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Speaker 1: Welcome to know your foe on Colts dot com and

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Speaker 1: in death book at the upcoming matchup. Here are your

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Speaker 1: host Casey Valier and former Colts wide receiver Bill Brooks.

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Speaker 1: Welcome in and know your foe on Colts dot Com.

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Speaker 1: I'm your host, Casey Valie and joint as always by

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Speaker 1: fultering of honor member Bill Brooks and the Colts. They

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Speaker 1: hosted the Washington Commanders this Sunday and to get us

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Speaker 1: up to date on the Commanders that come to town

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Speaker 1: to Indianapolis. Who welcome him, Sam Fortier, who covers the

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Speaker 1: Commanders for the Washington Post. Sam, thank you so much

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Speaker 1: for joining us. How you doing, I'm Duel lull. I

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Speaker 1: appreciate you guys had me of course. Well, when it

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Speaker 1: was announced prior to the season, we all thought this

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Speaker 1: would be the return of Carson Wentz against Matt Ryan

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Speaker 1: here in Indianapolis. But now the only thing and true

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Speaker 1: in that is that the game is going to be

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Speaker 1: an Indie against the Commanders and the Colts. Carson Wentz

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Speaker 1: on IR, But I want to talk about him to start.

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Speaker 1: You know, he's currently on IR. But to this point,

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Speaker 1: how would you rate his play? I know the record

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Speaker 1: is what it is. But how do you rate the

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Speaker 1: play of Carson Wentz to this point. Oh, that's a

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Speaker 1: tough question, because I do think he was particularly up

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Speaker 1: and down and I think we saw a lot of

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Speaker 1: the roller coastal play that you guys probably saw last year.

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Speaker 1: I am graining him a bit on the curve, though,

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Speaker 1: because you know, obviously he was in similar offensive styles

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Speaker 1: in Philly in Indianapolis. This an air correale based scheme

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Speaker 1: with offensive coordinator Scott Turner, was a little bit new

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Speaker 1: for him. And anytime you have a guy that might

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Speaker 1: be prone to hold the ball a little bit longer, anyway,

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Speaker 1: when you're asking him to change the way he reads defense,

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Speaker 1: change kind of the scheme, he's going to inherently do

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Speaker 1: that a little more. And obviously Washington's defense did not

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Speaker 1: help them out at first. You know, he was leading

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Speaker 1: the league, I believe through five weeks in terms of

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Speaker 1: dropbacks and especially true dropbacks, so they were asking him

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Speaker 1: to do a lot. He was not great. He had

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Speaker 1: some of those you know, big turnovers as I mentioned,

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Speaker 1: but he also made a lot of throws that quarterbacks

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Speaker 1: just haven't able to make in Washington. The baseline for

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Speaker 1: evaluation is pretty low here. Ron River had seven quarterbacks

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Speaker 1: in his first two years. None of them were particularly good.

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Speaker 1: They threw the ball short a lot, so anybody that

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Speaker 1: could rip a throw down the steam, I think it

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Speaker 1: was prone to get good reviews from the fans, even

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Speaker 1: though he has a bad mixed in. Now, as we mentioned,

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Speaker 1: we won't see Carson, so I guess we'll kind of

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Speaker 1: dive into the guy we will see in Taylor Heineke.

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Speaker 1: I know he's definitely had his ups and downs in

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Speaker 1: his time in Washington, but it seems like the locker

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Speaker 1: room really rallies around Taylor Heineke. Look this guy who

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Speaker 1: was on his couch going back to school and doing

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Speaker 1: like online classes in fall of twenty twenty when they

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Speaker 1: benched Dwayne Haskins and you know, they basically called him

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Speaker 1: back as an emergency COVID quarterback. Dwayne Haskins gets cut,

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Speaker 1: Alex Smith gets hurt, and they decide that rookie Stephen

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Speaker 1: Montez isn't going to be able to go. They don't

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Speaker 1: think he's ready for a playoff game against Tom Brady

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Speaker 1: in the wild card round after Washington won law you know,

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Speaker 1: one of the worst divisions of all time in the

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Speaker 1: NFBE that year, so they tapped to the Heineke and

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Speaker 1: he has really played that same energy the abandoned This

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Speaker 1: might be the last time that I am ever on

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Speaker 1: this field, and he did in that game, and you

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Speaker 1: know you saw the pylon dive in. Really what he's

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Speaker 1: done sensed he can. You know, he can really test

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Speaker 1: defenses with legs. He's very smart with the ball. He

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Speaker 1: can get through his reads and he has I think

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Speaker 1: a true sense of when he's holding the ball too

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Speaker 1: long it could take a sack, versus when he's holding

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Speaker 1: the ball and allowing things to be open up and

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Speaker 1: create plays. So I think those are his strength. Even

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Speaker 1: though he might not throw the ball down the field

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Speaker 1: super well, I think he does a lot of other smaller,

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Speaker 1: subtler things particularly well now Sam. Last week was the

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Speaker 1: third game back for running back Brian Robinson after being

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Speaker 1: shot this summer, and he had a productive day along

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Speaker 1: with fellow running back Antonio Gibson. Is this the one

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Speaker 1: two punch the Commanders were expecting at running back this season? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: this is absolutely what they were looking for. They wanted

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Speaker 1: Brian Robinson physical between the tackles, water to kind of

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Speaker 1: set that tone, in that tempo, and they want to

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Speaker 1: use Antonio Gibson on the edges. Try had some explosive players.

