Speaker 1: If New Vergine new Quarterbacks in the building. A new
Speaker 1: podcast is hitting the Washington Commanders podcast network. What's going on, y'all?
Speaker 1: I am Zach Selby, senior writer for the Washington Commanders,
Speaker 1: and this is the Beatdown where we do one thing
Speaker 1: sports fans love to do, argue and like to pretend
Speaker 1: which one of us is right with me?
Speaker 2: Is?
Speaker 1: David Harrison and Lake Lewis Junior, they cover, They cover
Speaker 1: the beat for us for the Commanders and guys like
Speaker 1: y'all the first first guests on this podcast, how a
Speaker 1: were feeling right now?
Speaker 3: Feel special?
Speaker 1: Man?
Speaker 2: Big love? Yeah, Man, appreciate it. Should it should be
Speaker 2: a lot of fun.
Speaker 4: I'm looking forward to uh to handing Lake and old
Speaker 4: fashioned big ten style beat down.
Speaker 2: Here.
Speaker 1: Love it, okay, love love the trash shock.
Speaker 2: I love hearing it.
Speaker 1: It's like, just within like five seconds, y'all already had
Speaker 1: each other.
Speaker 2: I mean, you bought a ringer in man.
Speaker 3: David covered the bucks before, so he's a ringer.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: It's almost like I play that out almost. Of course
Speaker 1: you give too much credit, but I feel like maybe
Speaker 1: that was in the cards. So I'll give you a
Speaker 1: little bit of what I expect out of this podcasts,
Speaker 1: I haven't given me too much. So we're gonna answer
Speaker 1: three questions over the course of the next thirty minutes.
Speaker 1: Y'all gonna each present your cases, and we're going to
Speaker 1: provide some points sort of like around the horn, but
Speaker 1: almost like who's on it anyway, where the point doesn't
Speaker 1: necessarily matter how much Bay. It's my podcast. I can
Speaker 1: decide who's right and who's wrong. Right, So, and obviously
Speaker 1: we're gonna focus on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers since it
Speaker 1: is our Week one opponent. And guys, if you're ready,
Speaker 1: we can go ahead and get started.
Speaker 2: We'll start.
Speaker 1: So there's a lot of new stuff that's going to
Speaker 1: be happening with the Commanders this this this weekend, new defense,
Speaker 1: new offense. But we're gonna talk specifically to starting with
Speaker 1: the defense here, and the Tampa Bay offense led by
Speaker 1: Baker may Field kind of came on there near at
Speaker 1: the end of the year with canals there as the
Speaker 1: off the cordior now obviously the head coach of the
Speaker 1: Carolina Panthers, but there's going to be you know, a
Speaker 1: playoff team on the other sideline there for the Commander's defense, Lake,
Speaker 1: I'll start with you, what do you think is the
Speaker 1: biggest challenge is commander defense, which really struggled last year
Speaker 1: but seems to be a little bit on the up.
Speaker 1: So based on what we've seen in training camp, what
Speaker 1: is gonna be their biggest challenge heading against the Tampa
Speaker 1: Bay offense. I'll give you two minutes to respond, starting
Speaker 1: right now.
Speaker 3: Listen, the biggest challenge for Washington obviously is going to
Speaker 3: be a guy that I think is a Hall of
Speaker 3: Fame player in Mike Evans. You know, if you look
Speaker 3: at what Mike Evans has done against Washington and five
Speaker 3: career games, you know, including a playoff game, he has
Speaker 3: twenty six receptions for over six hundred yards. So he's
Speaker 3: a guy that obviously is a focal point for the
Speaker 3: Buccaneers offense. Baker Mayfield looked for him quite a bit
Speaker 3: last year. So Washington's gonna have their hands you know,
Speaker 3: you know full with him. You know, he's averaging one
Speaker 3: hundred and twenty one yards a game against Washington. It
Speaker 3: has four touchdowns, so again, you know, possession god. You know,
Speaker 3: at the same time he moves to chains for the Bucks,
Speaker 3: so you know who's going to cover him. Is it
Speaker 3: going to be you know, Emmanuel Forbes, Is it going
Speaker 3: to be you know, Benji Saint Juice. Well, whoever's going
Speaker 3: to cover him is going to have to do a
Speaker 3: good job and get some safety help on top of that.
Speaker 3: And then I think the other thing is is that
Speaker 3: Chris Godwin, you know, and I need not say where
Speaker 3: he went to school, David Harrison, but Chris Godwin's a
Speaker 3: guy that's going to be, you know, eating underneath, which
Speaker 3: he always does. And it's going to be interesting to
Speaker 3: see how Mikey Sanders, still you know, rookie from Michigan,
Speaker 3: can fare against the Chris Godwin because I think he's
Speaker 3: going to be on him quite a bit underneath. So
Speaker 3: I think that those are going to be the focal
Speaker 3: points of the game. I don't see Tampa running the
Speaker 3: football too effectively against Washington. I think that's going to
Speaker 3: be a strength of Washington is the run, their run defense,
Speaker 3: and so I'm not sure for Sea White, you know,
Speaker 3: has a big game in store for Tampa as far
Speaker 3: as the run game. So I think if Washington can
Speaker 3: take those two guys out on the on the edges
Speaker 3: on the outside and god Winning Evans, they have a
Speaker 3: great chance to win this football game.
