Speaker 1: What is going on? Commander's Sam. This is another episode
Speaker 1: of the beat Down podcast. Welcome in. I am your host,
Speaker 1: senior for the Washington Commanders, Zach Selby. I'm still kind
Speaker 1: of riding the high a little bit because it's hard
Speaker 1: to even to describe even though we've there's been so
Speaker 1: many stories written, so many things shown on social media
Speaker 1: about the Hail Mary pass that ended the Chicago Bears
Speaker 1: game with Washington coming out on top eighteen to fifteen.
Speaker 1: But you know, I will say, you know, it's usually
Speaker 1: pretty subdued in the press box, right, I guess as
Speaker 1: it should be. You have to be quiet and cheering
Speaker 1: the press box all that other stuff when that play happened.
Speaker 1: You know, there there are some moments where the rules
Speaker 1: kind of go out the window a little bit, And
Speaker 1: even though it was still a little subdued, there was
Speaker 1: still a lot of a lot of buzz in that
Speaker 1: press box for what you just because it's a history
Speaker 1: making moment. What's one of the best moments in franchise
Speaker 1: history already and I mean everyone, everyone who was there
Speaker 1: will remember for the rest of their lives. But while
Speaker 1: we're all still really excited about the Heil Mary Pass,
Speaker 1: the Commanders still have to turn the page. So they
Speaker 1: are moving on to their second Division match of the
Speaker 1: season against the New York Giants, going on the road
Speaker 1: to MetLife Stadium. It's you know, you can never count
Speaker 1: out Division matchup, but you know, the Commanders and Giants
Speaker 1: have always played to other really tough Disask any Commander's
Speaker 1: fan over the last two years about what that matchup
Speaker 1: has been like. You can never count the Giants out
Speaker 1: for anything. You never count the Commanders out for anything,
Speaker 1: no matter what their record is. So the Commanders is
Speaker 1: trying to go to seven and two for the first time.
Speaker 1: He's nineteen ninety six against the Giants, and how are
Speaker 1: they going to do that? Well, that is exactly what
Speaker 1: we're going to be talking about today, and we have
Speaker 1: two more guests they were going to be talking about this.
Speaker 1: It will be Candy Waller coming back to us from
Speaker 1: booy TV Sports and Andrew Pisad, Giants writer a form
Speaker 1: for Sports Illustrated. How are we doing, y'all?
Speaker 2: I'm with you, Zach, I'm doing I'm still riding high
Speaker 2: from from the raise Hail Mary on Sunday that the
Speaker 2: Commander's offense executed. So I'm still kind of riding high
Speaker 2: from that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, it's it's it's pretty crazy just to
Speaker 1: just to imagine what that's going to be like, you know,
Speaker 1: talking about it for years from now. And Andrew, how
Speaker 1: are you doing over there?
Speaker 3: I appreciate you having me on. You know, it's I'm good,
Speaker 3: but you know, obviously my football team is not very good.
Speaker 3: So it's it's always a it's always an interesting time
Speaker 3: of year when they barely have any wins heading into November.
Speaker 3: So it is what it is at this point.
Speaker 1: But you know that that is right. But at the
Speaker 1: same time, like I was saying earlier, you just know
Speaker 1: how competitive they're going to be. Considering how competitive the
Speaker 1: the NFC East is. Anything that happened, it has for
Speaker 1: the last you know, decade or so. I don't think
Speaker 1: that there's been a repeat winner in that span. Uh
Speaker 1: so really anything it happened because these guys just beat
Speaker 1: up on each other all the time. Uh But you know,
Speaker 1: we'll move on from that now and we'll get into
Speaker 1: the match up here. Before we do that, all of
Speaker 1: yours know the spiel, they know the deal. Here. These
Speaker 1: guys are going to be answering questions that I present
Speaker 1: on an offense, on a defense, and one more of
Speaker 1: a general question. There will be points that forget that
Speaker 1: will be given out, and there will be a winner,
Speaker 1: because I in the post of the podcast, I could
Speaker 1: decide who wins and who loses. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: you should be more focused on the objective takes that
Speaker 1: the that these individuals have because they're they're the insiders,
Speaker 1: they know what they're talking about. And all that being said,
Speaker 1: let's go ahead and get into it. Starting with the
Speaker 1: Giants defense, which I think is probably you know, their
Speaker 1: biggest strength right now, especially in the front seven. Dexhah
Speaker 1: Lawrence is a monster right now leading the team in sacks.
