COMMANDERS SQUAD | Can the Commanders PROTECT Jayden Daniels? O-Line Concerns + Eagles Week 1

0:00This is the Lockdown Podcast Network celebrating 10 years of your team every day. The NFL season is finally here and Lockdown NFL is covering every second of it. You can find us breaking down all the action on Amazon Music every single day with bold takes and real analysis that matters. Opening day storylines, roster moves. If it's happening with your team, we're on it. No waiting, no fluff, subscribe on Amazon Music and never miss a snap. Look at us. We're all out of cars this time as we get set for the regular season. Let's go, Melissa. I know that football season means that's fall, but it's like 95 degrees out. Unacceptable. I hate this. It is hot outside. It's all dressed in black so that's not going to help it. But hey, get the intro. That'll help us out.

1:00Hail to the commanders. It's the commander's squad. Everything Washington commanders every week. Covering all the big hits and game-changing plays from the heart of the nation's capital. The way only the Lockdown Podcast Network can. Relly the Burgundy and Gold. The commander's squad show starts now. That Anthony Armstrong, Melissa Kim and Nick Ash, you know David, though, he's on the road. I don't know where he's going. He said he was going to Ohio or something along those lines. I don't know. This is the last bit of travel. Everybody has, right? Yeah, we're at that last little stretch before everything kicks in. It's funny because like the NFL season, you go through training camp. You go through preseason, you go through roster cuts, you go through practice squad. I mean, all of a sudden it gets real quiet for this short period of time. And then we lead in next week to the start of the NFL season, which is on a Wednesday on top of that, which is just still weird to me. But you know, you guys brought it up. I will say this. It does not feel like football is on its way.

2:02It's miserably hot in all of our areas. And I know Anthony, you're down in Texas, even. I can imagine how hot it is down there. Oh, yeah. Warm for sure. I went to Midlothian and Chism Trail trail. And there were cramps all over the place. It was just, it was pretty bad. I was like, man, you got a hydrate, man. You got a hydrate. I wonder if something like that could happen in these, these games since it's hot and temperatures are up. All across the world. I know that the heat talks about blitzes too. And it makes me worry about the offensive line with the commanders a little bit. And we'll talk about it, obviously. But is it hot down here? It's really yes. They are swears to totally. I swear they changed the light bulb on us, man. It is now a high intensity LED. It used to be a nice, soft white incandescent. But there's something different up there. But hopefully everybody is staying cool. Y'all drive a safe. No, seriously. It's so hot. Even my family out in Atlanta. Growing up, I can't remember a day in high school that was above 75. And we have no humidity out there. And my family out there is like, no, we are sitting in front of it.

3:02How do you people live out there with the humidity on the east coast and in the south? Because they're sitting, it's like 80 and humidity. And they're like, we're not going outside by peace. But yeah, I think we are all feeling meteorological fall, apparently, started on September 1st. And it does not feel like at all. I thought it was like the end of the month when it's considered fall. Like you told me that before the show. And I was like, wait, what? Meteorological. I can't even say it. I'm going to go live. Yeah, I said, yeah. Can we confirm this, please? Because everybody talks about like the fall solstice or whatever. It's like at the end of September. But you know, it is when you think about it, though, like these games do get affected in some ways in certain markets and certain cities. As you get, you know, at the beginning of the season like this, you play down a month to beginning of the season like this, you play down a Miami like it's hot. It's humid. That affects teams just like the cold weather does for some of the northern cities specifically later. So that's that is something that does get factored in, you know, early in the season. You have an answer, Melissa. Let's see. What's the logical fall 2026 began on September 1st and runs through November 30th.

4:05All right. I never knew this. It's a meteorological fall in football season. Do not overlap. No, they do not. I mean, they call football weather. Yeah. This is not football weather. Um, but I don't know. It's going to be fun. No. I mean, I'm excited for it. It's the best thing. We watch with all starts this week. That is true. We'll see all those kids cramping on the field this Saturday. I hope I'm going to watch. I'm going to watch LSU. When is LSU? I'm watching them see if they're watching that for sure. See if they're going to see if they violate that season assist letter. Did you see what they did the countdown for how many days and they did four or five? That's such a good roll job. It's so bad. You guys. I can't. But like, apparently they had like a 900 celebrity credentials for that game. So apparently, like hundreds of celebrities are showing up to LSU Clemson this weekend. Interesting.

5:05No, no, what is. Let's talk about the good guys. Let's talk about our guys in the burgundy and gold. We're brought to you by game time today, download the game time app, create an account and use code locked on for $20 off your first purchase. You mentioned the offensive line, Anthony. And let's all be honest with ourselves here. It's a concern heading into this season. And look, I try to not take much away from preseason. Because if we're honest with ourselves, you're not getting a lot in preseason anymore. It's very, very little. But the one short sample size that we did have with who's going to essentially be a part of the starters group. Not everybody but a little bit that first drive against the lions. That was bad. It was concerning because Jayden was getting swarmed. Now, I am under the theory that they would have maybe considered a second drive to give them a little bit more of an opportunity out there on the field. But after you see the way that the lions who weren't it wasn't even their starters on defense, swarming Jayden Daniels and surrounding him. You just go, nope, we got to just get them off the field. We got to end this. We got to just we don't want them getting hurt because if you if Jayden Daniels got hurt without offensive line, not protected him in a preseason game.

