you know, on offense. So, um, uh, and, and maybe you don't need as much, but I'm looking forward to, to Sunday. Um, great job. Welcome back. I'll talk to you. Thanks. Give me a tip. Ben standing, everybody. Yeah. The next two weeks, right? It's Jim Schwartz, and it's, you know, Miles Garrett and Zidarius Smith and Denzel Ward and, um, uh, you know, Delpit, Grant Delpit, um, all of those dudes defensively, uh, and the way they can rush the passer. I don't even know what they did yesterday. They lost the game. They missed an extra point. Hopkins missed a key extra point in that game that would have made it 20 to 17 because they were knocking on the door at the end of the game with a chance to win it, but they had to go for the touchdown. So yesterday, the Raiders, at least right now, I'm looking at it. Alexander Madison, 60 yards on five carries. Zemir White, 17 for 50. That's pretty good. 22 for 110. Um, yeah, I mean, the Zemir White, 17 for 50, not great. Madison must have had one long run. He had a 24 yarder in there. Uh, yeah. Minshu sacked just twice and both of the sacks were Miles Garrett. Say good morning to Jonathan Allen. He's presented by Main Street Bank, chair, local bank, local, put their team in your office, visit M street bank.com for more information. What's up, Jonathan? What are you doing? We're doing well. Not as good as you, man. I have to tell you, John, I was not a believer in a defense. I don't even know if I'm still a hundred percent, but that was a hell of a performance. Uh, the fact that you got like, after the first drive, I was like, Oh no, here we go. But you guys, you buckled down. How many punts did they force cakes? I think it was four or four punts. Uh, I don't know, sacks, including one from John, you got pressure. I mean, the only thing I, the run defense is still suspect, in my opinion, just being honest. But I mean, what a performance by you guys overall. Yeah, no, I mean, it was definitely a major step in the right direction for us. I think the good thing about this game is we still have a lot of room for improvement. And when you, you know, talk to the guys on the defense, we're not even close to where we want to be, and we're nowhere close to being a satisfied, satisfied at all. So we're excited, man. I think we took this up in the right direction. Obviously me personally, I want to be better in the run. I want to be better in the run. And, you know, that's what we're working on moving forward. But I think every week you're going to see the group play with more confidence, more speed, more excitement for one or another. And I mean, that's what people call about. What, what Quinn said afterwards, I found it very interesting that he tried to make a point to you guys. Listen, we're not where we want to be prior to this game. But you guys aren't as far off as you think. And that we were trying to speculate, what is he talking about? And then JP say, well, you know, like, say, for example, St. Just has been there a bunch of times. Good coverage. Just didn't get his hands up, didn't get the ball knocked down, whatever. Great throw, great catch that those kinds of minutes is I brought up the game against Tampa. I thought you guys had pressure on Baker five or six times. I thought it was going to be sacked. And somehow he wiggled out of it. Are those the kind of things he was referring to? Yeah, no, I mean, I know, Sam, give firstly that when you hear a team or you wear a player or a coach, they work close. But the difference between a great defensive performance and a bad defensive performance is razor thin. And, you know, I think we just make the praise of them plays that we needed to make. You know, in this game, I mean, Doris also had a great sack on fourth and two that really changed the game. I mean, who knows how the game moves as they go down a score on that, so the difference between playing the ball and playing bad ball is razor thin. And as a defense, you can't get really caught up on the end result only. I'm not going to say it's not important because obviously at the end of the day, we get paid to produce. And the end result is why we work. But when things aren't going good, you got to focus on doing things the right way, day in and day out of practice. And when you continue to do that, then it's just about translating it from practice to the game. Not saying today, last game was the first game that we really, you know, executed the game plan, went out there and played good on Sunday. And, you know, it was good for a lot of the young guys to go out there and just see the work that they're putting in. Yeah, make play someday. John, we were kind of talking about it and how Kyler just looked like a deer in headlights after that first drive. And tell them my theory. I didn't understand it. I will. I'll tell them your theory. I didn't understand it really because I guess you guys were just trying to keep him in the pocket because you got to him four times. But there were times where I thought he could run, but he decided not to and he just fell down. Or that he was missing guys. Maybe it's because, you know, he's a smaller dude and he can't see over you guys. But Eric thinks that Kingsbury talked to Joe Witt and Dan and said, look, this is what Kyler likes. This is this is why he's uncomfortable. He's uncomfortable in this situation. Yada yada yada. So first question is, what did you notice about Kyler and how you were able to get to him so quickly? And then number two, do you think or know that Kingsbury talked to the defensive staff about it? Well, I know when it comes to calamari, when you allow him to use his legs, not really for running, but to get out of the pocket and make plays down the field. I mean, it's really hard to find a guy in the league who's better than that. You know, so we're able to make him beach from the pocket. Not saying he can, but we understand what makes him special. It's an uncharacteristic athletic ability and his ability with his big arm. If you can make him go from the pocket, he's a little bit shorter. My ass, if he's being over the middle of the field, then you get him playing on our terms. You know, and as far as Coach Kingsbury talking to the D coordinator, he might have, I don't know. But one thing I do know is this is a copycat lead and all coaches talk, you know, I mean, like there's friends of guys who came up in the business with and they talk. I'm sure they do. So if there's something that you struggle with, you're going to see that again and again and again until you stop it or in seeing you prove there's no longer a problem. So I mean, that's that's really every position, every player like if I have a three technique who struggles on double teams, you're going to double him every chance you get. So I mean, that's just kind of how the nature of the business goes. Speaking of double teams, can you talk about how often you get in double team that looked at stats? Now this is from September 19th. So maybe doesn't include the last game or two. But at that point, you were being double team 56% of the snaps and Jerome was being double team 59% of the snaps. If you're getting doubled, who's it on to stop the run? Well, the thing that is so great about our defense is, you know, Coach Quinn always says, we have a defense at place for one another. That's going to be tough to beat. So there's going to be games where I'm getting double. I'm looking at the line marks like, hey, I'm going to take these double teams go make the place. And there's also going to be games where the guard is going to try to bang my hip and clomp to the linebacker. And it's up to me to fall back into my gap and make the play. So I mean, there's only four games. I want to get caught up in the double team numbers. It is just a how teams have been playing to attack us so far. But as we know, things change the season goes. So my whole job and mindset is just to be ready when I get my opportunities. And yeah, make the most of