Speaker 1: They're first in the NFL with thirty five sacks, which
Speaker 1: I was kind of surprised that whenever I whenever I
Speaker 1: first saw that stat Wednesday when I was making the
Speaker 1: preview story. So it's gonna be a big challenge for
Speaker 1: this Washington offensive line. Who is They are playing a
Speaker 1: lot better than I think a lot of people expect
Speaker 1: at the beginning of the year. Their top ten unit
Speaker 1: in Pathlock Win Ray. I mean, they're working really well together,
Speaker 1: especially in the interior. You know, with Brandon Coleman, So
Speaker 1: you know, maybe coming back as he gets in the
Speaker 1: concussion protocol, they'll be a little bit closer to full strength.
Speaker 1: But iner, since you are the guests here, you're your
Speaker 1: first time guests, I will I'll go with the question
Speaker 1: to you first. What role is that battle between Washington's
Speaker 1: off the line and the giants stephensive line going to
Speaker 1: have on Sunday?
Speaker 3: You know, it's it's pretty it's a pretty crucial role. Obviously,
Speaker 3: a lot of like the talking point is that games
Speaker 3: are one in the trenches. Looking back at the last matchup,
Speaker 3: we had five sacks and seven hits on on Jayden Daniels.
Speaker 3: But the thing is like it wasn't from our defensive line,
Speaker 3: so we had a lot of safety blitzes and linebackers
Speaker 3: kind of come down. Jason Pinnock, our safety, led the
Speaker 3: team with two sacks. Our edges were shut out. Desha
Speaker 3: Lawrence didn't have a sag either. So, like you said,
Speaker 3: I think Commander's offensive line has been playing better than expected.
Speaker 3: But now that where our games are, what seven weeks apart,
Speaker 3: the Giants have definitely turned it up since then, It's
Speaker 3: gonna look a little bit different this time. Uh, Keavon
Speaker 3: Thibodau is an Ir with a wrist injury, which means
Speaker 3: as he's o Ja Lari is gonna be stepping in.
Speaker 3: He stepped in pretty well over the last couple of games.
Speaker 3: He has a sack at least one sack in three
Speaker 3: straight games. Brian Burns has a sack and four straight games.
Speaker 3: And then obviously Dexter Lawrence is just a monster and
Speaker 3: he kind of wins any matchup presented in front of him.
Speaker 3: So it's gonna be it's gonna be like you said,
Speaker 3: it's always a good matchup with the Giants and Commanders,
Speaker 3: and I think this is gonna be where most of
Speaker 3: the where most of the fund is gonna be, at
Speaker 3: least for my side, because it really isn't much else
Speaker 3: to be excited about. So seeing seeing them get after
Speaker 3: Daniel is gonna be a fun matchup for sure.
Speaker 1: You know, I cannot you cannot understate the the impact
Speaker 1: that Dexhah Lawrence is really having. I mean, my god,
Speaker 1: he is just a force to be dealt with. And
Speaker 1: I think, you know, telabadis Is is very is very
Speaker 1: real equipped to to to deal with that. You know
Speaker 1: him think he's ninth in in run block, run block,
Speaker 1: Win Ray like he's he he has the the ability
Speaker 1: for sure, uh you know, to go toe to toe
Speaker 1: with Dexah Lawrence. But Candy, you know, we we've seen
Speaker 1: how this offensive line has has really grown over the
Speaker 1: last you know, gosh where we you know, we're in
Speaker 1: week nine, and I would say that they've they've really
Speaker 1: come on even more because you know, they they looked
Speaker 1: more impressive in week one, for sure, but lately this
Speaker 1: seems like they are churning out and and humming and
Speaker 1: in a way that I as a four off the
Speaker 1: line and I'm very pleasantly, you know, surprised and very
Speaker 1: very happy to see. But how have you seen this,
Speaker 1: this Washington offensive line, uh grow from from the last
Speaker 1: time we played the Giants and we two to now
Speaker 1: heading into week nine?