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Speaker 1: They want to get him out of the backfield in

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Speaker 1: routes in space. JD McKissick, their third down back, had

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Speaker 1: seen definitely fewer reps in the last few weeks, but

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Speaker 1: he is another compliment that you know, can turn checkdowns

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Speaker 1: into first downs, as they like to say. Now, the

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Speaker 1: Commanders not only have talent at the running back position,

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Speaker 1: sam but they also have talent a the wide receiver

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Speaker 1: position and Jehan dots and Curtis Samuel and Terry McLaurin

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Speaker 1: who played here locally at Cathedral High School. Now, I

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Speaker 1: know Johan Dotson has missed the last three games with

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Speaker 1: cousin of an injury, but both Samuel McLaurin lead the

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Speaker 1: team and receptions in yards. How has this wide receiver

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Speaker 1: group performed thus far this year? I think it has

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Speaker 1: mostly been what they expected. There's certainly been from frustration

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Speaker 1: until last week for Terry McLaurin. He wasn't seeing the

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Speaker 1: number of targets and the number of receptions that he

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Speaker 1: would have liked. M Though, with Terry, who's a really

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Speaker 1: good guy, and you know, kind of keeps things to himself.

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Speaker 1: You wouldn't know it. He's not a guy that would

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Speaker 1: complain about it. But I think last week when he

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Speaker 1: caught a touchdown and he had he was particularly animated

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Speaker 1: in celebration. He saw first frustration coming out U John Dodson.

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Speaker 1: Coach Ron Rivera said today that he is not expecting

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Speaker 1: him to play this Sunday, so he will not be there.

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Speaker 1: Curtis Samuel is in a similar way to Antonio Gibson,

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Speaker 1: kind of a gadget guy. Can run some can run

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Speaker 1: out of the backfield, can create yard deff catch. They

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Speaker 1: use him shorter. He's a really trusted third down target.

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Speaker 1: Taylor had a huge one on third and eleven to

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Speaker 1: him last week. So I think that this group has

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Speaker 1: performed well. But and I don't think that it necessarily

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Speaker 1: the team has underperformed. But I think that they are

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Speaker 1: looking for even more out of them, particularly with Johan out.

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Speaker 1: We're talking with Sam Fortier, who covers the commanders for

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Speaker 1: the Washington Post. I want to flip over the defensive

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Speaker 1: side of the ball. We know Chase Young, he's still

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Speaker 1: kind of working his way back from injury. I don't

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Speaker 1: think we're going to see him this weekend. But when

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Speaker 1: it comes to you know, him getting back on the

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Speaker 1: field and joining Montes Sweat, Duran Payne, Jonathan Allen, is

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Speaker 1: this probably the best defensive line in the NFL? That

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Speaker 1: is That's a tough question because in twenty twenty, when

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Speaker 1: they drafted a second overall, you thought, okay, you know,

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Speaker 1: four first rounders, they should be. They were not last year.

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Speaker 1: They were far from it last year. And that's even

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Speaker 1: before Montez and Chase went out, you know, each around

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Speaker 1: week nine, week ten, and really I think they had

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Speaker 1: a lot to do with a lack of discipline, lack

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Speaker 1: of rush lane staying, you know, running games together. I

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Speaker 1: think that when, especially earlier in the year, when they

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Speaker 1: weren't getting the sacks that they had hoped for, you

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Speaker 1: really saw that group kind of come apart a little bit.

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Speaker 1: And obviously now that Montes Sweats back from his injury,

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Speaker 1: they're playing much better. The compliments who are feeling it

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Speaker 1: for Chase Young Aobota, Casey two Hill, James Smith, Williams,

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Speaker 1: those guys are holding up their end of the bargain

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Speaker 1: and they're working together. I think that has been a

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Speaker 1: huge part of why this defense has rebounded this year. Now,

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Speaker 1: I want to stick with those guys Alan and Payne

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Speaker 1: because that's an area I'm excited when I look at

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Speaker 1: this game on Sunday because guys here in Grover Stewart

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Speaker 1: and DeForrest Buckner have really been kind of highlights on

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Speaker 1: this defense. So we know what those two provide for

