Speaker 1: What is up? What's going on y'all? This is the
Speaker 1: beat Down podcast, And guys, the vibes I said were
Speaker 1: immaculate last week and the vibes, I don't know what's
Speaker 1: the pot and the next step up with that will be,
Speaker 1: but it has to be great, right, I mean, they
Speaker 1: go out and beat the Cleveland Brown thirty four to thirteen,
Speaker 1: go to get to four and one for the first
Speaker 1: time since two thousand and eight. Definitely one of the
Speaker 1: best experiences I've had since I worked here in the
Speaker 1: last five years. Last five records we've had are three
Speaker 1: and thirteen, seven and nine, uh seven, eight, eight and one,
Speaker 1: and then last year of course being four and thirteen.
Speaker 1: So I don't even know what to do with myself
Speaker 1: go and get a game to be four and one.
Speaker 1: But now we do have the next test, which is
Speaker 1: probably gonna be the biggest one here so far, at
Speaker 1: least with the Baltimore Ravens. We're going up there for
Speaker 1: the first time in twenty sixteen, believe it or not.
Speaker 1: Uh And even though the Ravens are three and two,
Speaker 1: they are still regarded as the Super Bowl hopeful, still
Speaker 1: regarded as one of the most respected teams in the league.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be quite the test, gonna be a juggernaut
Speaker 1: in ways of the Commardiers have not experienced so far
Speaker 1: this year. And how do they manage to come out
Speaker 1: of Baltimore with a win wealth. That's exactly what we're
Speaker 1: going to discuss today with me is Liam Griffin from
Speaker 1: the Washington Times and Michael Jackson Jenkins, which you can
Speaker 1: findly with my arch nemesis or one of my art
Speaker 1: nemeses frans mut. I'm gonna get lou podcast. Guys. How
Speaker 1: have y' all been doing today?
Speaker 2: Good?
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're having a great time. Excited to be here
Speaker 3: with you guys.
Speaker 1: Yeah, love to hear, love that absolutely. Well, let's still
Speaker 1: jump into it. But before we do that, you know,
Speaker 1: for guys, everyone listening like they know the spiel, they
Speaker 1: know the deal I'm gonna be We're gonna be debating
Speaker 1: three questions, one offense, one of defense, kind of more
Speaker 1: of a general question. Uh, these guys have been gonna
Speaker 1: be giving points based on my discretion, and since it
Speaker 1: is my podcast, I can decide who the winner is.
Speaker 1: But don't get too caught up at the points. Don't
Speaker 1: get too caught up in the victors, because what's more
Speaker 1: important is listening to these guys and their objective takes
Speaker 1: on the team because they have it all, they have
Speaker 1: the knowledge. So without further ado, let's get into it
Speaker 1: here and we're gonna start on the Ravens offense. And yes,
Speaker 1: I know, Lamar Jackson MVB caliber candidate, lights the world
Speaker 1: on fire with his arm, with his legs, can do
Speaker 1: it all, all that stuff. But their biggest offseason acquisition
Speaker 1: is number twenty two Derrick Henry, who rushed for two
Speaker 1: thousand yards, one of the few to ever do that
Speaker 1: in NFL history, is off to another fantastic start to
Speaker 1: his career, to his twenty twenty four campaign, leading the
Speaker 1: league in rushing yards. He's a locomotive in every single
Speaker 1: sense of the word, and he's gonna be the biggest
Speaker 1: challenge because he can, he has a speed, and he
Speaker 1: also has his strength to bowl you over. So Jinks
Speaker 1: will start with you. It's a pretty simple question. But
Speaker 1: how do you stop Derek Kins?
Speaker 4: Like?
Speaker 5: What do you?
Speaker 1: What do you do if you're the command of defense man.
Speaker 5: It's such a great question.
Speaker 2: I love the use of the phrase locomotive because that's
Speaker 2: not used very much and it's absolutely correct here.
Speaker 5: I think you have to do a few things.
Speaker 2: And of course this is easy to say when you're
Speaker 2: just talking into a microphone. But first of all, you
Speaker 2: have to keep him off the field by getting the
Speaker 2: Ravens off the field on third down because sort of
Speaker 2: like b Rob, I mean, there's different players, one thing
Speaker 2: they share is that as the game goes on, they
Speaker 2: get stronger.
Speaker 5: They're so physical and they can wear you down.
Speaker 2: So the more he's on the field, if the Ravens
Speaker 2: take advantage of the third down and stay on the field,
Speaker 2: that's going to be a problem.
Speaker 5: So you've got to get Baltimore off the field.
Speaker 2: And then you have to tackle well in space, more
Speaker 2: than maybe any other player in the NFL, because yeah,
Speaker 2: that sounds something that's very basic.
