Speaker 1: Welcome to the Command Center Podcast. I'm Julie Donaldson. All
Speaker 1: sites are set on welcoming the Minnesota Vikings to FedEx Field.
Speaker 1: Logan Paulson and Santana Moss joins me to break down
Speaker 1: the matchups they will be watching for, plus the return
Speaker 1: of quarterback Kirk Cousins. So let's go into some of
Speaker 1: the matchups that I know you're going to be looking
Speaker 1: forward to this week on the field. And I want
Speaker 1: to start with Kirk Cousins, mainly because he's been six
Speaker 1: seasons here. It's his first time coming back. We haven't
Speaker 1: seen him since twenty seventeen. But both of you Kyle
Speaker 1: passes from him. Yeah, Santana, what are you seeing from
Speaker 1: him this season? Very productive. One of the things that
Speaker 1: stands out to me the most is they have the
Speaker 1: right kind of players around them and the play calling
Speaker 1: has been exceptionally well. I think one of the things
Speaker 1: that stands out more than anything that he don't have
Speaker 1: to get up there and think too much. So he's
Speaker 1: going out there, he's seeing what he has to do
Speaker 1: and whether it's pre stopton read or throughout the course
Speaker 1: of the play, he's finding the open guy. But Kurt
Speaker 1: has always been that the passer. He just had to
Speaker 1: get around the right system and he's back to something
Speaker 1: that he's familiar with. Yeah. Absolutely, it's gat to see
Speaker 1: him back comfortable because like we you know, we care
Speaker 1: about kirkham do well, but obviously not this weekend. I
Speaker 1: will say the thing that sticks out to me, he's
Speaker 1: been much better in the fourth quarter. He's been much
Speaker 1: more consistent in terms of making plays when the team
Speaker 1: needs to make those high levelge situations. He started slow
Speaker 1: the past couple of games, but finished very, very strong
Speaker 1: and let his team to victories. And I think that's
Speaker 1: shows a nice maturity by him over the last couple years.
Speaker 1: And for the most part, he's been taking care of
Speaker 1: the ball. He has eleven touchdowns, five interceptions, three of
Speaker 1: them though game against the Philadelphia Eagles alone, and so
Speaker 1: for the most part, he hasn't been giving you major opportunities. People.
Speaker 1: We know the defensive line is going to be getting
Speaker 1: all over him in this one, and he's familiar with
Speaker 1: those guys up there as well. Now, one of his
Speaker 1: top white receivers is Justin Jefferson. How is he going
Speaker 1: to do against the secondary logan? I mean, I think
Speaker 1: Justin Jefferson, to my eye, is one of the most
Speaker 1: kind of skillful receivers in the NFL. He's very, very
Speaker 1: talented at the catchpoints as he plays bigger than he's
Speaker 1: listed out of the he's six one, one one hundred ninety pounds.
Speaker 1: He plays bigger than that great physicality, can line up inside,
Speaker 1: line up outside. So it's going to be a team
Speaker 1: effort in terms of aggregating resources to stop him. And
Speaker 1: I think in those band demand situations and think you
Speaker 1: got to put our best cover corner on him. And
Speaker 1: I think that's Benjamin Saint us. You don't want to
Speaker 1: do that too too much because that's a tough matchup,
Speaker 1: but that's what I would I think you have to do. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And you know, one of the things that's down to
Speaker 1: me is that he's not only just one of those
Speaker 1: guys that you have to worry about on the outside.
Speaker 1: He's dominant in the inside. So I'm glad that we
Speaker 1: have that kind of you know, we have that player
Speaker 1: that we can probably match up or see him, you know,
Speaker 1: have that kind of coverage. But you can't let him
Speaker 1: get get get you know, getting wild on us, because
Speaker 1: I've seen him take advantage of teams. One of the
Speaker 1: things I want to say on the last thing you
Speaker 1: asked me about, we have to take a page out
Speaker 1: of Philadelphia's But they was they played him better than anybody,
Speaker 1: and it wasn't because they played great coverage on him.
Speaker 1: It was because those great rush great rush. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean, look, if the quarterback doesn't have any time
Speaker 1: to be able to throw the ball, didn't forget it.
Speaker 1: Jefferson can't do too much on that side. On the
Speaker 1: other side of Taylor heineke Um, he's gonna be go
Speaker 1: ingup with for It's a really stout defensive front as well. Logan, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think that. You know, Zarius Smith is one of
Speaker 1: the best defensive ends in the NFL. I think he's
Speaker 1: tied for the league lead in sacks right now. And
Speaker 1: it's not like he's running from from the defense end.
Speaker 1: He lines up at nose guard. He lights up a
Speaker 1: three technique. They find ways to put him in advantageous
Speaker 1: situations to rush the passer, and he has been excellent that.
Speaker 1: That's where he was most productive in Green Bay. When
Speaker 1: he was in Baltimore, same thing. They're starting to adopt
Speaker 1: that package and he has been performing up the top
Speaker 1: building which has been which is fun to see as
Speaker 1: a fan of football, but as a Washington fan makes
Speaker 1: it a little nervous. Yeah, Bike's defense is tied with
Speaker 1: us in sacks. I believe we have twenty one. They
Speaker 1: have twenty one, and they have thirteen takeaways, which is
Speaker 1: ninth in the league. So when you see that coming
Speaker 1: from a defense, heinik. He has to be very efficient.