them. It's time for the Pizza Bowlies question of the week. Pizza Bowlies offering wings, subs and more pizza bowlies delivers more taste, download the Pizza Bowlies app for easy ordering. How did you hold one of the NFL's top mobile quarterbacks, Kyle and Murray to one carry for just three yards in the win? That's from Mark in Arlington. Yeah, blew me away, John. Well, one thing I'll say is going into this game coach, coach tap and coach with it. Told us like we're rolling with the deep crew up front. So I mean, one thing you saw is you saw a lot of effort from the entire really the entire team, tired deep, because I don't want to just say the D line. But our mindset going into the game was don't hold back, give everything you've got if you can only go to play, get in there, run to the ball full speed and get out and get rest. And we have an offense like we have that makes it so much easier for us to stay fresh because they're on the field for so long. When you're out there, you've got to work as a group. It's not for guys Russian 101. It is for got all of us rushing as one. So I mean, the D me and me and me and D P me and playing we, you know, had to run game inside to make sure that wasn't hold for him. To step up through the B gap, the defense is in, you've got to get high, make sure he can't up in the B gap and stop him from getting out. Now for that, it's just ball playing whatever. It was just really ball playing with effort. Obviously coach will call it a great game. It was just a team effort. Talking to Pro Bowl defensive tackle Jonathan Allen. He joins us every Tuesday at nine o'clock on the junkies. Is this the best offense that you've witnessed since you've been with Washington? I'm guessing it's the best offense you've seen since your Alabama days. Yeah. I mean, you know, right now I would say yes, but I don't try to get caught up in all that because at the end of the day, it's still only the first quarter the season has done. And I mean, the offense has been terrific and incredible. So as a defense, we have to make sure we're ready to play. So there's going to be a game in December and whenever where it's cold, it's bad weather, for whatever reason, they're going to be looking at us and step up. So as a defense, we've got to make sure we're ready when our numbers call, but it's so fun to watch. It is, it is so fun to watch them. And for the most part, they're not turning the ball over. I don't think there's been one interception, one fumble. So I don't think there's been more than two turnovers. So you haven't had that many short field situations. Yeah. I mean, I think the thing that has been good to see if we're playing fantastic complimentary football, often getting long drives out there, defense, we're taking steps in the right direction, improving, but we have an offer like that. Just get them the ball back as many times as you can. What have you seen out of Johnny Newton so far? He's appeared in his third game against Arizona this past weekend with you. Man, what's impressed me? Man, for a guy who didn't really get a chance to do OTA, he didn't really get a chance to do all the training camp, then it gets to do all the preseason. How quickly he's just caught on that. And I know it's tough. I know it is. I mean, he's a guy who wants to work for him not being able to do that early in the season. I know it's tough. So the way he's coming, he plays an effort and just the technique he's picking up fast, ready to fix. I'm going to watch. He's going to be a good player for the team for a long time ago. So what are your thoughts about Sunday with Cleveland coming in? They've really struggled to score. They've only scored 66 points in their four games. They haven't scored more than 18 and they're one in three. Obviously, you guys have pretty much doubled their point totals, but you know, they've got the chub, chub may be practicing this week. We're hearing here, and he may practice tomorrow. Not sure if he's going to play. I would doubt it that he would play this soon, but your thoughts on facing to Sean. And that's a really good defense too. And I know people like to be up on the Cleveland Browns, but one thing we all know in this league is we to eat. You can never overlook any opponent. I mean, how many times all mine and I have a team overlooked us. We went out there and beaten 11 or else dealers are a 10 to one evil. So one thing that I just love about the team is we're so hungry and we're so dedicated to just growth week in a week out. And I think the thing that's awesome is we're not solely focused on the end result. You know what I mean? You got to look at the, you got to look underneath the hood and see where you can improve where you can trim some of the fat. And you know, we're gonna be ready to play. I'm excited. All right. You just used a lot of food analogies. So this is critical. You used hungry. You said trimming the fat. We had a big debate earlier on the show about raising canes versus Chick-fil-A. Where does Jonathan Allen stand on the chicken wars? You can even throw others because I said my favorite is a Popeyes chicken sandwich. But where are you on raising canes and Chick-fil-A? I don't even think I don't think you could be Chick-fil-A. Chick-fil-A is just 10 times out of 10. The place I'm going to go. The first choice. And what is your go-to order there? I get a spicy chicken sandwich deluxe with extra cheese and a lot of socks. If I'm not going there for breakfast, then I get two chicken biscuits. Two chicken biscuits. Do you ever get two with the grape telly? You're such a big dude. Do you ever get two chicken sandwiches? Sometimes, but I try not to do it during a season, man. Because of slippery slope, you have Chick-fil-A one day. Then the next day, you want to get Chipotle. So you just gotta stay away from all of that. We just get a bowl at Chipotle. You don't have to get the rice. Yeah, but he wants k so he wants chips. And you get the mars chips and you get the Mexican sprayed and it's just not worth it. So what is your cheat day? My cheat day is usually on Monday. It's just like a bag of candy. And then I usually feel bad. And then I just what's your candy go to? I mean, we're in spooky season. I mean, Halloween's about 30 days away. Give us your go to candy. Anything. That's a sour gummy. I'll eat anything sour, anything gummy, sour patch kids you'd love. Hey, John, what was your what was your best meal and because you were in Arizona all week? What was your best meal out there? You know, I'm not gonna lie. I didn't leave the hotel one time to go eat out. All it means is baller. You were set up in a baller spot guaranteed. I just ate up the hotel the entire time. Did you order room service or just in the in the restaurants? I ordered room service one time and it was just wings and fries pretty good. Honestly, I just ate at the eight at the hotel with with our chef. I know it was just our own chef. Oh, your chef? Yeah. Do you eat with any of your buddies on the team? Yeah, all the time, all the time. Normally we like to go out, but I don't know. This week I was like, I just want to make sure I'm good and make sure the inflammation is down on the body. So I didn't really want to eat out. So I just kind of just kept the low key and just a lot of hanging out and kicking back. What was the last week like being on the road, like going straight from what the mangles game to Arizona? Well, as a player, was that a huge advantage for you? It's hard to say, you know, I mean, because it's definitely huge advantage when you get like to the time zone change, but it's also different because now your routine is off and now you got to find the suits and you got to find spaces to work out. And now you got to figure out how you're going to eat all your meals. And it's just a difference. It was just a different week. Hard to say if it was better or worse, but I mean, we'll have with the results. The results no doubt. Where did you watch the