- 13 minutes ago
Washington Commanders Reporter Ben Standig from The Last Man Standig Podcast and Substack joins The Kevin Sheehan Show to discuss Jayden Daniels being officially ruled out for Week 4 against the Indianapolis Colts, Daniels' press conference remarks on playing in a hinged brace, injury updates on Rachaad White and Frankie Luvu, and his prediction for the Commanders vs Colts matchup.
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00:00You off the bus or are you still on it?
00:04I'm off the bus. I just got off. I walked into some, it's not Starbucks, but like a version of
00:10Starbucks
00:11to start with you to get at least off the main streets here. So we are good.
00:16You enjoying London town? Yes or no? Have you been?
00:20I am in London, yes. Can you hear me?
00:23Yeah. I said, are you enjoying it?
00:25Oh, am I doing it? Well, yes and no. I mean, yes, because it's been, you know, interesting here
00:31and, you know, to see they're practicing, you know, and just the whole scene.
00:37That said, I have flown many, many times in my life. Typically, it's going left.
00:44It's going left, like L.A. or Vegas or whatever.
00:49The jet lag is very real this way. I saw it. So I got it yesterday morning.
00:53It was, yesterday was an absolute mess for me. And so I haven't really seen London yet,
00:59but now practice is over. So tonight, tomorrow, hopefully I get to see more than just what,
01:04from the inside of an Uber and a bus going to and fro the practice facility.
01:09All right. Ben, of course, covers the team with his own substack called Last Man Standing.
01:15Follow Ben on X at Ben Standing.
01:18The decision was made official this morning by Dan Quinn.
01:23Jaden Daniels is out.
01:25You wrote, and I read early this morning, and I want to go to this first,
01:30and then we'll come back to today after I hear from you what you thought you heard from Jaden Daniels
01:37when he had a rather unexpected press conference yesterday, right?
01:42It was unexpected.
01:45Yeah, it was unexpected. We had no idea. You know, typically, you know, the starting quarterback
01:52talks Wednesday, and then that's it. Mariota did that. Now, this is also the first, you know,
01:58we have not heard from Jaden since the injury. And look, I have maintained all along that this is
02:05largely some sort of, you know, cat and mouse game with the Colts. And look, I, you know,
02:11I think bringing him over here, as Dan Quinn said today, makes sense. If you're looking at going
02:16forward, he needs to practice at some point. Like, obviously, he can be out there, right?
02:20It's just a matter of the dealing with, you know, the brace, and if he's going to work the brace,
02:25I guess he is, and all that going forward. But, like, if he wants to practice, the team is here.
02:31He's not just going to throw some staffer back in Ashburn and get the same type of deal.
02:35So, that's why he was here, and Quinn said it was a big, he said it was a, quote, big
02:39step,
02:40end quote, for him to practice on a limited basis the last two days, and then the goal is for
02:44next
02:44week to practice all three days heading into the Giants game. So, not, yeah, not a surprise to me,
02:50but, yes, it was. I looked at it yesterday as a bit of, like, yeah, more of the cat and
02:55mouse game,
02:55but it was good. I thought he gave some, you know, some good answers, and, you know, we have got
02:59to ask a
02:59lot of questions about the whole situation.
03:01Right. Well, you wrote what Jaden Daniels said about his dislocated elbow, and then what you
03:08heard. So, what did you hear him say yesterday?
03:13Well, you know, first of all, like, when I say, like, this cat and mouse game, it's not he. This
03:16is just what the team does. I've always found Jaden to be a pretty honest broker. You know,
03:21he's not always going to say a ton, but I don't think he says things to, like, try to
03:25beat you or throw it off the center or whatever. And I, you know, I did, it's sort of been
03:32the
03:32theme with him all this year, going back to the offseason. Sorry, there's, like, noise right around
03:38me here. That's right. You're good. Basically, he's had, like, he's still the, you know, the
03:43California chill kind of cool guy, but there's a little bit more, you know, sort of oof with his
03:50responses and how he's kind of viewing things. And I thought, like, he was, like, pretty emphatic about,
03:54like, hey, you know, you saw, I'm sure, the clip, you know, where he's being asked, is this going to,
03:59is a brace possibly going to throw him off of his game in any way in terms of, like, how
04:04he has to
04:04hand the ball off or the throwing motion? And he was like, no, no, no, no, no. Yeah. And, you
04:09know,
04:09there were a couple of answers like that where it's like, he didn't just, like, sit back and let the,
04:14let a narrative sort of be told around him. Not that we're trying to create a narrative, but just, like,
04:18he doesn't want it out there at all that anything is going on with this situation.