Speaker 1: You know, you bring up Mike Evans, and that's an
Speaker 1: excellent point because Mike Evans has been in the league
Speaker 1: for ten years now, going into eleventh. How many one
Speaker 1: thousand yard seasons he's had in his career? Ten Like
Speaker 1: every single game hit up a thousand yards and last
Speaker 1: year he had twelve hundred and fifty five, one of
Speaker 1: the most productive of his career. Actually, not David your
Speaker 1: response to that, because he did bring up the receiving
Speaker 1: game for Tampa Bay, which is a pretty good point,
Speaker 1: and that seemed like to be their bigges strength on
Speaker 1: Tampa Bay offense.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I know that that's certainly a good place to start,
Speaker 4: and I think Mike Evans obviously deserves all his flowers
Speaker 4: and he's going to be a big part of this contest.
Speaker 4: But I'm actually going to take something that Lake said
Speaker 4: and kind of expand on it because I think Lake,
Speaker 4: you were close to hitting the target. Unfortunately I got
Speaker 4: a zero in just a little bit better. And it's
Speaker 4: a Chris Godwin slot match up with Mike Sanders. Still
Speaker 4: like Mike Sandersoll has done a lot since he's joined
Speaker 4: the Washington Commanders, and gotten in to the NFL obviously
Speaker 4: in a short period of time to really impress a
Speaker 4: lot of people. Right, very mature, very skilled player, always
Speaker 4: around the ball, never looks to be out of position.
Speaker 4: But there are just some things in this game that
Speaker 4: you can't scheme for and you can't you know, mentally,
Speaker 4: just be in the.
Speaker 2: Right place to do. And that's a size difference.
Speaker 4: And Chris Godwin is significantly taller than Mike Sanders. Still
Speaker 4: now Mike sanderstill plays bigger, and certainly that's going to
Speaker 4: be a part of this. But the question is going
Speaker 4: to be how much can the Washington Commarors defense leave
Speaker 4: Chris Godwin in the slot alone against Mike Sanders or
Speaker 4: how much do they have to give him help because
Speaker 4: of that size deficiency. It's not, you know, there's no
Speaker 4: skilled deficiency. They're involved, but the more that this commander's
Speaker 4: defense has to kind of shrink into the middle of
Speaker 4: the field to cover that, And then also how that
Speaker 4: opens up opportunities for Kate Otten, who's not a Rob Gronkowski,
Speaker 4: right but certainly capable in his own right. And then
Speaker 4: the trickle down economics of that is that could potentially
Speaker 4: to your point, like create opportunities for a guy like
Speaker 4: Rashad White or even Bucky Rein, the rookie quarter running
Speaker 4: back out of Oregon in Sampa who's made a lot
Speaker 4: of plays in the preseason. Like all of that kind
Speaker 4: of how it trickles down to each other, it all
Speaker 4: starts with Mike Sandersil.
Speaker 2: If Mike sanders So can hold his.
Speaker 4: Own against Chris Godwin, which I think he certainly has
Speaker 4: the capability of. It is just that veteran craftiness and
Speaker 4: size according or compared to that rookie size and lack
Speaker 4: of experience is going to weigh big.
Speaker 2: And if Mike wins that matchup, it really.
Speaker 4: Opens up the commander's defense to be more creative, more aggressive,
Speaker 4: and have more opportunities, maybe go over there and put
Speaker 4: more guys over Mike Evans to keep him from doing
Speaker 4: all the damage on the perimeter.
Speaker 2: But the tighter they have to shrink.
Speaker 4: In to help out that inside competition again underneath of
Speaker 4: the running backs. Over top of that on short routes
Speaker 4: by Chris two guys like Kate Kate out and over
Speaker 4: the middle, it's going to be problematic if they can't
Speaker 4: win that matchup with their with their organic design.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know, we'll with zero in on Mike
Speaker 1: Sanmersol for a minute because this guy really seems like
Speaker 1: already one of one of the one of the Commander's
Speaker 1: best cornerbacks, just just based on what we've seen in
Speaker 1: training him so far. Yeah, he's a little bit smaller,
Speaker 1: but he already plays like a veteran. I mean, there's
Speaker 1: so many times during the preseason where it seems like
Speaker 1: he's he's really already already in such good, good positions.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm thinking of that play against the Jets
Speaker 1: where there was like almost like end around a little
Speaker 1: bit and then santam SiO was right there, uh to
Speaker 1: help love and make the tackle. Now, now, Lake, I'll
Speaker 1: give you a minute to respond to that, but I
Speaker 1: think we'll focus in on the corners because you know,
Speaker 1: and you mentioned the passing game, but like, do you know,
Speaker 1: like what what this was committed passing defense? Whether it
Speaker 1: was one of the worst and it was the worst
Speaker 1: in the league, I as you know, you know, the
Speaker 1: last in the league and yards allowed, So how does
Speaker 1: Mike sammer still maybe like give you a little more
Speaker 1: confidence in what they're gonna see based on you know what,
Speaker 1: how he formed up the last month or so.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, I think David hit on it.
Speaker 3: I mean it's a it's a great point, you know,
Speaker 3: as far as you know, and he showed my Penn
Speaker 3: State got some love you know on Godwin. You know,
Speaker 3: he's you know, we know he had an injury, you know,
Speaker 3: two years ago, you know, so he should be even
Speaker 3: better now coming back from that. You know, that second
Speaker 3: year back from those type of injuries, you get better.
Speaker 3: But I do I think that, you know, I agree
Speaker 3: with David that samram Is still is going to be
Speaker 3: a key proponent to what this defense can ultimately do,
Speaker 3: not just you know, you know Sunday, but going forward.
