Coming up on the Booth Review. The Commanders were back in a big way. London dominating performance by the entire team, and you got to hand out that belt. I know the crowd wants.
We'll see does Terry get it or does the defended champion dot Te Fowler tanged his belt.
There is a lot of good candidates for that on the Booth Review. Coming up next, Welcome to the Booth Review podcast presented by Microsoft's Surface Howering a Better Game. I'm brand White side with Big Fletch London Fletcher.
It's been a while we won, won big.
I'm Big against Tennessee man Man.
How good does it feel to be doing this Booth Review coming off of victory? Just outstanding performance all around and the way they did it. It's one thing to win, and we want to win all games. But how they looked in that victory. I think you and I we were all just ecstatic seeing the way that team performed in every every facet of the game. But you know, there's some issues we'll talk about that we can do
better on. But we're going to talk about how great the offense looks, how great the defense looked, and how great the tabe looked at general headed to the bye week.
You know, I'll go back through the whole thing. I think largely, I kind of feel like this was the first time they looked like the early season version of themselves. That I think was surprising then and then people went through this how long NFL seasons are? People then go through this, Well, where was that? They never expected it in the first place. Now they've seen it, and now they go where was that? And it showed up again.
But I think one of the big things that happened during the week which became really relevant to the whole story of the week was Bobby Wagner spoke to the team, And this is probably not uncommon. Leaders of the team step up at certain points of the season, and I think we can all agree, whether they'll be willing to say this or not. They had to win yesterday. I mean, you couldn't go into the buy on a four game losing streak when you were seven and two and feel good about making the playoffs.
I think this felt like a must win.
And I don't want to speak for Bobby, but it sounds like there was part of him going, hey, we got a good team here, let's get this thing back on track.
So just before we I want.
To play the interaction that you had with him in the locker room, because a lot's been made of Bobby's the milestone he made, in the milestone that you've set, in the standard.
That you set.
But what did you just make first of Bobby speaking to the team last week.
I thought it was great and it's a testament to him as a as a leader. When you go through adversity during the season, and you're gonna have adversity during seasons, You're gonna have adversity during games, But how can you get yourself out of it? Bobby recognize and realize, hey, we're on a three game losing streak. There's a lot of naysayer's a lot of negativity being talked about this football team.
Maybe they're not that good.
But for him to a guy who's a former Super Bowl champion, he's been in a lot of wars, been through been in multiple NFC championship games, multiple playoff games, him saying, you know what, hey, guys, let's block out all the outside noise. We're still an ex the football team. We take care of our business. We play like we're capable of playing we can go out and dominate teams. And so for him to go to Dan Quinn and say, hey, coach, let me talk to him.
And we talked about this in the in our interview with d Q. The coach teams can.
Teams can kind of tune coach out because his messages is constant and you're hearing it all all the time. But when you have a player and players deliver a message and hold each other accountable, it just hits different. It is differently, and for Bobby to do that as a testament to who he is as a leader, who he is as a player.
You won a Super Bowl? Did that happen in your locker room?
Oh?
Yeah, because you guys, I like what Washington has done this year offensively. For periods of time, you guys had a consistently greater show on turf. There must have been hard periods though.
Yeah.
During during both of the seasons that we we end up going to the Super Bowl, I'll say definitely the first one where we're still kind of learning who we are as a team, learning how to win. Similar to this year's team, we started the season off six and all we're rolling, clicking on all cylinders and we go to Tennessee ironically and lose to the Times in Nashville, and then we lose to the Detroit Lions. We gave up like a fourth and I don't know, twenty twenty
type play that could have won the game. So we got a two game losing streak. Same old Sorry, Rams is kind of now being a narrative. They've come back to reality and we had to have some you know, conversations and realize, okay, who are we and then we end up rolling again, not not losing another game to the end of the season, where the last regular season game we had everything clenched up, you know, pulls start and stuff like that. But we had a two game
losing streak during that season. But we had to have some conversation.
Obviously, Bobby has weight in the room. Because it's funny. When we were talking to Dad Quick after the game yesterday, he even said, sometimes this doesn't go well when a player steps up and speaks and it's either not their strength or they don't get the message right. Clearly, it worked for whatever Bobby said.
And one thing that he said is he said Bobby doesn't talk all the time, probably all the time to the team.
Well, it's interesting.
I don't know him well, but like he seems actually a very reserved personality for someone who's been as accomplished as Ease.
Yeah, so I'm sure he talks to the defense, Yeah, but in terms of addressing the team and really addressing the team in that manner if you don't do it all the time, and then for you to come on and say, hey, it's time for me to talk and address the team. Just the the awareness of him understanding where they where they're at in their.
Season and coach, I got you.
Yeah, teams and players, they respect him first and foremost before he made one single play on this team, one tackle, whatever the case may be. As soon as he signed with this team, he automatically had respect equity built up because of all the things he had accomplished in his career prior to signing with us.
So they already he already has their ear.
But then when he delivers that message, and it's one thing to deliver a message and not up your hold up your end of the bargain, he delivers a message and he holds up his ears at the bargain by his play.
You know, like what signaled to me that this was gonna be different, and I didn't know how this would work out this year was his signing because this isn't messy to the MLS right, he wants to win. He didn't come here out of charity. He came here by choice. Probably could have retired if he really wanted to. He never played on the East Coast, so when he signed here, it signaled something to me that he actually believes in
this coaching staff. Whether he knew what was here and what was in front of him, I don't know, but that was to me the most significant veteran signing that was made. He didn't have to do this, He probably had other offers, and when he signed here it meant something at least to me about what was being built here.
And absolutely Bramman, he has two daughters that are still out on the West Coast, So for him to come all the way across the country be away from his daughters, which you know, we're parents and man, we want to see our kids every single day. And for him not to say, you know what, I believe in what they're doing in Washington. I believe in Dad Quinn, I believe in and Ken Norton, Junr. I believe in what they're
building in Washington. I'm going to go all the way across the country, leave my daughters all the way on the West coast. That says a lot to how he felt about this situation.
Yeah, and here we are.
