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The Washington Commanders are facing a mounting injury crisis with key starters landing on IR.
Can they patch up their depth and pull off an upset against the Rams, or will the depleted roster finally crack?

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Transcript
00:00All right, boys, let's do some procedural things.
00:04Yesterday, of course, the commanders dealing with injuries,
00:08like everybody around the league,
00:11and certainly with some significant players.
00:13You see how wounded the Eagles were.
00:16We were able to take advantage of that.
00:18Commanders were pretty wounded, too.
00:20They placed Deron Payne, Javon Kinlaw, and Jeremy McNichols on IR.
00:28Payne's going to miss the rest of the season.
00:29He's got a season-ending foot injury, so that's done.
00:33Probably the last time you'll see him in a commander's uniform, I guess,
00:36unless he signed some sort of short-term deal or something.
00:39I don't know.
00:44Kinlaw still has a lingering knee issue.
00:47It's going to hurt big time.
00:49I mean, they do have some depth there.
00:50It's probably their deepest position,
00:53so maybe they can afford a little bit.
00:55And, of course, they're going to have Johnny Newton
00:57still in his window to return from his pec injury.
01:02So it would be nice if they're able to activate him to add a little depth.
01:06He's not going to star or anything, but maybe he can make a few plays.
01:09It is worrisome to not have Payne and Kinlaw together.
01:12We didn't see it necessarily hurt them in the last game,
01:15but the Rams are going to pound the football.
01:18They're committed to the run with Corum and Williams.
01:22Yeah, you're going to need it.
01:23You've got Tim Settle.
01:24You've got Shai Tuttle.
01:24If you add Johnny Newton, hopefully that can help some.
01:31They also claimed running back Robert Henry, who they lost earlier.
01:35Remember, kind of around that same time when they tried to stash Catron Allen.
01:40Robert Henry was picked up by Seattle in October.
01:47They just waived him, so they picked him back up.
01:50So remember, he flashed a little bit in the preseason, especially early on.
01:55Then he kind of quieted down.
01:56But he is someone that knows the system.
01:59I do think we have an issue here, kind of at running back.
02:03We're certainly not settled there.
02:06Man, this is six starters now that are on IR.
02:10Six starters for, might be seven.
02:13For Washington.
02:14Yeah, I mean, go through the names.
02:15I mean, they're significant players when you think about Terry and Kinlaw and Tunsell.
02:21Yeah, so Kinlaw.
02:21I mean, these are like real players.
02:23I'm just talking about the starters.
02:24Kinlaw, Bill, Chanel, Tunsell, Payne, Terry.
02:30Right.
02:30I mean, those are not just like role players.
02:33No, they're starters.
02:35Now, the good news is, knock on wood, we still have Jaden, who, you know, maybe is not at 2024
02:43level.
02:44But I think somebody sent me something where in QBR, he's still like, I think he's 11th in a league
02:48in QBR.
02:49So he's still in the top third of the league in QBR.
02:51And people are, you know, being pretty critical of his play.
02:55They still have Jaden Healthy.
02:56He'll be now making, I believe, his first time he's started four straight games since 24.
03:02Wow.
03:03So, you know, a little consistency here in his playing time.
03:06I would expect that he plays a little bit better as we go along.
03:11And he always gives us a chance.
03:13Like we talked about yesterday, the one thing that they did well this past week was they got after the
03:19quarterback.
03:20Yeah, they got pressure.
03:21Now, there was a backup, you know, an immobile guy.
03:24But if you get pressure on, and that's what you're going to face on Sunday, you're going to face a,
03:29not a backup, but an immobile guy.
03:31But if you don't get to him, Stafford will kill you.
03:33Stafford and Puka will kill you.
03:35So, hopefully, they'll find a way to get after him a little bit.
03:38So, if you just look at sort of how, you know, Vegas and what the numbers are like, the Rams,
03:46even though they're just four and four, they're favored by about five, five and a half points.
03:50You know, even though they're on the road at Northwest, most models give them like a 65 to 70%
03:57win probability.
03:59People kind of have projected scores somewhere in the neighborhood of like 26 to 21, something like that.
04:05Rams.
04:07Makes sense.
04:08Of course, Washington did do what they needed to do over the Eagles.
04:13They beat them 27 to 10.
04:14And, you know, no one is really giving them much credit because the Eagles were banged up.
04:22But at least they went out there.
04:23And despite the awful start to the game, the 27 unanswered points might be something that they could build on.
04:30I know I listened to Kime and Bram in their pod.
04:33And Kime's mentioned it multiple times this week that he was impressed that sort of in the locker room, the
04:38guys were, you know, they weren't just like relieved that they won.
04:42They were like pissed off that the stupid mistakes keep happening.
04:47Especially early in games.
04:49He maintains, you know, and he knows he's been there covering his team as long as anybody, that this team
04:54is still firmly behind DQ.
04:57While the fan base may be ready to move on, the guys are still locked in.
05:01They still believe there's no chinks in the armor there.
05:04Somebody was reporting that after the game, I found it interesting.
05:09Maybe it was just Jaden's way of unwinding, didn't think he could crash.
05:13He went back to the park and he worked out until like 3.30 in the morning.
05:18Nice.
05:19So maybe that's just part of his routine.
05:21He likes to lift and do some things after games.
05:24But that's what he did after the Monday night game.
05:29People are also noticing that it was one of the first times where we at least were able to see
05:34him gather the guys around, take more of a leadership role in that way.
