What is going on? Commander's Sam. This is another episode of the beat Down podcast. Welcome in. I am your host, senior for the Washington Commanders, Zach Selby. I'm still kind of riding the high a little bit because it's hard to even to describe even though we've there's been so many stories written, so many things shown on social media about the Hail Mary pass that ended the Chicago Bears game with Washington coming out on top eighteen to fifteen.
But you know, I will say, you know, it's usually pretty subdued in the press box, right, I guess as it should be. You have to be quiet and cheering the press box all that other stuff when that play happened. You know, there there are some moments where the rules kind of go out the window a little bit, And even though it was still a little subdued, there was still a lot of a lot of buzz in that press box for what you just because it's a history
making moment. What's one of the best moments in franchise history already and I mean everyone, everyone who was there will remember for the rest of their lives. But while we're all still really excited about the Heil Mary Pass, the Commanders still have to turn the page. So they are moving on to their second Division match of the season against the New York Giants, going on the road
to MetLife Stadium. It's you know, you can never count out Division matchup, but you know, the Commanders and Giants have always played to other really tough Disask any Commander's fan over the last two years about what that matchup has been like. You can never count the Giants out for anything. You never count the Commanders out for anything, no matter what their record is. So the Commanders is trying to go to seven and two for the first time.
He's nineteen ninety six against the Giants, and how are they going to do that? Well, that is exactly what we're going to be talking about today, and we have two more guests they were going to be talking about this. It will be Candy Waller coming back to us from booy TV Sports and Andrew Pisad, Giants writer a form for Sports Illustrated. How are we doing, y'all?
I'm with you, Zach, I'm doing I'm still riding high from from the raise Hail Mary on Sunday that the Commander's offense executed. So I'm still kind of riding high from that.
Yeah, you know, it's it's it's pretty crazy just to just to imagine what that's going to be like, you know, talking about it for years from now. And Andrew, how are you doing over there?
I appreciate you having me on. You know, it's I'm good, but you know, obviously my football team is not very good. So it's it's always a it's always an interesting time of year when they barely have any wins heading into November. So it is what it is at this point.
But you know that that is right. But at the same time, like I was saying earlier, you just know how competitive they're going to be. Considering how competitive the the NFC East is. Anything that happened, it has for the last you know, decade or so. I don't think that there's been a repeat winner in that span. Uh so really anything it happened because these guys just beat up on each other all the time. Uh But you know, we'll move on from that now and we'll get into
the match up here. Before we do that, all of yours know the spiel, they know the deal. Here. These guys are going to be answering questions that I present on an offense, on a defense, and one more of a general question. There will be points that forget that will be given out, and there will be a winner, because I in the post of the podcast, I could
decide who wins and who loses. But at the same time, you should be more focused on the objective takes that the that these individuals have because they're they're the insiders, they know what they're talking about. And all that being said, let's go ahead and get into it. Starting with the Giants defense, which I think is probably you know, their biggest strength right now, especially in the front seven. Dexhah Lawrence is a monster right now leading the team in sacks.
They're first in the NFL with thirty five sacks, which I was kind of surprised that whenever I whenever I first saw that stat Wednesday when I was making the preview story. So it's gonna be a big challenge for this Washington offensive line. Who is They are playing a lot better than I think a lot of people expect at the beginning of the year. Their top ten unit in Pathlock Win Ray. I mean, they're working really well together,
especially in the interior. You know, with Brandon Coleman, So you know, maybe coming back as he gets in the concussion protocol, they'll be a little bit closer to full strength. But iner, since you are the guests here, you're your first time guests, I will I'll go with the question to you first. What role is that battle between Washington's off the line and the giants stephensive line going to have on Sunday?