Speaker 2: You know during OTAs Zach, I recall uh Tyler uh
Speaker 2: Fia saying, you know, the offensive line was really already
Speaker 2: and this was in May, you know, learning how to
Speaker 2: operate five as one. And I continue to go back
Speaker 2: to kind of his first presser, if you will, with
Speaker 2: us and thinking about all of the things that he
Speaker 2: was saying that they were working on back then that
Speaker 2: we're actually seeing now on the field. Now, they are
Speaker 2: dealing with some injuries, right, you know Commanders offensive offensive lineman,
Speaker 2: you know Brandon Coleman, hopefully he is back this week
Speaker 2: from concussion protocol. We know Cornelius Lucas left the game
Speaker 2: on Sunday during with injuries. So now it's around that
Speaker 2: time where and I know Andrew you mentioned some of
Speaker 2: the injuries to the Giants defense as well. Now it's
Speaker 2: kind of like around that time where folks are starting
Speaker 2: to get injured, so you have to really look through
Speaker 2: the depth chart, you know, to kind of pull and
Speaker 2: plug there. But this offensive line, and especially with Jayden
Speaker 2: Daniels dealing through his rib injury and pushing through through that,
Speaker 2: I think this offensive line is completely and totally brought
Speaker 2: in to protecting Jayden Daniels at all costs. And if anything,
Speaker 2: I think what Sunday this past Sunday did was continue
Speaker 2: to show that improve that the team did a heck
Speaker 2: of a job blocking for Jayden to get that ball
Speaker 2: off for that long twelve second to him to get
Speaker 2: it off, they did a tremendous job. You saw Austin
Speaker 2: Eckler running running back. Austin Eckler get involved there as
Speaker 2: well with Trent Scott then at that point in as
Speaker 2: the depth chart person and coming in to help protect
Speaker 2: So I think this offensive line is brought in. I
Speaker 2: think every member of the commanders is totally bought in
Speaker 2: with protecting Jayden Right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you mentioned you mentioned Brennan Coleman. You know,
Speaker 1: he talked to us outside of the locker room, uh,
Speaker 1: yesterday Wednesday, and it seemed like he he said he
Speaker 1: was doing great, you know, he said, he said he
Speaker 1: it felt great to be back out there on the field.
Speaker 1: We can never really guess with the concussion protocol stuff,
Speaker 1: but you know, the hope is that he's he's back,
Speaker 1: he's back in, you know, suiting up on Sunday and
Speaker 1: you know, it's it seemed like he's on the right track.
Speaker 1: But we'll see what the official designation is once we
Speaker 1: get further into the week and hopefully by this time,
Speaker 1: you know, be announced that he'll be able to go.
Speaker 1: But again, we'll we'll never we'll never know here until
Speaker 1: until then. But Andrew you mentioned, uh you know, came
Speaker 1: on Phibodeau uh and him being on I R. And
Speaker 1: you know that that seems like that's such a big
Speaker 1: blow because he's so athletic as a as a player.
Speaker 1: What what has that done with the reverberating effects of
Speaker 1: not having Thibodeau and how how the Giant's been able
Speaker 1: to adjust to that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So I just want to give credit to u
Speaker 3: Zizo Jalari because he stepped in really well. From pass
Speaker 3: rushing standpoint, he already has six sacks on this season,
Speaker 3: and from just a pure pass rushing standpoint, I think
Speaker 3: he has at which is kind of crazy to say.
Speaker 3: I think he's a little bit better than Kavon in
Speaker 3: that category. But the drawbacks of not having Kavon is
Speaker 3: his support in the run game. And now like our
Speaker 3: run defense has never been uh hasn't really been good
Speaker 3: over the last several years. But Kavon has always known
Speaker 3: like how to set the edge and things like that,
Speaker 3: and and rack up tackles for losses and things like that.
Speaker 3: Azi doesn't have that at all. He does He's really
Speaker 3: a non factor in the run game. So if you
Speaker 3: run towards his side, it's pretty much you're going You're
Speaker 3: going to get yardage, and that's that's.
Speaker 1: Really the main thing.
Speaker 3: But Aziz has stepped in well from a from a
Speaker 3: pass rushing standpoint, and I don't really see much of
Speaker 3: a drop off in production. So the run, the run
Speaker 3: defense is really the main concern that I've had with
Speaker 3: Thibodeau off off the field for four weeks.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it seems like, you know, see what they've
Speaker 1: they've still managed to do okay right in managing their run.
