WEBVTT - Inside the Matchup | Episode 51

0:00:03.279 --> 0:00:10.000
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to the Command Center Podcast. I'm Julie Donaldson. Wide

0:00:10.039 --> 0:00:12.320
<v Speaker 1>receiver Terry McLaurin is heading back to his hometown for

0:00:12.320 --> 0:00:14.800
<v Speaker 1>the first time in his NFL career. He spoke on

0:00:14.840 --> 0:00:18.040
<v Speaker 1>what that homecoming means to him. I try to do

0:00:18.079 --> 0:00:20.880
<v Speaker 1>a good job of just focus on what's really important. Um,

0:00:21.720 --> 0:00:25.320
<v Speaker 1>winning this game is the most important thing. But I'd

0:00:25.320 --> 0:00:27.040
<v Speaker 1>be lying if I say it's not kind of cool

0:00:27.080 --> 0:00:28.760
<v Speaker 1>to be able to go back to where I grew

0:00:28.840 --> 0:00:34.479
<v Speaker 1>up kind of where my affinity of football started. Was

0:00:34.520 --> 0:00:37.720
<v Speaker 1>fortunate to win a few state championships in Indianapolis that stadium,

0:00:37.920 --> 0:00:40.839
<v Speaker 1>went a few Big ten championships in that stadium, grew

0:00:40.920 --> 0:00:43.080
<v Speaker 1>up a colts fencing it in Section five forty with

0:00:43.120 --> 0:00:46.279
<v Speaker 1>my dad. So I had a lot of memories about Indianapolis, and, Uh,

0:00:46.640 --> 0:00:49.360
<v Speaker 1>it's gonna be cool to be able to be on

0:00:49.400 --> 0:00:51.760
<v Speaker 1>the field, you know what I mean. Like, really, as

0:00:51.760 --> 0:00:54.760
<v Speaker 1>an opposing player, that's kind of crazy. But it's just

0:00:55.000 --> 0:00:58.160
<v Speaker 1>it's reflecting on that as like how blessed I've been,

0:00:58.240 --> 0:01:01.080
<v Speaker 1>how how good guy's been in my life, And you

0:01:01.160 --> 0:01:02.840
<v Speaker 1>just never know where your journey is going to be.

0:01:02.920 --> 0:01:04.559
<v Speaker 1>You couldn't have told me when I was seven years

0:01:04.560 --> 0:01:06.880
<v Speaker 1>old that I wouldn't be playing in the NFL and

0:01:07.000 --> 0:01:08.800
<v Speaker 1>to be able to come back and share that moment

0:01:08.840 --> 0:01:10.640
<v Speaker 1>with my family and my close friends, that's gonna be

0:01:10.640 --> 0:01:12.600
<v Speaker 1>pretty cool. But you know, at the end of the day,

0:01:12.600 --> 0:01:14.040
<v Speaker 1>I want to win this game. I want to keep

0:01:14.080 --> 0:01:15.600
<v Speaker 1>our win streak going, you know what I mean. I

0:01:15.640 --> 0:01:18.679
<v Speaker 1>think they pose as a really good team. They're really

0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:22.680
<v Speaker 1>disciplined on defense, and I know, you know, they have

0:01:22.720 --> 0:01:24.560
<v Speaker 1>a new quarterback, but he's going to probably give them

0:01:24.600 --> 0:01:26.480
<v Speaker 1>a lot of energy. So we have to go in

0:01:26.560 --> 0:01:30.920
<v Speaker 1>there and and limit the negative plays and get off

0:01:30.920 --> 0:01:35.039
<v Speaker 1>to a fast start on the road. The Commanders look

0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:36.800
<v Speaker 1>to move to five hundred on the season and this

0:01:36.880 --> 0:01:40.160
<v Speaker 1>weekend's road game against the Indianapolis Colts. Santana Marles and

0:01:40.240 --> 0:01:42.520
<v Speaker 1>Logan Paulson shared some of the head to head matchups

0:01:42.600 --> 0:01:44.920
<v Speaker 1>they will be looking out for. So there's a lot

0:01:44.920 --> 0:01:47.720
<v Speaker 1>of high expectations for the Indianapolis native to go out

0:01:47.720 --> 0:01:49.640
<v Speaker 1>there and perform. And I think it could tell he

0:01:49.680 --> 0:01:51.200
<v Speaker 1>was he was kind of almost getting like a little

0:01:51.240 --> 0:01:55.200
<v Speaker 1>emotional thinking about that. But how cool to be, you know,

0:01:55.400 --> 0:01:58.200
<v Speaker 1>a young man or a boy, I guess dreaming of

0:01:58.240 --> 0:02:02.200
<v Speaker 1>playing the NFL and he finally will get that chance, Santana.

