00:00We asked Ross, kind of take a look around preseason, man, these power rankings from whatever website you like, NFL
00:06.com, ESPN.com.
00:07A lot of experts out there, analysts, reporters, whatever you want to call them, are very low on Washington, especially
00:14after this Tunsil injury.
00:16I thought Ross said it well, that there's a lot of belief around the NFL in Jaden Daniels.
00:23And he's proven to be clutch.
00:25That makes a big impact.
00:26I'm going to let my guy Drew weigh in here.
00:28Drew is in McLean.
00:29Drew, what do you think the national viewpoint is on the commanders?
00:32Is it accurate?
00:35I'm a commander for myself.
00:36I think it's not accurate whatsoever.
00:38The additions they made this offseason, really, I think they're at least going to have a winning record this season.
00:44I think that may sound optimistic, but I believe that they will have a winning record.
00:48With all the additions, like Stephon Diggs on the defense, they got better, but the draft styles is super exciting.
00:54I think that this team is going to come at least in second in the NFC East.
00:58All right, man.
00:59I like the call, dude.
01:00I like the call.
01:01Thank you, bud.
01:01But, you know, this is what I, like, playing and also covering the team for all this time.
01:08What I notice about the national media's mindset normally, what you finish at last year is how they judge you
01:14the next offseason.
01:16They don't look at a team when you add all the dishes and stuff like that.
01:20You don't really get the complete jump that you probably should get.
01:24They go, they were 5-12 last year.
01:26You look at last year in offseason, how we were praised by everyone because they went 12-5.
01:33And they look at that.
01:34And I think when you're here every day, the local media, you're here every day, you watch things, you see
01:40things.
01:41And if you are a person who comes here and see it and then put your belief on the national
01:47media, you got to be damn crazy.
01:49You watch it every day, you know what I mean?
01:51And I think I've noticed that even when I was playing where they don't really have people here every day.
01:57They send people here when they hear a story.
02:00And they get a little tidbit of it, and they run back and they promote it, and the nation takes
02:05it.
02:06Why?
02:08We see it every day.
02:09I'm watching Jayden every day.
02:10He stays upright.
02:11This league is going to be in some trouble.
02:13That's kind of where I'm at too, man.
02:15Like, I think defensively they're going to be better.
02:17I think, listen, we got to watch a decent amount of this practice today.
02:22One thing that can happen is you get in the beat bubble where you see the same thing every day
02:28and you start to kind of buy into it perhaps more than you should.
02:31That can either be proved to fruition that, like, all right, man, these guys actually look pretty good.
02:36Let's see if it comes out.
02:38Or you just see them every day, and then when they go up against somebody else, it looks a lot
02:42different.
02:42Now, I understand expectations for the Miami Dolphins are pretty low.
02:46Yeah, yeah.
02:46But I would certainly say Washington looked like the better team than what we saw and who I talked to.
02:51But, like, the thing for me, though, Jay, is, like, we all say this, that worst-to-first thing in
02:57the NFL is not just a ploy.
03:00It has happened.
03:01Every year.
03:01So, if we watch teams go from worst-to-first and first-to-worst, why are we supposed to automatically
03:07assume because what you did last year you're going to do the next year?
03:10You know, and when you see teams add people to it, I see a level of talent.
03:16The team, I can tell you this, when you look at them, they look different.
03:20And if they play like they look, they should be better.
03:23Definitely.
03:24You know, I go back to that time when we were down in, what was it, Richmond.
03:30Yeah.
03:31And New England Patriots walked through, and then Washington walked through.
03:35I could have sworn a professional team was playing a college team.
03:39It doesn't look like that anymore.
03:40So, they've changed this thing up, and I believe that level of talent and level of athleticism will make a
03:46difference.
03:47I think Jaden Daniels is probably the best player on the field today, and that was two NFL teams on
03:52the field today.
03:53And I think there's a real opportunity.
03:56You mentioned the worst-to-first stuff, and I think worst-to-first happens every year.
04:00But you know the teams that are generally good every year, more often than not, have an excellent quarterback.
04:06Yeah.
04:07When you have a real excellent quarterback, it changes the volatility of an NFL team.
04:13That's just the reality.
04:14We know that in Washington for 30 years of not having one.
04:18Yeah.
04:18Right?
04:18Like, you can probably be there, but I think when I watched, the offensive line was good enough to protect
04:28Jaden most of the time.
04:30He was running for his life a few times.
04:32The offensive line did not look particularly good running the football.
04:36You like to think that gel will happen over time here.
04:40I thought Jaden looked really good.
04:41I think the receivers, I think adding digs helps a lot.
04:44I think defensively you saw the speed, and that's the hope when you draft a guy like Sonny Stiles and
04:50add a guy like Chennault, add the length of O-Way, is that the speed looks very different.
04:55Nick Cross, I think, is a guy that the speed looks quite different.
04:59I think when you go through run, like some of those run plays where you're going to just bang that
05:05damn D-tackle in the hip, they weren't doing that today.
05:09They tried to keep everybody up.
05:11And those defensive linemen understand that.
05:13When they call both teams together before practice, they set the tone.