6:10Heads would have rolled. But look, left tackle it is what it is. Laramie Tonsel's hurt. It's bad luck. It happens. He's going to be gone at least four months. He's not walking through that door. Brandon Coleman. You got to hold down the fort. Center is where the bigger issue is because that's somebody that you're counting on a Nick aligrette Melissa to be the starter to be your center doesn't have a lot of experience there didn't get a ton of experience in training camp and in preseason because he was hurt got back out got hurt again. And look, I know everybody sees that video of Jayden Daniels and it's like, oh, his body language looks bad with Nick Walgrette snap in the ball. That pissed me off. I did just literally just go rant on social media because like guys, this is like a warm up drill. This isn't something that's actually legit calm the hell down, but Melissa, I am concerned about this offensive line. It has the feel of something that can be a significant problem for them because you have pieces that are on there that weren't supposed to really be the plan a for them. That is correct. And same thing with that. I think it was like one of those like aggregating like accounts that put it on Twitter. That's how I saw it. The whole body language thing.

7:11They were like always body language Melissa. How do you know? I've come down. This drill is for him. This drill is not for Jayden. This drill is for whoever is at center. So Jayden is like not a part of this drill. He's just kind of there as a body. Like I remember my first football practice. Anyways, I've been watching the center position all training camp and pretty much all preseason. And Nick Algrette really, if you think about it, only got like two full practice. You know what I mean? In terms of the times that he got to practice with the ones. I mean, he is a super bowl champion. You know, he does have experience with the cheese, but he doesn't have experience with Jayden Daniels. Again, that cadence, right? Getting that relationship, right? He had a little bit of time last season, but this is a whole new season, right? Matt Goldman, the rookie, I mean, obviously they're taking a bigger chance on Matt Goldman than they are with Julian Good Jones, who is on the P squad. And so I mean, I will be honest, I personally did like Matt Goldman a lot more than Julian Good Jones in training camp and throughout practice and what I saw from him.

8:17He just seemed to be a little bit more on the same page with Jayden Daniels. And overall, for me, the offense look, the offensive line is for me the most important part of the offense, right? If you don't have no offensive line, you have to offense. If you can't make anything go, they make everything happen. And so I think that obviously there's some youth, you know, on this offensive line as well. But I think that for the rest of the rest of the line, I am not as concerned as I am with that center position. I talked to Sam Cosme a bunch on and off throughout training camp. And every week, obviously, you know, Sam's going to tell me that he's confident in the guys next to him. And regardless of who is at center next to him, he's going to be confident in them. And he kind of gave every all the three guys he gave everyone's like, you know, positives and like what they bring the table and stuff. But for him, I think, I mean, it's aligradi, right? I think that he has got to be the starting guy in order for this offensive line to really go and make this offense happen. And look, I talked to Michael Vic.

9:17I think I mentioned this before at me, I media days about the state of the NSE East. And he said for Jayden Dan, for the commander to be successful, Jayden Daniels has to be successful. And that means getting him weapons, which I think they did in terms of Stefan Diggs, obviously Antonio Williams, they drafted. And, you know, making sure that he is protected. He said that is the biggest thing, like making sure that Jayden Dan, has protection to be able to make those big plays to Terry and just Stefan Diggs and whoever else is out there. And so for me, I am cautiously optimistic. Okay. Like it seems like I mean, aligradi has been out there practicing, you know, before this Labor Day break. And I think that's a good sign. And I think that boats, hopefully well for things to come. But one thing that DQ said before the preseason game against the Ravens was that, look, this O line is going to have to face a lot of blitzing. You know what I mean? They have to be better, past protection has to be better against the blitz, which, you know, obviously historically teams like the Ravens, some other ones, obviously in the NSE East.

10:23Eagles to have historically blitzed quite well. So I think that we won will be a good test in the name for this offensive line to see it'll be the litmus test to see where they stand in the week one. I had it as an SAT just out the gate, not even a warm up at all. But it is definitely going to be a test and, you know, Vic Fangeo and crew, Zach Bond, Jaylen Carter, all those guys. They got to be looking to chop. They got to be thinking like, man, this is going to be a way to get onto a good start and help out their quarterback and their new offensive coordinator. But the thing is is number one, you said aggregate. So I'm like, man, please define that. Text me later what the definition is of aggregate because that was pretty good definition. And word of the day, what is aggregate. But here's a cool thing guys. Washington is still going to suit up five offensive linings. Okay. Regardless that we're not we don't have to go out with 10. We still get to put up five people. And if you're in the locker room, yeah, you want to have Larry, me tonsil sure you want to have some some continuity at the offensive line or just across the offensive line.

11:24But you know, you're still going to get five guys that are up there. And I'm the biggest question is, how can other guys help right? How can other guys help you mentioned Sam Cosme. Now, maybe it's more of a hey, I'm going to give you a little bit more help off with a stab with my inside hand before I back out here to help the center out a little bit more same thing with Chris Paul on that left side. They're going to have to lean in and help the center, whoever is allegready, whatever it is, they're going to have to lean in a little bit more just to pick up their pressure just constantly. You're going to probably be on a little bit of an island a little bit more now. Let's take it to the running back room. Hey, hit somebody on the way out. Please don't don't avoid any contact. If you see, you know, Connerly, they can talk to you'll see Lil's tap on the butt. Connerly will say, Hey, look, I'm so low by myself. Man. So now you know, I need to chip on the way out. That type of work can help over, you know, over help you get over the fact of having inconsistency at center position. It's going to take a little bit more from the receivers tight ends. Where are your hearts? When am I hot? Understand in the protection just a little bit more. You know, you may not have to know who the mic is, but you know that I'm responsible for this person over me, blitzes, if this safety blitzes.