You know, week thirteen, he's already surpassed on hundred tackles, so he's brought the standard to play with him. This is a position that was weak for this team for a number of years. He solidified that even at the advanced stage of his career. And obviously everybody knows by now like he's done this now thirteen years in a row. The only other player in this millennium that has done
it longer consecutively is you. And I thought we had a really really cool moment last night because I thought the team pointing this out was great that they did that to allow him to kind of get the shine for doing what he did yesterday. But having him with you in the locker room afterwards was really an amazing moment. So take a listen to this right back in the
locker room with Bobby Wagner. You reached one hundred tackles for the thirteenth consecutive season, there's only one other player that's done it longer, the guy standing next to you, London Fletcher. So let me just start with you, Like, what does a milestone like that mean to you?
It means a lot.
We're in this jersey, being able to represent somebody like this to standing next to me, it's really cool. So
I'm grateful for this. It's really cool. But I'm really grateful for him because I don't remember when I reached out to him, but I kind of just reached out to him, and I wasn't sure what I was going to get or anything, you know, person just randomly reaching out, but you know, he showed me so much love, gave me so much advice whether to take care of my body, whether you know, how to play the game, and you know, I'm really grateful and he's definitely the reason why I'm here.
Yeah, Bobby, as he mentioned, this is probably I think it was twenty fourteen, almost ten years ago, man that he reached out to me. You know, didn't know him, but just wanted to pick my brains. And I was actually humble because he was so accomplished at that time and he's like, hey, but him having enough respect of the guys who played before him, Like, I know I can still add to my game. One thing about you, we knew coming over about the great leadership, But one
thing that I'm always pointing out is the productivity. Yeah, you know, the leadership is great, but you're still playing at the extremely high level. How are you able to continue to play at this high level?
Man? It's just taking care of your body, honestly, Like, I'm just remember the conversation because you know, he never missed any games in his career, and I'm like, damn, how did somebody do that? And he gave me so much advice, and I just tried to implement stuff that he did. Like I don't know if you remember, you talked about running the sands, so I started running. It was a lot of things that he said. He probably
even know I was writing stuff down. So I'm like, if he, you know, was able to play a long time at this position without being hurt or anything like that, I was gonna do it.
So I was.
I was just trying to listen and just let you know that I listened.
So you and Bobby got to share that moment last night, and as I learned from you, this relationship kind of started years ago.
It did, it did, and back in twenty nineteen, I've been retired with for six years, six seasons then and Bobby just code DM me on Twitter it's x.
Now and it need to get your number.
Well, so he didn't have my number and we had never we had played against each other.
In the twenty twelve playoffs.
He was a he was a rookie that year, and you know, I didn't know him, and just over the course of the years watching this game, watching him play, like, man, this, this dude's a hell of a football player. And had a tremendous amount of respect for his game and the way he played and appreciation for him.
And he reached out to me and you know, say.
Hey, London, you know love to pick pick your brain and chop it up with you to you know, see how you were so successful.
And and for.
Him to do that for especially for former players, when a younger guy reaches out to us, I mean that means the world to us because something, you know, he's like, man, this, this guy recognizes like I did that. I did the same thing to Sam Mills that Bobby did to me. I had somebody who had connections to Sam Mills. They put me in contact with him. So for for me, it was almost just like a full circle moment being able to give give back to UH, to Bobby the way that Sam had poured into me.
And so it just this was it.
This was five years ago, and you know we've we had several conversations and you know, just kind of sharing, sharing what I felt like helped me improve and what I thought improve it. You know, it's just talked about. He asked a bunch of questess. He asked, you know, how did I train, how did I take care of myself? I was sharing with him, you know, my my recovery stuff,
my training during the off season. Things did have that I added to my to my training and my repertoire too, especially as I got older in my career, to help me play at a higher level. We talked, We talked coverages. We talked covered four to quarters coverage, which at that point in time, the I think the Seahawks was playing a lot of quarters coverage and and I had a lot of experience playing that coverage and I was just helping talking to him about that. It's funny because UH,
last year when we played the Seahawks. I ran it to him and that was the first time me seeing him in person, meeting him in person when we were out.
There, and because it talked a lot, but you've never actually never.
Had met in person.
Yeah, we never met in person him until last year in Seattle when we play and I talked to him prior to the game and we talked covered quarters coverage again on the field, and I told him, I was like, man, you got to make sure you invite me too your Hall of Fame ceremony, and uh, you know, as crazy as it is as it is now, he's a he's a Washington commander.
Well, if he's going to get to fourteen, which is your record, yeah, he's got to resign. Yeah, and they know a one year deal. I've been trying to extend him now, you.
Know, just assuming he wants to play. Yeah, exactly.
And again, being away from your daughter daughters, being that that far away, it can wear on you. So I'm sure he'll take his time and really get through the emotions of the season and kind of say, you know, do I want to do it again? I mean, he's
still playing at an elite level, high level. They need to resign him, I will I'll say this man, we knew what he was going to bring it from a leadership standpoint, but what people underestimated and overlook was what he's what he was bringing it and what he has brought from a production standpoint. He still playing at an elite level.
Yeah, he is, and I really appreciated him. I don't think he said it during our interview, but I remember he said it during the media scrum after the game, that you should be in the Hall of Fame, and that, you know, I think everyone assumes that he's going to be in the Hall. They talk about it any way, but they assume that he's going to be in the Hall of Fame, whether it's first ballot or not. And I agree with that. Go watch the guy's careers, Champion.
He's done it with this kind of level of production. There's no question you were him too. It's why he called you. So, you know, I hope that they listen. This is a second time now in a year Devin Hester got the jacket, walked up on the stage and said Brian Mitchell should be in the Hall of Fame. I wholeheartedly agree with that he should be. He's the standard bearer of that position, and now the kick returns are back, maybe people will start thinking about it differently.
When you see things that come out the turpins doing people like that, you get to see what kind of impact he had. You had this impact at that position too. It's it's an oversight and I'm hoping that it's gonna get changed.
And what I loved about what what Devin did and b Mitch has been retired for I don't know, almost twenty years now, for Devin to recognize what b Mitch meant to the to the return game and and Devin bringing him into the four four during Devn's moment recognizing and it's still being being humble enough and be saying, you know what, Brian Mitchell should be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame with Bobby you know, becoming thirteen consecutive tackles, hundred tackle seasons and me being in the
mix keeps me relevant, him talking about me and you know, saying I should be in the Hall of Famers with respect there. And it's for for b Mitch myself. We truly appreciate when guys come up and acknowledge what you know we did before them in the same way like we acknowledge the guys who did it before us.
