LIVE: Sam Howell Back In Starting Lineup as Commanders Take on 49ers | Take Command Pregame Show

was small Windows layering throws and that's what it's going to take if you're going to throw the ball a ton against this defense so that's something that I think um to keep an eye on and again I'm glad that Sam's not playing in this game because that's stuff that he struggles with tremendously is it going to be easy for um for jacobe no it's not gonna be hasn't been easy for anybody this year right it's not it's gonna be tough but I I think there is a path to offensive production with jacobe but it's going to be very very challenging and we talked about how good um the Jets defense was this defense to me is better it's just better coached things are a little bit tighter they're more consistent and that's saying a lot because the just defense is is amazing so I was going to ask how similar are they structurally they're pretty similar you you have obviously Salah the former DC uh now two DCS ago but like I'd imagine he took a lot of what he was doing in San Francisco to New York and and thus they look pretty similar even if they their emphasis are a little bit different yeah very similar you know they kind of are like that day one quarters install but they still run a little bit of cover three they still run two I think they run less man I would say they still run man but they s they're like the Jets ran a ton of man and I think this team might have to look at the numbers but it feels like when you watch them they're a little bit less Man heavy so um but again it doesn't really matter because they're so good at matching in their Zone structures and anticipating throws and making plays on the football so it's going to be a tough matchup especially if that pass rush is cooking um and and that pass rush can cook so uh tough match up offensively for the commanders but I think at least with jacobe there is a a path a vision where you can get some of those higher leverage throws and maybe make some plays and get some offensive production yeah uh staying out of a terrible game Flow for once would be nice uh you know obviously we'll see how they can do that uh and then defensively you know again they're playing better the bar was somewhere six feet under the floor um in terms of what better meant uh but they are playing better uh but this San Francisco offense generates space it generates big plays it does everything um I mean I'd say if you keep him under 30 that's a hell of a win considering the two sides going doing battle here and and again like the s San Francisco 4 uniters don't don't traditionally like run away with games because they're perfectly content with running the football and kind of keeping it you know deleveraging Brock pie and I think this week especially because the offensive line injuries that they've suffered I think you're going to see a much more conservative approach offensively so um you know they present a ton of issues like if they were healthy right now I'd be like I don't know what we're going to do because one of the things that this defense has struggled since Ron has been back is I think they've struggled a little bit stopping the run and you're going to see a lot of running stuff you're going to see we just talked about how they're going to try and get you in like Ron I think has done a good job of saying we're going to get into these more conservative coverage structures deleverage the corners take some off those guys plates and that's worked great but you're playing light boxes and Sam Fran I don't think you can do that but when the second you get in those heavy run structures they're going to hit play action shots they're going to hit drips the second that Ron's like hey Mayo get in there like George KD is going to be running up a seam in troubles trou and so that's the only thing that gives me some Solace is that they are banged up on the offensive line Trent's not going to play they're really effective running the left side of the offensive line when he's in because obviously he's like the best tackle in football um but you know he's not going to play I think they're going to sign a guy they've signed a couple guys off other practice squads that are going to be here so how effective is that group because while the scheme does take a lot of take a lot of pressure off the offensive line like you talked about with Brock pury they are really nuanced and very detailed with the rules so how can you get those guys all on the same page uh for this game on a short week it's going to be very challenging for them but because of all the stuff they do offensively it's going to be a tough lift uh for the defense and then that's not even talking about the physical matchups like how do you match up with KD who who's got Debo how do you handle all the motions and shifts that they do auk is playing like he everyone talks about Debo but he's playing better than Debo right now Christian mcaffrey is a matchup nightmare like nightmare he he's like a slot receiver that can run the football so um a lot of issues there that Ron's gonna have to contend with this week yeah it's um there's a reason they're them uh that's that's the easiest way to put it um that's the team I picked to win the Super Bowl still feel pretty good about it uh obviously Baltimore's got something to say about that as well some other teams but um they are excellent they are well built are well schemed they are they are well everythink uh which is why they are seen as one of the models around the NFL and why uh so many of their people have gone on to other places already and we anticipate that continuing this offseason perhaps even some of them coming here uh that is our show for today we will talk more on Sunday about this game and about some of the big picture things that we have discussed uh and we will do that on the take command pregame show which you can listen to live on 1067 the fan and the team 980 and watch on YouTube uh in the meantime make sure you check me out on the radio at the Hoffman Show 4 to7 daily on the team 980 that also streams Live on YouTube at the team980 and highlights on my page at Craig Hoffman Logan of course you can catch on command center and so much of the commanders stuff and follow on Instagram at loganp palson 82 for Logan I'm Craig we'll see you Sunday at Tap Sports Bar for [Music] take [Music] [Music] [Music] a [Music] [Music] a [Music] [Music] [Applause] he [Music] [Music] a [Music] good morning good morning and welcome in to the take command pregame show I am Craig Hoffman he is Logan pson and we are off and running on a burgundy and gold game day 1067 the fan the team 980 and Logan this is not the show that we thought we would have this morning morning when you and I last spoke on Thursday for the take command podcast the latest news we'll get you started right with it from Adam schfer and Nikki javala um of course ESPN and the Washington Post respectively is that it is unexpected for jacobe brasset to play today so after we spent all week oh Howl's on the bench what does it mean what does it mean for brassette what's it mean for the team the organization the franchise all of us were right back where we were kind of I I actually want to dive into this a little bit but just is a chronology of events uh in case people have checked out and are checking back in uh on the actual game day uh Sam Halal obviously not very good the last couple of weeks been benched two weeks in a row he then uh Ron Rivera says after the game like we'll evaluate the quarterback position which is coach speak for we're going to make a change but we need to watch the tape to make sure slash that feels like the right thing to do versus being rational in the immediate aftermath of yet another devastating loss in which Sam how if I'm remembering correctly off the top of my head Logan threw for 52 yards uh so not great uh they did indeed make that change they announced it Wednesday instead of Monday because the players had Monday off Monday was Christmas uh they waited till the players got back told the players uh and then jacobe brassette takes your reps as quarterback one during Wednesday practice sometime during the Thursday practice he feels a tweak in his hamstring he like uhoh that's not good they somehow keep that quiet after practice there's no media availability after practice on Thursdays uh and that allowed them to keep things quiet until all of a sudden Friday Rivera speaks before practice and is like hey uh by the way jacobe heard his hamstring yesterday he's going to be questionable for the game uh I he was listed as a limited participant in practice on Friday so I was like I don't know that seems like he'll probably play but things have not progressed well Logan and that leaves us where we are now where shefer reported at midnight which is basically he gets told a bunch of stuff and then he unleashes a bunch of tweets at midnight like hey you have to hold on this till Sunday okay 12:01 a.m. uh jacobe brette unlikely to play today they are going to put him through a warm-up we will definitely be following the reporting this morning here on the take command pregame show but Logan here we are Sam How likely back as qb1 today yeah and I mean I think uh you know when we did that podcast on Wednesday or Thursday whatever it was I kind of felt like it was the right decision to sit Sam down I don't think he'd been playing well enough to deserve the starting role and I think you know a lot of people have said oh he should play kind of regardless of you know the situation given the year we got to figure out what he is and I don't know man just watching him over the last three or four weeks he just seems to have hit a spot where he's not seeing it very well not feel feeling it very well so I did feel like for his development and just for like the general coaching process of the athlete I thought it was a good opportunity to kind of say hey man let's just take a breather real quick let's like reset the reset the systems a little bit kind of restart the computer and see if we can get back to kind of a good homeostasis and you know maybe he plays against Dallas I don't know but I felt like it was something that needed to happen so it's interesting to see kind of how the psychology of that decision plays out and then he's going to start in this game as well I think that'll be something really interesting to keep an eye on and I hope that Sam goes out and balls you know I really hope to see that today I will say I'm my confidence level that of that happening is not very high I think when you look at the San Francisco defense which we'll talk more about later they're just really wel coach the windows are very small you need to throw with high levels of anticipation you're going to get a ton of pass rush like all the things that have kind of been issues for Sam in his you know in this kind of doldrum of the season are going to be kind of ramped up to 11 and I I just don't know if if his it just seems like Ron made Ron and the staff made the right decision to sit him down G you know given what had happened and then given what was going to happen in this game and so um again I hope he plays well and I feel really terrible for jacobe because I know he's been waiting all season for this opportunity but it'll be uh I think it's it's going to be a tough day for Sam kind of given all the adversity he's faced and kind of given where he was playing at you know prior to this decision so a couple things um one I guess