Grant and Danny
Will Montgomery Joins G&D To Discuss How Good The Commanders OL Is
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Whether you love true crime or comedy, celebrity interviews or news, you call the shots on what's in your podcast queue, and guess what? Now you can call them on your auto insurance too, with the name of your price tool from Progressive. It works just the way it sounds. You tell Progressive how much you want to pay for car insurance, and they'll show you coverage options that fit your budget. Get your quote today at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates, price and coverage match limited by state law. Hey NFL fans, you can start the season with a big return on FanDul, America's number one sports book. So when you get a hunch in the middle of the game, you can check out the latest stats, view live play-by-play, and so much more on the same page where you place your bets. You'll get started with $200 in bonus bets guaranteed when you place your first $5 bet. That's FanDul.com/sportsfan. Never waste a hunch and make every moment more with FanDul, an official sports book partner of the NFL. Must be 21 plus and present in Colorado. First online real money weights are only $10 first deposit required. Bonus issued is now a throwable bonus bets that expire seven days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanDul.com, gambling problem, call 1-800-522-4700. Hey Mike Vellini here, host the cash to take it alongside my partner, Jim Costa. It's really simple. Are you tired of podcasts claiming there are a bunch of pro bettors when they live in their mommy's basement? Are you tired of podcasts that claim they hit 80% of the games when really they just lose like most of us? Think cash to take it'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 Cash the Ticket on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Let's go to the bet QL guest hotline and welcome on to the program. Our buddy Will Montgomery, 10 years in the NFL, long time starting offensive lineman on the interior for the commanders when they were the Redskins. Will, thank you for the time, bro. How are you? Hey, Grant, I'm doing well. How are you doing? I know we had lunch a couple of weeks to go, although you made a pay for my own lunch this time. Although a couple of years ago, you paid for my lunch. Different times. And I'm paying for my own lunch now. Yeah, that was pre-COVID. I've lost like three of my five jobs. That's what he does now. Well, it's nickel dime here, there and everywhere. It's like, dude, open up the pocketbook, Scrooge McDuck. Yeah. He said, let's go have some lunch. And then, by the way, it's like $75 of the park, another, you know, $50 for lunch. I got the poll going back. I need an expense report just to hang out with this guy. Well, that's why we'll do quarterly meetups, not monthly. Okay, once a quarter. That NFL salary, did you okay? We're going to make it work. They maybe zoom a couple of times just to, yeah, just to glow the expenses. Yeah, I got to. I got you. I'd like to get into, but I gave you a little homework assignment, speaking of money for free. We did not pay him to do this for us. But we gave him a homework assignment to dive in on Washington's offensive line because, well, the perception is that they've been kicking butt and the numbers that I look at and care about, things like ESPN's run block, win rate, pass block, win rate, PFF's grading, all very, very favorable. Some of them top five, some of them top 10 for the commanders to this point. So what do your eyeballs tell you when you watch them? Well, my first impression is when you gave me the list of the interior three, which I'm familiar with these guys. I also appreciate you spelling their names with the pronunciation attached to it, like Nick, Allegretti, Tyler, Beatty, Sam, Cosby. So hopefully, I didn't, uh, box that too much. Trust him. But you did it. But no, those guys are all big men. You know, they're six, four, six, five, three, 20. I think one time when I was training for the combine, I got up to three, 20 at my highest ever, but that was when I was, uh, juiced up on three 18 and he's at Macaroni Grill every day and just benching, just bench pressing and squatting. So I think I played at more than about three or five, three or six. These guys are all north of three, 10, if not three, 20 plus. And the things I noticed about the way they block, especially in this, um, in this scheme is just not as much outside zone like the Shanahan area. These guys are doing smash mouth down hill football, public gas scheme that powers its counters, its traps. Obviously, they're mixing a little bit of the zone read. So their version of the zone game is just the simple sort of inside zone that's more the vertical zone and then the quarterback can read it on the back side. But I completely agree with your analysis that these guys are moving the other humans off the ball, uh, you know, to the court Russ Grimm, they are men and they're moving another men against their whale backward. So if you can move the defensive line off the spot, a yard or two, that is huge in the NFL because most of the times you're getting a stalemate at best, but if you can move the line scrimmage back, a yard or two, and then