- 1 week ago
Martenzie Johnson explains why he believes things aren't as bad as they seem for the Washington Commanders.
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00:00Getting ahead of tonight's game, helping us out is our friend Martenzi Johnson.
00:04Covers the Commanders for Notice.
00:06Martenzi, what's up, dude?
00:08What's up, JP?
00:08What's up, B-Mitch?
00:09How are you all doing?
00:10We're good, man.
00:11What's happening with you?
00:11We're here early, Martenzi.
00:14We'll get the early scouting report.
00:15We got you at 9-something for a 6 o'clock game.
00:19Yeah, yeah.
00:20I'm not that early.
00:21I'm still in D.C.
00:22So, you know, I'll see you all this afternoon.
00:24I mean, I'm thinking about this, B.
00:26We're going to be at this stadium for like 16 hours.
00:29I'm going to take a break.
00:30I'm going to leave.
00:31Good for you.
00:31Go get some crab.
00:32Go get some Old Bay.
00:34No, I just got to get out.
00:35I can't just stay here the whole time.
00:36So, I'm going to run back to that hotel around at 2.
00:40I'm out.
00:40Yeah, if I know you, you're going to figure yourself out.
00:43I'm just going to the hotel.
00:44I'm going to come right back.
00:45Can I just drive back in here?
00:46I think you just take an Uber, dude.
00:48Anyway, let's talk football.
00:49I won't take all that.
00:50We can figure your logistics out later.
00:54Martenzi, the joint practice against Baltimore was a disaster.
00:57You also had a fella named Tanoa Togiai at right guard.
01:02How real was what we saw at joint practice as it relates to week one in Philadelphia?
01:10I would say it's not that real only because two starters were missing.
01:16Allegretti still isn't back yet.
01:18Cosme was out with an illness.
01:19So, that's not going to be anything long term.
01:22So, what we saw was presumably the Ravens' first team defense or first team, you know,
01:29defensive line against the commanders who are missing two starters, not to mention Brandon Coleman filling in for Laramie Tunzel.
01:38So, you know, it seemed like the sky was falling based on what we were watching because the offense couldn't
01:45get much going.
01:46You couldn't get to the run game or the pass game because it was getting blown up.
01:50But, unfortunately, the first test of this, of what we're actually going to see, is going to be against Jordan
01:56Davis and Jalen Carter.
01:58So, you know, it's not the greatest.
02:00It doesn't get easier.
02:02So, I won't say, you know, they're in super trouble right now because we still have no clue what the
02:11team looks like with Allegretti at center.
02:13I guess, you know, left guard where Chris Paul is still a question.
02:17But, until we see why Dan Quinn and Adam Peters were so high on Allegretti that they let Beatish go,
02:26then we don't really know what this offensive line can do.
02:29But, the problem is, Allegretti hasn't been there.
02:31So, I guess there's no guarantee he'll be there week one either.
02:34Yeah.
02:34What is your concern level for Allegretti at this point?
02:37I mean, they kept saying, yeah, he'll miss this week, and then we'd get to the next week, and they'd
02:40say, yeah, he's out this week.
02:42Like, it has continued to be a problem.
02:45Yeah.
02:45It seems the medical staff takes the cautious approach, you know, because they're players on the defense.
02:52Payne, Adafi Owe, Kalevon, Chasen, they haven't practiced for a while either.
02:57Some of that is calf-related stuff as well.
02:59And so, it seems like what Dan said last week was, look, it's still the preseason, it's still training camp.
03:07If this was week one, a lot of these guys would be playing.
03:10So, I don't know if Nick Allegretti was in that, what he was talking about, but I'll just presume that
03:17Nick would be playing right now if it was week one.
03:21But, as far as calf injuries go, this isn't even just a football thing.
03:25In basketball, you worry about calves because that can easily translate into Achilles, and then you're out for a very
03:32long time.
03:32So, I would just say, like, if they're taking the cautious approach, that's probably the best thing.
03:39But if this does continue to linger, then I think you have to worry.
03:43But they haven't said, you know, cuts haven't been made yet, and they haven't said if Nick will be able
03:49to go on September 13th or not.
