Speaker 1: Coming up on the Booth Preview of Monday Night Football, Logan,
Speaker 1: Washington's got to stop by dynamic Connection tonight.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and with the addition to t Higgins, that gets
Speaker 2: a little bit more complicated.
Speaker 1: It does. How about Jadon Daniels though we might have
Speaker 1: our own cheat code in.
Speaker 2: Washington, man, I certainly hope so. And like with jayde
Speaker 2: and Daniels and versus Cincinnati, defense is a really narrow
Speaker 2: path to victory, but it's there.
Speaker 3: Hopefully they can get it done.
Speaker 1: We're saying there's a chance on the Booth Preview. It's
Speaker 1: coming up. Welcome into this week's edition of the Booth Review.
Speaker 1: Bram Einstein, Logan, Paulson. We're going to call this the
Speaker 1: Booth Preview because we have not called Washington and Cincinnati
Speaker 1: first primetime Monday Night game that Washington's had early in
Speaker 1: a season in a long time, in the first Monday
Speaker 1: night game that they've had in two years since they
Speaker 1: had that memorable one in Philadelphia, the b Rob game
Speaker 1: where they ran the ball down the Eagle's throat ended
Speaker 1: a Philadelphia undefeated season. Psyched, Logan, you psyched to get
Speaker 1: into the Booth tonight for the Monday Night against Joe Burrow.
Speaker 2: Yeah, man, really excited. I mean, I think this is
Speaker 2: gonna be a really fun game to watch. And you know,
Speaker 2: the more it's so funny every time you kind of
Speaker 2: do a preview, you know, whether it's for Command Center
Speaker 2: or whatever, like, there are some engaging storylines and some
Speaker 2: interesting thoughts experiments about like football at its core. So
Speaker 2: it's gonna be fun to watch that be executed tonight
Speaker 2: on a primetime stage.
Speaker 1: All right, let's go. Let's do a little booth review
Speaker 1: of the other teams in the nfcas really quickly, and
Speaker 1: just on Dallas where the score looks better than at
Speaker 1: least the first three and a half quarters were against
Speaker 1: the Ravens. Their run defense was swallowed up by Baltimore.
Speaker 1: They were getting blown out yesterday. Suddenly off of a
Speaker 1: quick turn of events and a recovered on sidekick, they
Speaker 1: made the score look better than it was. What, just
Speaker 1: in general, is your take on Dallas right now?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I mean I think Dallas has got to kind
Speaker 2: of figure out like who they are defensively and kind
Speaker 2: of figure how to stop some of this stuff, you know,
Speaker 2: some of these run schemes that people are thrown at them,
Speaker 2: and to me, it's not even like super technical at
Speaker 2: least the stuff that I've seen. It's more just a
Speaker 2: physicality mindset, and like how they've constructed the team.
Speaker 3: You know, we talked about a little bit last night.
Speaker 2: They've got these kind of undersized defensive tackles and they
Speaker 2: are used to playing in a certain type of game flow.
Speaker 2: They want to be ahead, so they can rush the pass,
Speaker 2: they can run stunts, they can bring pass rushing pressers,
Speaker 2: and all of a sudden, when you're in kind of
Speaker 2: a close gamer year behind, that's really challenging to deal
Speaker 2: with with the personnel you have on the field. And obviously,
Speaker 2: like Mazie Smith for them, hasn't lived up to the
Speaker 2: billing in terms of being that kind of big, disruptive,
Speaker 2: run stopping defensive tackle. But I do think that's something
Speaker 2: they definitely got to look at. They're young at the
Speaker 2: linebacker position, they're kind of Lafou from Notre Dame is
Speaker 2: kind of a guy that I thought was going to
Speaker 2: be very productive for them, but it is struggling to
Speaker 2: kind of find his feet from an intellectual standpoint. So
Speaker 2: they got some they got some growing to do on
Speaker 2: the defensive side of the football. For sure, And I
Speaker 2: think when you've got a defense like that, offensively, you
Speaker 2: need to make sure you're you're you're more productive and
Speaker 2: you're more consistent. And they just weren't that yesterday, or
Speaker 2: at least Ax wasn't that yesterday. And obviously they came
Speaker 2: on late in the game, which is important. But I
Speaker 2: think it's the way that teams built is the offense
Speaker 2: has to be excellent, and the offense wasn't excellent yesterday.
Speaker 1: All Right, how about the Eagles real quick who got
Speaker 1: by had some interesting decision making, right, and then Saquon
Speaker 1: Barkley saves them, I mean, makes a couple of humongous
Speaker 1: runs and they're in a tight game and they get
Speaker 1: what I think is a pretty good early season win
Speaker 1: for them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was gonna say, I think that's a's a
Speaker 2: nice win for that team. I think, you know, like
Speaker 2: that a lot of adversity, and some of that was
Speaker 2: done by themselves, you know, in terms of the you know,
Speaker 2: going forward on fourth down in the red zone. But
Speaker 2: I think that shows a grit for that team and
Speaker 2: it's something that they needed to do. You know, people
Speaker 2: are calling for Sirianni's job out in Philadelphia and I
Speaker 2: think that win like had to happen, and it kind
Speaker 2: of came in in a little bit of an unconventional way.
Speaker 2: And it's supposed to play from the running back, you know,
Speaker 2: this position that's supposed to be devalued, and obviously they
Speaker 2: went it made an investment there, which is fantastic for them, obviously,
Speaker 2: and then Dallas Goddard with an explosive playoff of a
Speaker 2: coverage bust and then you end up getting the w
Speaker 2: late late late in the game. So showed a lot
Speaker 2: of grit and you know, you're never supposed to root
Speaker 2: for Philly, but I like seeing teams kind of persevere
Speaker 2: through those moments, and it was great to see Philly
Speaker 2: manage that and hopefully at least not versus the Commanders,
Speaker 2: but hopefully, you know, that's something that they can that
Speaker 2: organization can carry for a little bit because it is
Speaker 2: one of those kind of character defining wins.
Speaker 1: So all right, so let me go back to Dallas
Speaker 1: for a moment and get your thoughts on something, because
Speaker 1: I think it kind of applies to Cincinnati, who's got
Speaker 1: a lot of pressure on them. They have an all
Speaker 1: world quarterback, there's high expectations, there's an assumption that they're
Speaker 1: going to be really good playoff team and potentially more.
Speaker 1: And in Dallas, who's got a lot of expectations and
Speaker 1: a very good quarterback and all this stuff, there are
Speaker 1: a couple things that I think are kind of characteristic
Speaker 1: of both of these teams. And I just want to
Speaker 1: start with Dallas and I'll transition over to our game tonight.
Speaker 1: Dallas can't seem to run the and can't stop the
Speaker 1: run right now. So if you can't do either one
Speaker 1: of those things effectively, or you really can't do both,
Speaker 1: I don't know how you have some high expectation of
Speaker 1: what your season is going to.
Speaker 2: Be, right well, I mean now, I mean it definitely
Speaker 2: seems like defenses, you know, like this is the era
Speaker 2: of defenses catching up and they're playing softer coverage structures
Speaker 2: and you know, one of the like kind of football
Speaker 2: one on one day one installs in terms of how
Speaker 2: to get people out of two high shells to run
Speaker 2: the football. And if you're not impacting the game effectively
Speaker 2: running the football like you're going to get these You're
Speaker 2: going to allow them to like play bracket over cd Land.
Speaker 2: You're going to allow them to play these two high
Speaker 2: structures which are going to limit your explosive plays. And
Speaker 2: you know, like if you look at explosive plays corollary
Speaker 2: in terms of you know, top ten offenses the league,
Speaker 2: like you need to find a way to drive explosive plays,
Speaker 2: and if you can't get them out of these two
Speaker 2: high shells, they're really going to limit what you can
Speaker 2: do from a production standpoint offensively.
Speaker 3: So I definitely think running the football.
Speaker 2: I know that's like kind of archaic in terms of philosophy,
Speaker 2: but I just think when you look at what defenses
Speaker 2: are doing now, like it's something that you have to do,
Speaker 2: and when you can't do it, you're putting everything on
Speaker 2: Dak and like that's just not an effective way to
Speaker 2: run an offense. Like even when you look at some
Speaker 2: of the best offenses and some of the best quarterbacks,
Speaker 2: you look at you know, Peyton Manning, you look at
Speaker 2: Tom Brady, look at Drew Brees, like all those teams
Speaker 2: the thing that made them excellent. And I think when
Speaker 2: you look around the modern landscape of the NFL now,
Speaker 2: like like Detroit, San Francisco, they can do both. They
Speaker 2: can beat you throwing the football. They have explosive playmakers,
Speaker 2: but when they have to put it in four wheel drive.
Speaker 3: They can get it done.
Speaker 2: And so right now, I think again, Dallas has a
Speaker 2: lot of youth on the offensive line. They you know,
Speaker 2: what is their actual identity. I don't really have a
Speaker 2: definitive answer for you at the moment, but I think
Speaker 2: they definitely need to figure out a way to get
Speaker 2: that done because they're going to need it at some
Speaker 2: point in this season obviously.
Speaker 1: So let me transition over to the Washington game tonight
Speaker 1: and Cincinnati's zo in two. They've got tremendous amount of
Speaker 1: expectations placed on them for a lot of good reasons.
Speaker 1: And at the same time, here's what their problem is.