you're running back, it's going to get three yards in the crowd of dust every time. If you make somebody miss, now you're looking at those gas runs of 10, 20, 30 plus yards. So we'll kind of two parter here and, and feel free to tell me I'm wrong at any point in time. So I've always felt sort of non QB runs out with standing. So, you know, forget about kind of a zone read concept or something like that where the quarterback can take off. But in general, I've always felt like it's harder to run from the shotgun and maybe, maybe harder for the old line. So first part of the question is agree or disagree with that. And then if you agree with me, how have they overcome that to be so effective in terms of run blocking? Well, I will say when you're making a snap from the center position, it's a little bit harder to make an accurate snap and then, you know, fire off and block somebody because you almost have to slow yourself down, trying to make an accurate snap and then speed back up and pile drive somebody. Now, if you're a guard or a tackle, I don't think it really matters either or, you know, if you're definitely in a short yard situation, kind of goal line, fourth and one, you see the eagles with the policy during the post push and all of that. The center can definitely fire off better with your under center. Now, if you're in the gun, you can still do it. Hopefully you're sort of on the 45 degree angle. So you can kind of, you know, get, get a plant step down and then, and then drive into your mail with the second step. It's a little bit harder to shake fire off with that first step in the shotgun. But these big boys, like I said, there's three 10, three 20 plus, six four to the six six plus and then they're out and they're doing a great job with it. I want to start at center and Will Montgomery started at that position for Washington for years, joining us on Grant and Danny. I think Tyler Beoddish has been fantastic. Comes over from Dallas, kind of a mixed bag with what I was told about his performance with the Cowboys. But obviously Dan Quinn liked him enough as a guy as a leader and as a player that he made him a priority and free agency to reunite with him here. He's had a hundred eighty five drop backs, basically in past blocking and he is allowed one pressure and it was a hurry. He has not allowed a quarterback hit, a sack, anything like that, according to the PFF counting stats. When you watch him, what is he doing so well? He also hasn't been penalized yet, by the way, which seems like a big deal. Well, first thing I'll do is give you the analysis that my seven year old son and nine year old daughter gave me. We had the game on and they saw a big number 63 up there. But wait a minute, dad, are you still playing? Like, now are you still out there? I'm like, no, that's another big 63. That's an inch taller and about 10 pounds heavier. No, but I noticed that, you know, another another quick tip with center is half the time you're in double teams. So that's another good part about center, unless you're playing the team with the two zero nose with the guy stacked over your head. So if you can cross your fingers during a couple of games and not have many one on one block, that's why, you know, the worst off you get the closer to the ball that you get. So you're basically double team blocking the whole time. But no, I think, yeah, this is doing a great job. You know, you see him ID in the mic or the whale or the Sam linebacker setting the schemes. You know, I see where he's pointing. So I think he's doing an excellent job. He's a big, thick guy. He reminds me of like those old school Steelers and Ravens aligned with his big bodies. And they're stout for the quarterback, which is great. So the pocket is firm in the middle. So there's room to step up. You know, your tackles are allowed then to ride the guy by. That's really your prototypical, you know, power, ISO, heavy duty. Oh, I'm the commanders have that right now. Long time NFL lineman. Will Montgomery with this here on GND show? I'll go to the right tackle spot here. Will Andrew Wiley got beat up pretty good last year. She's really struggled at the start of the season, actually played better at the season went, but nobody noticed because they weren't any good and they were losing a bunch of games. And his rep from early on wasn't the best. That was a spot where a lot of fans dummies like me included said, Hey, they could probably do better there, but there may be kind of stuck with a contract to sort of see what happens. I feel like he's played well as part of this group. What are your eyes tell you about Andrew Wiley at right tackle? Well, I'll say one thing in general, and I'll pick on my buddy Tyler Columbus over there. I know he's doing radio work for the Broncos. You know, we we were able to hide tighter Columbus. And I say that love in Tyler a lot, but if you run the ball and you you know, you execute play action and you stay ahead of the sticks when I say that, you stay on schedule and goes first down second and seven, third and one to two and you don't let those pass rushers tee off. There haven't really been a lot of obvious pass situations. The run game has been there. The checkdown game, the quick game, really, if you're an old lineman, especially