Bama Georgia game on Saturday night? So I'll just watch that the hotel. Yeah, a fun game. Oh, it's incredible. John, I know you're not a big trash talker. Let me start this off by saying, do you think trash talking can get into an opponent's head? Yes, but I feel like we play, we play at such a high level that every guy that has part hurt anything and everything you could even think of. But I think during the game, once momentum swings one way another, I think trash talkers can never get an opponent. Yeah. Are there guys on your team that are big trash talkers? I want to say pain is a big trash talker. But man, I'll say that he's a very aggressive competitor on game day. And I'd love to see it. All right. Cause if you want to get in somebody's head, you've got the Sean Watson there. Maybe you guys would say that it's a low blow, but you could go the masseuse route. I'm not going to lie. Fans of the NFL are the most ruthless people I've ever seen in my life. There is nothing a player can say to them that fans haven't said to them for the last however many years. So I'm sure he's heard everything in the book. So I'm not even worried about that. I'm trying to think who would be on the pit besides paying on the defense that would talk, try to lose the talk. He's all over the field. He doesn't talk with my buddy. He talks with his fans for sure. I mean, God, what an exciting player to play with. Right. Maybe for what he's, you know, he's probably always had like smooth, kind of like smooth back in the day. Yeah. Forbes. You know, I don't know. We have a lot of guys who just outright talked fresh, but I mean, just the thing that was so fun about this game was the amount of energy that guys had. It was like, I just remember pretty harvest screaming like a mad house on one of the plays. And it was just so fun to see the energy from all the guys. That guy was excited flying around. It was a fun week. John, the energy at Northwest stadium is going to be crazy. Like I'm, I'm guessing packed to the rafters. Almost all commanders has, I mean, a Browns fan is really going to come to Northwest stadium to hopefully see you, you guys beat their ass. I mean, that should be a crazy environment on Sunday. Man, I'm looking forward to any time we can have the fans out there, the playing good football. We got to keep it going. You know, we're looking forward to going out there and put a good product for you guys and for the fans. I mean, the fans have been with us through thick and thin and there's been a lot of, a lot of thin. So we appreciate you guys support. And I'm looking out, I'm looking forward to going out there and just giving everything I have and making sure no matter what happens, you guys are proud to be fans of this organization. So are you ready? Are you ready to see a million Jayden Daniels commercials? Because that guy is going to be all over TV as a superstar. I mean, we went out the way he works every day and the way he acts. He deserves it. He does something better in this world. I think it's only gets up and they deserve, you know what I mean? And he deserves it. So I can't wait. All right, Jonathan, we're looking forward to seeing you guys take down the Browns this weekend and we'll talk to you again next. We're gonna smash them just so you know. We smash. We are. Yeah, we are. All right, John, make sure you score 30. All right. Thank you, buddy. That's a pleasure to go. Jonathan Allen presented by Main Street Bank, cheer local, bank local, put their team in your office, visit m street bank.com for more information. We'll do Eb's entertainment page next. B-mitch and Finley. 11 a.m. We are fired up to get to the bet QL guest line and welcome in Charles Robinson. Charles, what's going on, man? Thanks very much for making time for us. Yeah, thanks for having me. I appreciate it, man. We are doing well, man. Doing well. You can read Charles work at yahoo.com. Check them out on Twitter at Charles Robinson. Dude, I know you covered the whole league, but the talk of the league in a lot of ways is what's happening here. Jaden Daniels and the Washington commanders. What have you thought early on? You know, it's funny. I was thinking the other day. So when I went on training camp tour and I did like, I don't know, 24, 25 teams in five weeks and I rolled through East Rutherford. I wanted to see his first exhibition game and it was coming off the heels of the joint practices within New York Jets and I was talking to a Jets executive when I got into town and just kind of chopping it up whatever and unprompted. I just kind of asked, you know, how the team looked, you know, and I'm asking about the Jets, how the team looked in the joint practices with the commanders. First thing he says out of his mouth, he's like, Jaden Daniels, the dude. He's like, man, they got a good one. Like he and I'm like, wow, like this, that doesn't happen. You don't normally coming out of joint practices, ask a head coach or GM or, you know, that kind of typing in an organization to talk about their team and they talk about the other guy. And I was like, wow, it kind of stopped me in my tracks. And I obviously I watched the first exhibition game where what they sent in the screen to Echolary calls the go ball to Miami Brown and, you know, was supposed to do that and being Quinn called at the buzz the tower moment. I should have known then like, I kind of wrote it then like, Hey, this is something different about this guy. You know, when you, this kind of happens around him, what this start is phenomenal. I mean, the completion percentage is insane. I think when you break down like the analytics of it, his time to throw is just I think you easily in time to throw. I think it's like two and a half seconds. But I think on play action passes, he's under three seconds to get the ball is not like it's just completely crazy. And it's been interesting to kind of look at the charting of the offense where he's thrown passes, how, you know, he's kind of see Cliff has opened it up from games one to two to three to four. Everything about it is just, it's wild to me how dynamic he's been. And I think there's been a lot of years I've covered the leagues since 2000 was the first year I covered the NFL and you go through all these years where you're like, you have these dynamic playmaking like guys who can be quarterbacks and do all the off schedule stuff and create. And we spend a lot of years with different guys going, man, I just wish, you know, he could be a little bit better pocket pass or just a little bit, this guy is it. I think this is it. I think we got the guy who's the full package. He's a party can be a pocket pass. You want to make him do that. He's going to do that. You want to make him do the off schedule stuff. He can do that. He's a leader. I just I hate to get over my skis on him in only four games, but it's an amazing story. And I think, you know, I had a chance to talk to him really briefly when I went through Commander's camp and seems like a great kid. And everything that people thought he was cracked up to be, you know, coming, coming into that draft, you know, he's turned out to live up to all of it. You know, I just only thing I worry about was, you know, just physically, I just I wanted to hold up because you don't like to see guys, you know, take punishment and then eventually break. Yeah, I think the other thing about it is like every once in a while, you see someone come along and they do things that you don't expect to happen so soon. He seems to be that guy. Have you ever seen anything else like this where a guy steps in and you go, well, damn, you know, this early, you know, I I remember my homes, you know, you went through that year where he he ran scout team for them. He started, I think, the last game of the regular season that year. And you would hear from all the guys coming out of practices, especially the defensive guys are like his kids, not like he's crazy. They're like, you