What is up?
What's going on?
Commanders fan? This is the Beatdown Podcast. I'm Zach Selby, your host, senior writer for the Washington Commanders, and Bob's still no doubt about it, still feeling good about ourselves. But the Commanders did drop their first loss in about a month, thirty to twenty three to the Baltimore.
Ravens on the road. A good game.
They had a chance to win there, but there were a few key mistakes here and there that ultimately led to their demise. But they have a good chance to bounce back coming back on the Northwest Stadium to take on the Carolina Panthers who are one and five but still pesky team, still in the NFL, team still full professionals, and they can still be anybody at any time. And how they're gonna be able to bounce back, well, that is exactly what we're gonna be able to talk about today.
And with me we have Wandermera who is part of the Spanish broadcasting for US, and we also have a former Commanders alum here. It is a full time employee of staff alum here, Logan Campbell. She used to work for US as a team reporter back in twenty twenty, but she is now a sports anchor and porter for WFMY out in North Carolina.
How are we doing, y'all?
We're doing good.
At least I'm doing good over here on the Commander's side. I don't know how it's going down there in North Carolina right now.
Yeah.
I was gonna say, the vibes might be high for you guys, but they are not very high for us.
Here in Charlotte. So this game is.
Gonna be fun, you know, being a former Commander I used to work there and being a Commander fan that having to cover it, it might be a totally different story.
Baron personally, how are the vibes logan? Are you doing all right?
Personally?
Oh? Fantastic, the best that they have been in years, Zach. So it's been so fun getting to watch the Commanders this year. It's like a new energy up there.
Yeah, no, you know, it really is.
And Guinea be a part of this has been, you know, such a surreal feeling because right now it's we've usually been like either one or two and four or something like this heading into week seven, but now we're kind of the talk of the league and that's a new experience that I'm not really familiar with, but I'm loving every second of it.
I haven't seen a mock draft yet.
Like other years, I've already checked out mock drafts and other years, and this year we haven't done that yet.
So we're yeah, we're more We're more focused on playoff seating right now, which is even listen even in a little too too ahead of ourselves ex But anyway, so.
The listeners know the spiel, they know the deal.
But for you guys, you're gonna be asking me questions about about the game on Sunday, you guys are going to debate, and since it's my show, I have the tremendous burden rested on my shoulders to pick a winner. But at the same time, the viewers know and the listeners know that you should not focus too hard on the outcome, be more focused on the objective and important information that these people are providing. Because they are team insiders.
They know the team there's respective teams better than anybody and without further ado, let's dive right into it. So, the the Carolina defense has really been struggling a little bit. Needless to say, they're in the bottom third of just about every single category, whether it's past total defense of yards allowed, rushing yards. I think they think they're second to second or third to last, and league rushing yards allowed.
But at the same time, they do have some really solid players on their team, like Jase Horn is a really really good player leading a talented secondary, albeit still struggling a little bit. And you know they're their defensive their defensive line has you know, there's some there's some solid players on my team, maybe playing a little bit out of position in terms of where they will be on respective depth charts.
They hadn't been so banged up. Uh So, Logan, since.
You are you are the the other teams, guess we'll let's you start first here.
What do you think the biggest threat to.
Washington's offenses on this command on this Carolina defense? Because the Washington off as you know, has been playing on a historic rate so far, even with the twenty three point performance they had against the Ravens.
Yes, that is a high flying offense. Look, Zach, I mean you touched on it. This defense is terrible. The Panthers even know that this defense is terrible. We talked to j C. Forran after their loss to the Atlanta.
Falcons, and he said, straight up, it's embarrassing how bad our defense has been this year.
I mean, yes, they've had some huge injuries.
You know, Derek Brown has a season ending injury, a defensive tackle that was, you know, making maybe masking the problems a little bit more. Jadavian Clowney might not be able to play. He's out at practice but not going through the motions. He's just stretching for the first time today, so he's questionable to play on Sunday. Jack Thompson, their biggest linebacker is out, so there's lots of problems.
On the defensive side of the ball. I think the.