we count Logan out on the conspiracy theory that jacobe is like you want to know what I don't need to do this uh because if you think about it he's about to be a free agent he represents himself uh he right now has five real drives and they have five touchdowns on those drives pretty good resume or you can go get smoked by San Francisco cuz by the way uh you're starting left tackles out you're starting centers out and we're waiting to hear on Andrew Wy as the starting right tackle so you might be behind three offensive lineman if I'm jacobe proett I might have pulled my HST too I'm just saying uh no a lot of people the internet are saying but I jacobe is so professional I I put the chances of him doing that at less than 1% but not zero um I I I think more importantly when you talk about Howell um in terms of this discussion that we're kind of having here um if you are saying saying start the kid we got to see what he has you are flying in the face of everything we know about human athletic development it's just that's not how this works there is nature of course but there is also nurture and the idea that it is pre-ordained that Sam how is going to be a insert quality quarterback here 15 to 20 20 to 30 backup caliber or top 10 whatever you think he is going to be the idea that he will get there no matter what and is pre-ordained in some way is not how any of this works and I I 100% agree with you Logan that when I look at him the last couple of weeks this is someone who needs to reset my hope this is full optimism glasses on is that he got that reset that that the computer was off long enough that we can turn it back on and even though there was no game that happened which would have I think been helpful for Sam to watch jacobe operate uh and see kind of of what the real timing of this offense is supposed to look like in a game situation um that that the pressure coming off of him is enough to reset that's what I thought I was hoping to but and and maybe that happens maybe he goes out today and he's like you want know what nobody believes in me anymore bleep the world I'm going to let it rip and and that's that's enough to get him to that next level then he realizes like oh this is how I should play cool um and that's kind of what happened a couple weeks ago for Zack Wilson of the Jets um he came back and and nobody really had any expectations for him and he played his best game of the year unfortunately he then reverted to Zach Wilson um but maybe for Sam uh that's enough today and and the fact that there's literally no expectations on him or them considering the injuries considering the opponent considering everything maybe that's enough to kind of release that pressure of that downward spiral he was on in those final four starts that he had yeah you hope so and it there's just not a lot of it it'll just be I'm just really curious ious to see how it kind of all plays out you know I think people who say oh he should play kind of no matter what I think you know I look at other sports specifically more extreme sports like boxing and ultimate fighting and there's a point where like you just can't fight all the time for training purposes you can't fight because it messes you up mentally it messes you up physically and I just feel like we were at that spot with saying where we need to do something different and so yeah I mean we'll see what happens today I do like I said I think it's going to be a tough draw for him based on what he's been doing the past couple of weeks but like you said maybe it's enough to kind of reset the system he comes out plays loose see a guy that we saw versus Denver versus New England versus this in the second half of Seattle like that that's the guy that comes out and plays and if that does happen that's fantastic because I think he really just needs one game of these last two to be definitive like an excellent performance for him to kind of say like I'm actually not cooked I'm actually the guy that deserves the opportunity to be the quarterback for next year because I think that's really what we're talking about right is like is Sam the guy for next year and I think that's why people want to see him play even an option correct right cuz it's going to obviously depend on the new coach the new GM what system they run what they think of the draft class all that kind of stuff but is it like are are the options take a quarterback at 34 five wherever they wind up two three four five wherever they wind up or can we wait till the second round like do like do we have to go pursue a vetan yeah like is Sam how a viable option even in a competition or is he on the roster backup at best yeah I mean is he jaying Herz I think is the question like you know we always that that's a compar we've made recently just because it seems to have followed a similar career trajectory and I think when you look at jayen and what he did is like his first year starting it was there was some bad games in there really rough stretches but there was also enough where you said hey like we you know we're going to ACU some draft Capital we're going to build the roster up some more and is he the bridge guy and I say Bridge guy but is he the guy next year and if he plays well he's the guy for 2025 you know what I'm saying like that's that's a question a legitimate question is it it's a legitimate thing that that I think is uh you know despite his kind of Rush rough stretch here it's a legitimate opportunity to say hey like we don't love the quarterbacks I think as much as people want to say we're anointing these four or five guys in the draft this year I think history has shown that quarterbacks in the draft aren't always the main thing so unless you love one of those guys and they may not let's have a bridge guy let's draft a tackle let's draft whatever and use him as kind of that stepping stone to kind of launch the franchise with all this extra draft Capital have floating around so um again like if he has a good game today I think it really kind of puts a definitive stamp on that and says hey like I I I deserve to be in the conversation against a really good defense against a playoff caliber team but um you know outside of that I think he's kind of made it tough for himself in terms of making the argument to be the guy next year so without question something that we're going to do in the off season on take command this is news to Logan but I probably won't be surprising news I want to take a like deep dive kind of like we did this week with the 49ers um on the Ravens on the Dolphins on the Lions on the teams that are at the very top of the League this year the Cowboys even and say like okay how' they build it because I do think once you look around to your point top of the top of the draft quarterback doesn't have to be the way right um You have to eventually get that position right and right is a relative term um Wright might be building a system around a quarterback right might be you know you you draft Patrick Mahomes and he turns out to be the best guy we've ever seen Do It um but even Mahomes was not a top 10 pick um now of course Joe burrow is um some of the other upand comers are are top guys Trevor Lawrence obviously had a down year but we think that all in all they probably got that right in Jacksonville long term um but I think when you look at Mahomes you look at Lamar like there are other options on the table here and how you build out your roster matters a lot and so it's a conversation that we'll be look we're going to be having that for four months um but to do a deep dive into how each team did it where they did spend high draft Capital where they did spend free agent money where they may have made key trades it's something that we'll embark on as an offseason project on the take command podcast here on the take command pregame show do a very miniature version of that next as we take a look at the San Francisco 49ers defense and how they have been built to be not just solid but really truly excellent at all three levels and where if you're Eric benmy you can try to attack today with Sam How likely back at quarterback we'll obviously keep you updated with the news from FedEx field as well as jacobe brassette warms up does that hamstring magically feel better on a Sunday uh we will let you know as we go here it is the take command pregame show on 1067 the fan of the team 980 is a burgundy in Gold game [Music] [Music] day [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] he [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Applause] [Music] n [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] he [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] take command pregame show on a burgundy and gold game day Craig Hoffman Logan pulson with you uh we are at Tap Sports Bar MGM National Harbor where they are getting things set up for the doors to open at 11:00 uh meanwhile at FedEx Field Logan we just zuder film style broke down uh jacobe Brett's pregame workout courtesy of the video that Nikki javala has posted certainly seems to have a little hitch in his giddy up so is Nikki there right now yeah Nikki's Nikki's out there man when you're on the beat you get there early what a psycho it's I mean what is that 3 hours before the game I used to get there at 10: really yeah I also thing is I had a raate I would have hits so I know you have to I understand if you got to do something you know like you're just there that early for the sake of being there early you got to be traffic bro you're just watching the warm up just like oh my gosh what we got also you get a chance that's the chance as a beat reporter to like walk around talk to people people are kind of chilled out that early yeah so gu comes out like when I do when I do the preseason stuff like you can everyone's super chatty cuz it's like game day everyone's like doesn't matter what we say PR or pregame before everyone puts their pads on yeah anyone will pretty much so that way they're all if you can flag someone down like what's going on how's are they on the field they're not allowed on the field are they are they really so you go on the field before yeah not like on the field field you got to be on the sideline and you're not out there you're not out there running routes I get it but like you're on I also can't walk into the middle of people running routes and be like hey how you feeling like some of those uh some of those like um like the Sunday night crew they'll do that yeah if TV broadcasts you get out there they're big time huh yeah they just walk out in the middle of the field Hey Ron how's it going I know uh probably the answer for River right now is like not great Bob uh or in this case Adam Adam Amin and Mark schare on the call today had the chance to get brunch without him yesterday swell fella enjoying enjoy watching he's doing the game again yeah gosh I feel like he's done all like he's done this is this creu well stink had an extra one while Adam was on a different crew for baseball I think this is Adam's third game of the year and uh Mark's fourth so yeah they've had they've had a lot of them uh by the way it be interesting to see uh speaking of the broadcast uh more of like the game time really next week with the Cowboys being gifted the win last night by the referees uh with that two-point conversion snafu um they're still alive for the NFC East if the Cowboys and Eagles are both alive next week for the NFC East that game is pro the commander Cowboys game as well as Giants Eagles yeah probably a 