a tackle, you're sweating about third along. If you can avoid a lot of third alongs and obvious pass down, you have yourself a good game because you enjoy the run game. You enjoy the play action. You enjoy the boots. You enjoy the zone reads. And if there are a couple of pressures, you know, your quarterback's going to bail you out of a couple of those and turn a sack into a 60 yard explosive play. So really the best thing you can do for a tackle, who you, who you may not think is an ultra tackle is run the ball and stay on track. You know what? I'm amazed by Will is they're doing this weird left tackle platoon time share thing that would seem to me like it could never work. I remember early on, maybe Shannan's first couple games. We were all stunned because I think it was Derek Dockery was like the entrenched left over. And he split time with Licton Steiger. I think it was in soon enough Steggs took over as the starter. There was another time where Columbus, who you just mentioned, I think it was Columbus, digging back into my time on the beat now. So I might be confusing it. But like him and Jamal Brown started splitting and it was because he was about to take over that starting job or whatever. And I bring this up to say this is by design now weekend and week out that it's basically a 50/50 time share between Cornelius Lucas and Brandon Coleman, the rookie. And I haven't really asked, I want to get over there when I'm able to for the next press conference to say like what how do they do this? Is it series by series? Is it to then the other one gets to? And what is the idea here? But it is working really, really well. What do you make of it? Well, historically speaking, if the younger guy is getting reps, that's because they want him to win the job. Now, if the older guy is still getting reps, that means the younger guy hasn't quite beat him out yet. And then there's also a financial incentive to that. I remember when I first started getting reps, I think artist Hicks took too much pre-workout jacks. So I got in back in their right guard during the Shanahan era. And even though I came into the league as a seventh rounder and bounced around to a different bunch of different teams, I knew I had did not have a short leash at all because under the bugle era and zone era, the previous season, you know, I had been bent for sometimes average play. So when I was the guy that they didn't necessarily want, I actually played seven. I would I consider amazing games in a row and they couldn't replace me. So if you are the younger guy or the underpaid guy or the late round draft pick guy, you kind of have to, you know, play better than your, you know, then you have to outplay the other guy no matter what. Now, you're going to get more chances if you are a high draft pick guy or, you know, the coaches have an incentive for you to play to make them look good. So there's a little bit of politics involved, but at the end of the day, the best guy usually will play, but it's just a matter of how many opportunities you get from where you come from. But just to make it work. I mean, everything we always hear about the line is continuity and reps and unity and togetherness to be series by series, having a different left tackle seems like it goes against that. Yeah. I mean, I think the biggest thing is your guard next to you. So a big NIC over there is able to make his double team calls because really, I want to say they're running a simple scheme, but essentially what they're doing is they're double teaming, they're down blocking, or they're running their pin and pull play. And what I mean, the pin and pull play, you get your title and tackle blocking down. And then maybe your guard and your center are pulling. So they basically, you have three different schemes. And based on those three schemes, it could be a simple game plan where you have a four down defense. So you're basically double teaming down blocking or pulling. I mean, so it's kind of easy to make those calls. Now it gets a little bit trickier in the past protection game when some of these exotic blitzes happen. Or I remember watching the Eagles years ago when you had Evan Mathis and their last tackle, they used to sit on different levels. When I say that, the guard may set tight to the line and the tackle may deep set. So there's things like that where in the third of the obvious pass situation, you want to make sure that you're in sync with both guys either sitting on the line or both guys sitting vertically off the ball to make sure some of those twist stunts don't come into play. So I think, yeah, it's more of an issue in the passion game. But they've been avoiding a lot of these obvious third and longs and playing catch up, we haven't seen the commanders down too often. That's really when you can kind of see the holes in any kind of communication in the old line play. Well, Montgomery with us here on Grant and Danny, breaking down the Washington football gentleman's offensive line after a long career. Well, I just sort of wondered in general here, like there, I'm sure it's like a trade off, right? But good and bad, I'd love you to go through it. What's it? What it's like blocking for quarterback that's this mobile, right? On one hand, a statue back there, you