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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Command Center Podcast. I'm Julie Donaldson. Washington's

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Speaker 1: twenty three ten victory over the Houston Texans makes it

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Speaker 1: two in a row for the Commanders. Fred Smooth and

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Speaker 1: Logan Paulson helped me highlight the notables from the Commander's

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Speaker 1: second straight win. Okay, so in this game we're talking about,

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Speaker 1: they're still you know, they could have still played better,

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Speaker 1: but they played well enough that the game was never

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Speaker 1: out of control. Washington basically from beginning to end. Logan

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Speaker 1: had this one in end. Yeah, and I think you'd

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Speaker 1: love to see that. I think it always felt kind

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Speaker 1: of in grasp. Obviously, there's some things they could have

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Speaker 1: done better, you know, the three field goals in the

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Speaker 1: red zone, that's tough. The offensive production for Houston the

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Speaker 1: second half, But I think you love how the offense

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Speaker 1: felt right. It felt on rhythm, it felt on schedule.

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Speaker 1: I think he did a great job getting the ball

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Speaker 1: to his playmakers and they ran the football well, and

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Speaker 1: I think that gets you excited. Fred. Most definitely the offense.

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Speaker 1: Could they died more, Yes, they could have died more,

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Speaker 1: but they are steady and just what you love and

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Speaker 1: not turning the bowl of deefense, thrash the house. They

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Speaker 1: went into the house of Houston and they kicked they

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Speaker 1: and this what you want. Special teams, but special trist Wait.

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Speaker 1: I believe in the trist way. And every time they

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Speaker 1: get up there and jowysh slagging up there, I tell

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Speaker 1: him kick him in the eye Jewish slack, because this

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Speaker 1: is what he does all the time. You know, a quarterback.

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Speaker 1: Taylor Haneke told me afterwards that he's trying to play smarter,

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Speaker 1: you know, so understanding when he doesn't have anybody to

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Speaker 1: throw to, just throw the ball away as opposed to

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Speaker 1: giving it away and you know, being in a situation

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Speaker 1: where it can necessarily entirely be picked off. But also

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Speaker 1: to your point, he said, look, it's okay if we

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Speaker 1: have to put because we have trust way. Yeah, we

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Speaker 1: know how he's still going to flip the field on that.

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Speaker 1: But defensively, that is why this team is in control.

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Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, yeah, I mean they're in control. And I

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Speaker 1: think you see the defensive line, how well they're playing.

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Speaker 1: And it's not just the big three, right, it's James,

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Speaker 1: it's Casey, it's Fa it's John Ridgeway, It's why is

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Speaker 1: they're all doing a great job in terms of getting

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Speaker 1: in where they fit in. Fred. Yeah, and you love

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Speaker 1: it because it makes not only that group better, but

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Speaker 1: it makes the back end better. What a plan is

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Speaker 1: a group not playing as individuals. Individuals make the Pro Bowls.

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Speaker 1: Groups make champ and chips. And that's what they're doing

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Speaker 1: is every game we look. You got Deep Foe making plays,

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Speaker 1: you got Saint Juice making plays. You've got Jamie Davis

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Speaker 1: making plays. All three levels are playing together, and for

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Speaker 1: the first time in a long time, the rush in

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Speaker 1: the back end accompaniment each other to the team. I

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Speaker 1: stole him right out of my mouth. I'm really glad

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Speaker 1: you about that, because that's exactly what you see. You

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Speaker 1: see a group not only in the defensive line, but

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Speaker 1: it matriculates down to the to every fast of the

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Speaker 1: defense gets you really excited for what they can be. Well,

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Speaker 1: you heard Derek Forrest saying, look, I got four lines

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Speaker 1: in front hunting and are hunting. Yeah, you know you're

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Speaker 1: going to have your opportunities. But that's something that we've

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Speaker 1: been asking from this defense for a while, is to

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Speaker 1: make sure you're communicating with each other. And it took

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Speaker 1: a little bit to kind of get that and for

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Speaker 1: them to grow as young players as well, which is

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Speaker 1: apparently the plan that had coach Ron Rivera a lot.

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Speaker 1: So totally get in but offensively, Look because the defense

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Speaker 1: is playing like there even had coach Ron Rivera says,

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Speaker 1: Taylor doesn't have to play all that great. Yeah, which

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Speaker 1: is a testament to the defense. But he's playing well enough.

