Grant and Danny
Beltway Blitz, Who Needs More Credit For Washington?
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Are you tired of podcasts that claim they hit 80% of the games when really they just lose like most of us? Think Cash2Ticket's the spot for you. We're real, we're transparent, we're having a hell of a good time with it and we sit there and we're there for the sweat with you guys. We're just trying to figure it out just like you. Follow and listen to Cash2Ticket on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Whether you love true crime or comedy, celebrity interviews or news, you call the shots on what's in your podcast queue. And guess what, now you can call them on your auto insurance too, with the name of your price tool from Progressive. It works just the way it sounds. You tell Progressive how much you want to pay for car insurance and they'll show you coverage options that fit your budget. Get your quote today at progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive. 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So we're excited about that to check in with him ahead of the biggest early season game the commanders have played in many, many years. But with the blitz ready to go, we'll cover the Ravens, the commanders and the NFL. So let's get started right now. Nate Davis of USA Today to start us off, Nate Washington, Baltimore might be the most fun game of the weekend, I think, nationally. There's some big story lines now with the Jets firing their coach, Drake May debuting. But the local game is right up there. Yeah, no for sure. I think Ravens, commanders, and I think Cowboys and Lions, we only two games this week with teams with both of winning records. But I mean, seeing Lamar Jackson against Jay Daniels, who got some Lamar Jackson comparisons prior to the draft, you know, should be, should be fun with your first place names. Nate, Grant, I disagree a little bit about the Ravens. I still think they're good. But a lot of that is based on, you know, track record and the fact that they just they keep turning this machine all along. They haven't been unbelievable this year. Coming off a huge offensive total this past week, obviously, but I guess maybe this is true for a lot of the NFL. But the Ravens are good, right? On this argument. So I'm basically saying I think the Ravens are still really good Super Bowl contender. They haven't hit the ground running yet, but I still think they're really good. And Grant's point is this year, I don't speak for him, but this year they haven't been great yet. So why are we crowning them? I still think they're really good, but it's based a lot on track record. I mean, you know, fundamentally that I want to agree with Grant on all arguments here. But I get that I think the Ravens are are you know, it's packed in as the league is and it doesn't appear that there's any real elite power team. I kind of think the Ravens are the one that might have a chance to really break out. And I mean, the way the office was the last two weeks, I mean, it looks like that, you know, Henry Jackson really found a way to mess your style. So I thought it was going to be a problem from a quarterback. I didn't think we want to be under center and running back once the line of deep in the eye. But I think they've got scary potential. I'm a little worried, you know, about the defense right now, more so than anything. But I'm given the multiple very ways that a lot of us can operate both from a passing and running standpoint. I kind of think that they might be the scariest team in the league. Yeah, to clarify my stance, I think they're good, not great. Like scariest team in the league, that kind of hype that gets thrown on them and I'm not knocking you. But like I'm not there yet with them. I watched them blow a game to the Raiders and, you know, if not for a bot special teams play, they'd be two and three right now. I don't know. I just, I think they're good. I don't think they're like there. Yeah, these are great projecting that I think that they've got maybe more high potential than anybody else. And I think that maybe this was an offensive news a little time to kind of mix in these new parts, including bring your starters on the online. Like I don't think they're there yet, but I think that they have potential to maybe be more dominant and more just intimidating team. And then he began city or Detroit, wherever you like up there at the top. Totally fair. And I also think bringing in Dean Pease to help Zach or is going to help a lot actually, which was done today. Something we'll be talking more about in a few minutes here on the blitz extrapolating this thing out beyond the match up this weekend that we care about. What do you make of the Jets firing Salah Rogers today said essentially he had nothing to do with it? Do you buy that? Yeah, I've been talking about some colleagues today, you know, why watch Rogers full interview on on Maxie. Yeah, I mean, you're going to take the guy as word or you're not. So it's just kind of a, you know, how do you how do you come down on that one? I mean, I found. The way on that is that there was kind of the usual defense of the angle hack is that, you know, we'll get this figured out. He's the guy. I mean, he did seem pretty open to changes on offense. Again, you know, whether you believe we're not. But I mean, that that has been kind of the it was probably going to be the more material narrative you're giving that they're not going to change coaches on staff. It's