Speaker 1: He has to make sure that he's doing some of
Speaker 1: the things we've seen in the past a few weeks.
Speaker 1: He's been efficient with the ball, but he's also been
Speaker 1: making a right decision. So if it's not there, take
Speaker 1: what you can with your legs. When it's there, get
Speaker 1: the guy to the ball in the timely fashion and
Speaker 1: he should be okay. Yeah, they love that he's not
Speaker 1: afraid to step in the pocket to make the play,
Speaker 1: but hopefully smartly as well. That's such a thing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: probably not smartly. Washington's wide receivers have consistently delivered throughout
Speaker 1: the Commander's three game one streak. London Fletcher chat with
Speaker 1: Curtis Samuel to discuss the Commander's offense and the versatility
Speaker 1: he brings. Curtis after the one and fourth start We're
Speaker 1: coming here riding a three game winning streak. How are
Speaker 1: you guys able to get things turned around this season?
Speaker 1: We're a tough team. I mean, we understand that we
Speaker 1: was out there making plays, but it just wasn't enough.
Speaker 1: You know. I felt like the problem was we just
Speaker 1: wasn't putting together four quarters of football. Um. I know
Speaker 1: this past week, you know, I feel like we slacked
Speaker 1: off a little bit, but we picked it up at
Speaker 1: the end. And you know, most important is finishing one
Speaker 1: guy who didn't slacked off and who hasn't been slacking
Speaker 1: off as you You know, over the three out of
Speaker 1: last four games, you've had at least five catch at
Speaker 1: five touches over sixty yards from scrimmage. You lead us
Speaker 1: and receptions, made a couple of huge catches on fourth
Speaker 1: down and that ball game against the Coats? What has
Speaker 1: been the key for you being able to you know,
Speaker 1: operate in space the way you've operated and have the
Speaker 1: ball in your hands so much really just understanding the
Speaker 1: like the receiver position. You just never understand when the
Speaker 1: ball is coming to you, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: so much stuff gotta go on for to get the ball,
Speaker 1: you know, so my mindset each and every time. It's
Speaker 1: just like, just be prepared, be ready. You know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, Garth them when your matchup, whenever the ball
Speaker 1: come your way, just makes something happen because you know
Speaker 1: how many times you can get the ball right. There's
Speaker 1: been a change at the quarterback position, you know, going
Speaker 1: to Taylor Heineke. Over the last two ball games, offense
Speaker 1: you mentioned has had some transition with Taylor under center.
Speaker 1: What has the what has been the change with with
Speaker 1: Taylor being an under center? Um? I mean as far
Speaker 1: as us as a serious we know we got got
Speaker 1: them make plays. You know, as long as we're doing
Speaker 1: what we gotta do, getting open, catching the ball and
Speaker 1: making a big plays, we feel like the offense gonna
Speaker 1: do a good job. Um. You know, I really think
Speaker 1: us as an offense, I feel like we were all
Speaker 1: just playing better. You know, Taylor able to you know,
Speaker 1: get out the podcat and make extra things happen, and um,
Speaker 1: you know, I feel like we're doing a great job
Speaker 1: as you as you look at the situation with the
Speaker 1: receivers you got Terry McLaurin, Terry went home, had a
Speaker 1: big game. How has Dad playing with Terry kind of
Speaker 1: opened things up for you in this offense. Um, we
Speaker 1: know Terry on garthm and make make things happen. You know,
Speaker 1: he don't think two back to back to two great games,
Speaker 1: you know, doing doing what he does. You know, every
Speaker 1: time the ball is in the era, every time you
Speaker 1: got a chance, he gonna make something big happen. You know. Um,
Speaker 1: teams may start, you know, try to double you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. But that's the good thing about our room.
Speaker 1: Were so deep. We got a lot of guys you
Speaker 1: know that could come in and make big things happen.
Speaker 1: We got a little bit injuries, but I feel like
Speaker 1: every guy that steps in is gonna make something happen
Speaker 1: out there. We got the six to one minutes. So
Speaker 1: the Vikings coming in here gonna be a tall task.
Speaker 1: What do you think is gonna be the key when
Speaker 1: we're going against this this Vikings defense? Toughness, It's just
Speaker 1: starting up front. You know, we gotta dominate the line
Speaker 1: of scrimmish. You know, we gotta protect our protect our
Speaker 1: quarterback and just make things happening. Just try to put
Speaker 1: together four quarters of good football, you know, and no
Speaker 1: slacking off, staying on the field, converting third downs, and
Speaker 1: I feel like that will help us. Hey last, but
Speaker 1: not at least. We haven't seen you dancing a while, man,
Speaker 1: can't we expect to see you dancing this U this Sunday.
Speaker 1: I gotta get in that end. I got, I got
Speaker 1: some moves, man, I just waited to get that end.
Speaker 1: That's that's what my point is. Hopefully we'll get you
Speaker 1: in the end on this uh this Sunday and say
Speaker 1: you out there doing your dance more. Absolutely appreciate it.
Speaker 1: All right. For all of your news and analysis, be
Speaker 1: sure to tune into Command Center weeknights if five thirty
Speaker 1: and ten pm on NBC Sports Washington. You can also
Speaker 1: stream on YouTube and commanders dot com