Biggest threat honestly Zach because it's not on the caroline of Panthers. The biggest threat is if Jeremy Chin or Frank people who decided mid game, Hey, you know what, I want to go back to Carolina. I want to put in my old teammates.
You know.
I think the Panthers defense it is what it is. I don't know if they're going to get much better Personally. I don't think that there is a huge threat to the Commander's offense with what they're able to do this season.
Yeah, you know, it's I think that the Panthers are They're on pace at least from what I've heard, that they're on pace to be the most scored against team in at least like the longest and maybe even league history right now. I mean they're they're averaging dead last at thirty three point eight points allowed per game. I think they've had thirty points allowed and eat to the last three contests and Juan Barring, as Logan said, the
rare end game trade. Uh, you know, I want to focus on on j C. Horn a little bit because he probably is I would say, like you know, with all with Darrick Brown and Shaq Thompson and all those other players. They even banged Upper out for the year, like he probably is like their best defensive player right now. Aout to Madden, He's gonna see a lot of Terry McLaurin. So how do you think that matchup is going to play out a lot? Because Terry does he does match
up well against a lot of different corners. He knows how to play against you know, gazone, he does against more physical, man coverage corners. How do you expect that matchup between Terry and Horn to work out on Sunday.
I expect Kingsbury to probably do some sort of like the Skuises in the beginning. I seem to think that Kingsbury he likes to start off with little screens just to set up test the defenses, to see what type of defense they're going to play against Terry or specifically all the receivers in the running backs. But either way, I mean J. C. Horn is by far their best defensive player. He is the biggest threat on their defense. I mean, he's got six pass breakups already on the year.
He's got the pick.
I think definitely he could interrupt Washington's game plan a little bit.
But at the end of the day, you know who would have thunk it.
You know, Washington has too many weapons, I think for this defense if you stop, you know, Terry McLaurin on the outside.
We saw Zach.
Ertz get it a little bit involved in the game against Baltimore. It seems to be that they find different flows throughout the game where maybe you know, on one drive it'll be Ertz, maybe on one drive it'll it'll be Eckler, or it'll be maybe even sometimes Dimmie Brown. There's just options on this team, right, you know, it's not the household names that you will think of, and that maybe the rest of the league knows. But at the end of the day, these guys are getting it done.
They're executing a plan that Kingsbury is you know, focusing on during the week and right now, right now is running like a well oiled machine. And I think the biggest threat to them against the Carolina Panthers is self inflicted wounds like we saw it against the Giants, right We saw it here in the red zone against the Giants where they ran.
Up and down the field on the Giants.
They got into the red zone so many times and they had to settle for field goals.
So you just got to finish drives, you know, keep.
The mental awareness up and not be their own worst enemy on offense.
That's kind of where I'm at too, And I think and to your point about about spreading it out, you know, to the different receivers. Thirteen players have caught, have have had a target for this, for this, for this commander's offense.
So Jade Daniels is doing a phenomenal job ats spraying the ball around and spraying the wealth and you know, it's it's funny like during the off season, lot of people were wondering if there were enough weapons for Jayden to to effectively run this offense, and it turns out when you have a guy like him, it doesn't really matter all that much because he's able to get it out. And then Cliff Kingsbury obviously has done a ver good
job of getting players open. But Logan, I'll go back to you here because I think if there's anything we've learned we can learn from the Ravens game, is that the running game is so important to the Washington offense. They were coming in the league second behind the Ravens
and rushing yards per game. Ryan Robinson goes out, and of course there are other factors involved with this, but they average I think they're around like fifty two yards after that game, which it really disrupted their their game flow quite a bit. And again, like you know, the Ravens have an excellent defense to stop in the run, so it's not all on the commander's self afflicted wounds there.
But I would imagine, you know, the Carolina Panthers are going to try their best to stop Brian Robinson, assuming he's going to be available or you know, Austin Eckler, Jerry maybe Nichols. They're going to try to do something to whether it's blitzing or doing some many different stunts. Like how do you expect them to address this rushing attack that has a really good offensive line, really solid staple of running backs.
Yeah, I know, you know.