just over the yesterday that they're they're willing to change roles and they've got downing their passing coordinator for more. And I think most people agree that this offense needs to evolve. So I'm kind of curious how they operate with that moving forward. And it seems like Rogers is open to changes for for a team that's got to pick a thing out here in a hurry. They'd Buffalo dropped a couple straight here after a pretty impressive start. What do you see in there? Yeah, you know, I'm seeing a team maybe got a little a little overhiked on the initial. Oh, when there and you know, maybe you know, that that that's the way that the Ravens steam rolled them. This is maybe why I've got a little bit of a bend towards Baltimore right now. But, you know, they need to hear back that that's part of it. I mean, they really did a good job of defense up until recently, despite missing a couple guys over there. I mean, Monday night's going to be an interesting little bit test for both the bills and the jets, you know, when it winners going to be in first place. Afterward, despite the issues on both sides and certainly, you know, you got to wonder about Josh Allen. He's had two really poor games here in a row, you know, is that going to be a dark horse team that maybe goes after DeMontay Adams as well? Because it really does seem like maybe they do need that extra receiver unless on the secure the guy, which I'm not sure. We're ready to really crowd him and that wire sugar one rolling up. Good info. As always Nate, we appreciate you, buddy. Thank you. Thanks, Dave. Thanks. Be good. Let's dive deeper into Baltimore's three and two team. I got Bobby Trosto who covers the Ravens and all things Baltimore sports up in Baltimore. You should check him out on social if you aren't already at Bobby Baltimore. So let's start with this, Bobby. How good are the Ravens in your opinion through five weeks? Oh, still developing. There's still certainly a question. I just saw seconds ago, Roquan was meeting with reporters and a scrum. And he was asked about Jaden and he was quoted for saying he hasn't seen a defense leg hours. Well, I'll tell you what, that's a confident thing to say about a past defense that has been absolutely atrocious. And I love Roquan. I really do. And who knows? They just brought in Dean Pease to help out the Young Zach or the youngest DC in the league or one of at 32. But I tell you guys, I'm sure you've seen some of the highlights and whatnot. It has not been pretty on the back end. And it's very similar to two years ago when Mike McDonald was just getting his start after a one-year internship at college with Jim in Michigan. Well, what do you think bringing Dean Pease back in to be a second set of eyes actually does? Do you think it's tangible this week? Bobbyers are going to take a few weeks to kind of see his impact. I'm sure the latter, he's already there. The news came out this morning and then he was seen at practice, you know, not long after. 75 was in Baltimore at the DC from 12 to 17. If I'm not mistaken, that was before my time when I was here. But the guys got a wealth of knowledge, a ton of different experience. And I'm sure Zach's just Rex Ryan's been saying this a lot with his Ravens coverage. And I'll, you know, I'll lean on him here. I mean, he's coaching from a coaching out of a book, you know. And I think that, that sort of lends to what we've been seeing. And he just seems a little, I'm sure he's a little overwhelmed. He didn't have, he didn't have the experience that Mike was able to get, albeit only a year at Michigan. It's hard to simulate, you know, in preseason. It's hard to simulate throughout the offseason, especially when you have just an absolute onslaught the way they have the first five weeks, you know, you open in Kansas City with all the emotions and the hangover coming from last January. And then you kind of let that streak into week two and Vegas and Gardner Minshoot. We just got benched finally, kind of spoils your home opener. And then from there, you go to Dallas and you almost pop up a historic lead. But since then it's been, you know, all breaks or, you know, all gas, no breaks to quote Robert Salah. And they're starting to find their footing. But defensively, I would not be surprised if it's a shootout. Like a lot of many are expecting Sunday. Yeah, I was wondering, is the defensive issue worse? I mean, like, what are the biggest problems and how do they fix them in your opinion to dive deeper into that? Yeah, I always like to kind of make sure that we're paying attention to what happened last year. I mean, it wasn't Philly after their 2022 Super Bowl run. But, you know, losing Mike Mack, I think, hurt the fan base a lot and maybe even hurt the building because of how, just how much of a Wiz kid he was. And I think you saw that with how the league responded to, you know, during the hiring cycle and whatnot, Seattle wasn't the only one that was kind of chasing after him. And so that's the headliner. But then from a staffing standpoint underneath him, you know, you lost Anthony Weaver to go be the D.C. in Miami. Darnard Wilson, who a lot of people think are the future head coach. He goes to Tennessee as a D.C. And there's other staff members who lost not to mention. Today, Dean Clowney, who had nine and a half sacks out of nowhere, a career year on the other side of 30. You lose Patrick Queen, the middle part of your defense and Geno Stone, who was somebody that developed and had, you know, seven or eight interceptions