4:00 game that's a wacky deal the Brad Allen the referee probably cost us a one o00 show next that's why you were so mad about it I was like man why is Craig so upset about this one I've been on the Lions bandwagon since Hard Knocks two I picked him and I and I would was that last year yeah yeah yeah yeah it just took him six games to get going but they've been pretty darn good since they have been pretty good um and then I picked him in my picks against Anthony and he had the Cowboys uh and then tough and then did they cover they must have covered they covered but we do it straight up yeah I got you cuz we're not that detailed yeah no we Details Matter the point is to win Logan the point is not to not yeah uh so we're that's that's how we roll anyway the point is the ners are playing the commanders today that game's at 1:00 we're talking about it here on a burgundy and gold game day so the 49ers defense it's uh it's really good Logan it it's exceptional when you watch it like what is the thing was it Personnel detail scheme they do creative Innovative stuff like yeah why is it so damn good and why has it been so good really I mean it's it was good when Kyle inherited it um you know they had a good defense back in the day under Harbaugh They carried it through their next couple of coaches um some of the personnel and then obviously they've been terrific since Kyle got there uh as as head coach not he's an offensive guy but this defense has been legit why why is it so good yeah I mean I think when you watch it when you watch the film there's certain things that I look for with defenses and it's just like how confident really the secondary and the linebackers are playing obviously they're very talented across the defensive line and that's like the mo that's like an easy thing to observe it's like oh uh Nick Bosa wins a lot of one-on-ones and he plays really hard and Eric arm said when he's healthy is a dominant player that can mult like line up in multiple slots obviously he's hurt today and then Chase young kind of how he he flushes out that group but harra you know they've got a lot of good pass rushers those guys just the energy they play with is very high I I love to my original point the backend the linebackers just they know what they're doing to a te it's like we're in quarters I get a dig the safety's cutting I'm rolling and there's no air there's not a lot of space in the coverage like when you watch Philly for example we talked about this earlier this year there's a lot of air in the back end of the defense and guys are a little unsure they're kind of in between the communication's not great the Jets defense this defense if we're in cover two if we're in Tampa 2 if we're in quarters if we're in cover three everyone it's like exactly how you draw it up and guys are great great with their eyes they're great with their vision and they've got a bunch of competitive athletes and I think the scheme there is obviously Elevate some of those guys you know some of them are they're all good football players but it elevates them even more as opposed to like earlier this year when we're watching the commanders the SE the scheme seemed to hurt our players I feel like it help it helped them it helps them and I think um that's something that's really just fun to watch and I think when you look at again Dallas the Jets Miami to a certain extent this team when they're so well well coached and they're so on the same page um to me that's the sign of an excellent defense and I to me it's I know statistically they're not rank that high but when I watch them I feel like this is the best group we've seen probably better than New York last week I do yeah it's better than New York wow that's saying something um and I think New York's excellent like let me just be I think New York's fantastic I just think like and again New York's awesome because they have two kind of elite Corners they can play a ton of man they're a little bit more aggressive from like that kind of coverage standpoint but when you look at this team it's like they're run they're running like Zone stuff and the way they match is just so high and then you couple that with a pretty Dynamic pass rush and it's it's a dangerous grp and and I think people think oh it's you know we'll talk about this before but it's you know why are you so high in the defense like they have this tremendous offense I think Kyle when he calls games really leans on the defensive efficiency so he kind of stresses the defense in the way he calls the game and then as the game goes obviously like the dynamic shift the Paradigm shifts but like he's okay calling three consecutive runs runs cuz if you have to punt he's okay he's like the defense look at us the ball back so I think there is that confidence with this group and and and a kind of Reliance on this group that we that I haven't seen um that we haven't seen this season you know like when you look at Miami for example they're they're an offensive driven team the Jets are a defensive driven team because their defense their offense is terrible their off their offense is like what's a car we don't know how to drive right but yeah but Dallas great defense but they're offensively driven their their that whole defense is designed to be playing with a Lead You know here this defense is kind of it's it's equal in some ways to what the offense is doing and and in terms of how Kyle calls the game there's something too about the physicality the 49ers play with um there was I don't know what the record is this year but there was this crazy stat last year that literally nobody beat like nobody won the week after they had faced the 49ers because it was such a slog and it was such a I mean that that was the the fact the the reason is likely it's like you feel terrible for a week that that game lingers with you and I was just listening to Daniel Jeremiah's podcast and they were talking you know they Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks they're super connected like they're former Scouts they were talking to some people about like what makes the 49ers different and he and the conclusion they came to is they practice like a bunch of Maniacs like they go to these joint practice settings and they just outpace out workor out tough the team so it's not it's part of that 49ers culture they they draft uh tough players they build tough players they have a tough standard and that's offensively and defensively and you can tell how Iron Cho's iron there so this is a this is a you know in terms of teams that I enjoy watching this has got to be up near the top like I really enjoy watching um the 49ers I enjoy watching Detroit like there's a toughness and a mentality that they attack the game with on both sides of the ball that I think is just really high quality football and that you don't that you don't see each and every week so um I got a lot of respect for this group and I think you know we talked about Sam and what he's going to be doing it's this is a tough matchup tough draw for him yeah it's it's going to be really tough um so if you're Eric like how do you approach this then do you you know running the ball's tough on them throwing the ball's tough on them um you know if you want to do some risk management you can't throw interceptions or or take sacks if you run the football uh that doesn't seem to be Eric's Mo yeah um the quick stuff last week was was not great teams are starting to sit on it in a major way so what I I was thinking about it you know and it's it's it's a blessing to do these previews of other teams and see kind of what they're doing what they're effective at and I you know I was watching a lot of Brock pie this week and the thing that stuck out me Brock pie and I've told you this is just his ability to make a play like when he's got to like the window's not entirely there just giving your guy an opportunity with the football and I think like there are going to be some really tight window I got to watch a lot of kurk cousins this week too playing the 49ers and the ability just say hey like I trust my guy to attack this space that the that the concept has created and deliver the football I think that's something I'm really harping on with Sam this week like right at the top of your drop this is going to be covered but look at the grass over here to the right let's get the ball in that space and Trust Terry trust Jan trust Curtis trust Logan to get into that throwing window and make that play so they might not be open now but they will be open then CU he's going to need a lot of that today I also think you know we we we kind of the offensive line here is I think is much maligned um but they are a tough group of dudes you know they got like a they got a very blue collar approach and so I might lean on those guys like you've talked about rushing efficiency and when you watch them their ability to strain like uh I know Wy may not play today but there was a play last week against theet Jets where the double team's not great on Quinton Williams Cosby kind of slips down and he's got a free run to Chris Rodriguez on the touchdown actually and he kind of does this like Houdini kind of grabs the guy's inside hip spins around kind of gets in front of him and just gives enough daylight and that doesn't happen on every team so I think like that if that's your toughest group like lean on them a little bit I know we've talked about that nauseum this whole season I don't think that's going to happen but that's that's a group that's got a bunch of tough competitive Sons of Guns like by the way one of whom is playing at an standing level yeah Sam Cosby has had a hell of a season yeah and people sleep on that and so and it's funny cuz him and Wy in the Run game are excellent like they work so well together CU they're kind of these like they're 310 lbs they're 66 they're more basketball player than offensive lineman and in the Run game it's so awesome to see those guys work together I wish they did it more obviously um and then Gates you know he brings that kind of blue CER kind of noons mentality and then Chris Paul and sadique like they they have their deficiencies as players and specifically in pass protection but they strain man and I think that's one thing about that group that I would just I appreciate you know they get all this Flack in the media and and rightfully so to a certain I mean the problem is they built a running offensive line because they wanted to be claimed to wanted to be a running football team and then they became the past happiest team in the league like they're actually not terrible at running the football even though they don't even scheme it up very well and they're not even terrible in pass protection but when you leverage them 45 times a game like we've talked about we were just retreading all ground at this point but when you to week 17 in the L season bro yeah when you leverage them like that you know you're going to like I don't care who you are like there's a reason that San Francisco's offensive line is not like person forp person very good but they like when you're looking because I do I I do those like those reports for the pass rushers around the league when you come to San Francisco you might get five to seven true dropback passes in a game out of 50 plays yeah like that is talk about deleveraging a group right and like think compare that to what Washington's been doing the past couple of weeks like it's it's it's not even fair correct yes yeah the percentages are the same that the