Speaker 1: What is up?
Speaker 2: What's going on?
Speaker 1: Everybody?
Speaker 3: This is the Beatdown Podcast. Welcome into another episode. I
Speaker 3: am your host and you're right for the Washington Commanders,
Speaker 3: Zach Selby and guys.
Speaker 1: The Commanders one in the Meadowlands. That's it's amazing.
Speaker 3: They swore the Giants for the first time since twenty
Speaker 3: twenty one season with the twenty seven to twenty two victory.
Speaker 3: Wasn't exactly the prettiest win, but it was efficient and
Speaker 3: they got the job done, which is really the most
Speaker 3: important thing. They are now seven and two for the
Speaker 3: first time since nineteen ninety six. I was four years old,
Speaker 3: just just a wee lad back in the day.
Speaker 1: And now they are.
Speaker 3: Heading back to Northwest Stadium to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers,
Speaker 3: a big interconference matchup here. Russell Wilson is flying high
Speaker 3: right now. I mean, what's the what is the Seals
Speaker 3: version of Let's rile, Let's weld?
Speaker 1: Is that? What that is?
Speaker 3: Either way, the Steelers are doing really well right now,
Speaker 3: six and two, coming up of buy a week. So
Speaker 3: how did the Commanders pull off this win and go
Speaker 3: eight and two for the first time since maybe eighty six? Well,
Speaker 3: that is definitely what we're going to be talking about.
Speaker 3: Joining me today is Logan Paul and Algaldi. You can
Speaker 3: find him on the Algaldi podcast. Guys, how are we doing?
Speaker 4: I'm doing great too, Yeah, doing well, man. Super pumped
Speaker 4: for this game. You know, I'm actually married to a
Speaker 4: Steelers fan, so this is an especially big game in
Speaker 4: my household. But really excited with what's going on with
Speaker 4: the Commanders right now.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, since you brought that, I gotta know, like,
Speaker 3: what is the what is the dynamic there?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean she's from Pittsburgh, she came down here
Speaker 4: to teach and diehard Steelers span Her dad was a
Speaker 4: season taken older for years, and you know, they're used
Speaker 4: to a certain caliber football up there with you know,
Speaker 4: the Steelers not having had a losing season in forever
Speaker 4: and having just you know, three head coaches over the
Speaker 4: last you know, two hundred years or whatever this dad is.
Speaker 4: So it's really nice to have a team now that
Speaker 4: is right on that level, if not.
Speaker 5: Above that level. I mean, this is great.
Speaker 4: This is a big game on Sunday afternoon, so super
Speaker 4: funp Yeah.
Speaker 3: It really is, and I'm really excited for it. You know, again,
Speaker 3: I've never been seven and two with this franchise. One
Speaker 3: went away from doubling the wind toll they have them
Speaker 3: last year, which is always fantastic. But the people who
Speaker 3: are listening, they know the spield, they know the deal. Here.
Speaker 3: We're gonna be asking these guys three questions, one offense,
Speaker 3: one of defense, and one more of a general question.
Speaker 3: There will be points that will be given out at
Speaker 3: the end of each round, and since I am the
Speaker 3: host of this podcast, I get decide the winner. That
Speaker 3: is a heavy burden that is rested upon my shoulders.
Speaker 3: But you shouldn't focus too much on on the results.
Speaker 3: You shouldn't focus too much on who is the designate
Speaker 3: of the winner, to be more focused on the points
Speaker 3: and the objective opinions that these guys are gonna be
Speaker 3: bringing out. And with all that being said, let's just
Speaker 3: jump right into it, starting with the guy we mentioned earlier,
Speaker 3: Russell Wilson. And ever since he replaced Justin Fields as
Speaker 3: the Steelers starting quarterback, they've really done a good job.
Speaker 3: You know, I only know a lot of people were
Speaker 3: really expecting him to put out some of the more
Speaker 3: Seattle Seahawks asque performances that he was putting out with
Speaker 3: the last couple of weeks Agains steel with Steelers, but
Speaker 3: he really has had that offense working in a very
Speaker 3: different way. And dan Quinn even mentioned it in his
Speaker 3: in his Wednesday press conference that this guy is an
Speaker 3: exceptional deep ball thrower, and over the last couple of weeks,
Speaker 3: I mean, that's exactly what he's been. Thirteenth on deep
Speaker 3: passes in terms of overall gray from Pro Football Focus
Speaker 3: and the average depth of target for Russell Wilson on
Speaker 3: deep passive twenty plus the yards is thirty six as
Speaker 3: third in the NFL already. So in terms of in
Speaker 3: terms of how the Commanders are going to be able
Speaker 3: to stop this guy with the secondary that is improving.