know where he's going to be. But so does the defense. On the other hand, you know, when the target is for three steps and you're still blocking and you can kind of tell that the guy isn't throwing the ball yet. Like, what are the challenges they're in and what are the benefits of it are blocking for a guy that's his mobile is Jayden Daniels. Well, I definitely blocked for both types. And let me start with your question. Do you have the other way when I was in Denver in 2014 blocking for a non mobile quarterback, man, Peyton Manning, he got that ball out in two and a half seconds. We led the league in the least amount of sacks given up. But really it's because that ball was out in two and a half seconds every single time, no matter what. And even instead of throwing it away, sometimes he would just fall to the ground and take a fact. So half of those sacks, he was just diving to the ground. On the other side, obviously with a mobile quarterback, he's going to save you a couple of times. I mean, in this past game, obviously he did his Houdini trick and got out of a couple facts and some of those turn into explosive plays. So the play will be extended and then conversely, that might accidentally add on to a couple of sacks later on because if that ball is being held on to more than three and a half seconds or if the quarterback is setting back to like 10 plus yards, then those sacks are really on the quarterback. If he's hanging in there at seven yards and that ball is out within three seconds, then those sacks are usually on the O line. But also some of these glitches that we're seeing. If you only have five or six blockers, including your back and the premium seven, then you are hot. I know there's that big play this past week where the defense brought an extra defender off the right side that should have been a sack or if there was tape manning, he probably would have thrown it away or just dove to the ground. But our quarterback here, Jayden was able to get out of that somehow and make a 60 yard pass down the field. So I think really, sometimes it helps. Sometimes it may add to the sack total. Sometimes I'll get out. So I just kind of depend. 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 your price tool from Progressive. It works just the way it sounds. You tell Progressive how much you want to pay for car insurance and they'll show you coverage options that fit your budget. Get your quote today at progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates price and coverage match limited by state law. Hey NFL fans, you can start the season with a big return on Fandal America's number one sports book. So when you get a hunch in the middle of the game, you can check out the latest stats, view live play by play and so much more on the same page where you place your bets. You'll get started with $200 in bonus bets guaranteed when you place your first $5 bet. That's Fandal.com/sportsfan. Never waste a hunch and make every moment more with Fandal, an official sports book partner of the NFL. Must be 21 plus and present in Colorado. First online real money weights are only $10 first deposit required. Bonus issued is now a throwable bonus bets that expire seven days after receipt restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fandal.com gambling problem call 1-800-522-4700. Hey Mike Vlini here, host a cash to ticket alongside my partner Jim Costa. It's really simple. Are you tired of podcasts claiming they're a bunch of pro bettors when they live in their mommy's basement? Are you tired of podcasts that claim they hit 80% of the games? When really, they just lose like most of us. Think cash to tickets 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 cash the ticket on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Well, Montgomery with us on GND. What's something that you get annoyed by or that you see with a lot of even media members but like people breaking down a play or maybe an analyst on a game blaming something you go. Well, that's not quite right. Like what is something fans media don't always understand about the old one? Well, a big thing I think is who to blame the stock on. Do they think media and even pro football focus? I spent a year with pro football focus also a couple years ago but they don't understand past protection schemes. It's not just like you're playing Madden and you step back and you take most dangerous. You generally go to a specific person whether it's the middle linebacker, the strong backer, the weak backer. Sometimes you're sliding out to the nickel will. There are some cases where you're sorting strong or you're sorting weak. There's other times when they're running back, check their assignment and then they leave but sometimes they're running back leave early and their guys come. There's other times where the line sees that their guys are not coming so they kind of try to come back and late to help out but in actuality that's not their guy that they happen to get a sack. The line is bonus in that case. So even like somebody like me who I think I understand protection as well, I can't be 100% sure on who to assign some of these sacks to but the media and even pro football focus at times will automatically give a sack to somebody who came inside their