Grant and Danny
Austin Ekeler Joins G&D To Discuss The 4 Game Win Streak
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Austin was back on Sunday against the Browns and he was big back. How about a 50 yard run, a 33 yard reception, some nice work on kick returns as well. Austin, welcome back to the show and welcome back to the playing field where you made a big impact, dude. What's going on, boys? Hey, that is my job. So that is, you know, something that I've been known for. I had to continue to hold the reputation, but it definitely felt good to be back out with the boys at the risk of going all Chris Farley next to Paul McCartney, which might be too dated for reference for a young person like yourself. This is the terrible question I'm about to ask. I love watching you play football. Like I love it. You to me are what like I've always wanted in a running back. And now you're here doing the thing and I don't even know what to do with my hands. That's all again. Not a great question. What's your response to that? Well, look, I think I think there's been a reason that I've been playing in the league for eight years now. And I, you know, apparently it's because I can be efficient, but not only that, but be exciting on the field as well. And so when you can put those two together, usually hang around a little bit longer. So I'm glad I can continue to share some of, you know, my work on the field with, with the city of, you know, the DMV area, I should say. So thank you. I appreciate the compliment. Amen. I will get into some of the specifics of your banner performance. But broadly, the team is four and one. The town is a buzz. We have not experienced this. This team was, has not had this record since '08. It's the second time since 1999. If you guys were able to beat Baltimore on Sunday, you'll be five and one. That has not happened here since 1996. How do you feel about the progress you guys have made and where you're at right now at the beginning of what a lot of us thought was going to be a rebuild of four Peters and Quinn? Yeah, I think an important message that Dan Quinn told us when we came into the building back in OTAs is we are not here to rebuild. Like, that is not even in the vocabulary. Like, we were hired. You know, there's a lot of us that are new to the program at that time. Like, 60 of us, 30 of us have made it. But he mentioned, we are here and hired to win right now. Like, we are here and hired to win games right now because that is what the NFL demands. And that is what, you know, Adam and, and ownership has put together a team that they feel can win right now. And we didn't know how that was going to play out. You know, you kind of go through that, that culture change. You go through the chemistry change. There's a lot of new things you kind of are, you know, anticipating, but don't really know until you start getting into regular season. And we got a good group. You know, it's been, it's been coming together for us. We have a lot of veterans. It's been a journey that is not to be expected, but not unexpected as well because we expect to win games, right? We don't expect to always, you know, win like we're winning, which is great when we can do that. But we definitely expect to win games. And so it's been, it's been what we wanted. And however we can get a win, we're going to continue to do, do just that and keep scrapping it out. Austin when Dan Quinn said that, I mean, what was the setting was like the first meeting? And then also, I'm sure coaches say that even where they're rebuilding. Like, did you buy that right away? Rookie quarterback, 30 new faces for win team last year. What was your mindset on that? Look, I had been on a team last year where we had high hope for us to go to the playoffs because we just made it to the playoffs the year before. And we came out and we won five games. And we had all the talent. We had, you know, everything we thought we needed. And it didn't happen. And so now I'm in a new environment where there's a lot of, there's a lot of veterans around that have won a lot of games. A lot of new coaches around a brotherly type environment where we're talking culture, culture is being coached where it's, Hey, I love working here. I love getting up in the morning and going into work and seeing the boys and competing together with this group of men. And so when you start to build that culture, you start to really buy into like, yeah, I think we got something special here. Like, we haven't played at that point yet, but we were talking like, when we have those conversations, but you could really feel like this was just a great place to come in and work. And it was really an environment that was inviting. And so when you have that type of environment and some players to go along with it, and, you know, rookie quarterback that's been playing like he's been playing, it's a combination for a lot of good things. So I definitely believed it. You got to build it though. It's not something that just happens. But I think we did just that during the off season. Brett, also with us here on Grant and Danny was about to ask you about Brian Robinson. I know he was banged up last week with that knee. And then he ends up, you know, basically not playing much in the second half. Is that something you get a heads up on? I think obviously you don't plan on being up by, you know, 30 points, whatever the heck it was. This is the NFL that rarely happens. I guess unless it's you guys beating the brakes off of people. But is that something that you were aware of beforehand, Austin, where hey, you and Jeremy might go a little bit more because Brian Robinson is kind of nursing this knee or is that just kind of a flow thing? Yeah, you know, in the NFL, there's a lot of questions around injuries and things like that. And it really is a flow thing. Like you don't know how someone's going to react, you know, how they're doing, how they're, you know, going through the game. Did it get worse? Is it still feeling fine? So you just prepare as you're going to, as if you're going to play the entirety of the game. And I know Jeremy's doing the same thing. He's been playing well too. I'm super proud of our, of our running back room, not only on the running back position, but Jeremy, I know how like four tackles on special teams. So