Speaker 1: Early in the season. They're giving up one hundred and
Speaker 1: sixty yards per game on the ground. They're having a
Speaker 1: hard time stopping people. Some of that is injury related,
Speaker 1: which we can get into because they're missing people in
Speaker 1: their interior defensive line. And they also don't have the
Speaker 1: run game they've had in the past with Joe Mixon.
Speaker 1: They have a run game that is struggling as well.
Speaker 1: So I see similarities here between these two issues. With
Speaker 1: slow start doesn't mean watch he's going to go win tonight,
Speaker 1: But like I see the pathway, don't you. I do.
Speaker 2: I do see the path I mean it is a
Speaker 2: narrow pathway, but I do see it. I think when
Speaker 2: you're a team like Cincinnati that is, you know, kind
Speaker 2: of known for your quarterback and your two wide receivers,
Speaker 2: like people often lose sight of like kind of the
Speaker 2: fundamentals of football. And so what I mean by that is,
Speaker 2: like we just talked about it with Dallas, like your
Speaker 2: ability to stop.
Speaker 3: The run, your ability to run the football when you
Speaker 3: have to.
Speaker 2: Obviously, like if you're Cincinnati, like that seems foolish because
Speaker 2: you know your best player, you want him touch the
Speaker 2: football all the time, but you need to kind of
Speaker 2: find ways to de leverage him, you know, to make
Speaker 2: it easier for him to play good football, you know,
Speaker 2: for the entirety of the football game. So I do
Speaker 2: think there are a lot of similarities. I think, you know,
Speaker 2: you mentioned Joe Mixon being gone. To me, it's more
Speaker 2: of a personnel thing, you know, when you look at
Speaker 2: kind of the offensive tackles specifically that they brought in,
Speaker 2: and they bring in Trent Brown, they bring in Orlando Brown,
Speaker 2: who again are great pass protecting tackles.
Speaker 3: They're big hulking guys.
Speaker 2: You know, they're six eight, they're three thirty, they're three forty,
Speaker 2: They're gigantic. I think in trends, Casey might be closer
Speaker 2: to four hundred pounds. But when you bring in guys
Speaker 2: like that, you use, you lose some of the lateral
Speaker 2: mobility of the on the offensive line and you and
Speaker 2: you make your run game less effective. I know that
Speaker 2: seems counterintuitive, but like that, you know that right tackle
Speaker 2: has to cut off a three technique on the backside
Speaker 2: of an outside zone run, and if you can't get
Speaker 2: that done, that three technique is going to make the tackle.
Speaker 2: In the NFL n aut of ten times. So they've
Speaker 2: made stylistic decisions in terms of roster construction. I think
Speaker 2: inform inform why the run game has been semi inefficient.
Speaker 2: And also, like you know, you about Joe Mixon. I'm
Speaker 2: not saying he was a world beader. He was an
Speaker 2: efficient back, and I think they felt that they, you know,
Speaker 2: they kind of played the moneyball game and said, oh,
Speaker 2: we can bring in you know, Moss and he can
Speaker 2: be sent he can be just as efficient. And that
Speaker 2: is true. But I also think you've seen, like we
Speaker 2: just talked about in the Philly example, like how an
Speaker 2: excellent runner can elevate an offensive line. I think you
Speaker 2: saw that Week one in Houston with Joe Mixon and
Speaker 2: how effectively he ran the football there. So I think
Speaker 2: I think they've made some decisions in terms of how
Speaker 2: they've built the team. And again, it makes sense to
Speaker 2: me because you want to protect Joe Burry, you want
Speaker 2: him to be the focal point, so pass protecting offensive
Speaker 2: linemen are going to be at a premium for you.
Speaker 2: But I do think that informs why they're having such
Speaker 2: a difficulty running the football and then defensively stopping the run.
Speaker 2: I mean, they've just been absolutely waylaid by injuries. And
Speaker 2: you know, guys that they brought in, they brought it
Speaker 2: in the draft haven't played yet. The veterans they brought
Speaker 2: it in are hurt hamstring, soft tissue injuries, so they're
Speaker 2: kind of, you know, scrounging the bottom of the barrel.
Speaker 2: They brought in Guy Lawrence, a guy that was playing
Speaker 2: when I was playing, to kind of fill in on
Speaker 2: the defensive line. So they are in a tough spot there.
Speaker 2: And you know, as much as you want to say,
Speaker 2: like you know, defense is a mass game in terms
Speaker 2: of stopping the run, and it is you need some
Speaker 2: bodies in there that are capable of standing up and
Speaker 2: stopping the run. So I think there's it's multi factorial
Speaker 2: for them. I think offensively in terms of running the ball,
Speaker 2: it's stylistic that they want that. And defensively, I think
Speaker 2: they're just they're they're so banged up.
Speaker 1: So yeah, okay, so let's stay on their offense, the
Speaker 1: Bengals offense. And if you're Washington, you're Joe at Junior
Speaker 1: Dan Quinn, don't you want them running the ball tonight?
Speaker 1: Like to your point of people are playing defense where
Speaker 1: they're basically begging you to run the ball, and we're
Speaker 1: seeing passing numbers across the league go down, and people
Speaker 1: like mel Kiper literally complaining about the passing numbers going
Speaker 1: down because the way people are playing defense and describing
Speaker 1: this as baseball, like we should outlaw the shift like
Speaker 1: for whatever reason, Like, isn't though, this isn't this what
Speaker 1: you want? Don't you want Cincinnati running the ball tonight
Speaker 1: as much as possible if you're the Commanders.
Speaker 3: One thousand percent. These remind me of games.
Speaker 2: You know, a couple of years ago, when you know,
Speaker 2: there kind of was this movement to too high and
Speaker 2: everyone was playing you know, these too high structures, these
Speaker 2: quarter structures versus Patrick Mahomes, and they were forcing Andy
Speaker 2: Reid to call runs, and like I want I would
Speaker 2: prefer that, I would prefer that they run the ball
Speaker 2: forty times and throw the ball twenty because again, the
Speaker 2: most effective weapons in their offense are Joe Burrow and
Speaker 2: Chase and t.
Speaker 3: Higgins and they're all going to play and then they've
Speaker 3: got a great tight end.
Speaker 2: In Gaseki in terms of catching the football. So I
Speaker 2: want them running the ball. Force them to run the ball,
Speaker 2: I know, like analytically, you know, like they're just in
Speaker 2: terms of VPA, is just a less efficient play, Like
Speaker 2: as much as we want to say, like you got
Speaker 2: to run the ball to get the amount too high,
Speaker 2: like run the ball.
Speaker 3: As many times you want.
Speaker 2: Because one of the things that happens is when you
Speaker 2: watch team teams that are good at running the football,
Speaker 2: they'll have like a five yard run, a six yeard run,
Speaker 2: a ten yard run. Then they'll have a neutral run,
Speaker 2: a run of zero yards, and then that's where you
Speaker 2: have to make your money defensively and capitalize because now
Speaker 2: you've pinned them into a kind of more obvious passing down.
Speaker 2: Can you get an incomplete pass? Then you got a
Speaker 2: third and ten, and now we're cooking. So I'm playing
Speaker 2: baseball here, playing you know, playing the moneyball game and saying,
Speaker 2: this is a less efficient play, especially for the Bengals.
Speaker 2: Let's get them to do it as much as possible
Speaker 2: so that we can capitalize when they hit on a
Speaker 2: non official. And that's the other thing is, even though
Speaker 2: like mathematically, like if we play light boxes, they just
Speaker 2: have not run the football well at all this whole season,
Speaker 2: the Cincinnati Bangals. So not only is it a less
Speaker 2: efficient play across the NFL, but it's especially less efficient
Speaker 2: for the Cincinnati Bengals. So lean into those things. They're
Speaker 2: going to make a mistake. It kind of reminds me
Speaker 2: of the Shane Baddier playing defense on Kobe Bryant. You know,
Speaker 2: he's like he's he's the most he's the least efficient
Speaker 2: off the dribble. So I just forced him off the
Speaker 2: dribble as much as possible and kind of played into that,
Speaker 2: and his shooting percentage was like twenty percent or something
Speaker 2: like that. Like that's all you're doing just playing math,
Speaker 2: like Kobe Bryant is going to score, Cincinnati's going to score,
Speaker 2: But how do we limit the total number of points
Speaker 2: they score? And I think it's like enticing them to
Speaker 2: run the football.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think that the pathway here and to
Speaker 1: your point might be narrow. But Washington successfully running the ball,
Speaker 1: you know, possessing the ball, hopefully doing so against a
Speaker 1: weaker you know, run defense, and this is their strength
Speaker 1: obviously coming in at least of the first couple of weeks,
Speaker 1: and Cincinnati forced to run the ball more, maybe even
Speaker 1: against their will, runs the clock shortens the game. Suddenly
Speaker 1: you're in a close ballgame in the fourth quarter, and
Speaker 1: then who knows what happens. There's a couple of other
Speaker 1: things that are going on with Cincinnati that I think
Speaker 1: are really interesting. They have a new offensive coordinator this year,
Speaker 1: their ex offensive coordinator's head coach Tennessee Now and last
Speaker 1: week against Kansas City, they threw fourteen targets the tight ends.