12:39Just the way the routes are written and drawn up, you can understand, hey, the ball may be coming my way quickly. All right. So everybody's on top of their game, Nick. You can get past dealing with the blitz. People are going to people in this lead. They're going to do it over and over again until you can stop it. It's like no became shout out the densel. Remember the type. We're going to repeat it over and over again. But if you stop it, if you not even just pick up the blitz, but if you we get a good screen run a draw, catch Antonio or Terry on a slant. It goes to the house. They will get out of the blitz. They will cut it out. And that's how you handle it. So coming into the season. Yeah, a little nervous, little scary, little worried about the fact that you don't know who your starting center is. But the fact that I have a whole laundry list of ways that we can get past it, I'm happy. Right. Maybe we don't have a five wide five free release Mike March offense. And that's a good thing to about protecting the Daniels. That's on David blouse. How are you going to mix up your play call? How are you going to mix in the run? The keeps, you know, don't put them back there and just say, hey, go play Superman. Give them some options.

13:44You know, keep the defenses on their toes with the misdirection. All those things can work for it. Nick. So there's more ways to help out with this offensive line that has a lot of question marks to it. But I'm telling you, man, I think you're going to be okay. Right now, it just feels a little uncertain. I love remember the Titans. One of my favorite movies. So anytime that reference is made, it's going to make a show better. So thank you for that. I also used to live up the road from TC Williams High School. Completely different now. Oh my gosh. I mean, it is they have redone that school. That's for sure. Beautiful. But, you know, I, there is obviously the glass half empty and the glass half full look at this. And like no matter what teams going to a season already dealing with injuries and you look at like the 49ers and some of these other teams, it's far worse. Like they do have younger guys that have the ability to step into roles. And I think Brandon Coleman, because he spent time at left tackle and because he's worked with Laramie Tunsell, there's the possibility that he steps in and does well and protects the blind side of Jaden Daniels. And that's a massive help.

14:44But, you know, the one positive about this in terms of well, there's a couple obviously, because if we take the offensive line and just understand that, hey, like this is going to be a little bit of a problem until we sort of see them settle in a little bit all the stuff we just discussed. Jaden's mobile and he may have to use his legs a little bit more early in the season. And that just may be part of where it is. I don't remember what his rushing yards prop is for the season. Anthony, but I would say I think we've talked about this. Take the over. He's probably going to run a bunch this year. What? That even aside, right. We went into training camp with the question of what is this wide receiver room look like? Are they going to sign Brandon? I you what about Stefan digs? What is this going to be? Who's going to be on the back end of that? This wide receiver depth now actually helps him in the way that they can have this element of surprise, especially early in the season where you don't really know where they're going to be putting the ball as much. Yes, some of it might be a little disruptive. Seems like the Eagles and even the cowboys who have improved their defense and then Seattle week three. I know it's not the same defense that won the Super Bowl, but you've got defenses that were going to certainly understand that like, hey, this offensive line is a problem.

15:51But James got guys that he can spread the ball around to and that doesn't even include Chicago conco was a wide receiver slash tied in. I mean, he's going to be used essentially is both. They got weapons and they got the opportunity now to get a lot of guys involved, which is going to make this offense harder to predict. It's going to give them a lot more of terms of opportunities for creativity out there using Antonio Williams in a different way. We spent all of training camp are they going to keep six so they're going to keep seven probably seven wide receivers. They did and they've got a wide variety of skill sets at wide receiver of trailing berks can stay healthy. You got a big body there and obviously that's a big if but Jaden Bradley is on the practice squad and I'd love to see him get an opportunity is that other big receiver if trailing berks misses time, which is probably unfortunately inevitable at this point, but Antonio Williams now can be used in a lot of different ways. And you know, Anthony, when when I look at this group that they have now, it's amazing that just adding Stefan digs kind of put everybody else in a position where they can be more comfortable and maybe be in a role that better suits them, especially early in the season to where if they've got to make up for a little bit of a lack of protection.

16:57And Jaden's got to throw on the run a little bit more at least you have the weapons that you can get the ball to that's going to keep this offense moving quickly if need be. 100% and before you made the high the hiring, I guess it is technically hiring when they when they signed different. Before they signed them like I already knew same big fan Joe and Christian Parker all of them are thinking double 17 and then we're just going to play press man against whoever else is over there because essentially the commanders were banking on the fact that one of our guys is going to come in and make a huge jump and separate themselves from the bunch right. And you know where everybody did improve their play they had some bumps up and they made some plays Jaden lanes and a good job. Luke McCaffrey's find a way to make some catches and practice. Van Jefferson was being super smooth the whole entire camp in Tony was shown up every single time as well. But nobody jumped out and really took a rain of that second receiver spot at least in a sense of where they go say damn I got I got to pay attention to this person.

18:01Now here comes step on digs okay and I promise you Quinyon Mitchell Cooper Dijin whoever's the corner they're going to know who that guy is right they may want to talk that noise during the game but they know who they're going up against. So you can't just double cover Terry McCormick because then you leave step on digs by himself one on one that's a favorable match up for me if I'm Jay Daniels if I'm got pressure up front I can still trust that step on digs is going to get open in in space and time and it's going to be an easy throw for me. So you know it helps calm your nerves a lot right helps calm your nerves I don't know what step on digs over or is not what his receptions are but I think it's going to be he's going to be a major impact just for presence and then off of productivity as well Melissa so the guy is going to be out there's going to make people pay attention to it how he unlocks everybody else is to be seen. And I definitely agree with all that especially because like you look at again how we were priest upon digs and how we are now post upon digs I think it's night and day for not just us prefer law the fan base as well and what he brings from an entangible stand point I know that I've talked about this before but having that veteran present you see him talking to some of the stuff to like an Antonio Williams Diamme Brown some of these other guys you know what I mean how much you can learn from a guy likes to font