Yeah, I mean even in my field.
The second I got the job calling the games for this team, the first thing I did was call all the major broadcasters that I respect it would listen to me, because I just wanted to hear their experiences. I called the local ones that I you know, admired, Joe Beninatti, Steve Buckants, John waltonm gon To missing the name of Johnny Holliday. I called them all and said, what can you tell me about this experience? And every time I see someone like Iron Eagle or Mike Tarico or anybody,
I talk to them. I want to know. And it sounds like you've done the same thing here that it's through the years. Knowledge is power, you know, like knowing what the people did before you to get to where they were is everything.
And it sounds like you passed it down to him.
And I bet he'll do the same for the Fred Warners of the world or the great middle linebackers who are out there, and.
He probably has already done it. Yeah, you know you for current players.
You're a young linebacker, young young football player in general, and you're not reaching and tapping into the brains of these guys who've done it for a multitude of years.
You're missing out, Yeah, you're missing the education of it.
All right, let's get to the game.
So it worked like whatever he said, whatever the mood was, I thought the crowd was into it really big time. Flags were good. That was I think the flags. Flag, flags went well. Flags at going. The vibe was right. The opening drive, they had two penalties immediately, defensively got a very quick stop.
They were in a hole.
Immediately, Washington gets the ball, walks down the field, scores a touchdown immediately, like what dan Quinn was talking about. And I've cited this on with the Game with you. He is omniscient somewhat. You know, sometimes you hear coaches say things and to your point earlier or like sometimes it goes in one ear and out the other. When he says certain things, I take note of it. And last week, late in the week, he said the adversity was good for the team, which is one way to
put it. And then he said, you're gonna see what's on the other side, because there's another thing coming here. And we saw the team that we saw earlier in the season. Show up immediately. I mean, and I felt it, and I know you felt it two and the scoreboard showed it very quickly. That was that was the best start to a game we've had in years.
Best started.
And you mentioned that on the broadcast, and and you're watching the Hey, the defense get the three down and then b Rob breakoff that forty yard run.
He's like, oh my goodness.
And uh then you get the turnovers and and all the things that happened, and it's like Dad knows his football team. He said something was coming. He's got the pulse. He has the pulse. And a lot of times you can sense that based on a practice, based on the meetings, you can you can feel the energy of man, these guys are really focused. These guys are pissed off. These guys are ready to rock. They're ready to go out there and have a and play great football. And he
knew is he knows his football team. And we saw that on full displayed yesterday.
Yeah, and he had said, basically, I think some of the was they didn't like the way they started with the energy against Dallas. Yeah, and that all of the missed opportunities we talked about this last week they had a block kick, a block punt, a missed field goal, and a fumble recovery and had three points right at halftime. That's on you. I mean, they made some of those plays happen. Obviously two of them were they blocked a kick,
they blocked a punt, and they got a fumble. But the complimentary side of it was the energy wasn't there across the board. He didn't like that. He always consistently says, you're gonna like how we get down, not certain portions of it, how we do it. And this was a full throttle team effort here that started this game against Tennessee, and it was an avalanche.
What I also saw was the it's from my office standpoint, them being on attack, them dictating the terms of the agreement. I talk all the time, especially on the Players Club podcast, which you can check out on our YouTube channel as well. It's dictating the terms of the agreement, especially your big guys, your guys in the trenches, not negotiating with terrorists.
We don't make peace treaties.
This is this type of stuff I'm talking about, and it's really about being an attack mole. The offense came out in attack mole, getting ball to Terry, really establishing a physical presence in the run game, and they were moving people off off the line of scrimmage in Tennessee. Their number eight ranked run defense in the National Football League,
number one against the pass. And this was a tough team. Yeah, that record was not great, but from a defensive standpoint, you watched them on film looking at them, I watched them. I was like, man, this could be. This would be a tough, tough ball game for us. And the way that offense came out and perform, the way that offensive line set a physical tone, the way they protected Jaden, the way he was able to distribute the football. It
was a full out of tack mo. Maybe against the Cowboys, I didn't necessarily see us in full attack mode the way we I think that's what.
Dan Quinn was talking.
Yeah, I feel the energy.
Yeah feel us, feel us in attack mode.
And sometimes you can kind of almost say respect opponent a little bit too much, but you gotta realize and say, hey, we's some badasses too.
They got to fear us and respect us too.
Dallas dominated the line of scrimmage against that they did. They did olso O Digizuoa had a terrific game. Michael Parsons was in the backfield over and over. There were very good time rushes against them that did not happen against a defense that's statistically better than the one that they faced a week ago. I walked in going, I don't know if they're going to run the ball effectively.
I know they're gonna they're gonna be consistent on it, because the coaches had told me they were going to stick with it, but with b Rob coming off the ankle, it was hard to know what condition he was going to really be in. Austin Eckler obviously wasn't going to be able to play, and the offensive line had been beat up, and Andrew Wiley wasn't playing like I didn't expect them to run the ball effectively. I expected them to run the ball a lot, but they didn't expect
them to do what they did. To have two sixty seven on the ground is a real testament to be Robs fine. And secondarily, the offensive line really took what happened personally. They're the group. They took it really personally. This was the closest thing to the early part of the season we saw from them collectively. To control the line of scrimmage that way.
Now, you're absolutely right about the offensive line taking personally and when you have a bad game, which I mean they they had a bad game against the Tennessee Titan. It was not their best Brandon football, and you're not happy with the way you performed. A lot of guys that you know have played well force during the season just didn't have good games from the offensive line standpoint.
And those guys, they they had to sit on that for for a week and they I'm sure they, you know, they's like, you know what, I don't want to feel like that again. And we're gonna show, uh, We're gonna show the Tennessee Titans. What we saw against the Dallas Cowboys, that's not us. What we you know saw during the game against the Philadelphia Eagles, that's not us. So you go out and you you set a second set a physical tone.
You mentioned b Rob.
