- 5 minutes ago
Washington’s brutal record says one thing, but the game film reveals an entirely different story. NFL insider Brian Baldinger explains why this struggling squad is only a few bounces away from shocking the league.
Share, Thumbs Up & Subscribe to 106.7 The Fan for New Content Daily!
Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/1067TheFan
Like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/1067thefan
Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/1067theFan
Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/1067thefan/
Share, Thumbs Up & Subscribe to 106.7 The Fan for New Content Daily!
Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/1067TheFan
Like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/1067thefan
Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/1067theFan
Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/1067thefan/
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00All right, let's check in with our analyst for NFL Network, Brian Baldinger.
00:04You can follow his breakdowns online at Baldi NFL.
00:07Baldi.
00:08His call brought to you by Nationwide for your insurance and financial needs.
00:11Nationwide is on your side.
00:13What's up, Baldi?
00:14Hey, good morning, guys.
00:16You know, let's kick off week eight, see if we can have some fun this weekend.
00:21Yeah, you know what?
00:22There's some new faces in new places.
00:24What does Quentin Nelson mean for the Seattle Seahawks?
00:28Well, he's a great player.
00:30And I remember when Seattle one time had Steve Hutchinson and Walter Jones on the left
00:37side of their offensive line.
00:38They went to a Super Bowl that year.
00:40With Quentin Kidd, he's just kind of great at everything.
00:43The guy's just a complete pro.
00:44He's still playing great football.
00:46You look at that Jonathan Taylor touchdown run last week against Minnesota for 38 yards,
00:50went right behind Quentin Nelson.
00:52He's still moving guys off the line.
00:54I don't know where they're going to play him.
00:56He's been a left guard.
00:57Graves Abel's a left guard there now.
00:59But I think they want to try to upgrade the right guard position.
01:02So one of those guys, I think, is going to go over there.
01:05Baldy, you know, you're up there in the Philly area.
01:07So you're certainly in tune with all of the injuries that the Eagles are suffering here.
01:14I was just reading their update.
01:17Saquon, I believe, Devontae Wicks and Smith did not practice yesterday.
01:24Nolan Smith Jr. was a limited participant in practice yesterday.
01:28And obviously, Hurts is out for the year.
01:30This is a huge game for Washington if they just want to kind of stay in the mix.
01:35And they're playing a very depleted team in the Eagles.
01:38So what are you hearing on some of these injuries, especially with Saquon?
01:41Well, don't make excuses for the Eagles now.
01:44I mean, they were fully healthy defensively, and they were awful against Dallas.
01:47Yes, they were.
01:48Just awful on Monday night.
01:49So awful that the Eagle fans, they didn't even boo.
01:52They just left.
01:53They just left the stadium.
01:55That's not what the Eagle fans do.
01:56It was a pathetic effort.
01:58But Nick Sariani was asked about it yesterday, and he said that there's nothing wrong with the effort.
02:04I laughed.
02:06Because, I mean, I don't like to – I'm not a negative person by nature,
02:10and I don't like to put out negative type of videos.
02:14But, I mean, we couldn't help it.
02:16Guys couldn't even get in their stance, and the ball was being snapped.
02:19I mean, they just weren't ready to play.
02:21It was bad.
02:21But, you know, offensively, they actually moved.
02:25They scored 21 points more than they scored in the last couple of games,
02:28and they had a chance to actually do more, even with all the injuries.
02:32I mean, Saquon had a good game, but he was pretty limited in what he did.
02:37He got hurt early.
02:38So, I mean, I thought the offense actually moved the ball pretty good.
02:42That was Dallas' defense.
02:44Washington's defense is much better.
02:45But I thought the offense, actually, with all the injuries, still wasn't too bad.
02:50Mekhi Lemon, the first-round pick, scored his first touchdown.
02:53Well, you know, I thought Damian Pierce ran the best he's been since he's been there.
02:57So, I thought I saw some improvement on offense.
02:59What are you hearing on the receivers, Smith and Wicks?
03:04I don't think.
03:05I mean, I don't want to be.
03:07It's only Thursday, so I'm not going to say.
03:10But I hear that, you know, there's real issues with Devontae Smith, for sure.
03:15And Dontavion Wicks has been out for a couple of weeks now,
03:18so I'm not exactly sure what his status is.
03:22Yeah.
03:23Do you envision the Eagles, if they lose this game,
03:26do you think that they're going to deal off some guys like a Saquon Barkley?
03:31I don't think.
03:32I mean, Howie's never done that before, Howie Roseman, the general manager.
03:35He's never done that before.
03:36Even when they collapsed in that last year under Doug Peterson,
03:39and they only won four games, they didn't do it then.
03:42And, you know, me, Saquon might make sense.
03:47They have a lot of injuries at running back.
03:49But he's been banged up now for quite a while.
03:52And so he didn't look good last week.
03:54He looked like he's having problems with his hamstring.
03:57I don't know that people want to take, you know,
04:01I'm not saying he's damaged goods,
04:02but I don't think they're going to take a guy who's been in and out of the lineup
04:05the last couple of weeks.