Speaker 5: Of course, you always want to play good fundamental football.
Speaker 2: But if you don't tackle Derrick Henry in space and
Speaker 2: he gets his stiff arm out and he gets separation,
Speaker 2: then it's over for you.
Speaker 5: And I saw this, I.
Speaker 2: Think it was early in the week, and there is
Speaker 2: a stat that the NFL has measured the fastest players
Speaker 2: running in a straight line so far.
Speaker 5: To see Garrick Henry's in the top five.
Speaker 2: I get faster than then Xavier Worthy, which is just
Speaker 2: absolutely bonkers.
Speaker 5: To think about.
Speaker 2: So tackle in space, don't let him get loose, because
Speaker 2: it's some point he will break. He will break one open.
Speaker 2: We've seen that throughout the season. And then finally you
Speaker 2: just have to pray, like just gonna pray this sweet
Speaker 2: baby Jesus, like maybe he has an off game or something.
Speaker 2: It's not there's not an easy answer there, but I
Speaker 2: think maybe those are some of the keys.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: And now Derrick Henry, he's he's thirty, so he does
Speaker 1: still have some of that. You know, he's he's gonna
Speaker 1: be He's gonna have his regressions a little bit, and
Speaker 1: there's a arguna be some games he's not gonna be
Speaker 1: Derrick Henry of old. But we also seen here for
Speaker 1: almost two hundred yards. A couple of weeks ago, he
Speaker 1: had a fifty one yarder against the Bengals to put
Speaker 1: the that put the Ravens in position to win that
Speaker 1: game in overtime.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 1: But Liam Will, we'll go over to you here because
Speaker 1: h Jenks put up some some pretty good points here. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, it's getting getting the Ravens off field and
Speaker 1: third down like that's been that's been you know, in theory,
Speaker 1: that makes sense. But also they're the third highest third
Speaker 1: out convertage virgin percentage in the league. And they're really
Speaker 1: aggressive on third down, Like no matter what the position is,
Speaker 1: where they's third, long, third and short, they will go
Speaker 1: after you. And they had because they know, because they
Speaker 1: have the tools to do it. And Washington conversely is
Speaker 1: while they are better, they're still in the bottom third
Speaker 1: of third downs allowed. So how do they able to
Speaker 1: liam how they able to maybe you know, keep Derek
Speaker 1: Heny bottled up on those third and short situations when
Speaker 1: he's you can basically if he can fall forward, he
Speaker 1: can get like, you know, three or four yards for you.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Absolutely, Like going into the Browns game, they were
Speaker 4: thirty second in the league in that third down the
Speaker 4: defense and playing the Browns to make anyone's defense look
Speaker 4: a little bit better, you know, taking that, I think
Speaker 4: they allowed one for thirteen on third down as a defense.
Speaker 3: So this will be kind.
Speaker 4: Of proof of whether that was just that's how bad
Speaker 4: the Browns are or this commander's defense started to step
Speaker 4: up on third downs. But when we were talking to
Speaker 4: players this week, they mentioned and coach Dan Quinn said
Speaker 4: this as well, really swarming to the football, and so
Speaker 4: this is going to be like all players are going
Speaker 4: to have to be engaged on run defense. And we
Speaker 4: talked to a cornerback, Benjamin Saint Jus, and he mentioned
Speaker 4: that he's just looking to not get put on a
Speaker 4: highlight reel if he's just looking to not catch a
Speaker 4: stiff farm, so he'll be going for shoe laces, which
Speaker 4: I mean, if you are Benjamin Saint Juice, I think
Speaker 4: that might be a better plan than trying to take
Speaker 4: on Derek Henry straight on. But it's going to have
Speaker 4: to be an effort from all eleven players to swarm
Speaker 4: to the football. And that's something that the run defense
Speaker 4: has kind of done well in a lot of these games,
Speaker 4: especially with the linebacker group of Bobby Wagner and Frankie Lubu.
Speaker 4: They're really good at diagnosing a run and being able
Speaker 4: to shoot gaps and get to a runner in the backfield.
Speaker 4: But that's especially important with Derek Henry. We mentioned how
Speaker 4: good he is once he gets into open space, but
Speaker 4: to put that into perspective, he's leading the league in rushing,
Speaker 4: but fifty two percent of his yards has come on
Speaker 4: explosive runs of fifteen or more, so half of his
Speaker 4: yarder to come on eight different runs, or he's able
Speaker 4: to get into the second level and just torch a defense,
Speaker 4: get past the secondary, because as the player will tell you,
Speaker 4: it is hard to tackle Derrick Henry in the faith.