Speaker 1: And I know T Higgins wasn't playing and he was injured,
Speaker 1: but that seems off to me. That their best weapons
Speaker 1: are on the outside, and yet the bulk of the
Speaker 1: offense isn't going through it. So what do you make
Speaker 1: of how Cincinnati's in general played offense through a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, I think that's kind of how they're
Speaker 2: constructed at the moment. Obviously, yoshievsh is the other guy
Speaker 2: that's kind of playing opposite Jamar Chase at the moment,
Speaker 2: and he's a good player. He's kind of got that
Speaker 2: big prototypical like ex Bill, you know, sixty three, two
Speaker 2: hundred and fifteen pounds. He's from Princeton and a good player,
Speaker 2: but definitely not t Higgins at this point in his career. Right,
Speaker 2: They've got Burton, the kid from Alabama who's the speedster,
Speaker 2: and he hits some explosive plays.
Speaker 3: But when you look at.
Speaker 2: The experience of the receiving corps, I mean, I look
Speaker 2: at the tight end position and I say, you know,
Speaker 2: Mike Koseki has been around for a long time and
Speaker 2: he's basically a big slot at this point in his career,
Speaker 2: he's like six six, he's like two thirty five, So again,
Speaker 2: not like a big, hulking guy, and that.
Speaker 3: Makes a lot of sense to me.
Speaker 2: He's going to be able to create favorable matchups very
Speaker 2: similar kind of actually to the Washington Commanders going to
Speaker 2: be able to create favorable matchups underneath, and he did
Speaker 2: and they were able to capitalize on that. He's explosive.
Speaker 2: He ran a four to four coming out of Penn State,
Speaker 2: and you see that explosive speed.
Speaker 3: I want to say it was like the fifth or sixth.
Speaker 2: Player of the game where they're trying to hit a
Speaker 2: choice route to Jamar Chase. They bracket him, and then
Speaker 2: Joe Burrow kind of works the progression. Extensive play hits
Speaker 2: him across the middle of the field, he beats a
Speaker 2: safety in one on one Mike Koseki does and is
Speaker 2: able to run the sideline for a forty five yard game.
Speaker 2: And then you have Eric All I think is his name,
Speaker 2: Eric All, the tight end from Iowa, who is like
Speaker 2: super physical in the run game but can run. They
Speaker 2: hit them on like a little scissors concept. So post
Speaker 2: by number one, corner by number two off of play
Speaker 2: action and he can get after it. So when I
Speaker 2: look at the athletes they have there and the experience
Speaker 2: that they have there, I say to myself like that
Speaker 2: it makes a lot of sense because you're going to
Speaker 2: draw good matchups now with t Higgins, back, I expect
Speaker 2: that target share to distribute more of the way you'd
Speaker 2: assume it would, right, you know, the two outsides, we
Speaker 2: get more targets, But don't sleep on the guys they
Speaker 2: have in the middle, especially at tight end. Like when
Speaker 2: you look at their depth chart in terms of tight end,
Speaker 2: they have five guys active on game day, five guys
Speaker 2: because they all bring something a little bit different to
Speaker 2: the party, and I think they honestly do. Envision Gaseki
Speaker 2: is a true big slot, Like he's not playing in
Speaker 2: line a lot. So to me, don't think of Gasek
Speaker 2: as a as a tight end. He's more of a receiver.
Speaker 2: So I think when you kind of break it down
Speaker 2: like that, you say, you know, treat Gaseki receiver. It's
Speaker 2: only actually then seven targets for true tight ends, which
Speaker 2: is a more reasonable number. So I think when you
Speaker 2: kind of contextualize it that way, it makes a lot
Speaker 2: more sense and quite fine. Frankly, like last week, those
Speaker 2: were the best players in the field were the tight
Speaker 2: ends and Jamar Chase.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it will be for this week of Higgins's back up,
Speaker 1: but Tanner Hudson's injureds He's already been deemed out, so
Speaker 1: they will be missing one of those tight ends this
Speaker 1: week tonight. On Chase, I think the striking number with
Speaker 1: him through a couple of games, and only they can
Speaker 1: really answer this, because you know, he didn't practice in
Speaker 1: camp because he was in a contract stalemate with the team,
Speaker 1: and maybe that's part of it, or maybe it's just
Speaker 1: structurally what's going on around the league, or maybe it's
Speaker 1: just them. His yards per catch numbers way down from
Speaker 1: where he's is as explosive a receiver as there is
Speaker 1: in the NFL. He's getting under ten yards per catch,
Speaker 1: So at least through a couple of weeks, teams that
Speaker 1: have played them have limited the big play to him,
Speaker 1: which is such an obvious key to tonight that he
Speaker 1: cannot defeat them on the outside with over the top
Speaker 1: explosive plays. So I don't know what you've seen so
Speaker 1: far that people have limited Chase, but clearly that needs
Speaker 1: to be replicated coming into tonight.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the problem is, I'm not sure it will be
Speaker 2: able to be replicated because when you look at how
Speaker 2: teams the Kansas City Chiefs and the New England Patriots
Speaker 2: played Cincinnati, it was literally like the old school Julio
Speaker 2: Jones megatron coverage where like devil be damned, like we
Speaker 2: are rotating the safety over the top of the over
Speaker 2: the top of Chase. We've got him in a bracket,
Speaker 2: We've got him in some type of advice. And I've never
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm sure I have before at some point
Speaker 2: in my career, but I don't remember both teams playing
Speaker 2: that level of volume towards that coverage structure in a
Speaker 2: long time. Like it was like almost every single staff
Speaker 2: and definitely every third down, definitely every second and along
Speaker 2: like you could almost set your watch by it. And
Speaker 2: so I think basically what the last two teams said
Speaker 2: is like they don't have another receiver opposite him that
Speaker 2: were really worried about. Obviously, Burton's very fast. Your CIVS
Speaker 2: is a good kind of possession guy. I mentioned Mikeseki
Speaker 2: on the inside, but like there's nobody that scares them.
Speaker 2: And so they were basically like, we're going to just
Speaker 2: you are not going to hurt us. And so like
Speaker 2: just crazy coverage structures, like they're playing man coverage. There's
Speaker 2: no plug player, it's zeroed out across the board. There's
Speaker 2: a true true double team over Chase, and that's just
Speaker 2: you don't see that very often, and I think it
Speaker 2: just speaks to kind of the playmakers that Cincinnati has,
Speaker 2: like we already had. But so I would say, oh, well,
Speaker 2: we should replicate that same game plan, We should do
Speaker 2: the same thing, and I would encourage teams to do
Speaker 2: that because if that's if that's the main weapon, then yeah,
Speaker 2: for sure take that away.
Speaker 3: The problem is to Higgins is coming back.
Speaker 2: We already mentioned how good Mikeseki's in the slot, So
Speaker 2: I think with T Higgins coming back, I think it
Speaker 2: really limits your ability to do that unless you feel like,
Speaker 2: for example, that Benjamin Saint Jews can match up in
Speaker 2: a one on one situation favorably with T Higgins. And
Speaker 2: I know, after watching him versus Mike Williams, maybe that's
Speaker 2: the play. Maybe it's like, hey, you know, Saint Jews,
Speaker 2: go earn your money today, lock up with T Higgins.
Speaker 2: We'll live with a couple explosive plays to that, but
Speaker 2: we can't let you mar Chase beat us. Maybe that's
Speaker 2: the play that the Commanders go with today. And I
Speaker 2: don't have atually hate that matchup, you know, like because
Speaker 2: te Higgins isn't like super super quick again, he's more
Speaker 2: of a contested catch ball guy. And I go back
Speaker 2: to how Saint Geu's played against Mike Evans, and he
Speaker 2: played that game about as well as he could have.
Speaker 2: So maybe you feel good about that and you can
Speaker 2: go with the bracket. I just think it becomes way
Speaker 2: more challenging to engage in that game plan when you
Speaker 2: have two dynamic guys on the outside.
Speaker 1: Okay, the other part of this, obviously is they're going
Speaker 1: to have to get pressure on Joe Burrow. Last week
Speaker 1: against Daniel Jones, I think it's safe to say that
Speaker 1: not enough pressure was applied and he had a very
Speaker 1: good game against them. With Burrow, it's different, and we
Speaker 1: were talking about it when we were calling the game
Speaker 1: last week with Jones. With Jones, if you pressure him,
Speaker 1: there's no telling what he'll do. He'll become inaccurate, he
Speaker 1: might turn the ball over, he slides into pressure like
Speaker 1: he gets rattled, for lack of a better term, That's
Speaker 1: not what happens here. Burrow will literally step up into
Speaker 1: the pocket. He will take the hits. He's got the
Speaker 1: respect of all the coaches. He's very tough. You'll hear
Speaker 1: people like Dan Quinn talk about a Tapia's and he's
Speaker 1: got the injuries to show for it through his career
Speaker 1: that he's willing to do it. So, as you think
Speaker 1: about pressuring Burrow, how do you think about getting to
Speaker 1: him in a way that could be effective to get
Speaker 1: the outcomes that you're looking for tonight.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So I think everyone says pressure, and I think that's important,
Speaker 2: but I think it's more it's more important to keep
Speaker 2: him unsettled and not fall into a rhythm defensively.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 2: I think when you look at some of the best
Speaker 2: game plans against him, it's the ones where he asked
Speaker 2: to hold the ball for a little bit. So what's
Speaker 2: the coverage contour look like? Can you disguise what you're doing?
Speaker 2: Can you drop you know? Can we bring simulated pressures?
