- 2 months ago
Grant & Danny debate what the reactions could look like for the Commanders if they start slow. Do Dan Quinn and Adam Peters deserve grace?
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00:00With Danny, I'm Grant. This is the fan, taking you up to 615.
00:06Question we're asking right now at 800-636-1067.
00:11Should there be a leash provided to this staff, and how much of one?
00:18I'd rephrase that to even say, how much grace do we want to give the commanders if they get off
00:23to a slow start?
00:24Because it's easy to have high expectations in year three,
00:27especially when they got to the NFC Championship game right away.
00:30As flukey now, looking back, as maybe that magical carpet ride was.
00:33But it's a really hard schedule.
00:36They're ultra banged up.
00:38I know it's the third year, but they do have a new OC in Blau and a new DC in
00:42Durante-Jones.
00:43Do we have Liam Griffin talking about this?
00:46This was the Times beat writer who was just on the show talking about this moments ago.
00:50Yeah, and I think it's an interesting perspective,
00:52because we talked about where I was this time a month ago.
00:55This time a month ago, I kind of saw that really tough opening stretch as a silver lining.
01:02Because, yeah, it sucks that you're facing Cowboys-Eagles on the road, defending Super Bowl champions.
01:08The Rams are also right at the midpoint of the season.
01:11But I would rather get all those teams early than late.
01:15A lot of times, we see these kind of teams that have high expectations or have postseason pedigrees.
01:21They don't always hit the ground running.
01:24Meanwhile, we do see a lot of times when you're bringing in new systems,
01:27if it's installed properly, you can really catch some teams by surprise
01:30when they don't have the full film on you.
01:32And so I thought, you know, I would rather face Philly week one, have Seattle week three,
01:36and maybe you're able to steal a couple of those games early.
01:40But, again, those injuries make that whole evaluation so much more difficult.
01:44I still think that there's going to be a pretty substantial leash for everyone involved
01:51through the first half of the season.
01:52But I think that if they're not, you know, when the end of November comes around,
01:57if they're not in those in-the-hunt graphics,
02:00and at least around 500 and maybe in sniffing distance of a wildcard spot,
02:05like I think the calls are going to get a lot louder as the season goes on
02:10if things don't come together the way we thought they would based on how his offseason went.
02:14I think that's probably fair from Liam.
02:16The way I'm thinking about this is my initial response, Danny, is of course we should have grace.
02:22Of course we need to extend a leash here.
02:25New coordinators, this schedule, but it's almost like finding out somebody can't get to work
02:30because they don't have a car, okay?
02:32And so I hear that, and I'm like, well, you can't be there?
02:34Yeah, you don't have a car, no problem.
02:35But then you find out the reason they don't have a car is their license got revoked for cause.
02:40Or they don't have a car because they chose last month to sell it.
02:43They didn't have to, they just wanted to.
02:44And they didn't really care that much if they were able to get to work or not.
02:47And what I mean by that is Dan Quinn chose the coordinators he chose the first time.
02:52So if it's true that just having a new young quarterback that you're debuting
02:57means that we can't really grade things out,
03:00why don't coaches constantly just try another quarterback?
03:02And they could stay there forever.
03:04Or if having these new coordinators means you restart the amount of time
03:09before you can be frustrated.
03:10You're the judgment clock.
03:11Exactly.
03:11Right.
03:12Well, you chose wrong the first time.
03:14That's a you problem.
03:15So you get to just keep setting your own clock back
03:18because let's say you blow up, I'm just going to say one of them this year,
03:22and then next year there's another first-year coordinator.
03:24You have to provide grace for that.
03:25So you've painted yourself into the corner a little bit here.
03:28I'm willing to provide some empathy because you're in a corner.
03:33But I didn't put you in the corner.
03:36Ownership didn't put you in the corner by not giving you the money.
03:39Adam Peters, I guess, technically is in the corner with you.
03:42But in this hypothetical, you told him who you wanted to hire.
03:45When Dan Quinn was the guy, the number one argument for him was,
03:48wait till you see the staff he puts together.
03:50Everybody loves this guy.
03:51Everyone's going to want to work for him.
