- 2 months ago
Grant & Danny break down Commanders' storylines in week one and try to decipher what matters most in week one.
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00:00Do we feel better about Washington's offense or defense going into the season?
00:04Welcome back, Grant and Danny on the fan.
00:06How about Patrick Mahomes?
00:08Nine months after tearing his ACL in December,
00:10and he is going to be on the field, it sounds like, for the Chiefs opener.
00:15It's incredible.
00:15That's a team that I think is going under the radar a little bit.
00:18We're just so reactionary.
00:20You've seen this with Jaden Daniels from a player standpoint this year,
00:23where what we saw last year becomes what everyone thinks you are.
00:29The year before that, when Jaden Daniels played unbelievably as a rookie,
00:33he goes into the year, and I'm kind of like,
00:35isn't this a little early to say he's a top-five quarterback in the league?
00:38He's the best of the rest behind the big four?
00:40Everyone's just kind of ready to say he's super elite and he's Mahomes 2.0 or whatever.
00:47More crazy than that, I was going to say equally as crazy,
00:49but I think more ridiculous than that is the dirt being shoveled on him now,
00:53where we're acting like he can't stay on the field after his injury-riddled season
00:58and that he was so terrible when he was on the field, which isn't the case.
01:00I mean, he wasn't the same, but he was far from bad.
01:03I think people have just forgotten.
01:05But the team version of that a little bit is the Chiefs.
01:08And I understand that they've kind of gone in the wrong direction here
01:10over the last couple years.
01:11It's an old coaching staff with Andy Reid,
01:13and there's a little bit of, you know, can't teach an old dog new tricks.
01:16So they've got a lot to prove.
01:18But doesn't it feel like we've buried them too fast?
01:22They've won every single division in that division.
01:26Let me say it better.
01:27They've won the West every single year from 2016 to 2024
01:31with three Super Bowls and a bunch of conference title games.
01:34Last year they finished third going 6-11 with some close losses
01:37and Mahomes getting hurt.
01:38Before last year, 10 straight double-digit win seasons
01:42with the worst being a 1-10 win season in 2017,
01:46the year before Mahomes took over.
01:48This is 12 out of 13 years they've won at least 10 or 11 games.
01:54Won 9-7 season in there.
01:55Again, that was pre-Mahomes.
01:56Since Mahomes became the starter, their worst year,
01:59they went 11-6 and won the Super Bowl.
02:01Talking about the regular season.
02:02It's a lot of 12 and 14 and a 15-2 season.
02:05Last year was a disaster.
02:07They got old.
02:07Mahomes got hurt, kind of as you said.
02:10There's this, yep, that one's over.
02:12On to the next thing.
02:13We go to the next thing in society and in sports
02:16really, really, really fast.
02:17I would not count that group out, kind of to your point.
02:20They've retooled.
02:21They've had to, kind of on the fly,
02:22since Mahomes started making the big money
02:24and they got rid of Tyree Kill a year too early.
02:26And they kind of, you know, they weren't quite 15-2 good
02:30when they got to the Super Bowl and ended up losing it.
02:32But they were still pretty damn good.
02:33They were better than most teams with some good fortune in their way.
02:36It all came crashing down last year.
02:37But that's still a program I would not bet against.
02:40Now, the division is tough.
02:42Denver's for real.
02:42I think the Chargers are going to be pretty legit,
02:45assuming their health.
02:46But who knows if that's able to happen for more than five seconds.
02:48They've become a double-digit win team every year.
02:50They're a playoff team.
02:51It's no longer a freebie where you could just cakewalk in that division
02:54the way the Patriots used to be able to in the AFC East.
02:56The Raiders are not good and they'll probably go to Mendoza.
02:59But they could be frisky with Cousins at quarterback
03:02if they improve on defense.
03:03I just don't know that that's going to be the expectation right away.
03:06They're light at wide receiver.
03:07They're not very good on D.
03:08They won't be very good overall.
03:09But there are three 10-plus win teams, maybe, in that division.
03:13A pivoting stand in the AFC, but to another NFL story
03:16before we get back to the Commanders.
03:17And this was a big one overnight.
03:19Christian Gonzalez signed a massive contract with the New England Patriots.
03:25Stellar corner.
03:27I know I'm supposed to not keep bringing up that Washington passed on him
03:31and eventually we just get to a point where we've got to move on.
03:34But I'm a dog with a bone here and I just can't quit on this.
03:37The Commanders needed a corner.
03:39We're drafting a corner.
03:40They're debating between a few.
03:42Gonzalez was the consensus guy via all of the draft nerds everywhere.
03:46They took Emmanuel Forbes.