Speaker 1: Let's see if I can just look up here exactly
Speaker 1: how well they're doing against the run, the Giants are
Speaker 1: and I you know this, I mean that they're they're
Speaker 1: near and there near the bottom at one hundred and
Speaker 1: forty one point eight yards per game. But again, like
Speaker 1: in the interior, like I said, DESHL Lawrence, with all
Speaker 1: of these other depth pieces they have there, they're still
Speaker 1: gonna be really tough to run against. Uh Now, now, Candy,
Speaker 1: you know, he you know, Andrews brings up a good
Speaker 1: point about the run defense. And you know, if there's
Speaker 1: any I've been saying this for weeks, if there's any
Speaker 1: big the biggest strength of this Commander's offense, it has
Speaker 1: definitely been, uh the the way they've been able to
Speaker 1: dominate on the ground. I think their third right now,
Speaker 1: and rushing yards per game. I mean, you know, obviously
Speaker 1: obviously last week was a little bit of a different
Speaker 1: story because of the Bear. The bear defense was just
Speaker 1: so good. But do you do you foresee them getting
Speaker 1: back on track against the Giants? And you know, do
Speaker 1: you think is the biggest cause of why they're why
Speaker 1: they often Line has been able to be so good
Speaker 1: in terms of just uh, you know, opening these hold
Speaker 1: up of Brian Robinson and Austin Eckler.
Speaker 2: You know what, I think one of one of the
Speaker 2: reasons why they've been so successful. It's kind of funny, right, zactly.
Speaker 2: I remember last year Sam Cosmi, you know, at the
Speaker 2: end of the year was kind of like run the ball, right,
Speaker 2: almost like they wanted to run the ball. They want
Speaker 2: to get out there and block it, hit and must
Speaker 2: ask and do all of these things. They it's like
Speaker 2: it excited them to just to be able to do that.
Speaker 2: So it's kind of like that's one part of it,
Speaker 2: which might seem like kind of funny to say, but
Speaker 2: it's almost like, hey, these got this is what these
Speaker 2: guys want to do. They're like, we have some dynamic runners,
Speaker 2: get the ball on the ground. Let's let's do what
Speaker 2: we do best and let's and let's roll with it.
Speaker 2: So I think that's a key part of it. We
Speaker 2: know that Brian Robinson Junior has been dealing with two injuries.
Speaker 2: I think that maybe have some something to do with
Speaker 2: it as well in terms of just why it may
Speaker 2: have been up or down, because as we all know,
Speaker 2: when Brian Robinson Junior is on, it just elevates the
Speaker 2: entire offense in the run game for certain So I
Speaker 2: think this is a game that they would still really
Speaker 2: try to get that going because it has been such
Speaker 2: a strength. But I think the guys just love running
Speaker 2: the ball and they love seeing that power and that
Speaker 2: strength at speed from Austin Heckler. Jeremy McNichols has also
Speaker 2: flashed in a variety of different spots for the Commanders
Speaker 2: this season, so I think that has a lot to
Speaker 2: do with it.
Speaker 1: And you know, so the Commanders had two hundred and
Speaker 1: fifteen rushing yards and thirty five carries against the Giants,
Speaker 1: and we in week two, I would expect that they'll
Speaker 1: have a pretty similar approach or at least try to
Speaker 1: heading head at the start of the game to see
Speaker 1: how the Giants ad Just we'll move on to the
Speaker 1: next question.
Speaker 2: Here.
Speaker 1: Before that, we got a score update. Candy, you are
Speaker 1: ahead five to three, So congratulations and winning round one, Andrew,
Speaker 1: you staw some time to make up for it. But
Speaker 1: we'll go over to the Giants offense here and we'll
Speaker 1: talk about Elite Nighbors because I think he well this
Speaker 1: well the Giants offense, as you know, they've they've had
Speaker 1: some rough patches here and there. I think Milite Neighbors
Speaker 1: has definitely been a star, you know, in a lot
Speaker 1: of different ways. In Week two, he was started eighteen
Speaker 1: times for one hundred and twenty seven yards in a touchdown,
Speaker 1: got ten catches on the day. You know, they they
Speaker 1: just continued to go at him over and over and
Speaker 1: over again. And you know it's hard to blame him
Speaker 1: because of how how much of a special talent he is.
Speaker 1: But Canny, we'll start with you here and I'll ask you, like,
Speaker 1: do you how do you expect the secondary to adapt
Speaker 1: to Milite Neighbors in the second matchup between them, because
Speaker 1: I would imagine like the Giants are still gonna target
Speaker 1: him quite a bit, but also the secondary has really
Speaker 1: improved a lot as well.