raw numbers are going to be terrible well welcome to the 2023 Washington Commander season uh when we get back Kevin Sheen joins us here on the take command pregame [Music] show [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] w [Music] w [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] he [Music] take man freegame show on a burgundy and gold game day Craig Hoffman Logan pson with you and with us half an hour into the show every week we got two more of these Kevin Shen how are you sir happy New Year boys yep just do more thankfully although I've enjoyed this all year and last year too so I'll miss you guys no well I mean it's a great time obviously yeah we enjoy having you we en we enjoy talking to you but like we can talk to you whenever we have your phone number we don't need to do this this is ridiculous what are we doing here I know I it's it's just something we've gotten used to too over the years I mean more years than not a lot more years than not uh over the last plus it's been meaningless games at the end of the year and that that stinks for an NFL fan base because you know you watched last night the game's a big game in the NFC with ramifications and then there's controversy and everybody's talking about it today and you're in these games W which literally mean nothing um coming down the stretch and it's been a lot of years like that maybe things will start to change after this one's over we can certainly hope uh in the meantime the quarterback story this week has been a wild roller coaster the latest is that we're waiting for the official word that jacobe brasset will not play and it certainly is trending that direction what do you make of of how this has gone this week well I mean actually I'm kind of glad if Sam gets the chance today I I'm not a big believer in kind of this lasting irreparable psychological damage for competitors like I think he is um he's he's not been physically beaten up here recently it's not like he's hobbling around or carrying his right arm and a in a sling I mean he's been hit much less recently in in actuality because he's been bailing from the pocket so quickly If This Were a physical issue it would be a different story um I've heard people by the way I don't know if you guys have talked about this at any point this week but people have tried to make make this analogous to the Patrick Ramsey situation 20 years ago Logan and Steve Spurrier was the coach and literally on every single play he had the maximum number of eligible receivers on the field which meant no more than five offensive linemen protecting Ramsay and he took a battering I don't think that's this situation um I just would like to see Sam today you know Ron's reminded us all year long that this season was a lot about developing a Young quarterback they believed had a chance and to me from the beginning of the week the idea of letting him take a break or a breath as Ron had said to was too much for me uh you know about maybe their fading belief in Sam as the guy that they were hoping he could become or at least look like at this point um and I think there was some frustration in there too they wanted to see something better remember this for a month straight they lost by 35 30 and then against the Rams and jets they were on the on the verge of losing by three touchdowns or more I mean the love itude over four games I'm sure was frustrating for them so they wanted to see something better but I'd like to see Sam get a chance to fight through this on the field uh I I think we're we're going to see the offseason be about quarterback as a top priority anyway but I'd like to see him get a chance to fight through it on the field I mean it's interesting because like when you look at and I i' like to get your thoughts on this when you look at the last probably four maybe five games he's played he hasn't looked very good and like I think people keep calling for him to play out of it like how many how many opportunities does he need how many opportunities would you like to see him get or do you just want to see him play until he's till he's through the till he's through this storm I guess would be my question well I mean I just don't think that you are are like if you go into this it couldn't get any worse at this point like if if I really thought or if they really thought physically he was at risk um and maybe he is although we haven't seen that be an issue the last two weeks but then again the 49ers are a different animal all together you know if they're really concerned about him physically that would be one thing I don't know to me he's been a resilient tough guy he's a gamer I don't think he's going to be irreparably harmed if he has another bad game against the 49ers there's no upside in playing jacobe Brett for us anyway maybe for them to feel a little bit better about being you know a more competitive offense um I just don't see massive downside to playing Sam I think we've gotten to the point where more likely than not anyway they're going to be in quarterback search mode draft wise and otherwise when the offseason begins Counterpoint Kevin and Counterpoint to to something someone that you are a huge fan of how important do you think it was for Kirk to to sit out uh because that's something that we talked about on uh the podcast this week and Logan was was obviously there for it and and Logan uh you know said like hey at the time like yeah he needed to sit and watch and and learn some things then go back out there and try again and that's kind of where the the two of us come down is like this rest reset thing is is actually the good thing a good thing for Sam that there is some nurturing that needs to happen and what he is is going to depend on that those development choices versus you know just he is what he is and he'll he'll play through it and I also just want to say like not all situations are created equal like not all guys are created equal so like we make this comparison to Kirk um and maybe Sam's a totally different guy but like where do you lie on that uh Kevin well I mean I think the way you described it is is fine and I I I mean if that's really what they believe that's okay I just don't like the idea that he's too fragile to go out and play these last two games to me that's that's very telling and I also the whole comparison with Kirk to me Kirk had real top half of the league starting quarterback potential um and it was a completely different situation as as you guys said here we That season was still in play I mean that was earlier in the season uh just like Dwayne when they benched him it was earlier in the season different situation as well we're talking about two meaningless games left I'd rather see them you know unless it's really too fragile of a situation and to me that would speak volumes too well I think the other thing that I just keep coming back to also is like through I mean obviously there's times where Sam's playing badly but he's the offense is functioning there's times though where I'm like how like where is the receiving room at like where is the tight end room at because I can't distill like where like when the ball should be out or how accurate the throw needs to be and you know it's I just think it's interesting that when jacobe comes in there there does seem to be a little bit more Rhythm to the offense which helps with the evaluation of some of these other pieces and I know with this offseason coming up new ownership coming in um you know a a lot of personnel decisions are going to need to be made do you think there's any validity to that argument or are you kind of okay with just saying we need to figure out what this quarterback thing is no I do think there's validity to that argument the only thing is is organizationally I don't know if I own the team if I really care with two games understanding the value at losing these these two games organizationally of course it doesn't mean that the coaches or players understand that or or would adhere to that we all understand that as fans but um if it's really gotten to the point where you can't evaluate other players um yeah that's an issue we saw that with Robert we saw that with we've seen that with other quarterbacks here over the last you know 10 to 10 to 12 um years but it's not like there's a lot of season left and who at this point are you really trying to evaluate if you're talking about bringing up practice squad by the way should be the plan next week including Jake fr that should be a big part of the plan even if Dallas has nothing even if Dallas has something to play for which now um it appears they they will but you could still get Dallas resting starters in the second half next week if Philly's up by a bunch you got to be careful with that situation if you're evaluating those players maybe you evaluate them with with Jake FR by the way who's the backup today uh they signed from to the they signed from to the 53 um checked on that this morning so yeah from is uh from is up and ready to go and I assume he'll be active no matter what um as the third quarterback if job even if jacobe mirac or miraculously plays but uh it'll probably be how from and then brette inactive but let me let me just add to to to Logan's Point like if we've gotten to the point where you can't evaluate other players because Sam is so bad and we have come to the conclusion right at this point the quarterback's the number one roster offseason priority I think you can make that argument I I just think that like so I mean I I guess for me like the reason I brought it up is because there's times where I'm like is Jan a real two in the NFL or is he more of a three like did they I don't to say did they miss on that pick or did we overvalue Jan's skill set last year and I can't again I can't make that determination because of how the offense is progressing at the moment with Sam withth the helm like Terry like is he lost a step or are we just having a difficult time with the quarterback spot right Curtis seems to be thriving in this new role Logan seems to flash but our two kind of number one receivers haven't kind of taken that step with the that we all thought they would take so I think that's more what I'm referring to I understand you want to flush out other areas of the roster no doubt but do we need to make a big move for a receiver do we need to bring in a Mike Evans do we need to kind of that those are the things that I'm questioning at the moment and again like is that fair of me I don't think so but it it's so it's so tightly correlated to what Sam's been doing the last couple weeks I think and then the other thing I would add to that is then then the quarterback part of that is like if I'm Frank Smith or Ben Johnson or Bobby slowick or insert new coach did have I seen enough High upside stuff from Sam that I look at the way they're using him and go that is coaching malpractice this kid's got something I can develop it I can incubate him I can create a better ecosystem and having the evaluation the other parts of the ecosystem becomes really helpful uh if you can see what jacobe could do with them so like they're they're obviously intertwined to an extent but I don't think they're completely in Lo step yeah that that last point is something I've talked about this week as well is just if if Sam had been in a more quarterback friendly for the offense something that was more balanced something where Run game and and pass offense with QB Keepers and bootleg leg and play action were a part of it because to