00:00A misery Monday as the Commanders fall in their opener, 24-22 at the hands of the Philadelphia Eagles.
00:10The debut of David Blau's offense.
00:12Yep.
00:13It had its ups and downs.
00:15It struggled early.
00:17Took a little while to get untracked.
00:19Eventually found its footing late.
00:22Wasn't quite enough as they come up short in a two-point loss in a divisional road game.
00:28Yeah, I mean, it had a real opportunity to steal that game.
00:32But yeah, it got off to a very slow start.
00:34First half was pretty dreadful offensively all the way around.
00:38Kind of annoying, but you got to tip your cap to that Eagles defense.
00:41Man, that is a suffocating defense on all levels.
00:44Even better than advertised as far as I'm concerned.
00:47But man, it just sucks because special teams, I mean, look, they made mistakes everywhere,
00:53but special teams, you can point to them.
00:54Now, you don't expect to make every 55-yarder, but you certainly hope to make your PATs.
01:00And, you know, I guess a botched snap, kind of get them out of rhythm.
01:03They missed that.
01:04Now they're in the hole.
01:05I mean, really, they should still be playing.
01:07Let's just assume they're going to miss the 55-yarder.
01:09You're going to go 50-50 on those.
01:11They made one earlier.
01:12They should still be playing.
01:14Yeah.
01:15And then, you know, Diggs with the gas.
01:17Diggs with a silly penalty.
01:19So he backed them up so they couldn't go for two.
01:21They had to kick the extra, you know, so they're down one.
01:24He's been in the league way too long to allow something like that to happen.
01:28Yeah.
01:28He did the same thing back.
01:30He's an emotional guy.
01:30He did the same thing about 10 years ago when he was with the Vikings.
01:33Did he do the exact same celebration?
01:35No, he did something similar.
01:36If you're like a rookie or a second-year player, you might be able to be like,
01:41okay, young player makes that sort of mistake.
01:44He's like a veteran leader on the team.
01:46That's a mistake you can't have.
01:49Yeah.
01:49It sucked.
01:51I was disappointed, but I have to say I held my head high after that game as a fan
01:59because it was looking so bleak in the first half, albeit with just a different defense
02:04that we haven't seen in a long time.
02:05The defense came to play.
02:07They played hard.
02:07The defense lived up to their potential or, you know, sort of the speculation that they
02:12might be better.
02:14Sonny Stiles with a good debut.
02:16Sonny Stiles flashed.
02:18That's all we've asked.
02:18Just flashed a few times.
02:19He had three sacks.
02:21He only allowed one.
02:21I mean, we were all concerned how the offensive line would hold up.
02:26Would Jayden get sacked a bunch of times?
02:28He only got sacked once in the whole game.
02:30Yeah.
02:30He was pressured.
02:31He was pressured.
02:32He did him out.
02:32He was getting out of it, too.
02:34He made a concerted effort to throw the ball away and not take the sack.
02:37So, I thought there was a lot of growth there from Jayden.
02:39There was also a couple times where he was a bounce from the pocket.
02:43He ran and he got down.
02:44He did a great job of getting down.
02:46That's in his head.
02:46He knows to do that now.
02:48You could tell.
02:49There was a different Jayden in that sense.
02:51But it's just a shame because that's a very good football team.
02:54I don't know how good they are ultimately.
02:56But certainly defensively, that was a real challenge.
02:59And I was afraid it could get really ugly.
03:01The only thing that sucked is they lost what appeared to be a winnable division road game.
03:06They win time of possession by a lot.
03:09They had held the ball for over 33 minutes.
03:11They didn't turn the ball over.
03:13Jayden was only sacked one time.
03:15We talked about, you know, like, can we keep Saquon Barkley from turning into Superman against his team?
03:20They basically did.
03:22He was held to 80 total yards.
03:24One or two big plays.
03:25One or two big plays.
03:26Right.
03:26And half of his rushing yards were on one play.