0:02:02.400 --> 0:02:04.680
<v Speaker 1>Is it a challenge to kind of put that mindset

0:02:04.680 --> 0:02:06.880
<v Speaker 1>away because he's going to be going up against probably

0:02:06.880 --> 0:02:09.600
<v Speaker 1>stuff on Gilmore and we know what he's capable of doing.

0:02:09.600 --> 0:02:12.000
<v Speaker 1>It might be a challenge in the sense, but I

0:02:12.000 --> 0:02:14.440
<v Speaker 1>think when you have a guy that's as focused as Terry,

0:02:14.520 --> 0:02:17.200
<v Speaker 1>you know, he goes out there all about business. So

0:02:17.240 --> 0:02:20.480
<v Speaker 1>I'm pretty sure that he's gonna embrace the moment knowing that, hey,

0:02:20.520 --> 0:02:23.200
<v Speaker 1>I'm home, my family's here, this is where it all started.

0:02:23.240 --> 0:02:24.280
<v Speaker 1>That But at the end of the day, I have

0:02:24.320 --> 0:02:26.840
<v Speaker 1>a guy a cross from me who's all pro in

0:02:26.960 --> 0:02:28.560
<v Speaker 1>all right, and I have to go out here and

0:02:28.600 --> 0:02:30.799
<v Speaker 1>compete in battle and make sure that I do what

0:02:30.840 --> 0:02:32.080
<v Speaker 1>I had to do for my team. So I know

0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:34.320
<v Speaker 1>Terry's gonna go out there about his business. But it's

0:02:34.360 --> 0:02:37.320
<v Speaker 1>great that he's gonna opportunity. I had plenty of those opportunities,

0:02:37.639 --> 0:02:40.040
<v Speaker 1>so I handled it a little differently. But just talking

0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:42.000
<v Speaker 1>to him this week, you can tell that he's looking

0:02:42.000 --> 0:02:45.400
<v Speaker 1>forward to it. Thinks that about seventy in attendance that

0:02:45.440 --> 0:02:47.600
<v Speaker 1>they got tickets for, but he already did it ahead

0:02:47.600 --> 0:02:48.960
<v Speaker 1>of time. But that's a lot of people you want

0:02:48.960 --> 0:02:50.680
<v Speaker 1>to put up a good show against as well, so

0:02:50.720 --> 0:02:52.919
<v Speaker 1>we know he's going to be locked in if we

0:02:53.040 --> 0:02:56.280
<v Speaker 1>go defensively. John Allen has been locked into all season long.

0:02:56.360 --> 0:02:59.480
<v Speaker 1>Their offensive line is still kind of like, I don't know,

0:02:59.560 --> 0:03:03.280
<v Speaker 1>not what you'd expect. Is this a good day for John?

0:03:03.440 --> 0:03:04.840
<v Speaker 1>I think it's a huge day for John. I'm really

0:03:04.840 --> 0:03:07.320
<v Speaker 1>excited to see John Gold against Quintin Nelson. I think

0:03:07.360 --> 0:03:09.679
<v Speaker 1>Quintin Nelson's not playing like Quintin Nelson of old. Maybe

0:03:09.680 --> 0:03:11.800
<v Speaker 1>the best guard in the NFL, that's not him anymore.

0:03:11.960 --> 0:03:13.840
<v Speaker 1>But it's always fun to see those big names come

0:03:13.880 --> 0:03:15.600
<v Speaker 1>together and kind of duke it out. And with John

0:03:15.639 --> 0:03:17.840
<v Speaker 1>playing the way is such a high level in pain too,

0:03:17.840 --> 0:03:19.359
<v Speaker 1>he deserves a ton of credit. I think they're gonna

0:03:19.400 --> 0:03:22.240
<v Speaker 1>be able to really take advantage of that interior group

0:03:22.240 --> 0:03:24.840
<v Speaker 1>for Indianapolis. And again, they're probably gonna run the football

0:03:24.840 --> 0:03:26.880
<v Speaker 1>at Indianapolis, and so can those two guys show up

0:03:26.919 --> 0:03:29.280
<v Speaker 1>and make their presence felt I think one thousand percent.

0:03:29.280 --> 0:03:31.360
<v Speaker 1>So I think Alan takes advantage of of a kind

0:03:31.400 --> 0:03:33.239
<v Speaker 1>of declining Quintin Nelsons at this point. You know, Matt

0:03:33.320 --> 0:03:35.440
<v Speaker 1>Ryan back there, you'd hear Indie say, look, he was

0:03:35.480 --> 0:03:37.560
<v Speaker 1>like a statue. It's why he took so many sacks.