03:48One pick later, the Patriots took Christian Gonzalez.
03:50Forbes ended up being a bust.
03:52Gonzalez has turned into maybe the best cornerback in the National Football League.
03:56And last night, he put pen to paper on a four-year deal worth $135 million.
04:03Guaranteed money, $102 million.
04:06Highest paid corner in the National Football League's history.
04:10He surpassed last month's deal for Devin Witherspoon of the Seahawks.
04:13He got four and 132.
04:15So this one was really easy.
04:16It's the same agent, by the way, Danny.
04:17The guy finishes the Witherspoon deal, calls the Patriots and goes,
04:22all right, we did four and 132.
04:24How about four and 135?
04:25Add a couple mil.
04:26And the guaranteed money, Witherspoon got $101 million in guaranteed.
04:31Gonzalez got $1 million more in guaranteed.
04:33That had to be the easiest negotiation ever.
04:35Just add a couple of bucks to the Witherspoon contract with Seattle.
04:39Yeah, he's a star.
04:39And he's really good.
04:41And it's not, oh, hey, a bunch of teams missed on this guy.
04:45And he went 20 picks later.
04:46They should have done that.
04:47New England could not believe their luck.
04:49And they sprinted.
04:51They didn't get much right under the last several years of Bill Belichick.
04:54Their drafting record was atrocious and terrible.
04:57They had that one fall into their lap.
04:58I could have made that pick.
04:59I think most people did not think the Commanders would take Christian Gonzalez
05:04because he wasn't supposed to be there.
05:06So that was why Forbes was kind of in vogue the last couple days before the draft.
05:11But he was widely considered the better player in that class by the media members
05:16who cover the draft.
05:17Now, they're not the end-all, be-all.
05:18It's not always gospel.
05:19The teams should know more.
05:21And there was that video the Commanders put out, remember, of Ron Rivera
05:24driving to the facility.
05:25Forbes might be there.
05:26He might be.
05:27The day of the draft.
05:28I bet you will be.
05:29Talk about how badly they wanted Forbes, and he was the guy they were going to take.
05:32They didn't put it out until after, obviously.
05:34He was the 17th pick, just one behind, where Washington took Forbes.
05:39And he's already become an All-Pro.
05:41This was the first chance they had to extend him, and of course, they immediately do it.
05:45You look back at the end of last season, too, how well he played in the playoffs.
05:48Interception in the AFC title game, and in a bad Super Bowl performance by New England.
05:52He had three PBUs.
05:53He was really good.
05:54He's only had three picks in his career.
05:55I say that only, but that's not the true measure.
05:58I mean, he is...
05:59In this era, you can't be a lockdown.
06:01I don't think.
06:01It just doesn't exist because of the way the rules are.
06:03But...
06:03He's pretty close.
06:04...as close as you can get.
06:05That's what he is.
06:05By the way, pretty good sprinkling of stars in that class with Will Anderson up at the top,
06:10probably having been the most successful defensive player there, but that's a lot of Jameer Gibbs,
06:15a lot of JSN, Zay Flowers, Jordan Addison, right?
06:18They all went after Washington took Emmanuel Forbes.
06:20Fun, fun, fun.
06:22I think Gonzalez is only going to get better, not only because he's entering his prime years
06:26where you would normally excel as a player, but also he was locking horns with A.J. Brown
06:31every day in training camp.
06:33That's iron sharpening iron good on good stuff, as far as I'm concerned.
06:36He got hurt, missed time between the 10th and the 24th of August, but he came back in
06:40time to ramp up and get into shape.
06:42That's a good corner room they have in New England, too.
06:44He leads it.
06:45He's the anchor.
06:46But they have Carlton Davis, the former Tampa Bay Buck, Marcus Jones in the slot.
06:50Just a well-put-together roster.
06:52They've done a really, really good job.
06:53Yeah, they have.
06:53They turn it over again.
06:54Kind of the end of Belichick was bad in terms of talent acquisition, personnel decisions.
06:58They were not good.
06:59It's only taken a couple seasons for them to, as you said, kind of flip it and make them
07:02into a competitive team in a division where it's just them and the Bills duking it out.
07:07Grant and Danny on the fan all over the DMV, of course, on the Odyssey app, free and available
07:12wherever you are, and you can watch us if you like the high-definition video option of
07:16the 106.7 The Fan YouTube channel.
07:19Danny, let's talk Sunday's game in Philly.
07:23How informative do you think that game is going to be?
07:26Because we often say week one in the NFL is the greatest misleader there is.
07:32We feel like we learned something and we know what's what.
07:34And then three or four weeks later, you look back and you go, oh, that was fool's gold,
07:38whether it was good or that was completely misleading if it was bad.
