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Brian Baldinger breaks down why the Commanders' clock management is so perplexing and whether firing the head coach actually makes sense.

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Transcript
00:00So, all week, we've been talking amongst ourselves and with our listeners about end-of-game situations.
00:06How do you see the problems that Washington has at these end-of-games?
00:12I mean, you had it at the Giants game, but you've had it kind of throughout the San Francisco game
00:16this last week.
00:17What do you make of it, Baldy?
00:21Well, the clock management, it seems like it's not...
00:27I mean, you practice these situations all the time.
00:30And you talk to them all the time.
00:31But, you know, if they keep coming up, it's just perplexing, honestly.
00:38You know, they get the big throw to digs down the field, you're in position.
00:42But, you know, it's just hard to say, okay, whose fault is it?
00:49You know, that's what we all want to do.
00:50But, ultimately, the quarterback has to be in control and in charge in these situations.
00:58Well, in that particular play, when Diggs is targeted, if he catches that ball, he's going
01:04to get tackled short of the end zone.
01:05No, he's talking about before to set up the drive.
01:08No, we didn't get the ball to midfield there.
01:11Oh, yeah, yeah, okay.
01:11I mean, the game ends.
01:13The game ends.
01:14I mean, look, they beat the Bears on a Hail Mary throw.
01:18It's not like you've got to throw the ball in the end zone.
01:20There's no time.
01:21I don't know if there's like eight or ten seconds left, but you're not going to have
01:24a chance to do anything.
01:25And you need a touchdown.
01:26So, to throw it short like that, like that's exactly what the Rams want you to do.
01:30Correct.
01:31If you were Coach Durante Jones, defense coordinator for Commanders, would you rather
01:35face J.J. McCarthy or Jameis Winston?
01:40I would rather face Jameis.
01:43Really?
01:44Okay.
01:44Only because he has more experience and he played well when he came in last week and he
01:49threw the one touchdown pass.
01:51But he's so inconsistent and you can force him into mistakes and his history tells you
01:58he's going to throw it.
02:00He's going to throw it to you at some point.
02:04J.J. has only started 12 games in his whole career.
02:09And, you know, he's been hurt a bunch.
02:11He got hurt last week and had to come out of the game.
02:13And I don't know.
02:14He looked like he was in a lot of pain when you see him on the sideline.
02:18But, you know, at least that guy has.
02:21The one thing I know about J.J., and he has shown up already in the two games with the
02:26Giants.
02:26He throws a great deep ball.
02:28And, you know, he gives his receivers a chance.
02:32He's not one of these deep ball throwers that the ball ends up six yards out of bounds.
02:35Like, he gives his receivers a chance.
02:37He throws it with good touch.
02:39They got two really good deep ball catchers in Isaiah Likely and Malik Neighbors.
02:44And those are the two guys, you know, I'd be concerned about.
02:47Joined by Brian Baldinger.
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02:57I look at the Giants' record, Baldy.
02:59They're 5-2-1.
03:00I'm just not a believer.
03:01They haven't beaten a team with a winning record.
03:03Tell me why I should be a believer in what the Giants are doing at this point.
03:08And they've got some landmines in front of them at this point.
03:10After the Commanders, they have to take on the Jags next.
03:14Well, the only thing I would say is, I know the Houston Texans don't have a good record.
03:21But to go down in Houston and to play like they did and win it in overtime like they did,
03:27I thought that was their best win.
03:30The way that they did it was improbable.
03:32They had two runs in overtime that scored the touchdown.
03:35They went right down the field with Scadaboo and then Motor Singletary taking it in.
03:40I thought, and that was J.J. McCarthy's first start, and I thought he played great.
03:45Didn't turn the ball over against that defense.
03:48Made one big throw after another.
03:50That's it.
03:51I'm with you.
03:52You know, to see who the wins are against and all that kind of stuff.
03:57But at the same time, I think defensively, they have a pretty good scheme.
04:03I think that Ard Wilson calls a good game.
04:05It's a pretty good blend of some blitzing.
04:08They've got a young star player just like the Commanders do and Sonny Stiles for you and Arvel Reese for
04:14the Giants.
04:15And those guys do an awful lot of good things.
04:17I like the way the Giants play press man coverage and challenge the receivers and then get to the quarterback.