04:24I also, I keep harping on the brace itself. This isn't so much an interpretation, but flat out,
04:32you know, he said there was also, you know, I said, hey, if the brace is such a big deal
04:35now
04:35that you're even saying you're not worried about possibly getting hurt because that's what the
04:39brace is for, then why wasn't there a discussion about the brace in the first place? And I know that
04:44the potential for reoccurrence is pretty small after a first one. Now, obviously, there's two,
04:50but the notion of no conversation sort of drives me crazy, but okay. So I think those are a couple
04:57of the things that, that stood out. I mean, there was, there were a few others, but, you know,
05:01I just think in general, it was just a lot of like, kind of like the wrapping up, because again,
05:07we didn't have a chance to talk. We had a chance of that, so we didn't talk about the elbow
05:10in this
05:11way a lot before the injury. So it was a good chance to sort of just hear him kind of
05:14what the process
05:15was for him psychologically, physically, everything else, a long way here. Well, let me, let me tell
05:21you what I thought, because, you know, we, we got it when we were on the air yesterday and then
05:26I went
05:27back and watched it. In fact, I called you to talk about one of the answers he gave. You know,
05:32he
05:32didn't really give us a big tell one way or the other on what the announcement would be today, but
05:37you and I have been sort of guessing all week that it would be Mariota and it is, and he's
05:43going to be
05:43ruled out of the game. But I thought what I heard from him and maybe it's part, cause I'm syncing
05:49it
05:49up with what some of the orthopedic surgeons have said. And that is look, it got injured,
05:55but not as seriously as it did last year. They think a brace worn in a certain way at a
06:03certain
06:03fitting, you know, set where he can't extend the arm will protect it from being dislocated again.
06:10He can play with it. He's not going to be impacted that much by it. Uh, if they had recommended
06:16surgery, which they didn't, cause he said if they had, he would have gotten it ASAP. And that at the
06:21end of the year, it seemed to me like he understands that surgery, once he gets through this season,
06:28fingers crossed, and it doesn't happen anytime sooner, but until the end of the season, that surgery
06:34is then an option, you know, at that point, but the brace was the, Hey, it wasn't the same injuries
06:41last year in terms of the, you know, the damage done. You can wear a brace. It'll protect you.
06:47You don't need to get surgery. Now we can, you know, revisit that at the end of the season,
06:52but there are 14 games, 13 games left, and you can play football this way. That's what I heard.
07:00Yeah, I think that's right. I mean, I, and I think the part that's been somewhat confusing
07:05about this is, you know, normally an injury, we hear, you know, three weeks, they'll be back
07:09or six months after surgery or whatever it might be here. It's the answers seem both nebulous
07:15in terms of the impact of the brace, as well as what surgery does for anybody. So, you know,
07:20I mean, I've had people tell me, not necessarily doctors, but people sort of around the game
07:26that like, you know, the studies out there that say, Hey, surgery might help, but it is not like
07:31getting a surgery for like a, a sort of a more standard injury that we talk about. And then
07:36that's really got to be, you know, you'll be fine for the most part after that, or that the brace
07:41itself is definitely going to save you, but it could help. And that's why this is somewhat confusing.
07:46I wish, I mean, like you said, you talked about orthopedics and I talked to some folks,
07:51I almost wish they would bring out the team physician or doctor or somebody, not to necessarily
07:55discuss Jaden specifically, because obviously there's HIPAA law, but to at least, you know,
07:59what, what are, what is their thinking about how these things work? Because again, depending on who
08:04you listen to and talk to, you can kind of get different answers. And that's what makes odds like,
08:09you know, well, could he just go play now? What would cause any, what is the difference between now
08:14and next week? Right. I mean, is it just a matter of getting comfortable with the brace? Okay.