Speaker 3: And obviously they did just completely trade for larsh Marshall
Speaker 3: atam or. I don't we don't exactly know when he's
Speaker 3: going to be playing, and we know that he's often
Speaker 3: going to be playing in the near future.
Speaker 1: We're just gonna win.
Speaker 3: UH. But in terms of how they can prevent these
Speaker 3: explosive passing plays, which UH does, has come up a
Speaker 3: little bit here and there. There were a couple of
Speaker 3: plays against the Giants where that was a little bit
Speaker 3: of an issue, but Logan starting with you, like when
Speaker 3: you when you're when you're looking at the tape on
Speaker 3: the Steelers, like and you're trying to figure out the matchups,
Speaker 3: like what are some things you know, the committerer should
Speaker 3: do to be able to prevent Wilson from being able
Speaker 3: to make these exposive passing plays on them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I think, you know, one of the things
Speaker 2: that jumps out to me when you're watching the Steelers
Speaker 2: film is that, like, that's not an overly complex offense.
Speaker 2: And what I mean by that, they don't get in
Speaker 2: a ton of bunches. There's not a ton of shifts,
Speaker 2: there's not a ton of movement, you know, very kind
Speaker 2: of you know, agonist to what it was when Arthur
Speaker 2: Smith was in Atlanta, which was a little bit surprising
Speaker 2: to me. And so they really are just kind of
Speaker 2: they're running the football, they're kind of hitting some play
Speaker 2: action looks, they're trying to get Russ out of the pocket.
Speaker 2: And then when they need these explosive plays like they're
Speaker 2: it's not like, oh, we're gonna run two posts on
Speaker 2: a rail and get the pick route and get Pickens open.
Speaker 2: It's like Pickens is running a vertical route. I'm gonna
Speaker 2: throw the ball to him and he's gonna make me
Speaker 2: right on this fifties fifty contested catch. So to me,
Speaker 2: there's nothing is there a lot of mystery. It's just
Speaker 2: about to me matchups, then understanding like how to play
Speaker 2: that deep ball opportunity. And then I think, you know,
Speaker 2: how you affect him as a passer because he's not
Speaker 2: a big guy, he can't see very well, and he
Speaker 2: does remind me a little bit of the Arizona game
Speaker 2: versus Kyler Murray in terms of kind of how it works.
Speaker 2: It's like, if you can't find that explosive chunk play,
Speaker 2: he's not super effective from the pocket. So to me,
Speaker 2: it's like, can we find a way to create a
Speaker 2: little bit of pressure on Russell Wilson. The offensive line's
Speaker 2: been a little bit banged up. They've got their backup
Speaker 2: center and backup right guard Rodger Jones has struggled pretty
Speaker 2: pretty tremendously over the last couple of weeks in terms
Speaker 2: of past pass blocking, and I think that's one of
Speaker 2: the reasons they've been so committed to running the football,
Speaker 2: maybe as a way to get him settled in. And
Speaker 2: then I think the other thing that's important to just
Speaker 2: understand is these are fifty to fifty contested catch opportunit
Speaker 2: co unities. They are not going to hit on all
Speaker 2: of them. And I think when you look at that
Speaker 2: Jets game as a really good kind of sample size
Speaker 2: of this, George Pickens makes three tremendous catches in contested
Speaker 2: catch situations. If he drops two of those, which is
Speaker 2: exactly what they are, it's fifty to fifty. It's just
Speaker 2: pure statistics that they're not going to come down with
Speaker 2: all of them. They probably lose that football game. So
Speaker 2: what I would say is like, probably pick your best matchup,
Speaker 2: which is sent Benjamin Saint Jewish, throw different covert structures
Speaker 2: at them, and make sure that that you're giving different
Speaker 2: looks so that when they do throw that deep ball,
Speaker 2: sometimes it's banding man, sometimes it's covered two. And then
Speaker 2: the other thing that I think is incredibly important in
Speaker 2: terms of stopping Russell Wilson in this offense and getting
Speaker 2: out of getting them out of their comfort zone is
Speaker 2: being very effective with the commander's offense and scoring a
Speaker 2: lot of points, getting them out of the type of
Speaker 2: offense they want to run and get them into a
Speaker 2: more conventional drop back, which I don't think would be
Speaker 2: very successful for them. So I know I throw a
Speaker 2: lot out there, but to me, the offense got to
Speaker 2: stop the run. Commander's offense has to be have to
Speaker 2: get them in a good game flow and get them
Speaker 2: out of this this kind of this shot played down
Speaker 2: the field type environment and make them kind of run
Speaker 2: more efficient passing attack. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you mentioned a lot of your points there, and
Speaker 3: I want to I'll circle back on those on a
Speaker 3: little bit, but I really want to focus on the
Speaker 3: other part of this explosive passing attack, which would be
Speaker 3: George Pickens. And you brought him up and right now
Speaker 3: he's ninth in the NFL with contested contested catch targets
Speaker 3: with eighteen just one one one behind Late Neighbors. And
Speaker 3: you know, uh, goalie, we'll switch over to you because
Speaker 3: I think you know, George Pickens is an interesting matchup
Speaker 3: for this Commander secondary. And again we don't know exactly
Speaker 3: when Marshall Lattimore is going to play as he gets
Speaker 3: up to speed, but in this current iteration that we
Speaker 3: have this Commander secondary right now.