The main talk though honestly, it hasn't even been about their running game though for the Panthers that which is a problem. You know, they're not even acknowledging that. They're just more worried about containing Jade and Daniels. They're so worried about Jade and Daniels. You know, he is a dual threat quarterback going on these big runs they're having Bright's young and late Jaden Daniels, which I don't think you can even do that because he is so good
and practice to try and get this defense prepared. But I think that's one thing that you mentioned. The run game is so big for Washington. I don't know how they are planning on addressing that because they're so focused on Jaden Daniels. Unfortunately, but like we said, their defensive line just isn't as as good as it could have been with all the injuries that they've had.
So you know, I think, you know, stacking.
The box a little bit more that would be helpful, you know, having I don't know who's going to even replace Shack Thompson. I know they've mentioned mixing up personnel this week to just try and get something defensive going and creating these turnovers. So I think the biggest thing is the turnover battle. If they can create turnovers, that's gonna help. But for the Panthers, what we've seen this year is if they don't play a perfect game on defense, they're not gonna win.
So that's a great question.
I don't I don't know how they're gonna plan for it to attack this Washington's offense.
I simply don't know.
You know, And I really, I really am curious about that because I don't.
I don't.
I'm not really sure that.
Even like you said, I don't even sure they know. Because if you if you don't have Brian Robinson, you've got Austin Eckley, who's gonna bust a fifty yard run. You have Jeremy Nichols, who's really underrated I think in terms of how he's been able to perform. Uh. And you know, I was a big fan of Jeremy McNichols going into training camp. I think he's been really really
key to this this running game. And on top of that, like to the point about the turnover battle, I mean, Washington is they've only given up the ball three times, which is you know, that's that's the second fewest in the league. So the commanders do a very good job protecting the ball. And if if the commander is able to do that again on Sunday, it's gonna be very hard. One real quick just contacting the running game a little
bit before we move on to the next question. How big is having Brian Robinson back going to be for this offense.
As much as they downplayed it going into the game against the Ravens, I think it was huge. You know, he absorbs hits, you know, he he takes on defenders like defenders have to pay attention to him. That there was some a few runs where Eckler, you can see, you know, his vision probably you know, let him down a little bit and maybe Robinson probably would have been able to get some more yards and some of those runs.
So I definitely think it was a huge part.
I mean, obviously the Ravens were going into the game number one against the rush and Carolina is not the case, right, definitely not. But at the same time, if you're going to focus all your attention on Jaden Daniels and the RPO game, like, then just feed it to Robinson all day long.
I think he'll get his well then to go off of that.
Last week against Atlanta, their two running backs had combined three hundred yards, so you would think they would address the running game after last week's game. But again, the talk is just a bit about Jayden Daniels. So yeah, if I'm Washington, I'm feeding it to be rod the entire time.
You know, I think that's probably I mean, you just look at the stats and they just they just point to exactly that, right, Like, I mean, you cannot find two more diametrically different defense as opposed to what you were seeing with the Ravens versus what you were gonna.
See with the Panthers. The Panthers are on the opposite end of the spectrum trying to defending their run.
And you know, with Jane Daniels, like you said, Logan being so dynamic and just about every part of that offense. It's really hard to focus on anybody but him because he really does make that that offense go because of how smart he is, how Poisy is in the pocket.
We're gonna move on to the next question, but first before we do that score update.
You guys are tied four to four. Uh so, really big battle here between you guys with the points. I really like the points they all began so far. But we're gonna move on to another part of the game here, which I think is a really big blow for the Commanders. They lost Jonathan Allen with the torn pactor muscle. He's gonna be done. He's on ir GO under undergoing surgery.
But it does create kind of a hole for for this for this uh, for this defense, because of how you know, reliable he is, his mindset, his leadership.
It's I mean, there's no other way the way to say.
It is a loss, and I expect the Panthers are gonna try to take advantage of that, especially with which Cuba Hubbard is running.
Uh.
You know, with Andy Dalton still, you know, I think he's probably not the best quarterback right now, but he is. He is a veteran who knows how to run that offense and do it more effectively. I guess you could say than than Bryce Young. Uh so, one, we'll start with you first here, And how do you think the Panthers are gonna try to take advantage of that that hole in the defensive line, especially with how well their running game has been going over the last few games or so.