gap just because oh, why would you block it in there? Why wouldn't you block that stand back and blitz it in the D gap? Well, probably because it wasn't his assignment on that play. The cue would either smoke the throw hot or that's the back guy or some other circumstance with the case. Well, only a minute or two left here with you buddy. Give us something to kind of look for here going forward. Just a couple of your keys to maybe sustain this thing or even getting better on the offensive line. What are some things that you're kind of going? I got this circle and I want to see how they do. Well, you know what I've encouraged by, especially with the offensive coordinator, Cliff Kingberry, is I'll see a play where there's a pulling part play. Like I mentioned, the pen and pull where you know your tackles and tight ends are blocking down and you get some pulling points outside. And in the very next play, he'll run that same concept, but there's a pass off of that. So I love how he's protecting the run plays with the play action pass. Not so different than how my seventh and eighth grade flag football team is going. I'll set it up with a reverse or a double reverse and then I'll hit the fake reverse. The fake sprint end around and hit him deep. So if I can check the seven and eight-year-olds with flag football, it's basically Cliff Kingberry. It's kind of stealing what I'm doing to my flex football team and doing it with the commanders. You run the ball, you run the runs, and then you make it look like that. You take the play action shot deep and that's really a different way of kind of running the Shanahan offense if you think about it. You know, I know they're like seven or eight head coaches in the league running that right now. The run, run, run, play action off the run. Cliff is doing it as well that he's doing it in his own way where you have a mobile quarterback and a few more reads in there. Sometimes the quarterback, I've seen him pulled it a few times where he maybe he shouldn't have pulled it. But more times than that, when he pulls it, it's a good choice. And I love how Cliff is protecting the runs with the play action shots off of those runs. Will, do you do any consulting? I'm consulting right now with you guys. Okay, because my six year old his flag football team between me and coach Matt and coach Luke, our offense is guys don't remember where to line up and ever just kind of runs forward even if they're getting the football on a reverse like we can't get them lined up right. So if you can come out to a practice or two, that would help us. Well, when in doubt, just kind of kick them a little bit, kick them in the butt and then and all honesty, sometimes when I tell these seven and eight year olds what to do and then one second later, they ask me, Oh, where do I go? Sometimes I'm like, I don't know. Like, I literally just forgot. And I told you two seconds. I was telling five kids where to line up. There's a center quarterback and we're in the 505 league. And yes, that sometimes can get a little bit dicey. Will great info man. Love a good a breakdown on the online left to take inventory on how they're looking again here in a few weeks. Thanks for the time. We appreciate it. All right. Thank you guys. Yeah, everybody good. That's our buddy Will Montgomery former Redskins offensive lineman in town on Grant and Danny. This episode is brought to you by progressive insurance. Whether you love true crime or comedy, celebrity interviews or news, you call the shots on what's in your podcast queue. And guess what? Now you can call them on your auto insurance too, with the name of your price tool from progressive. It works just the way it sounds. You tell progressive how much you want to pay for car insurance and they'll show you coverage options that fit your budget. Get your quote today at progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust progressive. Progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates price and coverage match limited by state law. Hey NFL fans, you can start the season with a big return on Fandal, America's number one sports book. So when you get a hunch in the middle of the game, you can check out the latest stats, view live play by play and so much more on the same page where you place your bets. You'll get started with $200 in bonus bets guaranteed when you place your first $5 bet. That's fandool.com/sportsfan. Never waste a hunch and make every moment more with Fandool, an official sports book partner of the NFL. Must be 21 plus and present in Colorado, first online real money weights are only $10.00 first deposit required. Bonus issued is now a throwable bonus bets that expire seven days after receipt restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fandool.com gambling problem call 1-800-522-4700. Hey Mike Vlinny here host the cash to take it alongside my partner Jim Costa. It's really simple. Are you tired of podcasts claiming there are a bunch of pro betters when they live in their mommy's basement? Are you tired of podcasts that claim they hit 80% of the games when really they just lose like most of us? Think cash to tickets 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 Cash the Ticket on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.