04:07Talking to Brian Baldinger, his call brought to you by Nationwide.
04:11Nationwide is so much more than a great insurance company.
04:13They're one of America's largest financial service companies to Nationwide.
04:17Nationwide is on your side.
04:19So I started off talking about faces in new places.
04:23DeForest Buckner is another one.
04:24He returns to San Francisco.
04:26What will he mean to that San Francisco defense that has struggled at times?
04:31He's going to be a great addition.
04:33I mean, he's still a good player.
04:36And he's a lot like Quinton in that he's a total pro.
04:39So, and I thought, I was on a San Francisco radio station on Monday,
04:43and I thought they would make this move.
04:45I thought that'd be the one move John Lynch would make.
04:47I know he wanted to go back if there was an opportunity.
04:50I know he was sick of what was going on in Indianapolis.
04:54But he's still 6'7", 300 pounds, and he's a force.
04:57And they don't really have anybody else like him,
04:59and they're going to get Nick Bosa back.
05:01And so, you know, they want to make a run.
05:03And I think DeForest Buckner makes a lot of sense.
05:06He's familiar with that organization.
05:09You know, he went because he was a high-priced free agent
05:12and did his time in Indianapolis.
05:14And I think he's being motivated and excited to go back,
05:17and I think they're going to get a good player.
05:19Speaking of going back, I want to go back to last Thursday night's game,
05:22which was Bears-Patriots.
05:24And you got to see Caleb Williams and Drake May square off against each other.
05:29Both of them threw for over 300 yards.
05:31It was an impressive game by both.
05:33And then let's fast-forward to Bears-Seattle,
05:36because I want to ask you,
05:37do you think the Bears and Caleb Williams can do what they did
05:40against New England, against Seattle,
05:42where Seattle's defenses just look superimposing?
05:46Well, they just shut down Kenneth Walker.
05:48I mean, shut him down.
05:50Kenneth Walker was averaging 135 rush yards a game going into Sunday night.
05:55He ran for 37 against Seattle.
05:58They were on a mission to stop him.
06:00What I'm fascinated about this game, and it's going to be a great game,
06:04is Ben Johnson against Mike McDonald.
06:06I think you're looking at maybe the best play caller, offensive coordinator,
06:10offensive designer right now in football against the best defensive coordinator.
06:14Like, I think that's the matchup.
06:16And so, I don't think that, I don't think Chicago's going to try to run the ball right at Seattle,
06:24but I think they're going to try and do it in different ways.
06:26And I'm curious, just because Seattle's so good with Leonard Williams and Byron Murphy
06:31and Jaron Reed and the guys they have in the middle, they're so good.
06:35Like, I'm curious to see, they're going to run the ball,
06:38and they're going to stay with it.
06:40But I just want to see how they do it against Seattle's defense.
06:45Baldy, how much of a believer are you in Minnesota going forward?
06:506-0, obviously a great start, and probably going to get to the playoffs at least,
06:55if not win the division.
06:57I'm a big believer because I think defensively, they're very good.
07:01Now they play a big game against Detroit this weekend,
07:04and we'll see how that defense holds up.
07:07So, I don't think they're going to go undefeated this year.
07:10But I think the defense is,
07:13Brian Flores started this defense in Miami six years ago,
07:17and he's perfected it.
07:18Everybody else is taking a piece of it right now.
07:20But he's the original designer of it, and it causes a lot of problems.
07:26They lead the league in sacks, I mean, negative plays, third down defense.
07:31So, they're going to keep the score down in most games.
07:34Offensively, they do struggle.
07:36But even like last week, I mean, Indianapolis was so intent on not letting
07:43Justin Jefferson beat them, the way that they doubled them,
07:46the way they put the safety over the top, everything they did,
07:48that it opened up things for T.J. Hawkinson and Jordan Mason in the run game
07:53in ways.
07:54And so, they have a lot of pieces offensively that can hurt you.
07:59The quarterback probably needs to play better.
08:01But I think their offense is going to get better as the season goes on.
08:05And I think they're going to be a real tough out for anybody when they get to January.
08:10Yeah, next four are tough.
08:11Detroit on the road, Buffalo.
08:14Then they've got to go to Green Bay, go to Lambeau,
08:16and then they've got the Niners in the next month.
08:18Yeah, that's a tough stretch.
08:20You know, look, if they go two and two,
08:22they're going to be eight and two through the tough stretch.
08:26But I think they could go two and two at least in this next stretch right here.
08:31So, and whoever does beat them, if it's Detroit, if it's Green Bay, whoever it is,
08:36I'm curious to see how they handle the assimilated pressures that they show
08:41and then the actual level of blitzing that they actually do.
08:46So, whoever handles them and, you know, puts up 24, 30 points on them,
08:51I really want to study that game and see what they did and how they handled it.
08:55Talking to Brian Baldinger, Odyssey Sports NFL Insider.
08:59This NFL Insider call presented by Nationwide for your insurance
09:02and financial needs Nationwide's on your side.
09:04Kind of want your big-picture view of the Commanders.