Speaker 4: So I think that's just the best thing that you
Speaker 4: can do is as a team, as all ELEVEM players
Speaker 4: on the field being willing tacklers and everybody taking a
Speaker 4: shot at it and swarming to the football when you
Speaker 4: see Dereck Henry, because once he gets an open face,
Speaker 4: once he gets the head of steam, you it, it's
Speaker 4: hard to stop. And people have been trying it since
Speaker 4: he was in high school. Everybody has seen the highlights,
Speaker 4: and so you really just got to hope that you
Speaker 4: can trip him up, hope that you have enough momentum
Speaker 4: on your side to keep him from busting career on
Speaker 4: the defense.
Speaker 1: And you know, he's so he's so good that no
Speaker 1: other running back in the league or knows better than him.
Speaker 1: He leads the leading yards of yards after contact, he
Speaker 1: leads the league in broken tackles. Yeah, it wants And
Speaker 1: the thing is, like I said, he's thirty years old,
Speaker 1: he's still like, I mean, his workout rour teams are
Speaker 1: insane because he knows he has to be in that
Speaker 1: level of physicality if he's going to keep up his
Speaker 1: his level game. Because I don't I don't ever see
Speaker 1: Derrick Henry being a guy that's just gonna be a
Speaker 1: speedbacker in that. He's just too he's just too big
Speaker 1: to be doing something like that out you bring up
Speaker 1: Brandy and Saint Juce I remember, I remember him saying
Speaker 1: if they're saying that about, you know, game for the
Speaker 1: game for the shoelaces. But I'm gonna bring up something
Speaker 1: else that maybe he's not necessarily talked about Derrick Henry
Speaker 1: enough is him as a pass catcher. And you know
Speaker 1: he's not like the best, He's not like Austin Eckler
Speaker 1: or anything out there. But if you give him on
Speaker 1: a get him on a screen, he's very, very dangerou
Speaker 1: because he has a bunch of blockers in front of him,
Speaker 1: and that's when he's able to get momentum going. Uh.
Speaker 1: And you're gonna give a lot of defensive backs opportunities
Speaker 1: to tackle him. Uh that you know, if they're not
Speaker 1: ready for it, it's it's gonna be really tough. So jinks,
Speaker 1: how confident do you feel about these these commanders defensive back,
Speaker 1: He's going up against a guy Gary Henry if he's
Speaker 1: gonna be in space, and even again, like even as
Speaker 1: a runner, his most of the biggest plays this year
Speaker 1: are on the outside.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a really good point, and I think you
Speaker 2: sort of touched on it, which is it's it's one
Speaker 2: thing to have that skill set, it's quite another to
Speaker 2: get a guy that big.
Speaker 5: Who's already moving like what you see with Miami.
Speaker 2: Right, they'll run a lot of offensive sets and they'll
Speaker 2: get Tyreek Hill catching the ball on the move, like
Speaker 2: out of the backfield, or maybe it's Stevan a Chan like.
Speaker 2: They want to get these guys up to speed where
Speaker 2: there's no false steps and as they get the ball,
Speaker 2: they're already going.
Speaker 5: And if you do that with Kerrick Henry, that's a.
Speaker 2: Test for any player in the NFL, no matter who
Speaker 2: you are, And it's especially a test for the secondary,
Speaker 2: which has definitely gotten better. And I think a lot
Speaker 2: of it has to do with the improved play up
Speaker 2: front on the Washington defensive line, because it's taken some
Speaker 2: of that pressure off. But we know that going into
Speaker 2: the season, the secondary had a lot of question marks
Speaker 2: and probably still does somewhat. So yeah, this is probably
Speaker 2: their biggest challenge in the season, especially a guy like
Speaker 2: that who is that imposing, who catches the ball and
Speaker 2: all of a sudden he's coming at you. Then you
Speaker 2: see guys like Spoot likes to say, who make business decisions.
Speaker 2: You saw Antonio Pierce saw that, or say that what
Speaker 2: a few weeks ago. So we're gonna make some changes
Speaker 2: because we have defenders who are making business decisions and
Speaker 2: they're saying, I don't want to tackle this guy coming
Speaker 2: at me, And it's the last thing you want to
Speaker 2: do in the NFL is play with fear. But if
Speaker 2: there's any guy who could make you do that, it's
Speaker 2: Jorick Henry. They have to play smart, they have to
Speaker 2: play fast, and they have to be the aggressor here
Speaker 2: where he gets ahead of stud.
Speaker 1: Liam real quick. Before we would we move on to
Speaker 1: the next question of the commander's defensive backs, safety's corners.
Speaker 1: All that, who do you give the best chance to
Speaker 1: bring down Derrick Henry if they see him, like in
Speaker 1: a one on one opportunity. But there's not gonna be
Speaker 1: that many, but there is gonna there are gonna be
Speaker 1: somewhere out there.