Speaker 2: I was just getting ready to say that we've definitely
Speaker 2: seen some improvements overall in the defense, but definitely in
Speaker 2: the secondary as well. We know coming into the season
Speaker 2: there was so many questions and was like, okay, out
Speaker 2: of all of the position groups, which one is the weakest,
Speaker 2: And you know, I know for me it was the secondary.
Speaker 2: It was like, all right, you know, there's some challenges
Speaker 2: back there. So what I've continued to say throughout the
Speaker 2: season is when the defensive line, when they're able to
Speaker 2: get that pressure up front, it helps the secondary tremendously
Speaker 2: because Malik Neighbors is just he is just awesome. He's
Speaker 2: just great. I mean, it's just one of those receivers
Speaker 2: where it's like you cannot expect the score to just
Speaker 2: be zero, right, you cannot expect a shutout completely when
Speaker 2: you have a star like Milite Neighbors on your roster offensively,
Speaker 2: So it is going to be important for you know,
Speaker 2: the defensive line, the linebackers to get as much pressure
Speaker 2: as they can on Daniel Jones. I believe he is
Speaker 2: still starting. I know there were some questions about some
Speaker 2: changes that at quarterback, but they're not going to make
Speaker 2: a change, sounds like. So it's it's one of the
Speaker 2: things that I shared and going into Week two was
Speaker 2: you know, got to get the sack. At that point
Speaker 2: in time, the defensive line of defensive world, they weren't.
Speaker 2: They will not finishing at all. So they were allowing
Speaker 2: allowing Daniel Jones to do what he does best against
Speaker 2: the Commanders. As you mentioned in the opening, this team
Speaker 2: has struggled so much against the New York Giants, and
Speaker 2: so this is an opportunity to kind of make up
Speaker 2: for that struggle. While they did win in Week two,
Speaker 2: they certainly did still struggle against Daniel Jones. So I
Speaker 2: think if the defense is able to get that pressure
Speaker 2: up front they're able to finish, that will help the
Speaker 2: secondary out tremendously because once the balls in the area
Speaker 2: goes to the Neighbors, he's going to make the play.
Speaker 2: So I think it's not so much while what the
Speaker 2: corners can do, because they're gonna do the best that
Speaker 2: they can, but I think it to stop the League Neighbors,
Speaker 2: the pressure's got to be upfront with the defensive line
Speaker 2: and the linebackers.
Speaker 1: You know, I was just out of curiosity, I looked
Speaker 1: at how many targets Millie Labs has got in this year.
Speaker 1: He's had in seventy three, which is the second highest
Speaker 1: in the NFL, which is that's just that's just crazy
Speaker 1: to me that they see but they their their offense
Speaker 1: really is is driven by him and and Andrew, like
Speaker 1: you know, like I just mentioned, like you know, seventy
Speaker 1: three targets. You know, they he clearly is, like you know,
Speaker 1: their best weapon. So what are the different ways that
Speaker 1: they've been they've tried to get him involved because obviously,
Speaker 1: you know, you can't just use him as a deep threat.
Speaker 1: He's got so much more ability than that. So what
Speaker 1: what are all the different ways they tried to you know,
Speaker 1: make him, make him at the focal point of the
Speaker 1: office about without you know, the teeth the entire devents
Speaker 1: keying on him on every single play.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So, like you said, those seventy three targets are
Speaker 3: actually insane. And what's crazy about it is he missed
Speaker 3: two ins with a concussion. Yeah, so that's it's it's
Speaker 3: really it's cool to see because we haven't had this in.
Speaker 1: A very long time. So with the last time these
Speaker 1: two teams met.
Speaker 3: Obviously, Neighbors did what he had to do, but a
Speaker 3: lot of the route concepts were kind of short. There
Speaker 3: were a lot of shallow crossers. It was just getting
Speaker 3: him the ball in space and letting him get yards
Speaker 3: after the catch. I believe eight percent of his yards
Speaker 3: in that game came after the catch. So the deep, honestly,
Speaker 3: the deep threat that he was in college, it's obviously
Speaker 3: still there, but we haven't really given him the opportunity
Speaker 3: to showcase that because of the quarterback play. The offensive
Speaker 3: line play hasn't really been great, and like Candy was saying,
Speaker 3: it's more of like a trickle down effect. So our
Speaker 3: left tackle, and Andrew Thomas is out for the season
Speaker 3: and we've had just the last two to three games.
Speaker 1: It's just been awful awful.