me I I see a guy that would actually be pretty good in San Francisco's scheme in Kevin stefansky scheme um you know th those kinds of schemes but you know still at the end of the day third and 10 you need somebody to be able to sit in the pocket and let receivers get downfield and make a throw and I I think that's where we've seen the flaw and whether or not it's fatal or not if fatal is you know is awfully aggressive and and hyperbolic but because he can play in this league it's just whether or not he's a legitimate starter and I don't know that you've got a guy on Third and eight third and 10 can can deliver over and over again from the pocket fair enough uh if you want more from Kevin on all of this the Kevin Sheen show 10:00 a.m. to 1 pm on the team 980 weekdays and then of course the Kevin Sheen Show podcast as well Kevin thank you sir and I will we'll direct people to your podcast for all the picks and Stu such you got it thanks guys Happy New Year Happy New Year to you as well and if you do want Kevin smell test and the rest of his picks check out the uh podcast from his Friday show or the Kevin Sheen Show podcast when we get back here on the take command pregame show let's finish out this conversation on quarterback to close out the hour and we'll hear from the junkies coming up at the top of the hour on 1067 the fan of the team [Music] 980 [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Applause] [Music] he [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Applause] [Music] he [Music] [Applause] [Music] he [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Music] [Applause] a [Music] [Applause] [Music] he you'll hear from the sports junkies coming up at the top of the hour here on a burgundi and gold game day 1067 the fan the team 980 streaming live on YouTube too at the team980 and at 1067 the fan we will be there post game as well the postgame live stream about 90 minutes after the final whistle uh Logan that's Logan Paulson I am Craig Hoffman here on the take him in pregame show um let's let's kind of wrap up that that conversation we've some on some level been having for the hour but that we had with uh with Shen in terms of the evaluation of other players like what when when we talk about that like how hard is it to say and why is it so difficult the last couple of weeks to make an assessment on Jan Dodson versus if jacobe Brett is in there yeah so I just go back I mean it's like literally like one play made me think of this and I know that's like really hard to do but it's just funny how something can change your perspective on on the team and on on a on a position on a player and it was the comeback that he threw versus the LA Rams jacobe threw it and there wasn't a ton of Separation but because he threw it with great anticipation I'm talking about jacobe Jan was open I'm like Jan has been open like that a couple times this year there's been a couple opportunities where Jan's got a foot and a half of separation and the DB recovers because it's late later in the down the quarterback's held the football but I thought I want to see more of that like if if Jacob's in like there was a play against the Jets where Jan is on SAS Gardner runs like what I call a money route it's like an out up and then to a comeback and has three yards of SE separation and I thought you know Sam's kind of waiting to see it come open as opposed to jacobe who I think would be like the receiver's putting his foot down I'm throwing this football so like that trust and understanding of the timing to help kind of maximize these guys that are really good at running routes specifically toan doson I just want to I just I'm I'm curious to see if if there is something to that because everyone talks about receivers elevating the quarterback it goes the other way we don't talk about enough a quarterback elevating receivers and I think this in this instance I just wanted to know how a guy with more experience with a more understanding of the timing with more understanding of the rhythm of the offense um could potentially kind of wake up the production of some of these guys that we've been calling for more production from so that's really kind of my thought when jobe's been in Jan all of a sudden becomes alive like he was targeted three four times last week in that that second half and feels like he never gets targeted with when Sam's in the game and you know it's it's weird because those guys had such a great Rapport in training camp um and it just hasn't translated over to the season I think Jan's such an interesting case too not to get too sidetracked but you sent me a clip from uh from move the sticks the podcast you're referencing earlier today uh with Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks about okay what's the through line of great receivers uh in the NFL right now and it seems like it's play strength and toughness and when you watch Jan you're like is that is that that guy and I don't I don't know but what does he do really well he he you know can route somebody up he's got this kind of precision to his game yeah that if you're not throwing guys off of you and and playing with that physicality that timing element becomes really important and so for a receiver specifically like John the quarterback I think is going to be more important than it would for just a physical behem like AJ Brown can play with anybody cuz he's a tank uh throwing to a tank is easier than throwing to you know whatever whatever analogous I also don't think it's a coincidence that like you know AJ Brown was everyone's like oh is he a true number one is he the guy when he's in Tennessee and he goes to an offense where the quarterback says I trust you I'm going to feature you the offense is built around you and he and he becomes the best receiver in the NFL for stretches of the season and that's I'm not saying that lightly like he's been very productive but again there there's a scheme switch a quarterback switch that elevated him in terms of his production you know and Santana Moss talks about that all the time in terms of his career career like what would he have been like if he had had a legitimate quarterback at any point in his career and you he had 14 different guys try yeah and and it's a scary thought to think about a guy who was Uber productive in his time could get open versus anybody if he had a Tom Brady if he had a pton Manning if he had insert your top 10 quarterback here like he would have been devastating and I that I think that's where I'm at with Jan is like you know because we we w we listen to that podcast I sent it to you about this physical toughness and it's something that I undervalue I I mean I I value at the receiver position I like that but I don't think it's the end all Beall because if you're a great separator often times you can overcome some of that stuff and I think about you know the Isaac brucees of the world a guy that wasn't overly physical necessarily he wasn't super tough but he played with a quarterback that was super accurate he could create great separation and they they maximize they maximize each other and and so do you need this is my question really is do you need to say oh we need to go out and Target one of these because this you know I've done I started a little bit of draft work and basically there's like 10 receivers in this draft this year that are 64 plus they're 215 lbs they run 43s and they're excellent contesting catches so you know there's going to be an opportunity for you to find a guy like that to maximize your room and that's not even talking about the free agent guys so do you even need do you need to make that decision or do you have someone in the building already that you feel good about and say hey we like the trajectory that he's on and for me I just can't I haven't been able to kind of come to a firm conclusion cuz there's times this year with specifically where I'm like man I wish he was a little bit more competitive I I wish he was playing harder and then I watched the Jets game and I'm like this dude is an NFL starting player but we can't see him because the quarterback can't get him the football and that's not all on Sam the offensive line the timing all those different things are are at play here the play calling whatever it is but I I that's what I want to know I want to know is do you need to go make a move at tight end or is Logan Thomas good enough you know and I I know fans don't want to hear that with Brock Bowers in the draft and all that stuff but there's times where I see Logan Thomas make that play on the Skinner like the the post for the touchdown where it's a contested catch he gets his big body in there and Sam doesn't make that throw but jacobe does and now no one's saying oh Logan's not being productive enough so that's kind of what I want to see and if if today's going to be a tough data point I think for everybody but that's why I wanted to see jacobe play today yeah you know for what it's worth I think you know with Curtis being a free agent like I'd probably move Terry down to two Jan down to three in the slot and you know I shouldn't say down to down to two for Terry still your primary guy but he moves to Z instead of X and you go get the big body guy and we talked about that at length with reception perceptions Matt Harman a couple weeks ago on the podcast definitely one worth checking out if you missed it uh just search take command in your favorite podcast feed we get back here on the pregame show you're from the sports chunkies on 1067 the fan and the team [Music] [Music] 980 [Music] he [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Applause] [Music] he [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Applause] [Music] w [Music] [Applause] [Music] he hour number two of the take command pregame show live from Tap Sports Bar at MGM National Harbor where the doors are open you can come hang out with us we'll be here up till kickoff they got great specials all day long every game on the TV so if you want to watch the NFL today this is a great place to do it and you can come hang out with us up until kickoff here at Tap Sports Bar MGM National Harbor Logan Paulson there I'm Craig Hoffman we we will dive into the tape a little bit more where has Sam Howell regressed coming up in about 10 minutes from right now A little over 10 minutes right now though 11:00 a.m. it is time for you to hear from the sports junkies and their thoughts on today's game I don't envy the commanders in this spot the commanders just want to get to the end of the season get through these last two games we know that the the sand is going through The Hourglass on Ron's tenure here these are his last two games uh a lot of these players won't be back look they just want to have a respectable outing and for for the fans sake uh lose the game but lose it respectably so you don't lose your draft position in the upcoming 2024 NFL draft obviously the the huge storyline jacobe brassette in Sam Hal benched and let's be honest it's for the last two games it's not like Ron said during the week oh we're going to take a game by game Sam's sitting for the rest of the season it's the jacobe brassette show against this week the ners and to close out the season with the Cowboys hopefully hopefully he's hot like he was in relief of Sam in the last two games yeah as long as brette stays healthy right I would be a little concerned about the 49ers defensive line against bager and subpar Commander offensive line but the way I'm looking at this game is