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Speaker 1: this cold defense. Can you talk about what Alan and

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Speaker 1: Payne do for the Washington defense? Oh? Man, they do

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Speaker 1: a lot. I mean, they are the interior pressure. They're

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Speaker 1: a force. You have to, you know, focus on them

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Speaker 1: if you're if you're an opposing offensive line. And really

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Speaker 1: I think that what they've you know, really done for

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Speaker 1: each other, and especially when you're able to contain and

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Speaker 1: set the edge and sort of keep plays from becoming

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Speaker 1: explosive from from quarterbacks rolling out because so many quarterbacks,

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Speaker 1: as you guys I'm sure are seeing with Sam Ellinger like,

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Speaker 1: are able to scramble now. And so I think what

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Speaker 1: Pain and Alan allows you to do if you know

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Speaker 1: everybody's working together, it's just generate pressure upfront and honestly

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Speaker 1: stop the run. I mean, last week against Aaron Rodgers,

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Speaker 1: of all people, Jack del Rio did not blitz until

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Speaker 1: the last play of the game. He let the front

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Speaker 1: four do their thing and he trusted them to generate

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Speaker 1: pressure to stop the run all on their own. And

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Speaker 1: I think that was a really notable strategic development from

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Speaker 1: Jack del Rio. Is one of his best game plans

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Speaker 1: we've seen in the three years that he's been here. Now, Sam,

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Speaker 1: a lot of attention is given to the defensive line,

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Speaker 1: and rightfully so. But a player who doesn't get a

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Speaker 1: lot of attention is linebacker co hookem will leaves a

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Speaker 1: team in tackles. Now as of this moment, this recording,

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Speaker 1: he's listened on the injury report for this week. But

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Speaker 1: what does he mean to the commander's linebacker group and

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Speaker 1: this defense? Oh, the defense teams huge. He where's the

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Speaker 1: green dot? He calls the plays, he gets everybody set.

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Speaker 1: The middle linebacker position is not what he was drafted

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Speaker 1: to do. He was drafted an outside guy, and because

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Speaker 1: they had such a struggle with their first round pick

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Speaker 1: from last year, jam And Davis taking the mic role

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Speaker 1: last year, he kind of stepped in and split in

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Speaker 1: and has become the voice of this defense. We didn't

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Speaker 1: see him today as a foot injury. As you mentioned,

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Speaker 1: and I don't know if we're going to see him Sunday.

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Speaker 1: If we don't, I imagine that David Mayo, a veteran,

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Speaker 1: will take his place, And certainly David Mayo is quite

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Speaker 1: good against the run. It could be John Bostick also,

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Speaker 1: but I think it'll be David Mayo. That's what's to

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Speaker 1: say a practice. If you see David Mayo, he's gonna

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Speaker 1: gets the run. But he is an absolute liability in

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Speaker 1: the past game, and we've seen teams anytime he's on

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Speaker 1: the field check into plays where they can target him

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Speaker 1: with a tight end or a running back out of

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Speaker 1: the backfield. So ComCom if he plays would be a

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Speaker 1: big boost to the seafold. Now I want to move

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Speaker 1: to the secondary. Now, this defense is second in the

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Speaker 1: National Football League and third down percentage at twenty nine

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Speaker 1: point five percent. I know the success of a past

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Speaker 1: defense is a function of both pressure by the gods

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Speaker 1: front and courage in the secondary. How much of this

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Speaker 1: success can be contributed to the secondary of the Washington Commanders.

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Speaker 1: That's a good question. I think, like you said, it's

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Speaker 1: both right, Like when last week I thought a great

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Speaker 1: example when they were only having to rush for every

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Speaker 1: snap and you get to drop Steven and coverage. That

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Speaker 1: is a huge benefit, especially when you know the Packers

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Speaker 1: didn't have playmakers, you know the level playmakers and they

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Speaker 1: usually they have had in the past. So I think

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Speaker 1: the secondary is a big part of this as well.

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Speaker 1: I think that unit is jelling Cam Curl, the strong

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Speaker 1: safety who sometimes will drop down and played the slot

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Speaker 1: in their and their big nickel sub package. He is

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Speaker 1: a big part of that. He missed the first two

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Speaker 1: games with a thumb injury, and so for him to

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Speaker 1: be back and be able to coordinate with those guys,

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Speaker 1: that's a huge deal. Washington has also gotten better since

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Speaker 1: in Week five they bench William Jackson, the third who

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Speaker 1: was there, you know, one of their big splash signings

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Speaker 1: in twenty twenty one was supposed to be a quarter

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Speaker 1: zone of Washington's rise back to relevance, and he really struggled,

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Speaker 1: particularly with the zone schemes, even match zone where you're

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Speaker 1: applying man principles. He's a man and man corner. In

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Speaker 1: Cincinnati he played really well, but since he has been benched,

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Speaker 1: they've actually gotten much better. Benjamin Saint Juice played really

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Speaker 1: well on the outside, basically won them the game in

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Speaker 1: Chicago on Thursday night football. So this secondary is certainly

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Speaker 1: playing well right now. Now, last couple of things with

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Speaker 1: Sam Fortier covers the Commanders for the Washington Post, I

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Speaker 1: want to talk about a little bit off the field.