03:30He had 42 yards on one play.
03:32Other than that, he was pretty much neutralized.
03:34What really broke their back were the big explosives from Dallas Goddard.
03:39Like, Dallas Goddard, you don't expect to rip off, like, a 40-yard touchdown.
03:43And Wicks.
03:44Now, Wicks only had two catches.
03:46But they were big ones.
03:48They were massive.
03:49And the back-breaking play, too, was Jalen Hurts' scramble on 3rd and 18 for 22 yards.
03:57I mean, he's a stud.
03:58That's inexcusable.
03:59That was a big one.
04:00That's a reason why you brought it, like, you revamped your linebacker core to prevent those sorts of plays from
04:06happening.
04:07Great players make great plays.
04:07Was that on a blitz?
04:08He made a great play.
04:09That was on a blitz, wasn't it?
04:09I can't remember whether it was on a blitz or not.
04:11Probably was.
04:12You can't.
04:12Like, if he converts it passing, you can tip your cap to him.
04:17You can't allow him to scramble for 22 yards there.
04:20And then they eventually scored a touchdown.
04:23That's one of his talents, man.
04:24They were on their own 31-yard line.
04:25I know.
04:26You can force them to punt and get the ball back, and you're right in the game.
04:30Yeah, it was a big one.
04:31That was a back-breaker.
04:32And then I don't know what the miscommunication was on the Goddard touchdown, the late touchdown.
04:37Yeah.
04:38You know, they thought that Goddard had moved, and they were pointing at him because they thought he was a
04:44false start.
04:45They didn't call it.
04:46Later, they said it wasn't a false start.
04:47They said it wasn't.
04:48Yeah.
04:48But the Commanders players thought it was.
04:52And then, you know, Goddard got behind Sonny.
04:54I don't know if that was Sonny's assignment.
04:56I don't know what the assignment was.
04:57There was definitely a mix-up.
04:59Communication gap.
05:00We'll have to ask John Kime, but that was the biggie.
05:04But I will say that the Commanders' defense, I mean, they all played hard, but the Commanders' defense, I thought,
05:09was pretty impressive.
05:10That's the revelation.
05:11That's the takeaway for me.
05:12They were all over the place.
05:13They were blitzing.
05:14They were getting the hurts.
05:16They were, you know, tackling for loss.
05:19They were...
05:19They're going to give them a chance.
05:20They were very impressive, I thought.
05:22Listen, I'm sure they'll get smoked.
05:23They gave up some big plays.
05:24I'm sure they'll get smoked.
05:25But that happens.
05:26A few times.
05:26But I think they're going to give them a chance pretty much every week.
05:29Like, you just got to come up.
05:30You got to, you know, got to produce offensively.
05:32Got to play way better offensively.
05:33But if you get that kind of effort, and I think you will if we stay healthy.
05:38You see the talent.
05:39I mean, a marked upgrade in speed.
05:42Nick Cross was all over the field.
05:44He was amazing.
05:46He had a bunch of tackles.
05:47Cross led them in tackles.
05:48Eight total.
05:49He was amazing.
05:50Five solely.
05:50He had two tackles for loss.
05:52You know, it's kind of annoying.
05:55Mikey just, you know, kept getting beat.
05:58Yep.
05:58I don't know what to say about that.
05:59I hope Tyler Owens.
06:01What was the deal on him?
06:02Like, was it a major thing when he went out?
06:04It looked like it.
06:05That guy is a hammer.
06:07He needs to play more.
06:08Well, that's the other thing.
06:08Three guys got hurt.
06:09At least three guys.
06:11What were the guys?
06:12Because Luvu left with a groin.
06:14Yeah, Luvu left.
06:14You mentioned Owens.
06:16And then Chig.
06:17I know, right.
06:18Chig left with a hamstring.
06:19With a hamstring.
06:19Yeah, that could be annoying.
06:20I think there was at least one more.
06:22Yeah.
06:23But hopefully those aren't serious.