0:03:37.800 --> 0:03:39.800
<v Speaker 1>And they need somebody who has a little bit more mobility.

0:03:40.400 --> 0:03:42.680
<v Speaker 1>And so we'll see. But Quintin Nelson's going to have

0:03:42.680 --> 0:03:45.880
<v Speaker 1>two sacks and two penalties so far this year. Um, offensively,

0:03:46.280 --> 0:03:49.440
<v Speaker 1>the offensive line is going to go up against some

0:03:49.520 --> 0:03:52.240
<v Speaker 1>really good tackles those Tana Yeah. I mean you have

0:03:52.280 --> 0:03:54.240
<v Speaker 1>Stewart and Buckner, and both of these guys are what

0:03:54.280 --> 0:03:56.040
<v Speaker 1>top five in the league right now when it comes

0:03:56.040 --> 0:03:58.400
<v Speaker 1>to tackles. And if you think about Stewart just had

0:03:58.440 --> 0:04:01.680
<v Speaker 1>one of the one of the best games in Week seven,

0:04:02.000 --> 0:04:04.040
<v Speaker 1>you know that any d line has had this year.

0:04:04.120 --> 0:04:06.560
<v Speaker 1>So I think our offensive line has really been kind

0:04:06.560 --> 0:04:09.280
<v Speaker 1>of our trajectory is being going in the right direction

0:04:09.280 --> 0:04:11.360
<v Speaker 1>the last few weeks. Our running backs has been playing

0:04:11.400 --> 0:04:13.440
<v Speaker 1>pretty well, and I think in order for us to

0:04:13.480 --> 0:04:15.720
<v Speaker 1>have a good opportunity to win this game, we have

0:04:15.760 --> 0:04:17.200
<v Speaker 1>to run the ball well. So it's going to be

0:04:17.200 --> 0:04:19.400
<v Speaker 1>a big challenge making sure that we can do so

0:04:19.640 --> 0:04:22.880
<v Speaker 1>with those two guys on dub posing side and Brian

0:04:22.960 --> 0:04:25.000
<v Speaker 1>Robinson being back has really added to the run game.

0:04:25.000 --> 0:04:27.320
<v Speaker 1>They're averaging one hundred and forty seven rush yards in

0:04:27.320 --> 0:04:29.440
<v Speaker 1>the last two weeks. How will they do against their

0:04:29.440 --> 0:04:31.520
<v Speaker 1>linebackers this week. I mean, I think this group is

0:04:31.560 --> 0:04:34.440
<v Speaker 1>really dynamic. They're very very fast, selective defensive line. They're

0:04:34.520 --> 0:04:36.880
<v Speaker 1>very very fast, very athletic, they run to the football well.

0:04:36.920 --> 0:04:39.000
<v Speaker 1>They played this nice eight man front. They know where

0:04:39.000 --> 0:04:41.000
<v Speaker 1>they fit in that front. So it's going to be very,

0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:43.520
<v Speaker 1>very challenging. But we have two tremendous athletes on our team,

0:04:43.560 --> 0:04:45.680
<v Speaker 1>and I think with the scheme that Scott Turner can cultivate,

0:04:45.760 --> 0:04:47.919
<v Speaker 1>let's make those guys question their assignments and see if

0:04:47.920 --> 0:04:50.200
<v Speaker 1>they can HiT's a big place. It was exciting to

0:04:50.200 --> 0:04:52.359
<v Speaker 1>watch the second half of that game, the way that

0:04:52.400 --> 0:04:54.680
<v Speaker 1>they made adjustments after a little bit of a shaky start.

0:04:54.760 --> 0:04:57.560
<v Speaker 1>So now with Taylor Heineke taking all the snaps with

0:04:57.600 --> 0:04:59.320
<v Speaker 1>the first team in the roups with them, we'll see

0:04:59.320 --> 0:05:04.320
<v Speaker 1>how much more sinkey is this week in Indy. For

0:05:04.400 --> 0:05:06.360
<v Speaker 1>all of your news and analysis, be sure to tune

0:05:06.360 --> 0:05:08.680
<v Speaker 1>into Command Center weeknights if five thirty and ten pm

0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:12.360
<v Speaker 1>on NBC Sports Washington. You can also stream on YouTube

0:05:12.360 --> 0:05:17.479
<v Speaker 1>and Commanders dot Com.