Uh you mentioned it.
I think Cuba hubbard Is is definitely where this offense has to go through. Ever since they made the Q Beach change, like it's been night and day their rush game.
You know, obviously they have Dalton back there, but it's it all goes through Cuba, and especially right now if you're playing Washington on the other end, Like if you're playing against Washington, people like to say, oh, you know, they're only ranked twenty second against the rush, but I like to see more of the yards per rush, so when they want to run on us, they will run
on the Commanders. Like they're averaging five yards per carry against, which is twenty ninth in the league, Which means if Carolina keeps this game close and is still able to rush, they might be able to pick up some good yards chunk yards in the running game and that will open
up the play action game. And you know our secondary hasn't been exactly lighting it up either, So definitely, I think it all starts through the ground, which chub Hubbard, and the interior of the offensive line, which is pretty good with Lewis and Hunt at the guard positions. I think they have a formidable challenge the Washington defensive line this league.
They really do.
And the band is off the line is I think by far their best position. Really address that in the offseason, and their numbers probably aren't. They don't scream that they're one of the better units, but if you just watch them, they're Their interior, like you said, is just full.
Of these big, nasty dudes.
Who they're they're They're about a stereotypical of an offensive line as you would you would expect them to be.
Uh.
But Logan, I want you to focus specifically on Cuba here because if you just look at his stats, he really is running hard. I think he's fifth and yards over expected right now, He's averaging about five yards of care. He's really running hard making that offense go for them.
What about Cuba makes it? Makes him such a focal point of that offense.
Before we get to that, I do have some breaking news for you guys, Tod Clowney Toll reporters today right now that he does not expect to play on Sunday, So there's another hole in our defense. Anyways, let's try and talk about the positives.
Chuba Hubbard. He's having a great season. Listen.
I saw him during training camp. He would stay an hour after practice was over, just putting in work, getting an extra rep. So he he is one of the hardest workers on this team, without a doubt, and that's clearly paying off because he is a bright spot in this offense. Like you said, like we've seen him go on some big runs this season.
But the problem becomes when.
Cuba is doing well, for whatever reason, they decide to switch up the offense and start throwing thirty yard bombs down the field, which ended up getting intercepted. We saw that happen twice last game against Atlanta, so you know, he he is the focal point of this offense. It is sad, but they do need to keep feeding Tuba the ball. They're going to run him into the ground, but he's the one that gets this team going and moves them down the field and.
If you look at his his like rushing like totals, like I don't think he has a He only has like three plays that are over twenty yards and not on the ground, but he just has He kind of reminds me of b Rob a little bit with how like physically he is at a lot of scrimmage.
Yeah, he just needs the offensive line that Washington has now and then you know, maybe he will be at that next level like b Rob is.
Playing at and that and that commit that Carolina Panthers offensive line is a little banged up, which is going to be probably be a pretty big factor into this game.
So one going into like you can't really replace a guy like Jonathan Allen one to one, but there are a lot of guys who are probably gonna have more expanded roles, and one of them is going to be Johnny Newton, who talked in the locker room, I think it was Wednesday, talking about how you think he's really really ready for this, he feels the confidence of the
coaching staff. What kind of impact do you think Johnny Newton is going to have because we really haven't seen all that much of him just because of various injuries and him being lower on the death chart. But now that he has a bigger role on this team, what do you expect out of him?
You know, before I talk about Johnny Newton, I want to give the credit to someone that's gone under talked about, and that's Fadarian Mathis. I think he's come up big on some some series that I've seen that he's out there, he is absorbing double blocks, he's getting to running backs. He doesn't have probably the past rushing skills that the other defensive tackles have, but definitely a shout out to him and what he's done so far in the season.
Johnny Obviously, with him, we haven't seen much of him. I think he's still recovering from two foot surgeries, like in the offseason, like those things aren't something to take lightly. I think he probably was just getting his legs under him. His last couple of games we saw him do basically you know, a player that stood out against the Ravens where he was able to shed a block and get to the running back.