08:19Maybe it is. Cause that seems like a pretty clunky thing you have to have to wear. Um, again,
08:25it's not his non-throwing arm, but you still feel it when, you know, whether you're going through the
08:28follow-through or you're running, you're going to hand off or, or whatever, is it just that,
08:32or is there actual, you know, like Frankie Lublin, Chicka Conoco needed a couple of weeks
08:36for their specific injuries before they could go. Um, so yeah, I mean, we're going to see him
08:41out there sooner than later. I mean, I would probably feel now better about saying he'll
08:45be, he'd play against the giants. I'm not saying that, but just, you know, this week I was
08:50incredulous, no chance next week. Okay. I'm more open to thinking that could be the case, but
08:54why is it literally just, I mean, they're also saying it's not a pain issue. So it's really just
09:00what is, what's the deal. And I think that's where this all gets somewhat confusing, but hopeful
09:04that, you know, the brace that you, if he's good with it, uh, that, you know, it'll help him
09:09be as comfortable out there as he possibly can be. Yeah. I was going to say that, you
09:13know, that's what I heard from Jaden yesterday. What I heard from Quinn today was, you know
09:18what, another week and really now him getting used to, to, to practicing full with the brace
09:25rather than, you know, the quasi sort of practice situation this week in London. Also, Jaden made
09:32a comment. I haven't mentioned this yet. Jaden made a comment. They were, somebody asked him
09:38about the, you know, field differences. And for those of you who don't know, a soccer
09:44pitch is a flat field. That's what they're playing on. If you've never been to a college
09:50or pro football game and never been on the field, then you may not know that NFL fields
09:57and college football fields are actually sloped in the middle. Like there's a degree of slope
10:02and it's not, you know, it's not flat throughout. And they do that for, for drainage purposes
10:08so that water won't puddle in the middle of the field. It'll drain to the sidelines. And
10:13he was asked about what the difference was, and he didn't really have an answer to that,
10:17but he got to talking about the fields and the stadiums that these international games are
10:23played in. And he used the word slick surface. And you know what? A lot of these international
10:29games in London in particular have had slick surfaces. And I, when I heard that, I was like,
10:35yeah, they're not going to put them out there on a slick surface with the brace. Like I, I kind
10:41of
10:41had a hunch all week. It was going to be Mariota too, not based on anything that I knew. And
10:44I think
10:44you felt the same way. But, um, when I heard that, that was felt like, yeah, no, the giant game
10:51makes
10:51more sense. Yeah, totally. And by the way, to your point of it at the field and whether fans
10:58know it or not, until I started covering the team and being out there, standing on the sideline of
11:03practice, you're like, oh, wait a minute, what's going on here? Like, it's a noticeable slope,
11:08but you don't notice it at all on television. There never seems to, you never hear about it
11:12in a game or, you know, things like that. Um, so yeah, no, I mean, lots of reasons. I mean,
11:19like, even, you know, from your perspective as a noted, uh, guy who puts a wager down or
11:24two, the international games are always weird for all kinds of reasons that, whether it's
11:29the travel or like you just said, the surface, it's not like that different. It's different
11:33enough or, or what have you. So, yes, I mean, for a lot of, in this situation, we want the
11:38variables to be as few as possible. That's a, yes. Another good reason to say, you know what?
11:44This isn't for him. Let's, uh, let's move on. Um, I, you know, I jumped
11:49to somebody today that they should bring Callie Agmanis out before Dan Quinn talked
11:52just to throw us off a little bit more. God. Um, all right. We're talking to Ben
11:57standing. Of course he's in London. Uh, so a con quo and Luvu back, uh, Quinn said
12:04today, what about Rashad white? Is he out?
12:09So at the moment we were talking, we don't know. They're going to put out the injury report
12:13later and there, or they will say, I mean, I, when the, I don't know what was where the
12:17press conference ended, but as Quinn was walking away, cause he was asked about it and he just
12:21said that he missed practice, but he didn't say if he was in or out. So I then asked and
12:24he didn't say, he just said it'll be on the injury report. So I'm assuming answers. He'll
12:29be out. I mean, you know, three days of mispractice by, you know, most standards, that's going to
12:34mean you don't play. Quinn also said that Austin Eckler, he thought looked, I don't use the term
12:41better than expected, but looked pretty good for a guy that hadn't, you know, not played or
12:45wasn't even in a, in a training camp or anything. So yeah, it certainly seems like white would
12:49be out. And then I would presume Eckler would be the third back, but, uh, you know, we'll
12:54have to see how that goes, uh, for, for sure. But yes, the way, I mean, it's a very fortuitous
13:00timing as we discussed the other day that I reported that like they, they got Eckler agreed
13:04to before the game. So the fact that Rashad white of all people is the one that gets hurt.