Speaker 4: What was it of the commander's defense or upary in
Speaker 4: particular the secondary? Okay, on the secondary, I think I
Speaker 4: might give it to Kwon Martin. I think he's someone
Speaker 4: who's been really scarming to the football and he's been fast,
Speaker 4: he's been aggressive, and I don't think he has I
Speaker 4: don't think he'll be out there making business decisions, you know.
Speaker 4: I think he's willing to get out there as a tackler.
Speaker 4: He's performed well in run defense this year in addition
Speaker 4: to his you know, coverage responsibilities. So I think Kawan
Speaker 4: Martin is someone who's willing to get in there and
Speaker 4: get his nose dirty and uh, you know, maybe.
Speaker 3: You end up on a highlight reel.
Speaker 4: Maybe you get a solid stop and get an added
Speaker 4: boy on the sideline.
Speaker 1: Fair fair enough. But you know, I'll also bring in
Speaker 1: Jayeremy chen In that into that as well, because with him,
Speaker 1: like he's so physical at the point of attack, and
Speaker 1: it's like whenever he's whenever he gets into the into
Speaker 1: the attack, all the play is done. It's over. The
Speaker 1: guy is usually brought down there he's usually at least
Speaker 1: the first of the last guy to to get to
Speaker 1: get to him, So I think that could be a
Speaker 1: pretty big role as well for for for old Jeremy Chin.
Speaker 1: We'll move on to the next question, but first score
Speaker 1: up day Jinks, you are in the lead by one point.
Speaker 1: Although Liam I did like the point about Kwan Mark
Speaker 1: because I think he's also going to be a pretty
Speaker 1: big factor and stopping the run on Derek Henry special
Speaker 1: on the outside. Uh, but we'll switch over to the
Speaker 1: Commanders really side of things, and uh, you know, the
Speaker 1: Commanders have put together one of the really, really really
Speaker 1: strong ground game here. I mean they they're second in
Speaker 1: the league, uh, second only to the Ravens, and they're
Speaker 1: leading the league in rushing touchdowns. I mean they they're
Speaker 1: it talk about like just a complete flip of what
Speaker 1: they were dealing with last year, where they were not
Speaker 1: really running the ball at all, like Ed'll cook, you know,
Speaker 1: effective in anyway. They were last league and run pass ratio.
Speaker 1: Now they're running the ball almost more than anybody, and
Speaker 1: they're doing it at a very successful right because of
Speaker 1: the offensive line, because of Brian Robinson, because of Boston Eckler.
Speaker 1: But they're also going up against the Baltimore defense that
Speaker 1: has allowed I think like sixty something yards per game
Speaker 1: on the ground. They're very, very tough. That's one of
Speaker 1: the biggest strengths they have that's carried over from last
Speaker 1: year's Baltimore group. So, Liam, what do they have? Obviously,
Speaker 1: you can't run the ball all the time against this
Speaker 1: Ravens defense. It's just it's just too much. But they
Speaker 1: do have to get some of it going to get
Speaker 1: this for the sake of their offense to be functioning properly.
Speaker 1: So how do you get that running game going against
Speaker 1: a defense that has just been so stout on the ground.
Speaker 4: Well, I think first of all, you have to rely
Speaker 4: on what got you here, and at this point in
Speaker 4: the season, cliffkaing through your offense isn't just running one
Speaker 4: run team. You know, They're not just one of these
Speaker 4: inside zone, wide zone, you know teams.
Speaker 3: They're doing it in a lot of different ways.
Speaker 4: So they're running this counter scheme, they're running these gaps,
Speaker 4: they're running the outside zone, and so I think doing
Speaker 4: that really kind of puts pressure on a defense to
Speaker 4: keep up on every single play, and they're not able
Speaker 4: to just kind of go on auto highland and say,
Speaker 4: all right, we know where this run is going, we
Speaker 4: know our responsibilities, and so I think a lot of
Speaker 4: that responsibility is going to fall on Cliff Kingsbury as
Speaker 4: a play caller to keep things fresh, down and down
Speaker 4: out to kind of stream drives together. I also think
Speaker 4: you're going to want to see because the Baltimore front
Speaker 4: seven is so lethal against the run, you're going to
Speaker 4: want to see some of these kind of extensions of
Speaker 4: the run game. So this team, I think this was
Speaker 4: true last week. I need to check up on this,
Speaker 4: but they'd called the most screens in the league, and
Speaker 4: it wouldn't be surprised if this is another big screen game.
Speaker 4: Because you have these talented pass catches, these talented skill players.