19:23bigs not it's not just you brought in your number two guy but like you know a two plus like you know what I mean because in terms of what he can help some of these younger guys with this experience and again I say this all the time I was saying this people while I was watching my training camp he has this combination of being so fluid yet so crisp at the same time it's almost like it's he's not thinking about obviously at this point with his experience level but it's just second nature to move the way that he does because he's so meticulous and you can tell he's so meticulous with this speed and it's so crisp but yet his body is just like moving in motion like water like you know what I mean it's it's such a fascinating thing to watch to see him in practice like watch him run routes in the beginning but yeah I think that on top of that obviously now with the seven wider savers but you know the four tight ends to let's yeah yeah get creative you know what I mean let's run some I don't know some three tight ends I don't know let's let's let's throw it all out there we might as well because now you have potentially the personnel that can do these things you know block and catch you know but when it comes to the tight ends I've always been curious to see like how some of these first your offensive coordinators whether college or pro use tight ends because I feel like it's such a versatile position in terms of what you can do depending on the personnel that you have so these guys together these four guys together between

20:44um chig and Ben senate and kohlson Yankeoff and I'm missing one more um but um base I was like wait who go to the last yeah yeah he played a lot yeah I'm sorry um but in terms of these four guys like how they match together and what they can do together I think chig I've seen you know do a lot of catching um in terms of uh what he's done in terms of drills and stuff like that in practice so I'm excited like I'm excited to see like what the what David Blas and I thought they're I think that's one of the exciting things that with that everybody can agree on is that there are a lot of weapons and there's a lot of opportunity for creativity with this offense and you know one of the really good things is there is an element of surprise because nobody's seen this group together under in this offense and all of it and that's going to really provide something that's going to help them moving forward when it comes to this early part of the schedule which we know is massively uh difficult at least on paper right now that of course takes us into year three for just about

21:45everybody that's involved in the pressure that everybody is certainly under here and we'll look at that next year on commander squad and there are more live events than ever worth seeing right now you got games you got concerts you got comedy shows festivals all of that stuff people love live events the hard part though is actually deciding what you actually want to attend right no no no no it's actually getting the tickets everybody's made that so difficult between the long wait times the confusing checkout processes and the surprise fees buying tickets can just feel so much harder than it should right but that's why there's so many fans now turning to game time it's the app that's built to make buying tickets simple with upfront pricing you got seat views before you buy and exclusive savings that help you get to the events you want without all of the hassle and really that's one of my biggest pet peeves and that's a lot right you think you found a great deal oh you're so excited it's great and then all of a sudden you get

22:46to check out warm warm everything changes and you see all these final prices that look completely different all these made up fees and it's exhausting game time takes all of that guesswork out so take all of the guesswork out for yourself and buy tickets to every type of event with game time you can download the game time app and create an account and use code locked on for $20 off your first purchase terms do apply again that's just creating an account simple for you you can do it you redeem the code locke d-o-n for $20 off download the game time app today hello i gotta be honest the ding was perfect the ding was perfect um it right right at the end of that there was a perfect ding when you download the game time app and that was not part of it but it worked out perfectly yeah yeah yeah well ignore the little little jumble the thing that goes on that's anything things are what they are oh look i i think we all can agree that there's

23:51a level of pressure that's involved in this and it's the NFL there's always going to be pressure it's what have you done for me lately i mean that that's how it works but you know the big thing i was talking about this on radio last night and i it's something that really i think translates to the entire season it's not just going to be now but this organization as a whole really has to show a level of continuity of consistency and really prove to everybody that things are i think we can all agree it's certainly different than the dance night or era but you have to really prove that as an organization overall Melissa is that you i know no line okay i'm sorry i'm sorry okay i remember my first live broadcast yeah the punishment should be you have to read the text messages you have to read them live on it about how embarrassing they are that's going to be the rule baby oh my god okay

24:52it's just there's pressure listed also turn her alerts off on top of that no but i mean like you know there's like we obviously know that the that it's different now it is different but you've got two years now one year was NFC championship game in 12 wins and last year's five wins in a bunch of injuries and you know it's hard to shake a reputation everybody's got that friend that you know kind of still does what he did in his early 20s and he's still going out and you know he parties and a lot of people grow up and kind of move on and all of a sudden he comes and he's he's like you know i met someone and i really want to settle down and i really want to just like grow up and change my life and you're like good i hope you do but you got to prove it you got to show it right like your actions will show whether you have grown up gone to that new phase of your life more mature whatever the case is this commanders organization has to show that they have turned that corner it's great that they have new ownership it's great that it's new basically from the top all the way down the list of but at the same time they've got a show that they can turn their alerts off now i'm just kidding they've got a show that they that they have turned a corner and that they

25:54are an organization that's going to be more consistent moving forward and that's really what makes this year so important it's beyond just like winning football games i know that's the basic fundamental of what they need to do but there is a whole reputation that they really need to shake to take this organization to that next level yeah i definitely think so and you hear it a little bit from you know the fan base in sifle and on the social media instead of how this really has to be the year and i hear her who was talking to but they were saying you know dan quentin like really took a big gamble this year and hiring two new coordinators you know that mean in terms of um yeah the offense and defense and yeah i mean blow you can argue like was in the system already and stuff like that you know but obviously these guys are taking they're taking a big leap and then you think about when we talk about year three is like the guys that were drafted in that 2024 draft class that was you know highly praised when they were all drafted i mean i mean you look at some of the guys that are that are the prominent guys from there obviously jayden one of them michi san rastill ran in colman with mccafrey jordan maghi you know these are guys that

26:59have become a big part of this franchise you know what i mean in their very young careers so consistency continuity yeah i think that that's what everybody would love to see obviously in this new era of commander's football but i think that it takes a long time right to i want to say it takes maybe like a full like four or five years mostly time to change the culture of an organization i think that that is a lot of what the commanders are dealing with you know what i mean because for so long under the previous ownership the culture was set in a certain way and then now i think dan kwin has been such a big part of this in terms of changing the culture around and becoming more of like a i don't want to say frat i don't know what how to like well like it seems a little more wholesome you know what i mean like deque's at the wholesome guy and he's such a guy that it's good for the plethora he like you know the players love playing for him and i think that is kind of what the culture is becoming and i think people are recognizing that but again it takes time