13:09It kind of, kind of nuts. Uh, but yeah. Um, so yeah, I'm guessing he's going to be out.
13:15Um, and you know, you would think that would mean more of bill, but you know, again, bill
13:20in the passing game, isn't necessarily, uh, the guy that would prefer, and this is where
13:26Eckler both as a receiver and a blocker, you know, if he's good to go would obviously make
13:30more sense. Yeah. I mean, I, I, I think if whites out, it probably, especially based on
13:36what Quinn said, it increases the possibility we're going to see Eckler. And if we see Eckler,
13:40is it possible that Luke McCaffrey is not activated because they just put Eckler back there with
13:46lane on kickoff returns? A hundred percent. No, I was, I was going to look this up. And just,
13:53as I said, the, the craziness of all that's gone on the last couple of days, I haven't gotten
13:57to it, but you know, right now they would have, let's assume, um, Rashad white is available.
14:04So you have four running backs, you have seven receivers and you have four tight ends.
14:08I can't imagine there is a team that has more quote unquote skill players than that. I mean,
14:14that, that is an inordinate amount of guys. So, um, but I mean, you know, certainly a lot
14:20of these guys double up to play special teams, no doubt that, but like, you wonder, like
14:24the prediction all doesn't get hurt and they had to make a move on roster. And there are probably
14:29other ways they can go besides moving on from a Luke McCaffrey. But to me, this was like,
14:33Oh, okay. Are you, you know, you're bringing the guy who was an all pro kicker two years
14:36ago and you have all these players. What does this mean? So, yeah, I mean, McCaffrey could
14:40easily be down. Uh, I haven't really sort of sat and done the math in my head. Uh, you
14:45know, obviously Sam Cosby and Nick cross are already out. They didn't make the trip.
14:50Jaden makes three white could be four. So, you know, they would still have, I mean, I, and
14:56you know, they could obviously elevate some guys that want, I would imagine Allie Cahill.
15:00So possibly comes up with Lou, even though Lou will be back. We'll see. Uh, so maybe they don't
15:05elevate anybody. They only do one more guy and it's not McCaffrey, but yeah, I could see
15:09McCaffrey getting the odd man out of here. Uh, for sure.
15:14Ben, what is the injury for Nick cross? Is he okay?
15:23Um, yeah, I mean, I, I believe the answer to that is just generally yes. I mean, I was
15:28told week to week, uh, I don't necessarily know if this, if he'll be ready for next week
15:33or not. This is, I think this, I'll just say this is a case where the HIPAA aspect of
15:37this all is like there that's being taken to the, to the max. Like if they just don't
15:43want a specifics out, I mean, we, it was obviously told to us it was an internal injury, right?
15:49When it, when it first happened, that's why he was in a state overnight in Dallas and
15:53stayed at the hospital. And then when the injury report comes out, they've listed as
15:56an illness. I think the truth lies somewhere in between because I don't, it's hard for
16:01me to sit here and say it's an illness when you're saying it's an internal injury required
16:04an overnight stay and illness would be, I don't know, you got to really bet blue, but
16:08that's not something you would be in a hospital for, for one day. So, uh, I just think
16:13they're for whatever the reason they're choosing to, they're just being very protective of,
16:18of the individual's privacy, I guess. Now, all that said, just from the football perspective,
16:24I don't think there's something that's going to keep them out terribly long. Obviously
16:27he has not been placed on IR or anything. And based on what I was originally told, it
16:31wouldn't stun me if he is back, uh, this week against giant, but you know, again, we'll
16:36have to see on that. It happened in the Dallas game. There's a play in which it happened.
16:42I guess we got to go find that play to, to find out specifically what happened. I just
16:48hope he's okay. Um, all right. Uh, let's talk about Sunday in the matchup. Give me what
16:55you think the keys are to a win over the Colts. They are now three and a half. I even
17:00see some
17:01fours out there in terms of an underdog. Yeah. I mean, look, a lot has been made about the
17:06Washington run defense so far. They're ranked third in the league and you know, they want
17:10to take one Barkley and, uh, you know, uh, that Javante Williams at Dallas has had a good year
17:15last year and so on. Um, but they've had a very good run defense. Obviously teams have been able
17:20to move the ball through the air. So there's a little bit of chicken and egg there, but okay.
