Speaker 1: Welcome to the Command Center Podcast. I'm Julie Donaldson. The
Speaker 1: Commanders moved to seven and five on the season after
Speaker 1: a nineteen to thirteen victory over the Atlanta Falcons. On Sunday,
Speaker 1: Logan Paulson and Fred Smooth helped me highlight the notables
Speaker 1: from Washington's third straight victory. I want to talk about
Speaker 1: the defense in this one because if it was not
Speaker 1: for the defense and Kendall Fuller being able to save
Speaker 1: that game thanks to durn Payne and durn paying the
Speaker 1: season that he's having, he said it's because he was
Speaker 1: challenged to not just play hard, but to finish the
Speaker 1: plays and all the difference in the world it is having.
Speaker 1: But in this game, yeah, the way that it started
Speaker 1: wasn't very pretty. It was kind of really kind of
Speaker 1: a ben don't break defense. Fred. I was actually anticipating
Speaker 1: this because these two teams mirror each other, run the
Speaker 1: ball and play good defense. So I knew they was
Speaker 1: going to come in and the plan to run the
Speaker 1: ball on the defense that's been shipping everybody down on
Speaker 1: defense when it comes to the run game. So I
Speaker 1: knew we had to be physical. But I have to
Speaker 1: point one man that I know, the defensive line is
Speaker 1: getting all these little bit Jayman Davis. If we're watching
Speaker 1: the player coming to his own right now, we're watching
Speaker 1: the player sideline the sideline a once one person went down,
Speaker 1: he stepped up, I could take the load on. I
Speaker 1: think he's special right now. Yeah, absolutely, It's really great
Speaker 1: to see that young maturation only from him, but guys
Speaker 1: like Forrest, you know, Christian Holmes comes in and plays
Speaker 1: a lot of snaps in the game. Right. Love to
Speaker 1: seeing those contributions from guys who are kind of developmental pieces.
Speaker 1: But now they have much larger roles in this defense,
Speaker 1: and I think a big contribution to their success. One
Speaker 1: of the things that coach River has always talked about
Speaker 1: is this team is relatively young, and when those young
Speaker 1: players get the experience, had to be a little bit
Speaker 1: of patient because they're gonna make mistakes. Yeah yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: something are basic mistakes that are too costly or cost
Speaker 1: you the game. And we're starting to see them really
Speaker 1: kind of grow together as well. Washington just one of
Speaker 1: two teams to be top ten in past defense and
Speaker 1: rush defense so far. The defense is definitely keeping them
Speaker 1: in there, but we can't look past what special teams
Speaker 1: is doing as well. Logan, Yeah, I think they've been
Speaker 1: really great. You know, obviously they missed the field goal
Speaker 1: yes or the pat yesterday, which isn't a great thing,
Speaker 1: but the coverage units have been outstanding. I think when
Speaker 1: you look at specifically the punt team, the way they've
Speaker 1: been covering kicks. The punt that Trust had yesterday in
Speaker 1: that game to just down inside the five, you knew
Speaker 1: that the defense was gonna get a three and out there,
Speaker 1: then get the get the ball back to the offense
Speaker 1: with favorable field position. They are mberd such teams. Coaches
Speaker 1: say Fred that the that punt is the first defensive
Speaker 1: play in the series, and they play an excellent job
Speaker 1: of setting up the defense and playing an excellent job
Speaker 1: throughout the season. Love to see it most definitely. He
Speaker 1: I believe in the Trust way. I believe in the
Speaker 1: lands four games. You've noticed he's been knocked to the ground.
Speaker 1: Didn't mean they're trying to find ways to alleviate him
Speaker 1: and take him out the game. And I know, Joyce slide,
Speaker 1: you mix stairs to point yesterday, but you know my motto,
Speaker 1: kick him and Joey slide. That's what he do. He
Speaker 1: comes back, and he makes it when you need him.
Speaker 1: I can say it is these special teams have been special.
Speaker 1: They've been very special for this team. Trust Way, you
Speaker 1: cannot say enough about him. Look, he's already made a
Speaker 1: Pro Bowl before. But the way he keeps going, you
Speaker 1: don't have to rely too much on him. But it's
Speaker 1: okay once because you know he's gonna put you in
Speaker 1: good field position. I okay. So the offense all right,
Speaker 1: still working things out, especially from the first to the
Speaker 1: second half, but it seems like they found their identity
Speaker 1: one hundred percent found their identity. They're running the football outstanding.
Speaker 1: I think when you look at the different schemes they've
Speaker 1: got drawn up, the third short called to Brian Robinson
Speaker 1: that goes for a twenty yard game, the jet sweep
Speaker 1: to Antonio Gibson, the way that the run game is
Speaker 1: complimenting itself. They're finding Rico's finding ways to get guys touches.
Speaker 1: I mean, this was the best running performance of at
Speaker 1: all year. And it is great to see. They're bullies.
Speaker 1: They're bullies had less time. They're bullies on the playground.
Speaker 1: The officsive line bullies, the D line bullies, the running
Speaker 1: backs bully. They're pushing people around and them making you
Speaker 1: like it. They're playing a type of ball. They're gonna
Speaker 1: bring you in and say, you know what we're gonna
Speaker 1: play in the phone booth. You're gonna have to beat
Speaker 1: us imano imano run and look, it's only forty four
Speaker 1: rushing yards in that first half, and they said, Okay,
Speaker 1: we've got to get back to what we do best.
