Inside the Matchup | Episode 67

brown secondary. I want to start off with we just heard from Terry mcward, like he is a huge part of this offense and the success, and of course his numbers won up a little bit more with Taylor heineke back there, but he's got Carson Wentz all this time, and he's got a former teammate and didn't award. He's

going up against Logan. Yeah. I mean I always get excited when guys in college that went to college together and they get to see each other every day in practice get to play against each other, because that matchup just becomes so much more storied. Right, It's like he knows what he does in practice, he's seen it, he's seen it live in living color, and so who's gonna get the better of this matchup? Two guys who came into Ohio State the same year and both are playing

really high level football at the moment. I love this type of matchup, especially the familiarity brings. And then one of the things I want to say about that, I remember those days when I played against the Mike Rumps and the Philip Buchanans. You always get up for that because you understand, man, this guy knows me more than I know myself. You saw me more than any other guy. And I'm playing against So I'm pretty sure that Terry's gonna sleep well, and then Zille might not sleep well.

Terry always says he enjoys going up against former teammates, and of course against somebody who's one of the best in the league at their craft, and that would be Wards, So it would be a good test for that one. But if we get to a little bit further into this, Nick Chubby, Yeah, Chubb scares me. I mean scares me too.

But I think one of the things that stands out is every week I think our defense has been, you know, put under pressure to say, hey, you're gonna get the best back in this league or the band one of the best backs this week. And I think they still to the challenge. You know, they still strong in the paint and Nick Chubb comes in what he ranked third in the league right now with thirteen hundreds something yards

and fifth in the NFL. Our defense have a tough challenge, but I think they're gonna stand strong and do what you do the need to tell Yeah, And I do think it's also important to recognize that they are changing their offense a little bit. You know, Nick Chubb was the feature early on. Now they're kind of shipped into Deshaun Watson right, He's becoming a priority in terms of

the quarterback run stuff. Nick Chubb, down for down has become a little bit less efficient, kind of took prop up to Shawn right and obviously as a passer and as a runner, they're trying to emphasize what he does. They invest a lot of money, they want to see him go, and he's starting to get a little bit of that rust off. Now let us do the break out oats to look like the guy that got that huge mega contract as well. We're gonna have to protect Carson Wentz and you have to because you have Miles

Garrett coming for you. Logan, I mean, Miles Garrett is like the freakiest human being I've ever seen you when you watched the film, right, You had Nick Bosi last week, who is a barbarian when it comes to rushing the passer, and you get Miles Garrett this week, who is maybe a better athlete. I think his down to down effort is not quite as good. But if you want a guy to rush the pastor we're gonna make one in the lab, he would look like Miles Garrett. So what

are they gonna do? And it's not just Leno and Lucas. It comes down to, you know, Scott Turner, what's your plan? Chips, play action, all that kind of thing. They need a plan for him and Santana they have the eighth best ranked pass defense league as well, And that's one of the things that stand out to me is like, Okay, are they the eighth best ranked pass defense because guys are not throwing on them because they can't stop the run or it is because they're just shutting guys down.

So that's going to be something that I'm looking forward to see. Oh, we have Carson Wentz back. One of the things that I want to see is because we didn't have so many trouble, so much trouble in the red zone. But I think when Carson was there, we was getting touchdowns. So will he be effective in the red zone for this offense this second time around, or will their defense stop us from doing what we think we can do well with Carson. Earlier this week, head

coach Ron Rivera named quarterback Carson Wentz the starter. Wentz started the first six games of the season and appeared in the final quarter of the Commander's loss to the forty nine Ers. The QP has thrown for over one thousand and six hundred yards and eleven touchdowns. London Fletcher cut up with Wentz to discuss how he's preparing for the Browns. Carson, So, Coach RIVERI here not that you would be the starting quarterback this weekend against the Clearing Browns.