Speaker 4: You're Austin Actlers or Brian Robinson, even Jeremy McNichols has
Speaker 4: looked fantastic this season, and so getting the ball to
Speaker 4: them in space, even when you know your offensive line
Speaker 4: isn't able to just Maull bowl over this incredible Baltimore front,
Speaker 4: getting the ball to them in space on the outside
Speaker 4: is going to be key. And since we haven't mentioned
Speaker 4: this yet, the Commanders have Jayden Daniels yeah, isn't. Yeah,
Speaker 4: unlike Lamar, he does not drive in these kind of
Speaker 4: designed runds, or at least he hasn't so far this season.
Speaker 4: Most of his damage has come as a scrambler. And
Speaker 4: so I think that's signed to look at too, where
Speaker 4: even if you end up you know, you take a
Speaker 4: Baltimore jumps out to a lead early, you're in a
Speaker 4: bunch of you know, passing downs, the game script is
Speaker 4: dictating that he does most of his damage as a
Speaker 4: scrambler improvising, and that puts so much strain on the
Speaker 4: defense where they're always behind their shoulder.
Speaker 3: You know, you're running a man coverage.
Speaker 4: Oh no, Jade Daniels pass the line of scrimmage and
Speaker 4: he's torching you for another twenty yards downfield. And so
Speaker 4: I think that's signed to keep in mind, is that
Speaker 4: it is not just you're not just running at a
Speaker 4: brick wall and hopeing for the best you're getting outside
Speaker 4: of it. You're trying to stress them however you can
Speaker 4: using these skill players that you have available.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, you're right. I mean the Jade and Daniels
Speaker 1: effect of it obviously is so key. I mean, you
Speaker 1: think about that for them three had, you know, getting
Speaker 1: past j Oka there for that thirty four yard running
Speaker 1: set up an eventual touchdown. I mean, he he makes
Speaker 1: the offense right in so many ways because of his's,
Speaker 1: because of how he's able to scramble and make make
Speaker 1: a lot of chicken salad. As I like to say. Uh,
Speaker 1: but but Jenks, you know bringing up the running backs right,
Speaker 1: like you got Brian Robinson, you got Jeremy Nichols, you
Speaker 1: got Austin Like all three of them have done, you know,
Speaker 1: their work over the past few games, and so Brian
Speaker 1: Robinson has he's at least I don't know obviously, we
Speaker 1: don't know whether he's gonna play or not on Sunday,
Speaker 1: but he's at least looked a little damaged. I guess
Speaker 1: you could say because the knee injury he's gonna deal
Speaker 1: with over the last uh, you know, a week and
Speaker 1: a half or so. Didn't practice on Wednesday, didn't practice
Speaker 1: on Thursday. So say, you know, for whatever reason, because
Speaker 1: you know, rob did not play much at all in
Speaker 1: that second half, thankfully because the game was out of
Speaker 1: pretty much out of out of out of the Browns reach.
Speaker 1: But say be robbed, you know, doesn't get half to
Speaker 1: didn't get to carry like twenty one twenty four times,
Speaker 1: we're maybe been used to last few weeks or so.
Speaker 1: How confident do you feel about me? Nichols Eckler, and
Speaker 1: you know, even Jade and Daniels to an extent, to
Speaker 1: be able to carry the load and be more of
Speaker 1: a full fledge or well rounded rushing attack. It maybe
Speaker 1: leaning on be Rob a little bit more.
Speaker 5: I mean it will. It's definitely a step back.
Speaker 2: We know that because b Rob is so good and
Speaker 2: he's so good light, because he's he looks for contact,
Speaker 2: which is what.
Speaker 5: I love about him.
Speaker 2: But I think there's a couple of things you can
Speaker 2: do here, and one is Bro deep, like, do not
Speaker 2: be afraid to take shots to.
Speaker 5: Loosen up this Ravens deed.
Speaker 2: But as they are upfront, you can throw on the
Speaker 2: secondary Jade and Daniels, as we know, was part of
Speaker 2: his scouting report and we've already seen it in this room, beautiful.
Speaker 5: Deefall and an accurate deep ball.
Speaker 2: So if the first you don't hit, keep making the
Speaker 2: Ravens account for that, and then as the game goes on,
Speaker 2: don't be afraid to keep trying to punish Baltimoaundians and
Speaker 2: be aggressive on four to down. I love the fact
Speaker 2: that dan Quinn and it's made me nervous in some
Speaker 2: spots where maybe keeping that Baltimore defense out there longer
Speaker 2: than it wants.
Speaker 5: To be out.
Speaker 2: That even if it doesn't work early on, what have
Speaker 2: we seen from this Washington offensive line?
Speaker 5: Can't believe I've seen it. They've become road graders late
Speaker 5: in games.
Speaker 1: Where and I'm not saying an NFL.
Speaker 5: Team quit because you said to those guys, get a
Speaker 5: punch in.
Speaker 2: The face, but but they were done, like it was over,
Speaker 2: like they had had enough for the day.