Speaker 1: What do you what do you how do you how
Speaker 1: do you expect the you know, Joe A.
Speaker 3: Junior in this and this Commander secondary to address the
Speaker 3: challenge of t and then limit George Pickens.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: So Pickens is a really interesting guy. He's very good,
Speaker 4: he's very talented, but he also can be a head case.
Speaker 4: There have been issues with Pickens during his time with
Speaker 4: the Steelers, and he strikes me as someone who you
Speaker 4: can get inside his head and you can potentially rattle him.
Speaker 4: And you know, I know that Benjamin Saint Jews has
Speaker 4: become like a pinata for a lot of people. I
Speaker 4: don't think he's as bad as some people make him
Speaker 4: out to be. And I think Marcel Latimore being a
Speaker 4: part of the Secondary's going to do Saint Jews a
Speaker 4: lot of good. But you know, I think about Saint
Speaker 4: Jews and one of the most obvious things about him,
Speaker 4: right is that he is handsy, and that can work
Speaker 4: against him, but that also can work for him. And
Speaker 4: so I wonder if this is a matchup where maybe
Speaker 4: Saint Jews can rattle Pickens a little bit, can frustrate
Speaker 4: Pickens a little bit. Like I said, Pickens to me
Speaker 4: is prone to if things aren't going his way, he
Speaker 4: can start to sour. And so I think there's some
Speaker 4: of that that could be in play here. But I
Speaker 4: think the number one thing with Wilson, and this is
Speaker 4: true of a lot of quarterbacks, but you do have
Speaker 4: to pressure.
Speaker 2: His success with.
Speaker 4: The Steelers has stood out no doubt, these last two games,
Speaker 4: averaging more than nine yards per pass attempt, averaging more
Speaker 4: than fifteen yards for completion. Those are dare I say,
Speaker 4: Jayden Daniels like numbers, but if you dig a little deeper,
Speaker 4: you go buy sharp football analysis. The stats that Warren's
Speaker 4: got up there. Wilson is just six for seventeen on
Speaker 4: pass attempts when pressured, So when he's being pressured, he's
Speaker 4: not having success. If the Commanders can generate pressure, I
Speaker 4: think they can rattle Russell Wilson.
Speaker 5: And you know I think about this. You mentioned Joe
Speaker 5: wid Junior.
Speaker 4: I don't know how serious he willis when he said
Speaker 4: this during his preractice press conference last Thursday, said that
Speaker 4: he should be sending Jeremy Chin more.
Speaker 5: Now.
Speaker 4: I don't know if he said that just to say
Speaker 4: that if you legitimately felt that, but shit is playing
Speaker 4: really well. We saw him have a number of standout
Speaker 4: plays in the win at the Giants. I wonder if
Speaker 4: you maybe see some of that on Sunday afternoon in
Speaker 4: an effort to get to Wilson. But I think if
Speaker 4: the commander's pressure Wilson, they can dude this Steelers offense,
Speaker 4: which has been going really well. It's two games, you know,
Speaker 4: it's not some massive sample size, So I think there's
Speaker 4: still a lot to be proven in terms of all this.
Speaker 4: Steelers truly good offensively, and like Logan said, connecting on
Speaker 4: deep balls is great, but it also is kind of
Speaker 4: a you know, it can't be a thing.
Speaker 5: It can't be a thing. It's random, it can fluctuate.
Speaker 4: You are dealing with a lot of fifty to fifty propositions.
Speaker 4: Sometimes they go your way, sometimes they don't. Hopefully this
Speaker 4: Sunday afternoon they do not go the way of Pittsburgh.
Speaker 3: And you know, you both mentioned mentioned press pressuring Russell Wilson.
Speaker 3: I think that these commanders have done a very good
Speaker 3: job against mobile quarterbacks. I mean, you look all the
Speaker 3: way back, you know, to Kyler Murray. He had his
Speaker 3: lowest pass performance of the season going against Washington. Uh,
Speaker 3: you know, Deshaun Watson obviously it had a really tough
Speaker 3: go in there. The following week in Northwest stadium. Lamar
Speaker 3: Jackson has had his day because he's Lamar Jackson and
Speaker 3: he's an Ivy P.