how are the commanders going to stop the ners the ners offense this year number two in the league in yardage they put up 404 yards per game they're number two in scoring at 29.6 points per game they're going up against the worst defense in the league we've seen it it doesn't matter we thought oh maybe they have a chance against the Jets and turned out because jacobe brassette and the offense got hot they did have a chance to win that game but in the end the defense couldn't get a stop if they got a stop on the last Drive they don't give up the game-winning field goal they actually get a dub this defense hasn't been able to stop any offense this year let alone a prolific offense Brock P had an off game against the Ravens through four interceptions but before that that team was rolling six wins in a row and people thought they were an Unstoppable Force they were humbled I know they are a little nicked up and they're coming over from the west coast to the east coast I think they're going to put up 40 plus on the commanders there's no reason for me to bet on the commander defense now offensively I do think that brette is an upgrade on what we've seen from Sam how clearly the last five weeks where his quarterback rating through five games is roughly around 50 two touchdowns eight inter ceptions uh the problem is at the running back position they're down some guys so the depth is hurt there I I I do like the fact that we've seen the receivers get in the mix with jacobe brassette yeah jacobe brassette is actively looking for Terry mcloren Johan doson downfield he's willing to push the ball downfield he gets rid of the ball quickly I I just don't think he's going to be able to keep up with a ners offense that let's be honest Kyle Shanahan wants it to get ramped up and looking like like it was earlier in the season prior to the Ravens game with the playoffs looming so if they start scoring points it's not like Kyle is going to you know lift his foot off the gas pedal he wants this offense to be ready for the postseason this is a tuneup type of game perfect game for them to rebound after that loss to the Ravens after getting smacked around on their home field by the way the ners in six of eight Road games this year have put up 30 plus points so they'll score anywhere it doesn't matter home or away and you know I I think 30 seconds Point plateau again uh today Vegas basically has them as a two touchdown favorite I'm going to take the ners 45 to 17 okay so you have it uh you know that's that is quite a margin there I think it's going to be a little bit closer than that I still think the 49ers cover the 13 or 13 and a half whatever the point spread uh lands on pre kickoff I like the ners 35 to 21 commanders fall to 4 and 12 with another loss at FedEx I would expect a big contingent your back hot stands as well not a lot of optimism from the sports chunkies How can there be optimism back to you guys all right guys thank you very much so uh not a lot of optimism uh there there in the morning show really uh I know stunning uh don't forget to listen to sports junkies on the fan and the team 980 uh weekday morning 6 to1 a.m also live on the free Odyssey app um but you know Logan as a player when you go into a game where you're a big Underdog you know you're not looking at the spread obviously you're not like oh we're 13-point dogs I'm sure you have coaches sometimes yeah would be like bring it up like No One Believes Vegas doesn't believe when you know like hey this they're a better football team than us we're this late in the season they're 11 and four we're 4- 11 but we just got to beat them today it's it's Any Given Sunday NFL style right like how do you how do you get your mind right for a game like that and how important is is a good start to make sure that belief doesn't quickly yeah I mean I think the good the good start's absolutely critical cuz I mean like you're you're kind of teetering on like being on vacation already yeah so if it gets down you know it's 21 to zero 21 to3 and it's not through the first quarter yet it's really hard to stay motivated which is one of the reasons last week's game against the Jets was so impressive because you know it would have been super easy everyone just get out of here but yeah um in in a game like this for me it was always like I just focused on like my my macro level micro level macro level one of those words um big picture or little picture little picture micro micro my micro level of of of the game like what is my matchup what is my job how do I do that to best my ability and I just kind of like you can't worry about at least in my experience like the wins loss of of the other team it's like how do I maximize what I'm doing in this moment because the other stuff is just out of your control like you just it's because you can't control all you know 21 other guys they got to control their business and so that's how I always handled these games and I did not even look at the score like there were games where I would look up and be like oh oh we're down by 10 or we're up by seven whatever you know like I just didn't know cuz like I was so dialed into this and I found that to be the best way to handle these types of situations like where it's it's really you know David versus Goliath lopsided kind of affair that ability to focus on each individual play is a rare one it is absolutely the right thing and I'm not saying that I did it all the time it's it's hard right it's really hard to do especially when it's but even when you're good like that's that's the goal right like do you play every play as the same play do you have the same intensity do you bring the same level of focus and execution to every single play that is an ideal standard the reality of doing it is so hard I think too you know we talk about the start like last week we saw the the start really derail Sam how when he did not get any help early drops receivers slipping all of that but if we zoom out struggling yeah H God the worst worst special teams performance I think I've ever seen was the first half last week so when we look to use to go go the other way macro big picture on Sam how what has gone wrong these last four weeks with him getting ready to likely start today by the way that official word should come down in about 20 minutes with the ins and the outs the inactive list at 11:30 we'll bring it to you live here on the take command pregame show but what has gone wrong on a macro level with Sam how these last four weeks compared to the excellent play that we saw from him earlier this season Logan's watch the tape we will go to the tale of it next it is the take command pregame show on a burgundy in Gold game [Music] [Music] day [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Applause] [Music] he [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] a [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] w [Music] [Music] [Applause] he [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] take aan show live on a burgundy and gold old game day I am Craig Hoffman he is Logan Paulson and we have breaking news Logan right as we went to break Nikki javala of the Washington Post reports that it will be Sam how today as expected for the last 48 hours or so jacobe brassette is out with the hamstring injury he will be inactive listed as the designated third emergency quarterback so I guess technically he can wind up out there uh but Jake from is the back up I would imagine at that point like you don't risk if I'm jacobe and like we're down we're down to that and things have gone that sideways I'm like yeah Logan can go take some snaps dude I mean he I'm not I'm not risking my hamstring that's the thing is you know the thing that stresses a quarterback hamstring the most is like the handoff from under gun so it just would be all like gun runs maybe a couple quick game be a little dicey a little dicey yeah so uh we anticipate or we know Sam how will will start the game today of course he started the last two and has not fin them so if things go sideways today I think one of the things you that's being baned about on Twitter is like do you go to Jake from if if things go sideways with Sam again or you just tell Sam hey man we're gonna finish it out I I I do think before we get to and this kind of leads into what we're going to talk about here um in our tail of the tape segment like if I'm Eric bemy I can't let that happen I can't let that happen to this kid like he's got I I mean look I've said this a million times and I feel so dumb and I feel so Sports Talk Radio e but like I mean it it's it's an honest take and I think I'm right he needs to run the freaking football today man he's not going to do it so stop saying it why he's not going to do it I mean we've had what what is it what week are we in 15 16 17 this is week 17 yeah we only got to do this one more time bro after 17 I'm all messed up but yeah I just it's not who he wants to be it's not who he wants this team to be I do think they've been more efficient it'll be great to see BR Rob coming back today I would what this team is though is a 4 And1 team that starting quarterback hasn't finished the last two games I get you but there are guys who have a vision of what they want the offense to look like and what they want the production to look like and I think he's been very clear about what he wants it to look like and there have been times at this this year where it's like oh they're running the ball a little bit more he can want all he wants we have 15 games of data I know I know I know and I think that what I will say the other thing that's tough about the 49ers is they're very good at stopping the run so you're going to run the ball you're going to bang your head into a brick wall for two downs it's third and 10 you've really leverage Sam in that situation so I think you just got to find a way to stay ahead of the stick stay efficient and this is one thing I I don't know if we're going to talk about this in a minute but like can you find SL manufacture five explosive plays in this game that that would be my question because I think when you look at the offensive production dip it I think it strongly correlates to when Sam stopped making a ton of Big Time throws each and every game and you know Sam was elev elevating the offense with those big time throws now as a coordinator can you elevate him with some easier opportunities down the field so um I mean that's it's going to be a big lift today because this defense is excellent we already t talked about that and Sam's been struggling against defenses like this and they're going to leverage him to the hilt they're going to really put a ton of pressure on him so in terms of optimism about this game for Sam I'm not super optimistic I hope he goes out and lets it rip and I think that's maybe part of what E's got to do today is just say hey man like let's give give our guys some opportunities let's throw the football down the field and um and don't be afraid to to kind of be be who you were early in the season so that's of course the question we're asking it's kind of what has happened to Sam as especially these last four weeks where he has been the the least effective that he's been all year um are there throws that he made earlier in the year that are available and he's just not letting it go anymore or have they have defenses latched on and and the offense hasn't evolved and adjusted like what what happened to the big time throws and the fearlessness that he played with earlier in