I thought with him showing up and practicing on on Wednesdays practice, you and I were out of the practice during the open availability and when I saw b Rob out there taking handoffs, I was shot first and foremost that he was on the football field, because you know he wasn't able to finish the game Sunday against the Cowboys, you had you had to assume, like, uh, is he going to be Is he going to be able to play? This will have to be something we monitor towards the
end of the week. But for him to not miss a practice and may he was limited a little bit, but for him to be out there, that also sent the message to his team saying, hey, guys, I'm here for you. I'm ready to fight. I'm not missing this game. Were in the three game loser week. I'm gonna be out there. I may not be one hundred percent, but I'm gonna give you everything I got. And that went
a lot a long way to me. Just watching him out on that practice field, I'm like, man, this he gets it and that's gonna resonator too.
Yeah.
I think, like we talked earlier about Bobby Wagner, right, and like so he spoke up.
He said something.
I think he leads by example, mainly to everyone's point, like he doesn't do that very often. He did it, but he felt it was necessary. I think be Rob similar. I don't feel like he's the most talkative guy. He's not gonna stand up speak his mind all that often, but he's gonna show you by example.
And you're seeing this.
I know it killed him to miss those games earlier this year in a couple of occasions, they held him out for what they thought was in his own best interest to not harm himself. He liked that, so he and I think we all know this, And Quinn said this, b Rob. When he's going there's an emotional lift to the way he plays. It's just the way he plays. I describe it as gas in the tank, like he finishes runs. He embodies I think what they want in their players here.
He is tough, and when he's.
Coming at you, especially in the second half of the lead, nobody wants anything.
To do with it. Yeah. Yeah, sixteen Carris over one hundred yards Its sea Rob, Chris. That's an amazing Chris Rodriguez.
He finished that game. Man, what thirteen k's what ninety four yards?
He wasn't on the roster a week ago. He's been called up and down multiple times. Practice, squad roster, practicequad roster. Hat a very good game in New York, remember playing that one. Finish that one out right? He was off the roster. Then Austin Eckler gets hurt, it was logical to call him back, bring him back in. You gotta wonder, like where is someone's head when they go up and
down on the roster all year long. Well, he showed up for this team on Sunday too and really finished the game out physical running up the middle of the.
Field, physical runner. Man.
We're watching those Tennessee Ties defenders just bounce off of sea rob Man. He I love the kid. I love watching them. I really liked watching them a season ago. You look at him coming out of Kentucky, didn't know a whole lot about him Kentucky football. You think more of basketball when you think Kentucky. But watching him once we drafted him, looking at his film like love, loved how he finished the finish, his runs, just power back.
Then this year he was on our active rouster all year. This year had to you.
Know, didn't make the fifty three out of training camp, all the practice squad gets caught up. As you mentioned Boson back and forth, him even giving up his his jersey number two. Yeah by Sean Latimar, Like, man, I don't need any money here.
You can you can have this.
You've accomplished so much so his his amility, and Chris Man just I'm so happy for him for him to have the type of game that he had and being able to play the way he played.
The numbers are stunning. I mean the time of possession, they doubled them in time of possession. They had twenty nine first downs. They had four hundred and sixty three total yards. And I know people look at the record and they think, well, they just beat a bad team that teams a number two defense in the NFL. They had given up one hundred and six rush yards per game at four yards per carry. Washington had surpassed that
by the end of the first quarter against them. This is with without their right tackle, with a beat up offensive line, and a running back that we weren't sure was going to play, and their second best running back on ir right. So like, this is to me the
best offensive performance. I don't know by far, because I'd say the Cincinnati one and the Arizona ones are worth looking back at, but those feel like a year ago now considering where we are in the season, this is reminiscent of that, and I would argue it's the best offensive performance of the season.
I you all get it. You all get an argue argument for me on that. I think when you when you put in context, coming off with three game losing streak going into this game, and how the offense had performed during those three games lose doing this three game losing streak, not not clicking on all cylinders, not being the high powered offense had we had grown accustomed to
for the majority of the season. Also going against a tightest defense that was so stout against the run, so stout against the pass well regardless, highly regarded throughout the NFL, and how they how many problems they caused for offenses. When you add all those those three things together, I think it was the best offensive performance of the season.
Yeah, Jayden twenty five of thirty. So this is the first time since that early part of the season that he's over eighty percent completion hit over ninety against Cincinnati, So it's hard to kind of compare that one.
That one, and it was a Monday night football on a row.
That was the one when we went we might have a unicorn like when they did that. Then he turned around and had the game against Arizona. He was completing over eighty percent of his throws through the first month of the season, which was really unprecedented in historic, and we were kind of talking about he might be the best rookie quarterback ever because that's how his season actually started. This was reminiscent of that, which leads me to believe
the rib injury was significant. It hindered him. He said nothing about it, He never used it as an excuse. He listened to people talk about it, and kind of like b Rob, he let his actions speak louder than
his words. Because the last two weeks he is clearly healthier, feeling like himself, moving like he did early in the season, and yesterday pinpoint accurate again with the exception of one or two throws, the one that was a little high to Ertz that ended up getting intercepted, and one or two other misses, but again he was back to where he was, which leads me to believe he played significantly hurt for probably about a month.
Oh yeah, yeah, you don't. You have a rib injury, especially the one like he had. It's not a hey, you have one week, you know between the injury and all of a sudden you're you're fine. Those rib injuries, I've I've dealt with them several times in my career, it's four to six weeks that you're dealing with that.
You have trouble.
Sleeping, breathing, laughing, all that type stuff. It constantly hurts him. Yeah, you'll get better. I won't even say day by day, maybe week by week. You'll get better, but you won't be fully functioned on totally healed. Especially he's he was continuing to play, continue to take hits to know that area. He's, the position he plays, he's going to be exposed to. His ribs are going to be exposed because of him.
You know the position that he plays, So he may be he may have suffered slight setbacks in terms from a healing standpoint. You get you get hit again, that may set you back a couple days from a healing process. So you see the difference that from a just of the electricity in his legs, the ways the ways moving, the way he's throwing and stepping into his throws, stuff
like that. You definitely know that that ten days off between the game against the Eagles and the Cowboys, he definitely needed that and appreciate I mean rest.