Speaker 2: Can we drop eight? Can we bring those like overload
Speaker 2: five man six man pressures when we have to and
Speaker 2: get home with him. So I don't think it's I
Speaker 2: don't think it's about necessarily getting pressure. I think that's
Speaker 2: an oversimplification. I think it's more how do you make
Speaker 2: him uncomfortable and how do you make him second guess
Speaker 2: what he's looking at? And I know that's that's easier,
Speaker 2: said than done right that he's one of the best
Speaker 2: quarterbacks in football. He's you know, he's got that, you know,
Speaker 2: Joe Burrow cool. He seems to be unphased that return
Speaker 2: by what defenses present. But when you look at when
Speaker 2: you look at Kansas City, there were down in distances
Speaker 2: where they did a good job of disguising what.
Speaker 3: They were in.
Speaker 2: He held the football and it didn't lead to a
Speaker 2: sack necessarily, but it leads. It leads to incomplete passes,
Speaker 2: and incomplete passes leads to lead to punts and those
Speaker 2: are wins for the defense. So that's that's what I
Speaker 2: would say. It's not so much pressure, it's just how
Speaker 2: do you make him mentally and physically uncomfortable? And again,
Speaker 2: there's a million ways to do it. I'm really excited
Speaker 2: to see what Joe Witt chooses to do. But I
Speaker 2: would say, what do the disguises look like? What do
Speaker 2: our what do our pre snap pressure looks look like?
Speaker 2: Do we drop out of them? Are we bringing stuff
Speaker 2: from those looks? Because again, if you much like the
Speaker 2: quarterback with the offensive line, if you're able to present
Speaker 2: different looks and different angles to the quarterback, you can
Speaker 2: create kind of sneaky pressures off four man rushes. So
Speaker 2: that's what I would kind of keep an eye on today.
Speaker 2: And again, the pressure is important, but you can help
Speaker 2: yourself out by making the quarterback a little bit confused
Speaker 2: and a little bit tentative, and hopefully Joe Junior comes
Speaker 2: with the game plan that does that.
Speaker 1: There's one other thing with him, and this is what's
Speaker 1: different obviously about Jones and Burrow. And Burrows in MVP
Speaker 1: caliber quarterback and so I think it's unfair to judge them,
Speaker 1: but when you get pressure around the outside on him,
Speaker 1: he typically will step into the pocket. And one of
Speaker 1: the real big talking points of this entire week is
Speaker 1: John and Doran and the impact that they've had in
Speaker 1: the games, or some belief outside that they haven't had
Speaker 1: the impact that people have anticipated. Here's an opportunity, right
Speaker 1: if you know that, Like where he's going to go
Speaker 1: when he gets the pressure around the edge is come
Speaker 1: back into the teeth of your defense, or what you
Speaker 1: hope is the teeth of your defense. Here's a night
Speaker 1: where John and Deran can make impact plays if they win,
Speaker 1: right or am I off?
Speaker 2: No? I think you're hundred percent right. I think I
Speaker 2: think That's one thing good quarterbacks tend to. They should
Speaker 2: step up into the pocket. You see kind of young,
Speaker 2: inexperienced guys stepping back out of the pocket, and that's
Speaker 2: becoming more and more common, kind of with Mahomes doing
Speaker 2: it all the time. But you know, most traditional pocket passers,
Speaker 2: you know, you Drew Brees or Tom Tom Brady, your
Speaker 2: Peyton Mannings are going to step up into the pocket.
Speaker 2: So Joe Burrow to me, is definitely in that mold.
Speaker 2: And obviously when you have a guy that does that
Speaker 2: or has that skill set, you want to create internal pressure.
Speaker 2: But you know, like and I do think this is
Speaker 2: a good week to do it. I do think the
Speaker 2: Bengals defensive or offensive interior is just okay. I think
Speaker 2: they're very solid. I think they're a good group together.
Speaker 2: I think in terms of one on one pass bro
Speaker 2: especially when you watch the New England game, you know White,
Speaker 2: I forget his first name, they're defensive tackle number ninety nine,
Speaker 2: really put them in a blender in obvious passing situations
Speaker 2: and really stress that group out. So obviously he's coming
Speaker 2: on strong as a young player in the NFL. But
Speaker 2: I do think John and Deron have that ability. Now
Speaker 2: it's about identifying the moments when you can really and
Speaker 2: hook unleash the beasts kind of so to speak, and
Speaker 2: like really get after the quarterback. But I do think
Speaker 2: especially with a guy like Burrow who's not quite as mobile,
Speaker 2: you can be more aggressive with your rush plan. Right.
Speaker 3: I think that's going to be good.
Speaker 2: I think that was one thing you saw last week
Speaker 2: with Daniel Jones, a little bit more conservative rush plan,
Speaker 2: I think. I think the other thing is the New
Speaker 2: York we talked about this on the last Booth review
Speaker 2: we did, is they were very, very aware of the
Speaker 2: pass rush and so there was a lot of max pro's,
Speaker 2: a lot of heavy play action pass You're not going
Speaker 2: to get those same that same plan, or you shouldn't.
Speaker 2: I don't think from Cincinnati because they haven't shown that
Speaker 2: all year, they're going to be like, hey, we trust
Speaker 2: Joe Burrow to get us right, we trust our offensive
Speaker 2: line to help them help them protect them, much like
Speaker 2: Tampa Bay. And I think if you look at the
Speaker 2: Tampa Bay game, obviously the six of the five or
Speaker 2: six pressures that they had are well documented. They got
Speaker 2: to get home and finish those. But I think that
Speaker 2: a performance like that in this game because of the
Speaker 2: offensive philosophy is definitely on the table.
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, let's get to the other side of
Speaker 1: the ball. That's what the broad blood, which I thought
Speaker 1: was really funny, was, here's, you know, Jayden daniels first
Speaker 1: Monday night game, and it's bright lights and all this stuff.
Speaker 1: When Cliff Kingsbury was asked about it the other day,
Speaker 1: he goes, I don't know, He's played in Death Valley
Speaker 1: at Night a million times. I don't think this is
Speaker 1: going to be and he kind of surprised him and
Speaker 1: through all of this, the whole cool calm collected. He's
Speaker 1: been there before, he has acted the part, lived the part,
Speaker 1: and I honestly have no concerns about that. There are
Speaker 1: other rookies that I would, but I don't here tonight.
Speaker 1: He's done this kind of too many times. And if
Speaker 1: you play Georgia and Death Valley on a Saturday night,
Speaker 1: trust me, and I don't know that it does get
Speaker 1: much bigger than that on a football stage, honestly.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I'm not worried about the lights being too bright,
Speaker 2: because he's definitely showed that's on an issue. I'm worried
Speaker 2: about Lou Anarroumo and his defense. Like, that's what I'm
Speaker 2: worried about, because this defense is very unique in terms
Speaker 2: of like the coverage structures they present, like the pressure
Speaker 2: practices that they bring, the kind of the game plan philosophy,
Speaker 2: and so what I mean by that is like they
Speaker 2: run a lot of stuff, and they play hard, and
Speaker 2: they're pretty good in the back end. There's no like
Speaker 2: elite name back there necessarily, but they're very consistent and
Speaker 2: they're on the same page, and so they.
Speaker 3: Do a great job disguising coverage.
Speaker 2: And so some of that stuff that we talked about
Speaker 2: with Joe Burrow that the commanders have to do, this
Speaker 2: ant room defense does it all the time. That's like
Speaker 2: that's part of their DNA is we are gonna kind
Speaker 2: of hold coverage shells, gonna we're gonna we're gonna get
Speaker 2: the stuff that you're not expecting. We're gonna play man match,
Speaker 2: we're gonna play straight man, we're gonna play cover two,
Speaker 2: we're gonna play quarters, and we're good at all of them.
Speaker 2: And so the thing I'm worried about is like when
Speaker 2: you look at what happened versus Todd Bowles and Tampa
Speaker 2: Bay and I mentioned this to you last night, is
Speaker 2: he was a little bit uncertain, he was a little
Speaker 2: bit accelerated, and in this game, like I think the
Speaker 2: same thing's gonna happen, like if from a coverage perspective,
Speaker 2: and again like Anromo does bring pressure. He brings a
Speaker 2: lot of first down pressure to stop the run, he
Speaker 2: brings a lot of third down pressure. He wants to
Speaker 2: be aggressive. But my big question for tonight is not
Speaker 2: the environment. I think he's gonna be totally fine, it's
Speaker 2: just what is Can he trust what he's seeing and
Speaker 2: is he effective with that? Because if he's effective, we're
Speaker 2: gonna be fine. But if he's a little accelerated and uncomfortable,
Speaker 2: that's what issues start to happen. And you know, obviously
Speaker 2: this Cincinnati defense picked off Patrick Mahomes twice in their game,
Speaker 2: so you know, they do find ways to get turnovers,
Speaker 2: and a big reasons of it because they've got very
Speaker 2: consistent players in the back end who embrace the defense.
Speaker 2: They play hard, and it's a good scheme. So it's
Speaker 2: kind of like this trifecta of very challenging things for
Speaker 2: a young quarterback to navigate.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was funny. I was talking to Dave Quinn
Speaker 1: the other day, and you know, he always talks about
Speaker 1: year like how we bring it and you know where
Speaker 1: ball is life and we're going to get the ball
Speaker 1: and all that stuff. If you watch Cincinnati, you see it,
Speaker 1: like you literally see it. And he was talking about
Speaker 1: how they've been in the system for a long time,
Speaker 1: they trust this system for a long time. They go
Speaker 1: after the ball, they're around the ball a lot. I
Speaker 1: think to your point, they're speeding up some decision making.
