- 13 hours ago
Grant & Danny break down the top things to watch for as the Commanders open the preseason with Miami tonight.
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00:00The story of the day, as you said, is preseason football.
00:02There will be tens of thousands of folks over in Northwest Stadium tonight
00:06in Landover, Maryland, watching the Commanders and the Dolphins.
00:10I'm curious to see what the turnout is like,
00:12what kind of energy there will be within the crowd,
00:14what the weather holds up, and assuming it's dry over there generally.
00:18It's going to be warm.
00:19It's an August game, but nighttime, under the lights, fun opportunity.
00:23I know just hyper-locally for me within our ticket group,
00:27these are good opportunities for the kids.
00:29I know my brother's taking, my nephew, my kids, and my wife
00:33are thinking about going for much of the week
00:34because it's just not the same rowdy, all-day-long, tailgating crowd
00:39of people that are screaming and cursing and fighting,
00:42and you're not shoulder-to-shoulder.
00:44So you kind of get a few seats to either direction of you.
00:46So it's more of a family atmosphere.
00:48I think it's a good opportunity to indoctrinate, to groom, if you will,
00:52some of the children into Commander's fandom
00:54if you can get them out there to watch some football this evening.
00:57Indeed.
00:57The weather looks okay, but normal August, overcast, muddy soup kind of deal.
01:02But the forecast changes every 17 seconds in terms of whether it's going to rain or not.
01:06But according to the smart people who do it for their gig,
01:08it will be dry at game time.
01:11If you are listening to the show all over the DMV on the flagship 106.7,
01:14thank you.
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01:20in high definition.
01:21We are available for you on video today.
01:24So however you check us out, we appreciate you.
01:26Let's start, though, with tonight's game.
01:29And with some of our expectations of what we want to see.
01:32I get excited for these first preseason games.
01:35Now, don't get me wrong.
01:37I would prefer to see Jaden Daniels throwing to Stefan Diggs and Terry McLaurin for a drive.
01:42But we all know we're not going to see that.
01:45And the moment that I saw the intensity with which and the duration with which
01:50practice went against the Dolphins on Thursday,
01:52I knew by and large most of the starters weren't going to go.
01:56I do think Sonny Stiles is going to play tonight based on a couple of the comments
02:00that Dan Quinn has made this week at the podium.
02:02And he never really did actually address who's in and who's out.
02:06He kind of pushed the can down the road a couple of kicks
02:10and then eventually never had to answer to, will the starters play or won't they?
02:14But I think Sonny Stiles will be one of the biggest, most exciting commodities on the field.
02:19For the most part, I think a lot of starters won't go.
02:21But this becomes a huge opportunity for the depth guys at receiver
02:26where we're trying to figure out who's in and who's out.
02:28Somebody like Antonio Williams might start tonight.
02:30Traylon Burks is going to be on the field a bunch.
02:32Players like Luke McCaffrey and Jalen Lane.
02:35Lane, I think, is a roster lock because of punt returning.
02:38McCaffrey may be a little less so.
02:40But a kick returner who's had a good camp.
02:41Really important night for him.
02:43Van Jefferson, Deami Brown.
02:45Do they show out?
02:46Guys that are ticketed for the practice squad who are way down the depth chart
02:50like Jacoby Jones who caught a pass last year.
02:52Six-foot-four-inch Jaden Bradley, an undrafted free agent from UNLV.
02:56I think you'll see all of those guys.
02:58So he gets you 10, 15 reps, whatever that looks like.
03:01And then it's a lot of Sam Hartman.
03:03And then you finish the night for a quarter with Ethan Kaliak-Manus.
03:06So you see those three quarterbacks.
03:08Hartman plays the bulk of the evening.
03:10But if you get out there and you're Antonio Williams with Marcus Mariota,
03:13what a chance that is to prove that you're ready for more opportunities with starters.
03:18Indeed.
03:18The players, you know, and we're going to do the dance where guys that are on the roster
03:22fringe make a name for themselves or don't.
03:24And we'll prognosticate and try to figure it out.
03:26I mean, but how many times have you gone,
03:28how do they not keep Marcus White who had like 11 sacks in a preseason game?
03:31Pretty easy.
03:32And he's never heard from again.
03:33But yeah, the things that I'm watching are some of the guys you referenced.
03:36It is the players that will contribute.
03:39Maybe not as frontline starters.
03:41Maybe not as the plan.
03:42But, you know, we learn all about what best laid plans are supposed to look like.
03:46Right?
