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With starters potentially playing for the Commanders tomorrow, what are you looking forward to seeing?
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00:00So let's get to it.
00:03Lions, just as a quick prognosis for them this year,
00:06you know they finished in last place in that division?
00:09That's crazy.
00:09They are set up to me to have one of those years.
00:12And what I mean is when people say, oh, it's a last place team,
00:16you get a last place schedule, a lot of times it varies year to year
00:19because there's so much fluctuation in the NFL.
00:20Teams that were good one year or bad the next and vice versa,
00:23a team can be terrible, then go 12-5 and go to the NFC title game.
00:26Where have we seen that before?
00:27But this is how that happens a lot of times.
00:31Somebody that's pretty good all of a sudden has a schedule break right for them.
00:34So here's their schedule just real quick.
00:36They have the Saints out of the gate.
00:38I actually like the Saints this year.
00:39I think the Saints are my sneaky favorite to win the NFC South,
00:42but that's a digression.
00:43They are not world beaters.
00:44You got to go to Buffalo.
00:45That's a challenge.
00:46But then listen to this.
00:48Panthers, Cardinals, some division games, Packers, Vikings, Dolphins, Patriots,
00:53Bucs who are in all sorts of disarray, Bears, Falcons, Titans.
00:56These are a bunch of top five pick and type teams, right?
00:59They're out of division schedule.
01:01It's the Giants.
01:02It's a lot of Dolphins.
01:04This is a group that is very well set up after rebuilding a little bit,
01:08not rebuilding is the wrong word, kind of retooling to be nasty again.
01:12As much as we talked about their regression, Tobes, on offense last year,
01:17they were top four in points, I think.
01:19They were top four or five in a lot of offensive categories.
01:21It's not as if they forgot how to play some football.
01:23They just had, I think, some of the regression, some of the bad luck.
01:26And, yes, they miss the wunderkind Ben Johnson.
01:29But it's not as if they can't tie their shoes anymore.
01:31I love this test for Washington.
01:33Yeah, no, I think it's going to be good.
01:34You obviously are going to get a team that's very physical
01:37and is going to show that physicality in a preseason game.
01:39Dan Campbell has kind of made that a hallmark of his teams.
01:42They're going to play hard regardless if it's a preseason game,
01:45a meaningless regular season game, or into the postseason.
01:48They're going to play incredibly hard.
01:49And so I think this is going to be a good test for hopefully most of Washington starters
01:53getting out there.
01:54I'm excited to see Jaden Daniels get on the football field,
01:57be able to get out there and run around if it's a series, two series,
01:59or whatever it may be.
02:01I think it's going to be good for Washington starters.
02:03And I think it's important just to go up against another team
02:06when you're learning two new schemes.
02:08But with Detroit, this is a team that was a juggernaut just a couple of seasons ago,
02:14had a down year.
02:15Like you said, they're probably going to pick it up again this season.
02:17But you've still got some really good talent on that defensive side of the football
02:21when they're actually healthy.
02:22Aiden Hutchinson, Ali McNeil slept on, Brian Branch, Kirby Joseph.
02:26Like they've got really good players over there as well.
02:28So I think this is going to be a good test for them.
02:30And it's a team that's going to bring it.
02:32They always bring that intensity.
02:33So hopefully that brings it out of Washington as well.
02:35And it's going to be a good test for this team coming up tomorrow evening,
02:38or tomorrow afternoon.
02:39Yeah, don't sit on that fact.
02:41It's an afternoon game.
02:42So I'm on Ross St. Reception, the PPR God.
02:45He's been on every fantasy team I've had for a long time.
02:48He's wonderful.
02:50He is a great test for the secondary that's kind of having to patchwork a bit on the fly.
02:55Again, the Trey Amos updates are not good.
02:57I'm now officially concerned about that position.
02:59We'll get into that a little bit.
03:00But you know about the test.
03:02You know about how good Jared Goff is.
03:04Yeah, if you move his feet, he's going to screw you in a big game.
03:07But if you don't, he will pick you apart.
03:09He is a praying mantis.
03:10He's a statue.
03:11And they've got weapons in Gibbs and Laporta.
03:14Panay Suel is among the best players in the sport.
03:16Their first-round pick this year was Blake Miller, a right tackle,
03:19to shore up that offensive line just to kind of reinforce their identity.