last year, that's to be talked about, you know. So as much as we want to kind of point the finger at the young gun, I think there's been just as much of a lack of execution on all three levels, particularly on that back end, which got absolutely torched by Joe burrow and how surgical he is in the pocket with Jamar Chase and T Higgins kind of has the benefit here. Let's go to this offense here in Baltimore. Obviously it's juggernaut. We're familiar with that. We kind of are mirror images of each other here, Bobby, doing the Spider-Man meme at this point with athletic quarterbacks and, you know, playmakers, sort of the different guy every week. What are the strengths right now? I think some of the obvious, but what are maybe the relative weaknesses for this Baltimore offense at this point? Ooh, boy, in recent weeks, yes, it's really just there's been so much focus. They've been putting points up on the board. It's been so much of a focus on the defensive side of the ball that in terms of weaknesses, they haven't reared their ugly head yet. I mean, maybe on the outside and outside is a flowers and Rashad Bateman, you know, where are you going to get your production? But honestly, when you have the deepest tight end room, I would argue in the entire league with Mark Andrews not even coming on yet. I just don't think it's magnified as much your subpar wide receiver room, you know, and like that's where Todd Monkin has just used these multiple tight end sets to his advantage. You know, all three Sunday and Cincinnati were involved. I'm talking about Mark Andrews. I'm talking about Isaiah likely and Charlie Kohler, who a lot of people probably don't never even heard of outside of Baltimore, you know, like the all three of these guys, I think, again, it doesn't, the subpar wide receiver room is not magnified as much when you have those three. And I haven't even mentioned, you know, the future Hall of Famer and Derek Henry who's opened up this offense. I think a lot of us feel in Baltimore that he puts them over the top and, you know, could they have won that AFC title game last year? Of course, comes down to a couple of plays, but they just give them a dynamic, a blend, a certain level of explosion and obviously like a pick your poison to and since he found that out, you know, all of a sudden through four quarters, they're stuck in the box really well. They're playing Derek really well. I think you have 41 or 42 yards going into overtime finishes with 92 because that 51 yard first. So that's, that's sort of the pick your poison mentality that they're rolling with right now. Lamar is, uh, is protecting the football really kind of being the John Stockton of this team, I think, and being a distributor. And for the first time in his career, he's got the, you know, the Sha Shaquille O'Neal will do is Kobe Bobby, we appreciate you, bro. Thank you. Of course. Yeah. I can't wait to talk to you on Friday. Grant Danny. Good to hear from you. And I have a great week guys. You too pal. See you bud. There's Bobby Trossett Bobby Baltimore. I want to check him out on social. All right. Let's keep it moving. Our own Eric Bickel by this brand new upstart program. Look at these guys. I think there are a couple of months in now. The sports junkie. There's a good formula there. Listen to them in the morning. We're worried about them. So we just, we need to get some people to start listening to them. You know what I mean? They're trying to build momentum. They're just, it's, look, it's hard when you start out. E.B. How do you break in? It's a grind. It's a grind. What was it? Hopefully one day we'll get there. You will. Um, what can we make drab do next week? Do that's the grossest thing we've ever done. That was disgusting. I will be honest with you. Danny and I have both not seen it yet. Like I don't know if that's going to change. I love you guys. I saw the premise. I saw some lead up and I said, okay, that's, I'm pulling the rip court. I'm popping smoke. I can't. I just can't. By the way, I'm changing diapers still and I couldn't do it. Yeah. Yeah. Now what we did, what actually what Valdez and Mike Mar did was reprehensible. What drag did was less bad as far as I'm concerned. If you need any more details than that, go search on all junkies. Yeah, we literally can't say anymore because there are rules that govern that sort of thing. Facebook, I think it's literally between Facebook and Instagram and everything. I think it's got over a hundred thousand views. That does not surprise me. Oh yeah. People like seeing crazy things done. Speaking of presents, you got to be feeling pretty good right now, E.B. The locals are not only winning, they're dominating and they're they're good. Yeah, I guess they're good. I know Jaden's good. I'm willing to go there. I'm willing to get over my skis on Jaden and get like beyond or like I think I should go to be one of your all-time greats, I'm just going to be honest with you. All time greats. Here's why. Here's why. He's like, you have to make the inevitable comparison to RG3 because it's the last quarterback that came on the scene. It burst on the scene. It had a somewhat of a similar style, but Robert was in a lot of ways of fraud, right? He was a one trick pony, little read option, you know, through the plays, run them over and over, took the league by storm. And if you hadn't gotten hurt, you would have had a nice career. This guy's different. This guy is doing the things that I was in denial of about Robert. This guy's throwing guys