03:46So there are guys that are going to play this year that are playing tonight.
03:49I will be watching them individually.
03:51I'm not going to judge as much quarterback play.
03:54I already know kind of what I got in Mariota.
03:56I know the two guys behind him.
03:58Franklin, in my view, cannot play.
03:59It's a waste of an exercise.
04:00Waste of time for me.
04:01So I'm not going to be able to judge receiving grade.
04:04Or, you know, maybe you'll see who's open.
04:05Guys win in one-on-one.
04:06But it's where players are engaged against somebody that's trying to impress their coaching staff.
04:12Right.
04:12Those one-on-one moments.
04:14Not schemed up stuff.
04:15Not designed.
04:16But the whole point of this is to go, can Grant block Darris?
04:19And those two guys are going to get matched up.
04:21They're going to figure it out.
04:22Well, speaking of can Grant block Darris?
04:23Offensive line.
04:24I don't know who's in and who's out.
04:27Like, I'll be really curious to see.
04:29Generally, you would either have all your starters playing or not.
04:32But because of the injuries and the quirkiness of Brandon Coleman just getting elevated,
04:36I could see a world where Sam Cosme doesn't need to play in this game.
04:41So if you're actually red-shirting some guys and you're telling some dudes to take the night off,
04:45Cosme's the most likely guy on the offensive line you'd do that with.
04:48Best track record, most established.
04:49I want to see Josh Connerly play in this game tonight.
04:52I think he needs to play in this game tonight based on not only last season,
04:56but training camp has been up and down a little bit for him.
05:00I thought the scrimmage with the Dolphins had some very good highs and a couple of lows.
05:04So I'd like to see him play.
05:05Coleman should be out there.
05:07Paul, right now, who is getting pushed for his job, should be out there.
05:10And obviously, Julian Good-Jones is going to play because he's only kind of a starter in name right now
05:15with the Allegretti injury.
05:17So I think the bulk of the left side of the offensive line really needs to work.
05:20I don't think you'll see Cosme.
05:22I wonder, though, if you don't play Cosme, do you then not play Connerly?
05:26Because his running mate is not there with him.
05:28How does that work?
05:29But my hope is you see at least four of the five starting offensive linemen.
05:33And especially if you're only going to play in Mariota for a quarter, like I'm assuming, or less,
05:39why not put the starters out there with him and just get them a sweat to start this thing
05:43before they have a real audition and a dress rehearsal, so to speak, next week?
05:48Another position that's really interesting to me is running back.
05:51So, Bill, I would imagine you're not going to see, or if you do, for a couple carries tonight.
05:55Rashad White, similarly.
05:56Not really sure how much you ask of a veteran who you know is going to be on the team.
06:01Yeah.
06:01What's the benefit to that?
06:03So the guy, to me, that is the bell of the ball tonight, that is worth watching.
06:07And we talked about Sonny Stiles, the draft pick on defense, likely to play,
06:10based on some of the stuff Dan Quinn has said.
06:13I think it's the K-Tron Allen show tonight.
06:15Does that mean he gets the first and ten carry to open the game?
06:18Maybe not.
06:19But I think he's going to lead the team in carries.
06:21He should.
06:22And everyone keeps asking, like on my social media or whatever, like,
06:26how's K-Tron Allen?
06:27Look, you're not talking much about K-Tron Allen.
06:28He's never going to be a dude at practice that's going to stand out.
06:31Because he's not particularly fast.
06:32He's a big bowling ball.
06:34The time that a player like that, that David Montgomery-type player,
06:37the plotting player that for so long that you haven't enjoyed,
06:40like, those guys are at their best Sunday at 156.
06:44You know, 214.
06:45Yeah, they don't win the agility drills.
06:46They're not there when guys have those, like, foam fingers
06:49that are slapping at the ball as you go through targets.
06:51That's not his time to shine.
06:53This is.
06:53So, K-Tron Allen's on a short list for me tonight as a,
06:56this is an important player to watch.
06:58And I would be surprised if early on, with Mariota under center
07:02and operating this offense, if Allen's not out there with him.
07:05If you've got Coleman and Good Jones and Chris Paul out there,
07:09I want to see K-Tron Allen run behind those guys.
07:11So, in general, you know how I feel, but I don't care how offenses
07:15are designed and done.
07:17I just care about effectiveness.
07:18If you're a team that can run it great, you should run it.
07:20If you can't run it, don't just run it just to satisfy the dinosaurs
07:23that count off rush attempts as means for success.