04:26What do you see from Jaden Daniels on film so far this year?
04:30This guy is making a lot of mistakes right now.
04:32I'll tell you that.
04:33I mean, he took some shots from Myles Garrett in that game.
04:36He didn't seem like it bothered him at all.
04:37I mean, he hasn't thrown an interception.
04:39You know, I know he's been in and out of the lineup, but he hasn't thrown an interception.
04:44I think Antonio Williams could have helped him out a little bit more the other day in some of the
04:48throws I saw him make.
04:50But I think he seemed to feel real good.
04:52There was some pressure coming out of him the other day.
04:55He seemed like he made good decisions with the football right now.
04:59Yeah, I mean, you kind of talk about that first game when Winston played, and you were talking about neighbors.
05:06He was targeted 20 times, likely was targeted 13 times.
05:10Now, the Commanders had a 14-point lead with eight minutes left in the game and allowed two touchdowns late,
05:16obviously, in that tie.
05:17But we were talking about McCarthy versus Winston earlier.
05:23I just think that I'd rather play McCarthy because I think Winston would go to neighbors and likely a lot
05:29more than J.J. would.
05:31And, you know, I could be wrong, but I think that they've got to take advantage of facing against J
05:36.J.
05:37In his first start in Houston, he went to those guys a bunch.
05:40Last week was the first time they really went away from neighbors in the last month.
05:45I mean, he lit up, you know, the Commanders a month ago, as you mentioned.
05:49Likely has been, I mean, he caught the only touchdown that they scored last week, you know, against the Eagles.
05:55So he's been invaluable in probably one of the best free agent signings in the whole league for any team
06:00right now.
06:01Because I don't know where they'd be without him.
06:03Jameis got hot.
06:04He got really hot.
06:05He was terrible in the first half in that game in Washington.
06:08But he got really hot in the second half.
06:10But that's really been the story of Jameis.
06:13Like, he can, you know, he went to Denver a couple years ago and threw for 400 yards.
06:17Like, he can heat up.
06:19It's just you don't know when it's going to happen and if it's going to happen.
06:23Switching gears, what do you think Kirk Cousins means to the Minnesota Vikings?
06:27They got a playoff opportunity now.
06:29I don't think they would make it at all in that division right now if he didn't come in there.
06:35He's got a chance.
06:36I just saw him in San Francisco last week.
06:38And I know he threw the pick six to start the third quarter.
06:41But other than that, he played very well.
06:43And if the guys could just hang on to the football, Bowers and Mayer, it might have been a different
06:48result.
06:48But I think he moved that team really good and played very well.
06:52And Minnesota needs a quarterback in the worst way.
06:55It's not fair to how good the defense has played all year.
06:58It's not fair to Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison and some of those guys that they don't have a quarterback
07:03that can get them the ball on any consistent basis.
07:06I think he gives them a chance to go make a playoff run right now.
07:11All right.
07:11So the first game on Sunday in Munich is New England and Detroit.
07:16Detroit's a small favorite, two and a half.
07:18The total is almost 52.
07:19So they're certainly expecting some points to be scored.
07:22You know, it's a big game on both sides for different reasons.
07:25I mean, obviously, you just mentioned it in that division where all teams have six wins, at least six wins
07:32in the north.
07:33With the Lions going for their seventh.
07:35But the Patriots, you know, they're three games back, maybe four games back of the Bills now.
07:40They've lost two of three.
07:42And, you know, Drake May, he was hot there for about three or four-game stretch.
07:47And he wasn't good last week against the Packers at all.
07:49They allowed 45.
07:52What's your take on this matchup?
07:53This is a game that Drake May really has to play well against the Detroit Lions defense.
07:58He does.
07:59That was the worst performance by a secondary.
08:02The Patriots against the Packers.
08:04That's the worst performance by a secondary I've seen all year in any game.
08:08I mean, Christian Gonzalez is the highest-paid corner in football.
08:11He got torched in that game.
08:12In fact, it looked like the game plans were going after Gonzalez.
08:16And you could tell.
08:17You could tell Matthew Golden, Christian Watson, it didn't matter.
08:20You could tell he's losing his confidence, too.
08:23And, you know, it wasn't just him.
08:26It was Marcus Jones.
08:27It was Carlton Davis.
08:30I mean, they all got torched in that game.