You know, it's it's pretty it's a pretty crucial role. Obviously, a lot of like the talking point is that games are one in the trenches. Looking back at the last matchup, we had five sacks and seven hits on on Jayden Daniels. But the thing is like it wasn't from our defensive line, so we had a lot of safety blitzes and linebackers kind of come down. Jason Pinnock, our safety, led the team with two sacks. Our edges were shut out. Desha
Lawrence didn't have a sag either. So, like you said, I think Commander's offensive line has been playing better than expected. But now that where our games are, what seven weeks apart, the Giants have definitely turned it up since then, It's gonna look a little bit different this time. Uh, Keavon Thibodau is an Ir with a wrist injury, which means as he's o Ja Lari is gonna be stepping in. He stepped in pretty well over the last couple of games. He has a sack at least one sack in three
straight games. Brian Burns has a sack and four straight games. And then obviously Dexter Lawrence is just a monster and he kind of wins any matchup presented in front of him. So it's gonna be it's gonna be like you said, it's always a good matchup with the Giants and Commanders, and I think this is gonna be where most of the where most of the fund is gonna be, at least for my side, because it really isn't much else
to be excited about. So seeing seeing them get after Daniel is gonna be a fun matchup for sure.
You know, I cannot you cannot understate the the impact that Dexhah Lawrence is really having. I mean, my god, he is just a force to be dealt with. And I think, you know, telabadis Is is very is very real equipped to to to deal with that. You know him think he's ninth in in run block, run block, Win Ray like he's he he has the the ability for sure, uh you know, to go toe to toe
with Dexah Lawrence. But Candy, you know, we we've seen how this offensive line has has really grown over the last you know, gosh where we you know, we're in week nine, and I would say that they've they've really come on even more because you know, they they looked more impressive in week one, for sure, but lately this seems like they are churning out and and humming and in a way that I as a four off the line and I'm very pleasantly, you know, surprised and very
very happy to see. But how have you seen this, this Washington offensive line, uh grow from from the last time we played the Giants and we two to now heading into week nine?
You know during OTAs Zach, I recall uh Tyler uh Fia saying, you know, the offensive line was really already and this was in May, you know, learning how to operate five as one. And I continue to go back to kind of his first presser, if you will, with us and thinking about all of the things that he was saying that they were working on back then that
we're actually seeing now on the field. Now, they are dealing with some injuries, right, you know Commanders offensive offensive lineman, you know Brandon Coleman, hopefully he is back this week from concussion protocol. We know Cornelius Lucas left the game on Sunday during with injuries. So now it's around that time where and I know Andrew you mentioned some of
the injuries to the Giants defense as well. Now it's kind of like around that time where folks are starting to get injured, so you have to really look through the depth chart, you know, to kind of pull and plug there. But this offensive line, and especially with Jayden Daniels dealing through his rib injury and pushing through through that, I think this offensive line is completely and totally brought
in to protecting Jayden Daniels at all costs. And if anything, I think what Sunday this past Sunday did was continue to show that improve that the team did a heck of a job blocking for Jayden to get that ball off for that long twelve second to him to get it off, they did a tremendous job. You saw Austin Eckler running running back. Austin Eckler get involved there as well with Trent Scott then at that point in as the depth chart person and coming in to help protect
So I think this offensive line is brought in. I think every member of the commanders is totally bought in with protecting Jayden Right.
Yeah, and you mentioned you mentioned Brennan Coleman. You know, he talked to us outside of the locker room, uh, yesterday Wednesday, and it seemed like he he said he was doing great, you know, he said, he said he it felt great to be back out there on the field. We can never really guess with the concussion protocol stuff, but you know, the hope is that he's he's back, he's back in, you know, suiting up on Sunday and you know, it's it seemed like he's on the right track.
But we'll see what the official designation is once we get further into the week and hopefully by this time, you know, be announced that he'll be able to go. But again, we'll we'll never we'll never know here until until then. But Andrew you mentioned, uh you know, came on Phibodeau uh and him being on I R. And you know that that seems like that's such a big blow because he's so athletic as a as a player.
What what has that done with the reverberating effects of not having Thibodeau and how how the Giant's been able to adjust to that.