Speaker 3: You know, if he can lock down the middle of
Speaker 3: the field, you still have guys behind him, you know,
Speaker 3: and a Kawan Martin and a Jeremy Chen, guys that,
Speaker 3: you know, versatile type players that can move closer to
Speaker 3: the box, even if they have to go back sometimes
Speaker 3: and play a cover too. They can do those things.
Speaker 3: So I do think that that is important. But again,
Speaker 3: you know, I still greave what I say as far
Speaker 3: as just Mike Evans. He's torched Washington over the years,
Speaker 3: He's torched a lot of teams, but specifically, the commanders
Speaker 3: have struggled with him, you know, as far as just
Speaker 3: you know, bottling him up. And I think that, you know,
Speaker 3: Baker Mayfield is going to look for the guy. You know,
Speaker 3: why wouldn't you look for a potential Hall of Famer.
Speaker 3: You know, Uh, He's going to look for him. The
Speaker 3: other thing I would say, guys, is a pass rush.
Speaker 3: Washington has to get a pass rush. They have to
Speaker 3: make Baker feel uncomfortable because one thing about Baker Mayfield,
Speaker 3: he's the confidence quarterback. When he's feeling good, he actually
Speaker 3: is good, you know. But but if he has some
Speaker 3: heat on him, you know, sometimes he can put some
Speaker 3: things up for grabs. And that's where you know, Washington's
Speaker 3: corners and safeties might have some opportunities to jump on
Speaker 3: some passes and you know, some routes and get some
Speaker 3: interceptions out of that and turn the football over, something
Speaker 3: Washington's defense has not done over the years. And that's
Speaker 3: one of the reasons why Joe Whitt was brought in
Speaker 3: by Dan Quinn, you know, because his defenses in Dallas,
Speaker 3: you know, created lots of turnovers and that's what they're
Speaker 3: gonna need. So again, I do think sanmrums still is
Speaker 3: one of the top two or three components for Sunday's
Speaker 3: game as far as him covering Chris Godwin in the slot.
Speaker 3: But I also think again, whoever's going to be on
Speaker 3: Mike Evans is going to have to have one of
Speaker 3: those one of those coming out games to signal that
Speaker 3: they can be a first first rate corner in the NFL.
Speaker 3: And then obviously pass rush if they can get a
Speaker 3: pass rush. You know, now we're talking and not just
Speaker 3: straight here. But another thing that's going to be key
Speaker 3: too is that this revamped linebacker room Frankie Louvu, you know,
Speaker 3: Bobby Wagner of course, and then whoever else is out
Speaker 3: there with them. You know, I think that they can
Speaker 3: control the middle portion of a field as well, which
Speaker 3: also could help Mikey Sanders still, you know, as far
Speaker 3: as kind of like you know, putting you know, Chris
Speaker 3: Godwin and in certain areas of the middle of the field.
Speaker 3: You know, So if they can ship them and do
Speaker 3: things like that, that'll be integral as far as their success.
Speaker 1: David real Quick responded to before we move on, because
Speaker 1: you know, league where I brought with the pass rush,
Speaker 1: and this team really just struggled in terms of generating sacks.
Speaker 1: Once Chase young Monte's foot, we're out of here. I
Speaker 1: think they had forty backs the bottom third of the league.
Speaker 1: So and you know that, you know this, this Buccaneers
Speaker 1: top of the line probably better than anyone on the beat.
Speaker 1: So tell me, like, how do you think this is
Speaker 1: really gonna fare against this Buccaneers off of the blind?
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know the Bucks offensive line is they've got
Speaker 4: good amount of talent. I mean, they're left tackles, all
Speaker 4: Pro caliber, Pro Bowl caliber, Tristan Wurz, Like, that's gonna
Speaker 4: be kind of a spot where you just kind of
Speaker 4: go into this game. I think, can you understand We're
Speaker 4: not gonna win a lot here against this dude. So
Speaker 4: it's more so how do we get around him?
Speaker 2: Like what games do we.
Speaker 4: Play to occupy him so we can get somebody behind him,
Speaker 4: or getting inside leverage against him so that he just
Speaker 4: can't elevate against and then take advantage of that lesser
Speaker 4: experienced interior offensive line where they've got a rookie center
Speaker 4: getting ready to make his first NFL start. I think
Speaker 4: that's where Deron Payne and John Allen are really going
Speaker 4: to be able to make a difference. And for fans
Speaker 4: of the Commanders, like they're a little bit concerned about
Speaker 4: this path rush because in the preseason, you know that
Speaker 4: Jami and Davis had the strip sack and that's great,
Speaker 4: but like not a whole lot of generated pressure compared
Speaker 4: to why I think fans have been expecting. But they
Speaker 4: also haven't seen Bobby Wagner, John Allen, Deron Payne.
Speaker 2: On the field all the same time.
Speaker 4: But we've seen them in the joint practice, right and
Speaker 4: against the New York Jets, against the Miami doll and
Speaker 4: those joint practices, they were getting after it and they
Speaker 4: were getting pressure. And so I think you're going to
Speaker 4: see a little bit more of that than maybe fans
Speaker 4: have seen in the preseason, and certainly that's going to
Speaker 4: be huge because to Lake's point, like a guy like
Speaker 4: Baker Mayfield actually asked Emmanuel Forbes about this on Wednesday, Like,
Speaker 4: that's a dude who loves to take shots. He loves
Speaker 4: to take risks, but he also loves to toy with corners.