03:23Isaac Tesla.
03:24I never say his name right, but Tesla.
03:26There's like so many A's on there.
03:27Yeah, too many A's.
03:28Jameson Williams is as good as deep threat as there is.
03:30They are stacked on that side of the ball.
03:32I love this test for Washington's defense.
03:35And the way we've talked about Washington's defense,
03:37and we'll get into the specifics of the game here in a moment,
03:39but I think there's kind of a – what am I looking for here?
03:44A misplaced narrative to some degree, Tobes,
03:46because the defense improved, that's a, well, we're all set.
03:51It's better defense.
03:52I don't think anybody doubts they'll be better than they've been.
03:55That's a dubious honor, by the way,
03:56because they've been next-level atrocious over the last couple of seasons,
03:59really the last several seasons, since the fraudulent 7-9 with Ron Rivera
04:04where they beat a bunch – five backup quarterbacks, whatever it was.
04:07They'll be better, but how much better?
04:10I think that's a very fair question.
04:12They're going to be improved.
04:13Is it so improved that they're now a top-12 unit against a really difficult schedule
04:17with some really good quarterbacks and good offenses, or is it 19th?
04:21How much – and I think we'll get a great – again, it's not going to be schemed up.
04:24It won't be the full preparation where you're doing everything you can to stop guys.
04:28You're trying to eval at the same time.
04:29But I do want to see against a good offense with really good personnel.
04:32Yeah, no, I'm excited to see this defense because one of the questions I still have –
04:36you mentioned the DBs.
04:37I'm just curious to see if they can hold up in coverage against another team's unit.
04:41Like, against Miami, it was – all right, whatever.
04:44It's Taj Washington.
04:46Who's their number one?
04:47Malik Washington?
04:48I don't even remember.
04:49It's like they don't have great receivers, and so the joint practice and in the game,
04:53it's not like they had a lot of standout performances.
04:55They marched right down the field, but a lot of that was on the ground, it felt like.
04:58Like, and so for this team, I'm curious to see if they're going to be able to hold up on
05:02the back end.
05:03I think they're going to create pressure, and I think they're going to create pressure no matter what.
05:06Because if they're not getting pressure, they're just going to send two more guys.
05:09Like, that's the way they're going to be about this defense this year.
05:12They understand that they're probably undermanned in the secondary,
05:15and so they're going to find ways to create pressure by whatever means necessary.
05:19And so I'm not as worried about that, but if you start sending a fifth, a sixth, a seventh guy
05:25potentially,
05:26then that means there's going to be less guys in coverage.
05:28Can you hold up?
05:29To their credit, watching them out in Ashburn every day, they have not allowed explosive plays.
05:34And to me, Danny, I was talking about this the other night.
05:36If you are sending an extra blitzer trying to create havoc,
05:40and in turn that turns a three-yard play into an eight-yard play, no big deal.
05:43But if it turns a three-yard play into a 45-yard play, that's the issue.
05:47And I haven't seen that.
05:48So I'm hoping in this sort of a game you can see, like, all right, they're sound on the back
05:51end,
05:52and they're still going to find ways to create pressure.
05:53So this is, by the way, gets to a larger trend in the NFL, and this is interesting.
05:58It's always a push and pull.
06:01So for a while, this was the defense.
06:04Again, there's nuances, and there's different ways that Mike McDonald has evolved things,
06:08kind of the anti, or like the Shanahan offense, kryptonite, that tree, et cetera, right,
06:13to deal with some of these bits of pressure and things like that.
06:16And now you've got all the kind of this Durante Jones school,
06:18which I think is probably a hybrid of that,
06:20but it's that, you know, think of those mid-2000s Patriots teams with a bunch of no-names,
06:24but it's just a bunch of town hall defenders, like seven or eight guys milling around the football,
06:28three drop, four rush, five slide to the side.
06:31You have no idea which way's up.
06:32It's kind of a throwback to that.
06:34But remember, there was a while where passing was so prolific, right,
06:39everybody was putting up 5,000 yards and 50 touchdowns,
06:41that finally the defensive coordinator said,
06:43screw this noise.
06:44We're not giving up big plays anymore.
06:46We know Patrick Mahomes is going to complete a million passes against us.