Speaker 1: They're also very aggressive trying to punch things out. So
Speaker 1: this team hadn't turned the ball over yet in two games.
Speaker 1: It's going to be a miracle if they don't turn
Speaker 1: it over tonight against what is an extremely aggressive defense.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I totally agree.
Speaker 2: I think I couldn't I could have said any better myself,
Speaker 2: Like that's like, that's the main concern for me is
Speaker 2: this offense has been crazy efficient in terms of protecting
Speaker 2: the football, and that always allows you to be in
Speaker 2: the game because if your defense is able to sneak
Speaker 2: one or two, you're able to gain two possessions like
Speaker 2: in a game and you have and turn the football over,
Speaker 2: that's excellent. But in this game, like that's going to
Speaker 2: be the real challenge, like b Rob holding on the football,
Speaker 2: Austin Eckler with great ball security, and then Jayden Daniels
Speaker 2: consistent like you I heard you.
Speaker 3: You did a I was listening to a podcast you
Speaker 3: did last night.
Speaker 2: You were talking about how effective Jade Daniels been about
Speaker 2: not turning the football over. I think that becomes even
Speaker 2: more important tonight, Like it becomes such an important thing.
Speaker 2: It's always important, but in a game where you might
Speaker 2: be a little bit outmatched offensively, like it becomes kind
Speaker 2: of the most important thing is offensive efficiency, staying on
Speaker 2: the field and protecting.
Speaker 1: The football, Like I'm with you on Like in the
Speaker 1: first game, it felt like the internal clock was really
Speaker 1: sped up. But it was his it was his debut.
Speaker 1: He's taking on a defense with exotic blitz packages. They're
Speaker 1: blitzing forty percent of the time, Like, no kidding. But
Speaker 1: at no point in time we did have the sack fumble.
Speaker 1: But at no point in time did he instinctually make
Speaker 1: what I thought was a bad decision with the ball.
Speaker 1: He didn't throw it in a bad spot. It was
Speaker 1: never close to being intercepted. Did he vacate the pocket
Speaker 1: a little too soon, sure, you know, like we could
Speaker 1: parse out and nitpick some of the things he did.
Speaker 1: And in week two, similarly, a lot less blitz is
Speaker 1: coming his way, maybe sped up a little bit at times,
Speaker 1: but again, instinctually, he's not putting the ball in Harm's way.
Speaker 1: He's not making poor decisions, and to that this is
Speaker 1: where I'm very positive. And as Fred Smooth put it,
Speaker 1: if this is ground zero, what's next for him? Because
Speaker 1: he's playing the position really well, and obviously we're hoping
Speaker 1: there's you know, he's going to improve and prove and prove.
Speaker 1: But the part about his game that really impresses me
Speaker 1: to this point, go watch the other rookie quarterbacks that
Speaker 1: are out there, or any young quarterback or the ones
Speaker 1: that's taking years like Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield to
Speaker 1: find a spot where they're not turning the ball over regularly.
Speaker 1: This is off to a really good start from that perspective.
Speaker 1: You win or tie the turnover battle you're in every
Speaker 1: game that you play, and he's not putting them to
Speaker 1: this point in Harm's way. I do think that's going
Speaker 1: to be tested tonight. But it's the most impressive part
Speaker 1: of his game to me to this point.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree, And again I think the thing about
Speaker 2: this the game tonight that is so compelling is I
Speaker 2: think this is going to be the biggest challenge for
Speaker 2: him so far this year. You know, you mentioned the
Speaker 2: prime time environment. We haven't even talked about Trey Hendricks yet.
Speaker 2: He was an absolute maniac. But the coverage in the
Speaker 2: back end are you trust? And again I look at
Speaker 2: Cliff and I say, you've done. You did a great
Speaker 2: job against the giants of kind of easing him into
Speaker 2: that game plan, easing him into that game, excuse me,
Speaker 2: like with kind of easy RPOs, quick game you know
Speaker 2: these kind of quick pre snap reads in terms of screen,
Speaker 2: no screen, that type of stuff. So can you do
Speaker 2: that tonight? And what is at Roumo's plan? Like he
Speaker 2: has seen this, he understands the issues that Cliff Kingsbury's
Speaker 2: offense is going to present.
Speaker 3: Like what is his solution? Like does he play a
Speaker 3: lot of man here?
Speaker 2: Does he kind of change his coverage philosophy to kind
Speaker 2: of say, hey, like we want Jade Daniels to beat
Speaker 2: us from the pocket.
Speaker 3: Like I really think there's a lot of really.
Speaker 2: Compelling things happening on that side of the football to
Speaker 2: stop us. And again, how does Jade and Daniels, How
Speaker 2: does Cliff Kingsbury does his offensive staff manage and handle
Speaker 2: that while still being able to maintain some of the
Speaker 2: some of the ball efficiency that you just talked about there.
Speaker 1: Okay, let me get to Terry McLaurin. He was another
Speaker 1: humongous topic, you know, this entire week. The number with
Speaker 1: him is yards per catch is under five. Okay, So
Speaker 1: they haven't found a way to unlock him. It's not
Speaker 1: that he's not part of the game plan. He's the
Speaker 1: most targeted receiver. They just haven't figured out a way
Speaker 1: to put him in a spot to be effective. The
Speaker 1: two shots that they've taken in two games were in
Speaker 1: the Tampa game, neither ended up being complete, and one
Speaker 1: was a near miss at the beginning of the second
Speaker 1: half against the Buccaneers. So as you think about Terry
Speaker 1: and his role in this offense, what is Cliff Kingsbury
Speaker 1: thinking about to try to find some space for him
Speaker 1: to work.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think you know, there were shots in
Speaker 2: the Giants game. The Giants just covered it well, you know,
Speaker 2: So I do think I think that number will definitely
Speaker 2: level out here. You know, maybe levels out tonight and
Speaker 2: maybe as an explosive play, and we're not talking about
Speaker 2: his you know, under five yards per catch average anymore.
Speaker 2: I think it just it's such a small sample size
Speaker 2: this early in the season. I don't think we can
Speaker 2: like make those conclusions because again, like if he hits
Speaker 2: if he hits the ball the first incomplete ball versus
Speaker 2: Tampa Bay, we're not having this conversation. Then there's the
Speaker 2: one that Jane misses. Then there's the two that the
Speaker 2: Giants cover like they're trying to get the football down
Speaker 2: the field.
Speaker 3: But I do give Cliff a lot of credit.
Speaker 2: They have been very selective about those moments, and I
Speaker 2: think that's really smart. I think you want to be
Speaker 2: selective about when you take those chances because a the
Speaker 2: young quarterback you want to feel very comfortable. But B
Speaker 2: it's also the offensive line too, you know, kind of
Speaker 2: insulating that group and keeping them protected. So I do
Speaker 2: think that number will definitely change. Hopefully it changes tonight.
Speaker 2: Hopefully there's an explosive play. To Terry, we can stop
Speaker 2: talking about this. But to me, I'm not worried about it.
Speaker 2: Just like when I watched the All twenty two I'm like, Oh,
Speaker 2: they're trying to get this done. For whatever reason, it
Speaker 2: didn't work out, so hopefully tonight's tonight and they're ready
Speaker 2: to go.
Speaker 3: And they hit on a.
Speaker 2: Couple of those explosive plays to him, and this offense
Speaker 2: looks amazing and we're coming out of here with a dub.
Speaker 2: But and again, if Terry gets an explosive I think
Speaker 2: that's going to be a huge part of our offensive success,
Speaker 2: because we just talked about at the top, like, if
Speaker 2: you find explosive plays, usually you're finding ways to win
Speaker 2: the football game. So again, I'm not that worried about it,
Speaker 2: and we'll see how it goes for the rest of
Speaker 2: the year. But I think we need more data points,
Speaker 2: we need more games, and I'm very confident Terry's going
Speaker 2: to find ways to impact this game, and I'm very
Speaker 2: confident Cliff's going to find ways to include them in
Speaker 2: the game plan.
Speaker 1: Yeah all right, So let me get to what is,
Speaker 1: you know, seemingly on its face, the path to victory
Speaker 1: for them offensively, which is, here's a team that rushed
Speaker 1: for over two hundred yards as a team a week ago,
Speaker 1: Brian Robinson at a career high. They're running the ball
Speaker 1: in the middle of the field. Cincinnati's given up one
Speaker 1: hundred and sixty yards per game to New England and
Speaker 1: Kansas City. They're missing Sheldon Rankins. BJ Hill is probably
Speaker 1: not going to play. They're calling up guys off the
Speaker 1: street and off the practice squad. They had a draft
Speaker 1: pick that got hurt in the middle of training camp.
Speaker 1: He's not available to them, so they're they're weak in
Speaker 1: injury in the middle of the line. They're already not
Speaker 1: defending the run very well. This is Washington's strength. Explain
Speaker 1: to me how this is not a heavy run offense
Speaker 1: tonight for Washington.
Speaker 2: Well, I think it is. I think it's going to
Speaker 2: I think it has to be to a certain level.
Speaker 2: But I think you got to look at how Cliff
Speaker 2: did it and against the Giants, it wasn't like we're
Speaker 2: not coming out, We're not running the ball, run, run, run, No,
Speaker 2: it's hey, we got to spread them out. We've got
Speaker 2: to earn the right to throw to run the football.