Speaker 4: He wants to give you a look to make you
Speaker 4: think something's happened, almost like the quarterback running a double move,
Speaker 4: like the receiver may just be running a straight up route,
Speaker 4: but the quarterback almost is going to give you a
Speaker 4: double move, especially if he knows you're watching him. Baker
Speaker 4: Mayfield loves a toy with people's minds. I remember him
Speaker 4: playing the flag you know, in Columbus, Ohio. He he
Speaker 4: loves to play those games. So that's absolutely going to
Speaker 4: be an impact here. But yeah, that commander's pass rush
Speaker 4: against this. This Buccaneer's offensive line very highly untested in
Speaker 4: its current alignment, and with Joey Junior and his creativity,
Speaker 4: potentially could wreak some havoc. But I think something both
Speaker 4: sides of this cause this contest have to their benefit
Speaker 4: is they're both practicing against defense coordinators I don't know,
Speaker 4: for being insanely creative and insanely aggressive. So they're actually
Speaker 4: both kind of coming in against defenses that they've already
Speaker 4: been training against all training team.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you're right. I mean, Baker Mayfield had the
Speaker 1: best year of his career last year. We'll see if
Speaker 1: it's actually going to be a blip and more of
Speaker 1: a trend for what he's gonna have for the rest
Speaker 1: of his career in the NFL. So we're gonna move
Speaker 1: on to the next question, but I will give you
Speaker 1: a little bit of a score update. It's really close
Speaker 1: between you two, but it looks like David is head
Speaker 1: by one point. Let's go like he got a little
Speaker 1: chance to gain some ground here. The second question is
Speaker 1: we've all seen what Jane Daniels has done over the
Speaker 1: last month, right, He's looked more so, you know, like
Speaker 1: he's a player beyond his year in terms of his poise,
Speaker 1: his commandity, offense, his knowledge. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: he's going to be a rookie going into its first
Speaker 1: a real live NFL game against a Deemster Cordner who
Speaker 1: loves to bring pressure, really experienced play caller. So question
Speaker 1: we'll start We'll start with David this time is what
Speaker 1: do you think that if Kingsbury can do to protect
Speaker 1: Jayden Daniels and try to get the most out of
Speaker 1: his skill set.
Speaker 4: I think you got to do something that I've been
Speaker 4: asking offensive coordinators to do on this team since I
Speaker 4: started covering this team.
Speaker 2: Zech move the pocket. You drafted Jade Daniels.
Speaker 4: More so than anything like that, the biggest discriminator between
Speaker 4: Jade and Daniels and the other quarterbacks available to this team.
Speaker 2: Were was his athletic ability.
Speaker 4: And his decision making. Those are the two things that
Speaker 4: separated himself. Like when you look at Drake May and
Speaker 4: you look at Jayden Daniels, and I don't mean.
Speaker 2: To disparage Drake.
Speaker 4: I hope he has a great career, all that good stuff,
Speaker 4: But when you look at the two, Jade and Daniels
Speaker 4: clearly the superior athlete compared to Drake May. Both of
Speaker 4: these guys put the ball everywhere on the field, everywhere
Speaker 4: you need them too.
Speaker 2: And then the decision making.
Speaker 4: And this is where I say, I apologize any Drake
Speaker 4: May fans out there, but there's a moment in his
Speaker 4: tape and it's not the only moment, it's the biggest
Speaker 4: moment in his tape where North Carolina's got a first
Speaker 4: and goal.
Speaker 2: Or they're in goal to go.
Speaker 4: I can't remember his first now, but they're in goal
Speaker 4: to go situation. They're lined up heavy and they're miss
Speaker 4: their right tackle and Drake May snaps the ball while
Speaker 4: his right tackles trying to run onto the field behind him,
Speaker 4: doesn't realize he's short alignment in a big set. That's
Speaker 4: a problem we saw in the preseason game. How many
Speaker 4: illegal formation penalties they had while Drake and May was in there.
Speaker 4: That's something you need your quarterback to do. Jayden Daniels
Speaker 4: better at that. He's also the better athlete. Use those
Speaker 4: advantages to your advantage. Here at Stampa Bay Buccaneers, their
Speaker 4: pass rush is really interesting right now because all the
Speaker 4: dynamic ability they did have where they're making their Super
Speaker 4: Bowl run and even trying to make their follow on
Speaker 4: runs a couple of years ago, a lot of that
Speaker 4: is kind of gone right now. Their best pass rusher
Speaker 4: on the edge off the defensive line is yah YadA Yadi.
Speaker 4: He's had a really good season last year, a lot
Speaker 4: of potential, but he is not ready to be that
Speaker 4: main pass rusher for an NFL defense. I don't believe.
Speaker 4: Maybe Hope surprised me. But on the opposite side outside lineback,
Speaker 4: you had Joe Tryon.
Speaker 2: Schuenka, who a lot of people think is basically.
Speaker 4: On his way out of tamp after not proving himself
Speaker 4: after being such a high round draft pick.
Speaker 2: So, if I'm Cliff Kingsbury, ya Yadadadi's.
Speaker 4: Honestly the guy, and he's gonna be going up against
Speaker 4: rookie left tackle Brandon Coleman if he can go this weekend,
Speaker 4: or Cornelius Lucas the backup.
Speaker 2: So that's kind of if I have a biggest.
Speaker 4: Concern in the outside linebacker realm, that's gonna be the
Speaker 4: guy roll the pocket.