Yeah, So I just want to give credit to u Zizo Jalari because he stepped in really well. From pass rushing standpoint, he already has six sacks on this season, and from just a pure pass rushing standpoint, I think he has at which is kind of crazy to say. I think he's a little bit better than Kavon in that category. But the drawbacks of not having Kavon is his support in the run game. And now like our run defense has never been uh hasn't really been good
over the last several years. But Kavon has always known like how to set the edge and things like that, and and rack up tackles for losses and things like that. Azi doesn't have that at all. He does He's really a non factor in the run game. So if you run towards his side, it's pretty much you're going You're going to get yardage, and that's that's.
Really the main thing.
But Aziz has stepped in well from a from a pass rushing standpoint, and I don't really see much of a drop off in production. So the run, the run defense is really the main concern that I've had with Thibodeau off off the field for four weeks.
Yeah, and it seems like, you know, see what they've they've still managed to do okay right in managing their run. Let's see if I can just look up here exactly how well they're doing against the run, the Giants are and I you know this, I mean that they're they're near and there near the bottom at one hundred and forty one point eight yards per game. But again, like in the interior, like I said, DESHL Lawrence, with all of these other depth pieces they have there, they're still
gonna be really tough to run against. Uh Now, now, Candy, you know, he you know, Andrews brings up a good point about the run defense. And you know, if there's any I've been saying this for weeks, if there's any big the biggest strength of this Commander's offense, it has definitely been, uh the the way they've been able to dominate on the ground. I think their third right now, and rushing yards per game. I mean, you know, obviously obviously last week was a little bit of a different
story because of the Bear. The bear defense was just so good. But do you do you foresee them getting back on track against the Giants? And you know, do you think is the biggest cause of why they're why they often Line has been able to be so good in terms of just uh, you know, opening these hold up of Brian Robinson and Austin Eckler.
You know what, I think one of one of the reasons why they've been so successful. It's kind of funny, right, zactly. I remember last year Sam Cosmi, you know, at the end of the year was kind of like run the ball, right, almost like they wanted to run the ball. They want to get out there and block it, hit and must ask and do all of these things. They it's like it excited them to just to be able to do that.
So it's kind of like that's one part of it, which might seem like kind of funny to say, but it's almost like, hey, these got this is what these guys want to do. They're like, we have some dynamic runners, get the ball on the ground. Let's let's do what we do best and let's and let's roll with it. So I think that's a key part of it. We know that Brian Robinson Junior has been dealing with two injuries.
I think that maybe have some something to do with it as well in terms of just why it may have been up or down, because as we all know, when Brian Robinson Junior is on, it just elevates the entire offense in the run game for certain So I think this is a game that they would still really try to get that going because it has been such a strength. But I think the guys just love running the ball and they love seeing that power and that
strength at speed from Austin Heckler. Jeremy McNichols has also flashed in a variety of different spots for the Commanders this season, so I think that has a lot to do with it.
And you know, so the Commanders had two hundred and fifteen rushing yards and thirty five carries against the Giants, and we in week two, I would expect that they'll have a pretty similar approach or at least try to heading head at the start of the game to see how the Giants ad Just we'll move on to the next question.
Here.
Before that, we got a score update. Candy, you are ahead five to three, So congratulations and winning round one, Andrew, you staw some time to make up for it. But we'll go over to the Giants offense here and we'll talk about Elite Nighbors because I think he well this well the Giants offense, as you know, they've they've had some rough patches here and there. I think Milite Neighbors has definitely been a star, you know, in a lot
of different ways. In Week two, he was started eighteen times for one hundred and twenty seven yards in a touchdown, got ten catches on the day. You know, they they just continued to go at him over and over and over again. And you know it's hard to blame him because of how how much of a special talent he is.
But Canny, we'll start with you here and I'll ask you, like, do you how do you expect the secondary to adapt to Milite Neighbors in the second matchup between them, because I would imagine like the Giants are still gonna target him quite a bit, but also the secondary has really improved a lot as well.
