Speaker 1: Welcome to the Command Center Podcast. I'm Julie Donaldson. Washington
Speaker 1: ended the season on a high note, defeating the Dallas
Speaker 1: Cowboys twenty six to six. Special teams set the tone,
Speaker 1: forcing a fumble on the opening drive at the game.
Speaker 1: This set up a Sam hollow touchdown to wide receiver
Speaker 1: Terry mclaure. The rookie qb through for over one hundred
Speaker 1: and sixty yards and tacked on a rushing touchdown in
Speaker 1: his NFL debut. Our analysts London Fletcher, Logan, Paulson, and
Speaker 1: Santana Moss helps me recap the Commanders season finale, King
Speaker 1: ten times in Santana. I want to start with you
Speaker 1: for this one because you've played with umpteen million quarterbacks
Speaker 1: over your career, and it's always a little bit of
Speaker 1: a challenge for rookie to come out there, grasp this system,
Speaker 1: get into chemistry and rhythm with their receivers. What did
Speaker 1: you make of Sam Howe's performance, Well, you know, one
Speaker 1: of the things that stood out, something that we talked
Speaker 1: about throughout the week about how that ball jumps off
Speaker 1: his fingers. Yeah, that stood out first, you know, from
Speaker 1: the first pass. But more than that, you know, I
Speaker 1: want to see how he reacted to some of the
Speaker 1: things that didn't go as well, and he responded the
Speaker 1: way most veteran quarterback should for him to be a
Speaker 1: rookie being thrown in that moment, you know, for his
Speaker 1: first game, the last game of the season playing is
Speaker 1: one of the better defense in this league. And to
Speaker 1: have a couple of hiccups here and there, throw interception
Speaker 1: and did come back in and say, so what make
Speaker 1: a play after that? That's what stood out to me
Speaker 1: the most. Yeah, I mean, I think I thought it
Speaker 1: was really dynamic from a passing standpoint. I think the
Speaker 1: composure was outstanding. I think him as a runner was
Speaker 1: something that I wasn't expecting kind of to add that
Speaker 1: value that third down. Converting those third downs with his
Speaker 1: feet was pretty fantastic. So great to see the young
Speaker 1: guy come out there with that kind of composure to
Speaker 1: make those plays. And you know, was it a perfect sheet, No,
Speaker 1: but nice, nice first start. You know, this is the
Speaker 1: staff that they want to be able to evaluate Sam
Speaker 1: to kind of decide what they need to do in
Speaker 1: the off season at the quarterback position. Did he do
Speaker 1: enough to be that QB one. I think he did
Speaker 1: enough to get in the conversation of being the QB one.
Speaker 1: You know, I think they're gonna bring somebody in maybe
Speaker 1: challenge Sam. But what I saw yesterday I saw a
Speaker 1: guy who was decisive getting the ball out on time,
Speaker 1: and then when there wasn't anything there. He used his
Speaker 1: athleticism in his plays and you like the fact that
Speaker 1: he knew where to go with the football. And this
Speaker 1: is against the Dallas Cowboys defense that came in number
Speaker 1: two in the NFL and Saxon that defense is dynamic,
Speaker 1: but he was able to pick them apart and make
Speaker 1: plays using his legs. Yeah, he was saying that that
Speaker 1: is a strength of his. He wants to be able
Speaker 1: to throw it. But of course if he gets that
Speaker 1: situation where there's a hole, he has the ability to
Speaker 1: go and it works to his advantage as we saw that.
Speaker 1: So so a lot of question marks at the position
Speaker 1: in the offseason, and we got to see Logan you
Speaker 1: mentioned this on the top of the show, a lot
Speaker 1: of younger guys also on defense really stepping up. Yeah. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: I mean I was super impressed. Like, you know, a
Speaker 1: guy that I really wanted to see was Percy Butler
Speaker 1: and friend would come out there and make the plays
Speaker 1: that he did, be consistent and just playing with a
Speaker 1: confidence getting up after tacking Ezekiel and let him know, Fletch,
Speaker 1: let's say, man, I did that, I got you down
Speaker 1: the ground and kind of standing over top of him.
Speaker 1: I love to see that from the young guys. And
Speaker 1: then John Ridgeway had five tackles in their first sixteen plays.
Speaker 1: There are some pieces here to build around, you know,
Speaker 1: And I think that gets me super fired up in
Speaker 1: a game like this. Yeah, you saw guys like Butler,
Speaker 1: you saw guys like Husting, you know. One of the
Speaker 1: things we talked about, Husting a guy, you know, a
Speaker 1: linebacker who's smaller than the average linebacker but flying around.
Speaker 1: They can play some of the things you see in
Speaker 1: this league today, playing a hybrid style, you know kind
Speaker 1: of play. So it was great to see them young
Speaker 1: guys go out there and be dominant, you know, more
Speaker 1: than just going out here saying we're going to play
Speaker 1: and see what these guys like. They was definitely dominant.
Speaker 1: Played that viper position coming out of college, which was
Speaker 1: kind of all over the place, but we haven't really
Speaker 1: seen him being able to contribute on defense, and it
Speaker 1: was good to know because this coaching staff really wants
Speaker 1: to build around the youth of this team as well,
Speaker 1: so that there's some great things coming in the offseason
Speaker 1: to build a punt And it's not just offense, it's
Speaker 1: not just defense. London special teams had their way. Special
Speaker 1: teams they got it started. You know, you think about
Speaker 1: me Loo Eifler making that tackle on the on the
Speaker 1: Bible punt and then trust Way with the voodoo punt,
Speaker 1: forcing the muff punt, and those are that right there
Speaker 1: doesn't go down as a takeaway, but essentially less a takeaway.
Speaker 1: So I look at the special teams just presenting or
Speaker 1: contributing two takeaways in that ball game. Yeah, absolutely, I
Speaker 1: think like that is a huge feature. You know, when
Speaker 1: we're evaluating Sam Hell, that's that's the thing it has
Speaker 1: to be considered, right, is this The game flow was
Speaker 1: drastically different than anyone expected, and especial teams are a
Speaker 1: big contributing factor to that. Yeah, that's one of the
Speaker 1: things these guys out to do. You know, they had
Speaker 1: their little game. You know, we all wish we was
Speaker 1: a part of, but it's great to see those guys
Speaker 1: in the season the same way that they talked about
Speaker 1: starting the season this year, and again we said all
Speaker 1: week long, like what do they have to play for?
Speaker 1: That was the question these guys were being asked because
Speaker 1: they were officially eliminated going into this game, and it
Speaker 1: was Dallas that had a lot to play for, trying
Speaker 1: to get that first seed and win the division. Of course,
Speaker 1: it didn't go to their plans. They did not come
Speaker 1: out ready Washington. For all your news and analysis, be
Speaker 1: sure to tune into Commands under Wig nights at five
Speaker 1: and ten pm on NBC Sports Washington. You can also
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