07:26But this preseason, really especially tonight, and really in game number two,
07:29it's the thing I'm most curious about, is their ability to have this
07:32offensive line, which is now going through some transitions,
07:34kind of to your point.
07:35Can you maul people?
07:37Can you win one-on-one?
07:38Do they have interior runs in their bag, or is it just going to be
07:41a fool's errand?
07:42So, that's what I want to see tonight, believe it or not.
07:44Again, I'm way less concerned about Kelly McManus connecting with some guy
07:49that's not going to make the club in the fourth quarter,
07:51or Sam Hartman, who I've got a pretty good beat on, I feel like.
07:54He's very handsome, but that's kind of the list of attributes
07:56that are good for him.
07:58I don't really care about that much.
08:00The thing that will translate to me to some part of the regular season is,
08:03can some of these guys on the offensive line that are going to play this year,
08:08can they win their matchup, and can we run behind them?
08:11I want to see the running game.
08:12That's the thing I'm most curious about on offense tonight.
08:13It should be, because they couldn't run the ball in the scrimmage,
08:16you know, in the practice against Miami, really at all.
08:19And I would say, at practice, it has been a challenge to run the football so far.
08:25A lot of the things that I've loved, that they've done very well,
08:28are passing game things.
08:29The run game has not looked as clean.
08:31I don't know yet if I'm going to have many takeaways.
08:35I've got to see who plays and who doesn't, and how long they play.
08:38In other words, if Brandon Coleman and Chris Paul don't play,
08:41and it's Julian Good-Jones and the twos,
08:43then I'm not that into the results of this exercise
08:47against Miami's starting defense.
08:49But if Coleman's out there with Chris Paul, with Good-Jones,
08:53and Josh Connerly's out there, and it's everyone but Cosme?
08:57That's going to happen this season.
08:58Exactly.
08:59That's just basically the second play of the game
09:02if Cosme sprains his finger or something against the Eagles.
09:05So now the results are going to matter to me a lot more.
09:08We'll make a list of the guys we care the most about,
09:11but just bigger picture on offense.
09:12It's about the skill group competition, wide receiver, running back.
09:17I also hope you guys get to see what I've been raving about
09:20from being out at every practice when it comes to the tight ends.
09:23Because I think sometimes it just feels like,
09:26oh, sure, you're just watching football and you're feeling it.
09:29I think there's five NFL tight ends on this team.
09:30I believe that.
09:31Because I think Lawrence Cager can play for an NFL team.
09:34He's athletic.
09:35He'll catch a ball tonight, and you'll go,
09:37damn, that looks like a legit player.
09:39He's size and speed.
09:40Ben Sinnott is, when I say the most complete,
09:43the way I've been describing this to people, Danny,
09:46Chica Conquo is like an 80 receiver and maybe like a 40 blocker, let's say.
09:51Cager, you grade everybody, is like maybe a 75 receiver and a 40 blocker.
09:58Ben Sinnott is the one guy that's got like 250 grades.
10:00He's probably like 50 at both, if that makes sense.
10:03It does.
10:03Whereas Colson Yankoff is like an 80 receiver and a 20 blocker.
10:07And so Sinnott, based on being able to do both,
10:09I think is the least of a tell of anyone they have when they're on the field.
10:16Because he can go out and catch passes.
10:18He can block.
10:19Bates is more of a blocker.
10:21Everyone else is like heavily slanted in one direction.
10:24But I do think they have five tight ends who are pretty good.
10:26And I want people to see Yankoff, who's had an incredible camp.
10:29To me, he's got the best hands in the room.
10:32And I love Chig, but he's got better hands than Chig in terms of catch radius,
10:36like not fighting a football,
10:37football, just athletically bringing a football in.
10:40I hope that you see that tonight.
10:41Because I really think this guy has forced his way onto the roster.
10:44I'd love to see it.
10:45Yeah, I would too.
10:46I mean, you know, we got that glimpse of Sinnott years ago
10:49that people still reference.
10:51Like those couple preseason catches where it's catch and then it's rumble.
10:55There's a little wiggle, a little bit of, you know,
10:57Chris Cooley leg shimmy.
10:58There's a little bit of thump right through and you're going,
11:00oh my God, how do we unlock that?
11:02And then three years later, we're hoping that it gets unlocked at some point.
11:04But yeah, I mean, this to me is where the league is going.
11:07And as everybody goes nickel or dime or some variation all the time,
11:11even if a tight end is not an unbelievable blocker,
11:14I would take Colson Yankoff blocking 180 pound slot corner over, you know,
11:21big on big or over, you know, a wide receiver trying to do it, et cetera.