Speaker 2: And I think that's one thing I really appreciated. Uh,
Speaker 2: you know, watching watching that Giants game is it reminded
Speaker 2: me a lot of Kyle in terms of approach, Like
Speaker 2: Kyle and Sean and Mike McDaniel and Matt Lafleura, like,
Speaker 2: they'll never find offensive coordinators more motivated to run the
Speaker 2: football than those guys. But the thing about them is
Speaker 2: they're very fastidious about not running into bad looks. And
Speaker 2: I think when you look at what made this group
Speaker 2: so effective running the football is their ability to not
Speaker 2: run in the bad look And they ran into favorable
Speaker 2: box counts right a bunch of times. B Rob's big
Speaker 2: explosive run I think it was in the third quarter,
Speaker 2: kind of on that double pool play. They're running into
Speaker 2: a five man box and I can't tell you, I
Speaker 2: don't think I've ever seen I've ever seen a five
Speaker 2: man box on first down ever with a tight end
Speaker 2: or running back in the backfield.
Speaker 3: Never. And so like Cliff earned that, he earned those looks.
Speaker 3: He earned those explosive plays by being patient. So and
Speaker 3: again it comes back to kind of a more you know,
Speaker 3: a more what's the word. I'm looking for, a more
Speaker 3: fundamental principle of football, and that you need to make
Speaker 3: sure you're getting first downs your stacking plays. I think
Speaker 3: about how kind of herky jerky the offense felt against
Speaker 3: Tampa Bay because they weren't able to sustain these long drives.
Speaker 3: They weren't able to get deep into the playbook. And
Speaker 3: I look at the Giants game and it's like the
Speaker 3: total opposite of that. We're able to get to some
Speaker 3: trick plays. We're able to get to the run looks
Speaker 3: we want, We've earned those looks. We're able to be
Speaker 3: efficient on second and long in third and tens, like
Speaker 3: with Jayden Daniels running the football, like, there's other elements
Speaker 3: of the offense that are required to make sure you
Speaker 3: can run the football efficiency and efficiently. And one is
Speaker 3: stacking plays, one is earning the right opportunities, and the
Speaker 3: other is being really really good on third down.
Speaker 2: And so if you look at that game against the Giants,
Speaker 2: obviously this team is amazing on third down. And so
Speaker 2: that's that's the storyline I'm following. Averyone says, Oh, we
Speaker 2: got to come out to run and run the ball
Speaker 2: to win the game. It's more complicated than that. You
Speaker 2: got to you got to get first downs, you got
Speaker 2: to be efficient running the football, and if those things
Speaker 2: all happen, then you're in a good spot. So that's
Speaker 2: what I would say. It's like because Leu andor Room
Speaker 2: is gonna have a plan. He's gonna have a plan
Speaker 2: to stop the run. They know they're banged up, they
Speaker 2: know that that's this team's strength, at least through two games.
Speaker 2: They're going to have a plan to stop it. What
Speaker 2: is Cliff's plan to get them out of that plan
Speaker 2: and let us do what we want to do. And
Speaker 2: I think again that talk about compelling moments, like we'll
Speaker 2: know within the first quarter who's being successful with that.
Speaker 1: Well, we were talking a lot about this last night,
Speaker 1: all right, So they know that they have their injuries,
Speaker 1: they know this is Washington's strength. What do you expect
Speaker 1: to see early from the Bengals defense to try to
Speaker 1: force Washington out of running the ball right up the
Speaker 1: middle of the field.
Speaker 2: So, for me, it's just math. It always comes down
Speaker 2: to math. I mentioned the five man box against the Giants, right,
Speaker 2: And I don't care how good you are, how wonder
Speaker 2: man you are from a personnel standpoint. If I say
Speaker 2: everyone has a gap and then there's one free hitter
Speaker 2: for the ball carrier, it's really hard to run the football.
Speaker 2: It's really hard to run the football at any level. Right,
Speaker 2: If you just have more guys committed to it, then.
Speaker 3: We have blockers.
Speaker 2: Basically, the problem is, like again I just talked about this,
Speaker 2: I think that's the plan for Lou. I would assume
Speaker 2: coming at the gate is just be plus one. That's
Speaker 2: what I'm saying is you have to earn the right
Speaker 2: to run the ball by throwing these kind of little
Speaker 2: dink and duck screens. Because like if you watch the Giants,
Speaker 2: they came out with a very similar approach. Early in
Speaker 2: that game, they had, you know, seven man box they
Speaker 2: had six man boxes. But as the game went on
Speaker 2: and we kept throwing those little dink and dunk kind
Speaker 2: of RPO screens out on the perimeter, they started playing
Speaker 2: four over three. There was three receivers to the right,
Speaker 2: there's four receivers, there's four defensive players over there. If
Speaker 2: you're doing that, then of course you can run the football.
Speaker 2: And I look at how Jayden handled some of those
Speaker 2: in terms of checking to runs when they needed to.
Speaker 2: Like that's big time stuff. So to me, the game
Speaker 2: plan out the gate is we're going to be We're
Speaker 2: gonna beat you with math. So how am I going
Speaker 2: to do that? I gotta play man coverage on the outside.
Speaker 2: If I'm playing man coverage on the outside to take
Speaker 2: away those screens and bubbles and all that kind of stuff,
Speaker 2: and I'm going to press up on you, and I'm
Speaker 2: Jayden Daniels like that gives me deep shots down the field,
Speaker 2: which are lower percentage throws. So is he enticing me
Speaker 2: to throw lower percentage throws lu and Roumo? Maybe? Also,
Speaker 2: if he's playing man coverage, it makes Jaden a little
Speaker 2: bit more effective as a scrambler. So there are drawbacks
Speaker 2: to some of these things we're talking about, But I
Speaker 2: do think that I think if if I'm luing Rouma,
Speaker 2: I'm coming out with I'm playing the math game, or
Speaker 2: I'm finding ways to artificially increase my chances from a
Speaker 2: math perspective with line stunts, you know, like for example,
Speaker 2: these Tampa two teams back in like the Indianapolis Cult heyday,
Speaker 2: they'd stud four. They bring the linebackers straight down in
Speaker 2: the B gap and basically what you've done is you've
Speaker 2: taken the offensive line. You've made them double up on
Speaker 2: guys they don't need to double up on, so you
Speaker 2: have the free runner that way. So those are the
Speaker 2: two ways I think he kind of comes out and
Speaker 2: does it. But then what is the reaction of Cliff
Speaker 2: and are we able to beat the weaknesses.
Speaker 3: Of those new schemes that he's calling.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I am expecting some zone read tonight, and I'll
Speaker 1: tell you why. So obviously the run game and the
Speaker 1: effectiveness of it, you know, based on the attrition that
Speaker 1: Cincinnati comes in with and the deficiency that they've shown
Speaker 1: here early, and this is the strength just reads like
Speaker 1: this is something there to try to take advantage of.
Speaker 1: I want to talk about Trey Hendrickson with you in
Speaker 1: a minute, like personally, because he's off to an incredible
Speaker 1: start to his season, dangerous, dangerous pass rusher, he's been
Speaker 1: winning a ton But what he will do I don't
Speaker 1: like when we were talking about earlier, Like if you
Speaker 1: watch Burrow closely, what you'll see when the pressure around
Speaker 1: the edge comes is he will step up. So here's
Speaker 1: an opportunity for maybe our defensive players to make a play.
Speaker 1: His tendency is to go to the outside, and we
Speaker 1: I think can win, right, I think we can win.
Speaker 1: In the interior offensive line against the backups that are
Speaker 1: coming in for Cincinnati. It screams zone read to me
Speaker 1: that there should be some opportunities with gaps between left tackle,
Speaker 1: left guard, center, et cetera. Catch them, Jaden makes the
Speaker 1: right call, pulls the ball down. There should be some
Speaker 1: open gaps there, and that's why I expect zone read
Speaker 1: maybe not to be prominently displayed, but could have big
Speaker 1: moments for Washington if they catch and they catch Hendrickson
Speaker 1: doing what he typically does, which is his tendency to
Speaker 1: go around the outside with a speed rush.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean that's how he rushes.
Speaker 2: But you know, in terms of running, like how he
Speaker 2: stops the run, he's usually pretty gaps sound. But again,
Speaker 2: like that's one way to handle a really good football
Speaker 2: player is to read that player. And again, if you
Speaker 2: can stay efficient, if you can stay in second and manageable,
Speaker 2: third and manageable like that play becomes way more effective.
Speaker 2: And I think you saw the effectiveness. I think they
Speaker 2: ran it three times against the Giants, because again, it
Speaker 2: makes those rushers less effective than those short down in distance.
Speaker 2: But if you're in a third and ten, like, it
Speaker 2: doesn't matter. You can read that guy all day and
Speaker 2: it's not going to change anything. So I definitely think
Speaker 2: zone reid is going to be a big part of
Speaker 2: the game plan. I think they got to be smarter
Speaker 2: about winning, how they're implementing it, and so again something
Speaker 2: for sure to keep an eye on. But yeah, they
Speaker 2: definitely need to figure out a plan for our guy
Speaker 2: Hendrickson and make sure that he doesn't ruin this game
Speaker 2: and get some more tackles benched because he hasn't he
Speaker 2: gotten a couple of guys bench this year. Yeah, I think, yes,
Speaker 2: I want to understand.
