- 5 months ago
Despite an awful 2025 campaign, the Commanders will have plenty of standalone games if the schedule leaks hold.
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00:00Grant and Danny on the fan welcoming you back.
00:05I was curious to see what the primetime schedule would look like for Washington,
00:09because 2024, everybody wanted a piece.
00:11We got the guy that everybody wanted to see in Jaden Daniels.
00:16But nobody knew it yet.
00:17And so he played his butt off.
00:19They had a couple of primetime games he shined.
00:21And the correction in 2025 was,
00:23as often as everyone in the country gets to see Jaden Daniels, the better.
00:27And so we saw Washington on primetime, the maximum amount that was allowed.
00:33But they didn't show well in those games.
00:35And oftentimes, Daniels didn't play in those games.
00:37And so it was a little bit of a gross situation for the NFL.
00:40So would there be an overcorrection the other way?
00:42You mentioned this, Danny, but a Monday night football in San Francisco in Week 6 matchup.
00:47A Sunday night football home game with the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 8.
00:52Thursday night football primetime standalone at the Giants in Week 10.
00:57Monday night football at home against the Bengals in Week 11,
01:00which is, to my knowledge, the last scheduled primetime game.
01:03But if you account for the standalone 9.30 a.m. showcase with the Colts in London,
01:08still five standalone games and four primetime games
01:11before you get into the back end of the schedule.
01:13Potential flex with them and the Cowboys to last game of the year.
01:16You could end up playing another seven standalone games.
01:19So even though the home schedule is a lot of like one o'clockers, it seems like,
01:23they are on primetime a bunch.
01:25And that's just going to be the case as long as Jaden Daniels is their quarterback
01:29because he's a player that is one of the biggest stars in the league.
01:33Yeah, I think that is the right assessment.
01:36It doesn't feel like, I mean, last year it felt like every chance there was
01:39to have a standalone primetime game they were in.
01:41It doesn't feel that way just kind of looking at it.
01:43But I think your point's right.
01:44I mean, a couple Monday night footballs, then you got your Thursday night football,
01:47and then, you know, one Sunday night football, and boom, there you go.
01:50You're already at a pretty high amount.
01:52It's more than the Jets are getting.
01:53You know what I mean?
01:54It just feels that way, that it is inevitable.
01:57Three straight home games.
01:59If you account for going to London, it kind of takes being at home away from things,
02:04but it is never really found.
02:06Two straight is as good as it gets,
02:07and they've got that three times on this schedule, which is fortuitous.
02:12Let's go to Jerry in D.C. on Grant and Danny.
02:14Hey, Jerry, how are you?
02:17I'm fine, and thanks for taking my call.
02:20I love the schedule.
02:21The schedule is exciting.
02:23Just run the gauntlet.
02:25Find out who you are early.
02:27Ain't no weak schedule.
02:28You don't want nothing weak.
02:29If I'm Dan Quinn, I love it, and I know he loves it.
02:32You might be concerned because of your quarterback,
02:34but everybody's team takes risks.
02:36Just go in there and win.
02:38That's all you need to do and have a good season.
02:41But, Jerry, be honest with me.
02:43Be honest with me.
02:44You wouldn't rather have played the Cardinals, Titans, and Falcons in weeks one, two, and three
02:49just ease into this thing?
02:51How many years we've been doing it?
02:55Well, I mean, occasionally.
02:57Some.
02:57Other times you start bad.
03:00But listen to what I'm saying, though.
03:01I understand that.
03:02But now you want to be noticed.
03:04We got J.D. and Daniels.
03:05Go ahead and put it on the line.
03:07Run the gauntlet.
03:07Find out where your team are.
03:09Find out where you actually are.
03:10Stop playing these little tomato cans.
03:13If you want to be the best of people, the best.
03:15You know it.
03:16Put the children to sleep.
03:17Little kids.
03:18Get to the side.
03:19Play with the big boys.
03:21We feel we try to bark with the big dogs.
03:23Might as well get in the yard with them early.
03:25You never know what might happen.
03:26Let's just look at it.
03:27You know, it's a new year.
03:29Appreciate you, buddy.
03:30Yeah, you're about to.
03:31Because the teams in the division that are the best are the Eagles, who have worn the
03:35pants for several years, and the Cowboys.
03:37And those are the first two games that you play.