Speaker 2: To the right. Just so happens.
Speaker 4: That's probably James Daniels the most comfortable side to roll
Speaker 4: to anyway. And you put Joe Tryon Shunka in very
Speaker 4: problematic situations where he's got to make a decision. I'm
Speaker 4: either gonna run with the super athletic quarterback ort and
Speaker 4: leave potentially a tight end or running back or a
Speaker 4: crossing wide receiver open behind me, or I'm gonna try
Speaker 4: to stay in my coverage assignment and the I'm gonna
Speaker 4: watch Jadan Daniels skirt up the sideline.
Speaker 2: To me, that is an.
Speaker 4: Opportunity rich advantage at this commander's team has, and this
Speaker 4: offensive line that hasn't gotten any active reps against or
Speaker 4: against a live opponent, and they're in they're organic starting five. Again,
Speaker 4: if Brandon can go this weekend, that helps them because
Speaker 4: you make that defense run, you make them get, you
Speaker 4: tire them out, and again ya ya yabi, like the
Speaker 4: more he runs, the less effective he's gonna be as
Speaker 4: the game goes on. So I think that, to me,
Speaker 4: is the biggest way you protect Jayme and Daniels.
Speaker 1: I'm so glad you brought up the pocket movement because
Speaker 1: it's something that Washington didn't really do all that much
Speaker 1: at all last year because when we knew that the
Speaker 1: same show wasn't necessarily the scrambler that some of these
Speaker 1: other quarterbacks. But he did have some mobility to him.
Speaker 1: He seemed like he's doing his best whenever he was
Speaker 1: kind of getting out of the pockets, scrambling away from
Speaker 1: the pressure that seemed to always be coming at him
Speaker 1: on the middle. But but Lake, I'll throw this to you, Like,
Speaker 1: I mean, is it as simple as that is? Its
Speaker 1: simple as letting Jaden get out there and run with us.
Speaker 1: Some people are really hesitating about him him sliding and
Speaker 1: getting out there and avoiding contact, But like, is it
Speaker 1: really as simple as just getting him out of the
Speaker 1: pocket and letting him do what he does best with
Speaker 1: his legs or there's something more to it thin that.
Speaker 2: Well?
Speaker 3: No, I mean I think then that's the that's the
Speaker 3: irony to this, And I agree with David one hundred
Speaker 3: percent that you know, the pocket didn't move at all
Speaker 3: in the past. Well, I mean if it moved, it
Speaker 3: was going backwards. So you know, now, I just think
Speaker 3: that you have to let Jaden be himself, you know,
Speaker 3: not overthink this, not you know, situations that he wouldn't
Speaker 3: be comfortable with. If he spoke to you know, us
Speaker 3: yesterday and he said, you know that he's he just
Speaker 3: wants to play football, and that's the whole point. You know,
Speaker 3: he's going to have some input with Cliff Kingsbury as
Speaker 3: far as things that they can do it against this
Speaker 3: Buccaneers defense. That's going to make him comfortable. And he
Speaker 3: said that Cliff will will listen to guys. So I'm
Speaker 3: if I'm Washington, I'm turning this guy loose. We all
Speaker 3: know what he can do. He showed everything possible as
Speaker 3: far as you know, all the tricks in his bag
Speaker 3: in the preseason. You know, deep ball, you know, elusiveness,
Speaker 3: running the football, command of the line of scrimmage, as
Speaker 3: far as what he saw on the other side of
Speaker 3: the ball, to audible out of a play. I mean,
Speaker 3: these are the things that you want from your young quarterback.
Speaker 3: So you know, I think for Washington as far as
Speaker 3: moving him around, I think it would be a big,
Speaker 3: big plus for their offense because let's face it, when
Speaker 3: you look at Tampa's defense, you know, naturally upfront you
Speaker 3: have that monster Bavay, who you know, a lot of commanders,
Speaker 3: fans will remember him because they wanted him to get.
Speaker 2: Drafted a couple of years back.
Speaker 3: You know, he's a stout guy that can hold up
Speaker 3: the line. But I feel really good as far as
Speaker 3: the interior portion of Washington's offensive line, you know, with
Speaker 3: the additions of Beatas and then Nick Alagretti and you
Speaker 3: know obviously Sam Kyles mean you just got the bag
Speaker 3: yesterday on the contract extension, I think that that interior
Speaker 3: portion of Washington's line is clearly going to be their strength,
Speaker 3: and that helps them against a guy like vi to Bay.
