- 11 minutes ago
Brian Baldinger was in attendance for Washington’s week one clash with the Eagles. In this segment, Brian tells The Sports Junkies where the Commanders went wrong and how they can make the proper adjustments before their matchup with Dallas. What are your expectations for Sunday’s big game?
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00:00Good morning, Baldy. How are you?
00:02Good morning. I'm doing good.
00:03Good, man.
00:04I'm doing good. I'm ready to flip this page to week two here right now.
00:07Excellent. So let's look back at Commander's Eagles.
00:11You tweeted this three days ago at Baldy NFL.
00:14I think he covered that game, too.
00:15Yep. You were there at the link.
00:17Yeah, I was there.
00:17So everybody's seen the Tyler Owens clip that's gone viral.
00:21You did a cut-up of that clip.
00:22I thought the first one in your breakdown was almost as impressive.
00:26It's a clip of Tyler Owens on the outside, two guys covering him.
00:31The commanders are punting from the end zone.
00:36They're deep. They're on the five-yard line.
00:38And Owens is so fast off the snap, like the two Eagles guys defending him
00:43don't even get a hand on him.
00:45And then he goes down 50 yards and makes an open field tackle by himself.
00:48I mean, he's a demon on special teams.
00:51Yeah, he was awesome. He was really good.
00:53I think he got hurt, though. Did he get banged up a little bit?
00:56Yes, but he practiced.
00:58Oh, he's okay. Oh, good.
00:59No, I mean, the second one, I mean, he literally, you know,
01:03I mean, pummels the guy down the field.
01:05And then he lifted Britton Covey up and just planted him right into the turf.
01:08Like, those are big plays.
01:10I mean, they're punting.
01:11The special teams, outside of the missed 54-yard field goal,
01:15you know, obviously the extra point was terrible.
01:17But, you know, I mean, the coverage was really good for the most part.
01:21The Eagles have pretty good special teams, take a lot of pride in it.
01:24And that Britton Covey could be dangerous.
01:26And he limited him on both those punts.
01:29Are the thing, you know, watching that game as a fan, you know, disappointed.
01:34That was an opportunity.
01:34Could have stolen that game, frankly, right?
01:36You make the extra point and, you know, kick that.
01:38Not just stolen it.
01:39I mean, forget about stealing it.
01:40They could have won the game.
01:41Yeah.
01:41I mean, you know, if they got to overtime, I thought they would win the way that they
01:46were moving the football.
01:47And then they got Antonio Williams involved, you know.
01:50And they really kind of figured some things out.
01:53But, you know, I thought there was a lot of parts to that game.
01:56The offensive line played very well for the most part.
01:59And, you know, all the way to the end, I mean, nobody really understands that final play.
02:04But, you know, the two-point conversion, I mean, you just can't take the ball out of
02:08Jayden's hands.
02:09I mean, he's just so dynamic.
02:11And I just, you know, I mean, nothing against John Bates.
02:14We love John Bates.
02:15He's a great blocker.
02:16That's not the guy's hands you want to put the ball in right there.
02:20Right.
02:20But the point is, there are things that you can build on.
02:23You know, they gave up too many explosives.
02:25They worked great on third down.
02:27Hurts killed him with a scramble.
02:29You know, we know the plays.
02:31But defensively, man, that's the best defense, at least the most active defense as a fan that
02:35I can remember in, like, the last 20 years.
02:36Going back to, like, the Greg Williams days.
02:38That's what I was hoping for.
02:39And I think they produced.
02:41Yeah.
02:42I mean, the linebackers are really good.
02:44Stiles made a number of plays.
02:46Lugo, before he got hurt, you know, is just really, really good.
02:50What you're going to see, though, with all these teams now, even this week against Dallas,
02:54you're going to see, and then Sonny Stiles showed it.
02:57Like, if these quarterbacks want to go into center and do all this play action, you might
03:00as well just blitz your middle linebacker.
03:02You know, Saquon Barkley.
03:04I mean, pick up Javante Williams.
03:06Just pick a running back.
03:08Like, they're not going to be able to block Sonny Stiles if he's coming full speed.
03:13The quarterback's got the back to him.
03:14I saw it across the league this week.