I'm like, man, like our running back room, I'm so proud of the way we're playing and just attacking it. And so going back to the injury, like it's part of the game, you know, especially in the running back room. And so for us, like I mentioned, we're all preparing like, you know, we're going to be starting the entirety of the game. So regardless of what happens, if someone goes down, if someone's playing well, we're all ready to go last week, one of the things that you wanted to bring up just as an aside to our normal conversation was how you thought it was pretty impressive, how physically you guys were walloping people on special teams. I can't tell you how many times I thought about that. I mean, there were some monster hits and coverage this weekend. Again, I mean, it is pretty wide on real now. How physical I'm telling you what? Yeah, I'm sure you guys, yeah, remember that. If you're new listening, like watch our kickoff team, like they are absolutely relentless. And like I tell them every time I'm watching the kickoff on special teams meet, I'm like, I am so glad that I do not have to go against our kickoff team because oh my goodness, they are flying down the field. And it's like, it's something I'm going to block these people because I mean, I haven't seen anyone really do a good job at it yet. So yeah, definitely one that, you know, usually I'm sitting down on the bench because I'm just relaxing. I'd stand up and I'm like, okay, I got it. I got to watch this action because it's about to be so exciting because our kickoff team is all over the place. So definitely something to watch. The 50 R run you ripped off was the longest here, I believe since 2020 at least. Walk me through that play. What worked out so well? Yeah, they had been, you know, just really downhill most of the game. And so, you know, we were trying to attack an edge on that play and did just that. And sure enough, they were downhill again. And when we attack an edge, if you come downhill, there's going to be some air. And sure enough, there was some air got out pretty free, got up on the safety, trying to get these legs going as fast as I can. I got safety one on one, make him miss. And then I'm running down the field. Everyone else is running down the field. This is something else that I thought was pretty cool about our team because I ended up fumbling the ball, right? We always talk about the one that you can't see is the one that's going to cause the fumble because I'm looking inside. This guy's on my right on the outside and he punches it out. But my team is pursuing. And that's something that we've been coaching since training camp is everybody run to the ball. Like you never know what the play, when the play is going to be, when you need to be there to recover a fumble or to, you know, push someone in the end zone or make the play positive. So you have to treat every play like it's that play. And sure enough, OZ who was on the other side of the field, sprinting down the field ended up jumping on the fumble with me and securing it. And so it was a great run, great block. I got to obviously don't put the damn ball on the ground. Austin, come on, make sure I secure that. I'll get that fixed this week. And just a great, great effort play for our entire football team on offense. Austin Ecker with this year on GND. So Austin, again, just want your thoughts on this. I've got Cleveland's defense was pretty impressive early. Five of the first six players were either for zero gain or a bit negative. There's this one, Jadon, Dan, with the McLaren shot the kind of change things up there. But I thought they were impressive. And yet you guys still put 24 points up on them in this first half. Did you feel that at first? Kind of there, as you said, they were downhill. Looked like they were getting to the backfield a little bit. They were disruptive and they're pressing you guys. And there's a counter for that too. It's just, just a feeling you have watching it. Pretty amazing. Yeah, absolutely. You know, I got to give credit to them for, I think we have unfortunately for us, like 11 negative plays, which is not good. But fortunate for us, we had a bunch of bigger plays that we haven't seen as many as we've had in that game in the past, right? We'd have a couple of splash plays in here, but we were really chunking down the field in some of our other games. And this one, it was big chunk. And then we would, you know, try to get ourselves the end zone or end up kicking a field goal on a couple of those. One and try to always obviously end up in the end zone. And so it's just a different way. It's a different way that we showed, hey, we can have big plays if we need to have big plays. If that's the type of day that it's going to go. And I think Jaden is, you know, showing himself as, hey, he can, he can make it happen. Like the, you know, the one you spoke about, the one to Terry, there's definitely supposed to be a sack, you know, out of the, out of the, out of the, you know, some luck and some athleticism, you know, the two defenders run into each other. And he, you know, gets out of it and bombs it down the field to Terry, you know, for whatever that was, 50 yarder, 50 yarder, something like that. And so being able to have just players that can stay alive on the play, even if it's starting to break down and make things happen is, is what you see good teams doing. You know, you think of the, especially the best quarterbacks, you know, like Pat Mahomes is obviously the best at it right now. And then you know, Josh Allen's another one of those guys that, you know, starts to break down. And now we're saying we're going to start putting Jaden definitely in that conversation as he's been doing it now this last week and just with his legs for the entirety of the season. So it's really exciting time for us to where we see, hey, okay, it's not all going well. Guess what? Hey, we have playmakers out here that we can make plays and give us back in the game. Austin Echler, giving us trusted insight. He's our trusted insider presented by IT cadre here on Grant and Danny. Every Tuesday, make sure you listen to Austin right here at five o'clock with us exclusively on the fan on the fourth and two that set up the first points of the game for you guys. You come from motion from the left