open. This guy's anticipating where he needs to be and throwing it before they're looking. He's making progressions. He's careful with the football. And then, by the way, if the offensive line, which is way better than anybody ever thought actually breaks down, he can just take off and run for 40 if he wants. He's got the work ethic. He's beating the players. He's beating Bobby Wagner there to the facility by an hour. He's at four a.m. Like this kid, what is he not have? I guess the only thing he doesn't have is like the body of a Greek god. Other than that, he's got it all. So I don't see why he can't be one of the all-time great. So you were no longer worried, though, about the frame because that would be my immediate answer. That's what I'm worried about, man. One of three big concerns. That's a good one. I stipulate to that. Yeah. Okay. I can't argue that other than he I've already seen strides in him trying to reduce the amount of hits he's taken. I think we've all seen that. So listen, I stipulate to that, but that's the weakness. Other than that, I think he's got all the intangibles. He's got the acumen. He's got the poise is unreal. The confidence and then the post-game humility, he's got everything, everything that you could be in control of, right? Can't control your frame. So it is what it is. Now, here's the other part of the equation, though. So I'm willing to get over my skis and praise him and say, yeah, you know what, this guy's way better than I even thought, like he's it. I don't know about the defense, though. I'm confused by the defense because in the first two weeks, I thought it was the worst defense I've ever seen and I've seen a lot of bad ones here. And now all of a sudden they're bucking up and they're getting pressure from their hands and Frankie Louvoo looks like she's playing like micro-parses and, you know, our backhand is playing, you know, okay enough. So I'm confused. I know Jayden's good. I know we're off at this good. I'm just not sure about the defense. How do you see this weekend going against Baltimore? Well, I mean, I think you'd have to be crazy to think that we should go in and win, but we certainly are capable. So I thought, look, I picked the Ravens at the winner all this year. I think they're incredible. I think what they're doing with Henry and Lamar was brilliant. I don't know how you defend them. I don't know how you stop them. But he's having a heck of a hard time stopping us too. So, you know, maybe it's going to be one of those bangle situations where we're just going boom, boom, boom, boom, everybody's scoring and, you know, hopefully you're on the right side of it. So I don't know. I mean, I guess I think it's maybe a lot closer than I ever thought it could be to being maybe like a 50/50. Even though the line, I think it's what, six, six and a half, I think it could be, I think it could go either way, which I'm actually stunned that I'm articulating those words. You and me both. What an incredible time. Let's see what happens. Chance for five and one. E.B. Thank you, buddy. Thank you guys. See you. Good luck with the new show, man. Jumps. Thank you. Every day here on the fan six to 10 a.m., you can listen to E.B. and the boys as they break down the commanders leading up to and after the game right here on your flagship home for the Nats and the caps and more talk about the commanders than anywhere else. Danny, who is not getting enough credit? What is not getting enough credit for this team's four and one start? We have not hit the phones very much today, so I want to open those up right now on the MGM National Harbor listener lines, 800-636-1067. We'll get into that next right here on the fan. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Whether you love true crime or comedy, celebrity interviews or news, you call the shots on what's in your podcast queue. And guess what? Now you can call them on your auto insurance, too, with the name of your price tool from Progressive. It works just the way it sounds. You tell Progressive how much you want to pay for car insurance and they'll show you coverage options that fit your budget. Are you tired of podcasts that claim they hit 80% of the games? Really? They just lose like most of us. We're real, we're transparent, we're having a hell of a good time with it, and we sit there and we're there for the sweat with you guys, we're just trying to figure it out just like you. Follow and listen to Cash The Ticket on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for watching. And with the commanders four and one, Jayden Daniels getting lots of praise deservedly and Washington's offense number one running game considered elite, there's plenty of flowers being thrown for this team doing something it hadn't done since 2008 through five games has a chance to be five and one for the first time since 1996, but who's not getting enough credit and what about this team do you think isn't getting enough credit? That's the question right now on Grant and Danny. I'll start. These might be a little bit too easy GP, but I'm going for many hell. Number one is Tyler Biotich, a guy that you've highlighted throughout the show today and we talked to Will Montgomery earlier, he was great breaking down what he sees from the video line, but the lack of penalties, the, the, how many times have you seen a free rusher and someone going, oh, I thought you were supposed to block that guy and I was going to block this guy, but oh, we, we got confused because this guy went this