03:16And I think it's one of the answers to all these play action passes that these teams want
03:20to do.
03:21Just blitz.
03:21Just blitz up the middle.
03:23Make the running back pick you up.
03:25So, what concerned you about Washington since you were watching it down there?
03:29I mean, first half, offensively, they were really ugly.
03:32Did anything concern you, maybe on the offensive line?
03:36No, I thought Samuel Cosby was as good a right guard as he was in football this week.
03:40That's a tough assignment, Jalen Carter.
03:42Yeah.
03:42And he handled him really well.
03:45I thought Brandon Coleman against Jalex Hunt out there.
03:47Jalex Hunt's a pretty – he's a crafty player.
03:50I think he's going to have a really good year.
03:52But I didn't think Brandon had any problem.
03:54I thought they played well up front.
03:56Alec Reddy was good.
03:56And I know he came in with a bad calf.
03:59And you couldn't tell the difference out there.
04:01I thought they played really well as a unit.
04:03Like I said, if they went to overtime, I thought they'd win the game.
04:06But I thought they played well.
04:07I thought the front, the defensive front.
04:09I mean, you saw the left guards going on IR.
04:11I mean, you know, he couldn't block.
04:13I mean, he did not have a good game.
04:15He wasn't healthy.
04:15But, you know, they gave the Eagles, outside of one run by Saquon,
04:19they gave the Eagles, you know, offensive line in the run game a lot of problems up front.
04:24We're joined by Brian Baldinger, analyst for NFL Network.
04:28Nationwide is so much more than a great insurance company.
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04:36So what were your takeaways from the debut of the Sean Mannion offense there in Philly against the Commanders?
04:43I thought Jalen Hurts was in control the whole time.
04:47I thought he looked really good.
04:48You know, he made the three touchdown throws, made a couple of really key runs at key moments in the
04:53game.
04:54You know, he got the deep shot down the field.
04:58Two, two deep shots, Devontae Smith, you know, and the one for 65 yards up the first touchdown.
05:03I thought he was really good.
05:06I know how hard he's worked at the footwork and some of the play-action fakes.
05:10He's never been in an offense like this.
05:12Going back to Alabama, Oklahoma, first six years of Philadelphia, he's never played in an offense like this.
05:19But I think he's worked really hard at it.
05:21And I thought he was very good.
05:22They're probably too many three and outs, but a lot of that was, you know, the Commanders had any kind
05:28of a bubble screen or a hit screen outside.
05:30I mean, they just destroyed their blockers out there and it turned into a negative gain.
05:35So they were behind the sticks quite a bit.
05:37And, you know, they had some three and outs.
05:39But I thought for the most part, I thought Jalen played really well, saw the field well, all the way
05:43to the end with the touchdown to Dallas Goddard.
05:46Looking back at week one, it was an offensive explosion around the league.
05:51Which performance impressed you the most, the Bears putting up 59, the Ravens scoring, or anybody else?
05:59Well, the Bears 59.
06:00I mean, Caleb Williams, right out of Gonzaga High School there in D.C., you know, he was an escape
06:07artist and a magician and, you know, the MVP.
06:11Like, every big play.
06:12I mean, the touchdown throw to Cole Komet.
06:14I mean, Devin Lloyd has him blanketed.
06:17You can't throw the ball any better.
06:18You can take 100 tries at it.
06:20You couldn't throw it any better than that.
06:21It was a great catch, too.
06:23But, I mean, the decisions on the runs.
06:25Now, the tackling by the Panthers was atrocious.
06:28And so, Kyle Mennon guy, instead of a five-yard run, goes 61 yards up the middle.
06:32So, I mean, a lot of it was bad tackling across the league.
06:36But the Panthers were really guilty of that.
06:39But that was, Chicago's performance was pretty impressive.
06:42What do you make of PFF's grades?
06:44I think Caleb Williams was ranked 20th this week.
06:48Yeah, well, I mean, that's all you need to think about it.
06:52People should just watch the games.
06:54Make their own evaluations.
06:56Honestly.
06:56Like, that guy was awesome.
06:58Did he miss two or three passes?
07:00Yeah.
07:00He also made unbelievable throws all day long.
07:03And then escaped through the rush.
07:05I mean, they paid Jalen Phillips $100 million to get after the quarterback.