03:51So, that's still, you know, two weeks away.
03:52So, I'm not there yet, but let, you know, another week and a half go by, then I'll be concerned.
03:58You said something there that makes me think, like, when Dan makes the comment that if it was regular season,
04:04a lot of these guys would be going.
04:05And I know we take a lot of words he's saying and we dissect them.
04:11That is one, I think, what you threw out there that we need to look at and watch it.
04:16But during the season, will guys be going more?
04:19You know what I mean?
04:20Because if that one statement right there can mean, listen, in this new age, I'm making sure my guys get
04:28there, which I don't totally agree with.
04:30But still, I make sure my guys are going to be there for week one.
04:33Yeah, you don't, why rush, like, let's say Odafe Owe, for example, why rush him back to play one series
04:40against the Lions when he can rest up for an additional two to three weeks to go against the Eagles
04:46and the Cowboys and the Seahawks?
04:48You know what I mean?
04:48So, yeah, we as media and then the fans and everyone on the Internet, yeah, you're worried because you're not
04:55seeing the guys who you want to see out there.
04:57And you might see a bunch of starters on other teams.
05:00But we're thinking long term here, right?
05:03And same thing with Jaden last year.
05:05I bet a bunch of people, including Jaden, wanted him to finish that season.
05:07But why risk anything if there's no reward at the end of it?
05:13And that's the same, I think, for the injuries now.
05:15Like, of course, I would have loved to see all of the defense out there against the Lions and really
05:21against the Ravens in joint practice.
05:22But the more important thing is for them to be out there in a couple weeks.
05:28For sure.
05:29So, Martensi, looking at tonight, what are some of the things, like, we're not going to see Jaden.
05:33We're not going to see, we'll probably see Goldman.
05:36We're certainly not going to see Alec Gretti.
05:37Like, what are you going to watch for tonight?
05:40Well, I mean, I'm joking here, but Dan didn't say Jaden wasn't going to play.
05:44So, you know, there's always a chance.
05:46But, yeah, the likely thing is, you know, we're not going to see anyone who is going to survive the
05:51cuts on Sunday.
05:53But a few of the things I'm going to look at, we can even start at quarterback, is Aethan Kelly
05:58-McNanis against Sam Hartman.
06:01And I, at the beginning of the camp, was not sure on Aethan.
06:06And then he played against the Dolphins and the Lions, and I'm a true believer now.
06:11Just his poise in the pocket, he can move around.
06:13Those two throws to Nick Nash and Jaden Bradley, that's what you want really in a quarterback two, but definitely
06:20in a quarterback three.
06:21And with the uncertainty with Mariota, I think Aethan has a chance, obviously, to surpass Sam.
06:29But he can really get to that QB2 spot, too, if they don't bring in someone else.
06:35So, I'm looking closely at how him and Sam go back and forth.
06:38Something I actually kind of appreciate in Sam from the last game was, obviously, Aethan outperformed him.
06:44And he was upset in the sideline, as it's Sam, and through his helmet.
06:48I want to see if he comes back from that and has a better performance, or if he kind of
06:53lives in that and can't get beyond it.
06:55So, I'll be looking at that.
06:57Robert Henry Jr. at running back, he was exceptional against the Dolphins.
07:02I thought I had him penciled in right there.
07:0453-man roster, easy.
07:05He'll be the fourth running back.
07:07And then he fumbled the kickoff in the last game.
07:11And the joint practice against the Ravens, he had another fumble.
07:14He hasn't looked great in pass protection.
07:15So, I want to see those two things from him today.
07:17Hold on to the ball.
07:19Get some actual yardage, because he had negative yardage against the Lions.
07:24And provide some protection for your quarterback.
07:27Because, as we were just talking about the offensive line, that's going to be very important for whoever's back there
07:32next to J.B.
07:33Yeah.
07:34I mean, the offensive line is going to be vital.
07:35I mean, it is for every organization in the NFL.
07:38And if it looks like it did against Baltimore, there's going to be massive, massive problems.
07:43I just don't think it's going to look like it did against Baltimore.
07:46You referenced this a little earlier.
07:48How concerned are you by Owe?
07:50Like, I mean, he's a huge piece.