So definitely, I think with him.
He had a spectacular career at Illinois, and you know, he was definitely one of those players that we were excited to see what he was going to bring as the second round draft pick in this draft, I think that many people were surprised that we were going to take a defensive tackle when we had probably other needs. So we expected a lot out of him, and I think he's going to be able to show it now, most likely against you know, something like like uh Chuba Hubbard,
like we saw against Derrick Henry. They'll probably play a lot of five down lineman and probably move him to one of the ends spots and uh, we'll see for Darien Mathis in the middle. So I'm looking forward to it and looking forward to see what we get from Johnny Newton.
Yeah, and you know, you're right, And that is a really good point about Fidarian because I think he puts out he does a lot of things that do not show up on the stat sheet, and but he makes that defense like when he's on the field, like Frankie Lulu and Bobby Wagner, like they have more opportunities because
he's able to eat up those double teams. And that's something that that he was praised for even going into the draft process a couple of years ago, about how like he doesn't really do a whole lot that makes you, you know, stand out and say, oh my gosh, that's an amazing tackle. But he lets the linebackers flow and do their jobs. And you know, considering the way that Frankie and Bobby are playing right now, that you want as much of that as you possibly can.
Logan real quick here is you know, I mentioned.
How like the off the line is kind of banged up a little bit for the Panthers, Like how confident do you feel about them going up against this commanders deep the line?
Well, and you know it's crazy to say that, you know, maybe the defensive line for Washington is one of the weaker points on this team, which is crazy to say because that wasn't.
The case for years. But you know, I think just you know.
Doron Payne being out or Jonathan Allen excuse me, being out, that's huge for the Carolina to try and exploit that, get the run game going, you know, and eat up the cloth. You know, like I said earlier, they need to play a perfect game. So if they can take care of the ball, and you know, maybe Washington this could be a trap game for Washington.
So I think.
Who knows, who knows maybe maybe the Panthers will come out they had like a heart to heart conversation in the locker room after last week's loss, after being one in five, and maybe they'll look like significantly better than they've all seasons. So hopefully the offensive line, you know, like it. Like we've said, they are banged up, but maybe something they had to come to Jesus moment this week and they'll just play slightly better to keep this one a close game.
Yeah, I'm really interested to see what what that matchup is going to be like, because you know, you're right, like the Carolina off off of the line is banged up. But last question here score update, though, I think the point you made one about Fadarian really really stood out to me, So I got to give you a point ahead. But logan, you still have you still have one more
question to get back up here. And it's really simple, you know, beside the quarterbacks, because obviously Jaden is going to be a big factor on Sunday and he Doll is gonna be a big factor on Sunday, that's obvious, But like other than those guys, which player do you think on either team will have the biggest effect on Sunday's.
Outcome, I think, to be honest, I don't. I think it really depends on how Jadeen Daniels plays. I think that if Washington, you know, maybe gets a little lackluster and Carols but the ball and creates the turnovers and Carolina somehow capitalizes on it, I think that that could really flip the outcome of the game. We've said this time and time again for Carolina, if they are not playing a perfect game in every single phase, they're not
gonna win. So they have to play a little bit more than perfect and create some turnovers and capitalize off some off the turnovers.
That's gonna be the biggest outcome.
So I think on Washington side, it's Jayden and Daniels taking care of the ball, but then on Carolina side, it's jac Horn.
I think.
I think if he can create those turnovers off of these big passes that we know jade Daniels is gonna make, that's gonna be the difference maker in this one.
I like that. Like that because you're right.
I think Jase Horn is really going to be quite the quite the matt with Terry.
I think he's gonna see a lot against Tammie. I think Lamede'sakias might get out there, and no brown as as really well, so he could also see any of those guys.
All right, One same question, which player on either team you think is the biggest effect on today?
All right? So I need I need them to release the dogs and by that I mean Frankie Louvu. I need another Frankie Louvu game because he disappeared last week against the Ravens.
I don't think it's through fault of his The Ravens had a good game plan against him, but there was two games in a row that he popped, that he came out, that he jumped out of.
