- 2 months ago
Grant has noticed that Eagles fans have questions about how Jalen Hurts will perform in their new offense. Can the Commanders' defense take advantage week one?
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00:00Danny, we are on to the regular season.
00:02I kind of think of September 1, that turning of the page.
00:05Roster cut down has come and gone.
00:0753-man roster is set.
00:09The Commanders yesterday had their first practice as a team.
00:12It's kind of funny watching some of the videos because I wasn't able to be out there.
00:15But when we've been out at training camp and Toby and I were out there,
00:18like every practice for the show, we're watching 90 guys on the field
00:22and 11 receivers are going through the drills and then 7 running backs.
00:26All of a sudden, it looked like the regular season again.
00:28Yeah, so many fewer people.
00:30There's three guys going through the bags.
00:31The receiver drills, there's six or seven dudes running around
00:34because someone's doing punt stuff and Jalen Lane's not there
00:36because he's running around on the special teams unit.
00:39It just looked like, okay, here we go.
00:42Next stop, Philadelphia Eagles.
00:44And it makes sense.
00:45We're some two weeks away.
00:46So whether David Blau's ready for the bright lights or not,
00:49whether Durante Jones has his plan in order or not,
00:52the Eagles are ready to have you come to their house.
00:55Yeah, the game's happening whether you're ready or not.
00:56Nobody feels sorry for you.
00:57Yeah, in the old days, they had the two cutdowns.
01:00Remember, they would go from whatever the number was, 90, 93,
01:03I can't remember the exact number, into 70.
01:05And then we talked about the second set of cutdowns to 53.
01:07So I remember when I was a kid going up to training camp
01:10and once was early and it was 90-something.
01:13And then the next time, it was 70, and it felt totally different.
01:16It was a totally different vibe there because it's real.
01:21You know what I mean?
01:21Where it's like when it's out there in the July heat or August heat,
01:25whatever, in the humidity, it's like we're all going through this.
01:28We're all part of it.
01:29And then 20 people don't have a gig anymore.
01:31You know, the practice squad wasn't like it was then or it is now.
01:34And it felt, okay, now this is more serious.
01:37Everything's kind of been ramped up a little bit.
01:38It's no frivolity time.
01:39We've kind of turned the corner to your point to season time.
01:41I was listening yesterday, last night, as a matter of fact,
01:46driving home from Nats Park to WIP.
01:49I just wanted to get a little flavor of what they were saying Eagles-wise.
01:52And it was interesting.
01:54They are having some of the same discussions about their schemes
01:59and specifically their new offense as we are.
02:02And the Eagles fan base is pretty worried right now
02:05about how Jalen Hurts looked at training camp.
02:07So my hope for Week 1 and what I'm forecasting, optimistically, I suppose,
02:14is that the commander's defense is healthy enough.
02:17So that means I'll need Adafi O.A. on the edge
02:19and I'll need Caleb Onchason on another edge
02:21to get a lot of pressure and to wreak some havoc in the backfield
02:25and to make Jalen Hurts' life miserable.
02:27But he's coming off of a rough training camp.
02:30I heard Elliott Shore-Parks on WIP,
02:34who covers them as their beat reporter,
02:36and he basically said that Hurts threw over twice as many interceptions
02:40in training camp as he's ever thrown before.
02:43And that the topic they were doing yesterday was
02:46if they get off to a really bad start on offense
02:48and this system is a bad fit for Hurts initially,
02:52should they abandon it?
02:53And how quickly should they go back to what they've been doing previously
02:56while they were just winning a lot of football games?
02:59That's the discussion they're having over there.
03:01They are nervous about this offense.
03:03So the path to me to hanging with, beating the Eagles,
03:08playing a close game at the link, whatever that looks like,
03:10you're only a four-and-a-half-point underdog in Week 1,
03:12is going to be Washington's defense generating enough pressure
03:17and confusing and fooling Jalen Hurts enough to turn the ball over.
03:20If you told me right now that Durante Jones' defense
03:24picks off Hurts twice, gets a sack fumble,
03:28keeps the game close, and it's like a 20-17, 17-13 kind of game,
03:31that would not surprise me at all.
03:33But what's funny as I say this is I'm a little more confident in the defense.
03:37I am too.
03:37Going into the season than the offense,
03:40which has been a few years,
03:41certainly under this regime that has not been the case.