Speaker 3: But I think if you look at Tampa's defense, you know,
Speaker 3: the two guys in the back to me a really
Speaker 3: good George whitehead man, Antoine Winfield Junior. You know, those
Speaker 3: guys are to me the glue to Tampa's defense. And
Speaker 3: it's ironic because those are the guys that Jaden's going
Speaker 3: to have to attack with the deep ball to keep
Speaker 3: them back, you know, to open up the run game,
Speaker 3: do different things like that. So again, should they move
Speaker 3: the pocket, Absolutely, I think they will, think David hit
Speaker 3: on that right on the head. They're going to utilize
Speaker 3: Jaden's strengths. But let's not confuse ourselves, guys. He's not
Speaker 3: a running quarterback first. He's a pocket passer who happens
Speaker 3: to have dynamic wills and he does take off and
Speaker 3: I think if they give him the green light to
Speaker 3: take off when he needs to, you're you're going to
Speaker 3: see this dynamic player that everyone's looking forward to watching.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think that's one of the things we've
Speaker 1: seen the most in training camp was, Yeah, we all
Speaker 1: knew that he had his disability. We still haven't really
Speaker 1: seen what Jane can do with his legs because he's
Speaker 1: been so conservative with that. But who he is as
Speaker 1: a passer has been just so impressive, and you saw
Speaker 1: as training can't progress, they kind of let him uncork
Speaker 1: these passes. It's a little bit more because he does
Speaker 1: he didn't have the strongest wrong in the world, but
Speaker 1: he does have a pretty decent arm to go to
Speaker 1: to launch these passes down field. We saw a little
Speaker 1: bit of that with theanmy Brown against the Jets. But
Speaker 1: you know, david'll'll pose this to you. And I mean,
Speaker 1: Cliff obviously wants to make sure that he has some
Speaker 1: easy reads, right he doesn't. You don't want to throw
Speaker 1: all these compcit looks at him immediately. But to to
Speaker 1: Lake's point, at some point, you do have to let
Speaker 1: him do what he does best. So how do you
Speaker 1: think Cliff is going to balance the terms of Okay,
Speaker 1: we need to give him some easier legs versus okay,
Speaker 1: let's just go ahead and let's let's let's let him
Speaker 1: try this contested pass downfield of Terry, Like, how do
Speaker 1: you balance the conservative versus just letting the guy loose
Speaker 1: and letting him play the way he wants to play.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, I think, honestly, I think Jayden has
Speaker 4: kind of proven himself to be a smart decision maker
Speaker 4: to the point where he kind of has.
Speaker 2: That ability to make that decision for himself.
Speaker 4: And then you go back to that first preseason game
Speaker 4: of the year, and granted, he wasn't supposed.
Speaker 2: To check out of that screen that he checked.
Speaker 4: Out of, but obviously he felt like he could get
Speaker 4: away with it if he did it, and he did
Speaker 4: check into the big shot, he took it. Deanmy Brown
Speaker 4: was able to come up with the pass smile into
Speaker 4: the to the zide line. Now, I'm sure you know,
Speaker 4: there was a little bit of a conversation probably had,
Speaker 4: you know, later on, like hey, this is why we
Speaker 4: want you to do this stuff and all these things.
Speaker 4: But I think that that just kind of shows you
Speaker 4: how much Jaden has confidence in himself and his teammates,
Speaker 4: but also how much he understands what he is allowed.
Speaker 2: He has left and right limits, so to speak, within
Speaker 2: this offense.
Speaker 4: So I think even the Cliff is coming out there
Speaker 4: and calling a conservative, you know game for Jaden initially,
Speaker 4: you know, to get the rookie comfortable and all that
Speaker 4: stuff that Jayden sees a shot or sees an opportunity
Speaker 4: that he is comfortable. Again if the if the entire
Speaker 4: mindset is, let's make sure our quarterback is comfortable. If
Speaker 4: he if he looks down the line of scrimmage, and
Speaker 4: you know, don't want to give away too much. We
Speaker 4: we't see in training camp, but if you see seventeen
Speaker 4: lined up across from Bucks twenty seven in single high,
Speaker 4: in a single high look in pressman coverage, I mean,
Speaker 4: I don't gotta tell you in lake what probably is
Speaker 4: gonna happen, but it's gonna it's probably gonna happen.
Speaker 2: Uh. And my guys, I am a calm over there.
Speaker 2: You know. I love that dude, but it's it's that's
Speaker 2: not a good that's not a good situation for him
Speaker 2: in that in that look.
Speaker 4: So you know, if my quarterback is comfortable checking into something, uh,
Speaker 4: that that takes advantage of that look, then I would
Speaker 4: be comfortable with him, you know what I'm saying, if
Speaker 4: I trust him, and I think every sign we've seen
Speaker 4: from this staff, again, he checked into another play against
Speaker 4: the Miami Dolphants. So it's not like he checked into
Speaker 4: the play against the Jets that he wasn't necessarily supposed
Speaker 4: to check into and then got his hands flapped and
Speaker 4: then didn't check it in anymore. So whatever conversations happened
Speaker 4: behind the scenes, it didn't result in, Hey, dude, you're
Speaker 4: not allowed to check out of these things because it's
Speaker 4: part of the design. It's all built in there, and
Speaker 4: it's I think it's I don't know, I can't quantify, right,
Speaker 4: I don't. I can't tell you how many teams out
Speaker 4: of thirty to do this, But I feel like it's
Speaker 4: it's fairly rare for a rookie quarterback to have that
Speaker 4: kind of decision making leeway, and I think it's really cool.
Speaker 4: I think it's really cool, and it's it's indicative of
Speaker 4: how much they trust Jane to make those calls when
Speaker 4: when you need to, and the better they are, Adam,
Speaker 4: I think the more Cliffill dial up himself.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I really do like that event. Jayden
Speaker 1: and this coaching staff is like they're very collaborative with
Speaker 1: with him. They're not lessarily saying Okay, you have to
Speaker 1: do this our way or it's not going to work.
