Speaker 1: Welcome to the Command Center Podcast. I'm Julie Donaldson. It's
Speaker 1: the first NFC East Division matchup for the Commanders as
Speaker 1: they welcome the Eagles to FedEx Field on Sunday. London
Speaker 1: Fletcher and Santana Moss joined me to preview Philadelphia. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna rattle off all these names and you just tell
Speaker 1: me what you think about it. You're ready, Terry McLaurin,
Speaker 1: John Dodson, Curtis Samuel A. J. Brown, and DeVante Smith.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's a receipt. That's a quarterback stream to
Speaker 1: have all those guys, um, I think on our side,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna take us because we you know, we gotta
Speaker 1: take the brigand in and go. But it'd be great, man,
Speaker 1: just to you know, see those guys squad and then
Speaker 1: do that thing. I'm hoping that our receiver corps come
Speaker 1: out on top. If you're a dB, what are you
Speaker 1: thinking knowing that there's so many different playmakers on both sides,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be it's gonna be tough. You guys. They
Speaker 1: drew the short end of the stick, so to speak,
Speaker 1: in especially on our end because of Philadelphi's ability to
Speaker 1: run the boss well You're gonna have to be in
Speaker 1: a lot of man and man coverage where you're not
Speaker 1: gonna have you know, safeties over the top all the time,
Speaker 1: and you're gonna have to hold up. And they have
Speaker 1: the big, big play guys Smith, you can take the
Speaker 1: top off the defense. But then you had the big
Speaker 1: physical receiver and um, you know the guy they traded
Speaker 1: for from Tennessee, A J. Brown. So that's gonna be
Speaker 1: a challenge for for us defensively because we're gonna be
Speaker 1: focused on stopping that run. And you mentioned stopping the run.
Speaker 1: They have the league's second best rushing attack, averaging one
Speaker 1: hundred and eighty nine and one hundred and eighty nine
Speaker 1: and a half rushing yards one night. You just call
Speaker 1: it one night in this um. But according to the
Speaker 1: way that they run the ball, they I mean, they
Speaker 1: can get what they want. The challenge you are trying
Speaker 1: to stop that, it's it's a it's gonna be a
Speaker 1: great challenge just in stopping mile sounders first and foremost,
Speaker 1: we especially the way we despend defended the run in
Speaker 1: these first two ball games. We're gonna have to be
Speaker 1: better in our run fits bettering, you know, coming up
Speaker 1: non you know where your gap is, and that gap
Speaker 1: can move if they're pulling line in and pulling tight ends.
Speaker 1: They like that. I understanding where you fitted, where your
Speaker 1: extra defender is. And then you throw in the mix
Speaker 1: the Jalen Hurst and his ability to run the ball.
Speaker 1: Now you have to account for him as a defense
Speaker 1: and that's where the problem lies. And that's why Philadelphia
Speaker 1: is so difficult to defend when you're stopping to run
Speaker 1: against them. Towner, Yeah, that's one of the things that
Speaker 1: I asked you when I came in, Like, you know
Speaker 1: how difficult is to be a linebacker in this situation,
Speaker 1: knowing that you have a running back that can be
Speaker 1: so elusive in the backfield and the quarterback to have
Speaker 1: to worry about. I remember having those days when we
Speaker 1: had guys who can do it. But um, I think
Speaker 1: our team's up for the challenge. You no gotta bring
Speaker 1: some guys in that box. So those guys aren't going
Speaker 1: to be on the Allen on the outside chase. Rually,
Speaker 1: it goes to the ir the challenge of replacing him.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be a big challenge because the center, he's
Speaker 1: responsible for getting all your protection together, your lives side
Speaker 1: He's typically the smartest guy on the offense. So that's
Speaker 1: not just a little situation where you lose a left
Speaker 1: guard losing the tackle, I mean losing your center. That's big.
Speaker 1: Wellus I had the chance to sit down with wide
Speaker 1: receiver Curtis Samuel will chat about his strong start to
Speaker 1: the season. Curtis Samuel, let me ask you, how are
Speaker 1: you feeling? Because we were calling that game and we
Speaker 1: go to celebrate the touchdown and all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: I'm like going, oh no, he's not getting up, are you?
Speaker 1: I mean, are you physically Okay? Yeah, I'm physically good. Um,
Speaker 1: I mean the scoreboard probably had allowed to do with it.