17:24I think this is the test to see how good the front defense really is because Jonathan Taylor
17:29with the Colts is one of the best running backs. And he's also one of those rare running backs
17:32these days where he is the clear bell cow, like, like guys like Jameer Gibbs or, or, you know,
17:38or others will like, or B. John Robinson, they're the main running back, but they also do a lot
17:43in the receiving game. Jonathan Taylor is much more of the old school back. So if this defensive
17:48group is, defensive front is legit, or I'm paying Ken law and then I get Lou Blue back and all
17:53that,
17:54that to me, it's probably, you know, beyond the obvious turnover battle, things like that.
17:58This is where I think the game kind of goes for Washington. You know, Daniel Jones has obviously
18:01been a killer against, uh, Washington over the years when he was with the giants. I've always
18:06thought he was a bit underrated. He's just similar to Mariota and that like he'll, he can win,
18:10be the quarterback for a winning team. He's just not going to carry you there. Therefore,
18:14if the Colts don't have Jonathan Taylor at, uh, you know, full head of steam, the whole game,
18:19what does it do for them? They don't have Alex Pierce. Uh, he's on IR. So that takes away their
18:24best receiving weapon. So I'm not saying they're a one dimensional team, but if you take out Taylor,
18:29you take out a huge part of what they do. So I think just from, you know, overall perspective,
18:34that's kind of where I would put it, you know, offensively look, we saw the best version of
18:38Mariota last week. He's going to be aggressive. He's going to make plays. The hope is, does he make
18:45plays for the other team too, at times? And that's, you know, the difference between him being
18:48where he is is sort of this borderline starter slash top backup versus the guy who's out there
18:54every Sunday, no matter what. Uh, so you just have to hope that that guy, you know, he did more
18:58like
18:58last week, uh, than at other times. Uh, I will say this, and I, I just mentioned the jet lag
19:04before.
19:05I don't know. We'll, we'll see what happens, but you know, the Colts only got here today,
19:10but they, they decided to wait and practice at home the first couple of days. So they only got here
19:14today. Now I know today is not Sunday. Sunday's a couple of days away. I even feel a
19:18little bit better today than I did yesterday, but it is a real thing. Like I, I asked to get
19:23today because he's been to other international games before he got here, whereas these guys
19:28have been pretty limited. And I asked about the travel. I got you surprised, like it's not more
19:32of a universal concept of what teams did that it's all over the place. And he was like, yeah, I'm
19:36he's like, I am surprised as you're presenting it to me because jet lag is real. And again, it's not
19:43that the Colts won't have at least a little bit of time to acclimate, but it's not much. And
19:48everything's different. Uh, so I can, I think that's something that bodes well for Washington
19:52is sort of silly as that sounds. Maybe it's the whole, you know, the Rams situation. I
19:57know this isn't going to Australia, but they got a lot of flack for that. So if, if this
20:01matters, I think that's a little tipping point towards Washington's favor. I would say.
20:05Okay. Give me a quick pick and we'll let you run.
20:09Yeah. Uh, you know, I mean, look, the Colts have been pretty good. Obviously they beat Houston
20:13last week. I know Houston's 0 and 3, but they're still the favorites in the AFC. Uh, the week
20:17before that they took Kansas City to overtime. Uh, so, you know, they, they, they were definitely
20:21no pushover, uh, you know, but I'm going to, I just said, uh, I'm going to, I'm going to
20:27stay with the locals. Uh, give me Washington, uh, 27, 24. Uh, I think that, uh, you know,
20:36the McLaurin digs combo, uh, you know, I think that is just a, such an important piece. I know
20:41we, we, we, we all get this, but to keep the floor high for a guy like Mariota, I just
20:45think it makes such a difference to have those guys there. Uh, you know, and at least
20:49in theory, the Colts are not a team that presents a major issue for the secondary compared to
20:56what we've seen so far. Uh, if it is, then they're going to lose because obviously, you
21:01know, if they're getting picked on by Daniel Jones and these Colts receivers, that's a
21:04problem, but give me 27, 24, uh, Washington. Thank you. Enjoy it. I'll talk to you Monday.
21:12I think. Yeah, man. See you. All right. We'll get Ben's travel schedule later in the weekend.