jet action. Were you supposed to go all the way around like a sweep? Because Senate kind of gets knocked into the backfield, holds his block, but you L cut into there's a little lane, but you make a couple guys miss you end up getting like 10 yards on that play. Was the design that L cut right there? Was that ad lib? Well, the designs get the first down first. So I already get it. It doesn't matter. But, um, ideally, yeah, if we can, if we can set the edge right there, hopefully we can run around the edge. That didn't happen. We had a little bit of penetration as we said, hey, you guys were coming downhill and it definitely showed up on that play. And fortunately, I was able to, you know, put on the brakes and get out field immediately. And yeah, like you said, made a couple guys miss and then was one away. Ah, so close, so close. It seems like everyone was score. I couldn't give up by the end zone, but I was one away. Um, the frickin shoestring tackle pulled me down. I like, yeah, like the four or five yard line, but set up be robbed to run it in for the next play. So gave him a little love on that one. But, um, yeah, it was, uh, it was definitely designed to go out. But like I said, hey, get it. We ever make plays. And that's what we need from our guys. Hey, stuff breaks down stuff. Not looking good. How can we stay alive? How can we make it work? And that's another example of that. That was a tremendous play. It was a great run by you. You guys, by the way, are now eight for eight on fourth down this year. And it almost seems like the third down play calling and execution. I don't want to say changes because of that or the cheat code that is Jaden. There was another play later where I feel like guys were watching him and he goes read option and you guys move the chains. Just what does that do for your offense when all the sudden on a third and long, you might only need to get seven or eight because, you know, DQ is going to keep you out there and nobody stops you on fourth down. Yeah, you know, it's, it's not just, I mean, on fourth down, but our offense, you get a, get a guard us all over the place. You got to guard Jaden for the run. We got guys that can go deep. We have, you know, ours, us in the rain and the right back position that, um, have been having success on the ground, too. So just guarding and playing good defense the entire game and the NFL is not necessarily easy when you have offense like ours where you have to defend it. Like it's eventually something's going to break down somewhere. Um, as long as we're continuing to play at that high level and so, I mean, on fourth down, obviously it's another down. It's the last down. If you don't get it, but for us, it's okay. Let's execute. Let's continue to keep them spread them out, keep them on their toes. They have no idea where we can hit them from because we can hit them from so many different angles. Um, that's one of the beauties of our offense and why we've been having so much success is because it's not just one guy, right? There's several people all across the board that are, that are having success. Um, and when you have that, it's, it's fun to watch as you can see and, you know, helps you, helps you build confidence in your coaching staff like, Hey, if it's fourth down, yeah, we're going, let's do it. Um, and that's what you're seeing with, with DQ and, and Cliff, you know, making us, or putting us in positions to, to win on those fourth downs. Austin, my last one for you. Big game this week, man. This is, uh, you guys are obviously playing really good football. Ravens have been there. That's a really good team. It's probably the game of the week in the NFL. Just talk about that. And what do you guys need to do to come out with a dub? Yeah, absolutely. Um, you know, like you said, you know, another great football team. So looking forward to this head to head matchup. Um, it's going to be, it's going to be exciting, you know, just like all games are for us. Um, and I think it's going to be a good test. Um, because you know, the Ravens are well respected as far as what they've been able to do kind of, you know, coming into the season with Lamar, um, and, you know, the rest of their, you know, playmakers on offense and defense. Um, and so it's going to be one of those tests where, hey, we're head to head, we're on a roll. They're on a roll. I think they've everyone like three in a row now. Um, so this is what the NFL is about. It's about, hey, let's, let's do good on good and see who can come out and, you know, win the battle. And if it's close, if it's close, if it's not, if it's not, it's about going out there, giving it out all we can and hoping for the best. And so just like coming into the season, no idea how it's going to play out. I have no idea how this is going to play out, but I do know and I can promise you this, we're going to get everything we can to continue to put on a show and score some day points on offense and give ourselves the best chance to win this game. Make sure you're following Austin on social does a really good job on Twitter and the other outlets on Austin Echler. I think you do a Jersey giveaways. I know you sign jerseys every week. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. So I look, I appreciate all the fan love out there. And so I know you guys don't always get to see that from us because we're kind of behind closed doors. And so that's the little thing I do on, on Instagram and Twitter is do a Jersey giveaway every single week. So if you want to join in, it's free. It's just a token of my appreciation. Well, we appreciate it. It's been great Avenue on the show every week. We're looking forward to this relationship this year and to you guys continuing to roll. We don't really know what to do with ourselves right now, but we're just going to keep yelling on Sunday. Hey, that's all we can ask for. Just keep cheering and just enjoy the moment, man. And let's continue to push forward together. Austin on Grant, Danny here on the fan joining us every single Tuesday at five o'clock. He is presented by I T cadre. I T cadre is trusted insight, helping leaders of the nation's most important organizations understand complexity, align efforts and make the best data driven decisions to achieve success. I T cadre, your vision, our purpose.