We were saying it before the Pittsburgh game, this team needed to buy you can just tell like they needed it, and that's a long time man. That's why that stretch was so difficult. That they hit two really really good teams. Pittsburgh is probably gonna win their division, Philadelphia who probably is. We need them to go on some kind of losing streak that they don't look like they're intending to do it.
They might be the number of eight, might end up being a number one seed in the NFC.
Yes, that's very possible right now, that they're gonna end up that way. Those are the teams we played in a four day span, one of them on the road with a team that needed to buy and was beat up, including the quarterback who was still injured. We got to the other side of it. The Dallas one is hard to take because I think it's the one that got away from them, But it was the sign that Jayden is starting to look like the guy that we saw
early in the season and manifested again yesterday. He looked like that quarterback at the beginning of the year, and now with an extra week off. Now it's what really gives me the hope that a late season run is about to begin. If he's gonna play like this, they're going to be extraordinarily difficult to beat.
No, without a doubt.
And you mentioned the game against the Steelers game, the game against the Eagles Pittsburg what nine in what's they recognized?
Nine and two, nine and.
Three, nine and three loosen up at one point had still controversial spot, controversial spot.
Contri spot a jump off side otherwise it would have got the ball back.
So there's the the Philly game.
It's a twelve ten game, been over the fourth quarter.
We go for on that fourth, fourth and two. They had a bad three minute stretch.
Yeah, so yes, that could end up being a different type of ball cup, different outcome. So we've gone toe to toe with two of the best teams in the NFL.
It was Baltimore too.
Yeah, And as you mentioned the Dallas loss, considering what Dallas's record was, and I'll say this, Dallas is better than what their record in the case as well. They're five and seven right now. They're a better football team.
They won thirty six games in three years. That's a good roster. Yeah, they have a lot of injuries, a lot of injuries. They're very different. They started getting some people back on defense. I do feel like they're no excuses. That's the one that got away this year. Of the losses they've had this year, that's the one that got.
Awa, especially when you look at all of the opportunities we had in the first half of that Yes, with the turnovers, the field position all.
That team's going home with their tabletreeing their legs if you get up on them early, because that's what's happened to them over the previous five weeks.
It's a twenty eight have a game like we had against the Test. Besides, if we take advantage of the opportunities.
I agree, all right to other people on offense, I want to talk about it. One is Cliff Kingsbury, because he spent the week listening to that. These guys they got to stop telling us they don't listen to outside noise. Yes they do, Okay, yes they do. Stop lying.
You know you do.
Because the narratives popped up on him. Everyone looked back at the records that occurred in Arizona, right where annually in December there's a dip in the offense. Yes, this is a different quarterback in a different place with a different team, no offense to Kyler Murray, like just because and the dip was not as prominent as people were making it out to be.
But they saw.
What they didn't see was the unprecedented stuff that was happening early right, which there was no chance on earth that that was going to continue at that rate. But because it wasn't as good, there was a narrative that was built. Right, don't tell me he didn't hear this, because all of a sudden, Terry's moving around James looking good, He's in his bag starting with all these secondary targets again, and the offense looked really different this week.
Here, I'm a squash up. Let you all on a little known secret. We hear those thieves, We definitely hear those things. You can't help but here, because either you wanna hear personally or somebody who's close to you is gonna let you know what's being said, you'll you'll hear those criticism.
And and we're all.
We all have egos, we all have we want to be viewed as as some of the best of what we do.
We don't want our work criticized. And it was just like, hey, it just made sense.
We're let's move Terry round, Let's figure out how to get him the football and and it's not just about Terry. Then when you move him around, that opens up other guys, that opens up the offense. That that that's the the wares Waldough type of scenario that we used to have when we were playing like a Jason Witten or you know, a t O or somebody like that, like where when he lines up a certain different places, what does that mean?
Ad tennis? Shit go up?
So it was it was interesting very first player, the gay Terry lies up on the right side. They throw a quick hitch. It was like, okay, so Cliff, he heard you. He was he was in the slot. They lined him up in the slot, They lined him up at number three on the right side. They lined him up in a bunch of different places. The touchdown that he caught, the second touchdown he called on the right side goes in motion deep over and he was the he was a third read on that play.
But again moving him around, yeah, moving him around. So for Kingsbury too, I don't know where you were on the unlocking Terry part of it, but where I landed on it going in was earlier in the season. What was really telling about the offense was how they were executing, but the ball was and I thought it was. It was really interesting when Jade Daniels was asked about Terry McClain going into the game, and he basically just shrugged and said, listen, he's a great player.
We know that.
But I'm gonna put the ball where the defense basically tells me.
To put the ball.
Right, I'm not just going to force it to anybody. If the defense says you got to throw it here, well that's where I'm going to throw it. That's what you want your quarterback to do. This one then went back to Cliff where we go, all right, then you need to scheme it up to where the defense wants you to throw it to Terry or demands you to throw it to Terry. And secondarily what was lost to me and it lost the wrong word, but like what
had changed was some of the secondary targets. Alamine's a Kias really comes to mind with this, Diami Brown to a certain degree, Luke McCaffrey, their targets were way down, like over the last month. To me to unlock Terry, the offense needed to be as diverse as it was earlier in the season, and the defenses needed to take those guys, I think more seriously than they had over
the last few weeks. So some of this I thought was moving Terry around, and some of it was if you're gonna try to take Terry away, we're gonna hurt you with somebody else. That's right, I landed on it.
Now, you're right about that.
I like them, especially with a young quarterback, for Jaden to say, hey, the defense is gonna dictate where I go with the football. You don't want to have a young quarterback getting in a situation where you're telling them, hey, throw this ball here, throw this ball here, throw this ball here, because that's when you get into the situation where you're turning the football over, you're having incompletions, things like that. So that's the right messaging to have with
a young quarterback. Now, you played Tom Brady, Peyton Manney. You know some of the season quarterbacks who had they've been in the trench, has been in these battles, and there they can say, hey, I know the coverage is saying hey I should go over here, but let me I know how to manipulate the defense to go to.
Marvin Harrison.
I know how to get to a Randy More, I can do some things to manipulate to cover stuff like that. He's a young quarterback. He's not to that level yet. I'll say this, though you talk about the targets, those guys also had to win more and take advantage of the opportunities to catch the football when it was throwing to him, because again, if they're producing, it's gonna help help the office in general. Those guys during the stretch, they weren't playing at the level that they needed to play it.