05:17They set the rules.
05:18We're not trying to cut people.
05:19We're not taking people to the ground, blah, blah, blah.
05:21And the defensive players go, oh, cool, I'm going to take advantage of this today.
05:24And the defenses normally look good in these type of situations.
05:28Soon as you can slice them, they change their approach.
05:32I mean, as soon as you can slice them, they become a different thing.
05:35Here's what I want to do.
05:36I want to open the phones, 800-636-1067, 800-636-1067.
05:44NFL.com has the commanders ranked 29th in the NFL.
05:47There's only 32 teams, if you're unaware.
05:49I'm reading now from NFL.com.
05:51Steph Diggs is now a commander, which is cool, but Washington's season truly hinges on Jaden
05:56Daniels returning fully healthy and finding a way to stay on the field.
05:59That and substantial improvement from the defense, a unit that has been revamped with a large
06:03influx of veteran additions after finishing dead last in yards allowed in 2025.
06:09This is the year in which Dan Quinn must prove he has strong coaching chops or else.
06:13It's also the season in which Daniels must prove he's more durable than he was in 2025,
06:17a task that undoubtedly becomes more challenging after losing left tackle Laramie Tunsil to
06:22a torn tricep for what will be a significant portion of the season, if not all of it.
06:27There's reason to be hopeful, but it feels increasingly as if the commanders have to thread
06:31the needle to find success in 2026.
06:35Stallion asks, do you think that's too low?
06:38And I do.
06:38I think it's too low.
06:39Like, what they wrote there, is there pressure for DQ?
06:43Yes.
06:43Does losing Tunsil hurt you?
06:45Yes.
06:45Like, no one's changing that.
06:47But I think defensively they could be a lot better.
06:51Like, you could jump 10 spots defensively.
06:53Yeah.
06:53We can gloss over it and see exactly what they saw.
06:56But I'll just happen to tell you this.
06:58Tunsil wasn't here in 2024.
07:00Right.
07:01He was here last year.
07:03It, you, you, what Ross stated earlier is very, very important.
07:09Yes, Tunsil is a Pro Bowl left tackle.
07:13But if you got five dogs and you got one Pro Bowl tackle and four average ones, that offensive
07:21line to have five dogs is going to be better.
07:23One thing, I'm an actions, not words guy, right?
07:26I did not think they had enough depth at corner coming out of a spring.
07:31What do they do?
07:31They sign Rasul Douglas.
07:33I think first week of July.
07:34Once we're in camp for a few days, there are intriguing prospects at the receiver position
07:39beyond Terry McLaurin.
07:40But there was no certainty with any of them.
07:42What do they do?
07:43They sign Steph Diggs.
07:44And maybe it was going to be IU if that thing didn't go crazy, right?
07:49Their actions this offseason have been different, where they've added players when they think
07:54they need to.
07:55They're fully, like, if we talk about Taylor Decker being available, they're aware that
08:00Taylor Decker is available.
08:01They at least want to give Coleman a chance to see if they like what they see.
08:06So I think the automatic assumption that the O-line's no good and it's not going to
08:11work out is too far of a stretch.
08:14Losing Tunsil sucks.
08:16It does.
08:17But it doesn't mean it's going to be a disaster.
08:20I can tell you on Wednesday, August 12th, in Ashburn, it didn't look like a disaster
08:24offensively.
08:25Do you think the national media, the experts out there, are sleeping on the Commanders?
08:3129th out of 32, I'm looking at these power ranks.
08:35They've got the Browns, the Giants, the Cardinals, the Falcons.
08:39Like, on what planet?
08:41You know why they're looking at that, Jay?
08:43Two new coordinators.
08:45Sure.
08:45That's making them go that way, too.
08:47But didn't Ross just say there's 21 new offensive coordinators in this league?
08:51What's the assumption that all the other 20 of them are going to just damn be good?
08:57Easy E is in Rockville.
08:58Easy, you think they're sleeping on Washington?
09:02I think they're on drugs.
09:03I think they need to stay off the weed.
09:07Here's my problem.
09:08How many years every year did they say the Giants had the best defense?
09:12And yet, that defense in New York has not done wonders for them at all.
09:16How many times did they got to keep adding for them to keep saying they got the best defense?
09:20How many times did they say the Cowboys had the best defense and then a year comes they had the
09:23worst defense?
09:24Man, nobody talked about McKay Lemon having his hamstring injury on the side or they know.
09:28They're talking about Washington.
09:29You know why they're talking about us?
09:31Because they're on drugs and they know we're going to be better.
09:33I'm sick and tired of the national media always having this riffraff with us.
09:38They know that we got the best quarterback in the division.
09:41Stop sleeping.
09:42Stay off the weed.
09:44And do better.
09:45Really, the Giants, the Falcons, the Browns to the Super Bowl only by sitting on the toilet ahead of us?
09:51Man, please.
09:52Thanks for taking my call.
09:53All right, bro.
09:54Appreciate you, EZ.
09:54Phone lines are open.
09:56What do you make of the national media's viewpoint of the Washington Commanders?
10:00800-636-1067.
10:02800-636-1067.
10:03800-636-1067.
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