Speaker 1: They're very much less saying, Okay, if you see a look,
Speaker 1: you know, don't be afraid to check into it. And
Speaker 1: they trust him because he's he developed that trust with him,
Speaker 1: like he's shown that he knows this system. And again,
Speaker 1: on top of that, we haven't really even seen what
Speaker 1: this system is going to look like completely. We've seen
Speaker 1: a lot of the vanilla stuff, but at the same time,
Speaker 1: we haven't really seen all that Cliff Kingsbury is going
Speaker 1: to throw out throw the Buccaneers for obvious reasons, so
Speaker 1: I'm really excited to see what they do what they
Speaker 1: do with that. All right, guys, we have five minutes
Speaker 1: left in this thing and the score is tied between
Speaker 1: US ten ten, and we're going to keep this. This question,
Speaker 1: this last question is really simple. Give me your base
Speaker 1: best case for one player who must have a good
Speaker 1: game for Washington to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday. David,
Speaker 1: we'll start with you first.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna I'm gonna stick in the big ten here,
Speaker 4: and I'm gonna go with Kwon Martin. And I know
Speaker 4: the quarterbacks, the low hanging through the O line as
Speaker 4: a group.
Speaker 2: Is obviously going to be important.
Speaker 4: But I look at this Buccaneers offense, and I've said
Speaker 4: this on some other podcasts in my years of covering
Speaker 4: or writing about or talking about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers,
Speaker 4: this is the most dynamic offense I've ever seen in Tampa.
Speaker 4: It's not the best quarterback ever, so the best tight
Speaker 4: end ever. It is the best wide receiver group ever.
Speaker 4: And the offensive line isn't, you know, even as good
Speaker 4: as the old line they had when they made the
Speaker 4: run of the Super Bowl.
Speaker 2: But all the pieces together holistically.
Speaker 4: And with what Liam Cohen, their new offensive coordinator, has
Speaker 4: done historically in his time with the Rams and even
Speaker 4: the one you're spent in Kentucky.
Speaker 2: This is the most dynamic offense.
Speaker 4: And the thing that you can't prepare for the most
Speaker 4: in training can preseason defensively is tackling.
Speaker 2: And that's usually in the beginning of the season.
Speaker 4: If you see like this great defense falter against a
Speaker 4: lesser opponent, it's usually because the tackling is not on
Speaker 4: point yet because they can't practice him as much. Right, So,
Speaker 4: I look at this commander's defense is Buccaneers offense, and
Speaker 4: guys like Rashad White, who comes out of Arizona State,
Speaker 4: who I consider the Penn State of the Big twelve.
Speaker 2: If he gets loose, if he's allowed to shake that first.
Speaker 4: Tackle attempt, Kwan Martin's gonna be a guy that's gonna
Speaker 4: be back there to help clean that up. You look
Speaker 4: at the pass game, Mike Evans on his deep shots.
Speaker 4: A lot of people look at my get him just
Speaker 4: a big, tall, long dude. He's got deceptive speed even
Speaker 4: at his agent, even as his experience.
Speaker 2: We already talked about the slot. If Chris Godwin's able
Speaker 2: to get free.
Speaker 4: There's got to be that last line of defense to
Speaker 4: make sure that fifteen yard games don't turn into big touchdowns.
Speaker 4: Eight yard games don't turn into fifteen yard games. The
Speaker 4: Buccaneers are going to make some play. So this is
Speaker 4: a playoff team, back to back to back division champion.
Speaker 4: Yes it's the NFC South, but still hard to win
Speaker 4: your division in the NFL. I don't care what division
Speaker 4: you're in. They've got talent. We know that they're going
Speaker 4: to do some things. We know that, but the Washington
Speaker 4: commanders that they can force them to stend drives like
Speaker 4: your goal needs to be no drives less than eight
Speaker 4: plays minimum.
Speaker 2: That's minimum. You have to make Baker maybe go in there.
Speaker 4: Because the thing about Baker too is even in his
Speaker 4: career year last year, he'll throw some mistakes. He'll make
Speaker 4: some mistakes. He'll give you opportunities, and Joey Junior is
Speaker 4: going to lose his mind if they don't take advantage
Speaker 4: of at least two or three of them.
Speaker 2: But those opportunities are gonna come. To get off the field,
Speaker 2: they've got to do that.
Speaker 4: But it starts with making the Bucks stay on the
Speaker 4: field in the first place. For those opportunities to come,
Speaker 4: and I look at Kwan Martin as that last line
Speaker 4: of defense back there. So I think if he has
Speaker 4: a best game of his NFL career, you know, it's
Speaker 4: relatively short, so I think we can go that far.
Speaker 4: If he has the best game of his short NFL career,
Speaker 4: this team has a chance to contain the Buccaneers offense,
Speaker 4: which will help the Commanders offense and allow them to
Speaker 4: be more comfortable with what they're trying to do.
Speaker 1: All right, Lake, give give me your best take. Who
Speaker 1: you think is gonna have the best game to beat
Speaker 1: the Buccaneers on Sunday.
Speaker 3: You know, this is kind of a you know, an
Speaker 3: obvious thing, and I agree with David. You know, I
Speaker 3: do think Kwan Martin is huge. Actually, was gonna go
Speaker 3: Jarem on the defensive side for the overall the overall thing.
Speaker 3: For me, I think Washington has to be able to
Speaker 3: run in the football. They have to, So I'm gonna
Speaker 3: go with Brian Robinson and Austin Eckler. I think, you know,
Speaker 3: as a dual threat, you'll finally get a chance to
Speaker 3: see both these guys in action and how they can
Speaker 3: compliment each other's games. Both can catch the ball out
Speaker 3: the back field too. Surprisingly, Brian Robinson showed that last
Speaker 3: year under Erik the Enemy that he could catch the
Speaker 3: football at a high rate. So I think as long
Speaker 3: as Washington can run the football, it kind of takes
Speaker 3: some of the pressure off Jadan in his first ever start.