28:00these things take time unfortunately you can't expect it to happen you know overnight especially in a place like the NFL Anthony yeah i always go back a little bit further i go even to to riverboat ron i everything went good everything went good but you talk about changing culture now he i remember Greg Olson like even took a phone call about coming up to washington right and that was a big and he was like i'm gonna go ahead and go do media but he was talking about how good of a man ron Rivera was i remember seeing the the video with the tressway and then reaves Jeremy Reeves coming in to tell me he made the pro bowl like those type of moments people played for ron because of that now the the football decisions as a whole other conversation we could do that later over last suburban now talk about changing culture he went through a whole but he had to go through the all the federal investigations we know that whole story deque comes in and is able to bring even more reputation in a world worldwide league wide reputation to get the other coaches in the other

29:02players come in and you mentioned guys like to play for day and quinn because he comes and he meets you at your level right he literally has mike a person still texting him and just checking in on how he's doing like that that's a very special person hopefully everybody has somebody like that in their life that they can just reach out to and and just chop it up with regardless of how far along you've been or last time you spoke but i can tell that deque is easy to play for right and is he gambling yeah i think hell i think ap's gambling i think they all legally now i mind you they're gambling on the people that they choose look at the type of players that they've selected right guys that are you know they they could have maybe gotten a bigger contract or they they kind of got to prove something and that's that's just the culture in them in the makeup of this squad now you guys see how they're going to show up and perform and year three is is big for every rookie you know well rookie but number one you don't even you're not even statistically meant to make it to your third year in the league okay most people fizzled out way earlier than that it could be one

30:07year it could be two but you ain't even supposed to get the year three year three is when you do start the mature a little bit you've had your fun party and you've been out and you start to see okay well what's he doing right what is he doing he's playing this league 12 13 years i'm in this my example Santana Moss he's been playing forever what do you do oh he's like i use these doctors this masseuse i go eat this food and i and i come in hopping on my left leg every day one of them at nick i tell you i came in hopping on my left leg every single day and i ended up playing in league for a little bit so when you are in your third year you know you tend to see some people making jump i think ap is betting on his guys to do that he's he's giving them a chance to do that and i think as a player you can respect that and so you want to reciprocate and make sure you perform on the field so big people to pay attention to is like i'm excited to see Luke okay i'm excited to see jaylen Lane in an expanded role as they get out there on this field and see how they can grow so are they gambling yeah absolutely absolutely but you know that you have a coach

31:09and an idealia gm that's behind it and you can get out there and just and play free play fun play fast at what point did you feel comfortable in the NFL never never never i was more if it was like that that was going to be the answer no no no it's never never comfortable i can tell you this after the 2010 season i remember sitting in office with mike shanahan he's like oh your role in this offense is going to grow you're going to be top five in the league in reception and and yards i'm thinking 13 14 1500 yards nick yeah listen you want to tell me good somebody go look it up 2011 draft class who they draft Leonard hankerson who else they drag right niles paul who else they draft aldrich Robinson who they side in the off season jibar gaffney now niles ended up making the transition to play he went from receiver to tight in he was that kind of twinner Leonard hankerson big hands out of Miami he's over there coaching doing this thing he was coaching love shout out to Leonard for that so the guy told me one thing turn around and go and and draft

32:16three and sign another and try to sign Brandon's talk right so you learn that the league is fickle right you hear for a minute and then the next time they ready to get you up out of there but when you drafted there are some organizations that that stick with their guys and they give them a chance to grow and develop ones that used to that are always good at that had been like Kansas City green bay Pittsburgh right i knew if you knew if you guys a guy went to green bay and they were drafted they're going to be there for at least five years like they give you a chance to grow everybody else on the outside can beat him up like oh he's not good but they let the player grow up and end up actually being a pretty good player it works out well for him at the end of it i really love that though you know what i mean it's like an investment like into the human being like you know what i mean as opposed to just like and i know that again this is a what have you done for me it's short very short-term memory you know kind of league especially with the demand for winning you know but i really do love that because it shows like a commitment because like it's

33:16kind of like you know you give it you give and take right like if the organization is going to show you how committed they are to your growth and development and like gonna invest in you then as a player like yeah i'm gonna go out and put like my hundred and fifty thousand percent in every single day because you have made a commitment to me so i really love that and like obviously that's why the the organizations that you listed off that's why i feel like they've been so successful in that sense you know yeah it gets intertwined into the culture of the whole organization from off the field up into the building and you know it's a big it's been a big transition and i can say even as an alumni or a legend of the team i can tell from the outside looking in that it's all changed so if things are going in the right direction yeah i know we always focus on one single season wins and losses because you know that's what it comes down to but if you if you had to look at if you zoomed out of that little chart right the little chart maybe looking like they were at a major loss but you zoom out you're like oh we're actually up from back when we first started you

34:17know what i'm saying so everything's trending in the right direction you just gotta have some patience and let's go out there and uh support this squad it's the yeah it's the connecting the dots looking back not looking forward you have to look back at where you came from to understand so to where you're growing as an organization and hell at least you're not the 49ers right you mentioned Dejan love so i least got to say this how you're using for the 49ers guys you got pretending you place for the 49ers that doesn't you got your owner getting caught with hookers you got your head coach getting in a car accident that was his fault you've got Brandon iyuk doing everything that he did that still makes him out you still out there doing you know he's still out there and you still have a continuation by the way of the conversation about the whole electrical grid thing that's next to the practice field on top of the 49ers offseason and the stuff that's surrounded them let me tell you some i'm glad that the commanders Melissa are only it's only about football and it's none of this other stuff good that is that is like a that i feel so bad for whoever their PR people are because that's like your worst they are working they are earning every