03:52And we kind of felt that way after the first year.
03:55They've told me that the staff was not put together well.
03:58I'm not saying that.
03:59They said that.
03:59They blew a bunch of guys out.
04:01They've changed the staff.
04:02So I think it's a really interesting question going into this season.
04:06I think it's a fascinating question because I could argue either side,
04:10I think, very, very well.
04:11I think you hit the, no, of course not.
04:14Are you kidding me?
04:14This is professional sports.
04:16What grace are you talking about?
04:17Otherwise, you could get a perpetual don't judge me card.
04:20You've got to flip a coordinator here and there and put a sacrificial lamb
04:23on the barbie, so to speak.
04:25This is year three.
04:26This is their roster.
04:27This is Adam Peters' choices.
04:29The front office, these are your draft picks now come to fruition.
04:33This is your free agency or lack thereof.
04:34These are guys internally that you've kept and promoted and everything
04:38under the sun.
04:38Please be responsible for something at the end of the day.
04:41Then the other side to me is, what are we judging them against?
04:46Unless it's 2024, then everything's a failure?
04:49Or is it has to be a lot better than last year?
04:51I think you could be right smack in the middle of the average of those two
04:55and show a dramatic improvement and being huge steps in the right direction.
04:59Understanding that some of this stuff might take a little bit of time.
05:01A first-year coordinator should be better in week 10 than he is in week 1.
05:05I think that's a pretty reasonable statement.
05:07I think that's pretty fair.
05:08As long as Daniels looks like Daniels, as long as this offense shows signs,
05:13and as long as some of their personnel decisions don't look like complete misfires,
05:18which early returns in some places aren't good.
05:20We've gone into that a bunch.
05:21But it looks like, hey, there's a reason they made sure they dropped
05:24the Josh Connell in the first round.
05:26We still have to give it a little bit more time.
05:27Okay?
05:28We want to microwave everything.
05:29A lot of times a quarterback starts week 4 of his rookie year,
05:34and we're already going, oh my God, he can't do it.
05:36And maybe he never could.
05:37But we should probably give a little bit more time to slam the gavel on somebody.
05:41So there should be a little bit of patience, especially you could be pretty good
05:44and lose to these three teams.
05:46I think a lot of teams in the NFL would go 0-3 with that schedule to start their season
05:50with how we think the Eagles, Cowboys, and Seahawks are going to be.
05:53Totally.
05:54You know?
05:54Which is where I come in on, I think they've got to be competitive.
05:58It's going to sound like Moral Victory Monday stuff for me.
06:00I'm not going to feel this way for 17 games in 18 weeks.
06:03Agreed.
06:03But in the first three or four weeks of the season, after a camp we had so many injuries,
06:07when it's their fault that they chose to basically punt on the preseason.
06:11But there wasn't a lot of preseason time.
06:13I'm not expecting you to be 2-1 after you play the Eagles, the Cowboys, and the Seahawks.
06:19I think ideally you're 1-2.
06:21Hopefully you're not 0-3.
06:23If you're 2-1, then you're farting through silver.
06:25You're on easy street.
06:25And I'm loving life, right?
06:26And I think everybody would be.
06:28But I am going to basically demand that they compete in those games.
06:35I don't just mean in terms of playing close.
06:37I mean that it looks like they belong.
06:39You can't get blown out.
06:40You can't lose 34-10 to the Eagles in Week 1 and look like Varsity vs. JV.
06:46That's a really, really bad look in Year 3.
06:48The next week against the Cowboys.
06:50How many times have they gone to Dallas and given up 40 points?
06:52Just laid back.
06:53Just been shellacked.
06:54Where no one knows who's supposed to cover C.D. Lamb and there's a 50-yard deep ball from Dak.
06:59None of that crap.
07:00You cannot have that.
07:01It's got to look buttoned up.
07:02It's got to look professional.
07:03It's got to be competitive.
07:05And if you're losing to good teams, that's not a crime in the first quarter of the season to me.
07:10But you've got to hang around, as Liam put it, in that in-the-hunt graphic.
07:13Let's go to the phones.