know, and they would tell you like, just wait, like just wait until you see this dude. And you know, I'm like, all right. Yeah, maybe, you know, but I mean, I remember when my home's obviously now that was in year two. So he had an entire year to learn the scheme, practice, you know, what do you need to do physically? There's just, you know, but yeah, in terms of like an immediate guy who like hits the ground running in year one. It's hard for me off the top of my head to think of especially at a quarterback position where you're just like immediately blown away. Even CJ Strout, I live here in Houston. It took a little bit, you know, it took, it took, you know, three, four, five games where you're like, Oh, wow. Okay. This guy's really picking up steam. This is real. This is different with Jayden. I feel like you just saw it immediately. It was just and especially the Monday nighter against Cincinnati to make the throw that he made to McClellan. And I was talking to like Tom Brady after that. And I asked him, like your quarterback, you see a safety comment and he's a free rusher and you're going to eat it. You're going to eat the hit. You know, like when you see a guy do this, like what goes through your mind. And you know, Tom's very reserved. He doesn't like to keep a lot of praise, but he was like, look, there's just some things that you can't teach. There's some, there's some mentalities and some things that guys do that are special. And he has, it looks right now like he has that kind of a gift. It really does, man. And I think you said it there, and Brian and I are trying to be reasonable. You don't want to over praise a rookie quarterback after four games. You don't want to create pressure where maybe it doesn't belong. But you can look at the numbers and the numbers are bananas, whether it's kind of your traditional statistics or you get some of the EPA stuff or the analytics and all of it. Or you can just the eye test, just watch the kid play football. And it's been fantastic. We're talking with Charles Robinson here, senior NFL reporter for Yahoo. All on the bet, QL, guest line, you can follow Charles at Charles Robinson. But so Charles, here's my question, dude. This Cleveland defense is going to be the best he's faced by a pretty wide margin. Yeah, four games. How different is this test going to be? Well, and I would say the coordinator. I mean, Jim Schwartz is at the top of this game. I mean, he's remade that franchise for what has not gone right for them, especially with a lot of this kind of trying to get Dishon lots into a point where he's functional weekend and week out. But one of the best decisions they made was to move to Schwartz as a defensive coordinator. I mean, from a pressure standpoint, completely changed the mentality of that team. They're great up front miles Garrett. Obviously, he's going to be one of the best defensive players in the game, everybody knows that. Schwartz will throw a lot of different stuff at him. I wouldn't say it's on the Brian Flores level where you're seeing exotic stuff after the snap. You talk to some coordinators who look at Flores and their game plan for him. They're like, there are times where I'm looking at film and I'm still not completely understanding what I'm seeing immediately after a post-snap rotation. But he's going to get some of that. There's no doubt. This is going to be his biggest challenge. I'm excited for it. But I also look at him like, what do you do when a guy is getting the ball out as quickly as he is? I think they're losing their minds in Chicago right now with Caleb. I saw some clip and I just had to laugh where there was some analysts, some Chicago media type that was like, well, Jayne Dan is just a one-rate quarterback. When the read is open, like, what do you want him to do? Let me not take that. Let me not move the offense. Let me not move the chains. That's the functionally, when you're a defensive coordinator, you're like, if we can't get to him, we have to confuse him enough to push him off that first read. If he's constantly making the right read on the first read, it's really hard to defeat that guy because you can't sack him. It's really hard to pressure him. Again, he can move. He can do off-schedule stuff. He can kill you with the run. He's been really smart for the most part this season with that. It's going to be a nice, like, it's a chess match between, and I hate to use the cliche, but it is true. I don't know if a guy won't hold the ball, it's really, really hard to apply the amount of pressure you need to force him into mistakes, unless you can just disguise things so well that once the snap occurs, he's not fully understanding what he's seeing. But they don't even play action stuff. I mean, he's turned his back on defenses, which is one thing. I remember kind of chopping up all these different quarterbacks and evaluating them. I remember asking teams about Jayden, and they're like, "He will throw in the middle field," which is awesome. He's a great deep ball passer. The thing they were like, "Can he turn his back on a defense? Can he do play action stuff?" You say he would throw in the middle of the field? Yeah, he will. Yeah. Hold on. I'll just say because I kept hearing people from all he don't throw in the middle of the field. I saw a feeling like a family they're talking about. Yeah, I know that when you have neighbors one-on-one on the outside against a college corner, you throw it deep down the sideline. Yeah, I mean, that's the thing. It's funny because when people break down that college offense and they look at it, as you said, Brian Thomas. Okay, what was Brian Thomas Jr. doing in that offense? He's wrong. Go around. Get going on the field. Neighbors the same deal. I mean, that was a very vertical offense. Yes. But I did not hear that criticism from teams. As a matter of fact, I had some evaluators who were like, of all the quarterbacks, that they're least worried about whether or not a guy will go throw into the middle of the field. Like, Daniels was one of those guys. Yeah, I mean, I don't know. I guess that's the thing about draft assessments. You can always find critics. You can always find people who will nitpick a player. The one thing I heard about him, then I think it's probably an assessment that you continue to move. It's just like, where can he go physically? Because he would take those hard hits in college. I mean, he would sacrifice himself. The sliding thing was a big deal. You know, he had first diver and runs at times. But I'm like, two minutes ago. Yeah, I did. I saw him and Dan. I saw Dan laughing when he fled. I can't remember what Daniel was. I saw him sliding immediately. They cut the Dan Quinn. I saw him laughing. I'm like, yeah, he'll get there. Just give him time. Yeah. Isn't it so funny, though, like when guys are doing the good things, you start getting all these people trying to just knock it. Like, I remember Tom Brady was winning all these years. Oh, man, he's not that good. Pat Mahomes coming along. Oh, man, I don't really like him. People don't like when you're good. So I always say, if people are hating on you, Jayden, you know you're doing something right. I don't understand why I really hate him though. Like, I'm like, this is a good, it's a really good story. Like, like, I mean, this franchise has been, I mean, just the families could be beat down. Like, there's so many things over the years. One, you know, an ownership, the Sean Taylor statue thing, like all the, there's a million different things. You have to know the new owners took that dumb thing. Oh, no, I know. Yeah, I knew. I knew. No, I mean, you know, when New Stadium gets done and everything, it's, yeah, it's all gonna be first class, but it's, it's a breath of fresh air to visit with a team and go, wow, it kind of feels like this is listed, you know, and you're, and you're like, why would you, like, why would you, like, why are you gonna pile on? Like, let it be a