Speaker 3: You know, I think it can open up things for
Speaker 3: Jaden as well, because obviously, if you're running the football effectively,
Speaker 3: you're kind of controlling the line of scrimmage. And let's
Speaker 3: face it, you guys, if you're going to start a
Speaker 3: left tackle, and Brandon Foeman his first ever NFL game,
Speaker 3: if he does start at left tackle, which I think
Speaker 3: David and myself in you'sac think he will, you know,
Speaker 3: that's something that can help his game too, because face it,
Speaker 3: if you're asking rookies and you know, these younger players
Speaker 3: to go immediately in the pass pro, you know that
Speaker 3: stuff kind of can mess them up early in the game.
Speaker 3: But if you can get them lathered up and get
Speaker 3: them a fill for the game by running the football effectively,
Speaker 3: it can open up things for the past game. So
Speaker 3: for me, if Brian Robinson can have one of these
Speaker 3: games where he doesn't have to get a hundred yards,
Speaker 3: but if he can get seventy yards on the ground,
Speaker 3: you know, an additional twenty plus, you know, as far
Speaker 3: as dump down or something like that in the past game.
Speaker 3: I think obviously with Austin Eckler, Eckler can get you
Speaker 3: twenty five yards running and maybe you know, on the
Speaker 3: other end, gets you thirty yards in the past game.
Speaker 3: I think this fares very well for Washington in a
Speaker 3: game that I think we all think is going to
Speaker 3: be a close, closely for football game. That running game
Speaker 3: could be the catalyst that as Washington leave Tampa with
Speaker 3: the w You.
Speaker 1: Know, normally I would knock you for giving two answers
Speaker 1: at once there, but I think the way the way
Speaker 1: that they've the way they've pretty much propped up b
Speaker 1: Rob and Eckler at the duo is so appropriate because
Speaker 1: like they very much are a one a one beat
Speaker 1: just because they offer something very different. You know, you
Speaker 1: have Eckler with with the outside runs, but you have
Speaker 1: Irob who can who can do that, but more of
Speaker 1: a bruiser can can hit those of those holes down downfield.
Speaker 1: And David, I love the point that you you you
Speaker 1: brought up about Kwan and tackling I think it's gonna
Speaker 1: be so key, especially what the Steven showed last year.
Speaker 1: And I love the way Kawan Martin has developed this offseason.
Speaker 1: But I gotta get I gotta go with Lake here
Speaker 1: with this is it was it was so so it
Speaker 1: was so excellent. Bit a point considering that this is
Speaker 1: Jimmy Jaden's first start, you need to establish a solid
Speaker 1: run game. So Lake, you are the first winner of
Speaker 1: the beat Down Podcast. Do you have any any any
Speaker 1: victory words that you'd like to to part on this here?
Speaker 3: Well, listen, man, David's my brother man and and and
Speaker 3: you know, literally one of the best out out there
Speaker 3: doing this thing. So you know, it's it's all love
Speaker 3: as long as I know, uh, you know, he's gonna
Speaker 3: wear some blue next week.
Speaker 2: We're good. I'm actually wearing blue today. Bro Okay.
Speaker 4: And you know what, for the record, I agree b
Speaker 4: Rob and Austin Eckler. That's one a one like that
Speaker 4: is that is like that's the running back position group.
Speaker 4: But don't sleep on Jeremy McNichols. He was drafted by
Speaker 4: Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It's not it's not a revenge game.
Speaker 4: Like the staff is gone, that drafted him, all that
Speaker 4: kind of stuff. But you know, for a guy that
Speaker 4: has ended up being a journeyman the way that Jeremy
Speaker 4: mc nichols has been, you know that there's just there's
Speaker 4: got to be just a human part of him that
Speaker 4: wants to win. Whatever opportunities he gets to play, even
Speaker 4: if it's on special teams, make a splash play out there,
Speaker 4: just go out into Raymond James Stadium, in the stadium
Speaker 4: that you started your career in, and then have a
Speaker 4: good day and help your team win. So you know
Speaker 4: that running back group as a whole certainly going to
Speaker 4: be critical for this game.
Speaker 3: And it seems like they've been hot in Austin all summer,
Speaker 3: just just waiting for this type of game where you know,
Speaker 3: he's a veteran, he's been around, he knows obviously. Coach
Speaker 3: Lynn is his coach here now his position coach. So
Speaker 3: you just this game reeks of an Austin Eckler red
Speaker 3: zone touchdown somehow.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you bring up Jeremy mc nichols, I will point
Speaker 1: out the day one I said, the Jeremy mc nichols froster.
Speaker 1: Just just just go throw that out there for you,
Speaker 1: all right, guys, you know, we're gonna see one unfolds
Speaker 1: in week one. I feel they've been waiting this for years,
Speaker 1: but finally we're gonna see Jade and Daniels inaction in
Speaker 1: a real game where the bullets are gonna be flying.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be fantastic no matter what happens. I think
Speaker 1: it's gonna be very competitive either way. Uh but but guys,
Speaker 1: I really appreciate you coming on.
Speaker 2: Lake.
Speaker 1: You will have a chance to keep your title, David.
Speaker 1: You will have a chance to get some revenge here
Speaker 1: later on the season. We'll have a rotating cast of
Speaker 1: all the beat requarters over the next you know, a
Speaker 1: few months or so. But it's gonna be a great
Speaker 1: season either way. But guys, I really appreciate you coming
Speaker 1: out and this has been the beat down