07:52They spent real money to bring him in.
07:54And I feel like we haven't even physically seen him in a while.
07:58Yeah.
07:59So, he obviously hasn't played in any of the games.
08:01I think he was there for the joint practice against the Dolphins.
08:04But he wasn't there this week against the Ravens.
08:07I think he was probably top of mind.
08:10Because I think that's...
08:11I'm not certain.
08:12But I'm pretty sure Adafi or Calevon was the person that the reporter referenced when they asked Dan about the
08:18concern of injuries.
08:19So, I think Adafi was top of mind when Dan was saying week one, these guys would have likely been
08:24playing.
08:25So, I'm not concerned yet.
08:26But I think...
08:26Is Adafi the calf, too?
08:28I mix up.
08:29There's so many injuries.
08:30I mix up.
08:30I think he is a calf.
08:31It is.
08:32He is a calf, too.
08:33So, yeah.
08:33The more time you can spend with the medical team with a calf, the better.
08:38Because, again, not all the time.
08:40But calf muscles can quickly turn into Achilles problems.
08:44And you don't want that for someone who has to burst off the line to get to the quarterback for
08:49most of the plays that he's out there for.
08:51So, there's minimal concern because he's not there.
08:55And you want your top players to be there.
08:57But I think when Dan was mentioning who would be playing if this was a regular season, I think Adafi
09:03was one of those guys.
09:04I agree with that.
09:06I wonder if Algrady is one of those, too.
09:08Where are you on Bill's situation?
09:11That one's weird because I was at the practice where he apparently tightened up.
09:16I didn't see it.
09:17I just saw what the other reporters later said.
09:19And they made it seem like it was no big deal.
09:23And now we haven't seen Bill since then.
09:27I would hope that he's one of those, if this was a regular season, he would play sort of guys.
09:31But they've really not given us much on what actually happened to Bill.
09:36So, I guess once Monday comes around and we have the final roster, then we can ask those sort of
09:44questions of like, hey, how much time do you actually see him being out for?
09:48But, yeah, anything lower leg with a running back, you're concerned, especially when his backup has not been practicing either,
09:57Rashad White.
09:57So, if worse comes to worse, I've been high on K-Tron Allen and, shoot, he might have the opportunity
10:05come week one if these are serious injuries to Bill and Rashad.
10:09Do you suspect seeing any surprises?
10:13What is it?
10:14Sunday afternoon?
10:15Sunday afternoon, yeah.
10:16By Sunday.
10:17Yeah, I think the receiver position is probably going to be the biggest surprise.
10:22Like, some of the stuff, some of the, you know, competition stuff has already been sorted out.
10:28Offensive line, I think, is one of those, even though we kind of see that as a weakness.
10:33But I feel it's going to come down to Trey Burks, De'Ami Brown, perhaps Luke McCaffrey as one of
10:43those final guys.
10:44I know Jaden Bradley shows something, obviously Nick Nash had the 55-yard touchdown, but I think the real competition
10:50is right there with McCaffrey, Burks, and De'Ami.
10:55And I think Luke has the edge because he's the kick returner, so then that comes down to De'Ami
11:00and Trey.
11:02Now, they could surprise me, and both of them are on the team, but amongst those two, I think a
11:05big surprise because both of them have looked really well, especially Trey, that first day of camp.
11:10Like, he was the standout amongst the receivers, and that hasn't been the case in recent weeks, but also Stephon
11:17Diggs showed up, right?
11:18But I think the biggest surprise will be of the two of those who get cut because you can see
11:24each one of them, even being like the receiver three or four on this team, and they might not make
11:29it.
11:30Talking with Martensi Johnson here on the Rude Guest Hotline.
11:33And Martensi covers the commanders for notice reports.
11:36You can give Martensi a follow at the number 1010ZJohnson, 10ZJohnson.
11:42Martensi, I wanted to make time for a profile you wrote on commanders defensive coordinator Durante Jones, and specifically kind
11:50of the Denzel stuff you pulled from that.
11:53Tell folks about what you learned about the defensive coordinator.
11:56Yeah, I can actually give the audience a clue into how my brain works.