Speaker 5: They had had enough of the Washington offensive line.
Speaker 2: So you stretched them out, let them know, open up
Speaker 2: the offense if we have to, and then we're gonna
Speaker 2: keep running and hopefully by the fourth b Robb is
Speaker 2: maybe hamstrung a little bit, you sort of wear the
Speaker 2: Ravens defense down.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I think I think so. The offensive line
Speaker 1: is is. I think they've they've quietly done their job,
Speaker 1: and in a way it's been doing doing it quietly.
Speaker 1: It's become a lot louder because they they've been excellent
Speaker 1: run their run, block win Ray. They've done a good
Speaker 1: enough job of protecting Jane Daniels in a way that
Speaker 1: I don't think a lot of people have ever really
Speaker 1: would have guessed heading into the city this season. So Lee, well,
Speaker 1: we'll go over to you, like, what do you feel like,
Speaker 1: how do you feel about the matchup between this Commander's
Speaker 1: offensive line and the Ravens defensive line? Because uh, yeah,
Speaker 1: you you've got some You've got some pretty quality, quality
Speaker 1: guys in that front seven year Roquand Smith as one
Speaker 1: of those guys who's are really a blitzer, and you know,
Speaker 1: the interior of this off of the line is really
Speaker 1: going to be tested. So how do you feel about
Speaker 1: about that matchup as they try to, you know, establish
Speaker 1: the run game a little bit more.
Speaker 4: Honestly, I feel better about it this week than if
Speaker 4: you had ask me seven days ago because of that
Speaker 4: performance that that offensive line put together against the Browns,
Speaker 4: who have one of the better defenses and one of
Speaker 4: the better front sevens in the league. And so I
Speaker 4: think you're seeing this Washington offensive line really come into
Speaker 4: its own. We knew Sam Cosby was going to be great,
Speaker 4: but I've been really impressed by, you know, by Tyler
Speaker 4: Biadish and by Nick Alagretty and the way that they've
Speaker 4: adapted and kind of embraced this team's identity as a
Speaker 4: run first team.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, you know, like I mean, Tam Cosby has
Speaker 1: just really been I would say, yeah, he's playing at
Speaker 1: a Pro Bowl caliber plate uh rate right now. Tyler
Speaker 1: Biadage has been has been so critical, uh Nick Ali
Speaker 1: ready even so, I mean he's he's been grammy. I mean, shoot,
Speaker 1: like Ronald Garrett didn't even record a a state, like
Speaker 1: a stat like anything, all out of pressure, not a hurry,
Speaker 1: not a tackle at all because of how Brandon Colemo
Speaker 1: was playing, which also brings up a quick question I
Speaker 1: want to I want to address. Boy, We'll move on
Speaker 1: to the next question for you, Jenks, is you know
Speaker 1: the Commanders have they've kept this weird rotation and left
Speaker 1: tackle with Cornelius Lucas and uh and Brandon Coleman, and
Speaker 1: you know you don't want to see that very often.
Speaker 1: You really like to see, you know, five guys consistently
Speaker 1: bringing up that starting line. H But at the same time,
Speaker 1: Quineta Lucas has not done really enough to say you
Speaker 1: need to bench him or anything. So do you think
Speaker 1: like eventually they're gonna maybe, like I don't know, like
Speaker 1: keep on one guy or the other. Do you think
Speaker 1: they're just gonna roll with this rotation until it until
Speaker 1: it doesn't work?
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, I think this is a I think it's
Speaker 2: a situation where for now, because things can certainly evolve,
Speaker 2: if it ain't broke, don't fix it because it's working.
Speaker 2: And also, this is this is sort of the perfect
Speaker 2: scenario right where ideally Brandon Coleman is the guy who
Speaker 2: eventually takes over that spot. But anytime you're a rookie
Speaker 2: in the NFL, you know you you were around the
Speaker 2: edges in some spots. Could be technique, could be learning
Speaker 2: the grind, whatever it is. And so when you have
Speaker 2: Lucas playing so well, let Colman sort of learn along
Speaker 2: the way and get the reps at the same time,
Speaker 2: maybe getting the rest or getting the time he needs
Speaker 2: to learn the position where he's not just thrown into
Speaker 2: the fire immediately. And so right now, if you've got
Speaker 2: two guys who can play the spot and you're doing well,
Speaker 2: why introduce a rotation or take a guy out when
Speaker 2: everything's working the way you want it to work. So
Speaker 2: it's a luxury to have where you have two guys,
Speaker 2: let's keep doing it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And you know, it's funny that, like, you know,
Speaker 1: left tackle was such a big question for this team
Speaker 1: heading into the offseason, and now all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: they've got they've got two starting left tackles And if
Speaker 1: you would never have guessed, they would have had a surplus.