07:42As an example, the offensive line might get destroyed by the Eagles, and everyone might
07:47confirm a prior and say, I'm telling you, this offensive line is going to be awful all
07:50season.
07:50Well, you're not playing many defensive fronts like the Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis led Eagles
07:57front.
07:57So yeah, your interior is going to have its toughest matchup maybe of the entire season coming
08:01up in week one.
08:02And that's just one way where you might get some early information where the offensive
08:07line might not be as bad as we think.
08:08Even a good offensive line might have a bad game against the Eagles, as an example.
08:12But I'm curious to see what you think.
08:14Like come Sunday afternoon, is this one in a vacuum where we have to wait for more data?
08:19Or do you feel like we're going to get a really good indication if they get dominated versus
08:23if they come out and play really tight or beat the Eagles that maybe they're better than
08:28we think?
08:28So this is really hard to say because again, last week or last week, I'm sure last year
08:34was another example.
08:36Number 1 billion or whatever of week one being fluky and weird.
08:41This is the new reality.
08:42And we have to come to grips with that where because nobody handles the preseason the same
08:46and the emphasis is on the long grind of this season and this incredibly physical sport.
08:51Nobody plays in the preseason.
08:53Nobody's ready.
08:53Now some teams handle it a bit differently.
08:55Maybe they're more ready in week one than others, whatever.
08:57But you don't get a true result in that way.
09:00Number 2, you're talking about brand new offense, brand new defense.
09:02So if there are some growing pains where guys are going, oh, it's not intuitive yet for
09:07me to be able to have it, not have to process it, I can just go and fire, go fast,
09:12or I know
09:13exactly how many steps it takes or when to set up this route or this timing on this block
09:18or whatever.
09:18You'd hope that both for Philadelphia's case and for Washington, you're a better offense
09:23or a better defense in November than you are the first week of September.
09:27All that said, it's going to depend on how it happens.
09:31And I know this is such a cop-out answer, but if it confirms some of our prior worries,
09:36then maybe you'll go, ah, ah, see, I put some more weight on that.
09:40If it's just one of those, like for example, I'm anticipating a rock fight.
09:43I think it's a low scoring 16-13 kind of game.
09:46If it's 30-29 and nobody can stop anybody, I'll go throw that one out.
09:51That was fun, but there's no way that's a real sample with how good Philly's defense is
09:56going to be and what we think Washington's defense is going to be, right?
09:59These two offenses that have question marks from training camp and preseason, they're
10:03humming, they're awesome.
10:04I don't think that's real, but if it kind of goes the way maybe it's looking on paper,
10:09maybe you could pull more out of it.
10:10I'm looking back at last year's first week.
10:14So Thursday night football, the equivalent of two days from now, a year ago, Cowboys-Eagles
10:20kickoff week one through Monday night football.
10:23And as an example, everybody remembers that the Raiders beat the Patriots.
10:27New England would go on to lose like twice all season the rest of the way.
10:32But in that opening week, a bad Raiders team that would fire a coach and be one of the
10:36worst in the sport beat New England.
10:38That's kind of the poster child for what we're talking about.
10:40But the Colts came out like gangbusters when they were healthy early last year.
10:45They beat the Dolphins 33-8.
10:47The Bengals are the worst week one team in the league over a five-year span, and they
10:52almost lost to the Browns last year.
10:5417-16.
10:55They won that game.
10:56It was the first time I think they've won in week one in three years.
10:58Yeah, 14-win Denver team was taken to the wire.
11:01I know it ended up being a one-score game by eight points, but it was tied late.
11:05Tennessee had that game in hand just like Denver did.
11:07The Bears lost their first game to the Vikings close.
11:11Chicago ended up being the playoff team, and Minnesota was sputtering.
11:14The Rams offense did not look good in week one last year.
11:17Even Seattle, the Super Bowl champions, lost to San Francisco, and they scored three points
11:22in the second half, and they got shut out.
11:24I mean, they had three or fewer points in three or four quarters in that game.
11:27They couldn't do anything on offense, and in the end, think about how good that offense
11:30ended up being.
11:31Now, we found out in week one, JSN was going to go ham because he went nine for 124.
11:35But otherwise, I mean, they just didn't get out of the gates very quickly.
11:38So, yeah, I think if we try to take too much out of week one, we're going to make ourselves
11:45look like fools.
11:46But one of my favorite exercises every year on the show, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
11:51next week, is what is real here?
11:53What do we buy?
11:54Like, what is authentic, and what is a small sample occurrence that probably isn't all that
12:01relevant moving forward?
12:02Like, what is real?