I was just getting ready to say that we've definitely seen some improvements overall in the defense, but definitely in the secondary as well. We know coming into the season there was so many questions and was like, okay, out of all of the position groups, which one is the weakest, And you know, I know for me it was the secondary. It was like, all right, you know, there's some challenges
back there. So what I've continued to say throughout the season is when the defensive line, when they're able to get that pressure up front, it helps the secondary tremendously because Malik Neighbors is just he is just awesome. He's
just great. I mean, it's just one of those receivers where it's like you cannot expect the score to just be zero, right, you cannot expect a shutout completely when you have a star like Milite Neighbors on your roster offensively, So it is going to be important for you know, the defensive line, the linebackers to get as much pressure as they can on Daniel Jones. I believe he is still starting. I know there were some questions about some changes that at quarterback, but they're not going to make
a change, sounds like. So it's it's one of the things that I shared and going into Week two was you know, got to get the sack. At that point in time, the defensive line of defensive world, they weren't. They will not finishing at all. So they were allowing allowing Daniel Jones to do what he does best against the Commanders. As you mentioned in the opening, this team has struggled so much against the New York Giants, and so this is an opportunity to kind of make up
for that struggle. While they did win in Week two, they certainly did still struggle against Daniel Jones. So I think if the defense is able to get that pressure up front they're able to finish, that will help the secondary out tremendously because once the balls in the area goes to the Neighbors, he's going to make the play.
So I think it's not so much while what the corners can do, because they're gonna do the best that they can, but I think it to stop the League Neighbors, the pressure's got to be upfront with the defensive line and the linebackers.
You know, I was just out of curiosity, I looked at how many targets Millie Labs has got in this year. He's had in seventy three, which is the second highest in the NFL, which is that's just that's just crazy to me that they see but they their their offense really is is driven by him and and Andrew, like you know, like I just mentioned, like you know, seventy three targets. You know, they he clearly is, like you know,
their best weapon. So what are the different ways that they've been they've tried to get him involved because obviously, you know, you can't just use him as a deep threat. He's got so much more ability than that. So what what are all the different ways they tried to you know, make him, make him at the focal point of the office about without you know, the teeth the entire devents keying on him on every single play.
Yeah, So, like you said, those seventy three targets are actually insane. And what's crazy about it is he missed two ins with a concussion. Yeah, so that's it's it's really it's cool to see because we haven't had this in.
A very long time. So with the last time these two teams met.
Obviously, Neighbors did what he had to do, but a lot of the route concepts were kind of short. There were a lot of shallow crossers. It was just getting him the ball in space and letting him get yards after the catch. I believe eight percent of his yards in that game came after the catch. So the deep, honestly, the deep threat that he was in college, it's obviously still there, but we haven't really given him the opportunity
to showcase that because of the quarterback play. The offensive line play hasn't really been great, and like Candy was saying, it's more of like a trickle down effect. So our left tackle, and Andrew Thomas is out for the season and we've had just the last two to three games.
It's just been awful awful.
Can even can not protect on that side of the line, so it's been hard to get neighbors the ball. So coming back from the concussion, he hasn't really.
Had that big game just yet.
He almost had a touchdown in the Steelers game, but his foot was out of bounds, but it was it would have been a crazy catch. But in this game or the last couple of weeks, I should say, it's just been more a lot of over the middle type of stuff. I believe on a on a fourth and one play against the Steelers, they kind of just did like a little out route and got them like three yards. But they've they've mixed it up for sure. They've even put him in the backfield on some plays, jet sweeps
things like that. I haven't seen a lot of slants, to be honest, since that though. The Week three game in Cleveland he ran like two really good slants and it was really nice. But I haven't really seen that much since. But a deep threat hasn't really been there too much yet. So if I were the Commanders, I wouldn't worry about it because we can't really protect for that long anyway.
But it's been it's been a it's been a.
Joy to watch because it doesn't really matter who's in front of him. He's can he can kind of go up and just win that matchup regardless.
It's it's been fun.