06:25I thought Chennault was a little less effective than I had hoped.
06:28He made a play or two, but he also whiffed on a play or two.
06:33I was definitely pleased with, like, Settle, the interior of the line.
06:37Kinlaw had a big play or two.
06:39I mean, just overall, defensively, I was basically borderline thrilled.
06:44Cross, Sonny Stiles, and Owens each had two tackles for loss in the game.
06:49Yeah.
06:50No, they were impressive.
06:51That's a better defense than we've seen in, like, a decade plus.
06:54They needed the offense to score some points in the first half.
06:57The offense just couldn't get going.
06:58They couldn't.
06:59And, you know.
07:00And I'm sure we'll get into it more throughout the show.
07:04The two-point conversion attempt was just a head scratch.
07:07I question that.
07:08I mean, David Blau, of course, he knows way more about offense and scripting up plays and
07:12calling plays than any of us ever will.
07:15Like, to try a shovel pass with your blocker tight end and try to make him gain the two
07:21or three yards.
07:22No one liked it.
07:23No one liked it.
07:23I mean, if it was wide open and scored, you'd call him a genius.
07:27Yeah, but he wasn't.
07:28But it wasn't.
07:29Yeah.
07:29DQ afterwards said it was one of the plays they highlighted during the week.
07:32They liked it.
07:33They put it in the game plan because they liked it.
07:35Mm-hmm.
07:36And, you know, and Jaden said he's going with it.
07:39That's fine.
07:39I mean, but I like plays where your guys are in the end zone and you give them a chance
07:43to score the two points.
07:45I agree with you, K.
07:46Personally.
07:46I didn't like the call.
07:48I'm just telling you from their perspective, it wasn't like they just willy-nilly called
07:51it.
07:51No, no.
07:52They prepared it.
07:53I understand there's planning that goes into it.
07:54No, they prepared it.
07:55They liked it.
07:56I disagreed with it, too.
07:57But I'm just saying they liked it.
07:59It just, you know, I thought Brady had a great point.
08:02A lot of people were emphasizing it, too.
08:04Like, with the game on the line, you go with players, not plays.
08:07Yeah.
08:07You know, get it to Diggs.
08:08Get it to Terry.
08:09Get it to one of your studs.
08:11Give it to Jaden.
08:11Let Jaden make more of a play on it instead of, like, you know, an awesome X's and O's
08:17play.
08:17The Terry lack of targets was also kind of alarming if we're going to nitpick through
08:23the offense and, you know, like individual.
08:25I'm sure they wanted to get to him.
08:27That's a suffocating defense.
08:28I'm going to chalk that up to the defensive backs and secondary.
08:32I'm sure that's a big part of it.
08:33I think so.
08:33I mean, they were just really good.
08:34I mean, did you see guys running wide open?
08:36I didn't see it.
08:37I mean, Jaden was holding the ball.
08:39He was trying.
08:40If Jaden sees somebody, he usually, you know, gets it to him.
08:43But, yeah, he was trying.
08:45He was holding the ball.
08:45He was bounced out.
08:46He was – I just think – I'm going to chalk that up to really good coverage from
08:50Philly.
08:50It's a misery Monday here on 106.7 The Fan as the Commanders drop their opener to the
08:55Philadelphia Eagles 24-22.
08:57If you want to weigh in with your first reactions, you're welcome to do that at 800-636-1067.
09:04Commanders fall on the road.
09:05They're 0-1.
09:06Now have to go to Dallas.
09:07It was also 0-1.
09:08They dropped their game to the Giants.
09:10It's basically an NFC East elimination game in week two.
09:14I mean, think about that.
09:15Between the Commanders and the Cowboys.
09:16I mean, the loser goes 0-2 overall, 0-2 in the division, 0-2 in the conference.
09:20And then we have Seattle coming up.
09:22Pretty high stakes for the Commanders.
09:24It's a misery Monday with the Junk's here on The Fan.
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