Speaker 3: Can even can not protect on that side of the line,
Speaker 3: so it's been hard to get neighbors the ball. So
Speaker 3: coming back from the concussion, he hasn't really.
Speaker 1: Had that big game just yet.
Speaker 3: He almost had a touchdown in the Steelers game, but
Speaker 3: his foot was out of bounds, but it was it
Speaker 3: would have been a crazy catch. But in this game
Speaker 3: or the last couple of weeks, I should say, it's
Speaker 3: just been more a lot of over the middle type
Speaker 3: of stuff. I believe on a on a fourth and
Speaker 3: one play against the Steelers, they kind of just did
Speaker 3: like a little out route and got them like three yards.
Speaker 3: But they've they've mixed it up for sure. They've even
Speaker 3: put him in the backfield on some plays, jet sweeps
Speaker 3: things like that. I haven't seen a lot of slants,
Speaker 3: to be honest, since that though. The Week three game
Speaker 3: in Cleveland he ran like two really good slants and
Speaker 3: it was really nice. But I haven't really seen that
Speaker 3: much since. But a deep threat hasn't really been there
Speaker 3: too much yet. So if I were the Commanders, I
Speaker 3: wouldn't worry about it because we can't really protect for
Speaker 3: that long anyway.
Speaker 1: But it's been it's been a it's been a.
Speaker 3: Joy to watch because it doesn't really matter who's in
Speaker 3: front of him. He's can he can kind of go
Speaker 3: up and just win that matchup regardless.
Speaker 1: It's it's been fun.
Speaker 3: I feel like the big moment that we've been weighed
Speaker 3: to have been since he came back from the Culture
Speaker 3: Protocol hasn't happened. But I feel like we're close, So
Speaker 3: I think it might happen this game if if Jones
Speaker 3: can get him the ball for sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and to your point, the Giants are you know,
Speaker 1: they flowed the third most sacks in the NFL so
Speaker 1: far this year with twenty six. So and I was
Speaker 1: looking up, you know, milite nighbors just game by game,
Speaker 1: you know stats here, and his best game came against Commanders.
Speaker 1: Uh second will be against Dallas. Uh so Candy, Like
Speaker 1: you know, obviously, it's one thing to say that the
Speaker 1: secondary is improved and you know all that other stuff,
Speaker 1: but like, I mean, who do you who do you
Speaker 1: see them putting on elite neighbors or is it gonna
Speaker 1: be more of a group effort between you know, the
Speaker 1: entire group.
Speaker 2: I think I think I would envision a group effort.
Speaker 2: But at the same token, I'm sincing Mikey, Mike Samras
Speaker 2: still yeah, And the reason why is because I'm just
Speaker 2: I just immediately as soon as you were asking that question,
Speaker 2: I was thinking about the Ravens game when Zay Flowers
Speaker 2: was just going off like they like, you know, Coach
Speaker 2: Wick told me in the presser you know, hey, they
Speaker 2: just had a good day, and sometimes that, hey, milite
Speaker 2: neighbors could very well just have a good day. But
Speaker 2: I think perhaps that was a lesson learned because in
Speaker 2: the second half of the Ravens game. They put Mikey
Speaker 2: one day and it's pretty quiet, right, So I'm like,
Speaker 2: maybe this is you know, rookie rookie opportunity and Mikey
Speaker 2: gainst that work on on Sunday. But I think we
Speaker 2: we'll see some adjustments having to be made as well,
Speaker 2: because we like, like you know, Andrew were saying, Zak
Speaker 2: he was saying, Malite Neighbors is having a terrific year.
Speaker 2: So I mean, and he's going to get well the targets, right.
Speaker 2: I know, he was out in concussion protocol for a bit,
Speaker 2: but he's there. If Danie Jones could get the ball off,
Speaker 2: he's going to get the ball to Milite Neighbors, banking
Speaker 2: on if nothing else, a potential DPI mm hm. Because
Speaker 2: unfortunately sometimes you could almost count on one someone in the
Speaker 2: commanded secondary getting that. So well, we'll see what happens.
Speaker 2: And it kind of feels bad to say that, but
Speaker 2: I mean, I know, we're just you know, we're thought.