07:14The question is, are you willing to give grace and extend a little leash here with two first-time coordinators
07:20and a banged-up team going into a really tough start to the season on the schedule?
07:24Andrews in Stafford.
07:25What's up, Andrew?
07:27Hey, boys.
07:27Let me preface this by saying injuries cannot be an excuse to just flat-out suck like last year.
07:33But I want a long leash.
07:36I mean, even if we had everybody who's injured healthy, we could come out of those first three weeks 0
07:42-3.
07:42So you know what?
07:43If we're going to eat that turd burger, let's do it.
07:47Get it out of the way and have everybody come back.
07:49So we're peaking right as the schedule is the softest.
07:53So we're going to end the year on the up.
07:56Yeah, you can see it.
07:57That's the design, yeah.
07:58You can definitely feel like if you can just survive with some glancing blows, if it's not devastatingly bad early,
08:05and you're just, I think that was Liam's point too, by the way.
08:08It's what I've said all offseason.
08:09If you're hanging around, if you're a 500-ish team going into the back nine,
08:14and then certainly the final few holes you're playing here,
08:16there's no reason you can't actually string some wins together and have a big finish and get into the mix.
08:24But you've got to give yourself a chance.
08:26You're basically, it's like a NASCAR race where on your pit crew box,
08:31your crew chief has to game plan the early part of the race so that you're not a lap down.
08:36And let's just give ourselves a chance that if a caution comes out or something crazy happens on a restart
08:40at the end of the race,
08:41we could do something wild on a big super speedway or something.
08:45But we can't be a lap down.
08:47We can't be getting into accidents.
08:49We can't get into crashes.
08:50Dan's in Fairfax.
08:51What's up, Dan?
08:53Hey, guys.
08:54Unfortunately, you took some of my thunder, but I'm not going to give too much of a leash.
08:59These are choices that Dan Quinn and the administration made.
09:02These are new coordinators that are promising,
09:04but if the Detroit small sampling of that first series is more emblematic of the season overall,
09:12I don't know if he survives because we cannot have that kind of catastrophic disineptitude over and over and over.
09:19I'm excited, and I believe Lau and Jones both are going to be very successful in their jobs,
09:25but I can't give them too much of a leash.
09:28This isn't year one.
09:29This is year three.
09:30Everyone's kind of pointing out.
09:33Appreciate you, buddy.
09:33Yeah, as I'm looking at it, GP, their first eight games,
09:37there was only one team that they play that has an over-under that would give them a losing record.
09:43That said, better.
09:44The only team that people don't think is very good are the Giants,
09:46and I think they'll be better but not good yet, right?
09:48They're just a pain in the butt to play.
09:49Eagles, Cowboys, Seahawks, Colts, bit of a wild card.
09:52That's in London, but still, they're prognosticated to have a winning record.
09:55You have to be one and three through those.
09:57You hopefully are two and two.
09:59Niners, Eagles again, and the team that everyone makes the best on the planet, the Rams.
10:02That's your first eight games with a bye week in there.
10:04So that's a hard three-game stretch, by the way.
10:07Yeah.
10:07I'm going to say you go, and I don't know how or which one, but one and two in those.
10:12And if you can, then you're probably, you go one and three, one and two.
10:17You're two and five through seven, or are we through eight games?
10:20One and three, two and, I lost count.
10:23Give me the teams again.
10:24Eagles.
10:25Let's just say L.
10:25Yeah.
10:26Okay.
10:26Eagles.
10:27L.
10:27Cowboys.
10:28L.
10:28Seahawks.
10:29Let's say somehow at home a win.
10:30And Darnold throws three picks.
10:31Fine.
10:31There's your three games.
10:32So it's one and two.
10:33Colts.
10:34Oh, that's the one I forgot.
10:35I'm going to say you beat the Colts.
10:37Two and two.
10:37Because now you're two and two.
10:38Giants.
10:39Beat the Giants.
10:40Three and two.
10:40Now the 49ers.
10:42Lose.
10:42Three and three.
10:43Bye week.
10:44Eagles and Rams.
10:45Probably lose those.
10:46There you go.
10:47There's.