03:44But that is my anticipation because, again,
03:47I need Adafi Owe healthy.
03:48I need Caleb on chase on healthy.
03:50That's my caveat.
03:51But what did Adam Peters say in the presser yesterday?
03:54He was like, hey, the passion from the fans is good,
03:56but you guys haven't seen the stuff we're going to actually run
03:58during the regular season.
04:00Well, I'm banking on that, Adam.
04:02I really hope when the rubber meets the road that you're right
04:05and they're dialing stuff up and it looks like Flores
04:07and they're bringing people that the Eagles can't block
04:09because what's harder for an offense in its first game ever
04:13as a scheme and a coordinator who's never called plays
04:16and never on the sideline on a game day had to deal with this
04:19than trying to figure out a new scheme and, oh, by the way,
04:22if run correctly, one of the more complicated to pick up
04:24in the entire NFL.
04:25Look back to the Vikings shutting out the commanders last year
04:28when Jaden Daniels and Tyler Biotis and that offensive front
04:31had no idea where people were coming from.
04:33So I don't think it's going to look quite like that,
04:35but that is the dream scenario for me is that Adam Peters is right
04:39and when they unleash the hound, so to speak,
04:42that it looks very, very different defensively in week one.
04:44Yeah, I think week one is going to be a rock fight.
04:46I think this is old-school NFC East, mid-80s, who can run it more?
04:50I think this is a low-scoring affair, favor Philly's defense,
04:53which I think is the best in the sport, against Washington's new defense.
04:57Now, there's a million bits of context, and don't leave it to Philly fans
05:00to grab any of that context at any point in time.
05:02We have no idea what was being emphasized for the Eagles
05:06in their training camp.
05:07Is it like, hey, Jalen, let's see what we can fit in.
05:09If the answer's not that much, now we know we'll sort of tailor
05:12our calls elsewhere.
05:13He generally has been really good at taking care of the football.
05:15There's one double-digit interception year a couple seasons ago
05:18that was really bad, but in general, he's a pretty low interception percentage guy,
05:22interception number guy, and that's part of the complaint in the past
05:26is there's nothing dynamic here.
05:28It's so many little checkdowns.
05:29It's nothing, it's nothing, it's nothing.
05:30So maybe they're trying to ramp the fader up,
05:33and then they'll say, okay, now we'll pull it back.
05:34This was the discussion on their station yesterday,
05:37which is, why not just let him be the caretaker,
05:41make his middle of the field, take the middle of the field out of the playbook,
05:45let him throw toward the sideline, like they've been doing,
05:48where they've won a lot of football games.
05:50Are we sure that improving offensively, being more dynamic and prolific,
05:55getting a NFL-level satisfactory passing game should be the goal here?
06:00I actually think what they're doing is correct,
06:02because I think they won a Super Bowl kind of in spite of themselves a little bit.
06:05It's really hard to do it the way that they did.
06:07They've underachieved pretty immensely, dating back to last season for sure.
06:10When you have A.J. Brown and Devontae Smith and Saquon Barkley
06:13and you're paying a quarterback $50 million,
06:16there is no excuse to be that bad on offense.
06:18I think a big part of the problem was their philosophy is not good,
06:21so they're doing the thing that you should be doing.
06:24They're going with the David Blau, Kyle Shanahan, Kevin O'Connell, Ben Johnson-like offense.
06:28I'm just not sure they have a quarterback to run it.
06:29But what's weird is you've already decided.
06:32You've married this person.
06:33It's a $50 million QB.
06:36He might even be in the $55 million tier.
06:38I don't remember when he got paid.
06:39But he's also been to two Super Bowls.
06:42He's won a Super Bowl.
06:43Could easily have won a couple Super Bowl MVPs.
06:46Could have absolutely had a second, yeah.
06:48It's strange that you would go against what's best for him,
06:52but that's essentially what they're doing.
06:53But to your point, that's kind of the argument is,
06:55hey, are we sure we don't just want him to protect the ball
06:58and throw a bunch of hitch routes outside toward the sideline and be safe here?
07:04The training camp returns were just not good.
07:07I get your point about the interceptions,
07:09but the reporters that were out there were saying,
07:11this doesn't look as comfortable for him.
07:12And I bet you it doesn't.
07:13I mean, again, think of Caleb Williams running something similar last year,
07:16doing things he hadn't done.
07:17Early returns, people are panicking.
07:19They're going, oh my God, this dude can't do it.