way. They're on the same page, especially with the rookie quarterback. Exactly. Rookie quarterback, three new starters, really four on the offensive line. I mean, give or take right at times when you add in the fact that Coleman and Lucas are splitting, but they all of a sudden look like a cohesive group that's played together for a decade and everyone seems to on the same page, he's not only, you know, he was brought in to be a stabilizer, not necessarily a pro bowler, but that's how he's playing at this point to me. I mean, I'm not great in every center around the league at the stage, but here's what I know. They don't get penalized very much. The holes of the run game are there. Nobody's running unblocked to Jayden Daniels and the rare times that they leave someone on a counter for Daniels goes for 35 around his butt. So give me Tyler Biotich as an unsung hero. I think that's a really good one. I'm going to go with, I think special teams in general has mostly been strength for them and has been very quietly something that again, not batting a thousand, they had a couple penalties in a game and a kickoff return for a touchdown brought back. But Echler last time I checked was leading NFL and kick return average. They have done a really good job there. I thought a Lamadeza Kias this past week as a punt returner was legit great, routinely 10, 12, 15 yards he was getting on punt returns since the first week of the season, a loss and a bad loss. They have not missed an extra point or a field goal. That's huge. Tresway is kicking bombs, very rarely punting, but when he is punted, he has been very good. Echler yesterday, when we had him on the show, accentuated the kickoff coverage unit, which is one of the most physical thumps at a level that very few around the league do. I think that they've been pretty good on punt coverage. I don't really remember anything being ripped off against way or the punt team. I'm not going to sit here and say it's a, you know, a plus, but it's pretty close since week one, I would say. And it's at least, you know, maybe in that B plus a minus range for the season. And sometimes those hidden yards you never think about, you gain 15. So instead of first and 10 at the 15, it's 30. You know, you don't get a penalty to take you half the distance to the goal and you start your drive at the 29 yard line. Those things add up and I think that they're going in their favor way more often than they have in the past. Unsung heroes, you touched on one of the names I'm going to, I'm going to do sort of a three is one here. Why is it Kias Luke McCaffrey? No Brown really. I'll have fourth and Xiaomi Brown. Now this is not a statistical production kudos because you add their numbers together. They equal a wide receiver. That is the way I'm used to doing it. The way the rest of the league does it, right? You got a number one and number two, you get about 30 catches and you know, 300 400 yards out of those guys at this point, right? They're not doing it that way. What they are doing is having guys complete their responsibilities. So any given play, you got it something different to do and the blocking. We highlighted this play on Monday, Austin Echler highlighted it yesterday on the run that Echler rips off where he fumbles, Zacchaeus is out of the play. He carries out a play fake to the opposite side of the field out runs 15 different people to slide in there and retain possession. Now Washington wins the game regardless. They were better that at worst would have acted as a great punt, right? Because, you know, an arm punt kind of a thing, except it was via a ripoff run from Echler. But Zacchaeus hustles his butt down there. Oftentimes you do that. That's thankless. Well, the one time you need to do it, he does it recovers that fumble. That unselfish receiver play in terms of blocking and completing assignments and then doing everything you possibly can every play is part of the reason why they're running it so damn well, especially when they go outside and those unsung kind of, you know, under the radar plays are massive. A couple guys on defense that I think have been mostly good. I remember a week or two into the season. There was this narrative that Bobby Wagner had lost a step and he's not as fast as he once was. I think that's probably clear. You're not going to be at his age when you've tackled as many guys and had as many collisions as he has. But I do think Bobby Wagner's played really well as the defense has improved the last couple of weeks. He's got six tackles for long six, six. Nobody else on the team has more than two. That's a boatload. You're talking about a, you know, for a Mike linebacker to be on pace for like 25 tackles for loss over the course of a season, it's pretty insane. The other guy I would call out defensively that I haven't heard mentioned basically at all this year, but I think his flash to ton is Quan Martin and he got banged up. We'll have to see what his status is moving forward, what the injury report looks like for him. But Quan Martin to me is really settling in as a very solid long term building block in his role defensively where he essentially serves now as like a second safety. But really it's just positionless DB football where he covers, he's in the nickel occasionally and dime. He's he's matching up with somebody at their playing zone and bring them down in the box from time to time. I think Quan Martin's been much better maybe than people think so far. Give me Dorens Armstrong. Now this is what would