09:08Obviously, a terrible record at 1-4-1.
09:10They had the tie against the Giants.
09:12They had the two-point loss to open the season against the Eagles.
09:15Do you think that they're close or they're far away from being a decent team?
09:21Well, you know, they could have easily beaten the Giants.
09:24That'd be two wins.
09:25They could have easily gone to overtime with the Eagles.
09:28They didn't.
09:30I think they're closer.
09:32I think they've been very competitive.
09:34And that's with quarterback changes and playing three quarterbacks.
09:37And, you know, now they lost Terry McLaurin.
09:40We'll see just how bad that hurts them.
09:42It's going to be a loss.
09:43But I think defensively, they put a lot of money into the front,
09:47into the linebacking core.
09:48They've played well despite a lot of injuries there.
09:52Leo Chanel was a guy they were counting on, and he's not going to be there.
09:55So, despite the injury, I think they played well.
09:59I think they played better than their record.
10:02And this is a big test this weekend.
10:04You know, Philadelphia is really on a five-game slide here.
10:07They're really hurting defensively.
10:10I think there's still a lot of talent there, although they're not playing close to it.
10:14So, this is a good test for them this weekend.
10:17You know, it's in Washington.
10:19There's going to be a lot of Eagle fans that will actually travel even after the Monday night defeat.
10:24So, it should be a good game.
10:27And we'll see how Washington responds after the loss of McLaurin
10:30and the amount of time that they've had off right now to prepare.
10:35Baldy, during your career, and you played in the NFL for 10, 11 years,
10:38did you ever have an in-season coaching change?
10:41Yeah, one time.
10:42I had it when I was in Indianapolis.
10:45We fired Ron Meyer, who was the head coach.
10:48And we hired our defensive coordinator.
10:51And it gave us a little bit of a lift, I think, one week.
10:57That's the year that we went 1-15.
11:01That's a slight lift.
11:02I don't know that anybody was going to make a difference.
11:05What was the reaction of the players, just the players in the locker room, when that happened?
11:11Were they for it?
11:14There wasn't a lot of, what do they think they're doing?
11:18Like, that's good.
11:18No, I thought they thought it was a good change.
11:23Ron Meyer didn't call plays.
11:24You know, and he had offensive coordinators, defensive coordinators.
11:29We had players that were suspended, a lot of injuries, all that.
11:32We had eight guys break their legs that year.
11:35You know, so...
11:35That's insane.
11:36...unusual year.
11:37Yeah.
11:37Like, there are guys that they've put out there that are playing.
11:41Probably, this is way before practice squads were real big.
11:44They were probably playing a lot of guys that didn't deserve to be playing in the NFL, but they had
11:49to.
11:50Well, the reason I ask that, Baldy, is at halftime of that San Francisco 49ers game,
11:56when they're down 20-3, a lot of people thought, well, they've got a bye week.
12:00This might be it for Dan Quinn, but they fought back in the second half.
12:03Now, the perception here in Washington is, well, this is an absolute must-win
12:08against a team that's beleaguered, that's lost five in a row.
12:11What happens if they don't win this?
12:14Yeah, well, I don't know how Josh Harris thinks.
12:18And if he thinks, I mean, he owns a lot of different professional teams.
12:21And so, I don't know how some of them are doing, but, I mean, that's a call by the owner.
12:28You know, they've got, obviously, Adam Peters is the GM, but he doesn't make that call.
12:33So, it goes all the way up the flagpole.
12:34And I don't know that we know a whole lot about Josh Harris as an owner
12:38and how impatient he gets like some of these guys do.
12:41So, but the cry for the removal of Dan will be pretty loud from a pretty emotional fan base.
12:53Oh, yeah.
12:54At least the fan base is very, very tied into the team and connected.
12:59And so, this would be a devastating loss if Philadelphia turns around,
13:05especially after what I watched on film Monday night.
13:08That was an awful effort by that entire defense, not just one guy or two guys.
13:13It was the whole defense.
13:15One last one for you, Baldy.
13:17So, big NFC North matchup between the Browns and Steelers.
13:22Kind of surprising.
13:23Both teams are 5-2.
13:24Which team are you buying more, the Browns or the Steelers?
13:29The Browns offense was really good against, and that was against Tennessee.
13:33But they did everything they wanted to do.
13:35The quarterback, too, for over 300 yards.
13:38The running backs, both young running backs, Quinshawn and Dylan Sampson,
13:42they both had great games offensively.
13:44I mean, everybody played well.
13:47They had been struggling offensively and finding ways to win games.
13:50I believe in Cleveland.
13:52They beat Pittsburgh earlier on a last-minute and 30-second drive
13:57to kick a field goal to beat them.
13:58I feel like Cleveland is a little more consistent.
14:02They're younger, a lot younger than Pittsburgh is.
14:05I'm kind of buying Cleveland a little bit more,
14:08although this game is in Pittsburgh this weekend.
14:12All right, Baldy.
14:13Good stuff, as always.
14:14Talk to you next week.
14:15See you, buddy.
14:16Thanks, guys.
14:16Thanks, guys.