good situation. It's nice. Like, it's good. Like, let it, you know, you don't want to just keep, I, I, it's like Detroit. Okay, like, I grew up in Michigan, the Lions for decades and decades. Like that fan base is so beat down. And then, you know, kind of this turnaround and Dan quit there, Dan Campbell, there's, there's a reason why I think when I talked to other NFL fans, it's at least up until this point been pretty easy to, you know, kind of be a fan of Detroit, even though, you know, you're a fan of your own team, but you're like, okay, well, I enjoy watching, you know, the Lions because I really gravitate toward the head coach or kind of what Jared Goff's been able to do, you know, coming back, bringing himself back as a quarterback. And I think watching things can be that. I don't know why head coach is a great guy. Like, everybody across the league loves him to death. I've known him since going all the way back to Seattle, or at least been covering going all the way back to Seattle. And, you know, the, the general manager very well thought of. I love the draft class. I just, I'm, I don't know why anybody would have negativity around around this team right now. You've had an opportunity to pile on for decades, like, just get over it, like enjoy it. Yeah, let them, let them be happy. You know what I mean? Yeah. Todd, if we can, let's zoom out from Washington, right? And I'm curious, do you buy the Vikings? I do. I actually do. First off, defensively, again, Flores is just like he is at his peak. Like he is, this is in terms of his ability, like coordinating that defense, the things that he's doing. Again, the post, the post snap, you know, the disguises, the post snap rotations, all the different things that he's doing is just on a whole other level. Like, I know he sued the league and, you know, he aired out Steven Ross and all this stuff, he's got to be to me. I'm like, if, if you want to win games, he's got to be back at head coaching lists. Like, regardless of whatever, you know, how salty you are over, you know, however he handled himself and the two are saying and all that. You know, I think he is just at such a high level right now, the coordinator, which is one thing. And then secondly, you know, I, I am one of those ones that for the longest time, I'm like, the wheels are going to come off of Donald. Like, the wheels are going to come off of this guy. Like, I, I was there and, you know, I covered him, you know, a covered league when he was with the Jets. And I saw that and I saw, you know, the Carolina experience. And when he went to San Francisco, and I went through San Francisco, you know, you talk to Kyle Shanahan, you talk to John Lynch, and they would tell you to be like, look, there's talent there. It's not gone. You know, it's been beaten up. He's been, his confidence is shaken. He's been through some bad situations. He just needs to learn a playbook right now that's being run by a multitude of different teams very successfully. And you'll start to see some of that talent come back through. And I'm like, man, all right. Yeah. And then I remember watching him in practice. And I'm like, yeah, Trey Lance, get cut or dealt or whatever. Like he, like, Donald's definitely going to win the backup job. And then when Minnesota brought him in and they, you know, I talked to Quasie, a Dofo Menza, the GM, you talked to Kevin O'Connell, and they tell you, like, Hey, realistically, like he really could start for us this year. We could, we could flow play JJ McCarthy and develop them. I'm like, nah, come on. Like, this is no way. I didn't, I was definitely a disc blue. The problem is through these games, when you're watching Donald now, he's doing these things that he's never, he was like a one read and panic guy at the end with the Jets. Like it was like he would, if he didn't have the first read, it was like, you could see he instantly was worried about pressure. That was an actual one read guy. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. He is not that now though. He's not when you watch him. I do this weekly quarterback column on Tuesdays called QB Room. And I had this clip up on them. And I'm like, if you watch this in the span of like two seconds, he goes through three reads. He's in the red zone. I think it was like, like on the four yard line, he throws a touchdown pass to jail and nail it. It was a mailbox slot throw, perfect throw. But what was most impressive was that it was clearly his third read. Literally can watch him go through three reads. I'm like, he never did that before. Like his confidence level is just on a whole other plateau right now. They, TJ Hopkinson is going to come back, you know, Addison's back. I mean, it's just the productivity of the offenses is remarkable right now. And I do. I think this is a scenario where you're like, wow, great coach, right scheme, right players around them. You really can kind of reclaim a guy who, let's not forget, had a ton of talent coming out of USC, but a lot of things to clean up. When someone shows you that they believe in you, boy, you could do some amazing things, brother. It's crazy. Yeah. It's crazy. Oh, yeah. Real quick. When Gino, I remember when Gino Smith went to, yeah, and I was talking to one of their executives and he was like, I'm telling you, man, he's in Gino, the backup. He's like, I'm telling you, like, Gino could start for this team, like Gino, like, and you know, you could hear and stuff about Russ, like, was it possible that they would move on from us, all the stuff. And I'm like, you're crazy, man. I'm like, what? Like, come on, man. Like this guy's a journey, man. He's never going to be a, it's past. It's over. Like the opportunity to be a quality starting quarterback. He's like, I'm just telling you, like the belief that the team team has in him, the way they gravitate toward him, the staff, you know, just this overall surrounding belief that he had there. And then when he got his opportunity, he saw what he did. And you talked to Gino, he'll tell you, he's like, yeah, having people believe in you and, you know, being in a situation where you're, you know, your confidence comes back. It completely can, you know, change you as a player. Absolutely. Hey, Charles, really appreciate it, man. I really enjoyed this, man. Absolutely. I appreciate guys. Call me in time. Okay, thank you. Charles Robinson, senior NFL reporter for Yahoo, really good. Really, I think nailed it with Jaden, how much excitement there is and that it's kind of not really a surprise. This is who he is. But man, commanders got a big time matchup on their hands Sunday against the Browns Tuesday scheduled appointment right at 5 p.m. here to get trusted insight from trusted insiders as we do here on the fan. Thanks to our friends at it cadre where DC sports insiders share their exclusive perspective. Austin Echler via it cadre on the hotline with us on Grant and Danny Austin. It is great to talk to you again. How are you? I'm doing great. I'm doing great. Good to be back on boys. How we been. Good, dude. We were nervous. No Austin Echler. We thought everything was going to come screeching to a halt, but the boys survived the week and Jeremy McNichols. You were right. You told us he could play. He'd be just fine. He went out and he bald in the next man up league. It went very well. Hey, yeah, man. I mean, and look, look, we got a lot of playmakers on the offense. So, you know, yes, if I'm not there, you know, we lose, lose one of the, one of the, you know, players, but look, we got a lot more guys that are showing up and doing the thing. Obviously, Jayden's doing his thing. Terry looks good coming alive. I'd love to see that too. And so on and so forth. So they took care of business and I'm glad to be back with them now. How are you feeling, buddy? And kind of what's the latest on you working your way back? Yeah, you know, I'm just continuing to complete the processes of concussion protocol. You know, I'm