00:00With his Marcus Mariota.
00:01That was scary, wasn't it?
00:02Yes, it was.
00:03He goes down.
00:04He's grabbing at his knee.
00:05There's some fear of a CL, some type of L in that knee.
00:08Is it an ACL, an MCL, a PCL, an RCL, a TCL?
00:12Turns out it's going to be okay.
00:13He's only out for the rest of the preseason.
00:15Even though everyone's acting like that's a nothing burger,
00:18that's a lot of Sam Hartman trying to help you evaluate wide receivers.
00:21That's a lot of Ethan Kaliak-Manus trying to help get looks for guys
00:25at the back of the roster that you're trying to see if they belong or they don't.
00:28Especially if you're not going to play Jaden Daniels at all or just in one drive.
00:33Barely a little, yeah.
00:34So that is still a significant loss, I think, even from a preseason standpoint.
00:37But the key to me was just making sure he's ready for week one.
00:40It sounds like that's going to be the case.
00:41This was Dan Quinn talking with the media on a Zoom call yesterday
00:45because the team didn't do anything.
00:47They also didn't practice today, by the way.
00:48It's been a lot of not practicing of late.
00:50This was Dan Quinn today.
00:51We're optimistic for the regular season at the start that he'll be ready at that time.
00:56At this time, no, we don't anticipate anybody else coming in.
01:00So it'll allow more reps over the next couple weeks with Sam and Ethan in that spot.
01:07I think if there was any thought that he might not be ready for the first game,
01:11they would be working out quarterbacks today, and they'd be signing some veteran.
01:16I'm just going to say Jimmy Garoppolo is a placeholder.
01:18But they'd be signing somebody to come in.
01:19Right, somebody from that tier.
01:20Because they're not doing that, they obviously are very confident Mariota will be active
01:25against the Eagles in Philly in week one.
01:27Yeah, that's the sense I get.
01:28So, you know, there's a million different ways to sort of read it and react to it.
01:35The fact that they're not concerned, I guess, is good.
01:38But again, you sort of lost your injury-related decision-making trust from me.
01:44Not that they care about that.
01:45But when we still haven't ever heard confirmation that Jaden Daniels had a broken rib,
01:49he had to go on some sort of weird Twitch stream to tell people that, yeah, that's actually
01:53what happened, or whatever, there's always murkiness around it.
01:56So, you know, until we get a good sort of, hey, we were right about this, and it really
02:00was a two-week thing, and he was good to go and fine and dandy.
02:03But yeah, I mean, the other part is kind of the thing I want to focus on.
02:06So let's just take him at their word that he'll be fine and no need to kind of make
02:09any adjustments.
02:09It's a lot of third and fourth quarterbacking, whichever one, however you want to tier that.
02:14Hartman or Kelly McManus, and someone like Luke McCaffrey is affected by that.
02:18Now, McCaffrey wasn't involved in game one barely at all.
02:21Is that a, he wasn't open?
02:23Is that a, they already know what they got?
02:24Is that a, maybe he was open and they couldn't get in the ball because we're third and fourth
02:28quarterbacks, and that's the thing that we do as third and fourth quarterbacks?
02:31That affects people down the roster, for sure.
02:34Yeah, it does.
02:35It's not ideal.
02:37But what I care about is the regular season.
02:39What I care about is that Marcus Mariota is available if and when you need him against
02:47the Eagles in week one, if something were to happen to Jaden Daniels, because you cannot
02:50play Hartman.
02:51We know that.
02:51And you shouldn't be playing a seventh rounder in Kaliak Manus.
02:55Now, speaking of those two quarterbacks, we saw a lot of them in this preseason game.
02:59Hartman looks way better in this offense because he can get him bootlegged and moving around
03:03and you can use some of that athleticism that he's got.
03:05But he's actually better probably keeping the football and running it sometimes than
03:09throwing it.
03:10I think he's a punching bag and people have kind of already decided he can't play or whatever.
03:14So everyone's going to make fun of pretty much everything he does.
03:17He had the one bad interception for sure.
03:19And it was bad.
03:20The Ami Brown, that's a bad ball.
03:21But overall, I thought 8 of 15 with that pick, you can tell this is a better offense for
03:26him.
03:27And yet, this is not a quarterback that's going to play in the league.
03:30And that's been known now.
03:32They told us that.
03:32That's not my opinion.
03:33That's their opinion.
03:34On Christmas Day last year, when you need a quarterback and Hartman's been in your building
03:37for a couple of years and you say, not you, in a lost season where the game doesn't matter
03:42and you go sign 40-year-old Josh Johnson, you're telling me that you don't trust that
03:46player.
03:46Yeah.
03:47You shot the flare gun up and let me know.
03:49Kali Ekmanis was interesting.
03:51I find him to be...
03:53So, first off, he spun it pretty well.
03:55I thought the ball came out.
03:56He threw it downfield, pushed it downfield okay.
03:58He was certainly a little more decisive, climbed the pocket pretty well.
04:01I thought the way he navigated the pocket was decent, climbing upwards, making throws.
04:05He is clearly an unathletic pocket passer, though.
04:10Yes.
04:10That's what I take out of watching him, both the Rutgers tape, if you want to call it that,
04:15his highlight sizzle reel, and then this game is...
04:18Like, a Derek Carr, Kirk Cousins, minus some of the mobility and the athleticism from those
04:24guys, where he is going to be in the pocket.
04:26It's almost like a Brady-esque feel to, he's not going anywhere.
04:30You know where he's going to be.
04:31So, you better be uber decisive.
04:33You better be Drew Breesian with your anticipatory throws.
04:36I was impressed overall with how he threw the ball, but I think when your defensive front
04:40wins against him, you've won the play.
