Speaker 1: Welcome to the Command Center Podcast. I'm Julie Donaldson the Commanders.
Speaker 1: Welcome to Cleveland. Browns to FedEx Field for Week seventeen
Speaker 1: with playoff implications on the line. Santana Moss and Logan
Speaker 1: Pulton joined me to break down the importance of containing
Speaker 1: Miles Garrett and how Washington's receivers match up with the
Speaker 1: brown secondary. I want to start off with we just
Speaker 1: heard from Terry mcward, like he is a huge part
Speaker 1: of this offense and the success, and of course his
Speaker 1: numbers won up a little bit more with Taylor heineke
Speaker 1: back there, but he's got Carson Wentz all this time,
Speaker 1: and he's got a former teammate and didn't award. He's
Speaker 1: going up against Logan. Yeah. I mean I always get
Speaker 1: excited when guys in college that went to college together
Speaker 1: and they get to see each other every day in
Speaker 1: practice get to play against each other, because that matchup
Speaker 1: just becomes so much more storied. Right, It's like he
Speaker 1: knows what he does in practice, he's seen it, he's
Speaker 1: seen it live in living color, and so who's gonna
Speaker 1: get the better of this matchup? Two guys who came
Speaker 1: into Ohio State the same year and both are playing
Speaker 1: really high level football at the moment. I love this
Speaker 1: type of matchup, especially the familiarity brings. And then one
Speaker 1: of the things I want to say about that, I
Speaker 1: remember those days when I played against the Mike Rumps
Speaker 1: and the Philip Buchanans. You always get up for that
Speaker 1: because you understand, man, this guy knows me more than
Speaker 1: I know myself. You saw me more than any other guy.
Speaker 1: And I'm playing against So I'm pretty sure that Terry's
Speaker 1: gonna sleep well, and then Zille might not sleep well.
Speaker 1: Terry always says he enjoys going up against former teammates,
Speaker 1: and of course against somebody who's one of the best
Speaker 1: in the league at their craft, and that would be Wards,
Speaker 1: So it would be a good test for that one.
Speaker 1: But if we get to a little bit further into this,
Speaker 1: Nick Chubby, Yeah, Chubb scares me. I mean scares me too.
Speaker 1: But I think one of the things that stands out
Speaker 1: is every week I think our defense has been, you know,
Speaker 1: put under pressure to say, hey, you're gonna get the
Speaker 1: best back in this league or the band one of
Speaker 1: the best backs this week. And I think they still
Speaker 1: to the challenge. You know, they still strong in the
Speaker 1: paint and Nick Chubb comes in what he ranked third
Speaker 1: in the league right now with thirteen hundreds something yards
Speaker 1: and fifth in the NFL. Our defense have a tough challenge,
Speaker 1: but I think they're gonna stand strong and do what
Speaker 1: you do the need to tell Yeah, And I do
Speaker 1: think it's also important to recognize that they are changing
Speaker 1: their offense a little bit. You know, Nick Chubb was
Speaker 1: the feature early on. Now they're kind of shipped into
Speaker 1: Deshaun Watson right, He's becoming a priority in terms of
Speaker 1: the quarterback run stuff. Nick Chubb, down for down has
Speaker 1: become a little bit less efficient, kind of took prop
Speaker 1: up to Shawn right and obviously as a passer and
Speaker 1: as a runner, they're trying to emphasize what he does.
Speaker 1: They invest a lot of money, they want to see
Speaker 1: him go, and he's starting to get a little bit
Speaker 1: of that rust off. Now let us do the break
Speaker 1: out oats to look like the guy that got that
Speaker 1: huge mega contract as well. We're gonna have to protect
Speaker 1: Carson Wentz and you have to because you have Miles
Speaker 1: Garrett coming for you. Logan, I mean, Miles Garrett is
Speaker 1: like the freakiest human being I've ever seen you when
Speaker 1: you watched the film, right, You had Nick Bosi last week,
Speaker 1: who is a barbarian when it comes to rushing the passer,
Speaker 1: and you get Miles Garrett this week, who is maybe
Speaker 1: a better athlete. I think his down to down effort
Speaker 1: is not quite as good. But if you want a
Speaker 1: guy to rush the pastor we're gonna make one in
Speaker 1: the lab, he would look like Miles Garrett. So what
Speaker 1: are they gonna do? And it's not just Leno and Lucas.