I feel like the big moment that we've been weighed to have been since he came back from the Culture Protocol hasn't happened. But I feel like we're close, So I think it might happen this game if if Jones can get him the ball for sure.
Yeah, and to your point, the Giants are you know, they flowed the third most sacks in the NFL so far this year with twenty six. So and I was looking up, you know, milite nighbors just game by game, you know stats here, and his best game came against Commanders.
Uh second will be against Dallas. Uh so Candy, Like you know, obviously, it's one thing to say that the secondary is improved and you know all that other stuff, but like, I mean, who do you who do you see them putting on elite neighbors or is it gonna be more of a group effort between you know, the entire group.
I think I think I would envision a group effort. But at the same token, I'm sincing Mikey, Mike Samras still yeah, And the reason why is because I'm just I just immediately as soon as you were asking that question, I was thinking about the Ravens game when Zay Flowers was just going off like they like, you know, Coach Wick told me in the presser you know, hey, they just had a good day, and sometimes that, hey, milite
neighbors could very well just have a good day. But I think perhaps that was a lesson learned because in the second half of the Ravens game. They put Mikey one day and it's pretty quiet, right, So I'm like, maybe this is you know, rookie rookie opportunity and Mikey gainst that work on on Sunday. But I think we we'll see some adjustments having to be made as well, because we like, like you know, Andrew were saying, Zak he was saying, Malite Neighbors is having a terrific year.
So I mean, and he's going to get well the targets, right. I know, he was out in concussion protocol for a bit, but he's there. If Danie Jones could get the ball off, he's going to get the ball to Milite Neighbors, banking on if nothing else, a potential DPI mm hm. Because unfortunately sometimes you could almost count on one someone in the commanded secondary getting that. So well, we'll see what happens.
And it kind of feels bad to say that, but I mean, I know, we're just you know, we're thought. I mean that it's the truth. So that that is how I envisioned. I think, you know, the pressure up front, but if it's one on one match up, I'm thinking maybe Mikey has that one.
Yeah, and I think that's that's been one of the biggest differences I think with this with his defense, and you know, Dan was even saying on Wednesday that, you know, it was it was a big move for them to move move Mike to the outside, and they may grapple with it quite a bit, but so far it's really turned out well from it, even though he you know, Quinny even meant I think it was the last two weeks ago that you know, he's more of an inside player, but because he's just so good at a lot of
other things that he's able to, you know, they're able to move him around. So I think we're gonna move on to the final question here. But you know, Andrew, you have tied up, so there's that, you know, we're hitting the last round with a little bit of high stake situation here.
Uh.
You know, I was looking thinking about how to you know, phrase this final question here, and I think it's a little bit of an interesting uh you know, Dux's position here. But there's obviously gonna be a lot of you know, a lot of different players that are gonna have big, big roles in this. I picked two that I think are a little bit diametrically different, but I think it have have their own impact in very different ways. One is Austin Eckler and and the other is obviously dexteror Lawrence.
Uh So, Andrew will start with you, who do you think is gonna have the bigger effect on Sunday's outcome? Is it going to be Commanders running back Austin Eckler or is it going to be Dexter Lawrence.
So obviously, watching Decks over the last several years, just seeing the player he's turned into once switching to strictly as a nose tackle has been pretty pretty crazy to watch. So obviously I'm gonna I'm gonna take Lawrence in this situation. He didn't have he didn't really have a not a bad game or anything, but he just didn't have a
big game against the Commanders a week two. But I think with the momentum that they've had over the last several weeks, with all the sacks they racked up, decks just getting to the quarterback and more consistent rate than last year, I think he's going to win. And Tyler Biattis is a more than capable center. I think he's I think he's played pretty well this year, but I
think Lawrence is going to win that matchup. Now, Eckler, with the way this Giants run defenses has played all season long, Eckler can definitely have an impact in some way. I wouldn't be surprised about that. But I think Dexter is just going to continue his dominance and I think he's gonna if I believe that the stat was before heading into the season, whenever Lawrence has one sack, the Giants win. That obviously isn't the case this year because we had he had a sack and we lost.