07:21This is a disaster.
07:22And this is why I love the way Jaden played in camp.
07:27Yes.
07:27Because I think I told you when I went out there,
07:31what I was interested in seeing and what I was nervous about is,
07:34how quickly can he transition into being comfortable under center
07:40operating this offense?
07:41Because of the Caleb thing, I thought it was going to take a little while.
07:44It didn't at all.
07:45The first time I saw him under center and doing some of the boot,
07:48the nakeds, and a lot of things they're going to ask him to do,
07:50I was like, oh, he looks like he's been doing this for years.
07:54I think he took to this better, like a fish dropping into an aquarium.
07:57He took to his new environment a lot better than Caleb Williams
08:00and a lot better than Jalen Hurts,
08:01which is where some of my confidence in him this year has come from.
08:05Now, that confidence is being tested by this offensive line,
08:08by the issues they've been having,
08:10protecting him in joint practices against the Ravens
08:13and preseason games against the Detroit Lions
08:17and the three snaps they were out there for.
08:18But just the way he looked,
08:21he looked like a guy that can absolutely run this offense at a high level.
08:24So we talked about it, one of the days, you might have been out,
08:27but it was one of those days where,
08:28I think Toby and I were doing it, and we're going,
08:32that coming into training camp,
08:33if you were to go, what are your 10 biggest questions?
08:35That would have been on your list,
08:37is how does Jaden Daniels do something
08:38that he hasn't done all that much, right?
08:40Be under center.
08:41And that's not just...
08:42How many times do you think he was under center,
08:44I know last year and the last couple years with Cliff,
08:46if it's a few, like in his life before the NFL?
08:49In the whole world of seven-on-seven, not that much.
08:51In the whole world of flag football, it's not very much.
08:53In high school, I've seen QB,
08:55and everything's out of the shotgun,
08:57everything's out of that zone-read type look.
08:59Of course you would.
09:01At those levels, with an athlete like that,
09:02are you kidding me?
09:03Of course you put him in shotgun or pistol or whatever.
09:05So it's just a minuscule amount of time on task,
09:07and that's why every guy,
09:09whether it's Williams or Hertz or whoever,
09:11it takes some time.
09:12And we were remarking that that hasn't been a question.
09:16And how incredible is that?
09:18Once training camp started,
09:20people a couple times, like guys,
09:21whether you or other folks out there,
09:22would kind of go,
09:23hey, do we realize he's doing all this under center,
09:25and it's like he hasn't done the McNabb thing
09:27where he gets his foot stepped on,
09:29and he hasn't tripped all over himself
09:30and gone the wrong way or anything.
09:32This thing takes a while,
09:34and it looks like he's been ordered his whole life.
09:35I forgot about it within two or three days.
09:37Right.
09:37That that was actually a hurdle of sorts.
09:41And I'll go even further.
09:42It's not just the under center stuff for me.
09:45It's the layered throws,
09:47middle of the field,
09:48which he didn't do a lot of at LSU,
09:49and that was even a critique a lot of people had coming out,
09:52was where are the middle of the field throws?
09:53Not that he'll never be able to do it,
09:55but he hasn't been asked to do it.
09:56Eventually, in the NFL,
09:57you've got to pay the piper here.
10:00I think his touch
10:02and his ability to layer throws,
10:04second and third level,
10:06intermediate and down the field,
10:07has been pretty remarkable too.
10:09So right away, I thought,
10:11okay, well,
10:12I think within a week of training camp,
10:14I crossed off the list.
10:16I'm not sure if this offense is going to work for him.
10:18Now, that doesn't mean it's just going to go seamlessly.
10:21Sure, there'll be ups and downs.
10:22Win the MVP award,
10:23but on a binary, he can do this.
10:25I don't think they've done that in Philly.
10:27I don't think they've crossed that off the list.
10:29I think there's still some questions.
10:30I think it's a struggle for a while.
10:31So I keep coming back to maybe just maybe,
10:33and I hope you're right, Adam Peters.
10:35They haven't shown a whole lot of their defense.
10:37That's true.
10:37They haven't shown much of their offense.
10:39And they got some things up their sleeve.
10:41See 2012 in New Orleans,
10:43where they come out,
10:45they're running what they called 50 series,
10:47but it was basically pistol read option.
10:49No one saw that all of August.
10:51And they just lit the Saints up for 40 points and 400 plus and almost 500 yards that day.