The screen on what he was doing. So I need him to be blitzing all the time.
This is a quarterback any Dalton that you know where he's at, You like, you know he's going to be in that pocket. You need to send him pretty much all the time to the quarterback, bring him down or obviously on rushing downs to the running back. And I think that's going to be the key to this game. A little bit of Bobby Wagner, but it's mostly on
Frankie Louver. I think Bobby Wagner was kind of called out to be honest by Wait on the press conference this week about these miscommunications, uh that that were going on with these plays. So I think it's they're going to take you a little personal. But I think Frank lou was gonna be the one that's going to have the big game.
Wen.
Can I just say that if you're going up against the Carolina Panther and you're a former Carolina Carolina Panther, chances are have a great game. We saw that with DJ Moore when they play the Chicago Bear.
So I think you're.
Correct, that's correct.
And you know, Lulu has just been as he gets more comfortable, you can see it on the field, right, Like he's got he's got this quickness that I would love to see him russ the pass or even more because I know, I know they have other responsibilities.
That they need him to do, but he's just so fun to watch.
I see another post game speech, right, you know.
Yoh yeah? Like that that got me fired up. So I watched that about twenty times. Taking to that Ravens game.
It got me ready to run through a brick wall. I would never I would have any effect at all of the game. But I maybe want to suit up for sure. Okay, so final results here Again, the burden has arrested on my shoulders.
And Logan, you know I love you.
You know you know I thanked like the Panther season is going.
We will always be friends no matter what. But one, I gotta give the win to you.
The Fenerie Mathis uh stuff, the one, the the Frankie Lulu stuff like that was that was all so key.
Do you have any parting words of victory for us?
No?
I mean, first of all, Logan, you were tasked with something that that was, you know, kind of hard, and to point out how Carolina could get tied to win this game.
Uh.
And and no offense any given Sunday, right, anything can happen on the field. Uh, as far as this Sunday. But I think Washington, we saw it against the Browns where I thought it was gonna be a trap game.
I think this year is kind of different. I think obviously, Zach, we we've been around.
The team for a little bit in these last couple of years where we get hyped up for these games that are supposedly Washington's favorite at home, you know, big home crowd coming out for the team and it just lay a big dud, right, So I think this year is different, and I expect that on a day where Daryl Green is getting his jersey retired, the team will pick him up as well.
And you know, granted, like you know, the Panthers are, you know, their professionals. They can win on any given Sunday, like you said, but if they go in there and handle their business, I think things should be should be okay real quick before on the way out. Daryl Green's memory is getting retired on Sunday. You guys have you know, been fans and grew up around here and all of the other stuff. The importance and significance of that, you know, a Hall of Fame player getting honored.
Like that for me personally, you know, he was one of my favorite players coming up growing up as a kid here in the nineties and you know, seeing him play, seeing him not go to another team actually you know, having his jersey and being able to wear it for years and years, so it didn't fit me anymore, you know, because he actually stayed on the team.
Uh.
Definitely, definitely someone that deserves to have his jersey retired. Hall of Famer obviously, you know, getting treated right. And I hope that him and his family enjoy this moment that they're going to have this weekend.
And Logan, Logan, I know you you you you and I weren't around it for quite as long to see to see you know, hidjeogens like prime years. But I mean it's obviously you've heard the stories about how great he is.
Absolutely, I mean, growing up in the Washington area, that was the first jersey I got was er Yeah, and every year, you know, when you get bigger, you get new jerseys, and I always got his jersey. I still have his in my closet, and throughout the years, I was never embarrassed to wear that jersey. I was always excited about getting a new green jersey. And just you know, he's been such an important piece to this organization and it is so well deserved. And I can't wait to
see what Washington does for him. I just know the videos that they're gonna post, they're gonna give me chills. So congratulations to him. I mean, I can't I couldn't think of anyone better to deserve that honor.
Should be fine, should be a really really cool, historic moment for everyone involved. Everyone's gonna be able to be there to see the game, but guys, we will see you next week. Hopefully we are talking about a win. Be sure to rate reviews, subscribe wherever you get your podcast.
And this has been the Beatdown.