Speaker 1: Caliver candidate.
Speaker 3: But you know, the last you know, few weeks or so,
Speaker 3: these manners have, uh they've allowed less than one hundred
Speaker 3: passing yards up until like the fourth quarter, and I
Speaker 3: think a lot of that is because of how well
Speaker 3: the pass rush has has really improved.
Speaker 1: Uh, you know over the last two weeks or so, like, yeah.
Speaker 3: You've got you know, Johnny Newon, You've got to Ron
Speaker 3: Payne and John Dante Teller has been has been really
Speaker 3: really solid over the last two weeks. You know, there's
Speaker 3: not necessarily the a A tier, top of the class
Speaker 3: defensive pass rusher that you're they would really expect have these.
Speaker 3: But at the same time, this this this pass rush
Speaker 3: is top ten or least around that in sacks. So,
Speaker 3: you know, Logan, you mentioned that, you know, the offensive
Speaker 3: line of the Steels offensive line being a little beat up.
Speaker 3: Roger goes not playing exactly as well as maybe he
Speaker 3: wanted to. It's at some points, but in terms of
Speaker 3: you know, how this how this Steelers offensive line matches
Speaker 3: up against, uh, the Commanders defensive front, what are you
Speaker 3: seeing so far and like, how can they take advantage
Speaker 3: of some of their some of the Steelers and maybe
Speaker 3: miscues there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I think it comes down to kind of
Speaker 2: who the Steelers want to be. And when you look
Speaker 2: at their offense, they want to run the football. They
Speaker 2: want to be in a kind of you know, I
Speaker 2: look at Mike tom when he's a defensive head coach.
Speaker 2: They want to be in a defensive led game. And
Speaker 2: what I mean by that they want they don't want
Speaker 2: to make any mistakes offensively. They want to kind of
Speaker 2: let the defense drive the ship. And they're okay, kind
Speaker 2: of being very conservative on first, second, and third down,
Speaker 2: nothing too crazy, not putting the ball on harm's way.
Speaker 2: Their turnover to differential is very very high. So I
Speaker 2: think the first thing I'd say is like can you
Speaker 2: stop the run? Yes or no? And on first and
Speaker 2: second down and then get them to third long situations
Speaker 2: where they have not been overly effective rushing the passer.
Speaker 2: And I think when you watch the offensive line, one
Speaker 2: thing that jumps out to me on film is while
Speaker 2: they have very talented pieces at certain spots, I think
Speaker 2: when you look at you know, Isaac so Mallow, excuse me,
Speaker 2: you know from Philadelphia, one of the better reguards in
Speaker 2: the NFL. They Dan Morris playing good ball at the moment.
Speaker 2: They have good pieces, Zach Fraser went health he's doing
Speaker 2: a great job. They have good pieces, but they're not
Speaker 2: playing together very well as a group. And then makes
Speaker 2: sense because they've got a new offense that they're all learning.
Speaker 2: So to me, it's like, put those guys in difficult situations,
Speaker 2: get them and third and long, and exploit those matchups
Speaker 2: the way that the Washington Commanders have exploded them all season.
Speaker 2: And what I mean by that is like, can we
Speaker 2: get good front matchups for Frankieluvu mentioned Dante Fowler, you
Speaker 2: mentioned Dorance Armstrong. Those guys have shown they can win
Speaker 2: in obvious passing situations because they understand when to take
Speaker 2: their shot, how to anticipate the snap count, they have
Speaker 2: a go to move, and they've been very productive. And
Speaker 2: so I think that's that's what I'd say is this
Speaker 2: team is not built to be a passing team, so
Speaker 2: force them to do it. And now you have to
Speaker 2: commit more resources on first and second down to stopping
Speaker 2: the run, which makes you more susceptible to shots down
Speaker 2: the field. But ultimately I think that's the way you
Speaker 2: want to go, or you go the way that they
Speaker 2: went last week with the New York Giants, and you say, hey,
Speaker 2: we're gonna play cover two shell, We're going to let
Speaker 2: our offense get a fourteen point differential and eventually the
Speaker 2: Pittsburgh Steelers will have to throw the football and our
Speaker 2: defense will be able to capitalize. So to me, those
Speaker 2: are the things that I look with the defensive line,
Speaker 2: the commander's defensive line going against the offensive line, and
Speaker 2: that I think could be favorable matchups.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you also talk about, you know, making sure
Speaker 3: that you were able to stop the run on first
Speaker 3: and second down, which I think, you know, it's not
Speaker 3: necessarily related so much to prefering that to the explos
Speaker 3: passing yet, but it is related at the same time
Speaker 3: because you want it, like you said, you want to
Speaker 3: force them into do something that they're not necessarily you know,
Speaker 3: equipped to do. Goaldi is a real question, like real
Speaker 3: quick before we move on to the next question, is like,
Speaker 3: you know, talking about stopping the run here, like this
Speaker 3: has not been an area that the commanders are incessily
Speaker 3: always the best that I think they're like around twenty
Speaker 3: eighth in yards allowed per game. But you know, Pittsburgh
Speaker 3: top eight team. You know Najee Harris is running the
Speaker 3: ball really well. Right now, as you look into that matchup,
Speaker 3: what are some some concerns that you maybe have that
Speaker 3: you really kind of hope the Commanders address going against
Speaker 3: that the Steelers rushing attack.