Speaker 1: And you know, I left tackle is just it's so
Speaker 1: hard for rookies to be thrown just be thrown in
Speaker 1: there and start. And it's almost like a perfect way
Speaker 1: to to kind of like insulate Brandon Coleman's development because
Speaker 1: you're not putting the whole game on him. You're more
Speaker 1: of just like giving him half of it a little
Speaker 1: bit and then like you know, if he gives you
Speaker 1: give them a series and then you come back over
Speaker 1: to the sideline you talk about it. And while you're
Speaker 1: over there all over talking about you let Brandon Coleman
Speaker 1: UH or Cornelis Lucas just do what he does, uh,
Speaker 1: just to be serviceful enough in the past of the
Speaker 1: past protection game. It's it's really interesting and I think,
Speaker 1: you know, honestly, if it helps out with his development
Speaker 1: long term, great, that's fantastic. But we'll move on to
Speaker 1: the net the final question here, Uh scored it quickly, Jings.
Speaker 1: You were still ahead uh by two, so Leam, you
Speaker 1: still got a lot of work cut out for you.
Speaker 1: But I think this question is gonna be a very
Speaker 1: good philosophical one.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 1: You know, these the execs two players, Terry McLaurin and
Speaker 1: Frankie Luvu, Like they're both thought they're going to be
Speaker 1: pretty key right to to getting a win on Sunday.
Speaker 1: Terry mclaurran because of what he's he might have to
Speaker 1: be able to do against Marlon Humphrey and that and
Speaker 1: that that Raven secondary and on top of that, Frankie
Speaker 1: Loluvu he's got the he's got the athleticium and the
Speaker 1: quickness enough to keep up with Lamar Jackson. I feel
Speaker 1: like he's gonna be so critical, especially after that game
Speaker 1: they had against the Brown really just let the world
Speaker 1: on fire. Uh, Liam will start with you. Who needs
Speaker 1: have a bigger game between these two, Terry or Frankie Luvu.
Speaker 3: For me, I think it's really clearly Frankie Louvo.
Speaker 4: I think that this defense is going to have its
Speaker 4: work cut out for it, and really it's toughest tests
Speaker 4: of the season Obviously the offense isn't you know, going
Speaker 4: against slashes either on the other side. But I think
Speaker 4: there is no one else in the league like Lamar
Speaker 4: Jackson and like Derrick Henry, and this Washington defense doesn't
Speaker 4: have the hors in all the time. They might not
Speaker 4: always perform up to the ability to contain, you know,
Speaker 4: these two Offensive Player of the Year MVP caliber players
Speaker 4: on Baltimore's offense. And so I think Frankie Luvu is
Speaker 4: really going to have to step up and embrace this
Speaker 4: challenge head on, because we've seen him do it before
Speaker 4: against some of the lesser competition. Earlier in the season,
Speaker 4: we saw him, you know, in coverage in Arizona really
Speaker 4: helping to shut down that offense. Last week, we saw
Speaker 4: him as a pass rusher against the Browns, disrupt into
Speaker 4: Seawn Watson's timing and really single handedly taking over that game.
Speaker 3: But this is a whole new thing.
Speaker 4: You know, this is Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson, and
Speaker 4: you know, he's been paired with Bobby Wagner throughout the season,
Speaker 4: which has been great. And Bobby's obviously a future Hall
Speaker 4: of Famer, an incredible player who is still able to
Speaker 4: diagnose defenses with the best of them, but he's lost
Speaker 4: the step this season, which is to be expected with.
Speaker 3: A player of his age.
Speaker 4: And so Frankie Luvu is going to have to be
Speaker 4: the aggressor on this defense and be the energizer bunny
Speaker 4: really to power this team forward.
Speaker 3: And I think he's going to have a lot of responsibility.
Speaker 4: So I think he's going to be shooting those gaps
Speaker 4: to try and keep there Henry from getting the head
Speaker 4: of steam going that defensive coordinators have nightmares about. And
Speaker 4: I also think he's going to have a lot of
Speaker 4: Lamar Jackson responsibility too.
Speaker 3: I feel like every time that I watch him play.
Speaker 4: And every time I watch his tape, I'm always circling like, Wow,
Speaker 4: great play by Louvo in the way that he's able
Speaker 4: to force a quarterback out the pocket, or the way
Speaker 4: that he's able to like kind of patrol the field
Speaker 4: and work sideline to sideline to keep a guy from scrambling,
Speaker 4: you know, and also remain in his coverage but as
Speaker 4: well and maintain those responsibilities. And so I think Frankie
Speaker 4: Louvo is someone who on a Washington defense that is
Speaker 4: kind of lacking in star power a little bit and
Speaker 4: that's still trying to find their footing. I think that
Speaker 4: Frankie Louvo has a huge task ahead of him, and
Speaker 4: I feel like if we see him, if he has
Speaker 4: another game like he had last week or like he
Speaker 4: had in Arizona, then I think we're talking about the
Speaker 4: Commanders win. And I think if he goes missing in action,
Speaker 4: I feel like that things could get a little bit ugly.