35:20single penny that they are make that they are being paid you know but like can i just say one thing but i know we're not supposed to like really like give this guy any more attention but the Dejan love thing like i mean i'm sorry like every time open social media there's like a new something like you know what i mean i'm just tired of working with him apparently and everything like it's just no even all the connections that are there julienne and you know what picture getting free burgers holding his helmet what are we doing the helmet is like i'm gonna go get his helmet that's fine you know what you smirked the me i'm gonna round like i'm gonna show up to get free burgers carrying a forty oh the helmet it's like a great no i saw a picture of him at the club with his helmet okay that was like really it was brilliant i've never seen really i haven't seen that is that real is it a i though are we sure it's real i'm pretty sure it's real but julienne adam this is real he posted a screenshot dejan love had dm to him on instagram being like hey man like i'm about to get cut from the niner's would like love a try out like what co a meeting with the patriots like my like accounts are all frozen up right now but like i can pay you as soon as i get back from

36:23fox bar or something like that i'm like bro like but can i just like i mean i i would love to wake up every day and have the same kind of like a gumption and like belief in myself as this man you know i mean the the amount of confidence like that that takes a lot of confidence like you know what i mean to be able to do that like oh my god somebody's gonna say whatever like that that's that's some that's some balls you know seriously you got yeah man they say fake it till you make it i look i said his his whole thing he made more money in that four years i feel like i made planning to leave one um he had to get hit either uh two two you don't have to go to jail and he's got to go to jail for fraud so he's that trade off but the crazy thing is there was nothing he he wasn't nothing was wrong until he uh went on there and took the money he just shouldn't have took the money keep on put parlaying as a football player if you want to but once you got the money that was bad he made my story sound fake i'm like i'm like you didn't play no football and no park and i'm like yes i did i did it's like nah where's your helmet nope yeah

37:27you're the thing around you where's your helmet yeah really was funny every player everybody that played ball was like he got to he got all his gear he ain't no real player don't nobody wear the stuff out and if you do his mismatch it's always gonna be like seven different teams so you don't know you know what i mean like what to do i just i mean jaguars riskiens dolphin shorts don't match they think i'm think i'm crazy man you know what's so funny about this though is um i'm sure other teams are gonna jump on this social media trend of this because it's becoming a trend now but the ravens when it asks their actual current players how would you prove to people out in the world that you play football and then everyone's kind of singing like actually like what do you like you know i mean like what do you do like if you can say google me because this guy had a whole s else in it for himself you know what i mean yeah it's just like what do you do now and like marlin how pretty was like i'll face time Lamar i'll face time bear canry and i'll just do it right now i can a i that and then you can face time you can show me

38:30a i recorded you know what i'm saying like yeah i mean Anthony how do you think you improve that now man look i told people i was play they thought i was branding banks i was like i'm like that's the wrong one way taller way taller i don't think we're about it i'll sign it man speedy be sign speedy be i'll just keep it moving and you know did you actually do that did you stop people talking about your bank's new sign is great events they thought i was branding banks and then i was like no i'm Anthony Arsson they're like oh all right well can you sign mine too if you want me to man i so far don't don't feel obligated i you know i'll do it but no okay no like sure isn't something since i stopped you like okay since you took my little two minutes sign it and keep it moving man i mean it it is it is a story though that and i think there was another guy that pretended to play for the cowboys it kind of it was it hasn't gotten to this level because i don't think there was a bunch of fraud no no he did he he had a book in sight and everything man he had a three thousand dollar appearance fee oh my god i saw that i i was mad at

39:36myself i was like i'm really selling myself short like this you know all these other guys now all these other guys are like wait i could be making how much off of this but you real you real for saying you got to wake up and have the goal to just be like i'm that doom and like yes it's three thousand dollar fee to come and hand me come and talk to your folks even though i didn't really do any other things i said i did you got a hand at type-and-to man so tell you approach i don't know if you guys saw some of the DMs because listen i'll be honest i'm fascinated by this so i know i think everybody is i am too so he there was a one of them i read he was trying to get i think he was trying to get braids done somewhere he was going or something and he was like all gonna need security because i play for the 49ers he asked for security that's the biggest thing for me was the and you mentioned it anthony it's the just having the the guts to actually approach people this way and try to get free stuff and just go i play one of them was like i play for the 49ers now but i might be playing for the ram soon or so and it's

40:36just like i it's unbelievable man it is it is absolutely wild story but luckily nobody pretended to be a commander so it's all been about football at least for them as opposed to the 49ers you have yeah the 49ers PR man oh they got they have they've had to deal with a lot a lot and they still haven't even settled the brand and i think luckily it is nothing to do with the commanders all right we got an early look ahead to that eagles game next it's commander squad all right college football fans it's time to put your knowledge to the test with college football pick them from fandal each week you're gonna get 10 free against the spread picks finish with one of the week's top pick totals and you can win a share of five hundred thousand dollars in bonus that is a lot of bonus bets there's no entry fee no wage you require just make your picks based on your college football knowledge and then you see how it all stacks up and the competition doesn't stop there either you can make your picks before kickoff so that's always a good thing you follow the live leaderboard throughout saturday and see if you can outpick names like will compton tailed

41:38the one and and josh patent you can beat them and you can unlock profit boosts to use on fan rule and listen one of the best things about it is you have this opportunity to be involved in college football all day saturday might not be a game you're that interested in but there's something you like in it gives you a little bit of a little extra emotional and you know a little just investment that's there so you can download the fandall app and play college football pick them for free only on fandall visit fandall.com to get started all right so we are tenish days out and of course if you're listening or watching this after on youtube or wherever you get your podcast and maybe a little less but commanders eagles is is closing in it's closing in fast and I I know we don't have a ton really in terms of true information of what this team is going to look like until the regular season Dan Quinn was actually talking yesterday and he he talked about the really the importance and and really his his what he likes about joint practices like you can do a little bit more there