Speaker 4: Yeah, well Harris is hot Steelers in the midst of
Speaker 4: a three game winning stree. Harris is averaging right around
Speaker 4: six yards per carry during that streak. He, in a
Speaker 4: lot of ways, is what makes that offense go. It's
Speaker 4: a cliche to say like it starts with stopping the run,
Speaker 4: but I think in this case it does. I think
Speaker 4: if you do a good job against Harris, this is
Speaker 4: going to be a good game for the Commander's defense.
Speaker 4: He's a good back, he runs violently, and he's had
Speaker 4: some big games here lately. You know, it's tricky with
Speaker 4: this Commander's run defense because you look at individual guys
Speaker 4: and you say to herself, this should be a pretty
Speaker 4: good defense against the run.
Speaker 5: Bright like the Ron and Gerie is a good player.
Speaker 4: We have seen Johnny Newton do some good things, and
Speaker 4: obviously there are big expectations for what he could be
Speaker 4: but Darien Mattis.
Speaker 5: Is having a step forward season. He's doing some good things.
Speaker 4: If you look at Bobby Wagner's PFF grades, he ranks
Speaker 4: as one of the best run stopping linebackers in the NFL. So, like,
Speaker 4: you look at the individual parts and you say, Okay,
Speaker 4: they shouldn't be that bad against the run, but of
Speaker 4: course that has been an issue and it certainly is
Speaker 4: something that has to get fixed. You look at this
Speaker 4: week against Najie Harris, the fuddling game. Just a few
Speaker 4: days later at the Eagle Sakon Bar we was been
Speaker 4: on buire for. But you do have to stop the run,
Speaker 4: especially as the weather starts to cool down. But I
Speaker 4: think the good news here, like Logan said, the Steelers
Speaker 4: offensive line has talent, but it's not necessarily a great
Speaker 4: unit when everything's coming together. Uh, when you look at
Speaker 4: everything together, and I think with this Stealers offense, if
Speaker 4: you can stop Harris, and that's a big if, but
Speaker 4: if you can do that, I think that set sets
Speaker 4: you up quite nicely to have a good defensive performance.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think so too, And I think you're you're
Speaker 3: right on the money there in terms of I think
Speaker 3: this this run defense is maybe a little bit better
Speaker 3: than the numbers would suggest, but they do allow, you know,
Speaker 3: some of those those bigger explosive plays occasionally. I think
Speaker 3: that does bump up the averages a little bit. Either way,
Speaker 3: I think I think it's gonna be quite interesting to
Speaker 3: see with how they're able to handle that. We're gonna
Speaker 3: move on to the next question, but first score off
Speaker 3: it Logan you are ahead by to uh. You know,
Speaker 3: realize some of the points you were making there, but
Speaker 3: you know we've still up plenty of time, uh for
Speaker 3: for for people to catch up here. We're gonna move
Speaker 3: on over to Commanders often the side of the ball,
Speaker 3: Steelers defense side of the ball, and I think this
Speaker 3: is this particular match up.
Speaker 1: That things gonna be interesting is in the red zone.
Speaker 3: You know, the Commanders have they're not always the best
Speaker 3: in terms of getting into the red zone. I think
Speaker 3: they're near the bottom third in terms of red red
Speaker 3: zone touchdowns. The Steels, on the other hand, have the
Speaker 3: best red zone defense in the league in terms of
Speaker 3: allowing touchdowns. They are allowing touchdowns on thirty seven point
Speaker 3: five percent of the time. That's leads by you know,
Speaker 3: pretty decent margin there and I look at that and
Speaker 3: I think, Okay, Like I like the I like the
Speaker 3: way that Washington Commanders are able to move the ball
Speaker 3: in between the twenty up to the twenty yard line,
Speaker 3: but once they get there, I think it's it's that's
Speaker 3: something really where the the matchup is going to be
Speaker 3: quite interesting. Uh So, Bobby, we'll start with you first.