03:39And by the way, you get out of the way traveling to Philly and to Dallas.
03:43So you can do a lot worse than that.
03:45Those toughest road divisional games two weeks into the season are done.
03:49I don't know if I'm in the minority on this or not, or if this is like a prevailing thought.
03:52I haven't really tracked it.
03:54But I think the Cowboys are really good.
03:56I actually think Dallas, I might pick them to win the East.
03:59Seriously, I think that's going to be my sneaky thing.
04:02I think they're going to supplant Philadelphia.
04:04And Washington and the Eagles are going to be kind of jockeying for the second spot.
04:08Maybe I'm sleeping on Philly.
04:09I think the A.J. Brown loss is going to be big.
04:11And I do wonder about Hurts and that offense with Sean Mannion and how he's going to fit.
04:16But Dallas didn't have to do anything on offense.
04:18That's the thing everyone forgets.
04:20Like, they didn't add a single starter.
04:22Yeah, I'd run that right back.
04:23They're so elite on that side of the ball.
04:25That Prescott, if he's healthy.
04:26And I know there's been some years where he wasn't.
04:28But you can just pencil in 4,500 passing yards and 35 touchdowns.
04:33He's one of the most consistent, legit, pocket-passing quarterbacks the league's seen in the last 15 years.
04:39And you've got Pickens, assuming they don't trade him, with C.D. Lamb, a deep receiving core.
04:45They went out and added Marquez Valdez-Scantling as one of the few moves that they made this offseason.
04:49The running back last year, Javante Williams, proved that the guy that we all thought he could be in Denver
04:54is still in there.
04:55And behind that offensive line and that scheme with Brian Schottenheimer, who I've got to give credit to, called a
05:00really good game more often than not.
05:02Kept them ahead of the chains.
05:04Williams was terrific.
05:05Had double-digit touchdowns last year.
05:06They've got a good tight end room led by Jake Ferguson.
05:09They still have an above-average offensive line, even though it's aged.
05:12What was terrible for Dallas was their defense.
05:14They were the NFC version of the Bengals.
05:16Yep.
05:17That's what they were.
05:18Joe Burrow was Dak Prescott.
05:19No, they had Chase and Higgins with Pickens and Lamb.
05:22And defensively, both teams just couldn't make a stop or get off the field.
05:26And they went out and they signed two new starters up front, including Rashawn Gary from the Packers.
05:30They brought in a new linebacker to run the show with Overshawn and Dee Winters.
05:34On the back end, they've got three new starters, including Caleb Downs, who they drafted, Kobe Durant from the Rams,
05:40Jalen Thompson from the Cardinals.
05:41Over half their defense is new.
05:43Yeah.
05:44Contributors on defense, I think they're seven or eight.
05:46Depends on who you ask.
05:47And their D coordinator, I don't know this dude personally, but Christian Parker coming over from Philly,
05:51I've had a lot of people tell me they think he's one of the sharpest young defensive minds in football.
05:55We don't talk about defensive coaches in this industry like we talk about offensive coaches.
05:59Everyone wants the next McVay, LeFleur, that old Redskins staff.
06:03If we did that with defense, everyone would know Christian Parker's name.
06:07That's why a lot of those guys don't become head coaches that fast.
06:09Yeah.
06:09Because we don't do it the same way.
06:11But Christian Parker, if he has the impact, like I think that their D.C. last year was a boob.
06:16Matt Eberflus, the former head coach of the Bears.
06:18Why is that based on his track record?
06:20It's just the last several years of his lack of effectiveness as a coach.
06:23Interesting.
06:24To me, that's a massive upgrade even before you add in all that talent.
06:27And then they drafted Downs in round one, Malachi Lawrence in round one,
06:33Josiah Barham in the linebacking core in round three.
06:36They have a fourth round corner.
06:37They have a fourth round defensive end, L.T. Overton.
06:39They spent a ton of picks on that side of the ball.
06:41Yeah, pretty much everywhere.
06:42I think there's a middle round draft pick on a backup right tackle.
06:46But your point about keeping the band together on offense, you're damn right.
06:49I would, too.
06:50I would not tweak a thing.
06:51We're filling it around the edges, please, and thank you, with some depth.
06:54But your defense is decent.
06:55That's all it takes right now for that group to be pretty damn good.
06:59So they're a threat.