Speaker 2: I mean that it's the truth. So that that is
Speaker 2: how I envisioned. I think, you know, the pressure up front,
Speaker 2: but if it's one on one match up, I'm thinking
Speaker 2: maybe Mikey has that one.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think that's that's been one of the
Speaker 1: biggest differences I think with this with his defense, and
Speaker 1: you know, Dan was even saying on Wednesday that, you know,
Speaker 1: it was it was a big move for them to
Speaker 1: move move Mike to the outside, and they may grapple
Speaker 1: with it quite a bit, but so far it's really
Speaker 1: turned out well from it, even though he you know,
Speaker 1: Quinny even meant I think it was the last two
Speaker 1: weeks ago that you know, he's more of an inside player,
Speaker 1: but because he's just so good at a lot of
Speaker 1: other things that he's able to, you know, they're able
Speaker 1: to move him around. So I think we're gonna move
Speaker 1: on to the final question here. But you know, Andrew,
Speaker 1: you have tied up, so there's that, you know, we're
Speaker 1: hitting the last round with a little bit of high
Speaker 1: stake situation here.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 1: You know, I was looking thinking about how to you know,
Speaker 1: phrase this final question here, and I think it's a
Speaker 1: little bit of an interesting uh you know, Dux's position here.
Speaker 1: But there's obviously gonna be a lot of you know,
Speaker 1: a lot of different players that are gonna have big,
Speaker 1: big roles in this. I picked two that I think
Speaker 1: are a little bit diametrically different, but I think it
Speaker 1: have have their own impact in very different ways. One
Speaker 1: is Austin Eckler and and the other is obviously dexteror Lawrence.
Speaker 1: Uh So, Andrew will start with you, who do you
Speaker 1: think is gonna have the bigger effect on Sunday's outcome?
Speaker 1: Is it going to be Commanders running back Austin Eckler
Speaker 1: or is it going to be Dexter Lawrence.
Speaker 3: So obviously, watching Decks over the last several years, just
Speaker 3: seeing the player he's turned into once switching to strictly
Speaker 3: as a nose tackle has been pretty pretty crazy to watch.
Speaker 3: So obviously I'm gonna I'm gonna take Lawrence in this situation.
Speaker 3: He didn't have he didn't really have a not a
Speaker 3: bad game or anything, but he just didn't have a
Speaker 3: big game against the Commanders a week two. But I
Speaker 3: think with the momentum that they've had over the last
Speaker 3: several weeks, with all the sacks they racked up, decks
Speaker 3: just getting to the quarterback and more consistent rate than
Speaker 3: last year, I think he's going to win. And Tyler
Speaker 3: Biattis is a more than capable center. I think he's
Speaker 3: I think he's played pretty well this year, but I
Speaker 3: think Lawrence is going to win that matchup. Now, Eckler,
Speaker 3: with the way this Giants run defenses has played all
Speaker 3: season long, Eckler can definitely have an impact in some way.
Speaker 3: I wouldn't be surprised about that. But I think Dexter
Speaker 3: is just going to continue his dominance and I think
Speaker 3: he's gonna if I believe that the stat was before
Speaker 3: heading into the season, whenever Lawrence has one sack, the
Speaker 3: Giants win. That obviously isn't the case this year because
Speaker 3: we had he had a sack and we lost.
Speaker 1: A few games. But what he.
Speaker 3: Can impact the game in so many different ways, and
Speaker 3: I think he's going to come out on top this
Speaker 3: week in this matchup.
Speaker 1: And you did touch on the reason why I included
Speaker 1: Austin Eckler in this in this this matchup between the two,
Speaker 1: because I think he has some really special ability, especially
Speaker 1: we could happened against the Giants defense. But Candy, you
Speaker 1: are up, is it going to be Austin Eckler or
Speaker 1: Dexter Lawrence will have a bigger impact.
Speaker 2: On some day. So I definitely was wanting to pick
Speaker 2: Dexter Lawrence, and I thought about it and I said,
Speaker 2: if I go back for a minute in the week
Speaker 2: two games, what happened? Oh, I think Austin Eckler had
Speaker 2: a touchdown that came back on special teams.
Speaker 1: Yes, he did.