42:41and show a little bit more and I think it's true we don't see much in preseason anymore it's been watered down it's it's gotten to the point now where teams don't really show you very much but what I do know is there is an element of surprise heading into this game for the commanders just on the commander side alone first now granted the eagles have a new offensive coordinator new receivers it's a similar situation of the commanders in that sense but when you have two brand new coordinators on both sides of the football you have two brand new systems and a lot of new names on both sides of the football like this is a very different team and there is the opportunity with this tough schedule to start the season for the commanders if the game plan is solid and if they continue to layer in some new things as the early part of the season goes on Melissa there's a chance that they're able to sneak up on that eagles defense sneak up on the cowboy sneak up on Seattle in a lot of different ways by showing things that obviously nobody saw in the preseason but also even last year from this team where the defense is completely different the offense is completely different and that is an advantage that they really do have early in the season

43:44yeah I think what we don't know right now obviously is going to work in their favor like you just said I mean because we just don't know what to expect and that's how I feel like especially with the way preseason is now I feel like week one is like the first half of like the game is always a little bit like it gets like kind of preseason vibes like you know what I mean so because I was still kind of like getting into everything so I wouldn't say like let's not let's not overreact over like the first half of things if things go awry just a little bit but the first quarter I'll overreact if they get out for 15 first quarter it's like it's like it's like preseason week like 3.75 like you know what I mean there you go yeah for that first half of the game first quarter of the game but in that sense I think the defense has a lot of things working in their favor especially because the streets the social media streets like you know are obviously they obviously favoring the the Eagles in this game you know what I mean but I think that people have are basing that off of last season and you know what parts are back and stuff like that and

44:45because like like we've been saying because there's been a complete overhaul of what the defensive scheme is obviously for the commanders I think that will work in their favor they've gotten if anything they've gotten a little bit younger a little bit faster a little bit more like beat it you know what I mean I think that that will work in their favor in terms of the offense I mean you know a lot of pieces are back and has seen this Eagles defense before but in that same vein I think that we'll see a little bit of what we learned what perhaps especially when it comes to Jayden Daniels what he learned about himself perhaps last year I do think that we mentioned this earlier that we will see him perhaps uses legs a little bit more maybe we'll see how dynamic he is obviously from his rookie season in terms of how he can move the bond hiking command the game I think that there are a lot of things to look forward to instead in terms of growth on the offense in terms of what guys have learned and again wide receivers and tight ends let's see more of that Anthony yeah we're gonna see a little bit of everybody one thing I had pulled up some stats earlier

45:48we were talking about Stefan digs and just the impact that he made and he was with the the New England Patriots last year right I saw that there were 47 sacks on Drake May last year digs had 102 targets 85 perceptions obviously you know where they ended up in the Super Bowl the year prior these suckers were four and like 13 they were kind of similar to where the commanders are sitting they had 52 sacks 34 on May leading receiver was Demario Douglas Hunter Henry and K. Shambu Te they all had like 600 600 and then like 500 some I yards Stefan digs he's going to bring that unknown aspect to this offense already don't know what what mr. you know blouse gonna run but Stefan bring the extra element of you know we have another playmaker out here that we have to account for right the guy that you give a different color penny to on the scout team because you need to know where he lines up so between having don't know what the scheme is don't know how

46:49you know you want to address having these two players you know Terry and Stefan out there that's going to give you a big big opportunity to you know jump out and surprise some folks now I've said at the time and time again you get a year to do it in this league right you get a year to do it and after that you got you now you have to start to be really good all right so the first seven games of this season before that by week is going to be it really intricate it integral for this team's overall success on this year like coming out you can't waste the opportunities that come to you uh the one thing that I give some love to Ben Johnson for Nick is when he's game stuff up you can tell he gets about five to seven like highly designed specific shot plays that he's putting into the game plan and when he calls those things they have to generate points they have to be the big score and what happened when Washington played them up there in Detroit is that they shut those things down right so I think for David Blow he had to take just a couple of steps ahead of your defender

47:51or your the defense you're going up against and just keep them on their toes and with Stefan digs and just a wide variety of options you should have enough variety to take it make it easier on that Jay Daniels and enough to keep that defense on their heels more than on their toes and having that ability to spread the ball around and I mean listen you're going to see an Eagles offense as well with Sean Manu you know comes from Green Bay and that type of offense where they spread the ball around a bunch we could see that with both of these teams uh in in week one where there's a lot of I mean I know they want to get Terry McClure in his 10 targets great but the Eagles know they also want to get Terry McClure in his 10 targets of games so that is going to free up other guys that might get involved in this offense and Melissa you brought up a good point like all the tight ends that they have as well like those are other options I get not all of them are past catching tight ends but they do have the ability to spread the ball out with that position too so I think that's really something that's not just even early in the season if they handle this right and you continue to add new layers and new wrinkles to the offense as the season goes on that's

48:52going to be a major advantage throughout the entire year because you can start off the season great fine Jim Zorn started off six and two and Jason Campbell was an MVP candidate remember those days that happened I remember that but you know if you don't evolve as a coach Cliff Kingsbury same thing in Arizona also with this offense you've got to be able to show that like okay I've got these great ideas oh caught you off guard with that one but then what are you doing week nine week 10 week 11 week 12 that's going to keep that offense fresh and the defense on their heels and that's the one test that we're really going to see not just at the beginning of the season but really as the season goes on with a David Blau and obviously Jay Daniels being the quarterback of this offense what differences are you going to have with this offense from week one to week 10 11 12 and that gives them a significant opportunity throughout the entire year and listen the defense is on that that's side two that it's not just the offense they've added a lot of names we're going to see Frankie Louville and sunny styles out there together at times we're gonna see Leo Sional as a part of that