07:00I still think the Eagles are the class of division because they've earned that.
07:03They've earned the benefit of the doubt, I think, for us.
07:05They're down years.
07:05They go 11-6.
07:06They're up years.
07:07They go 14-3 into the Super Bowl.
07:08So we're in one of those 14-win years.
07:12There's a lot of factors working against them.
07:13We've touched on them.
07:14But Howie Rosen's pretty good at this.
07:16But the point is, I think these two teams that we're talking about, Dallas and Philly,
07:19talent-wise, organization-wise, are way ahead of Washington at the moment.
07:24And it's kind of the ugly truth that we don't really like talking about because we're so
07:28in Peters we trust around here.
07:30And there's level of excitement, and there should be some healthy Daniels and some of the pieces
07:35they've added.
07:36But they're a distant third, at best, by the way.
07:38The Giants have added a bunch of talent, too, in their own right.
07:40So you've got your work cut out for you in the division.
07:43Whether you like Dallas better or Philly better, the point is they're both pretty good.
07:46I think if they somehow, someway, just split those two games and then win in London, they're
07:52going to be just fine.
07:53They're going to be okay.
07:54But the key is getting to the stretch run because we just don't know what some of these
07:57teams are going to be.
07:58And this is why I never go through this exercise of win-loss, win-loss, win-loss.
08:02Like, you tell me right now, what are the Vikings going to be in 2026?
08:06How the heck could anybody know?
08:08Do we know if Kyler Murray's going to play at a high level or not?
08:12No.
08:12He's in a brand new offense.
08:13We've seen one practice where he threw four picks and everybody picked.
08:16That's what we know.
08:18Jacksonville's considered really good.
08:19One of the reasons that your strength of schedule is middle of the pack, if you're the
08:22commanders and you're perceived to have this really hard schedule, is that a team like
08:25Jacksonville that made the playoffs last year is supposed to be good again.
08:30It could be bad.
08:31The Bengals, by the way, that game is viewed as like, oh, you get to have Cincinnati.
08:36Yeah, you got the third place in the AFC North.
08:38I think the Bengals could win that division and win 13 games.
08:41They're who I'm picking, by the way, to win the division.
08:42Yeah, their defense is better.
08:44So it's just year to year, like the strength of schedule thing even, while it's instructive
08:48like any information, does not work for me that well.
08:50It's funny, I'm getting tweets at Grant Paulson.
08:52Danny's at Funny Danny.
08:54David said, whatever happened to your team sucking the previous year so you get an easy schedule
08:59the next year, my God.
09:01It does seem like the main thought everyone's having about the commander's schedule is that
09:05this is like some kind of murderer's row.
09:08But what's funny is we've known the opponents all along.
09:11We have known who they were going to play for months and months and months.
09:15What's different?
09:16Here's what's different.
09:17You got to scan down for the cupcakes.
09:19You got to really got to get your carpal tunnel going here to get all the way down to weeks
09:2612 and 13 for the teams that pick first and third.
09:28Isn't that a blessing that it's all over with?
09:31It depends.
09:31Early?
09:32I mean, it depends.
09:33I don't know.
09:33I'd rather be 2-0.
09:34By the way, so you're not ruling the Giants at home as a cupcake?
09:38No.
09:39How confident are you?
09:40I'm not.
09:41I have a mild level of confidence that Washington's a better team over 17 weeks.
09:45But all I'm saying is if the Giants aren't a cupcake, then no one's a cupcake.
09:48Now, do I think they're going to be better under Harbaugh?
09:50Of course.
09:50Is it a division game?
09:51Yes.
09:51But you've beat them four straight games.
09:53They just picked in the top 10.
09:55That team is not going to be really good this year.
09:57We both know that.
09:58They're not good, but I don't think they're pushovers.
10:01I think that's kind of the new...
10:02They got Harbaugh.
10:03They got an adult.
10:04But what glasses are we wearing?
10:05Washington's a 10- and 7-team glasses?
10:07Are we looking through those?
10:08Or Washington's a 7- and 10-team glasses?
10:10Because if it's the second one, then not only are the Giants not a cupcake,
10:13but what's the point of any of this?
10:14Well, yeah, then nobody is.
10:15But I guess I'd rather...
10:17I'd rather be able to get off to a rip-roaring start and have my 1-double-A teams,
10:23my out-of-conference, I pay William & Mary a million bucks to come lose my 30.
