Speaker 1: Welcome to the Command Center Podcast. I'm Julie Donaldson. The
Speaker 1: Commanders have played some of their best football in the
Speaker 1: month of November, winning six of their last seven games.
Speaker 1: The captain, London Fletcher, and Santana Moss joined me to
Speaker 1: breakdown what has led to Washington's success. They started the
Speaker 1: season one and four and the narrative was, Okay, all
Speaker 1: is lost and here they are now. London, what would
Speaker 1: you say is the biggest reason for the turnaround? Well,
Speaker 1: you just you just mentioned and when you talk about
Speaker 1: the defense and particularly the takeaways, that's been the biggest difference.
Speaker 1: When when you look at our game against the Bears,
Speaker 1: were able to We're able to get some takeaways in
Speaker 1: that ball game, this pass ball game, you know against
Speaker 1: the Falcons, the takeaway that we got in the end
Speaker 1: zone the Eagles, and all the takeaways we've gotten, that's
Speaker 1: really has been the biggest difference. Getting thirteen takeaways, I
Speaker 1: feel like has been the biggest difference on why we've
Speaker 1: won six out of the last seven games, especially because
Speaker 1: early on the season we were saying, all right, zero takeaways,
Speaker 1: zero zero, like the games were adding up where they
Speaker 1: were not being able to do that on defense as well,
Speaker 1: and then the offense turning it over causes a problem
Speaker 1: as well. Your biggest reason it was a big swing.
Speaker 1: If you think about those first five games, he was
Speaker 1: one and four and we had one takeaway, and then
Speaker 1: the next games we plus seven, and you see the wins.
Speaker 1: You know they're just adding on all the biggest it's evident,
Speaker 1: you know, stiff defense and offensively, we found the way
Speaker 1: to just have a rhythm about our offense and continue
Speaker 1: to move the chains. Now you would like to see them,
Speaker 1: you know, do better on third down, but they find
Speaker 1: a way to grind that clock out with that running game.
Speaker 1: And you know, Taylor has been Taylor. He hits. He
Speaker 1: hits some shots when he needs to the most. And
Speaker 1: we can talk about some of the times when he
Speaker 1: turned the ball over, some of the things he'd do
Speaker 1: that you would like him to see him do better.
Speaker 1: But when it's time to make a play, Taylor finds
Speaker 1: a way to make a play. To that point, though,
Speaker 1: one of the things I had Coach Ron were very
Speaker 1: even pointed out in this press conference on Monday with
Speaker 1: the media, and we've talked about as well, and we're
Speaker 1: talking about the booth London is that field goals are
Speaker 1: not going to get it for you. When you get
Speaker 1: into the red zone, you have to convert. They need
Speaker 1: to put up more points. I feel like every single
Speaker 1: game that we're in comes down to basically one score.
Speaker 1: It gets really close, too close for comfort. If it
Speaker 1: wasn't for the takeaways, defense probably wouldn't be sitting in
Speaker 1: this situation. So what do they offensively need to do well?
Speaker 1: I think, you know last week against the file because
Speaker 1: they scored twice in the red zone, getting that touchdown
Speaker 1: to base and also the one to Brian Robinson. Just
Speaker 1: continue to run the football. Officially, we would love to
Speaker 1: have that type of game plan that we had against Philadelphia,
Speaker 1: but you also still gotta need to get some shot
Speaker 1: plays and there's a fine line between forcing it in
Speaker 1: there and norm when to pull the trigger and maybe
Speaker 1: take the check down. But I would like to see
Speaker 1: maybe a couple more explosives in the passing games. I
Speaker 1: definitely want to see a little more explosive plays. I
Speaker 1: think last week was not the perfect time and for that,
Speaker 1: so I was pretty appreciative of our game plan last week.
Speaker 1: You know, I mean the weather was bad this week.
Speaker 1: Going forward, hopefully we get some better weather and now
Speaker 1: we can go out there and take those shots and
Speaker 1: use some of the guys. I think one of the
Speaker 1: things that you've been seeing heavy when it comes to
Speaker 1: Taylor game, he's finding Terry. We need to get those
Speaker 1: other guys involved, because when you have a guy like
Speaker 1: Jahan that's gonna that's gonna beat this man nine times
Speaker 1: out of ten, you want to get this young man
Speaker 1: the ball to as well. So hopefully we can try to,
Speaker 1: you know, implement all those guys, all those weapons that
Speaker 1: we have, and we can see a more improved, you know, offense.
Speaker 1: The Commanders faced another NFC East fow this weekend in
Speaker 1: New York London. In Santana shared their favorite memories from
Speaker 1: facing the Giants. Santana three career games, three touchdown receptions,
Speaker 1: two of them have been against the Giants. What you know,
Speaker 1: you got something with the GMN oh now man, something
Speaker 1: about New York, you know what I mean. I mean
Speaker 1: I was up there at one point of time and
Speaker 1: being a gent and having to share that stadium with
Speaker 1: the Giants, it just made me want to rise to
Speaker 1: the occasion. And then getting over here and seeing these
Speaker 1: guys twice a year. I remember that first oh five season.
Speaker 1: That first game wasn't so good, so I had to
Speaker 1: get off the second one and then London. All right,
Speaker 1: one hundred and sixty eight career tackles, one sack, three interceptions,
Speaker 1: three force fumbles against New York. So not too shabby yourself.
Speaker 1: You know, I like playing against New York, especially at
Speaker 1: the Big Apple. You know you want to put a
Speaker 1: show off, So sat Teller, I know we call you
Speaker 1: the Cowboy Killer. They might have to call you the
Speaker 1: Giant Slayer as your second nickname going against those those
Speaker 1: giants of those type of numbers. I've seen the pay
Speaker 1: dirt a lot playing against those guys, so who knows,
Speaker 1: you know, they have to give me the nickname. Well,
Speaker 1: for the next two weeks, Washington will be taking on
Speaker 1: next two games because I've got the bye week in
Speaker 1: between New York and New York. Look, it's a chance
Speaker 1: to gain some ground in the division. How do you
Speaker 1: keep the momentum going and have some games like the
Speaker 1: guys currently on the roster, Like you guys have done
Speaker 1: against New York London, I think you continue to do
Speaker 1: what we've been doing, being efficient in the offense in
Speaker 1: terms of running the football, playing stout, dominant defense, and
Speaker 1: taking the football away. You continue to do those things.
Speaker 1: I think we continue to win these next two ball
Speaker 1: games against the Giants. I mean, what more could I say?
Speaker 1: Control the clock? I think one of the things that
Speaker 1: we found us we have an identity now. You know,
Speaker 1: we've been saying for years this team needs one, and
Speaker 1: the offense finally have one. And you know London has
Speaker 1: taken what I've been saying in that you know of
Speaker 1: y'all been getting on me for weeks about winning eternal
Speaker 1: over battles every time. You know. For all of your
Speaker 1: news and analysis, be sure to tune into Command Center
Speaker 1: weeknights if five thirty and ten pm on NBC Sports Washington.
Speaker 1: You can also stream on YouTube and commanders dot com.