Speaker 3: And you know, I think I really like the way
Speaker 3: Cliff Kingsbury has been able to design this offense. But
Speaker 3: what do you think that they can do to put
Speaker 3: hi that he can do to put the Commanders in
Speaker 3: more advantageous positions in the red zone, to to to
Speaker 3: just just get in the end zone against Steelers, which again,
Speaker 3: like has has been very very stingy in terms of
Speaker 3: allowing touchdowns so far this year.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and normally you say, well, if you don't do
Speaker 4: great in the red zone, you can survive that if
Speaker 4: you hit on a lot of explosive plays and score
Speaker 4: touchdowns from beyond the red zone. But the Steelers defense
Speaker 4: is really good, so I don't know that you can
Speaker 4: be counting on connecting on a bunch of forty yard
Speaker 4: touchdown bombs. Although again, Jaden Daniels, you know, I don't
Speaker 4: think we've been anything past him at this point. So
Speaker 4: I think this is where Brian Robinson Junior potentially being
Speaker 4: back is huge. Running the ball in the red zone
Speaker 4: oftentimes can be more advantageous than passing the ball because
Speaker 4: you have that condensed field.
Speaker 5: And Robinson is.
Speaker 4: Like a perfect red zone running back right because of
Speaker 4: his size, his physicality, his ability to display first. I
Speaker 4: think the Commanders have missed Robinson in the game that
Speaker 4: he's missed this season. I think like it has really
Speaker 4: stood out that they have not had him in those games.
Speaker 4: I think that you really need him back and I
Speaker 4: would love to have him back now.
Speaker 5: If he's not back, here's what I wonder.
Speaker 4: So Chris Rodriguez Junior had been buried for so much
Speaker 4: of this season, right, he got cut from the cut
Speaker 4: down to fifty three, signed back to the practice squad,
Speaker 4: got elevated for a game, didn't get any carries in
Speaker 4: that game. But then last Sunday afternoon happened eleven carries
Speaker 4: fifty two yards and Dan Quinn has been singing the
Speaker 4: praises of Rodriguez ever since. Made it a point to
Speaker 4: praise Rodriguez during Quinn's opening statement of his postgame press conference.
Speaker 4: Then Quinn this week has praised Rodriguez once again multiple
Speaker 4: times in back, Rodriguez seems like, you know, a little
Speaker 4: brother version of B rob in terms of like physical
Speaker 4: runs violently. If Robinson isn't back, I would not be
Speaker 4: against Rodriguez getting some red zone carries.
Speaker 5: I know the lead has been more toured well.
Speaker 4: If Robinson is out, to go with an Austin Eckler
Speaker 4: or Jeremy McNichols, and they certainly have had their success.
Speaker 5: But man, I like Rodriguez. I thought he did a
Speaker 5: good job last season.
Speaker 4: You know pretty clearly his training camp season, his preseason
Speaker 4: did not go particularly well ergo, he was let go
Speaker 4: in the cutdown of fifty three, but I think he
Speaker 4: has talent in it. I would not be against him
Speaker 4: getting some red zone carries if Robinson is out. Obviously
Speaker 4: you can basketball in the red zone. We saw that
Speaker 4: with the JAD and Daniels touchdown pass to Terry mcflure
Speaker 4: on the first one last Sunday. But if you're gonna
Speaker 4: have to run the ball against his tough Steelers defense
Speaker 4: inside the twenty, I think Robinson or Rodriguez might be
Speaker 4: the way to go.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you bring up Rodriguez, and I was really
Speaker 3: happy to see that he was doing well, you know,
Speaker 3: led the team in rushing yards, really had I think
Speaker 3: like five carries there in that last ride to help ice.
Speaker 1: The game against the Giants.
Speaker 3: But you also bring in Brian Robinson, you know, who
Speaker 3: was out last week, and he's he was limited in
Speaker 3: practice on Wednesday. We'll see what happens at the time
Speaker 3: of this recording, it is before practice on Thursday, so
Speaker 3: we'll see where he goes.
Speaker 1: But Logan like.
Speaker 3: Just specifically talking about Brian Robinson, like how how much
Speaker 3: more diverse is he? Like does he allow the offense
Speaker 3: to be especially like you know, in scoring position like that?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think it's it's simple in the
Speaker 2: sense that he's an efficient He's an efficient runner. And
Speaker 2: what I mean by that is he's a guy that
Speaker 2: you know, has excellent content balance, excellent vision, and can
Speaker 2: keep you on schedule. So when the run's not blocked
Speaker 2: exactly riot, he has the power to kind of create
Speaker 2: his own hole, create his own space, and the vision
Speaker 2: to kind of find the soft spots and ride the
Speaker 2: crease as they call it. So to me, he's just
Speaker 2: to me, the value that he brings is that he
Speaker 2: gives Cliff confidence in the run game. And I think
Speaker 2: that's where you know, like Al was talking about with
Speaker 2: Chris Rodriguez, he has a very similar skill set and
Speaker 2: he's got the power to kind of create his own opportunities.