10:29I'd rather do that than start off with a buzzsaw.
10:32Because I like the idea of, you're going to find out who you are.
10:34What if you don't like what you find out?
10:36What if that's not that much fun?
10:38There's two sides to the coin.
10:39Again, I think they're going to be better than last year.
10:42That's my really inflammatory take.
10:45They'll be better than they were last year, and we might not know it for a month.
10:50Their easiest thing to start is a quote-unquote home game in London, their first four weeks.
10:55Buy week out of Monday Night Football is nice, week 7.
10:57So you don't have two short week games, right?
11:00Because the short week games are the killers.
11:02So if that week 7 game is indeed the buy, I think you're in a good place there.
11:05And then the only gripe, I'm looking for like, what's my Chris Russell complaint?
11:11What is he going to be screaming about being unfair or woe is us or the poor pitiful commanders?
11:16You know, they have to deal with this affront that no one else has ever had to deal with.
11:20The one thing I could see slashy or the schedule people getting really angry about is cross-country travel out
11:27of a Monday night.
11:30Hey, the Bengals on Monday Night Football at home all the way out to Arizona right after that.
11:36That's going to be your rest days travel complaining.
11:40I think they do that bit.
11:41I think they, you know, right after the game's over, they just fly to Arizona or something.
11:44Why wouldn't you?
11:45It was Bengals in the Cardinals last time at Cincinnati.
11:49I know it's a home piece, but still.
11:51You hung a 40-burger and you won by 28.
11:52Go right to BWI after that game on Monday Night Football.
11:56Or, you know, get a good night's sleep and just the next day.
11:59Then go from Dulles.
11:59Everybody meet at Dulles on Monday at 3 o'clock or we meet at the place, drive over to the
12:04hangar, whatever you do.
12:05Get there Tuesday, rest up, and then start practicing Wednesday.
12:08But that's, I'm trying to find other, you know, all the days are going to move around.
12:13There could be a Saturday in here somewhere late with one of these matchups.
12:15I didn't look at the dates that closely.
12:17But in terms of rest days, it's not awful.
12:21And you're not San Francisco traveling 40,000 miles.
12:23No, you're not that.
12:24What's the, what's like the sneaky important stretch to you?
12:29Do you know what I mean?
12:29Where it's like, it's going to get lost.
12:31We'll focus on the beginning and the end.
12:33There's always a flurry of NFC East or a flurry of divisional games.
12:35That doesn't count handling your business against Giants, Bengals, Cardinals, Titans?
12:40Yeah.
12:40I'm saying, what's like the sneaky important part that when we look back into the autopsy, we'll go, you know,
12:44you know what actually really worked for them or didn't work?
12:47I think the whole season's right there.
12:49Giants, Bengals, Cardinals, Titans.
12:52That's, you got a chance to go four and one in that stretch and probably have to, especially if the
12:58first half goes like people think it could.
13:01That, to me, is where the season's kind of, and honestly, the end of the year, what do the Vikings
13:06and Jaguars become?
13:07Yeah.
13:07I think there's a chance that neither of those teams is as good as it was last year.
13:11Like, Minnesota bottoms out, O'Connell's in a little trouble, Jacksonville takes a step back, and then you've got Falcons,
13:17Vikings, Jaguars.
13:18That could be three non-playoff teams before Week 18.
13:21That could be a second underbelly to cut into in the second half of your schedule.
13:25I could see that, definitely.
13:26To me, the sneaky underbelly is Week 6 at San Francisco, Bi-Week, Philly, and the Rams.
13:33Again, that's three of the, I mean, at least at a minimum, two of the classes of the NFC, regardless
13:38of what you think San Francisco is.
13:40They were a paper tiger 12-win team last year, but again, if that's the healthy version, oh my God,
13:45it's Monday Night Football, traveling across the country, etc.
13:47Those three NFC games, if you somehow went 2-1 in those, the hay in the barn right there, almost
13:54regardless of what you do with that initial of Philly, Dallas, Seattle, because that could go poorly for you.
14:00That could be a 1-2 or 0-3 type stretch, but if you put some hay in the barn
14:04against two NFC teams, one in your division in San Francisco, Philly, and the Rams, that'd be pretty massive.
14:10Let's take a look at how the road trips fell.