10:59Maybe they got a little something cooking.
11:01I think that'll be the case on defense.
11:03And if they can protect, hopefully it'll be the case on offense.
11:06They're just playing a really good team with a lot of talent.
11:09There's a chance the Eagles end up being number one defensively.
11:11If they were playing the Cardinals or the Titans or the Dolphins or something in week one,
11:15I think they'd come out and score 30.
11:17Because it's never been seen before, I think they'd light them up.
11:20I just don't know about Philly, especially the matchup's just bad, man.
11:23Yeah, that's a great defense.
11:24They're good against everybody.
11:25At their best, D-tackle.
11:26You know what I mean?
11:27Interior D-line.
11:28Where are you at your worst?
11:28Interior O-line.
11:29As of right now, yeah.
11:30That's a bad matchup.
11:31Yeah, and everything from their corners are excellent.
11:34Everything.
11:35Everything they have is layered and really, really good.
11:38Linebackers that can run and make plays.
11:40They're smart.
11:40They can do everything under the sun.
11:42That is a really formidable group right there
11:43that's kind of built from the defensive side to contend in this division.
11:48Because if you're Philadelphia, what's your eye line?
11:50What are you looking towards?
11:51Dallas, right?
11:52Where they've got receivers out the Yang.
11:53They've got an offensive line that's not great like it was a few years ago,
11:59but it's pretty damn good.
12:00How do we do it?
12:01This is how we dominate.
12:02And it's going to be about that group up front, I think, primarily,
12:05in Davis and Carter with a bunch of fast-edge rushers,
12:08and they're layered.
12:08They're really, really good.
12:09So I don't see a lot of points in Week 1 for anybody.
12:12First team to 20 wins kind of game?
12:14Yeah.
12:16It's so hard to predict Week 1 in the NFL.
12:20Sure.
12:21I feel like we think we know a lot about teams.
12:24Weird crap happens every year.
12:25And so much changes over the offseason.
12:26And then that's true.
12:27Week 1, we're going to come back on Tuesday through Thursday on the show
12:30and go, oh, this team's better than we thought.
12:32This team is terrible.
12:33Raiders beat the Patriots, man.
12:34And then you fast-forward three weeks,
12:35and a lot of what we thought might have been right,
12:37but it just didn't show in the first week of the season.
12:39It's strange in that way.
12:41Let's play a clip, though, from Daniel Jeremiah.
12:43Speaking of how Jaden Daniels has looked at camp
12:46and the fact that it feels like he's taken to this offense
12:49like a hand in a glove,
12:51where would you rank him among his quarterback draft class
12:56going into this season?
12:57That was the question on Daniel Jeremiah's pod.
13:01He separated the two guys that stink.
13:05J.J. McCarthy, who may or may not end up active for the Vikings on game day,
13:10and while Penix, to his credit, has not been nearly as bad as McCarthy,
13:14Penix is probably not going to start based on health,
13:17and I think, too, is going to get the first crack at that job with the Falcons.
13:21So there were six guys, remember, that went in the top 12 picks
13:23at the quarterback position, two of whom he took out of the equation.
13:28But then he ranked the other four, one through four,
13:30for his expectations as to who's going to have the best 2026 season.
13:34Here's how that sounded.
13:35I'm going to tell you who I expect to have the best year amongst the big four,
13:39and let's start at number four and work to one.
13:42Number four, Jaden Daniels, still believe in the ability.
13:44The durability concerns me.
13:46The offensive line being a little bit in limbo with some of the injuries there,
13:49that concerns me.
13:50He's number four on the list.
13:52Number three, Caleb Williams.
13:53I know he could be an MVP candidate, no question.
13:56I love his talent.
13:57He was my top quarterback in that draft class.
13:59We saw all the magical things he did last year.
14:01I don't see a lot of improvement to the pieces around him.
14:05I love the ability to grow and learn together, being together for another year.
14:09But Sam Rauch kind of is that blocking tight end,
14:12was their big addition here in the offseason.
14:14Let's get to number two on the list.
14:16For me, number two on the list is Bo Nix.
14:18I think Jalen Waddell is going to have a massive impact on this offense.
14:22With his speed combined with Courtland Sutton,
14:24I think you see a huge year from Bo Nix.
14:26Wouldn't be a surprise at all to see him 30-plus touchdowns
14:30and get close to 10 rushing touchdowns as well.