11:24So you can dictate to people in a little bit of ways, right?
11:28Where you, because he's such a good receiver, you have to go light.
11:31Whereas if you have a linebacker, you just check to whatever
11:34and you get him the football because that's a matchup.
11:36He'll win 99 times out of a hundred.
11:38This to me is where the,
11:39the tight end position is going through kind of another Renaissance.
11:43We had one 15, 16 years ago and it sort of fell off.
11:45And now to me,
11:46it's back in a major way where people are realizing these athletic freaks at
11:49tight end are such huge matchup advantages.
11:52I don't have quite as good a feel about the defense because I only watch the
11:56offense and the scrimmage to see how much work everybody got,
11:59but I'm just going to assume it's similar on that side of the ball.
12:01And a lot of the big boys that everybody's excited about,
12:05Ken law pain away Lou vu,
12:07like those kinds of guys don't play.
12:09If I had to guess,
12:11Jeremy Reeves has been running with the first team at safety.
12:13You know,
12:14he may go because he's in a competition with Quan Martin,
12:17but my guess is you'd see more Martin at safety in this game.
12:20And a lot of the entrenched starters like Nick cross or Mikey Sandra still,
12:25maybe those guys don't play in this game,
12:27but I think that the calling card on defense will be Sonny styles.
12:30The guy I want everyone to watch tonight is going to be number 48,
12:33Joshua Josephs.
12:35He's had a really good camp.
12:36This is the fifth round pick out of Tennessee that they drafted.
12:39He can play.
12:40I don't know what his role is going to be yet in terms of usage and how many
12:43snaps he gets.
12:44And it's loaded right now at the edge position where he plays.
12:48Cause you've got away and Caleb on chase on and Torrance Armstrong,
12:51but I do think Joshua Josephs can help them.
12:54That's what tonight's going to be about.
12:56The rookie class.
12:57Williams has a chance.
12:59If he doesn't start,
12:59he's going to play a lot at receiver.
13:01Goulbin is going to play a ton at center,
13:03especially with the injuries they've had there.
13:05Katron Allen's going to maybe lead them in carries tonight.
13:08You're going to see eighth and Kaliak Manis,
13:10presumably in the fourth quarter styles and Josephs.
13:13The two rookie defenders are both going to play a lot.
13:16I think styles is going to start and play a couple of drives early and maybe
13:20is the guy on the field that people most want to see in that stadium.
13:24For me,
13:24I mean,
13:25it's going to be really,
13:26really hard to,
13:28to judge everything.
13:29Cause he's not playing in front of the guys that are supposed to clean up
13:31traffic and let him run to the football,
13:33et cetera.
13:33The look is worse for him because you're playing with and around players that
13:39aren't quite as skilled while the dolphins are playing their one.
13:42And I don't mind that,
13:43but I just,
13:43I always talk about this with the prospect or the guy that's exciting.
13:47I just want to see the thing.
13:49And the thing with him is the athleticism.
13:51I want to see the reason he went seventh overall and that's,
13:54he's a better athlete than anybody else that's played that position.
13:57Maybe ever.
13:58I want to see him fly around.
13:59I just want to see the quickness,
14:00the speed,
14:01the agility and him thump somebody.
14:03That's it.
14:04If he's out of position a couple of times or he's chasing a play or something
14:08happens,
14:09people are going to overreact,
14:10right?
14:10Where it's like,
14:11you look,
14:11this guy open it.
14:11We won't know all the assignments.
14:13We won't know.
14:13It's because,
14:14you know,
14:14a different linebacker blew something or,
14:16you know,
14:17a defensive line was supposed to occupy somebody and didn't,
14:19we're not going to know what we don't know.
14:21I just want to see the exciting or the reason for excitement.
14:25And again,
14:26that's his athleticism.
14:27Lastly,
14:27the kicking competition.
14:29This is the most important chapter yet.
14:31Here we go.
14:31You had practice for almost two weeks.
14:35And in those practices,
14:36a lot of field goals,
14:37by the way,
14:3848 attempts so far for Stevens and 47 for Moody.
14:41And the rookie from Iowa,
14:43Drew Stevens,
14:4443 of 48 with a long of 60 that he absolutely crushed.
14:49Moody has missed 11 kicks in practice,
14:5136 and 47.
14:53So it goes without saying,
14:55there's no margin for error tonight for Jake Moody.
14:58But Drew Stevens,
14:59I know,
15:00is still trying to figure this kickoff thing out.