he people a lot of times when it comes to pass rushers or otherwise will oftentimes focus on what somebody is not. He is not von Miller in his prime. He is not Michael Parsons. He's not a guy that we just saw this we couldn't do much, but he's not Miles Garrett. Very few of those guys are it's a little bit more workman like he's not going to win every time and disrupt the play. You don't always see him coming. You don't always see him constantly beating a tackle, but he's on 11 sack pace. Part of that is because they're playing good team defense. Part of that is they got leads and guys are throwing part of that is, you know, just by being around, you'll end up touching the quarterback in a stubblefield style. But 11 sacks is 11 sacks. You know what I mean? That's something that happens all the time around here. So it's again, it's not always the flash play, the sack fumble, the game changer type stuff, but whisper quiet is on pace for an 11 sex season. Who or what is not getting enough credit for the commander's four in one start to the season. Let's go to the Lorton where Bill is. What's up, buddy? How are you? How you doing, Grant? How you doing, Danny? Hey, buddy. I've got a lot of that sensational Jayden Daniels. I got the office of line with the job in doing running the ball of predicting Jayden and King's Mary doing a heck of a job that's not getting all that much free. Appreciate you. Is it possible to say Cliff Kingsbury is being underappreciated? Yes. Because we've been throwing Kingsbury parties, it feels like every Monday, but I do think nationally, you do not hear that to the same extent. You hear Jayden Daniels, Jayden Daniels, Jayden Daniels, and I'm not suggesting he's not the biggest piece to the puzzle, but Cliff Kingsbury is making life easier on Daniels, just like Daniels helping Cliff Kingsbury. I got two sneaky names and that relates to what the college has brought up. How about Bobby Johnson? The only name among those coaching staff is it's being assembled over the summertime where or you know, when the coaching term happened, I guess in the spring, when people are going, really? Bobby Johnson from the Giants, where they can't block anybody, that offensive line is pretty damn good. And we sort of forgot that that was the, that was the dude, a little bit maligned is coming there and got a group going really well. And also to Kingsbury as it relates, how about Anthony Lynn in terms of a running game guy? Anthony Lynn is a head coach. I think left something to be desired. Anthony Lynn maybe is an overall offensive mind, you know, incorporating passing concepts as a guy that understands running games and points of attack, combining out with Kingsbury's sort of horizontal raid, you got something pretty effective going on. Echler told us in the off season that one of the main reasons he decided to sign with Washington was to reunite with Anthony Lynn. So even if since the season started, he hasn't been overly as involved, which is not the case. That in and of itself to me is a gigantic victory to have added Echler has been one of their best, most explosive, unique pieces that they've got offensively. But yeah, he also is helping to design that running game. I mean, you could throw a lot of praise in that regard on any of the offensive coaches probably. Like you're right about Bobby Johnson. I remember thinking that made no sense and why on earth are they intrigued by this guy, but they kept to beat a pritchered around as their quarterbacks coach. I would say that's gone pretty well. They brought in Brian Johnson, who was the OC and play caller for the Eagles, who in Philly, they ran out of town last year to be their pass game coordinator. I would say for the most part, that's gone pretty well in terms of what you'd imagine is his purview. We've talked about Kingsbury, but you know, I'm not sure exactly what the role is for David Blau, who's the assistant quarterback's coach. But I would say so far so good for him. I mean, if you were on that side of the ball leading meetings, you put that on your resume with the big asterisk. Big star. Yeah. Most points. And this is the offense. Nobody wants to play right now. True is in Graysonville, who's not getting enough credit for the four in one start. Well, I think we missed the obvious Martin Mayhew, but I'll put that on a good point. Thank you. Martin Mayhew is a good answer. He's here still here. You know, what else? Marty Herney. Marty Herney, everybody. Still on the payroll. Marty party. But, but, you know, not all of joking aside, I think the coaches in general are getting enough credit because the team is playing better than the sum of its parts. We're getting more out of the 53 than the individual players. James in the side, you know, there was that play that equiran 30 yards, but then fumbled. And then, you know, OZ was there to recover that fumble. He came from the other side of the field and he just kept going. Yeah. That's a good thing. You're right. That's a hustle thing. That's based on basically taking over the identity that's preached all week. Yeah. Right. That's as much to do with our way street as anything else. And I can't wait to go in there and put it to Baltimore. Thanks, buddy. It's not just Zacchaeus, by the way. That is kind of what they do. Watch Johnny Newton chase plays down from the tackle. Watch the hustle and the in play grind, but the ability of allagretti because he was trying to get there to help out grabbing a fumble of zackers in the Cincinnati game that saved