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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Command Center Podcast. I'm Julie Donaldson. Preseason

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Speaker 1: Week one is in the books with the Commanders falling

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Speaker 1: to the Carolina Panthers twenty three to twenty one. Despite

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Speaker 1: the loss, Washington's rookies had quite a debut, accounting for

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Speaker 1: all three Washington touchdowns. Santana Moss and Logan Paulson joined

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Speaker 1: me to break down Saturday's game. Fuse will not be

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Speaker 1: an easy out. Probably would be a really good measuring

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Speaker 1: stick for the first team offense and defense to see

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Speaker 1: where they really stand in this. But that's what it's

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Speaker 1: all about as we continue to move through the preseason.

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Speaker 1: What did you make of the starting offense, Logan, It

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Speaker 1: was a little bit of that slow start, but they

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Speaker 1: did manage to find a certain amount of rhythm as

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Speaker 1: they progressed. I think, I mean, that's exactly what I saw.

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Speaker 1: I think they kind of had a really sluggish start,

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Speaker 1: but again, I didn't think the play calls in that

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Speaker 1: first three and out were bad. They just missed a

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Speaker 1: little like kind of long foul ball to our money

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Speaker 1: rogers on the first series, But overall, I thought it

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Speaker 1: was pretty good. I think you feel very consider very

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Speaker 1: confident about what Carson wentzput out there, and to me,

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Speaker 1: that was the biggest question is how would he look?

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Speaker 1: How confident would he be? Yeah, I was okay with it.

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Speaker 1: I mean, you always want to see these guys be

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Speaker 1: able to convert, you know, and move the chains. And

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Speaker 1: when I saw him come out the second series and

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Speaker 1: got that fumble, I knew it merely that third series

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Speaker 1: had to be special. And those guys went down the

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Speaker 1: field and you know, got six out of it. So

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Speaker 1: I wasn't I can't say I was, you know, disappointed.

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Speaker 1: I was pleased with what I saw. You mentioned the fumble. Look,

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Speaker 1: Antonio Gibson, this is something that they're going to have

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Speaker 1: to address here. Despite it, though, they did finish with

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Speaker 1: one hundred and twenty one rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns.

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Speaker 1: Is that a positive sign for the offensive line? Logan?

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Speaker 1: I mean, I think absolutely. I think all day those

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Speaker 1: guys passed protected at a high level, no matter who

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Speaker 1: was playing quarterback. I think there was a little bit

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Speaker 1: of issue when Taylor Heneke was in there. He'll gave

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Speaker 1: up a pressure that the the lead of the interception. But

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Speaker 1: I think overall that group played really, really, really well,

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Speaker 1: and that's fifteen guys that are playing well. So not

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Speaker 1: only did they run the football well, but they pass

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Speaker 1: projected at a high level and you'd love to see that,

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Speaker 1: especially for you guys trying to make the team. You

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Speaker 1: have a lot of depth of depth position and that's

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Speaker 1: one of the things that stands out for the discount.

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Speaker 1: So you know there's going to be a lot of

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Speaker 1: guys changing and you know, interchanging and being able to

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Speaker 1: play different positions. But you know, like I said before,

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Speaker 1: if you can protect the quarterback, you give yourself a chance.

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Speaker 1: And that's those guys did just that. And the starting

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Speaker 1: lineup for that offensive line probably will continue to shuffle

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Speaker 1: as they try to find that. But that's one of

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Speaker 1: the things is they want multiple guys ready to be

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Speaker 1: able to play, perform and play those multiple positions. Coach

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Speaker 1: Matt's coast will have them ready, as we saw just

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Speaker 1: here early on. Let's go over to the defense. What

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Speaker 1: were your early impressions by them, Logan, I mean, I

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Speaker 1: kind of think they were They were who they are

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Speaker 1: in practice. So what I mean by that is like

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Speaker 1: they want to play covers. They did a nice job

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Speaker 1: with that. Then in kind of situations like third down,

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Speaker 1: specifically where they getting more man. Obviously there's some issues

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Speaker 1: there that they need to iron out. Right, they had

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Speaker 1: a hard time passing off the combination route, the crossing

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Speaker 1: route where they'll do a big sixty yard game. Then

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Speaker 1: again then in Amanda man situation, Dandy Johnson gets beat

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Speaker 1: on an arch's route or drift route. Like you say,

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Speaker 1: so again, I think they got to work on some

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Speaker 1: things there, But I think overall there were some things

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Speaker 1: to be excited about. Linebackers, defensive line played exceptionally well.

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Speaker 1: I think it's all about finishing. I think one of

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Speaker 1: the things that we talked about is that if they're

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Speaker 1: going to be the hard and soul of this team,

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Speaker 1: but we're going to win because of what the defense do.