It was interesting too, like all the narratives on Cliff like going into the game, if you looked at them, there's still a top ten offensive yards. They were top five in scoring, number three in total points. That people were asking a question like what's wrong with the offense? And I'm sitting there going what's wrong with the offense? Like it hasn't been as good as it was? It took a dip for a few weeks. The quarterback was hurt, the offensive line was beat up. They were missing people
every single week. These guys are all on the injury list, b Rob miss games, No kidding, They're not scoring forty points a game right now, Like give it a minute, right and so I was actually happy for Cliff because I know he was hearing it and then everybody, you know, makes up this narrative that what happened in Arizona's going to happen here, and I was happy for him that it turned out the way that it did that yesterday.
As well, Man, it's time, it's time you want to give it out the belt?
Yeah, time for the belt. It's time of the belt, man.
And now it's time for the Big Fletch Heavyweight Commander Championship.
I think we've already kind of hinted who it might be going to.
Yeah, Ah, it's been a while since we've gave it give it out the belt, Okay, big Big Fletcher's heavyweight command this championship belt, and we only give this out during wins. And the ranted champion guy who still had the belt was a Dante Fowler that was.
So long ago.
Man, I don't even know what what game was that that he even got the belt in a month ago.
Yeah, we'll figure that out.
But the contender is going to be Terry McLaurin. There was a couple of guys that that that I thought about is from contendent standpoint, Ja Jaden was up for consideration in that uh b Rob b Rob was in consideration. I even thought about Chris Rodriguez. Defensively, Dante Fowler, Okay, he had in the ball game two tackles, one TfL. He had a sack and then the NFL ended up taking it away from him. We'll see what happens whether they're gonna give him that sack or not. And if
he does, you know that that that could change some things. However, I'll say this about a Foler. He had an impact on two plays right after the interception where he helped keep the tits office.
That by him, and he makes tremendous plays the.
Challenge Terry eight receptions, eight targets, seventy three yards.
It's a touching.
I think the fan the fans agree with you here too, because they were chanting his name from quarter one yesterday. It was like Mike Tyson Walker in fight. Yeah, Paul, the Terry chants.
That were going on so the fast they knew they were all just something. So with that being said, and do.
Big fletch combat this heavyweight champion.
Ty Till Terry Terry.
We got a new belt. He deserved to champion.
Eight on eight targets. Yeah, seventy three yards nine point one average, two touchdowns. I did the math on him, like he had had more than six targets in a game in about seven eight weeks, and then I think to the point of like getting him going early in three of the last four coming into this game, he had two targets or less in three of the last four. So they had to get him going. He's their best playmaker. You have to get him going.
They had to. And think about Terry Man. He's so just humble, doesn't most number one receivers. Him and Santana Moss are. I've been around a lot of number one receivers. Those guys are just like they don't complain. They don't go to the offensive coordinator. They're not yelling at their
quarterback like you've seen it. We've all seen it where on the TV copy they'll show a receiver slamming his head, slamming his helmet on the ground, you know, being demonstrative, showing up their quarterback, showing up the offensive coordinator, showing up the receivers coach, Hey get me the ball. I'm open cussing out everybody. Those two guys be number one guys.
They don't do that.
And Terry hasn't complained about you know, games where whether you only had one target, two cargets, whatever the case may be. He just wants to win football games and he knows, you know, he can impact games. So I'm happy for him.
I just I want to go back to the crowd for a moment, because they were as locked in as I remember, like they knew the storylines right. They wanted Terry to get the ball early. The second he guy that they're chanting his name. They came and brought it on the first possession and caused two false start penalties against Tennessee. They knew that this team needed to start better. They were part of They were a twelfth man.
They were the uh, the energy of the crowd.
You think a game like this, this just goes to show a year ago, two years, three years ago, you know that that stadium would have been half empty. So for the state the fans to be out and droves to come out and support the team the way they supported the team and realizing and saying, hey, we need to help cheer our team to victory.
Impact.
As you mentioned, the two falalse Star penalties that the Tennessee Titans had to start their drive up. They went from first to ten. They were second and third and twenty It.
Was like third and twenty two on the first drive. Yeah, and then they they classically lost their minds. I mean, I know, the thing snowballed on them, but Tony Pollard at eight carries, which I don't know if you've watched us play this year, but that's on you guys to figure out how running the ball eleven times over the course of a game was going to make any sense whatsoever. They played right into Washington's hands. Like I know, people
think that Washington's pass defense isn't great. Yeah, their top ten pass defense. It's the run defense. It's been a problem. And Tennessee the score got away from them, and then they got away from the run and they were playing right into Washington's hands.
The whole way it was.
And you know the Parlor had that fumble earlier that that kind of helped help also get us another touchdown put us ahead of them. And you mentioned the score getting away from them, but at one point it was twenty eight ten, So now the run game could be a part.
Of the They got twenty eight thirteen. It was the third quarter, and I'm like, I turned you and I go, this is two score.
Game, right right right?
Yeah, he could get the get the run game back into into the mix. But the defense, to their credit, I thought they did an excellent job not allowing Tony to have those explosive type of runs, which he he had been doing. He had a he had what one hundred and nineteen yards and a week ago against the Houston Texas, and he's an explosive player.
He broke tackles, he.
Made people miss, but they didn't allow him to get gone, allows to really get going either.
No, I thought they did a very good job unsettling him. He's someone that holds the ball a little too long, is apt to make mistakes early in the season, kind of like low light cartoonish type turnovers. He hadn't had those in recent weeks, but over the last few weeks since he got the starting job back, his passer rating
was like one ten. He was coming off a jue seventy five to two touchdown game and a win over Houston, like he was playing his best ball, and Washington's defense really unsettled him early and often in that game.
I was one of the things that I noticed, even in these these three games where his his QB rating was a lot higher rating a lot higher, he had been sacked twenty times. You mentioned him hold on to the football for a long period of time. He was a lot of times he was. You take away his first read if it wasn't there. His natural inclination was to look the bill from the procket. He wasn't going to go through progressions, especially if you're playing his own covers.