07:08And he was doing it.
07:09And he couldn't.
07:10If it was flag football, they couldn't have ripped the flag off him.
07:13But, you know, I mean, he was just, he was unreal, honestly.
07:17I don't know how many other guys.
07:18Josh Allen, there's a couple.
07:20Lamar.
07:20There's three or four other quarterbacks that could have done what he did.
07:24What about the Dallas Giants game jumped out at you?
07:28Obviously, it looks like the Giants are going to be, you know, a tougher matchup than maybe some of us
07:33anticipated.
07:35Dallas, they still have some great skill position players.
07:39Pickens and Lam didn't really go off, though.
07:41So, that makes me a little bit nervous as a Skins fan.
07:43Are they ready to explode this week?
07:46Defensively, maybe you can exploit them.
07:47But they, we were talking about it, they had the football on the ground like four times.
07:51They only recovered one of them.
07:52But that's a little scary, too.
07:55Yeah, it is.
07:56I mean, New York, their ball security was terrible.
08:00And it wasn't just one guy.
08:02It was three or four guys.
08:03But, you know, really, it's just the hardball philosophy.
08:09You know, let's just get as big as we can at all the positions.
08:12You know, let's get a big fullback in here, 315-pound fullback.
08:16Let's get a, you know, 330-pound right guard.
08:19Let's get a 6'5", 255-pound inside linebacker.
08:22They just got bigger and stronger and tougher as a team.
08:26Then they didn't really break down very often.
08:29You know, Pickens dropped two or three for sure.
08:32And one is probably a touchdown, no doubt.
08:35But the Giants, you know, they didn't break down like the Cowboys.
08:39They didn't cover Motor Singletary in one flat route, including one touchdown.
08:44Like, I don't understand it.
08:45They repeatedly broke down in coverage.
08:48So the communication, it's a new coordinator.
08:50There's a lot of new pieces.
08:52But, you know, when you break down in the back end of your defense, you're going to give up touchdowns.
08:56And so Isaiah Likely got the first touchdown of the day because they didn't cover him.
09:00And so, you know, and Jackson Dart played very well.
09:03He was accurate with the ball.
09:05He made good decisions.
09:06He wasn't frenetic.
09:06He ran when it was called.
09:09But he engineered the offense and looked very, very good in that game.
09:14Baldy, do you think Dallas has issues that will linger?
09:17Or was this just a game where, you know, they only put up 230 total yards and Jackson Dart killed
09:22them.
09:22Looked like Elway.
09:24Or do you think it was just one of those games on the road week one and they'll start getting
09:28better?
09:30You look, I mean, they're going to get a good test from Washington this week.
09:34They're going to see an offense line that probably is as good as the Giants for sure.
09:39And so we'll see.
09:40But, I mean, week one is always kind of like still preseason for some teams.
09:45Like they're just not in sync.
09:46And, you know, they haven't really played together.
09:49And so sometimes you just have to kind of give it a mulligan.
09:53They're going to be a good team.
09:55But, you know, they're best players playing in Green Bay.
09:59And so they let him walk.
10:00And now they're trying to cobble a pass rush together.
10:02And you could talk about all the guys with Sean Gary and Malachi Lawrence and Donovan Ezzarocco.
10:08All the guys are coming off the edge for him.
10:10None of them can do anything close to what Micah did for four years on that team.
10:16Hey, Baldy, I expected Kenneth Walker in the thirds.
10:19To make a big impact on the Chiefs offense.
10:21I don't know if I expected what he did on Sunday night to the Broncos.
10:2523 for 173, including a 60-yard touchdown.
10:29He chips in in the receiving game, too.
10:3126 touches on the day.
10:33Two touchdowns.
10:33And the perfect formula for Mahomes coming back off the ACL tear.
10:37It's not all on his back.
10:39Only had 27 attempts.
10:40Kansas City rushed the ball 38 times in just a convincing win over a division rival.
10:48Well, you're spot on.
10:49And I've never seen Kenneth Walker play a game like that.
10:53Now, he's been a good player.
10:54And obviously, the Super Bowl MVP and all that.
10:57He's been a good player.
10:57He's made a lot of splash runs that go right to the highlight reel.