the season because I'll say this real quick Logan you know people talked about oh well why didn't they bench him against Buffalo when they did the last two weeks like what happened I think what happened is earlier in the season he continued to play through stuff like he didn't change he showed a resilience that was unbelievable he he did not show that resilience the last couple of weeks and so I that's why I think Bingham was the right move and now obviously here we are yeah I definitely think there's something to that I mean that that's probably I would say the exact same thing there is there's been a difference in his play over the last couple weeks a guy that went from operating the offense efficiently early in the season find finding open throws making those big time throws so big time throws like a tight window down the field type throw he was doing that and then over the last couple weeks there just hasn't been that guy's gone really since the Dallas game since he threw that pick in the Dallas game uh in the second half of that football game like that guy has not been around like you look at the Miami game everyone says oh he was pretty productive in that game I know he had a pretty solid PFF score in that game but I look at that and I say all of his big explosive plays in that game came off schedule and the on schedule stuff that you saw early in the season has just kind of evaporated and you cannot operate as a quarterback in the NFL totally off schedule it just doesn't work and I think that's something that I look at and I say he needs to get back to doing some stuff on schedule and this game against the 49ers is going to test that ability it's I mean it's almost like taking you know a really challenging test like they are going to make sure you if you're not on time you're going to throw the ball to the defense you're going to the window's going to be gone so I think that's what I'd like to see today it's like all the stuff he's done poorly for the last four or five weeks needs to totally flip on its head and he needs to start executing at a higher level in the timing and Rhythm of the offense and again the windows are small the opportunities are even smaller there's not a ton of Separation defenses are matching these Concepts much better but you got to make plays and it's like we talked about like with Brock pie and I think this is a really good comp because they're both lower round draft pick guys with some ability same draft by the way um Brock Pie has is Kyle does a good job manufacturing Big Time throws for him and then there are probably three to four plays in a game where Brock pretty elevates the offense this offense has been completely kind of flipped of that it's Sam how kind of leveraged in these big time throw situations and and then when that has regressed the offense has regressed with it so I think that's what if I had to distill it down to one point be on time be in Rhythm windows are smaller we're well thereare that but versus smaller Windows those first two things have to be prioritized even more so I just pulled up uh some some numbers for the arguments here uh Pro Football Focus is what we're using for these because well Big Time throws is their metric uh so big time throws earlier in the season he didn't have any against Arizona and then he goes two against Denver two against Buffalo two against Philly three against Chicago two three three 52 he was leading he was leading the NFL after week 10 in Big 10 throws uh against New England by the way 11% of his throws were Big Time throws typically it's somewhere between four and 7% then he had none against the Giants none against the Cowboys one against Miami uh three actually I don't remember any of those against the Rams uh I don't either to be honest uh and then he had zero zero last week against the Jets so so pretty precipitous drop off yeah and meanwhile Brock pie every week two two three 1 three three two three one one one 2 one one um so he you know they they find the throws and I I mean I can think in the Baltimore game they only have him as one I can think of a couple throws that I consider Big Time throws in that game so I mean again that's Pro Football Focus is metric but like if you watch the tape and that might be because you know the throw that I'm thinking of is an 18 yard out rout and needs to be 20 for for it to hit their metric but like you know that's a game where obviously you know they also hilarious ly had uh uh pie with two turnover worthy plays in a game where he had four picks right so but they but they you know I think that's another thing to speak to Brock pie is like three of those were tipped like badly tipped and that the receiver should have caught them so yeah so all in all like the ability to keep the turnover wory plays down to make the big time throws is something that Sam when he was good this year generally did a good job of and function in the offense I think that's the other thing if Big Time throws is huge cuz that that was a big drive over for the offensive success really hitting the layups is more important than the big time yes like keeping the offense on Rhythm and and throwing in the timing of the play like don't double clutch something don't vacate clean Pockets don't try to extend when there's opportunities there and again like it's really hard for me to look at the evaluation of last week's game because early on he's vacating clean Pockets because guys are falling down they're tripping up probably the first six or seven plays is like that but you got to find a way to be in the rhythm of the offense like that is going to be so so important for the last two games if you are starting what is the rhythm of the offense can I be in that Rhythm and can I can I sustain drives and then when those big- time opportunities come can I make some of those throws yeah I would I would just have him hand the ball off for a couple drives and but that's I'm not Eric bemy in so many ways yeah but we we've talked about it before too though like if running the football efficiently is a way to insulate the quarterback but can you do that efficiently for you know five consecutive carries or whatever that is right so you have to kind of like that's why it's hard to be a play caller you got run I'm not saying it work I I just know he's not going to Keepers I'm not going to give him a chance to have a confidence busting play early right um that's taking that's it's a bit of a bit but also like can you make sure and to to EB's credit last week he starts off with two really easy screens throws a screen to Curtis where Curtis slips or sorry Curtis drops ITP and then uh oh yeah the RPO and then the the hey get him out of the pocket get him on the Move okay roll to your left dink off of his helmet uh and then and then that gets picked off so uh EB tried last week it just didn't work results not guaranteed uh when we get back we will look at the result from last night what a wild game in Dallas Logan and I will give our takes on that and then of course we'll go around the rest of the NFL take a look at the days full of games awaiting us today Beyond what's happening at FedEx Field we'll get the official and active report as well it's the take command pregame show on a burgundy in Gold game [Music] [Music] [Music] day [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Music] [Music] a [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] St [Music] [Music] w [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Applause] [Music] he [Music] take man pre game show on a burgundy and gold game day I am Craig Hoffman he is Logan pson and at 11:30 we go around the NFL uh we keep you updated of course on the breaking news as well as it comes through uh but we do know that uh as we wait for the rest of the enact is that jacobe brassette will be the third quarterback today after being named the starter earlier this week the hamstring injury suffered in practice Thursday keeps him out Sam how to start Jake from is your number two today for the commanders as for the rest of the league Logan let's start last night in what it was just a fantastic game uh Between the Lions and the Cowboys uh Cowboys ultimately win 21 to 19 or sorry 20 to 19 um after the Lions score a late touchdown we're going for two uh respect for Dan Campbell he is who he is he listens to the analytics and which a lot of coaches like will lean into it sometimes but like they tell you to go more often than than I think people realize and he's like no we're going um going for two in that situation absolutely The Right Move uh he's his team is ready they had a play pick out they told the refs before the game hey this is what's going to happen and then it gets wiped off the board after they convert it because the referee called the wrong tackle eligible it's wild man and it's just it's it's sooin it's so it's disappointing when all that preparation goes into the game and then you seemingly do everything correct and the ref the ref is not on the same page and the guy that you know drastically impacts the game I just I don't know what I I think the think that's frustrating for me if I'm Dan Campbell and why like I don't know I probably would have gotten thrown out of the game last night I'm a terror uh when I feel like I've been wronged uh which really LED great to my future coaching career uh and my relationship with referees anyway the point is uh like you told the refs before the game this is what's going to happen you talk to them during like do you do all the proper stuff what more did you want them to do no and I think that's the thing that for the NFL they're going to have to answer for today I I think 100% right I mean that's the thing that I come back to is like you literally did everything everything you're supposed to do like there's times where like oh the guy didn't report the guy wasn't clear to the ref or the guy didn't go up to the ref what whatever it was but in this one it sounds like everyone did exactly what they were supposed to do it progressed exactly as it should have the coach did what he was supposed to do before the game the only person who didn't do what they were supposed to do is the guy that calls a penalty yeah and I think the the one thing that really is tough about this is so Brad Allen the referee called the wrong guy eligible over the mic yeah at that point is it on the line it's like no no no no no but at that point you probably also ruin the surprise right uh being like oh no no no 68 is the one that's eligible right uh not 70 um and they were I that was terrible um the hope I think is that that winds up affecting nothing um if the Eagles went out they win the division they would be the the one seed uh probably I think depending on the tiebreakers go um but the Lions uh probably still the three seed behind San Francisco and Philadelphia so hopefully it may obviously clinch the division hopefully it winds up affecting nothing right um and there's still a chance that could happen the worst case scenario is like you know if it cost the Lions the buy and the number one seed or home field or something you know something wacky happens one of these final two games with Philadelphia or San Francisco ahead of them and obviously if Dallas winds up jumping them uh ahead of Philly in the NFC East like yeah if I was the Lions I'd be pissed livid livid rightfully um and they are so not gonna not gonna do a whole lot of good uh for them meanwhile another good win for the Cowboys and and I do think like even bigger