How does that feel, you know, knowing that you're preparing to start another game against the Browns. It's exciting. It's exciting obviously personally, but I think it's exciting for for this team. You know, we know we're at It's been very up and down year, but we know where we're at and we know what's at stake these last two weeks, and we got a big one in front of us right now this week, and so for me personally, it's exciting and you know, step in and just try and

distribute and you know, make plays when astro palm. How was it? How big was it for you to be able to get those those reps against the forty nine. It's having missed so much time in terms of just getting you getting some of the rust off and being able to have some some game reps going into this game. Yeah, I thought it was huge. I thought it was big for me um mentally as well, just you know, coming out there and just especially going no huddle right away.

I had to go score and just no time to think, just go play and just kind of feel the rhythm of the game again. And like you said, it's been a while with from the injury and then others things going on. So I thought that was big for me mentally for my confidence going forward. As a veteran quarterback. You've you've been around for a number of years, but

still this is your first year in this system. Were you able to kind of look at the offense from a different perspective, you know, during your time you know, healing from injury and things like that without a doubt. Yeah, yeah, I mean, you're I'm still obviously when I was out, I'm still involved in the meetings. I'm still a part of everything, but I'm not coming out here and going through it. So it allows me to see it a little bit differently and ask questions and really try and

understand the whys and and everything. And so I think that definitely helped me understand the bigger picture within this offense, and um, I think that will help embode well for me down the stretcher. The offense a lot different, uh, kind of than what you what it was when you were starting quarterback, a lot more run oriented. Having Brian Rabbits a healthy the offense a lot is a lot healthier. How how do you feel like that will aid you

and just you know, as you start against the Browns. Yeah, I mean a quality run game is always a huge help, uh, and confidence booster for a quarterback, you know, and not just quarterback, but for the entire old line, the entire offense. You know, to be able to physically kind of impose our will upfront, like I believe our guys have done and are capable of doing, I think helps helps the passing game tremendously and I look forward to seeing that

up close and personal. Uh. Now, like you said, it's it's kind of the idea of these kind of change throughout these seasons, So I look forward to kind of being a part of it and seeing how that opens up the passing game within it. Yeah, you mentioned the passing game. Part of that passing game is the receivers, and you know you've got three dynamic receivers obviously with Jehan, Curtis and Terry. What's it gonna be like for you

and has it? Is it difficult getting that chemistry back with those guys you know that you had prior to a projecting injury. I mean, I think I think the offseason, workouts, the training camp, all of those moments, I mean make a huge difference. You know, to miss time but be able to come back and just try and pick up where we left off. You know, it's never gonna be perfect,

you You're always gonna miss some here and there. But I think those times, the moments in the off season and training camp will will bode well for us in terms of chemistry and stuff. And those guys are playing at such a high level, you know, I think and they've all kind of you know, complimented each other well, and I think their confidence has grown and grown throughout the season. And so seeing those guys competing the way they're playing is fun to watch. And now I'm fun

to just you know, distribute to them. Two games left. You guys, control your own destiny. It starts this weekend. It gets Cleveland brown that they have a defense led by Miles Garrett, one of the best pass rushes in the National Football League thirteen a half sacks on the season. What's it like going against his Browns defense led by by Garrett, Yeah, it's it's a talented defense. You know, they fly around. Obviously, they got Miles Shadeveon over there.

They got two you know, premiere defensive ends over there, and uh they make life tough, you know, without a doubt their coach, well, they fly around, they play hard, they play fast. So we got to work cut out um and we know we're gonna know where those guys are at all times because you gotta respect them. They're two of the two of the premier guys in this game. So h it'll be fun. It'll be a fun matchup. I'm excited. We got him at home. UM, and so

it'll be fun. Yeah, that's great. Well, I can't wait to see you guys and see you out there Sunday. Going to gets to Cleveland Browns, my home top team, but I will not be rooting for those brows. You know who I'll be rooting for Sunday. Appreciate you for all your news and analysis. Be sure to tune into Command Center WEIG nights at five and ten pm on NBC Sports Washington. You can also stream on YouTube and commanders dot com