10:47But even at three and five.
10:49That's three and five.
10:49You harvested your nuts against the beatable teams.
10:52You're still.
10:52You stole one to get to three and five, by the way.
10:55That's true.
10:55You just gave a win over the Eagles.
10:56I mean, the Seahawks.
10:57I did, but it's also not that likely that they just never win for a month.
11:01No, I know.
11:02Like, you know, you're going to probably win one of those first three.
11:04Yeah, stuff happens.
11:05If you don't and you're 0-3, now you're in big, big trouble.
11:07But I think there's a better chance that they're 1-2 than 0-3, don't you?
11:11No.
11:12You don't?
11:13No, I think it's probably coin toss.
11:14Those are three good teams.
11:16I don't know how ready to go they'll be.
11:17Yeah.
11:18I think it's hard to.
11:22If your quarterback is a top ten quarterback in the league,
11:25which everyone seems to think is the case,
11:26and your defense is okay,
11:30then I don't think you should be getting your doors blown off
11:32just because you're playing a good team.
11:33Well, I'm with you on doors blown off.
11:34Like, if it's the Seattle game last year.
11:37That's kind of my point.
11:37If you're in all these games,
11:39like you're just in three straight games against pretty good teams,
11:41one of them will fall your way.
11:42You would think.
11:43They'll be significant underdogs, I would think, in all three.
11:46I think they're four-point dogs to the Eagles.
11:48That's not that significant.
11:49I haven't seen the look-ahead line for Dallas,
11:51but I'd assume it's not worse than that.
11:53Well, fair.
11:53I consider anything more than a field goal significant.
11:55Okay.
11:57That's my own definition.
11:58I mean, to me, significant is like eight points or more.
12:00Well, sure.
12:01I think it's one possession games for all of those.
12:04But the point is, that is a treacherous stretch.
12:07So, like, we got through that with that exercise with Washington being...
12:10Three and five.
12:11Three and five.
12:11What's on the other side of that, then?
12:13So, after the Rams, okay, that's in week nine.
12:16That's when you have now, like, gotten through the murderous row.
12:18That's at best.
12:19It's kind of we, optimistically, you're three and five.
12:22Giants, again, that's game...
12:24Four and five.
12:25Yeah.
12:25So, there you go.
12:25Week 10.
12:26Bengals, who I think are going to be good.
12:27I'll say four and six.
12:28Week 11.
12:29Week 12, Cardinals.
12:30Five and six.
12:31Week 13, Titans.
12:33This is where...
12:33Six and six.
12:34This is where Eddie Jordan comes into play.
12:35This is it.
12:36It's happening, people.
12:37Okay.
12:37We're going to have a season here.
12:38They're in the hunt.
12:39Then it's Houston Texans.
12:40Don't worry about that one.
12:41Yeah.
12:42Seven.
12:42Yeah.
12:42That's a loss.
12:43All right.
12:44Falcons, here we go.
12:45Two a time.
12:45Two is terrible.
12:46He's not going to be playing.
12:47Seven and seven.
12:51They'll win one of the two.
12:52Let's say eight.
12:53Right.
12:53Eights.
12:54By the way, they could win any of these.
12:55Sure, of course.
12:56They could have just ripped off six straight wins.
12:57Cowboys end the season.
12:58Yeah.
12:59So, my point is, as long as they are at a floor, have three wins through eight games,
13:04they're very much going to have an in the hunt.
13:07They'll have a chance.
13:07Yeah.
13:08But you have to win those.
13:09If they start out 0-5 or 1-6 or something, you've ruined your season.
13:14But if you just hang around long enough to get healthy and to get past the level where
13:19everyone's eating you alive in the video game, then the next level is easier.
13:24You just have to get to that level.
13:26It's a matter of getting through it.
13:27But that's really what this is.
13:28The first eight weeks with a bye week in there.
13:30So, first nine weeks, survive.
13:31Just survive.
13:32How much grace are you going to give them early?
13:34And how much of a leash will you give this staff?
13:36How much of an excuse, basically, to start slow are you willing to offer?
13:40That's the question.
13:41800-636-1067 on GND.