06:50We're going to make him be patient and complete eight or nine passes to get down the field against us.
06:55We are not giving up big strikes anymore.
06:57And everybody went back into the shell, and everybody said,
07:00you can put it underneath.
07:01We'll wait for a screw-up, a penalty, a false start, a procedure thing,
07:06a botch snap, a sack, something to try to, you know, see if we can guess right.
07:10We are not going to break anymore.
07:11We will not be on the, you know, the SportsCenter highlight.
07:15We're not going to be on the NFL Network's recap show.
07:17We're not going to have Chris Berman go, whoop, when there's a long pass,
07:20and it's seven yards and a touchdown, and my guys are pointing at each other like Josh Norman.
07:24I'm not doing that anymore.
07:26This is not that.
07:27This is not go back in a shell and give up some yards and being willing to do that.
07:32This is a, we're going to try to dictate to you, which is risk-reward, right?
07:37And I'm okay with it because, to me, I'm of the mind that whoever you are,
07:43offensively, defensively, whatever, you have to have an identity.
07:46And I know that's an old-school football thing.
07:48It's a football cowboy thing, and I'm supposed to smell like school mint
07:51and yell at, you know, nine-year-olds to get their base down and fire off.
07:56But, to me, the identity, what it means is I'm willing.
08:00I'm Danny Rui.
08:00I'm a defense.
08:01I'm willing to give up some yards.
08:03I'm willing to give up the occasional big play, but I'm going to turn your ass over.
08:07I'm going to get, if I get three big plays a game, whatever they happen to be,
08:10a third down stop, a sack fumble, an interception where my guy's jumping the route,
08:14I'll live with that.
08:15I'd rather have the ball back to my offense anyway.
08:17So, if the drive's over quickly, so be it.
08:19I'm going to take that risk-reward.
08:22Toby's defense might be, you know what?
08:23I'm not willing to give up any big plays ever.
08:26You're going to hate watching me, but that seven yard is complete.
08:30We'll have the Josh Norman Memorial Cushion.
08:33Third and six, I'll back off seven, turn around, get your first down.
08:36If that's what you want to do, you'll be able to do it all up and down the field.
08:39But we are not getting beat deep.
08:41Different philosophies, different tenets.
08:42That's what I mean by identity, especially on defense.
08:44This identity is pressure.
08:47There's a risk to that if it gets blocked up.
08:50Yeah.
08:50No, it definitely is.
08:51I mean, it's something that if it gets blocked up, and this is something I was talking
08:55about with one of the guys on the sideline at practice the other day.
08:56This is something where I'm curious to see.
08:59I think a majority of the time, you're going to have the quarterback somewhat confused,
09:03just naturally.
09:04Because I don't think, sometimes I don't even know if they know what's going on.
09:08It feels like it's just literally chaos.
09:10Remember when VCU used to, with Shaka Smart, create the Havoc defense?
09:13Oh yeah, I do.
09:13That's kind of what they're trying to do on the football field, where it's like, this
09:16guy's dropping, this guy's coming.
09:17They had a couple of blitzes the other day, where here comes Frankie Luvu blowing up a
09:21running back.
09:21Here comes Nick Cross.
09:22He would have got a sack on the quarterback.
09:24And not blocked, because you had no idea where they were coming from.
09:27So that's going to happen.
09:28But what happens on the one, two, three, four plays a game, where, say you're playing a
09:34veteran quarterback like Jared Goff, and he goes, I've played Minnesota a bunch.
09:37This guy's coming.
09:38This guy's not.
09:39He's dropping, if I get this blocked up, I'm going to be able to hit this deep post
09:42to Jamison Williams.
09:44Well, he's going to be able to get the time there, and all of a sudden lets it go.
09:47I don't mind if you, in turn, because you brought an extra blitzer, give up the 12-yard
09:52crosser to Aminra.
09:54I can't have you giving up the 55-yard bomb to Jamison Williams.
09:58And so that's something I'm very interested to watch.
10:00From what I've seen at camp, they've done a pretty good job of coverage on the back end
10:04and not giving up those explosive plays.
10:06I don't know if that's Washington's offense still is learning things.
10:09Or if that's their defense being good.
10:10So that's kind of the fun part, is now you get to see it against a different opponent.
10:13And you get to see.