11:01But I've never seen him perform like that.
11:03But, you know, I mean, that's good coaching.
11:06And he's like, okay, we got a quarterback coming back from major surgery.
11:10Let's kind of take it easy on him a little bit.
11:13Not that he needs to.
11:14But let's ease him back in here.
11:15Let's not put it all on Patrick.
11:17Let's get the two running backs.
11:19Emmitt Johnson, too.
11:19The rookie is a really good player.
11:21But let's get our offense line some work.
11:24And that's just good coaching.
11:26You know, they had a rookie left tackle out there.
11:28Never played left tackle in his life.
11:30Undrafted free agent at Indiana, Khalil Benson.
11:32Played great.
11:33Had a real shark out there on his outside.
11:37And Nick Benito.
11:38And handled him just fine.
11:40They went big, like to a whopper package with seven offensive linemen and a defensive tackle.
11:45For every short yardage situation they had to continue to, you know, sustain drives.
11:50It was a really good game plan.
11:53And, you know, Denver contributed to it, too.
11:56I mean, that was a pathetic effort on their part.
11:58And I put it up there on my social media.
12:00And I don't like to rip teams or coaches.
12:02But that was pathetic.
12:03All right.
12:04Tonight, you've got Buffalo opening up their new stadium.
12:07Playing Detroit.
12:08Josh Allen was unbelievable last week.
12:11Accounting for four touchdowns against what was the number one defense in the league last year.
12:16Put up almost 40.
12:18Dalton Kincaid had 130 yards on five catches.
12:22DJ Moore had 100 yards on five catches.
12:25I mean, they were just big play after big play.
12:27And Detroit, I mean, they scored 31.
12:29But they didn't look great in the second half.
12:31Certainly against the pass.
12:32What are you thinking about tonight?
12:34Well, Buffalo had a good game plan.
12:37I mean, they said, you know, Will Anderson and Daniil Hunter are not going to beat our quarterback up like
12:41he did last year.
12:43So they really did a good job helping the tackles when they needed to.
12:46And then Josh just saw the field.
12:49He was so comfortable.
12:49He was just like that.
12:51You know, you go to the gym sometimes.
12:52And everybody's a pretty good pickup basketball player.
12:55But there was one guy out there that played major college basketball.
12:58And you're like, oh, that's what that looks like.
13:01I mean, Josh Allen was just so much better than anybody else on the field.
13:05You know, he looked like, you know, he was in the varsity and everybody else was playing JV.
13:10I mean, he was just that good.
13:11And a lot of that is Joe Brady.
13:13A lot of that is a good offensive line and a lot of peace around him.
13:17But D.J. Moore made a big difference on that team.
13:19And they really executed their game plan well.
13:22But, see, look, New Orleans, like, they had a lot of fight in them.
13:25You know, they were down 21-0.
13:26They came roaring back.
13:27Give Tyler Shuck and Kellen Moore a bunch of credit.
13:30They hit the two-point conversion.
13:32At the end, they probably come out of there with a win.
13:34Right.
13:35But Detroit's got issues on defense.
13:37You know, outside of Aiden Hutchinson, you know, tell me, you know, maybe Derek Barnes.
13:42Tell me, anybody else that made any plays on that defense?
13:46So, Baldy, where are you going to be this weekend?
13:48Where are your travels taking you?
13:50It's going to be an awesome weekend.
13:52I'm heading to Tuscaloosa on Saturday for Alabama, Florida State.
13:55And then I'm driving a couple hours to Atlanta to do the Falcons and Panthers on Sunday.
13:59So, you know, anytime you get a chance to do a doubleheader, I mean, it's a magical weekend.
14:05Yeah, nice double dip, man.
14:06Safe travels, and we'll talk to you again next week.
14:09Thanks, buddy.
14:10Look forward to it, man.
14:11Enjoy the games this week.
14:12Thanks, Baldy.
14:13That's Brian Baldinger, analyst for NFL Network.
14:15That NFL Insider Call brought to you by Nationwide.
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14:24Don't forget Dave Richard will join us in just about 20 minutes at 8 o'clock
14:27to answer all of your Week 2 fantasy football questions.
14:30Remember to join us in just about 21 minutes at 9 o'clock.
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