14:32And number one on the list, the guy who was in Super Bowl last year, Drake May.
14:36I think he has an even better year individually.
14:38We'll see what they do as a team.
14:40But when you add A.J. Brown, a true number one,
14:42you add more players to that mix.
14:45When you go out and get Romeo Dobbs to add to that receiving core,
14:47I think you see Henderson another year in this system.
14:50He grows and matures as well out of the backfield.
14:53I love what they've done building around Drake May,
14:55and I think he has the best season of this 2024 quarterback class.
14:59Daniel Jeremiah, NFL Network.
15:02Out of four, he's got Jaden Daniels fourth.
15:05And this is 2026 expectations.
15:09So he goes with Drake May following up on the Super Bowl run,
15:12bringing in A.J. Brown to supplant some of the mediocre wide receiver depth
15:17that they had last year.
15:19Obviously, they lost Stephon Diggs.
15:20Bo Nix second really was interesting to me.
15:24Because he is, from an arm talent standpoint,
15:28not really in the same zip code, I don't think,
15:29as Caleb Williams or Jaden Daniels.
15:31He's obviously mobile and athletic and can make all the throws
15:34in the offense that Sean Payton asks him to.
15:37But he is in a great situation.
15:38Yes, he is.
15:39Exceptional defense.
15:40Good, solid offensive line.
15:42Talent around him improved.
15:44They go and get Jalen Waddle.
15:45Sounds like DJ is very high on Waddle in that offense.
15:49Caleb Williams third.
15:51Second year under Ben Johnson in the Chicago scheme that really made strides last year.
15:57And I think the fact that he's returning for year two in an offense is a big deal maybe
16:02and separates him from Daniels and Jeremiah's mind.
16:05And then he's got J.D.
16:06Five fourth of the four.
16:07Are you surprised by that ranking?
16:09The only surprise for me was that Nix was third over Caleb Williams.
16:13Because when he goes, because Jeremiah said,
16:14I don't love the improvement to that group.
16:16And I went, you don't really have to improve that group.
16:18It's great wide receivers, a good offensive line, an excellent tight end in Loveland,
16:22and athletic running backs and a best offensive line maybe in the sport.
16:26There's not much improving to do there.
16:28Maybe you could have gone and gotten a marquee running back to replace DeAndre Swift.
16:32But that personnel group of Adunze and Burden and Kalief Raymond,
16:37they added Bradbury at center.
16:39And that's an offensive line that's pretty damn good in my view.
16:42Colston Loveland I think is a stud at tight end.
16:44And they have Cole Komet as well, ready on Alert 5.
16:47I mean, that's a really good supporting cast.
16:48To me, I've always liked Nix maybe more than the average bear,
16:51but he gets penalized for doing what he's supposed to do.
16:54Like, he's kind of a new Drew Brees.
16:57I'm not saying he's the same guy.
16:58Drew Brees is a Hall of Famer.
16:59But it's lower yards per attempt, and he's a little bit more physical
17:02and can get you a couple scramble yards here and there.
17:05But that's what he's supposed to do is throw it short.
17:07He's in Sean Payton's offense.
17:08I feel like Nix is scheme dependent.
17:10And game manager is a term that I don't think works for him.
17:13But I know what you mean.
17:14Because he throws off schedule, and he does make plays with his feet.
17:17But if you dropped him into Cleveland, Bo Nix isn't elevating or dominating
17:22with the Browns.
17:23Whereas a Caleb Williams with his talent, a Jaden Daniels, a Drake May,
17:26I think those guys would have a better chance to elevate everyone around them
17:29in those places.
17:30But I think Daniel's fourth is very surprising.
17:34I'll make the case as to why he should be ranked higher than that.
17:36And I'll give you my four.
17:38I want your four next.
17:38But we can open up the phones on this, too.
17:40800-636-1067.
17:43800-636-1067.
17:45So this is not just some Hammond-Egger here.
17:47This is Daniel Jeremiah.
17:48Pretty smart dude.
17:49Of NFL Network, ranking the four quarterbacks from the Daniels class
17:53that are on the field starting to begin the year
17:56in order as to how he expects them to perform this year.
17:59And he goes, Drake May, one, Bo Nix, two, Caleb Williams, three,
18:02and Jaden Daniels, fourth of four.
18:04What's your reaction to that?
18:05And do you agree?
18:07How would you have the order ranked?