04:42Yeah, a couple sacks and 12 dropbacks tells you part of that story, just as you said.
04:46He doesn't have the Ramsey heat-seeking gene for defenders, but closer to that.
04:50You know, as you said, when he had time, pat the football once and spun it, it was more
04:55impressive than Hartman, but it's just, this to me is just not what I would major in for
04:59my third quarterback.
05:00My emergency QB needs to be the, I always think of it as the Doug Flutie tier, where it's
05:04like, the plane has crashed into the mountain.
05:06I'm trying to survive to see if I can get some help back.
05:09Run around and make me a play or two.
05:10I mean, the guy that played in the Hall of Fame game for Carolina, for example, Haynes
05:14King, I have no idea if that guy's going to be a starter, in fact, I do, probably not
05:17going to be a starter in the league.
05:19That's the kind of dude I would major in for my third quarterback.
05:21Playmaker.
05:22Just a guy that, again, we can do some backyard football, get away with it for a possession
05:26or two, and hope for the best and pray for rain.
05:28Taylor Heineke.
05:29Yeah.
05:30This is just not what I would do.
05:32Everyone's had a buddy who dates the same type of girl over and over and over again,
05:36and then he just goes completely off type, so to speak.
05:40So it's always like, oh, really active.
05:42We like to climb and go in the wilderness and camp out and do all this stuff.
05:47And it's like, yeah, this girl hates leaving the house and just wants to be in the home
05:50or whatever.
05:51And you're like, hmm, that's different than all the girls you've dated.
05:54It's totally different.
05:55I have a hard time wondering.
05:58So you have Jaden Daniels, Mariota, who's kind of like that, Hartman, who moves all over
06:02and is an athlete and wants to keep the ball and running on boots and stuff.
06:06Kali Ekmanis is not like any of those other guys.
06:08So it's just interesting to me that they watched him and said, him.
06:12This is a guy we're really, really intrigued by, you know?
06:15Yes.
06:16But is what it is.
06:18Mariota will be back.
06:19Daniels hopefully will play against Detroit.
06:21We'll talk about that later in the show.
06:22How good were the kid running backs, specifically Robert Henry?
06:25Allen was a big plotting physical thumper like you'd expect at the really nice 16-yard run
06:30where he broke three tackles, started to get it going after Henry had showed something,
06:33and he went for 85 on 23 attempts.
06:36That was like a Penn State-like workload for him.
06:38Yes, it was.
06:38That was a full day at the office.
06:40But this Robert Henry kid, the undrafted free agent from UTSA, 22-yard touchdown,
06:45jab step to set it up at the line of scrimmage, watching back the old 22,
06:49the amount of holes he hit and the vision he had to kind of patiently jump behind someone,
06:54wait for something to develop.
06:56I was super impressed.
06:57Hard not to be, right?
06:58I mean, this is the Danny Ruyet school of running backing.
07:02I want this.
07:03Now, every once in a while, you can have that plus a guy that has world-class track speed.
07:07You've got to be John Robinson or Jameer Gibbs.
07:09You've got to pay 20 million bucks a year for him.
07:11This is that shifty with a little bit of power and vision that I think you could just,
07:15that almost grows on trees.
07:17It's the Austin Eckler kind of school of running back.
07:20I don't know how he can catch the ball or not.
07:21That's kind of the unique skill set.
07:22But in terms of running, this is what I'm after.
07:25Now, coaches love Cateron Allen.
07:26Like, I can't imagine watching both those guys get carries and go,
07:30we need to make sure we've got more room for Allen to get the football more.
07:33Now, there's a role for that guy on my team, the old, if I'm running things.
07:38Warren Sharp had this great stat.
07:39I didn't even realize this was true.
07:40No one's had that many carries without a negative carry in a preseason game,
07:44like in forever, whatever the number was.
07:46And you could see it.
07:47You go, oh, I get that.
07:47He's always falling forward.
07:48He's tough as nails.
07:49So there's room for that guy on my team.
07:52No wasted movement in the backfield.
07:53Backfield.
07:54But, my God, is it so much more exciting and intriguing and dangerous
07:58to have a Robert Henry in that shift in us.
08:00Totally.
08:01I'm a Henry guy, and that's the kind of back I want as well.
08:03Give me the Gibbs over the Montgomery every time.
08:05But I think this is one of the biggest disconnects between the real world,
08:09reality, football, and, like, the fantasy community,
08:12where they would say every carry for the non-Jameer Gibbs is a waste of time
08:16because he can score a touchdown on every carry.
08:18And it's like people screaming about using Luis Garcia against left-handed pitching.
08:23Or something.
08:24And it's like, well, part of why he's been so effective
08:26is that you're not exposing him left on left and getting him out of his rut.
08:30You know, part of, like, there is some truth in the way of life
08:35that people don't understand.
08:37And Robert Henry's better off with Catron Allen wearing a defense down
08:42and getting 23 of those 35 carries where you're tired of being run into
08:46and you're tired of having a sledgehammer driven into your chest and helmet.
08:50And now Henry hits you with that speed and that quickness
08:52and it makes him that much more effective.
08:55But I thought he was really, really good.
08:57We like to, on this show, for those of you that are new to Grant and Danny after games,
09:01we like to give out game balls for the players that impress us the most
09:04and gassers, the lap that they have to take, for guys that don't
09:08or something that we didn't like.
09:10So, in the interest of getting everybody into regular season form,
09:14let's go game balls and gassers next for the best and the worst
09:18from Friday night's preseason activity,
09:20the first dose of game action for the Commanders.
09:23800-636-1067.
09:26If you'd like to join us, who gets your game ball and who gets your gasser?
09:29You're listening to GND on the face.
09:311,5 canciónー.
09:312,5 beat .
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