Inside the Matchup | Episode 42

of his coming through the air. What is it about Jalen Logan that says, okay, we got to be able to contain him and what he's able to do with the offense. I think everyone associates him as being this very dynamic runner, which he is very tremendous athlete. But I think the area that he's improved the most and

is as a passer. He looks so much more dynamic, completing over eighty percent of his passes against Minnesota, and a little bit that's on Minnesota and the conservative defense that they played, But he has evolved tremendously as a passer and he's actually I think that's making him more dangerous, making that offense more dangerous. So to me, that's that's the evolution of Jalen Hurts. Yeah, I think hit it

on the head. I think one of the things that stands out the most is that, you know, they told him, hey, do an off season, this is where your handicap at in the passing game. We know you can run with the football. He comes in this season, he's running well with the football again, and he's passing, you know, and making sure that he's there. He's in the top ranks when he comes to the quarterbacks in the league, he's Sunday. So we definitely have to, you know, try to find

a way to hold him down in both categories. Yeah, and kudos to the staff are in Philadelphia too for finding receivers to support him. And they've done that and they find guys like AJ Brown who are dominant number one receivers, and I think that always helps you on quarterbacks like Jellen. You know, he's also holding the ball longer than any quarterback, but that's because he can scramble and extend the play. He's about just over three seconds.

But when he does throw it, he is leading the league in passing yards per attempt at nine point one, so he's being able to get a lot of yards through the air as well. You just mentioned the receivers. Let me go ahead and go to that they did bring into a j Brown. They do have DeVante Smith as well, and of course they have tight end that's really able to do a lot of work as well. How do our dB stack up against them? Do you think?

How do you limit that? Yeah, it's gonna be tough because you didn't even mention Quay Walker, who's like Quay Watkins excuse me, who's like the speed Shrew group. So they kind of have a much like our team, a three headed monster that's very dynamic or excellent tight end and excellent running back, all guys that can find Mitch Matches right. So I think it's about slowing them down. I think all of their production stems from Jalen Hurts. So can you confuse Jalen Hurts? Can you want to

settle him? Can you make him question what he's looking at? Tanny, You've talked a lot about pressing the receivers up the line of scrim and just giving those guys different looks, And I think that's gonna be the genesis of slowing that group down. Yeah, that's key for me. You know, I played a long time in this league and one of the things I've always said, you can put anybody in front of me, and especially man and man, I'm

gonna beat him. You know. Nine time I attend any guy in this league that's on this self about him. You should be able to be a man and man covers. But when you have a guy press and being a net and being a pest that slows things down. It takes the quarterback too long to be, you know, looking at you primarily, so he comes off of you. Now he had to see it second and third reade. If we get those guys to slow those receivers down, send

people at Carson, I mean, send people at Hurts. Then now you can take him out of that game plan or out of that progression. And he had to plan be a plan set. So that's how you stop those guys. You're also talking about not just playing you know, your man the receivers in DBS book goes in out of course it's the pass rush. Yeah, and if you have a good pass rush, then you're probably not going to be able to be open to begin with. Because they're

getting to the quarterback. We saw them get to get to Kirk Cousins and very aggressive in that game Monday night. How do you see Washington and Scott Turner holding up against their defensive coordinator Jonathan Dannon. Yeah. I think Jonathan Gannon's a very young and up and coming guy. He's kind of changing what he does. Last year, they were

one of the most conservative defenses in the NFL. A little bit more aggressive this year, but I think the matchup favorites Washington because of the space and the kind of the conservative approach that he has. You know, one of the things that stands out to me is just you know, me and Logan played a long time and it's something that else, you know, I spoke with London about. It's the copycat league. Teams are going to pick up what they see that you can't do or that you

didn't you know, pan out well with. So they wash Detroit game and say this is we're gonna do. We're gonna bring fire, we're gonna brain bliss and see how these guys can take it. I talked about it last week. Being the dictator, you know, we have to dictate what we want to do so you make sure that if they're going to put those guys in the box and bring the bliss, you make sure you hit somebody every time and get them off or take a shot down

field two. And then you know what that defense is gonna say, hold on, we can't bring these guys in the box. We can't set out here and be too aggressive. We have to make sure that we can contain these guys on the outside as well. That's how you change things up. Plus, we talked about some keys to the commanders securing a victory that coach Ron Rivera is looking to when the first game in the division against Philadelphis. Let's get our keys to winning Santana. We start with him.

Thank you, Julie. Well, you know, my number one key to winning this game has to be I mean, stopping Jelly Hurts in the Philadelphia Eagles run game, but not just the run games, the offense. I think one of the things that we have to do contain these guys. I mean we saw it from week one week two. Defensively, might not go out there and stop anybody, but we must contain this guy. We know he can do an RPO game. And now the past, the game has been a threat. So that's my number one key to win.

To agree, and this could really be the point for all five of these things. That's how important that is. That's what he means said offense, but kind of traversely or reversely is keeping Carson Wentz comfortable, right, because I think if the defense is gonna struggle doing this, Carson's gonna have to score a lot of points. This offense is gonna have to have to score a lot of points. I think that comes down to Scott Turner finding throws and reads and know we're going to run the football

to make sure that he's in his comfort zone. Because when he's in his comfort zone, this offense really texts. And I must pick it back off of what you're talking about with Carson Wentz, and I'm gonna say my number two key to winning would be sustained long offensive drive. And that's dealing with Carson Scott turn On just offensively what we saw the first game. You know, we're back home now, we have the home field advantage, we have the crowd behind us. We're probably going to see a

lot of that was green. Joursey under stands too. But we must sustain a long drives and keep our defense, you know, off the field at all times. I mean, we understand what our defense have right now. It might be some depth issues up front, but regardless of what it is, if we can go out there and performing the way we did Week one in the first half and sustain at the second half, we have a great chance of Man yea, I don't even know if they

need to be long drives. So he could just see the score points too, right, because this you know, this offense has been driven by big plays. I think if they get that big play, get those points, they're gonna shootout. It's not gonna be so much on the defense, I think. And then kind of pick your backing off you man, spread the well round on offense, and then kind of pairs with this one finding your mismatches, and I think all those things are so important, right because they have

excellent defensive coverage players, right. They got Slay, they got Bradberry, they got Maddox in the slot, and those guys are gonna match up with our three headed monster really nicely. So can Gibson mkissic Logan Thomas, Can you find those opportunities against linebackers and lesser cover players to really put that off into a good situation. I think, yes, got Turner shown that he can do that. But that's gonna be a huge element of this game in terms of

being successful on offense. And these are the games you get paid for. The man. You want to have a great divisional opponent that you can go out there and play your best against the best and soon comes out on tone. For all of your news and analysis, be sure to tune into Command Center weeknights at five thirty and ten pm on NBC Sports Washington. You can also stream on YouTube and commanders dot com.