Speaker 1: Last week the rookie, the rookie tackle from the Chiefs
Speaker 1: got benched.
Speaker 3: Didn't Sumatia Atlanta yep?
Speaker 1: The week before He's had an impact game. What are
Speaker 1: these new metrics I've seen called quick rushes getting to
Speaker 1: the backfield in a certain amount of time. He leads
Speaker 1: the NFL with that. So why don't we get nerdy
Speaker 1: with Professor Paulson here, Because while I'd like to try
Speaker 1: to see if the Commanders can catch him and take
Speaker 1: advantage of some of his speed tendencies the outside and
Speaker 1: find a gap in between left tackle, left guard, et cetera,
Speaker 1: however they formulate doing that. He's a real problem this year.
Speaker 1: He's among the league leaders in sacks. Over the last
Speaker 1: couple of years, he's had an extremely disruptive start. So
Speaker 1: if you're Kingsbury and company. How are you thinking about
Speaker 1: trying to limit Trey Hendrickson tonight?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think you just got to call a really
Speaker 3: good game.
Speaker 2: And I know that's like duh, But so what I
Speaker 2: would say is, like we talked about managing first and
Speaker 2: second down efficiency, and one of the things that he does,
Speaker 2: Trey Hendrickson does a really good job of is understanding
Speaker 2: when it is a passing down and kind of selling
Speaker 2: the farm on passing downs, which all good rushers do,
Speaker 2: like Von Miller is excellent at that.
Speaker 3: TJ. Watt is excellent at that. And so how do.
Speaker 2: I limit his ability to assume it's a pass rushing
Speaker 2: down is make sure I'm third manageable, right, third and two.
Speaker 2: Because then you talked about then we can get into
Speaker 2: some of our RPO stuff. We can get into some
Speaker 2: of our z own read stuff and handle that quick game.
Speaker 2: Is another way to really mitigate that guy that kind
Speaker 2: of rusher's effectiveness, because like they predicate themselves on getoffs,
Speaker 2: So if I'm always getting the ball out quickly, he
Speaker 2: can never get in a rhythm in terms of attacking
Speaker 2: the tackle and setting up multiple moves throughout the game.
Speaker 2: The other thing that I think is actually, you know,
Speaker 2: the more you think about it is going to be
Speaker 2: a huge part of this game is the screen game.
Speaker 2: And I look at how Cliff called it and when
Speaker 2: he called it against the Giants, and I thought it
Speaker 2: was very masterful in terms.
Speaker 3: Of insulating the offensive line.
Speaker 2: Because the screen again, it's much like the quick game,
Speaker 2: it just limits his ability to be super aggressive to
Speaker 2: the pass because he has to retrace and get back
Speaker 2: in on the play. But it all kind of circles
Speaker 2: around this principle. You cannot be and obvious passing downs
Speaker 2: a lot in this game.
Speaker 3: So what does your.
Speaker 2: First and second down efficiency look like? And that is
Speaker 2: maybe the number one tell number one key to eliminating
Speaker 2: a guy like that, Guys like that effectiveness. And I
Speaker 2: think back to, you know, when Montes Sweat was here
Speaker 2: and Chase was here, and how other teams would call
Speaker 2: a game. They would call a game to eliminate that
Speaker 2: group from the field. And I think that's kind of
Speaker 2: how you got to call a game here. And I
Speaker 2: think when you look at what Cliff did last week
Speaker 2: against New York, did a great job of doing the
Speaker 2: things we just talked about. Quick game, RPO zone read
Speaker 2: on that player to make sure that he can't impact
Speaker 2: the game, like you isolate him by him having to
Speaker 2: make a decision right and Jaydeen Daniel's ability to keep
Speaker 2: them in second and manageable third manageble by running the
Speaker 2: football on scrambles and design runs. So that's what I
Speaker 2: would look at is that's the way you kind of
Speaker 2: keep him out of the game. Now the problem is,
Speaker 2: let's say you have a bad we have a neutral
Speaker 2: run on a first down, it's second and ten, and
Speaker 2: then you have an Inglebley pass and a third and ten.
Speaker 2: You better believe he is coming with reckless abandon to
Speaker 2: come get the quarterback. Now, what's the plan. Do we
Speaker 2: send the slide to him? Do we always send the
Speaker 2: slide to him? That can be a little bit easier
Speaker 2: with an edge player, right, going to kind of work
Speaker 2: the three man slide to him so the guard can
Speaker 2: help out if he needs to probably chip help. Do
Speaker 2: you line a tight end over top of him so
Speaker 2: he can't get the correct angle to rush and that
Speaker 2: tight end could even be in a two point So
Speaker 2: those are some tools to kind of keep an eye
Speaker 2: on in those third down situations, third and long situations
Speaker 2: to kind of just make him a little bit uneasy,
Speaker 2: and again you're never going to fully be able to
Speaker 2: disrupt how effective he is. But those are some things,
Speaker 2: some tools that I would probably look at. Draws or
Speaker 2: another great example, quarterback scrambles are also super effective because
Speaker 2: it forces them to be more disciplined. So there's a
Speaker 2: lot of tools at the disposal, it's just about the implementation.
Speaker 2: And again that's one of the reasons I'm so excited
Speaker 2: to watch this game is because every it seems like
Speaker 2: at every position, there's a little chess match between the coordinator,
Speaker 2: between the player, between the individual matchup, whatever it is,
Speaker 2: and I can't wait to see how it chicks out.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, Washington's had a lot of more than
Speaker 1: more success than you would think with a rookie quarterback
Speaker 1: on third and longs, but often it's been Jane's legs
Speaker 1: that have ended up getting the yardage that's been necessary.
Speaker 1: And I think to your point, you know, obviously a
Speaker 1: lot of attention is going to go to if they're
Speaker 1: in third and long situations, so they're gonna have to
Speaker 1: make decisions about that. Sam Hunter Sam Hubbard is a
Speaker 1: very good pass rusher on his own on the other side,
Speaker 1: and then I'm picturing the Cincinnati defense looking at Andrew
Speaker 1: Wiley and thinking that there might be an advantage here
Speaker 1: and bringing someone and forcing him to make a choice.
Speaker 1: So I'm actually worried about the other side if they
Speaker 1: get into these third and long situations. I think third
Speaker 1: and long tonight is a death sentence for this team. Honestly,
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't like in the first couple of
Speaker 1: games they got by, I would describe it that they
Speaker 1: got by and oftentimes it was Jaden making some decisions
Speaker 1: to pull it down. Take Off made some great plays
Speaker 1: with his legs. This one feels a little to your point,
Speaker 1: I think this is the biggest challenge they faced from that,
Speaker 1: and I think this is going to be a tough
Speaker 1: one tonight. They need to be in third and manageables
Speaker 1: as much as possible this evening.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and again that's like that's true of every team
Speaker 2: in the NFL, but there are certain teams that are
Speaker 2: better equipped to overcome it. And right now, even if
Speaker 2: you look at the offensive line construction for the Commanders,
Speaker 2: like those dudes are excellent in the run game, they're
Speaker 2: excellent in the screen game. They're excellent draws, they're excellent,
Speaker 2: like moving around straight drop back. You know, five step
Speaker 2: drop not great, and there are very few teams that
Speaker 2: are great at it. I think when you look at
Speaker 2: Cincinnati and how they've constructed their offensive line, it's kind
Speaker 2: of the reverse, right, they're good at these like long
Speaker 2: drop back scenarios while they're bad on first and second down.
Speaker 2: So it's kind of the decisions that they've made or
Speaker 2: what they what they inherited from the previous regime. But again,
Speaker 2: like Jade Daniels in this in this instance is the
Speaker 2: ultimate trump card because as much as we want to
Speaker 2: talk about how good Trey Hendris is going to hit
Speaker 2: Trey Hendrickson is, they have not played a quarterback like
Speaker 2: Jayde and Daniels in terms of his ability to run.
Speaker 2: And it really again, it affects your ability to be
Speaker 2: confident with your rush. Like you know, I do some
Speaker 2: consulting for three or four d ns around the league,
Speaker 2: and that is a thing that comes up every single
Speaker 2: week when you're playing a Russian quarterback. It's like, how
Speaker 2: do you stay aggressive with your rush but also maintain
Speaker 2: rush integrity and keep the pocket nice and tight. And
Speaker 2: so maybe they do that, maybe they're able to kind
Speaker 2: of say, hey, Trey. We're going to think more power rushers,
Speaker 2: more bowl rushes, off the edges, compress the pocket, force
Speaker 2: them to step up or force them to step back.
Speaker 2: That's something else to kind of keep an eye on
Speaker 2: with Hendrickson is like, do you say, hey, Sam Hubbard,
Speaker 2: you are a bull rush guy, only right down the
Speaker 2: screws of Wiley to compress the pocket down, force Jade
Speaker 2: Daniels to step back, and then Hubbard then Trey hundredsdon
Speaker 2: takes a nice ha angle around. So there are some
Speaker 2: things that you'll see from a four man rush perspective
Speaker 2: that's gonna that they'll utilize to try to get Jade
Speaker 2: Daniels where they want to get them from a pocket standpoint.
Speaker 2: But again, like I can't wait to see what those
Speaker 2: look like. There are a couple things that I just
Speaker 2: mentioned that they could do, but we won't know until
Speaker 2: tonight obviously.