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Speaker 1: And look we talk about how there's one ball, Logan Thomas. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it really was back and adding to it as well. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean so many things back there. Obviously Taylor Heineke.

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Speaker 1: I think he understands how he fits in. You know, like,

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Speaker 1: let the defense win the game away, right, I don't

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Speaker 1: have to be to elevate the offensive line. Get the

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Speaker 1: ball to your playmakers. And one of the playmakers was

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Speaker 1: Logan Thomas. I mean you sit in the highlight, Fred,

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Speaker 1: he just looked like himself, the catching the ball with

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Speaker 1: soft hands, winning one on one matchups. We knew we're

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Speaker 1: going to see a lot of man from Houston. He

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Speaker 1: just executed a really high levels. So I think it's

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Speaker 1: great to get that piece back. He's just one piece

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Speaker 1: John Cut of ball, Terry cut balls, right, Murdis was

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Speaker 1: pretty give me more Curtis Flee. Yeah, and can we

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Speaker 1: also we have to mention like the way that they're

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Speaker 1: running the ball as well. It has been better since

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Speaker 1: Brian Robinson has been back in the lineup. But those

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Speaker 1: tight ends like they're really kind of helping out the

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Speaker 1: offensive line and trying to accommodate for something that's been

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Speaker 1: a little bit of a weakness. And Logan Thomas was

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Speaker 1: a big part of that going out there not being

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Speaker 1: afraid to block as well. You get you get Jordan's,

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Speaker 1: you get Dan. That is it, because that's what Taylor

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Speaker 1: Hanekey said last week. He gave Jordan's to the offensive line.

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Speaker 1: This week he's giving Jordan's to the tight ends. And

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Speaker 1: I just want to know when it's our turn win

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Speaker 1: enough wins, maybe it will be. Quarterback Taylor Heineke recorded

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Speaker 1: his fourth win as a starter in Sunday's game. I

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Speaker 1: caught up with QB one post game to get his

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Speaker 1: reaction to the win and being named the starter. Moving forward,

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Speaker 1: feeling good, feeling great? Okay, four and one m and

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Speaker 1: because four and one head coach Ron River has already

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Speaker 1: gone instead moving forward, you are the quarterback? What does

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Speaker 1: that say to you? And the way that you're leading

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Speaker 1: this team, it means a lot. Again, it's it's a

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Speaker 1: dream I've had as a kid to be starting quarterback

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Speaker 1: in the NFL. So now whenever you get named that

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Speaker 1: that position, um, you know, it's it's very special to me.

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Speaker 1: You know, all the hard work that I've put in

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Speaker 1: throughout the years, um word, to come full circle and

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Speaker 1: and to be doing this right now, it's it's very special.

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Speaker 1: So hopefully we just keep this thing rolling. We know

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Speaker 1: you talk about how you playing, guys will say is

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Speaker 1: if like this is maybe your last time ever being

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Speaker 1: on the field. Guys seem to really kind of rally

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Speaker 1: around that in the energy. But when the media's not

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Speaker 1: wrong with people around, what is that with you and

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Speaker 1: your teammates? Um, that has this kind of con nection

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Speaker 1: and something that maybe we can't entirely explain. Yeah, you know,

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Speaker 1: I've throughout the years, I've kind of learned that, you know,

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Speaker 1: football is not going to be there forever, but the

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Speaker 1: relationships that you make are And so you know, when

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Speaker 1: you know, you guys aren't around and we're not practicing,

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Speaker 1: we have a little bit time off and during the day, Um,

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Speaker 1: you know, I'm making a point to go hang out

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Speaker 1: with all the guys in locker room. Whether it's linebackers, DBS,

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Speaker 1: defensive line, doesn't matter. UM. You know, developing those relationships

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Speaker 1: I feel gets everyone close together and they want to

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Speaker 1: fight harder for each other. So UM doing that and

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Speaker 1: then you know at lunch, eat lunch with people that

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Speaker 1: you don't normally eat with. UM, I think that goes

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Speaker 1: a long way. And UM, you know, I'm just happy,

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Speaker 1: happy for the guys. You know, they're they're working really

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Speaker 1: hard right now. For all of your news and analysis,

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Speaker 1: be sure to tune into Command Center week nights if

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Speaker 1: I have thirty and ten pm on NBC Sports Washington.

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Speaker 1: You can also stream on YouTube and commanders dot com