That really hurt him in terms of not wanting to throw footballs into tight windows. There were there were times where he did that against us. We had we had him on a on a sack on a third and I think twenty play and he was able to avoid that and he hit he had really right before the half that that got that allowed them to get there their first points to the ball game that touchdown eventually.
But think about will Levis.
He does hold on to the ball a long period of time, and that's something they're gonna have to coach about of him. You're gonna have to be able to if he's one thing, to hold on to the ball, but at least be hold on to the ball and making quicker decisions, going to your reads a lot quicker, and you.
Know, but he did.
He did have a couple of nice throws too, where it's like he layered the football over some some defenders and made some nice throws. And so there were there were. He had a couple of moments in that game, but not enough, not enough to win.
Frankie Louvou Dante Fowler if they may have taken a sack away because of a play, but they're both right on the cusp of nine plus sacks, so they both could end up double digit sacks.
Easily by the end of the season.
The last time that's happened nine plus is twenty sixteen, Ryan Carrigan and Trent Murphy. So remember at the beginning of the year when everybody said, where's pass rush couldna come from? Where the sacks could come from? They don't have prominent pass rushers, obvious like double digit sack guys. Joe Whitten Company had figured it out.
They have, and they figured it out through a scheming up. Guys.
You know, bring in bringing five a lot, blitzing Frankie and Bobby through the through the a gaps and doing some what you call Cross Dogs and and.
Dante Foler.
They mentioned the work that he's done with Ryan Carrigan and how Ryan Kerrigan, who you just talked about my formertainment, who was just just a great pro franchise all time leader in sacks taught, is teaching him and really emphasizes how to finish on a quarterback, how to continue to ban,
how to do those things. And you know, followers, followers been tremendous, you know for us, and there was some concern like, Okay, who's gonna be Yeah, the pass rusher, and those two guys have have done it consistently throughout the season.
When they signed him, you know, because we played him in Dallas under that defense for the last couple of years. Like he's a dangerous player, but he's a situational player. Not for this team. He's been a full time dangerous pass rusher for them, probably a little more out of necessity that they need to maybe the Dallas Dallas has uh they had George Armstrong and they had DeMarcus Lawrence,
and they had Micah Parsons. They didn't need him out on the field as often as this team needs him out on the field.
But he has really stepped up this year. The injury situation. I think Pharaoh was injured and Drin smised a couple of games, if a memory serves me correctly, So that aided in Dante playing a lot more snaps than he did a season ago with Dallas. But also it's just one thing to play a lot more snaps, but what are you doing with those STAPs? And he took advantage those STAPs and he was making an impact. He's it was games man at one point, what it was, seven
or eight sacks in seven games. Yeah, so just like constantly, and even even yesterday.
And he was hurt early and these people forget this part.
The end of camp. He was hurt a little bit.
I think it took him a couple of weeks to feel healthy before he got into the season.
And even yesterday he made impactful plays. Yeah.
Yeah, he didn't get the sack, he took one away from him, but he still had an impact on the game.
I've been work shopping nicknames for him.
So we'll see.
I'll let you off work shot. I got watch for him. Watch watch you mention them here, I'll give you lets. I'll give you one. Well, I only have really one that I like. The others I didn't like so much. This is one I've been working on Louvu too. We gotta get a nickname for him. He's really for Fowler, so like you never know where he's coming from, right, Like he's come.
Up the middle of round, kind of like I kind of got you. Yeah, he's always like he's in your nightmares. He's always going to show up somewhere when you least expect it. He's the Boogeyman. So that's what I've been work shopping on him. But you know, I want him to like that before I would actually use it. So I'm actually glad we're doing this here because, like I see, he's like the guy who you never know where he's
coming from. He just kind of shows up. Sometimes we're calling these plays, I can't believe he's where he is, Like when he shows up and makes the play on the quarterback.
You say this for Fouler Fowler, Yeah, I think that's more suitable for So.
I think Louvu there's some kind of like lightning quickness thing that fits more for him. So I've been thinking about him too. But there's something that like there's something about like the energy and the lightning that I want to like lean into. I like the Boogeyman for Fowler. You just never know where he's coming. He's in your nightmares. You don't know where he's coming from.
Let's let's let the uh the viewers chime man, yeah and they hate it. Tell me we all like the Boogeyman. Yeah, the Boogeyman for follow Yeah. And if you can't, what nickname would you give?
Yeah? We need a good one.
There's something about his quickness though that I want to come and the energy he brings that I want to kind of lean into it.
I haven't found anything I like yet, so have to see what he takes. Suggestions though, question for you, you you're a smart guy. Thank you. The Alchemists. What would that be appropriate for? Like Alchemists? I just want to say that, Yeah, you're familiar with the book Alchemists. Yeah?
What what was the guy who mixes the formulas and comes out with the whatever serum that kills everybody? Yeah, let's see alchemist. Maybe that sounds more like dan Quinn.
Together like Cakesbury. That seems like a coaching one. We'll put that one it all right?
So, uh, we hit the bye week I think I think it goes without saying they needed to win. It feels really good the way they won.
Sure like that.
It wasn't just a I was gonna be happy with no style points. Let's just end this losing streak, get back on track. Everybody feel good about themselves. Well, this is different. This feels like the week four Commanders as opposed to the one that's been kind of getting through the last month or so. So it feels really good as they turned the corner here. What's important for them over the next week as they take a little time off.
You'll continue to get healthy this this week. I'm assuming the guys will have the majority of the week off. But Steel stayed locked in as much as possible to take take some time get away from it.
But I understand when you come back, don't don't.
Look at it as, hey, we got a we got a four game run, all these types of things. Look at it as let's prepare to go into a hostile environment against New Orleans Saints. First and foremost, how can we continue to build off what we just had, what we just did against the Tennessee Titans.
Can we take this show on the road, And what are.
The things we we had a great we had a great outing office. Defensively, you know some things we need to show up from a special team standpoint, and there's some things that even within the win, that we can do better. Yeah that's uh, let's sharpen, sharpen our tools. Get ready to go down to New Orleans. They're gonna
it's gonna be a tough environment. And take that game that we just had a Tennessee against the Tennessee Titans and build upon that against a New Orleans Saints team that are they're gonna be tough.