working my way through. I'm feeling like myself. Hopefully, you can tell a little bit, you know, more with it today than our last conversation. And so that's, that's all a good sign to getting back as hopefully, hopefully this week. That was the question. Do you think you're tracking toward the possibility of being able to play this weekend? Absolutely tracking towards being able to play. And so that's, that's a good sign, you know, especially when you're talking about your head. Hey, you want to make sure everything is how it's supposed to be. It's not one of those like ankles where you can put some tape on it, you know, like this is my brain I'm talking about. So want to make sure that everything is feeling normal and is, you know, reacting normal and is where it's supposed to be. And things are definitely trending that direction. Sounds very good. Austin Echler here on Grant and Danny Weekly appointment with us. They'll be with us all season long Tuesdays at five o'clock on the fan. What was it like watching from home? Oh man, I have so much anxiety when I'm not there, man. Oh, I feel like, I feel like I'm a fan, you know, where it's like, you don't want him to do so well, but you're just so, you know, helpless. Like you can't, I can't do anything, you know, I could just send your screaming at the, at the, you know, the screen with my wife every, basically every commercial I'd make us get up and do some stretches. Gotta stay up my ass, keep moving, let's keep moving just to blow off some steam and then come back to it. But obviously, as they started to get a lead, it definitely helped me kind of come to a little relaxation a little bit from the couch at home. So that was my view and experience. Do you pick up stuff when you're, you know, totally, as you said, removed from it, watching just like schlubs like Grant and I, like, do you see something where you go? Oh, I can't wait to do that when it comes to, you know, when I'm back in action. Do you pick up stuff from watching the TV copy or is it, you know, it's all old hat? Yeah, I definitely pick up stuff, but it's not like, not necessarily like that. But like, I can, I know what the plays are, right? Like, I'm seeing different signals. Like, I hear Jayden talking when they, like, show the, uh, the audio from the field. And so I know, like, I have, like, the, the ultimate insight of knowing what's going on because I, I've just part of the ecosystem, obviously. So that's kind of cool. Um, to know what's coming, like, I'm telling, I'm like, oh, this is past right here. It's the past, like, as if you even care, I'm still telling her, you know, it's going to be run to the right, you know, like pigs like that. So it's pretty cool to have that knowledge. Um, not going to be at the sideline, but I guess I can still be in tune that way. What was the most important part of, of that game? I always think of some of the old coaches and cliches about, you know, you're going to play every play like it's your last play, we play hard because you never know when the key play is going to happen. From your perspective, what was the most important part of that game that led Washington to eventually run away with it? Yeah. I think it was a collective of small things. Um, and it was really, I think, the, the lack of mistakes, um, like the ball was getting to places. Guys were in the right spots on the right timing. Um, obviously that comes down to play calling as well. And so making sure that, hey, we don't have to force anything. I know Jaden through a pig kind of, you know, had Terry there, but it just seemed like it just carried away on him. But other than that, it was like really good, solid, fundamental football. And you were basically able to just chip your way. It wasn't a ton of huge plays, but really just, you know, chipping your way down the field, staying on, converting on third downs. Um, you know, running the ball, good mix of run, pass, Jaden moving with his feet as well. Like all of these small little things that don't seem very tough, but are tough at the NFL to stay consistent with that we're really connecting with our team. Um, and multiple players, you know, not just a few, but really all over the place. And so, um, really good team dominant win. Going back and watching what you guys are doing, it's so amazing and complicated and fun in the running game, just the different ways that Kingsbury setting things up, like on the opening drive, which was a lot of no huddle for runs that are all different conceptual plays at a different formations, essentially. I'm wondering from a personnel standpoint, like running on and off the field or just getting aligned, is this any more complicated than offenses you've run in the past? Cause that's not necessarily normal that you'd have like different formation families and then different concepts on four straight runs like that. Oh yeah. You know, I think, I think what, what Cliff does a good job of, um, that I've never done anywhere else. I mean, we have, we have so many walkthroughs that we have so many times to practice being in different positions. Hey, this is your, this is your details on this route and you're going to probably do that and a walkthrough probably 15 times a week. Um, and that's including practice as well. And so, you have a lot of practice being in different spots. You get comfortable. Okay. This is my responsibility, even though, you know, I saw B route playing quarterback, you know, we were there RB direct snap or if I'm shipping on the edge or I'm out wide or I'm doing emotion, like, we're getting really comfortable in running these plays that we have drawn up for the week, which allows us to go out there and play fast. And so now to the viewers like, oh, look, they're all over the place. But for us, it's just, we're running that one specific play that I've already wrapped 30 times this week, you know, Austin Eckler with this here on GND. So Austin, as you work your way back, this is, you know, obviously you're not a fellow player. You're cutting differently than than most folks. But like if I like stub my toe, I'm ginger about it for like days at a time. And like, I'm afraid to put weight on it. You've got to go out and get in a bunch of car wrecks, you know, this, this common Sunday against a bunch of guys that want to knock your head off. What's sort of that first thing where you are maybe tentative about coming back and then you go, okay, I'm good to go. What's that first marker where you're like, yep, I'm me again. I'm ready to rock. I think, you know, during practice, you know, we try not to hit each other as much as we can. I mean, you don't want to save our bodies for the game just because it is so intense. And so you don't really get that full contact hit and practice. And so that's what I would say is that gets me ready to go is that full contact hit like that first pop in a game. And that's really if I'm injured or if I'm not injured coming back like that first hit, you know, is that kind of like a wake up like it almost like jolts it's more adrenaline through your body. And I feel like you kind of like come alive in a sense. Like you feel rejuvenated in a kind of weird twisted way. Like your body's neck now alert to go and, you know, have more car wrecks basically. So that's what I would say. That's what I would say. Austin Echler did tell us a couple of weeks back that he's happy to take questions from you guys on the phone. So we can open up the phones for some questions today. We'll get a couple on the back end of the conversation here at 800-636-1067. Let Austin touch the people a little bit 800-636-1067. You want to talk with one of Washington's best offensive players through the first quarter of their season on Grant and Danny. Are you aware? It seems like maybe because you stayed back and you've been around the area here the last few days, maybe you would have picked up on it. But the three straight wins is one thing to get people