Speaker 1: Welcome to the Command Center Podcast. I'm Julie Donaldson. The
Speaker 1: Commanders started the season at one to know after a
Speaker 1: Week one victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars. Here what head
Speaker 1: coach Ron Rivera and quarterback Carson Wentz had to say
Speaker 1: about the win. Well, I learned they got some moxie.
Speaker 1: I really do appreciate the way they stuck to it.
Speaker 1: You know, when things were going bad, you know, they
Speaker 1: stuck to it. UM. Really appreciate the way that coordinators
Speaker 1: took a look at it too as well. And you know,
Speaker 1: Scott stuck to his game plan. He didn't he didn't
Speaker 1: back off as exhibited by him, you know, by us
Speaker 1: throwing the ball when we had we were in field
Speaker 1: goal range. Um, you know, and that's the gutsy call,
Speaker 1: but that's the call we had to make. UM. Real
Speaker 1: appreciate the way Jack handled the defense. A couple of
Speaker 1: things that you know we're gonna get corrected. Um, that's
Speaker 1: a big plus. And the special teams was solid. So
Speaker 1: there were some really good things in all three phases
Speaker 1: for us. And started fast, rough stretch there in the middle,
Speaker 1: but to it to kind of rally together and get
Speaker 1: it done when it mattered at the end. That was cool,
Speaker 1: cool way to start. I mean, it is hard to
Speaker 1: win in this league, and so it doesn't matter how
Speaker 1: it looks, It doesn't matter any of those things in
Speaker 1: the last couple of minutes of the game. If you
Speaker 1: find a way to get it done, that's what good
Speaker 1: teams doing. I'm glad we did that today. Plus, Logan
Speaker 1: Paulson and Santana Moss joined me to share what they
Speaker 1: saw out there. Of the Commanders in the season opener,
Speaker 1: what are we going to look like on offense and
Speaker 1: there's only one ball to spread around? Well, we got
Speaker 1: to see that. They spread that ball around pretty darn well.
Speaker 1: I think it was what seven different receivers had receptions
Speaker 1: and your playmakers set up Terry McLaurin, John Dots and
Speaker 1: Curtis Away, Antonio Gibson, and Logan Thomas getting out there
Speaker 1: as well. Santana, what did you make about just kind
Speaker 1: of what Scott Turner was able to do? That was key.
Speaker 1: I think coming into this game, we knew the weapons
Speaker 1: that we had, but we was wondering what can Scott
Speaker 1: scheme up that let all these guys be effective? And
Speaker 1: I think that's what you saw. You saw every receiver
Speaker 1: you know, play a part and that win. And you
Speaker 1: also saw the other guys. You know, we didn't we
Speaker 1: didn't expect Logan to come out and be dominant as
Speaker 1: he was. He said, seven guys, seven different guys had
Speaker 1: had receptions, but they had twenty plus jars as well.
Speaker 1: So that shows you the dynamics in this offense and
Speaker 1: what these guys can do skillfully. Yeah. I also think
Speaker 1: it just shows you how important it is to be
Speaker 1: efficient on third down, second and third down. Right. You
Speaker 1: don't get everyone those touches if you only run sixty
Speaker 1: plays eighty two plays in this ball game, right, So
Speaker 1: that's given you opportunities to distribute to football, get the
Speaker 1: deeper parts of your playbook, and find ways to get
Speaker 1: touches to your playmakers. And those guys executed at high
Speaker 1: level when they got those touches. A great job by
Speaker 1: Scott and everybody executing when they needed to to get
Speaker 1: those drives going. What can we just say for the
Speaker 1: guys that are the playmakers that are going out there,
Speaker 1: because I feel like in the past we had Terry
Speaker 1: mcclaud and we're like, okay, and who Santana, how do
Speaker 1: you feel now that you've been able to kind of
Speaker 1: see what some of these guys are capable of doing.
Speaker 1: The Curtis a healthy Curtis Sam. Oh my goodness, he
Speaker 1: was breaking ankles out there doing some of those moves,
Speaker 1: dancing and twisting all around a rookie coming in and
Speaker 1: stepping up and having two huge catches as well. Well.
Speaker 1: When you look at how this team has been developed
Speaker 1: for the past few years, you was one and how
Speaker 1: we are going to get to that level of offensive play.
Speaker 1: I think one of the things that's key about any
Speaker 1: offense you have to have that leader in that quarterback.
Speaker 1: And I think now you know, I understand what people
Speaker 1: want to say or what they want to believe when
Speaker 1: it comes to Carson, but he does have tremendous m
Speaker 1: talent and he is a guy that can make it happen.
Speaker 1: So I'm glad we've got we got that area fixed
Speaker 1: first and now it's easy for all the other pieces.
Speaker 1: It did get a little dicey though not everything was
Speaker 1: perfect right, and that's one thing Carson Wentz said afterwards
Speaker 1: is it's not going to be perfect. He did have
Speaker 1: back to back interceptions, but there's also times where they
Speaker 1: weren't able to complete. The balls were high, they couldn't run,
Speaker 1: and they got behind and gave the Jacksonville the opportunity
Speaker 1: to kind of take an advantage. What happened there and
Speaker 1: what kind of shows the resiliency to come back from
Speaker 1: that too, Yeah, I think I love the resiliency that
Speaker 1: you mentioned there, but I think a little bit of
Speaker 1: it is like they were really effective and early downs,
Speaker 1: I'm making people miss you mentioned that, right, and all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, Jacksonville starts tacking a little bit better,
Speaker 1: don't make some plays you need to make, and then
Speaker 1: that's how the momentum of the game shifts. And so
Speaker 1: I think it's totally understandable you're going to go through
Speaker 1: things like that. We played for a lot a lot
Speaker 1: of years. Those things happened in a football game, right,
Speaker 1: so how do you kind of weather those storms. I
Speaker 1: love the way that Carson came out and handled that adversity.
Speaker 1: The whole team handled adversity. It was really fantastic. And
Speaker 1: that's also too, what you get from the veteran quarterback.
Speaker 1: To your point, that's one of the reasons that this
Speaker 1: coaching staff wanted that somebody who in these moments has
Speaker 1: been there done it, they've seen it in practice, and
Speaker 1: then they can say to the rookie, Okay, we're gonna
Speaker 1: call your number and you've got this. We have faith
Speaker 1: in you, especially on a third night, to get the victory. Defensively,
Speaker 1: what did you see from Derek forrest Man? He was
Speaker 1: all over the place, Santanna. You know, Derek showed us
Speaker 1: a lot this preseason. You know, we saw him in practice,
Speaker 1: fly around, we saw him some of those preseason games,
Speaker 1: not to know what to expect from him in the
Speaker 1: regular season game. He did absolutely what we expected from
Speaker 1: what we saw in a preseason. So it's great to
Speaker 1: know that we have a guy now that we also
Speaker 1: can lean on. If you know, a guy like Cam
Speaker 1: Curling is down. You know, I was kind of scratching
Speaker 1: my head about that because I just had found out
Speaker 1: recently that Cam wasn't gonna be, you know, playing, So
Speaker 1: just to see Derek go out there and solidify that
Speaker 1: position and show that he's worthy too, it was a
Speaker 1: great job, Buddy, y'all man. For all of your news
Speaker 1: and analysis, be sure to tune in two Command Center
Speaker 1: weeknights at five thirty and ten pm on NBC Sports Washington.
Speaker 1: You can also stream on YouTube and commanders dot com.
Speaker 1: Heild to the Commanders