Speaker 2: So to me, that's the value. And in the low red,
Speaker 2: like when the throwing windows are tight, when the opportunities
Speaker 2: are sparse in terms of throwing windows, like, it's nice
Speaker 2: having a guy that can keep you on schedule and
Speaker 2: fall forward for three yards when there's nothing there for you,
Speaker 2: and you can live in those situations a little bit
Speaker 2: more reticently when the down and distance favors you. So
Speaker 2: I think that's where b Rob's value comes in in
Speaker 2: the low red. It's just he's an efficient, powerful runner
Speaker 2: with good vision and can maximize touches in difficult looks.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he really does. And you know, again, he's not
Speaker 3: like he's not necessarily Derek Henry. He's gonna be able
Speaker 3: to just.
Speaker 1: Run rushot over everybody.
Speaker 3: He's not, you know, like Christop McCaffery, who's gonna be
Speaker 3: able to speed past too. But he does have a
Speaker 3: little bit of both, I think, and plus like he
Speaker 3: has a really tough guard, especially on third and short.
Speaker 3: I think that's that's really where his value uh brings
Speaker 3: a lot, Like it's just because he's able to keep
Speaker 3: the change moving and keep the momentum going. I think
Speaker 3: that's that's so big for this offense. And I hope
Speaker 3: he's able to play because I want I love watching
Speaker 3: him run. And two, I think this offense is a
Speaker 3: lot more exciting and a lot more fun. Uh when
Speaker 3: when you have a talented gaal, I'd be riving there
Speaker 3: the backfield, even though Rodriguez assuming he if he does,
Speaker 3: you know, if he does have to play, and there's
Speaker 3: some some things with the roster that have to go
Speaker 3: for they have to happen for that to be a reality. Uh,
Speaker 3: either way, we'll see what happens. We're gonna move on
Speaker 3: to the final question. Uh, you guys are tied. Uh
Speaker 3: So there's that, but we're this is all gonna come
Speaker 3: out of the last question here. And obviously there's gonna
Speaker 3: be a lot of really key players for the commanders
Speaker 3: to have to to account for. One of them on
Speaker 3: offense we were I talked about would be George Pickens.
Speaker 3: The second one will be TJ. Watt, who is. I
Speaker 3: think a lot of people put put him with the
Speaker 3: odds on favorite to win Devensive Player of the Year.
Speaker 3: He's just been that explosive, just been just that good
Speaker 3: as we all expected from Galla TJ Watt. So, Logan,
Speaker 3: we'll start with you first, very just binary question here.
Speaker 1: Who do you think is more important for the Commanders
Speaker 1: to account for and stop on Sunday? TJ. Watt or
Speaker 1: George Pickens?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean we talk a little about George Pickens
Speaker 2: at the top and when he brings to the offense
Speaker 2: in terms of his ability to maximize those contests to
Speaker 2: catch opportunities. So I definitely think it's important that you
Speaker 2: regulate him. But in terms of who the Steelers want
Speaker 2: to be, what is their identity to their core, they're
Speaker 2: a defensive football team, and who leads the defense at
Speaker 2: TJ Watt? And again, he's not the most prolific or
Speaker 2: effective down to down pass rusher, but against some of
Speaker 2: the best pass rushers I ever played against in my career,
Speaker 2: they understand the moment, they understand when to take their shot.
Speaker 2: And in watching him, watching his sacks from this season,
Speaker 2: it's I haven't seen someone this year studied someone this
Speaker 2: year that understands that better than t J. Watt. He
Speaker 2: understands when to take a shot, and when he takes
Speaker 2: his shot, he usually connects on it. He leads the
Speaker 2: NFL with four force fumbles, like their impactful plays not
Speaker 2: only in terms of the sack, but in terms of
Speaker 2: turning the football over. So to me, you know, are
Speaker 2: the thing that drives this team right now is the offense.
Speaker 2: Who helms the offense? It's Shadon Daniels. How do we
Speaker 2: keep him upright? How do we keep the offense efficient?
Speaker 2: And that to me is managing t J. Watt, managing
Speaker 2: High Smith, managing Nate Herbig if he does end up
Speaker 2: playing like those three pass rushers, all need to be managing.
Speaker 2: And the guy that kind of helms the ship, the
Speaker 2: leader of the horsemen of the pass rush in Pittsburgh
Speaker 2: is TJ. Watt. Definitely to have a plan for him,
Speaker 2: whether that's ship, help slide, help minimize his impact on
Speaker 2: the game and let Jane Daniels do what Jade Daniels does.
Speaker 2: So to me, he's the guy that needs to be
Speaker 2: accounted for on this game.