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Speaker 1: We've heard the noise and the buzz regarding the owner

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Speaker 1: in Washington and then you know the comments that were

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Speaker 1: made here by Indianapolis owner and Jim Urse. I want

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Speaker 1: to go outside of the field and I want to

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Speaker 1: get the buzz of kind of the fan base in

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Speaker 1: the community about what's going on with the Commanders. Oh man,

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Speaker 1: I mean, I think Jim Ersay gave every a lot

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Speaker 1: of Washington Commanders fans exactly what they wanted to hear, right.

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Speaker 1: I think that this fan base, if you go back

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Speaker 1: in the history, was a cultural institution or a lot

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Speaker 1: of people because it was, you know, the only football

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Speaker 1: team in the NFL below the Mason Dixon line for

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Speaker 1: such a long time, and this team had such a rich,

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Speaker 1: you know, excited fan base led the league in attendance

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Speaker 1: for a long time. In the last twenty years, it's

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Speaker 1: really decayed, and so it's down now to where they're

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Speaker 1: having to you know, take out seats at the stadium

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Speaker 1: and now the capacity is down from like ninety thousand

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Speaker 1: to sixty thousand. So when Jim Hirsay said that, I

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Speaker 1: think that a lot of people who are fans of

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Speaker 1: this team are are lapsed fans were quite excited. I

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Speaker 1: know that there's some investigations still pending, but this sort

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Speaker 1: of feels like I think for a lot of people

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Speaker 1: like if Jim Arsay is going to come out and

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Speaker 1: say this, maybe we actually have a real chance to

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Speaker 1: get rid of this guy. And I don't know if

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Speaker 1: that is actually going to be the case, but Jimmer

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Speaker 1: says where it's meant a lot to feel around here. Well,

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Speaker 1: it's definitely something we'll all keep an eye on for sure.

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Speaker 1: Now bounce them back to the field. Lastly, both the

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Speaker 1: Commanders and the Colts not really where they're hoping to

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Speaker 1: be at this point in the season, but another chance

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Speaker 1: to get a win comes this weekend. What are your

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Speaker 1: expectations for the game on Sunday and then looking at

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Speaker 1: it from Commander's perspective throughout the rest of the year.

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Speaker 1: Basically good question. I would say I expected to be

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Speaker 1: a competitive game. I think that this defense certainly feels

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Speaker 1: like it is going to be able to contain. Sam Ellinger.

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Speaker 1: I think Jack Jack Delrio has has done historically well

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Speaker 1: against young quarterbacks particularly, and just with the way that

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Speaker 1: they're trending, I think that they feel pretty good. I

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Speaker 1: know Jonathan Taylor and some of the other weapons on

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Speaker 1: the Cold's offense are formidable, but I think they'll people

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Speaker 1: to keep them close. When Taylor heinik they have really

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Speaker 1: developed an offense and formulas. They're going to run the

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Speaker 1: ball a lot, They're gonna run play action, we're gonna

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Speaker 1: use motion, they're gonna dress it up, and he is

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Speaker 1: going to be able to keep them out of negative.

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Speaker 1: That's the biggest difference in this offense, you know, is

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Speaker 1: they're not taking the sacks the Carson Wentz took, and

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Speaker 1: so to me, I think that Washington is probably gonna

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Speaker 1: sneak out a close one. I don't think that's biased

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Speaker 1: private by me coming to you know, their team facility

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Speaker 1: in Virginia every day, right, But I think they'll be

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Speaker 1: able to. I think they'll be able to sneak out

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Speaker 1: a close one and get back to five. Well, there

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Speaker 1: you go. Sam Fortyer, who covers the commanders for the

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Speaker 1: Washington Post. Sam, thank you so much for the time

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Speaker 1: and enjoy the game. Of course, thank you guys for

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Speaker 1: having me. The Colts host the Commanders on Sunday for

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Speaker 1: a four to twenty five kick. Next week, the Cults

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Speaker 1: are on the road as they travel out east to

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Speaker 1: take on the New England Patriots. To get us caught

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Speaker 1: up on everything with the Patriots is going to be

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Speaker 1: Tom Currant, who's a Patriots insider for the NBC Sports

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Speaker 1: in Boston. This Sunday, it's the Colton Commanders from Lucas

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Speaker 1: Oil Stadium for Bill Brooks. I'm Casey Value. Enjoy the

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Speaker 1: game and go