Speaker 1: It comes down to, you know, Scott Turner, what's your plan? Chips,
Speaker 1: play action, all that kind of thing. They need a
Speaker 1: plan for him and Santana they have the eighth best
Speaker 1: ranked pass defense league as well, And that's one of
Speaker 1: the things that stand out to me is like, Okay,
Speaker 1: are they the eighth best ranked pass defense because guys
Speaker 1: are not throwing on them because they can't stop the
Speaker 1: run or it is because they're just shutting guys down.
Speaker 1: So that's going to be something that I'm looking forward
Speaker 1: to see. Oh, we have Carson Wentz back. One of
Speaker 1: the things that I want to see is because we
Speaker 1: didn't have so many trouble, so much trouble in the
Speaker 1: red zone. But I think when Carson was there, we
Speaker 1: was getting touchdowns. So will he be effective in the
Speaker 1: red zone for this offense this second time around, or
Speaker 1: will their defense stop us from doing what we think
Speaker 1: we can do well with Carson. Earlier this week, head
Speaker 1: coach Ron Rivera named quarterback Carson Wentz the starter. Wentz
Speaker 1: started the first six games of the season and appeared
Speaker 1: in the final quarter of the Commander's loss to the
Speaker 1: forty nine Ers. The QP has thrown for over one
Speaker 1: thousand and six hundred yards and eleven touchdowns. London Fletcher
Speaker 1: cut up with Wentz to discuss how he's preparing for
Speaker 1: the Browns. Carson, So, Coach RIVERI here not that you
Speaker 1: would be the starting quarterback this weekend against the Clearing Browns.
Speaker 1: How does that feel, you know, knowing that you're preparing
Speaker 1: to start another game against the Browns. It's exciting. It's
Speaker 1: exciting obviously personally, but I think it's exciting for for
Speaker 1: this team. You know, we know we're at It's been
Speaker 1: very up and down year, but we know where we're
Speaker 1: at and we know what's at stake these last two weeks,
Speaker 1: and we got a big one in front of us
Speaker 1: right now this week, and so for me personally, it's
Speaker 1: exciting and you know, step in and just try and
Speaker 1: distribute and you know, make plays when astro palm. How
Speaker 1: was it? How big was it for you to be
Speaker 1: able to get those those reps against the forty nine.
Speaker 1: It's having missed so much time in terms of just
Speaker 1: getting you getting some of the rust off and being
Speaker 1: able to have some some game reps going into this game. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I thought it was huge. I thought it was big
Speaker 1: for me um mentally as well, just you know, coming
Speaker 1: out there and just especially going no huddle right away.
Speaker 1: I had to go score and just no time to think,
Speaker 1: just go play and just kind of feel the rhythm
Speaker 1: of the game again. And like you said, it's been
Speaker 1: a while with from the injury and then others things
Speaker 1: going on. So I thought that was big for me
Speaker 1: mentally for my confidence going forward. As a veteran quarterback.
Speaker 1: You've you've been around for a number of years, but
Speaker 1: still this is your first year in this system. Were
Speaker 1: you able to kind of look at the offense from
Speaker 1: a different perspective, you know, during your time you know,
Speaker 1: healing from injury and things like that without a doubt. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, you're I'm still obviously when I was out,
Speaker 1: I'm still involved in the meetings. I'm still a part
Speaker 1: of everything, but I'm not coming out here and going
Speaker 1: through it. So it allows me to see it a
Speaker 1: little bit differently and ask questions and really try and
Speaker 1: understand the whys and and everything. And so I think
Speaker 1: that definitely helped me understand the bigger picture within this offense,
Speaker 1: and um, I think that will help embode well for
Speaker 1: me down the stretcher. The offense a lot different, uh,
Speaker 1: kind of than what you what it was when you
Speaker 1: were starting quarterback, a lot more run oriented. Having Brian
Speaker 1: Rabbits a healthy the offense a lot is a lot healthier.