Speaker 3: And to your point, I think the commanders have done
Speaker 3: a very good job against He's you know, really solid
Speaker 3: pass rushers. You know, dexel Ourent didn't record a pressure
Speaker 3: last week again with the Giant, Miles Gear didn't scord
Speaker 3: a stat at all. He was basically a non factor
Speaker 3: for the Browns a few weeks ago. So yeah, I
Speaker 3: do feel really confident about what how they offer THEE
Speaker 3: can handle TJ.
Speaker 5: Why all right?
Speaker 2: Now?
Speaker 1: The same to you George Pickens or tjy.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I would say TJ. Watt Pickens is good, but
Speaker 4: I don't know that anyone can argue realistically that he's
Speaker 4: the best receiver in the NFL. You can make a
Speaker 4: compelling argument that Watt is the best edge defender in
Speaker 4: the NFL. He's so good, He's been so good for
Speaker 4: years now. You know, you mentioned his ability. Logan did
Speaker 4: about like recognizing the moment. If you go by overall
Speaker 4: PFF grades in fourth quarterers, TJ. Watts is not ninety
Speaker 4: three point three for this season like he has been
Speaker 4: at his best in clutch time, in winning time, as
Speaker 4: Dan Quinn has been calling it. So yeah, I think
Speaker 4: you got to stop what He has the ability to
Speaker 4: take over a game, which is not something you can
Speaker 4: say for a lot of defensive players in the modern NFL.
Speaker 4: But what certainly can do that? Now you just mentioned
Speaker 4: and Zach, I think a key point. The Commanders this
Speaker 4: season have done such a good job against some of
Speaker 4: these elite defense in alignment. When you look at Miles Garrett,
Speaker 4: when you look at Dexter, Lawrence, Cliff Kingsbury has shown
Speaker 4: an aptitude for coming up with a plan to neutralize
Speaker 4: these guys. Now, I'm not assuming that that's gonna happen
Speaker 4: with Lot Again, he is really good, and the Steelers
Speaker 4: have other good edge defend. There's two including just having
Speaker 4: traded for a guy we know well in Preston Smith.
Speaker 4: But you know, if you can have another game in
Speaker 4: which Brandon Coleman does a really good job at left
Speaker 4: tackle and you give Coleman help, he could get some
Speaker 4: help in that win at the Giants. But you know,
Speaker 4: maybe you can survive what doing what he does because
Speaker 4: he's gonna have his moments like he's going to win
Speaker 4: his share of reps. I think that's pretty obvious. But
Speaker 4: do you allow those one reps to wreck you or
Speaker 4: are they more Okay, he pressured you, but.
Speaker 5: You were able to survive that snap.
Speaker 4: So I think that's gonna be key, but what is
Speaker 4: a special player and the commanders are going to have
Speaker 4: their hands full with them, no doubt.
Speaker 3: And you know, you mentioned Cliff and I think one
Speaker 3: of the one of the more fun things that I
Speaker 3: that I've enjoyed over this of the season is watching
Speaker 3: Cliff Is come of these really unique concepts in terms
Speaker 3: of slide protection, in terms of chipping, in terms of
Speaker 3: just insulating this offensive line in ways that you know
Speaker 3: they I mean this, this is one of the one
Speaker 3: of the worst in terms of allowing sacks last year.
Speaker 3: Obviously there were other factors involved in that, but this
Speaker 3: year they've they've been I.
Speaker 1: Mean really really good.
Speaker 3: And there's a lot of other things for that, but
Speaker 3: like the players themselves have also been very solid. All right,
Speaker 3: So winners. You know, it's a very very close matchup,
Speaker 3: you guys, very close, but I think I have to
Speaker 3: go with Logan. I have to go with you. I
Speaker 3: think you're the You're the winner here. Do you have
Speaker 3: any parting words of victory for us?
Speaker 2: Well, just Al was a great competitor day, a lot
Speaker 2: of good points. Learned a lot from his insight today,
Speaker 2: So thanks Al for all that, and Zach, thanks for
Speaker 2: having me on the show and looking forward to be
Speaker 2: back soon. It feels good to come out of here
Speaker 2: in such an illustrious competition with a victory.
Speaker 3: Professional as always Hopefully like the Commanders will be coming
Speaker 3: out of this weekend with another win, a four straight
Speaker 3: win going to eight and two Radi inter Divisional play,
Speaker 3: the harder Divisional play with another matchup against the Philadelphia
Speaker 3: Eagles on Thursday Night football, which we will not be
Speaker 3: previewing guys, so we'll be skipping the next week's we'll
Speaker 3: be heading our next time you hear this will be
Speaker 3: against the Dallas Cowboys in that preview. But be sure
Speaker 3: to rate, review, subscribe everywhere you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1: And this has been the beatdown