15:03For a young guy like him,
15:05the ask from Larry Izzo on kickoffs is probably what gives you more anxiety than actually kicking field goals.
15:11That's what I wanted to ask about.
15:12It's the,
15:12it's the hidden part of this and doing stick about kicker battles and things.
15:16Put that aside for a second.
15:17How big a deal do you think that is to them?
15:19In other words,
15:21let's arbitrary numbers.
15:22A field goal kicker might be a six and a half out of 10 is a field goal kicker,
15:26but he's a 10 out of 10 for the kickoffs or the flip.
15:28Right.
15:29Who makes it?
15:30I think they care every bit as much about the kickoff part as the field goal part.
15:35Like we focus on the field goal part.
15:37Right.
15:37I think I'm just making this up,
15:39but if Drew Stevens was going to massive legs.
15:41So when people say,
15:42what do you mean he doesn't do the kickoffs?
15:43Well,
15:43it's not about the leg.
15:44If he just wanted to drive the ball into the seats,
15:47every single kick,
15:47he could do that.
15:48But they don't want that.
15:49They want loft.
15:50They want angled inside the five of this landing zone.
15:54Basically,
15:54it's very specific and accurate and you're doing it without really a running start anymore.
16:00You're just kind of swinging your leg.
16:02So you basically just are trying not to miss hit a ball into,
16:07like a small area.
16:08Think about it like golf almost,
16:09where it's just an easy swing of the seven at top golf.
16:13And you're trying to drop it into like the blue target.
16:15That's basically what they're doing on this kickoff.
16:17Yeah.
16:17And I know that a guy like Moody with his leg who kicks every field goal,
16:20like he's ripping it from 65,
16:22even if he's kicking from 29 yards,
16:24it's a difficult thing.
16:26That is the challenge for him.
16:27So while he's not going to be perfect on field goals,
16:30he could certainly go out there and miss a kick or two tonight.
16:32I think that's the part with him I'm honing in on is how does he handle the kickoffs?
16:35My guess is you'll see him handle some early kickoffs tonight because I think
16:39they've seen what they need to see from a field goal standpoint,
16:41if that makes sense.
16:42Moody,
16:43by the way,
16:43again,
16:44with the 11 misses,
16:45same thing.
16:46You got to be perfect on kickoffs because maybe that's how you could get back
16:48into this thing.
16:49Indeed.
16:50Is if you go,
16:50Hey,
16:50I'm actually going to let you be the number one special teams coverage unit again
16:54in the league,
16:55which is really important to you.
16:56Yeah.
16:57I mean,
16:57just to remind folks of the dynamic kickoff rules,
16:59right?
17:00You kick it out of the end zone,
17:0135 yard line.
17:03Teams are not interested in that.
17:04They do not want that.
17:05That's too much.
17:06It used to be,
17:07you know,
17:07it goes into the end zone.
17:08I'm a little teapot or I'm the letter T and now you get the ball to 20.
17:11They've added 15 yards to that.
17:13You're one first down away from being in field goal range.
17:15That's a huge deal to teams.
17:16Now,
17:16my daughter Reagan got Jake Moody's autograph at practice.
17:20She was with all the kids in that area where they,
17:22you know,
17:22behind the rope players walk off and Moody signed her football.
17:26And so she's been talking a lot about Jake Moody lately.
17:28Oh no.
17:29So she just,
17:30I just got a text from my wife in quotes.
17:32Is dad talking about Jake Moody?
17:35I am Jake Moody.
17:37What I said was he has a great chance to make the team.
17:42There is a chance for him to do that.
17:44Yes.
17:44He's,
17:45he's in what we like to call position battle right now.
17:47That's what I said.
17:48And they don't keep to Jake Moody.
17:49We love him.
17:51Okay.
17:51Allison,
17:52now take Reagan out of the room.
17:53Turn the volume down.
17:55This is Drew Stevens's job.
17:57I don't want to tell my daughter,
17:59but it's Drew Stevens's job.
18:00But Jake Moody.
18:01Jake Moody.
18:02Jake Moody.
18:03Jake Moody.
18:04Grant and Danny.
18:05Here's the question for you guys.
18:07800-636-1067.
18:10800-636-1067.
18:12Who are you most excited to watch play tonight?
18:15And who are you going to lock in on?
18:16Is there a player,
18:18a position group that you care the most about?
18:21Preseason game one.
18:22I'm pumped up.
18:23Football tonight,
18:24people.
18:25Let's go.
18:25Let's go.
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