08:32And I thought that they were one of the better secondaries in football going into that game.
08:37And I was dead wrong.
08:39Kevin Byard leads the NFL active players with interceptions with, like, 36 or 37.
08:45Like, he looked lost out there.
08:47But I believe in that defense.
08:49I think they have a good front.
08:51Those two linebackers, Splane and Ellis, are good players.
08:55And they just completely fell apart against that Packers offense.
08:58So, they're going to see the same capability of Detroit, except that they just have a much better running back
09:04in Jameer Gibbs, who got shut down by Miami last week.
09:07So, I think they're going to – this should be a fascinating matchup because Detroit has only scored 19 points
09:13in the last two weeks against Minnesota and then against Miami.
09:16And that probably won't be enough to beat the Patriots.
09:20So, something has to give in that game.
09:22Baldy, fun one at 425 in Dallas as the Niners visit the Cowboys.
09:27This is the highest total on the board by far, 55 and a half.
09:32Can the Cowboys slow down Purdy, CMC and company, and get to 500 in this one?
09:40I don't think so.
09:42I mean, San Francisco, they started that game last week against the Raiders like the Raiders didn't have any idea
09:48how to play defense, a little bit like the Cowboys.
09:50They just went up and down the field three straight times in a row.
09:54They made it look so easy.
09:55And that was without – and I talked to Brock Purdy before the game, like, who are you going to
09:59throw to?
10:00There's no Mike Evans.
10:01You know, there's no Stribbling.
10:03There's no Debo.
10:04But, you know, he threw it to, you know, he threw it to McCaffrey.
10:09He threw it to Kittle for a touchdown.
10:12You know, he threw it to Brandon Cooks out there.
10:14Like, he's going to throw it to the open guy.
10:16That's how he's programmed.
10:18And so, I think the Cowboys are going to have trouble against this offense.
10:22Hey, Baldy, getting back to the game tonight, if the Commanders lose and they're 2-6-1 and they're basically
10:29Dunsky, right?
10:31Especially if there's a late-game blunder again.
10:34One of the guys here sitting next to me, JP, says Quinn should be fired tomorrow.
10:38And we've asked you about this before.
10:40I think you're pretty much, you know, as a former player, you're a pro coach.
10:44But do you think that at 2-6-1, you just get it over with?
10:48Or do you just ride out the season and then figure it out in the offseason?
10:54Uh, it's a tough decision because I've been on a team that's fired their coach.
10:59So, we elevated our defensive coordinator who was, you know, he was qualified, but he's not a head coach.
11:03Like, I don't know who on the staff you would elevate right now.
11:08Durante?
11:09Like, you want to put Durante in charge of the team and call the defense?
11:12Anthony Lynn?
11:14Anthony Lynn is on there.
11:15Well, he's been an interim head coach.
11:17So, I mean, but...
11:20So, it wouldn't make sense for you?
11:23It doesn't make sense.
11:24I mean, they played hard for Dan.
11:26They're in it all the way to the end.
11:27I mean, Puka makes an unbelievable catch last week in the end zone against Trey Amos.
11:32You know, I mean, they didn't have any...
11:33Like, they did some dumb things.
11:35I thought there was a fourth and three where they were just backing up and he gave...
11:39Right.
11:39You know, I know the ball's going to Puka, and you're playing 10 yards off.
11:43It doesn't make any sense.
11:44It's like, you know, I'm not sure whose fault that is or why you allow that to happen.
11:49But, you know, they're an unbelievable catch by Puka, and that's what he does.
11:53Who knows?
11:53Going to overtime.
11:54I mean, it was a...
11:56They played really hard.
11:57They beat Seattle.
11:58Played really well.
11:59They should have beaten the Giants.
12:00They're competitive.
12:01Very competitive.
12:03You know, and they've had all these injuries.
12:05Like, it would be hard for me to put it all on Dan because I know how the team plays.
12:11Baldy, what game are you covering this weekend?
12:14I am going to see Kansas City and Atlanta, and we'll see if the Falcons can put a good
12:21game together and see if they can stop Kenneth Walker because last week that was hard to
12:27do by the Jets.
12:28Bijan having a bomb year.
12:30Well, enjoy that game.
12:31Safe travels, and we'll talk to you again next week, Baldy.
12:33We'll see you again next week.

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