49:52as well we're gonna see a more aggressive at least from what we've watched a more aggressive defense they're gonna be getting after the quarterback which is something they struggle with the first two years under Dan Quinn this defense is 31st and takeaways like they can't have that anymore and in those short time Melissa that we saw them out there against Detroit obviously they wreak havoc yeah the interception by Quann Martin yet the fumble return for a touchdown so if they can do that unless it's just what happens against Detroit I don't know because they did that in the playoffs a couple of years ago with the defense was just like we're going to turn you over a bunch of times here but if they can carry that over another regular season they're going to generate other opportunities extra possession short fields for the offense those little details they're alone are really going to help this team and I guess Melissa too if they could tackle consistently that would be that would be nice for this defense too yeah that was not a highlight of the game as we all know I was looking I was like scrolling through and seeing what because I've never seen on Twitter like what they had this year times at a little spiel where they like had like one word to like describe like every like every team upstart was the commanders I want to make

50:54sure I got that right start I was like I'll take up start okay but no you're right the defense you know I think that past rush has been really quite emphasized and talking to the guys I'm and obviously in some of the scheme changes that Dorontay Jones has made I think that that has become a huge emphasis which obviously you want to get out of the quarterback that's the point right so I think that is great but on the offensive side too in terms of what we've been talking about pretty much all show is that I think some of the best offensive coordinators are the ones that don't try like obviously everyone wants to get cute and have some like sparkly stuff whatever but we also have to like object right I think some of the best offensive coordinators that we can talk about in the league or even at the college level are the ones that do the most with what they have like recognize the person know that they have recognize the strengths of the person know that they and then utilize that to come up with whatever game plan that they have I kind of thought about that

51:57as we were talking about no disrespect to Cliff and stuff like that but some of these other coordinators who may not have been as successful right because I feel like they were maybe trying to do too much that was too much for the personnel that they had so I hope that David Blau obviously I think he knows this person though quite well and is going to be able to again not reinvent the wheel but just be good with what you have wireless of what you see in week one and the kind of learn throughout the weeks and then by coming into week 10 see something a little bit different judging on whenever people is at strengths that we have so I that that's kind of what I think I'm going to be looking at in terms of the evolution of the offense in these first I like that thanks thanks I like that I like that going all the way back to when you say DQ gambled on his OC how about having an offensive first time offensive coordinator who's known the most important person on your your roster for three years and then also known your second most important person in Terry McLearn for three years all right so

52:58it's not like you're having a brand new person that came in in April and they're like hey let's build a relationship together it's like no we already been talking about what we really want to do with this offense for three seasons now we got a chance to go out there and do it so David Blau knows his personnel one one statement that came out early on is that they want to make things to make the same thing look different and then make different things look the same right so being able to run out there and they run around and they're like always as a goes I nope I'm running this way and I'm running that way but then another thing to consider is that they can do this with personnel you mentioned this with Chica Concoo the difference between an 11 personnel and 12 personnel for the folks are listening 11 personnel one tied in one running back at least three receivers okay so you understand we've got five down lineman three receivers is out there then you got 12 personnel that's one running back and two tied in so what does this do what does this do we start talking about play call and tendencies 11 personnel generally leads to past plays what do you run up line up in a lot

54:01last year a lot of 11 and then you're running from shotgun that's not very that's not very advantageous for a running back but now 12 personnel that's a mix of pass and run you still have shotgun but that you can also go under center it's balanced you don't know what you're going to get from over there so the big thing for me with David Blau and knowing your personnel and knowing how you want to call the game is how well have y'all scouted the defense that you're going up against all right we know what our playbook is we know that we've got 350 plays boom but when you get really really good is that they've come into the work and they've said okay look this defense runs this way we don't like we don't really like the matchups outside but they got a third corner that's not that good and Tonyo this is your game now I'm going to scheme everything to attack that little joker right there or next week now the now Dallas in this instance has prepared for 11 personnel but you like how your 12 personnel goes up against them now you got a 12 personnel heavy game plan

55:04you can still go to 11 as needed but you're going to base out of 12 you see what I'm saying if you're able to to alternate how you're going to attack the particular opponent it doesn't change what your offense is it's just saying okay this week it's going to be a lot of 12 we got a lot of john baits if when his hand in the dirt because he's going to be some run sure but he's also going to have him a keeper and get a little leak out and catch it and maybe go run somebody over that's how David Bowel is going to be able to keep teams on their toes and keep this offense you know with some variety with personnel with with with exactly with scout who you're going against I guess I said before first seven games Philly Dallas Seattle London within in in in the you got the giant San Francisco then you got the buy then you got Philly Philly will now have seven weeks of tape on you that's your first repeat opponent yeah you got to take advantage of that first six weeks of the year make sure that you you know capitalize on it really scout the people that you going up against and do everything you can to make Jalen hurts his life hell because well it sounds

56:07like he's been throwing a lot of picks and camp just saying it doesn't translate over but let's be honest they're they're not going to reverse psychology me nah baby you can't make me think this different that they I don't know why they're showing it oh I don't know why they're exactly what you're saying reverse psychology you know I mean oh maybe he's not as good as we think he is and then boom week one same old Jalen hurts mm-hmm were they just push push every play and it's just like just push to stop they're gonna yeah all right when we still have a week until the commander season gets started officially the NFL season is less than a week away with a Wednesday star which is going to be weird of course we will be here all season as well make sure you like and subscribe to the locked on commanders youtube channel and of course wherever you get your podcasts as well we'll be here all season on commander squad you

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