Speaker 2: And I said, you know what, because I've been waiting
Speaker 2: for a specialty. Have been waiting And I said, perhaps
Speaker 2: that's where Austin Eckler can make the biggest impact in
Speaker 2: starting field position. I know, and you know we know
Speaker 2: the zact that that is one of the areas the
Speaker 2: categories that that when it comes to hell the truth
Speaker 2: one day for the commanders, they are looking at, you know,
Speaker 2: several different categories starting field position being won for the
Speaker 2: offense because of a dexter lawrence. I think it would
Speaker 2: be in their best interest to be as close to
Speaker 2: scoring touchdowns as possible, right, and an opportunity to do
Speaker 2: that is on special teams. Austin Eckler was having a
Speaker 2: good day, but he ended up I think did he
Speaker 2: have to know that wasn't a game he had to
Speaker 2: leave out that was Cincinnati, but this was definitely the
Speaker 2: game where he had a special teams touchdown and I
Speaker 2: had to come back. So I think that may be
Speaker 2: where we see impact from Austin Eckler, I mean overall
Speaker 2: in the offense again, just the overall run game, yes,
Speaker 2: because this was also the game that the compandits didn't
Speaker 2: score any touchdowns and we saw a little bit more
Speaker 2: of that last week until the Hail Mary. So this
Speaker 2: this could be an opportunity to really get that run
Speaker 2: game going and use it Boston Eckler for sure on
Speaker 2: special team as well as on his speed in the run.
Speaker 1: Game, you know, And I was mostly thinking about how
Speaker 1: you know, obviously b Rob he has like that that
Speaker 1: game breaking ability, but you could I think some of
Speaker 1: the biggest runs and the biggest plays come from Austin
Speaker 1: Eger because of his speak of his quickness. But the
Speaker 1: special teams is so good of a point because the
Speaker 1: Commanders right now are looks like six in return yards
Speaker 1: and a lot of that is because of Austin Eckler
Speaker 1: and this special teams unit for the Commanders I think
Speaker 1: is playing is at a really high clip there. They
Speaker 1: look like some of the most efficient in the NFL,
Speaker 1: and they're they're flying around that field. That's such a
Speaker 1: cliche phrase, but that's that is the way to describe it,
Speaker 1: because they play with a lot of physicality and Special Teams.
Speaker 1: I think is is so fun to watch with the Commanders,
Speaker 1: you know, I obviously you know Special Team, the spect Teams.
Speaker 1: He doesn't get as looked at his offensive defense, but
Speaker 1: it definitely is a lot of fun to watch them,
Speaker 1: watch them just fly around and hit people. And uh,
Speaker 1: that's been very refreshing. But okay, so winner here. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, it was a very tough match up for sure,
Speaker 1: but I think the Special Teams point really puts you
Speaker 1: over the top. Candy and the first two and oh
Speaker 1: winner of the Beatdown podcast. How are you feeling about that.
Speaker 2: Defeated? Let me play my trip to Doney World.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's yeah, so that that's that's really really big.
Speaker 1: Hey you can you can invite me to Disney World.
Speaker 1: I will head down there never been actually so that
Speaker 1: that'll be exciting. But Andrew, I thought you gave it,
Speaker 1: gave some really good points to get some really good
Speaker 1: inside the Giants. You know, it was a great great
Speaker 1: having you on. And yeah, I think, like I said,
Speaker 1: the Giants are going to be quite a tough matchup
Speaker 1: uh this year. Uh, and it's in the in this rematch,
Speaker 1: you never know what's gonna happen when you go into
Speaker 1: met life, because I mean, look two years ago, I
Speaker 1: was not expecting them to tie.
Speaker 3: And yeah, that was that was I was at that
Speaker 3: game too. It was my goodness, it was insane.
Speaker 1: And then the last day when they were met Lefe
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty three, that was quite the battle. It
Speaker 1: came all the way down to the very end. Ryan
Speaker 1: Payne had that fumble recovery and they had the last
Speaker 1: chance to win the obviously the Commanders obviously didn't come
Speaker 1: up with it. But yeah, I think it's gonna be
Speaker 1: quite the interesting game. And even though the even though
Speaker 1: the Giants two and six, I think they've still they've
Speaker 1: got some pieces on on there on the team that
Speaker 1: make them themselves a lot more competitive.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, definitely it should. It's gonna be a good matchup.
Speaker 3: I'm going to be in the building Sunday, so we'll
Speaker 3: see it's it's gonna be. It's gonna be fun like
Speaker 3: they always are.
Speaker 1: Yeah for sure. All right, Well, guys, that'll wrap it
Speaker 1: up for another episode of the Beatdown podcast. Make sure
Speaker 1: you rate reviews, subscribe wherever you get your podcast, and
Speaker 1: check out the game on Sunday. Hopefully We're talking about
Speaker 1: a seven and two commander's team, and this has been
Speaker 1: the beaton