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Speaker 1: They have to finish. They have to get off the

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Speaker 1: field and give us those opportunities. And and and when you

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Speaker 1: watch that, you know that was a couple of plays

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Speaker 1: early in the game, you kind of standing yourself, Okay,

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Speaker 1: those guys are showing up sort of guys on the

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Speaker 1: front showing up in the backfield, but the guys in

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Speaker 1: the secondary can't be confused. We talked about these guys

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Speaker 1: communicating better. We have to sit on the field right.

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Speaker 1: You know. I asked head coach Ron River about that

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Speaker 1: third down defense because it was an issue that they

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Speaker 1: dealt with last year. He said he wasn't too concerned

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Speaker 1: about that. It was more the second downs that he

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Speaker 1: was a little frustrate with because they were in a

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Speaker 1: lot of second lungs that put them in those positions

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Speaker 1: to begin with, which, of course, if you don't win

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Speaker 1: first or second down, then you're in a bad spot

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Speaker 1: when it comes to third down. Plus, Santana and Logan

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Speaker 1: handed out some game balls to the players and position

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Speaker 1: groups who stood out to them. So big day for

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Speaker 1: the rookies. Brian Robertson Junior and Sam how Will both

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Speaker 1: finding the end zone the first time as the commanders.

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Speaker 1: I want you to give out game balls for this one, though,

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Speaker 1: I'll let you go first. Logan, all right, so my

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Speaker 1: game ball go the offensive line. I think that group

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Speaker 1: just an excellent job and all facets, pass protection, run blocking.

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Speaker 1: I think that, you know, it's a kind of a

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Speaker 1: mixmaxer group right now because Rulier's out, So I really

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Speaker 1: appreciated what they did and how they executed. Yeah, Judy

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Speaker 1: mentioned his name, Sam how he gets I mean, he

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Speaker 1: was a rookie, Dad, I didn't expect to see much.

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Speaker 1: I saw him beat up on my canes throughout his

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Speaker 1: college years, so I knew what he can do a

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Speaker 1: little bit. But to see him in the big lights,

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Speaker 1: you know, playing on the big stage, you know. You know,

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Speaker 1: folks look at as a preseason game before rookies. That's

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Speaker 1: a regular season, you know, action for those guys. He

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Speaker 1: went out there and stood a tall within it, and

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Speaker 1: we're out there put up some good numbers. Absolutely, And

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Speaker 1: he told me afterwards, he goes, it felt like college.

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Speaker 1: I was like, but is there any difference. He goes, yeah,

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Speaker 1: they're a little faster, they come a little bit, you know,

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Speaker 1: quicker at you. But he seemed quite comfortable back there.

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Speaker 1: Of course, this team is not really necessarily expecting or

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Speaker 1: hoping that he has to do anything this year, but

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Speaker 1: learn and prepare for when that day does come. They

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Speaker 1: want Carson and Taylor Heineke to be the guys. Now,

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Speaker 1: how about for somebody who made a case to say, okay,

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Speaker 1: what when it comes to the fifty three the decisions,

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Speaker 1: pay attention to my name, Logan. I think the guy

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Speaker 1: for me is our money Rogers. I think it did

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Speaker 1: an excellent job. I think, you know, it was Hodges

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Speaker 1: for a long time in terms of you know, where

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Speaker 1: I thought the fourth tight end was, and now our

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Speaker 1: money with that tremendous upside, I think it's really making

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Speaker 1: a case for him to say, hey, like I deserve

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Speaker 1: to be on the fifty three, I'm the guy that's

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Speaker 1: got more upside and Hodges should be out of practice squard.

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Speaker 1: So that's a battle that I'm really gonna keep an

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Speaker 1: eye on it over the next couple of days. You know,

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Speaker 1: during my playing years, I will always watch the guys

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Speaker 1: that come in that we bring in for bodies, you know,

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Speaker 1: for Kemp, and they might have a chance that they

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Speaker 1: might not, but they want to put good stuff on

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Speaker 1: tape because someone else is watching them. The guy who

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Speaker 1: stood out to me as Stephen Parker. You know, he's

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Speaker 1: a cornerback. I played close attention to cornerbacks a lot

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Speaker 1: too being a receiver, and this guy just made flashes,

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Speaker 1: I mean time and time again on that field. So

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Speaker 1: he made a couple of plays in the week before

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Speaker 1: the game too, and that's why I was already had

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Speaker 1: my eye on him. So he was the guy that

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Speaker 1: stood tall in the pen. He's entering his fourth season

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Speaker 1: in the league. But the team has been very impressed

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Speaker 1: on how he's picked up the defense, and we saw it,

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Speaker 1: of course in action on the field under the bright lights.

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Speaker 1: For all your news and analysis, be sure to tune

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Speaker 1: in two command Center weeknights at five thirty and ten

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Speaker 1: pm on NBC Sports Washington. You can also stream on

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Speaker 1: YouTube and commanders dot Com. Hailed to the Commanders