05:39You know, Austin Eckler said that was the kind of thing that Phillip Rivers used to do in San Diego
05:46all the time.
05:46We've seen that, right?
05:47Brady would do that kind of thing.
05:48Austin Eckler.
05:49Jaden's not that guy.
05:50Jaden's not going to just go out there and bark at guys.
05:53But I think at some point, you know, when the nonsense keeps happening like that, somebody's got to step up
05:59and, you know, get everybody, you know, on the same page.
06:04And they seem to respond.
06:05So let's see what happens this week.
06:07They do have a huge, huge mountain to climb on this Rams team.
06:13I don't know how they're going to do it.
06:14I guess build on the defense, right?
06:16Yep.
06:17Stop the run, as you mentioned.
06:20Kyron Williams, Blake Corum, those are their guys.
06:23They run a lot of three tight end sets.
06:25And they try to, you know, contain Puka.
06:28You're not going to stop Puka.
06:29He's great against man.
06:31He's great against zone.
06:33They say he's really, really good at kind of reading defenses.
06:38He's got a quick release off the line.
06:41So he's just a super handful.
06:43Just maybe, maybe he could pressure Stafford into making some poor throws.
06:48Yeah.
06:49Get him off script a little bit.
06:50They got to go back, and I'm sure they'll do it, to see what the Cardinals did, how they stopped
06:54the Rams.
06:54Because they held the Rams to 16.
06:56Now, Stafford threw a couple touchdowns.
06:57But they kept Puka Nakua in check.
07:00He had six catches on seven targets for 80 yards, didn't score.
07:03They also held the Rams to 92 yards rushing.
07:06So I'm sure a lot of that had to do with the fact that, you know, the Cardinals probably had
07:12the ball for a considerable amount of time.
07:15Just keep the ball away from Stafford.
07:17But they did something right there.
07:18They were just kind of keeping them in check, and no one really killed the Cardinals for the Rams.
07:23So they got to, if they can keep Kyron Williams and Coram under 100 yards, that'd be huge.
07:27Now, offensively, they're going to have to, obviously, we have to get off to a better start.
07:31It's ridiculous.
07:34One bright spot.
07:35We didn't really talk about it much, but Luke McCaffrey had an impact, I thought, on a couple returns.
07:40Pretty obvious.
07:40Yeah.
07:41We saw that.
07:42So that would be nice if we, you know, if we get the ball first, maybe we get a good
07:46return, get some good field position.
07:47I don't think we necessarily had unbelievable field position.
07:51Get some field position.
07:53Limit these stupid turnover or, you know, penalties, especially the ones before the snap.
07:58They're just crazy.
07:59And then some people have been calling for, you know, more screen action.
08:04I know Kime and Bram were talking about that.
08:06That would be something that would really help Jaden utilize the screen a little more,
08:11especially when you have guys like Rashad White, Austin Eckler that can do that.
08:15Even, you know, Chig is somebody that can do that.
08:17And then, you know, they have lost Terry, which is a significant loss in my opinion.
08:24I still think they have enough threats if they can protect Jaden and, you know, that they can make some
08:32plays downfield with Diggs,
08:33Chig, Antonio Williams, Burks.
08:35They actually have some talent in the receiver room.
08:37I know everyone's going running wild with all of these sort of trade ideas.
08:42No, they have enough.
08:43You know, we asked that to Peter straight up, and I don't think they're going to make a move for
08:48receiver, guys.
08:49I don't think so either.
08:52The screen thing is interesting because when I watched them, I think they need to take more shots downfield.
08:57And they were successful last week.
08:59Yeah, but it's a way to slow down the pressure.
09:00They were successful, though, with the passes to Burks, to Antonio Williams.
09:05Jaden throws a good deep ball.
09:07It's always part of the plan.
09:08Remember?
09:09I can remember even when Jay was here.
09:10It's always part of the plan to take deep shots.
09:12But, you know, you set them up, and then you hit them.
09:15You know?
09:18So, I don't have a problem, really, with Jaden, the way he's running things.
09:22He is protective of the football.
09:25That's something that the coaching staff has praised, that they like that he protects the football.
09:29I also think, personally, this is my read on Jaden.
09:32He kind of lets the game come to him.
09:35He doesn't press early on.
09:37Sometimes I think that frustrates people.
09:39But, let's see.
09:40We need to score some points early.
09:42That's for sure.
09:43Need to limit mistakes.
09:45It'd be great to get on the board and have a competitive game here from the beginning.
09:48And we need, you know, the pressure on the defense.
09:50It's going to take a total team effort.
09:52You know, I'm not going to say it's going to take a perfect game, but it's going to take a
09:55total team effort to beat this Rams team.
09:58One good positive thing is, people have noticed, that the turnover thing is continuing with Washington.
10:05Yeah, yeah.
10:05For some turnovers.
10:06I don't know.
10:06You want to give DQ credit to that.
10:08You want to give Dronte Jones credit for that.
10:10Whatever.
10:11You know, that needs to continue also.
10:13It'd be nice for Washington to have...
10:16I can't remember the last time they had a running back run for 100 yards in a game.
10:19Yeah, it just doesn't seem to be a thing.
10:20Not running back.
10:21So, Jaden has.
10:22Yeah.
10:22But they just don't have that guy that could run for 100.
10:25It's a committee.
10:26It's a committee.
10:27And, you know, they're pretty balanced that way, but...
10:29They don't have a Jonathan Taylor.
10:30I know people want him to go...

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