I would like to see how they think about kick returns now that Eckler's out for at least a few more weeks, because he's been extremely productive on kick returns. He was top five, averaging almost thirty yards per return. They were getting pretty good field position. Yesterday was a sign of they miss him. So I want to see how they think about kick returns moving forward here as
well over the last month of the season. That's one thing to probably look at and try to improve because the field position on the traditional kickoffs wasn't as good as it had been with Eckler, who had been exceptional in this New kickoff, Phil go field goal kicker.
Yes, you know Zang Gonzalez.
He had been he had been pretty consistent, pretty accurate, but yesterday he had he had a rough outing. Is that something you just you know, chalk it off to, hey, he just had he had a bad day, or or do we need to make a move there? Those those are things a deal they'll definitely spend some time on and try to figure out and you know, kind of see what happens.
Yeah, Austin Cybert is on ir so he has to miss at least three more games, so he can't come back for the next few weeks. As for the Saints, I mean, it's kind of hard to know what you're gonna get because they fired their coach in the middle of the season. There's always either it either goes the wrong way or it bumps up. And it bumped up for them. Actually, they were playing better closer to what
they were at the beginning of the season. They lost it home to the Ram, but they were very competitive in it. So things have kind of straightened out and they have explosive players on that team. Derek Caarr can light it up, Alvin Kamara can light it up. There are explosives, and that's a very tough place.
Yes, four touchdowns and four games for them, but they did just lose their Swiss Army knife potentially for the season and take some hill. Yeah, so we we don't we don't know, you know, if that's gonna be the case. But I know I saw, I remember seeing something yesterday when they mentioned him potentially being lost for the season.
So we'll see.
It's uh, you said, they guess they got some players and some explosive players at that.
They do.
And that's fun stadium too. It's a great place to play. You think like our fans were terrific yesterday. Their fans always show up dressed up, ready to go. It's great, lathered up. Yeah, you know, consider how cold it is right now. You want to fly down and go root the team on down there. You'll have a good time in New Orleans, trust me on that. And the stadium's amazing experience. Let's talk about the playoffs a little bit.
I know this team likes to stay locked in, but four games to go, if the season ended today, they'd be in. The path has gotten a little narrower because Philadelphia just won't lose anybody. I was hoping for some help from Baltimore yesterday. We didn't get it. Philadelphia hasn't
lost them two months. They're really rolling right now. Obviously Washington will get another shot at them in a few weeks, but it may not be enough because they need to lose a couple more times to give Washington this chance. So it's screaming wild card. I'm sure you believe it too.
It.
I think the people in the building believe this. We take care of our business. None of the rest of this matters. But it's narrow now because the NFC North teams are all top three having great seasons. Unless they beat each other up or knock one of them off enough, the spot to get is a seventh seed.
I mean, that's where it is right now.
So Washington's got to either hope for the NFC West to remain really messed up and none of those teams emerge as a wildcard team and there's just a division winner, or they're gonna have to just kind of do it on their own and just get in that way.
I think you folk on what you need to do, focus on your handling your own business. You're not you don't want to go into a situation where you're limping into the playoffs. You're not playing good football going into the playoffs, you got to get help from somebody else. We're in a situation where we control our own destiny by if we win football games. Keep winning football games,
we'll be in the playoffs. Where that ends up, whether it's sixth seed, seventh seed, fifth seed, hey, some crazy thing where the Philadelphia Eagles all of a sudden start playing extremely bad football.
Maybe we end up as a two seed. You never know. But focus on what you can.
Control, which is the games that's being played on that given game day. December fifteenth, geinst New Orleans Saints Setember twenty second against the Philadelphia Eagles, December twenty ninth against Atlanta Falcons, and to be determined date against the Dallas Boys. In Jerry's world, that's right, those are the things we focus. That's gonna be a make good game for this team. That's the one to remember, the one that got away this year too.
You're look at too far here. Let's focus on this. I hear you.
Did you think, because there are four games away, they are in the playoffs as it speak. If they go two and two, they probably get in. If they go three and one, they're almost definitively get in. If they went out, they might have a shot at the division. When we broke camp, did you think we'd be sitting here and going playoffs?
I'll say this, and I'm on record, when we did the Command Center show, we predicted wins.
I think I had predict us maybe about ten wins.
So yeah, all right, So so you're saying, yeah.
Pretty much, I eleven, Yeah, go back.
Ten would be dependent on Philadelphia. Dallas may or may not win a division, but definitively would be the playoffs.
Philadelphia, I thought I thought I'd say this. I thought Philadelphia was going to win our division. I thought they were. They had the best, best football team, most talent top to bottom.
Yeah.
So, and Saquon is streaking towards at bare minimum offensive Player of the Year, and I'd argue, MVP, Yeah, the way they're going he is, Yeah, the.
Way they're going right now?
All right after what you saw yesterday, which was closer to the beginning of the season, which I think was a little surprising how good it was at the beginning of the year. Is their room to improve?
There's always room to improve in what way you anytime you win a game, lose a game, you're gonna always look at how can we continue to improve? There's a maybe there's some some points left out on the board. There's a you know, from an individual standpoint, can I block a little bit better? Can I catch a little bit better? Can I do something better?
They should?
Defensively, you allow the the Tennessee types of score right before the half to give them some momentum.
You know, what can we do to shure up not giving up.
The the bigger plays, the plays that we gave up in the passing game. So there's always rome to improve, regardless of how how how you won and how many you won by.
That's the mentality you got to continue to improve. There were two turnovers left on the field.
Had his first inception get some more interceptions?
Yeah, so we'll see, all right, But.
It feels good going into the buy off a win and a win like that, Yeah, more than anything, a win like that, absolutely all right. What are you doing for the bye week?
I don't know.
I'm relaxing, man, trying to get my life together. It's been a I'll finally get a chance to be at home with my kids. For a full week.
So yeah, you had quite a weekend London over there, went to the Michigan Ohio State game, didn't get mased, showed up the next day, went to the Tennessee Washington game, and then that night goes and gets into the Christmas spirit by seeing Mariah Carey. Well, you shoved it all in what weekend? Man?
Man, I'm just I'm just, you know, living a dream and I guess I do. That was Mariah Good they played on DV. It was a good guy.
Okay, all right, everybody that'll do it for the booth reviewer, We'll see you after the New Orleans game.