10:14And obviously, like you said, this isn't schemed up.
10:17This isn't something that, in reality, is going to look exactly what it's going to look
10:20like in week one.
10:21But, you know, you've got some guys on this defense that I want to see make some plays.
10:24Like Sonny Stiles, I think you go back to the first preseason game.
10:27It's only a drive.
10:28You've got some people saying he sucked.
10:30You've got some people saying, oh, he's fantastic.
10:32It's probably somewhere in the middle, right?
10:33Like he was in the spots that he was supposed to be, but he didn't necessarily make any big-time
10:36plays, well, you don't draft a off-ball linebacker at No. 7 to just be there and just do your
10:42assignments.
10:42You need to be a difference maker.
10:44And so, I'm not throwing ridiculous expectations on him in the second preseason game, but Dan
10:48Quinn even challenged him earlier in the preseason saying, like, dude, don't be afraid to do
10:52something because Leo Chanel can't do this or because Frankie Louvoo can't do this.
10:56You can.
10:57So try it.
10:58Push the limits.
10:59That's what preseason, that's what training camp is for.
11:01Push the limits of what you can try to do.
11:03If you make a mistake, we'll correct it and realize, yeah, maybe we don't push that button.
11:07But you understand the limits of where you can go.
11:09So I'm excited to see that whole unit work together and see what are the limits of what
11:14they can try to do in terms of the pressure and different things and be able to still
11:17cover on the back end.
11:18So we've got something I want to get to topic-wise to start the show, but Darrison Strobes, did
11:23you guys hear what Toby said?
11:25How we started that?
11:27I was talking to this guy at training camp.
11:29Toby's talking to other guys.
11:31I thought we were, who are you, who are you talking to?
11:37Well, I can't give away my sources.
11:39Well, sorry, doesn't untalk to the guy.
11:41I mean, it's like, you know, we, I thought we had our divine, the relationship thing.
11:45That's weird.
11:45I apologize.
11:46Well, again, thank you for apologizing, but it doesn't hurt my feelings.
11:50I didn't think you were going to answer my phone call at nine 30 in the morning as
11:54I'm standing out there in Ashburn.
11:55First of all, I would, I definitely would.
11:58Second of all, no, it's all good.
12:01Here's what I want to talk about.
12:02800-636-1067.
12:04We'll go around the room here.
12:05I got Strobes.
12:06I got Darrison.
12:06I got Toby.
12:07I got me.
12:08And I want to have you.
12:08800-636-1067.
12:11Pretty simple.
12:12It sounds like, again, barring something up for scene, maybe, you know, pregame warmups
12:16happen.
12:16Someone doesn't feel great or whatever, but it looks like we're going to see a lot of people
12:21playing in this game.
12:23What do you want to see tomorrow?
12:25What would you like to see against a quality opponent?
12:28Again, we're not scheming it up and they shouldn't, quite frankly.
12:31What are you looking for?
12:33What do you want to know?
12:34What do you hope to see?
12:36Like, it will be mission accomplished if, fill in the blank.
12:40They play this game tomorrow against the Detroit Lions, who, again, I think are going to be
12:44pretty good.
12:45And I've got them winning the division.
12:46That's my spoiler alert for when we do prognostications.
12:49But that's a tight division.
12:50That's all four teams are over 500.
12:52Very competitive.
12:53It's good.
12:54I think Chicago goes back to the pack.
12:55And you could see four teams, like they just did this past year, with nine-plus wins.
13:00I like Detroit.
13:00I think they're good.
13:01Point is this.
13:02That's a quality opponent.
13:03I'm glad they're playing now and not for a game that counts.
13:04They've got plenty of goals, quality opponents, and games that will count starting here in
13:08a few weeks.
13:09What do you want to see tomorrow?
13:12800-636-1067.
13:14Tobes, we'll start with you.
13:15I want to see the offensive execution because I've seen this team be able to go out there
13:20and look very, very efficient on offense in training camp, but that's against your own
13:25defense.
13:25I think they were clinical and surgical in the way that they went about attacking Miami's
13:31defense in the joint practice.
13:33I want to see it against another defense that, frankly, should be a little bit better than
13:36Miami's.
13:37It's not to...