their bacon. They would have lost that game by the way. That would have been a loss if allagretti is not there to make a pretty athletic scoop. But doing the same thing, basically, as Akias was doing, which is just the thing that no one's ever going to notice, but it's the right thing to do. Yep. And it is clearly something that in this locker room isn't just one guy doing it. It's the expectation. It's the norm. You could say that that's coaching, which I think it is. I also think it's picking players that come in here that do things the right way. And that's an Adam Peters. That's a Lance Newmark who we haven't mentioned, you know, that old front office, that idea of he's a commander. We're giving him the commander tag, the label, the sticker, whatever it was, like he does things the way we want them done. I think that's what they were talking about. Absolutely. Yeah, it's easy to say. It's easy to say. We'll fight the ball. We'll hustle. We'll do whatever we play. And then come on. Not every time. They're doing it every time. We're having a party for the same few guys. It seems like every day and they deserve it. But who else should get some shine here for an amazing start? That's the question on Grant and Danny. Steve Maryucci is going to be on the show, the former NFL head coach in about an hour and 20 minutes at six right here on the fan. [BLANK_AUDIO] Taking you up to 6.30 on this Wednesday, Grant and Danny on the fan. Steve Maryucci joins the show in about an hour and 15 minutes. He have NFL network fame, the former head coach in the National Football League, looking forward to catching up with him. The commanders, when they started the year, by the way, expected to win 6.5 games, according to the odds makers, now Danny, 9.5 wins, up to three already. And it's hard to see even, okay, so they're going to go five and seven the rest of the way. Is that what this feels like? I mean, again, the bottom could fall out anytime, the league could figure you out, whatever. I mean, a million things happens. Guys, teams have gotten off to great starts. Look at Cliff Kingsbury's Arizona Cardinals a couple of years ago, where they were the talk of the league and basically, you know, limped into the wildcard round where they got boat raced. I mean, stuff happens, right? The Eagles last year collapsed. I guess I'm just saying the way that they're building, because each week it's almost more impressive, right? Cleveland. Again, I keep going back to this. I tweeted this out. Grandson Greenwich, Paulson, I thought Cleveland's defense was good. I don't mean like I thought they were good losers. No, I thought Cleveland's defense this past Sunday was impressive, attacking downhill, tackles for loss disruptive and Washington still scored 24 points in the first half. They turned Washington over ahead, but multiple opportunities to turnovers. And again, Washington had they felt like it could have scored 50 points in that game. Each week is a build on something else that we've already seen. It's great. I thought the first couple drives, they were pretty good. After that, I didn't see the same production, but you start chasing the game a little bit and Daniels made some off schedule plays that made life really difficult. The question for you guys is who's not getting enough credit for the four and one commanders at this point? Everybody tailgate Ted said, how about Ron Rivera? Let's give him some credit. If it wasn't such a disaster last year, maybe they wouldn't have been in such a good position in the draft where you take Daniels, rest of their picks early in rounds. Of course, because it was so bad so quickly last season, he didn't say this, but I'll add to this, the ownership group basically brought in Eugene Shen, did a little research on the, the upcoming trade deadline and said, Ron, we're going to go ahead and trade your defensive end. So just buckle up, buttercup, just so you know, you're going to be coach in Casey to Hill the rest of the way. And they went and got draft picks and loaded up so that they could be more appetizing and appealing to the front office executives that we're going to be interviewing with them. You got to send me my ring. You really do. Which along those lines, this ownership group, I don't think it's getting enough credit. There you go. Because you don't see it one to four on Sunday, but the difference is massive. The only tangible thing I'd say that the legitimate, like, oh, that definitely helped them on the field as a direct connection that we could see was when they stayed out West against the Cardinals and you just shelled out a bunch of money. So they got some more sleep and some more rest and some more guys healed faster and you didn't have to go back and forth traveling the way that matters so much. That was a very tangible thing. The rest of the stuff we don't really. Yeah, it's unsexy. I mean, when you go to the park, you can see the field that was never fixed. That's been fixed now. That's like an indirect. It didn't help. That's not right. You know, does that mean you're going to win a game because you got to practice an extra day on a better field? I don't know. There were a billion complaints during Snyder time and you had to go down a long list to get to this one, but this was always one of my themes of that group. If you couldn't see it, they weren't spending on it, right? If it wasn't something that he could parade around and go, look at my trophy. Look at the fact that I just spent $100 million on Albert Haynesworth. Look