Speaker 1: There's no need for me to dance with the scorebore
Speaker 1: looking where it was. Um, I was a little bit
Speaker 1: of time. I was a little bit tired and I
Speaker 1: got hit my lip a little bit, so I had
Speaker 1: to lay down on the floor. Flow let me get
Speaker 1: myself back together. Okay, Well, it's great to see you
Speaker 1: in the end zone. It's not the second game in
Speaker 1: a row we've seen that. You haven't been able to
Speaker 1: do that since twenty twenty. It's been a hot minute
Speaker 1: for you. How does it feel to kind of to
Speaker 1: be back doing what you know you're capable of and
Speaker 1: what this team brought you in too do. Um, it
Speaker 1: feels it feels amazing. You know, I'm thankful to be
Speaker 1: able to score the touchdown, so you know, when about
Speaker 1: get the opportunities to get the chance. But pretty much,
Speaker 1: it's all about scoring the ball, you know, um, just
Speaker 1: winning the game. So whether I do it, I block
Speaker 1: for somebody else to do it, that's all it's about.
Speaker 1: I'm definitely grateful, you know, to be able to keep
Speaker 1: scoring touchdowns two weeks in a row after everything I've
Speaker 1: been through last year. But I'm just grateful for the
Speaker 1: opportunities that coach give me, you know, in trusting me
Speaker 1: to make those types of plays, opportunities you said you
Speaker 1: were retired as well. I mean they're using you a lot.
Speaker 1: This is a second straight game as well that you've
Speaker 1: had at least seven receptions in a game. Are you
Speaker 1: physically feeling that or is it like, is there a
Speaker 1: different approach, a mindset you have to go into the
Speaker 1: game knowing that they're going to rely on you often
Speaker 1: in a lot. It's just though, it's one of the
Speaker 1: things where I felt like, um, I know, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: touched the ball a lot, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: That's something that I want, you know, and the trusting
Speaker 1: me to make plays when I do touch the ball.
Speaker 1: My mind said, every time I touch the ball, I
Speaker 1: gotta make something happen, you know. And I feel like
Speaker 1: I'm doing that, and it's just about keeping it up.
Speaker 1: Last season, you were saying, when you're getting out there,
Speaker 1: you physically thought you could do it, but it's the
Speaker 1: mindset that's saying, Okay, I can make these cuts. We're
Speaker 1: seeing you make some crazy cuts that we're feeling like
Speaker 1: you're breaking angles and maybe even playing some hoops out there. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Is that more physically or is it that just the
Speaker 1: mindset to say I can sit here and jerk the
Speaker 1: defenders back around physically. I just I feel real good.
Speaker 1: I feel real confident and what I'm able to go
Speaker 1: out there and do make make guys miss make those
Speaker 1: quick fast cuts. You know, last shot I didn't. I
Speaker 1: didn't have the confidence and I know I couldn't do it.
Speaker 1: You know, this year is a little different because I
Speaker 1: have the confidence and I know I could do it
Speaker 1: because I've showed myself throughout the whole off season. I
Speaker 1: did it in OTAs and I'm continue to do it now.
Speaker 1: It's exciting to watch. Oh, it's amazing. I mean you're
Speaker 1: in that room with Terry mccorda and Johan Dodson. They
Speaker 1: do some outstanding, amazing catches as well. But like, do
Speaker 1: you guys kind of talk a little about that. No,
Speaker 1: it's just one of the things. We got three guys
Speaker 1: in our room. I can't even say three. We got
Speaker 1: a whole room, guys. You know a lot of guys.
Speaker 1: Everybody got the impact. Everybody make plays all over throughout
Speaker 1: the field. But you know, when we're out there, it's
Speaker 1: just one of those things where we're just relying on
Speaker 1: each other, you know, when somebody making players like all right,
Speaker 1: good player, you know what I'm saying. And then when
Speaker 1: I get my chance, I'm gonna do the same thing
Speaker 1: because we know we've got the skill set and we
Speaker 1: got the talent, you know, to be able to do
Speaker 1: things like that. What if you've seen from Dodson, because
Speaker 1: there's sometimes he brings that ball down and we're not
Speaker 1: sure how even Santana Moss at times will say I'm
Speaker 1: dropping that. No that he hands, Yeah, he got hands
Speaker 1: and He's done it throughout training camp OTAs and he's
Speaker 1: continued to do it. Now. You know, you put the
Speaker 1: ball anywhere around, you know he's gonna make the play,
Speaker 1: and you know to have that type of skill set
Speaker 1: as a rookie especial, would you say you're the best
Speaker 1: dancer on the team by far? Of course, if he'd
Speaker 1: say the same thing exactly, they got a dance battle me,
Speaker 1: we could do it. What about between Terry or Jehad
Speaker 1: as well? Yeah, they dying a lie. I haven't seen Jehan,
Speaker 1: but I know Terry could dance a little bit. He
Speaker 1: might not pull it out with Terry got some moves, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: from you right, I'm tell him a little bit of
Speaker 1: college Curtis. Thank you, Thank you so much. You can
Speaker 1: listen to the full interview on Commanders dot com. Tune
Speaker 1: into command Since You weeknights five thirty ten pm on
Speaker 1: NBC Sports Washington. You can stream the full episode on
Speaker 1: YouTube and Commanders dot com.