Speaker 1: How how do you feel like that will aid you
Speaker 1: and just you know, as you start against the Browns. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean a quality run game is always a huge help, uh,
Speaker 1: and confidence booster for a quarterback, you know, and not
Speaker 1: just quarterback, but for the entire old line, the entire offense.
Speaker 1: You know, to be able to physically kind of impose
Speaker 1: our will upfront, like I believe our guys have done
Speaker 1: and are capable of doing, I think helps helps the
Speaker 1: passing game tremendously and I look forward to seeing that
Speaker 1: up close and personal. Uh. Now, like you said, it's
Speaker 1: it's kind of the idea of these kind of change
Speaker 1: throughout these seasons, So I look forward to kind of
Speaker 1: being a part of it and seeing how that opens
Speaker 1: up the passing game within it. Yeah, you mentioned the
Speaker 1: passing game. Part of that passing game is the receivers,
Speaker 1: and you know you've got three dynamic receivers obviously with Jehan,
Speaker 1: Curtis and Terry. What's it gonna be like for you
Speaker 1: and has it? Is it difficult getting that chemistry back
Speaker 1: with those guys you know that you had prior to
Speaker 1: a projecting injury. I mean, I think I think the offseason, workouts,
Speaker 1: the training camp, all of those moments, I mean make
Speaker 1: a huge difference. You know, to miss time but be
Speaker 1: able to come back and just try and pick up
Speaker 1: where we left off. You know, it's never gonna be perfect,
Speaker 1: you You're always gonna miss some here and there. But
Speaker 1: I think those times, the moments in the off season
Speaker 1: and training camp will will bode well for us in
Speaker 1: terms of chemistry and stuff. And those guys are playing
Speaker 1: at such a high level, you know, I think and
Speaker 1: they've all kind of you know, complimented each other well,
Speaker 1: and I think their confidence has grown and grown throughout
Speaker 1: the season. And so seeing those guys competing the way
Speaker 1: they're playing is fun to watch. And now I'm fun
Speaker 1: to just you know, distribute to them. Two games left.
Speaker 1: You guys, control your own destiny. It starts this weekend.
Speaker 1: It gets Cleveland brown that they have a defense led
Speaker 1: by Miles Garrett, one of the best pass rushes in
Speaker 1: the National Football League thirteen a half sacks on the season.
Speaker 1: What's it like going against his Browns defense led by
Speaker 1: by Garrett, Yeah, it's it's a talented defense. You know,
Speaker 1: they fly around. Obviously, they got Miles Shadeveon over there.
Speaker 1: They got two you know, premiere defensive ends over there,
Speaker 1: and uh they make life tough, you know, without a
Speaker 1: doubt their coach, well, they fly around, they play hard,
Speaker 1: they play fast. So we got to work cut out
Speaker 1: um and we know we're gonna know where those guys
Speaker 1: are at all times because you gotta respect them. They're
Speaker 1: two of the two of the premier guys in this game.
Speaker 1: So h it'll be fun. It'll be a fun matchup.
Speaker 1: I'm excited. We got him at home. UM, and so
Speaker 1: it'll be fun. Yeah, that's great. Well, I can't wait
Speaker 1: to see you guys and see you out there Sunday.
Speaker 1: Going to gets to Cleveland Browns, my home top team,
Speaker 1: but I will not be rooting for those brows. You
Speaker 1: know who I'll be rooting for Sunday. Appreciate you for
Speaker 1: all your news and analysis. Be sure to tune into
Speaker 1: Command Center WEIG nights at five and ten pm on
Speaker 1: NBC Sports Washington. You can also stream on YouTube and
Speaker 1: commanders dot com