13:37I hate when we sometimes put the team in a no-win situation where it's like, if they
13:42would have sucked against Miami, you're like, we're spending hours on it and ringing all
13:47the alarm bells, but then they look good and you're like, yeah, nothing.
13:49You know, like, I hate putting a team in that situation, but in essence, you don't want
13:52to make too big of a deal.
13:53Like, okay, they carved up Miami's defense.
13:55But I haven't seen them live in that intermediate part of the field, which I assumed that they
14:01would.
14:01I think when you talk about the passing game, you would think just naturally that it's
14:05a bootleg play action, hit the dig route in behind, think of what Brock Purdy's done
14:10for years with San Francisco.
14:12And so I want to see them do that sort of a thing, or even if they're just going to
14:16protect
14:17Jaden Daniels, frankly, just operate the offense.
14:19Because we haven't seen David Blau calling a play into the helmet of Jaden Daniels, even for
14:24just a handoff, right?
14:25And I think Jaden has looked so comfortable in this offense, so just seeing it against
14:29a different opponent, knowing that it's live, as much as you can replicate football in a
14:35joint practice, it's still not live.
14:37Jaden Daniels is still wearing a non-contact jersey.
14:40You cannot hit him.
14:41You can hit him in this game.
14:43That's obviously something that is going to change your mindset, the way that you prepare.
14:49It just speeds everything up a little bit.
14:50So I'm just curious to see the execution of everything in their first time going through
14:54this in a real setting.
14:55Locked on, Strobes, what do you want to see tomorrow?
14:57I'd like to see Sonny Stiles fly around a little bit and make a couple plays.
15:01We've seen some of the footage in training camp and the reports where he has met Bill
15:05or whatever the running back was in the A-gap.
15:07I want to see it in this one, because against Miami, I think he was still getting his feet
15:11wet just a little bit.
15:12You saw him look good in coverage.
15:14He was able to move around in space pretty well.
15:15But I want to see some of that run stuffing stuff that we saw in his time at Ohio State,
15:21the first taste of that.
15:22That was on my list as well, by the way.
15:24I just, I know everybody can clip it and make fun of me.
15:28I want to see the thing.
15:29I want to see the reason.
15:31And Toby loves that one.
15:32I want to see the reason he went seventh overall.
15:34I said this, and this is, it's always people conflict this.
15:37I'm not disappointed in Sonny Stiles.
15:38I love Sonny Stiles.
15:39I'm very excited that he's here.
15:40But if that's all we ever get is a kind of read and react a few yards down the field,
15:45you know, a guy that makes some tackles, they make a million of that guy.
15:50That's not special.
15:51That's not number seven overall worthy.
15:52Number seven overall worthy is you can't take your eyes off him.
15:56Oh my God, look at this guy flying around the field, making a difference.
15:59You can't even get a playoff because this guy has already figured out what's happening.
16:03Darius, what do you want to see tomorrow?
16:05I can't imagine we'll see the number one offense on the field for more than two drives.
16:12But in those two drives, I need it to be more than what we got last year.
16:15Last year, they had the preseason game at home against the Bengals where they basically had one drive.
16:22They went down the field and they scored, but it was all rushing.
16:25There was, I think there was a pass attempt, but Jaden didn't end up throwing it.
16:29He ended up running.
16:30I need to see the ball through the air a couple of times.
16:34I need to see just a couple of pass plays executed.
16:38So that way we know that our quarterback has the feel for it again in live action against other opponents,
16:44not just in scrimmages and training camps and joint practices.
16:48We need to see it on the field, in a stadium, in front of the thousands of people that will
16:52be there in Detroit this weekend.
16:5312 p.m. kickoff, Washington, Detroit.
16:56What do you want to see?
16:57I've got my, I had four things, but quite frankly, Strober stole one of them.
17:01He stole it.
17:02And that's ridiculous that he would steal it from me.
17:04And that's kind of a version of what Dara said.
17:06But I'll give you mine next.
17:07You give me yours next as well.
17:08800-636-1067.
17:11800-636-1067.
17:14What do you want to see tomorrow?
17:16Preseason game number two, the real dress rehearsal against Detroit.
17:19Plus plenty more fun coming up.
17:20A whole bunch of milestones seem to be set against Washington franchises.
17:24We'll talk some football all day long here before preseason game number two.
17:27Stay with us.
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