Speaker 1: And certainly they finished with the season high one seventy six,
Speaker 1: so they found the key to winning. Head coach Ron
Speaker 1: Rivera reached a milestone in the Commander's victory over the Falcons.
Speaker 1: Rivera earned the one hundredth win of his head coaching career.
Speaker 1: London Fletcher and I spoke with coach post game to
Speaker 1: get his thoughts on the accomplishment. Coach, let me start
Speaker 1: off with his congratulations, you're one hundred win, seventh active
Speaker 1: head coach to have that. Does this one mean anything
Speaker 1: more because it is one hundred, Well, now knowing that
Speaker 1: it is one hundred, it does mean a lot to me.
Speaker 1: It really does, just because there's been a lot of
Speaker 1: people that give me opportunities, and I really do appreciate
Speaker 1: the opportunities I've gotten you and Jerry Richardson and Carolina
Speaker 1: give me my chance, my first chance, mister Snyder, give
Speaker 1: me my second chance here. I've had a tremendous amount
Speaker 1: of great coaches that work for me, work with me,
Speaker 1: and a lot of good players. So I've been very,
Speaker 1: very fortunate. And the way that this one comes down
Speaker 1: being a defensive minded coach. You mentioned before that Taylor
Speaker 1: Heineke is going to keep the job because his team
Speaker 1: is winning, but he only has to do so much
Speaker 1: because the defense is really holding you in there, Kindle
Speaker 1: Fuller to seal that victory. What does it say about
Speaker 1: this team just never giving up no matter where the
Speaker 1: players or where the game's at. Well, I think there's
Speaker 1: a little bit of a toughness in a grit that
Speaker 1: that's about it. But you know, playing hard creates some
Speaker 1: good opportunities in and we were you know, we were
Speaker 1: down there. Guys were playing hard, they were still playing fast,
Speaker 1: and because of that, something good happens. The ball gets tipped,
Speaker 1: guy hustles, gets themselves in position, makes the interception. That's
Speaker 1: how you get you know, that's how you create your
Speaker 1: own luck. Coach. I look at this as NFL coaches,
Speaker 1: they earn their money. Obviously during the week, coming up
Speaker 1: with the game plan and also the adjustments that you
Speaker 1: guys make, and at halftime. At halftime, you guys came
Speaker 1: out and just dominated in the running game. What was
Speaker 1: the message to you guys, Well, the biggest messages to
Speaker 1: do what we do. You know, we talked about being
Speaker 1: able to run the football as a unit, and that's
Speaker 1: exactly what these guys have done. If you go back
Speaker 1: and look at it, Rust for one hundred and seventy
Speaker 1: six yards and b Rob at his first hundred yard game.
Speaker 1: I mean, that was huge. It's huge for the young man,
Speaker 1: but it's huge for that group because they've been working
Speaker 1: very hard. And kudos to our offensive line. And it's
Speaker 1: not only just what you did on offense after the
Speaker 1: second half, because only forty four of those rushing yards
Speaker 1: came in the first half, but it's what you did
Speaker 1: on defense in the second half as well. What is
Speaker 1: being said to this team that they're able to really
Speaker 1: kind of make those adjustments as well and stop the
Speaker 1: opposing team. Well, one of the things that I know
Speaker 1: the defense staff came and they talked about changing the
Speaker 1: front and then change your response abilities of the quarterback
Speaker 1: and because you know, but quite honestly, Mark Smyer did
Speaker 1: some good things against us in the first half. In
Speaker 1: the second half they made those adjustments, you know, and
Speaker 1: again it limited their opportunities, limited their impact on us.
Speaker 1: And so again kudos to our defensive staff. One of
Speaker 1: the things we talked a lot about the offensive line
Speaker 1: playing how they've been able to really do some great
Speaker 1: things rushing with us rushing to football. I don't feel
Speaker 1: like we've talked enough about the job that the tight
Speaker 1: ends have done in the run of games, especially with
Speaker 1: the volume and the type of runs that you guys
Speaker 1: have doing are doing, you know, London, that's a group
Speaker 1: that really hasn't gotten a lot of credit this year,
Speaker 1: mostly because it must have been hurt. But they're starting
Speaker 1: around out in the shape. You're starting to see the
Speaker 1: old logan. You see him moving around catching the ball,
Speaker 1: you see him moving around blocking. John Bates has always
Speaker 1: been a solid blocker who knew he can go out
Speaker 1: catch touchdowns, Like I'm just kidding, Kudos to John. And
Speaker 1: then we got two young guys that are you know,
Speaker 1: splitting time because one's injured, the other, one's healthy. Other
Speaker 1: one's healthy, the other one's injured, But those two guys
Speaker 1: also have a bright future here. You know, col and
Speaker 1: Armandi just have both been really good rookies for US.
Speaker 1: Congratulations coach again. On one hundred, I already talked to
Speaker 1: Taylor Heinekey. He said he might need to get you
Speaker 1: some high tops. I appreciate that, all right, thanks, go
Speaker 1: enjoy this one, right you guys, relations man, how do
Speaker 1: how do victory? That's big time for all of your
Speaker 1: news and analysis. Be sure to tune into Command Center
Speaker 1: weeknights if I've thirty and ten pm on NBC Sports Washington.
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