Speaker 1: Yeah, good point there to end it on jigs question,
Speaker 1: terrm Thorne or Frankie Lulu.
Speaker 5: I'm gonna take an l on this, and that was
Speaker 5: a great answer.
Speaker 2: Here's what I think You're absolutely right, Like pairing him
Speaker 2: with Bobby Wagner is the perfect yin and yang, and
Speaker 2: I know that dan Quinn has talked about that, but
Speaker 2: it's Frankie.
Speaker 5: Him for a couple of reasons. One which you touched on.
Speaker 2: Is maybe Spye or at least can Jackson on the ground.
Speaker 2: And then number two is in run support. We've talked
Speaker 2: about Derek Henry. You don't want him getting to this,
Speaker 2: but if you need Frankie Lulu to clean something up,
Speaker 2: or the defensive line needs runkey, Lulu could get.
Speaker 5: In the gap and also provide that as well. That's
Speaker 5: one thing. It's as the kids would say, it's his.
Speaker 2: Vibe and it's the fact that this defense really feeds
Speaker 2: off of him, and you guys talk about it. We've
Speaker 2: seen it in the locker room when he's doing his
Speaker 2: Samoan war dance, like when Freddy Frankie Lulu is playing well,
Speaker 2: when he's being physical and speedy. Tell the other guys
Speaker 2: on that defense respond to that, and they try to
Speaker 2: elevate the level of their play.
Speaker 5: To Matt, how good Frankielubu is.
Speaker 2: So when you have a guy like that making plays
Speaker 2: in a game like this, or he brings down Lamar Jackson,
Speaker 2: that will make the entire Washington defense better. And then
Speaker 2: the argument against that would be, Okay, well you need
Speaker 2: Terry mccorran, you need to go deep, which is absolutely true. However,
Speaker 2: the Ravens secondary is ranked thirty first in the NFL,
Speaker 2: So if they have a weak spot on that defense,
Speaker 2: it is that secondary. So if there's someone besides Terry
Speaker 2: mccorran who can step up, it's Deanni Brown, maybe it's
Speaker 2: Luke McCaffrey. This is the game to do it because
Speaker 2: you can attack that Baltimore weakness.
Speaker 5: But it's definitely Frankie Lubu in the spot.
Speaker 1: You know, I've watched that him getting a game ball
Speaker 1: video in the locker room so many times and every
Speaker 1: time it just it just gets me so fired up.
Speaker 1: You feel like you're right there in the moment with him,
Speaker 1: and he right, he brings so much energy to this team.
Speaker 1: He really I think he you know, I've wondered, like,
Speaker 1: what's the best you know, off season acquisition. So such
Speaker 1: a clearche question asked, But like every time, I think
Speaker 1: you like, Frankie Luvu is probably the guy just because
Speaker 1: of the energy, the leader ship and just the freaky
Speaker 1: athleticism that he brings. So I completely agree with both
Speaker 1: of you that probably is going to be Frankie Loe
Speaker 1: Loup and final selection for the winners here, James, you
Speaker 1: were in the lead the whole time. But Liam that
Speaker 1: that answer to the to the final question was so
Speaker 1: great you pulled out. I had to had to win that.
Speaker 1: You had to win that one there. Do you have
Speaker 1: any parting words of victory.
Speaker 3: For first, I would like to say the academy like thank.
Speaker 2: You for.
Speaker 1: And that of course.
Speaker 3: I would like the.
Speaker 1: Academy that's saying I don't want to pull the Oscar
Speaker 1: music on you any or anything. Now there's the short
Speaker 1: and sweet love to hear. But guys, thank you, Kenneth,
Speaker 1: thank you enough for doing this and for everyone listening. Uh,
Speaker 1: hopefully we'll be talking about a win next time that
Speaker 1: I'm next time i'mber gracing your ears and that would
Speaker 1: be incredible because they'd be five to one for the
Speaker 1: first time since nineteen ninety six.
Speaker 5: Would be night with the last. Yeah, so we're running.
Speaker 1: Out of the first of the first time since we're
Speaker 1: about to enter into never territory here. But that just
Speaker 1: shows the great turnaround this franchise has had over the
Speaker 1: last few months or so, and it's been a fantastic
Speaker 1: just experience to be a part of it. But everyone
Speaker 1: makes sure to rate, review, subscribe, get us wherever you
Speaker 1: get your podcast, and this has been the beatdown