excited. I mean, you got to go back to 91 the last Super Bowl year to find the last time this team in back-to-back weeks has done what it has offensively. People are really starting to get excited. Are you feeling that? Is that tangible within the building at all? Yeah, it seems like this community has definitely gone through some tough times. So it really feels good to be a part of giving you guys some early success because I'm seeing people making videos about, "Girl, man, I'm about to start tearing up and talking about, "Man, we're back." People in the comments are like, "It finally feels like it's not just a spur of the moment that we actually have a team." It's really cool to be a part of the new era and the new feel of what we're doing here with Dan Quinn and our new ownership and the rest of this team. It's been awesome, man. It's been awesome to see revitalizing the community and hate more to come because that's what we're about. You heard Dan Quinn. I heard him before. I jumped on this. The quote he was saying is like, "We are in relentless pursuit to continue to be the best that we can." So the best is yet to come. We're just getting started and more is on the way. Along those lines too, home game after a couple straight on the road, first time you guys have played at home since the Giants home opener when you broke a kick return for a touchdown that got called back to open the home slate. But a lot of us that have been around for a while are just kind of curious to see what it looks like. I've heard from so many fans this week that are going to their first game at the stadium in 10 years that didn't want to give Dan Snyder money or weren't happy about the name changer for whatever reason have stopped going to games and all of a sudden maybe they're opting back in. What are you guys anticipating in terms of a home advantage maybe this weekend? Yeah, absolutely. I'm not going to lie the first game too. We were popping in there. It was loud. I don't know if it was because we had some good energy and we were beating a division rival and going back and forth. But it was definitely appreciative of that crowd that was there. But I'm expecting this one to be just as good if not better for sure now that we're getting some momentum going. In sports, it's an emotional roller coaster for the fans. When the time is right and things are going well, you definitely are going to pull people out of places where they've been hiding for a while because they haven't been excited or for whatever reason like you were talking about. They didn't want to go and support. I think we're opening some new doors and we're getting people excited about something. Guess what? You're going to get more input. I'm expecting that place to be rocking. I'm looking forward to it. Yeah, Austin, it's kind of to your point. What's happening now is just so much damn fun. It's so awesome and you're integral ingredient to it. Changing this culture, changing the perception and changing the way everybody locally and around the league views Washington. So my question is, before you came here, how aware were you of sort of that same perception that wasn't very positive? This wasn't a destination. This wasn't a place where feelings were very good. How cognizant of that? Were you and how important was it to you to say we're going to go change that? Look, I had no idea. I had no idea. I kind of learned about the culture from guys that were here before me and basically everything I said was like, look, I don't care what the hell was going on here before. I got here because this is now and this is new and we got a whole new team, whole new staff, whole new players, whole new ownership. And like, we're a whole new face at this point. Like, so whatever you all did in the past, you know, that's all gone. Like most those players are gone too, right? So this is a whole new refresh start. You know, and I've been, I've been a part of, you know, teams that we had a lot of talent and didn't come out and there's expectations or an end in the opposite where, hey, you don't know what's going to happen and you actually end up being, you know, a solid team making a run. And so coming into this new culture was pretty awesome actually to be a part of a lot of new things because we're all learning together. We have high expectations for ourselves, but really don't know how it's going to play out because we haven't played with each other yet. And so now to see all of this new stuff coming together, getting in a rhythm, right? A culture being said, and I've said this over and over and over again, if I wanted to be a head coach, I'd want to be like Dan Quink because I just love what he's about, all about that culture, all about the brotherhood. It makes it super inviting place to play. And not only that, but a competitive place and a place that you really are hungry to continue to get better for the guy next to you. And so when you put all those pieces together, man, I mean, it's a combination for good things. It doesn't guarantee wins, but it's definitely going to help. Did you have a favorite play in terms of like design, execution, call, how it looked? Just watching the game at home like the rest of us that stands out to you looking back at the 42 points. I actually wanted to say this, like you make sure you watch our kickoff team. Like our kickoff team is freaking relentless. Like, oh my god, like I would not want to go against our kickoff team. Like those guys, oh, you're talking about coverage, right? I'm talking about kickoff coverage. Like our team are this, oh my, there's some dogs out there, man. They are going to hunt. They're going to eat and they are, they are doing just that, man, because it is, it is straight carnage. It was hilarious. That's something that doesn't get a lot of love, but definitely watch our kickoff team. That was my curveball for y'all, but it is, it's fun to watch because those guys are crazy. It was a little barisido breaking ball. My buddy sitting next to me, I think it was Senate. Somebody had a huge hit. Big tackle, the whole sideline went crazy on a kickoff play, a coverage play. And he's like, oh yeah, am I wrong? Or do we always destroy people on kickoff returns? He's running wild or what? I feel bad for their returner because they do not know what's about to happen or they do and they can't stop it. Wow. So far, it sounds like you are a big fan of the new kick return. I don't know why anyone wouldn't be. We're getting more returns. It seems like it's fun. It's opened up a little bit. I mean, you should be a big fan. Leaking the league and kick return. You've ripped off like a couple. But, you know, we've got a couple out there. It's supposed to be safer, right? It's supposed to take some of the bigger collisions. You know, really, for the frontline guys, those are where less big collisions are happening, I guess, but for the returner, I mean, it's still, I mean, it's still full bore. Like, you know, we're getting messed up. If you, you know, get, if the guy gets beat up front, you don't make someone miss. So, still football, still dangerous place, still has some of that, that factor of, you know, a traditional kickoff. It's just, it's just different. You know, when you change anything, it takes a while for people to get used to it. So, I think this is what we're experiencing right now with the new kickoff rules. So, earlier in the show, we were taking calls just a bit ago, trying to find a nickname for this offense, right? Great to show on turf for the Rams. You guys don't punt. You need it. You're the best offense in the league right now. You need a nickname. So, here are some that we came up with. We wanted to bounce off of you and you tell us if you like any of these. All right. Let's hear it. All right. We got the thrill on the hill, homage to Capitol Hill and DC. Ooh, okay. Thump and dump, which sounds inappropriate, but it's about the offense. Thump and dump. Wait, something dump? No, thump