A few games. But what he.
Can impact the game in so many different ways, and I think he's going to come out on top this week in this matchup.
And you did touch on the reason why I included Austin Eckler in this in this this matchup between the two, because I think he has some really special ability, especially we could happened against the Giants defense. But Candy, you are up, is it going to be Austin Eckler or Dexter Lawrence will have a bigger impact.
On some day. So I definitely was wanting to pick Dexter Lawrence, and I thought about it and I said, if I go back for a minute in the week two games, what happened? Oh, I think Austin Eckler had a touchdown that came back on special teams.
Yes, he did.
And I said, you know what, because I've been waiting for a specialty. Have been waiting And I said, perhaps that's where Austin Eckler can make the biggest impact in starting field position. I know, and you know we know the zact that that is one of the areas the categories that that when it comes to hell the truth one day for the commanders, they are looking at, you know, several different categories starting field position being won for the
offense because of a dexter lawrence. I think it would be in their best interest to be as close to scoring touchdowns as possible, right, and an opportunity to do that is on special teams. Austin Eckler was having a good day, but he ended up I think did he have to know that wasn't a game he had to leave out that was Cincinnati, but this was definitely the game where he had a special teams touchdown and I
had to come back. So I think that may be where we see impact from Austin Eckler, I mean overall in the offense again, just the overall run game, yes, because this was also the game that the compandits didn't score any touchdowns and we saw a little bit more of that last week until the Hail Mary. So this this could be an opportunity to really get that run game going and use it Boston Eckler for sure on special team as well as on his speed in the run.
Game, you know, And I was mostly thinking about how you know, obviously b Rob he has like that that game breaking ability, but you could I think some of the biggest runs and the biggest plays come from Austin Eger because of his speak of his quickness. But the special teams is so good of a point because the Commanders right now are looks like six in return yards and a lot of that is because of Austin Eckler and this special teams unit for the Commanders I think
is playing is at a really high clip there. They look like some of the most efficient in the NFL, and they're they're flying around that field. That's such a cliche phrase, but that's that is the way to describe it, because they play with a lot of physicality and Special Teams. I think is is so fun to watch with the Commanders, you know, I obviously you know Special Team, the spect Teams. He doesn't get as looked at his offensive defense, but it definitely is a lot of fun to watch them,
watch them just fly around and hit people. And uh, that's been very refreshing. But okay, so winner here. Uh, you know, it was a very tough match up for sure, but I think the Special Teams point really puts you over the top. Candy and the first two and oh winner of the Beatdown podcast. How are you feeling about that.
Defeated? Let me play my trip to Doney World.
Yeah, it's yeah, so that that's that's really really big. Hey you can you can invite me to Disney World. I will head down there never been actually so that that'll be exciting. But Andrew, I thought you gave it, gave some really good points to get some really good inside the Giants. You know, it was a great great having you on. And yeah, I think, like I said, the Giants are going to be quite a tough matchup
uh this year. Uh, and it's in the in this rematch, you never know what's gonna happen when you go into met life, because I mean, look two years ago, I was not expecting them to tie.
And yeah, that was that was I was at that game too. It was my goodness, it was insane.
And then the last day when they were met Lefe in twenty twenty three, that was quite the battle. It came all the way down to the very end. Ryan Payne had that fumble recovery and they had the last chance to win the obviously the Commanders obviously didn't come up with it. But yeah, I think it's gonna be
quite the interesting game. And even though the even though the Giants two and six, I think they've still they've got some pieces on on there on the team that make them themselves a lot more competitive.
Yeah, yeah, definitely it should. It's gonna be a good matchup. I'm going to be in the building Sunday, so we'll see it's it's gonna be. It's gonna be fun like they always are.
Yeah for sure. All right, Well, guys, that'll wrap it up for another episode of the Beatdown podcast. Make sure you rate reviews, subscribe wherever you get your podcast, and check out the game on Sunday. Hopefully We're talking about a seven and two commander's team, and this has been the beaton