12:00So it was the first day of, well, no, the second week of minicamp, and Frankie Lubu was talking with
12:07us after practice that day.
12:10And he was going, and someone asked him about Durante, and he said, you know, he teaches us this and
12:15this and this and this, and he always tells us to keep our Denzel Washington caps on.
12:18And in that exact moment, I was like, wait a minute, there's something here.
12:22And so I didn't know what he meant by that.
12:24I thought it was just like, be smart, pay attention, you know, pay attention to your craft, that sort of
12:28stuff.
12:28And then I started talking to the players, and they were like, no, that's about disguising the defense.
12:33We have to be really good actors to sell one thing that we might be doing when actually we're doing
12:39something completely different.
12:40And so an example of that was against the Lions.
12:44I want to say it was the third or fourth play.
12:46I don't know, because on the second play was the Meek Robertson sack fumble that led to the touchdown.
12:51But then, you know, Detroit got the ball back.
12:53So I think within two or three plays of that, Dobbs is getting chased to the right, throws across his
12:59body, and Quan Martin picks him off.
13:00What happened before that play was the commanders were showing cover one.
13:05So there was only one safety back there.
13:06It was man-to-man amongst the cornerbacks.
13:09And it looks like the other seven players, the front seven, were going to do an all-out blitz.
13:13So I imagine Dobbs is thinking, okay, I'm going to have someone probably really quickly across the middle, something like
13:19that.
13:19And then the second the ball is hiked, four of those rushers drop back, and then you see it's actually
13:25cover three.
13:26And so that, I think, confuses Dobbs.
13:28He gets a little flustered.
13:29He throws across the body.
13:30That leads to an interception.
13:32The players sold the blitz.
13:34And so that confused probably Dobbs, the offensive line.
13:37They probably changed some stuff up.
13:39And so that leads to an interception.
13:40It leads to a turnover.
13:41That's what Durante wants the defense to do.
13:44He wants the offense to think they're doing one thing when they're doing something completely different.
13:49And they have to do that because the offense does the same thing.
13:51There's all these motions.
13:53There's all these shifts.
13:54You have a tight end who's looking like a fullback.
13:56All these sorts of things to confuse the defense.
13:58So now it's the defense's chance to do the vice versa to them.
14:02And that was really the epitome of it.
14:04And he chose Denzel because he's loved Denzel for 40 years.
14:09He thinks he's the best actor in Hollywood.
14:12And so he wants his players to mirror what Denzel can do on screen.
14:17All right.
14:19You were with us maybe a couple weeks back, and I think you said you thought this could be a
14:23top 10 defense.
14:24Has that changed at all as injuries have piled up?
14:27We still don't know what the heck's going on with Trey Amos.
14:29Do you still feel pretty confident in this defense?
14:32I think it's the same with the offensive line where if they're at full strength, absolutely.
14:37Even with Amos missing, I think that Razul Douglas can fill in for him at that position.
14:44But, yeah, if Adaphe and Caleb Vaughn and Derron Payne, obviously Dorrance Armstrong is going to miss that first game.
14:51And Tim Settle, if they're not there, no, they're not going to be a top 10 defense.
14:55But if everyone's there, from what we've seen at camp, how disruptive they can be, mix in some of the
15:00disguise stuff that Durante is talking about,
15:03I have no reason to believe they can't be one of the best defenses in the league.
15:07But, again, if the health isn't there, then they're not going to be as bad as they were last year,
15:13right?
15:13But they're not going to be as good as I thought.
15:15Yeah.
15:16It's going to be fun, man.
15:18Martensi, I appreciate you making time, dude.
15:19Appreciate you, bro.
15:19We'll see you when you get here.
15:21You know, we decided to get here early, but you do you.
15:24Yeah.
15:25Let me pubs under real quick.
15:26I'm doing an AMA on our commanders starting at 12.
15:31So that's why I'm going to be late as well because I have to do that.
15:33But I will see you all after that.
15:35For anyone else, though, send me some questions if you want to.
15:37All right.
15:38All right, man.
15:38Check them out.
15:39Give them a follow.
15:40Martensi Johnson at 10ZJohnson.
15:43I'll see you next time.
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