and dump. Oh, thump and dump. Okay. Okay. Yeah. We've got East Coast offense, juxtaposed with West Coast offense. Okay. Run DMV. Run DMV. So, D and C. Yeah, exactly. And then Danny, you had the no punt offense, AK the NPO. Like playing off the RPO, except it's an NPO. I think the first one was definitely the best option. What was that one again? Thrill on the hill. Thrill on the hill. Thrill on the hill is good. I like it. So, just so you know, on the polling, run DMV is running away running away with it. Like 71% of votes. I was going to say that, but I just didn't know if people were, you know, know the reference or be a fan or yeah. So, I thought the thrill on the hill was a little bit more balanced of a name, but I could definitely see the run DMV for sure. Run D and C. Yeah, all the old people my age are going, I remember them that one and they're clicking on it. So, Cliff Kingsbury's had great offenses over the years, right? He's, you know, pelts on the wall. Offends have been good. He's never been known for like having an exceptional rush offense. It's been good. But I think by some quarterbacks, they're athletic. I was thinking about this this morning. I think we're underrated having Anthony Lynn on the staff as the run game coordinator. I know you played for him, you know, earlier on in your career, I feel like he's instrumental in kind of helping you guys make this run game balance, sophisticated, powerful and explosive. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, there's two sides to, you know, making the run game work. Well, I really three, right? Having a great past game absolutely helps having the offensive line and receivers that are willing to and able to, you know, actually convert the run that we're trying to make work work and then, you know, having the running back self to do it as well. So, from the physical side, we need to have those, which I'm loving the pieces that we brought in, the team that we put together because we've definitely been meshing well. And then you got bringing, you know, Coach Lynn and he's either guru and when it comes to the running game, he's been, you know, really a specialty or specialist at that for the last 20 years and bringing him in and helping him get what he's really good at. And what I really like about Coach Lynn is he puts specific players and people in the right space to do certain things that they're best at. Hey, what are we best at? Hey, against this team, you know, we are strong going to the right or we're strong with Austin, you know, inside zone, this game. And he's really thinking about the details of, hey, what are the probabilities based off of the players that we have and the capabilities that we have in our matchup that we're going to face. And so that's what he lives, breathes and sleeps. And so, yeah, matching that with Cliff and what he's been doing with Jaden as well has been, has been a matchmaking heaven for both sides. Austin Echler on Grant and Danny. All right, let's bring in Dante who's in Waldorf wants to say hi to Austin. Dante, what's up? Hey, how you doing? Hey, also, hey, God speak to you, man. First thing, what's the vibe like in BC right now? Let me start here on locker room right now. Ooh, good question. So everyone just got back yesterday, man. And, you know, winning solves a lot of the culture and the, I would say the feeling of, you know, the drag of the season. And so when you're winning, you're on a run, like people are bouncing into the, you know, the locker room, like smiles on faces, like there's a sense of confidence. There's a sense of, hey, we have a mission. We got to keep going. Like we got to keep the pedal down. We have an expectation that is even higher now because of how we started. So I would say as far as vibes go, we're in a good zone. You don't want to ever get too high, too low. But we're in a zone where, hey, we want to maintain this and keep building on what we have. Let's go to Chris who's in Brandywine wants to hop in with Austin Echler on Grant and Danny's with us every Tuesday at 5 p.m. given us trusted insight. He is our insider presented by IT cadre where DC sports insiders share their exclusive perspective. What's up, Chris? How are you? Hey, thanks. Don't roll. Thanks. Take my car. I'm a Prince George County teacher and looking forward to have my school apply for Austin's program that he has a nonprofit program. But my question for him today is you've been apart as a veteran. You've been a part of many different teams and with San Diego or LA. And is it how is the energy or vibe compared to what you're experiencing now? Do you feel like there's something special going on here? Do you think it runs the course or how do you feel about your experience so far? Yeah, I appreciate that, Chris. And yeah, we can get, you know, weight room or some resources over to the school. Definitely hit up the part. Can I ask before you answer the question? Because I, you've told us so much about your ventures, you know, with the app and different things you're doing. What is he referencing? I'm not familiar. Uh, yeah. So I have the Austin Echo Foundation where we put resources back into communities that are in need. And so obviously that's very vast, but we've done things like washers and dryers, you know, schooling supplies. Our main, our main avenue is weight rooms for high schools or just schools in general. Right. They need those. It's fantastic. There's a bunch of different resources that we've been putting back into the communities that and looking to get more into the, to the DC area, the DMV area here. So that's what he's brought to be there. That's awesome. Uh, and then specific to like the vibes with this team compared to the past, does it feel similar or unique? Yeah, I think the vibes of the team is something that can be established early on. Um, but the season 100% affects that. Um, because there's so much for stake when you're playing in the season, right? Like wins, losses, how the team's doing, how individuals are doing, how the leadership is doing. All of that has a little piece that's going to affect how the, the feeling of the team is on a personal level as well. You know, if you're winning, you know, it definitely helps for losing a dozen, right? This plays a lot, a lot of your mental trying to figure out, you know, a method to, to go forward. And so wherever right now, what I think is really good as far as like coaching from Dan Quinn is you never want to get too high where you're like, Hey, we're, we're the best thing ever on turf, you know, like you guys make nicknames for us and all this stuff. It's like, that's great. We'll let you guys have that fun. We got to still locking on the mission. Um, and that's continued to win games, continue to go, because the job's not done. We only play four games. Like everyone's excited. That's great. You know, you guys be excited for us. We're excited too, but we guess what we still got work to do. And so as far as what I've been around, it's, that's where we're at right now. It's still in that mode of, Hey, let's continue to lock in. Um, we can be excited, you know, after, you know, we get our job done at the end of the season. Um, but right now it's, it's continued to, yep, take the, take the compliments. Um, you know, take them as they are, but also understand that, hey, we still got a job to do and they can flip in an instant. And so don't, don't get too high. Don't get too low. You guys stay medium. We're going to do the go crazy thing at three and one. We can be irresponsible. We've been waiting for three and one. Hey, we got to focus on winning games. So you guys can keep going crazy. Awesome. Avenue on the show, man. As always, glad you're feeling better here. Looking forward to seeing you on the field on Sunday. Thanks for the time. Thank you. Thanks y'all. I appreciate the fans for the questions too. Thank you guys. Yeah, definitely. Thank you as we go forward. That's Austin Echler.