at what I just said. Look what I just did. When you didn't see it tangibly, they weren't going to spend on it. The bad facility. They wouldn't get Carlos Rogers's eyes checked, but at least that was the urban legend. Stuff like that. It was never, if it wasn't sexy, they weren't going to shell out the dough for it. And that's, you know, what loser organizations do. Bobby's in love. It's Phil on Grant and Danny. What's up, Bobby? How are you? Sorry, boy. Doing great. Thank you. Thanks for the great show. And I'm right home every day. Got it, bro. Thank you. Yeah, man. Absolutely. So I've actually got to a quick one, Mathis. I'm glad he finally had a good game. He looked wonderful against Cleveland, but my main call is Luke McCaffrey. No, he doesn't have the production yet, but his blocking is so good and he's been open a lot. So him, his route running must be really good. And the fans are so ready for him. Every time he touches the ball, Luke, you know, it's so awesome. So I'm excited for him. And finally, I'm going to give a shout out to Pat Fisher, Rest in Peace, one of the greatest cornerbacks ever to play through here. Yeah, one of the hardest hitters in team history, we were talking about him on the show yesterday, but if you're my age or Danny's age, but a 10 year gap, he was your parents' favorite player. Yeah. You know, he was that kind of guy defensively. So well said on Luke McCaffrey, I will stamp everything you just said with approval, man. That's a terrible retweet, he is so willing and so physical as a blocker. He is just such an unselfish guy. He does all that dirty work. We were trying to find a comp clear yesterday or a couple of days ago was like, who do you comp him to? And I was like, you know, as a receiver, I think there's a lot more in the tank that we haven't seen, but in terms of the style he brings and the physicality and his willingness, like, like Heinz Ward, almost now he was a great receiver, French Hall of Famer. I don't know the delivery be that. We'll see. He was also a great blocker, like Luke McCaffrey is just Willy. What do you want me to do, coach? The guy was a quarterback, then he was a wide receiver. He took some snaps in training camp at running back. He could do whatever he's an athlete. I love Luke McCaffrey. He will be on the show tomorrow at four o'clock. By the way, yeah, I'm Luke McCaffrey guy in. I don't know what the ceiling is as a receiver. I don't. I think there's a ton in the tank. I think it's a massively high ceiling. He's he's big. What does that look like? Just out of curiosity. Let's play that out. It depends what their offense is. If this is their offense moving forward forever, I don't think any receivers ever really going to be great because, you know, look at the Ravens as an example, a little more point guard than it is. Yes. A lot of the scrambles that we love or should have been throws or could have been throws, right? A lot of the big gains are going to come from tight ends and running backs in the screen game or whatever. So I don't know. I mean, in a, I'll say this, I think if he was like on the Rams, there you go. I was going to say, do the futile exercise in your league average offense. What is it? If like with Cooper Cup and Pukonakoe, like I think there's years where he could go catch 60 balls for, you know, 700 yards or he could be a 70 catch, 1000 yard guy in the right situation. Eventually. I don't think he's there yet. I know that he runs good routes. I know that he gets wide open. He's got an incredible feel against zone to just throttle it down. I bet on bloodlines, the McCaffery thing, his dad was a Hall of Fame type tight and wide receiver. Rather his brothers, a Hall of Fame running back. I, I believe in the player. I think there's a huge ceiling there. He's been a receiver for like three hours. That's pretty good on the best offense in the NFL. Yeah. I mean, to me, the, the thing that I like early is the physicality part, right? Where he's a willing and engaging blocker. He's helpful in that regard. And we haven't seen kind of that down field. Let's go get it. I don't know that we're going to just cause that may not be his role at this point, but that intermediate to short, he's thriving. As you kind of pointed out there, let him middle of the field type stuff, which is essential to keep people honest. Bill Belichick was on TV yesterday. He was asked how he would defend Jaden Daniels. I think you guys are really, really going to want to hear this. Also, I've got something pickleball related to tell Danny about that is pretty wacky. That's next on G and D on the fan. This episode is brought to you by progressive insurance. Whether you love true crime or comedy, celebrity interviews or news, you call the shots on what's in your podcast queue. And guess what? Now you can call them on your auto insurance too, with the name of your price tool from progressive. That works just the way it sounds. You tell progressive how much you want to pay for car insurance and they'll show you coverage options that fit your budget. Get your quote today at progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust progressive. Progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates price and coverage match limited by state law. Hey, Mike Villeny here host a cash to ticket alongside my partner, Jim Costa. It's really simple. Are you tired of podcast claiming they're a bunch of pro betters when they live in their mommy's basement? 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