Speaker 1: All right, last thing, I also believe a third and
Speaker 1: long I think is a death sentence for them. I
Speaker 1: think if they have if they're incapable of scoring when
Speaker 1: they have their opportunities like they did a week ago
Speaker 1: against the Giants, I think that's gonna be a problem too.
Speaker 1: So as you now have had like a week to
Speaker 1: think about zero for six in the red zone a
Speaker 1: week ago. What's just your general takeaway and how could
Speaker 1: they execute better?
Speaker 2: Starting to well, I think the first thing is like,
Speaker 2: you cannot this offense isn't good enough to take negative plays,
Speaker 2: like when you're watching Kansas City, you know, last night
Speaker 2: on Sunday Night football against Atlanta, they take negative plays
Speaker 2: left and right, they take negative runs, they take penalties,
Speaker 2: and then they have this ultimate trump card back there
Speaker 2: and Patrick Mahomes is able to overcome. Most teams don't
Speaker 2: have that. So the things we're talking about are just
Speaker 2: like normal day one install stuff. Can you be efficient
Speaker 2: on third down? Can you be efficient on first and
Speaker 2: second down? And can you be efficient in the red zone.
Speaker 2: It's situational football, and I know that's kind of basic,
Speaker 2: but for a team like this, for a team like
Speaker 2: the Commanders, these things become even more important because the
Speaker 2: margin for error is so small. So for me, it's
Speaker 2: just can we not take penalties? And this is where
Speaker 2: the environment of Cincinnati I think becomes relevant, is because
Speaker 2: you had a whole bunch of false start penalties at home.
Speaker 2: It's going to be insanely loud here like, don't get
Speaker 2: it twisted. They're going to be turned up for tonight.
Speaker 2: And can you manage the game? Can you manage those
Speaker 2: pre snap processes and not draw penalties in the loudest
Speaker 2: moments of the game in the red zone, the when
Speaker 2: the home.
Speaker 3: Crowd is really juiced up.
Speaker 2: So to me, that's a major one because I don't
Speaker 2: think I actually don't think that the play calls were bad.
Speaker 3: I don't think the play designs were bad.
Speaker 2: It's just it comes down to not shooting yourself on
Speaker 2: the foot because most offenses, I don't care how good
Speaker 2: you are, you cannot operate from first and twenty. It
Speaker 2: just doesn't work right. You just put yourself behind the
Speaker 2: eight ball from the jump. So and no sacks. No,
Speaker 2: you cannot take negative plays in the red zone. You
Speaker 2: can't do it. It's just going to kill you. So
Speaker 2: that's something that I would say, like did you get
Speaker 2: that corrected? Does Jaden feel good because some of those
Speaker 2: he's taken sacks on RPOs? Like the ball needs to
Speaker 2: be out even if once you've pulled it you don't
Speaker 2: like what it looks like, throw it away.
Speaker 3: I don't care.
Speaker 2: Like we just got to be a little bit more
Speaker 2: efficient with that stuff. So no negative plays in the
Speaker 2: red zone. I know that's like great football analysis, but like,
Speaker 2: make sure the quarterback feels comfortable, make sure he knows
Speaker 2: he can get the ball out, and let's get some
Speaker 2: points on the board. Because the play designs were not bad,
Speaker 2: it just came down to, for whatever reason, inside the fifteen,
Speaker 2: inside the twenty, execution was not where it would be.
Speaker 1: I agree with you. And this happened in the Tampa
Speaker 1: game too. This team, and it's all new, they're not
Speaker 1: equipped yet to make up for the mistakes that occur,
Speaker 1: especially in a situation like that. And I think this
Speaker 1: was underrated too, because I thought Jayden played very well
Speaker 1: and again is instinctually playing in general really well. And
Speaker 1: he's not putting the ball in arms way it's really important.
Speaker 1: He's clearly capable of these really electric plays, specifically with
Speaker 1: his legs. He took two sacks in the red zone,
Speaker 1: now one of them, you know, and both in both
Speaker 1: cases there were throwaways there. Eat it, throw it away,
Speaker 1: get to the next play, don't take a negative play.
Speaker 1: In one of those cases, he checked into the Eckler
Speaker 1: run that went third and fourteen to fourth and one.
Speaker 1: They gave them a shot, right, they gave them a shot,
Speaker 1: and then they had the pen that was the first
Speaker 1: of the three penalties that backed them up again, and
Speaker 1: they chose to kick a field goal there. But like
Speaker 1: it's him too, Like it's everybody. It's not just him.
Speaker 1: He took two sacks on red zone in red zone
Speaker 1: territory as well, So it's everybody, and they're still learning
Speaker 1: as they go here.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's something you know that you're I can't
Speaker 2: tell you how many meetings I've said and where that's
Speaker 2: been the discussion. We got to be more efficient in
Speaker 2: the red zone. We got to be more efficient in
Speaker 2: two minutes, we got to be more efficient on third down.
Speaker 2: It's I think the million dollar question is how you
Speaker 2: do that. I feel like after watching the New York
Speaker 2: game and after watching the Tampa Bay game, the path
Speaker 2: for this team is very is relatively simple. It's let's
Speaker 2: be better with our pre snap process season, let's not
Speaker 2: take sacks.
Speaker 3: And so those are.
Speaker 2: Kind of easily I want to say, relatively easily corrected.
Speaker 2: You know, obviously Jade Daniels is trying to make a
Speaker 2: play on two of those sacks. But I think it's
Speaker 2: about that's again where he's learning what he can and
Speaker 2: cannot get away with as a runner, and like when
Speaker 2: it's time to kind of you know, get you know,
Speaker 2: like take the loss and throw the ball away or whatever.
Speaker 2: So that again, that'll come with time. But I think
Speaker 2: the pre snap stuff like that, again, that's something that
Speaker 2: I think can be improved on just by making it
Speaker 2: a point of emphasis. And hopefully it's better this week,
Speaker 2: and hopefully they score some touchdowns, which which I which
Speaker 2: I'm really excited for maybe Jane daniels first touchdown of
Speaker 2: the season, So I really really excited for those things
Speaker 2: in the red zone specifically, and really excited see how
Speaker 2: Jade Daniels just handles this Luin Romo Divas defense in general,
Speaker 2: and again like he's gonna have some special stuff dialed
Speaker 2: up throughout the game, but also specifically in the red zone.
Speaker 2: So really really interesting matchup from that standpoint.
Speaker 1: This is really a great matchup in a big time
Speaker 1: primetime spot, and I think like we're both on the
Speaker 1: same page about this. There's a lot of unanswered questions
Speaker 1: and I think this is this is a heck of
Speaker 1: a matchup to find out a lot about where this
Speaker 1: team is regardless of the outcome. I think this is
Speaker 1: a big time opportunity to find out kind of where
Speaker 1: they are on both sides of the ball.
Speaker 2: Honestly, no, I totally think so too. And you know,
Speaker 2: like we didn't talk about the Giants in our kind
Speaker 2: of preview of the division or review of the division,
Speaker 2: but they beat the Cleveland Browns and look pretty gosh
Speaker 2: start and good doing it. So maybe maybe the Giants
Speaker 2: are better than they think, and you know, maybe the
Speaker 2: Cowboys are worse than we think, and maybe Philly is
Speaker 2: exactly what we thought. But the moral of the story
Speaker 2: is it's open. And the thing about the NFL is
Speaker 2: every single week, if the game plans right, if the
Speaker 2: stars aligned correctly, you can win the game. And so
Speaker 2: I haven't felt that way in a long time about
Speaker 2: this team. But I think with Jayden Daniels at the
Speaker 2: quarterback spot and some of the new energy with the coaches,
Speaker 2: you're like, man like, maybe they can do it. If
Speaker 2: the plans right, if they put these guys in a
Speaker 2: good spot and the guys execute it, it gets there.
Speaker 2: So I'm encouraged and I think that's what And again,
Speaker 2: like Cincinnati, I think is a roster but like this
Speaker 2: team could be better coached potentially, and I will see tonight,
Speaker 2: and I think that's another thing I'm really excited to see.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And also we just we also have not had
Speaker 1: the cheat code quarterback in a very long time, and
Speaker 1: I think we're seeing the beginnings of that. Where we
Speaker 1: talk about these things where you go, can this team
Speaker 1: overcome mistakes? And you're like, well, the Chiefs have that
Speaker 1: guy back there doing that. Maybe we do too, And
Speaker 1: I don't want to get too far ahead of it,
Speaker 1: but like at some point, maybe we do too, and
Speaker 1: we'll find out.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, and we'll find out tonight. But these are
Speaker 2: the types of games where you find out, right, does
Speaker 2: he make a big play? You know, does he make
Speaker 2: that big completion of Terry? Does he make the right
Speaker 2: decision on his own read to the red zone and
Speaker 2: walk in for a touchdown? Like these are the moments
Speaker 2: And I hate to put it all on the young guy,
Speaker 2: and I think credit to Dan and credit it to Cliff,
Speaker 2: like they haven't put it all on him. But he's
Speaker 2: going to need to make some play tonight, and if
Speaker 2: he does, like that'll be really exciting obviously because it
Speaker 2: will kind of to your point show that we're on
Speaker 2: that path of finding the guy as opposed to, you know,
Speaker 2: someone who's still growing and kind of figuring it out.
Speaker 1: All right, Logan, I'm excited for tonight seeing the boot.
Speaker 3: Yeah, me too, looking forward to it.