picture those are two very good teams two legitimate contenders you know we do our our NFL tiers on on the Hoffman show during the week and we put them both in the prime contenders our top category and I I think they prove they belong yeah absolutely I mean I think it's it's just fun watching good football fun fun watching in teams that are well coached physical and tough and they've got Playmakers and I always enjoy games where Playmakers come and step up in the big moments like CD lamb with that over 200 yard perform I think 14 catches like awesome awesome and am Ross Brown was great um you know Montgomery was really good for Detroit so a lot lot of Aiden Hutchinson you know on the defensive side Michael Parson's both excellent so just you know shows you what Elite Talent can do it would be cool if they could acquire some in Washington uh Patriots and bills bills 14 a half Point favorites over New England today obviously this game very much matters for Washington in terms of draft position although more likely the the one next week is the one we got our eyes on Patriots Jets to finish it out Patriots win uh the commanders should stay ahead of them uh and the draft currently Washington holds the third overall pick and uh the Patriots hold the fourth yeah and in this game I think it's it's one of those games CU it's in the division where you know the Patriots beat the bills earli this season and the bills for whatever reason they go on these spells where they just are spastically turning the football over and so can this can they avoid doing that can they win this game can they continue to kind of push for that playoff appearance hopefully yes because I do think they deserve to be in the playoffs I think they're a playoff caliber roster but you never know what the bills and so that 14 points for me seems a little bit High just because of what they did earlier this season um but I could see you're like they're just ticked off and they won and so then yeah they win by 20 and I I would not be surprised by that at all but I guess what I'm saying is like I people say oh they should smoke the Patriots but they should have smoked a bunch of teams this year and they haven't delivered yeah they've been better as of late though they get some of their guys back Mah Hyde Etc uh for Buffalo especially on the defensive side I think the big question for me today is can Stefon digs get going he has been very quiet the last nine or 10 weeks um and if they want to do what they want to do in the playoffs I think that that should be there for sure that would that would be very very helpful Falcons and bears lowkey one of my favorite games the day just from terms of pure interestingness yes uh report comes out yesterday that Matt eer flu is probably safe which I think is phenomenal for the commanders that is one less open job that they're going to have to compete for candidates for and it's the most similar job to Washington where you could you kind of have that blank slate top five draft pick tons of cap space Etc but they played really well since the montz sweat trade montz sweat has been incredible for them really like flipped the team I it's crazy to say but like flip that whole defense they were and now they're like they've been playing like a top five group since he arrived yep and so Flo looks like he's going to keep his job obviously we'll see with Justin Fields what they do and you know the number one uh landing spot I think for him this offseason in terms of trade best fit would be the Atlanta Falcons who uh look obviously better with Taylor hinek than they do with Desmond Ritter uh and it's very clear they've got to figure out their quarterback of the future question is for them is it going to be Arthur Smith deciding or do they make a a somewhat unexpected move and move on from him in the offseason yeah yeah mean there there has been noise about him getting him getting fired this season and there are times where you're like man like you just because there's so many good offensive Playmakers there on that roster you think they'd be more productive but yeah I do think like if I'm justtin fields and I'm his agent I'm like hey man if if if Atlanta offers a trade I definitely think that's a good opportunity but I always enjoy watching the Falcons Drake London Kyle pittz uh bejon great group of guys there defense that's playing well the Bears are fun to watch too with DJ they just got guys that are fun and exciting to watch is the football always the best no you know like the Bears a couple weeks ago we were watching them and it was just like you know here's the splash play by Fields this is great catch by Moore and then there's three quarters of kind of quiet kind of a rapid push and there's another drive and you're like oh they're back and then Fields throws a terrible interception to the wrong team in the end zone so it's not always great football but I do think those teams are are both compelling uh Raiders and Colts Raiders are seven and eight huh Raiders are are seven and eight and by the way speaking of top five defenses recently they have played like a top five unit since Antonio Pierce took over Max Crosby might actually be out of his mind but he's certainly playing like it um they have they have been phenomenal and they're coming off a game that they really stole from Kansas City uh with two defensive touchdowns in about N9 seconds they didn't complete a pass after the first quarter and they won yeah I know and I think it's great it's great for Pierce that he's getting that getting those guys playing well and it seems like he might be getting the job I was talking to Fred smoo apparently and you know we got to take everything to Fred smooth with a grain of salt say is Fred smooth MTH of the South never stops running but it sounds like that they still owe a lot of money to JN and then McDaniels in terms of contract money so like it might be behoove them to have a coach like Pierce kind of hold the fort down for a couple years especially if he's got him playing well and the Colts man I thought the Colts were a team that was going to make a push here late in the season but they lost disappointing last they lost last week and again a group that I I really enjoy watching I think pitman's excellent I think they've got a nice solid offensive line they've got good running backs it's just about can they find that consistency which again kind of goes back to the quarterback spot so yeah you're not going to be consistent if gner MCH is your quarterback that's the nature of it but Pitman helps a lot he was out last week he's back today uh Zach Moss continues to stay out but Jonathan Taylor is back and on the on the Vegas side of things with Pierce like I do wonder you can't you you can't make decisions this way but you should like let your experiences inform you M they had bace a couple years ago after they fired guden he was really good they were like nah this is interm thing we're not going to do it right they moved on they they hire McDaniel and it goes It goes belly up because Josh McDaniels is a terrible NFL head coach um was fine offensive coordinator terrible as an NFL head coach um and so I do wonder if they're like we got an interm that's winning games we screwed this up last time let's keep this guy this time and I don't think it would be a terrible move I think Antonio Pierce has done a phenomenal job um and I would if I was him I'd keep a lot of the same pieces in place and you know just try to invest in that quarterback position uh but guys seem to love him and you know getting guys to play hard is that's a big deal is a big deal in the NFL Rams and Giants uh Giants back to Tyrod Taylor again the Tommy deito experience is over is is over it's capiche uh Rams uh meanwhile been playing obviously really well outside of that one dip in the middle of the season when Stafford was out they're eight and seven on the road in East for today yeah I think the Rams are just a really compelling team like they're playing like a playoff caliber team with like a roster that is not great and I think the way they've built that team is so interesting because they've found these huge Cornerstone pieces for their offense fifth round running back fifth round R receiver obviously later in the draft and I think it just shows you that you know there's a lot of stock placed on these high high draft picks you know talking from a Commander's perspective now but if you handle the talent evaluation correctly and say how do these guys guys fit our scheme do they have the toughness the competitiveness are they going to continue to get better you can make that work and I think again it's been really interesting to watch the Giants over the last couple weeks kind of find an offensive identity with kind of a mismash of quarterback pieces and I think getting Tyrod Taylor in there is going to be great for them because he's been the most efficient quarterback they've had this entire season no and he'll he'll hit some big plays too uh he's not afraid to Chuck it uh which always you know that adds that like level of variance to the game uh Giants 5 and 10 on the year they're actually three and three at home and by the way four catches as all puka nakua needs to get to 100 on the season needs 173 yards to get to 1,500 wow on the season which is not out of the realm a possibility for him today but certainly seems feasible over the next two weeks uh Cardinals Eagles Cardinals slowly three and 12 obviously huge eye on this for the commanders if somehow the Cardinals can pull an upset today that would move the commanders potentially into the number two draft position uh Eagles meanwhile trying to stay as the number one seed in the NFC they are 13o favorites at home as they welcome their former defensive coordinator Jonathan Ganon back to town yeah and I think obviously the Eagles have been in a little bit of a low this is a game maybe you kind of get yourself back on track from an offensive identity standpoint start greasing the wheels going into the playoffs um you know can guys kind of get themselves together uh but the thing that I'm going to if I was watching this game I would be really excited to see is like can Kyler Murray Elevate the way that you expect a former first round pick to elevate um and a guy that's been paid a lot of money and I think every time I turn that that film on for them I'm always like oh this is a great play but can we find that consistency because if he can be that guy and they can kind of say we're going to take Marvin Harrison Jr we're going to take uh Joe Al we're going to take fashanu early in the draft and start building this roster out I think that's pretty compelling for sure uh when we get back a look at the back half of the NFL slate including dolphins and Ravens in the game of the day that's next on the take command pregame show on a burgundy and gold game [Music] [Music] day [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] he [Music] [Music] [Music] a [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] w [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] full and actives for the commanders at the top of the hour on the take command pregame show Craig Hoffman Logan Paulson with you uh finishing up going around the NFL and uh let's go ahead and Logan and look at the game of the day uh just up I95 uh from here in Tap Sports Bar at MGM National Harbor we actually have to go 395 to 95 but 395 to 495 I don't care about the roads man it's in Baltimore uh Ravens and Dolphins today Kyle Hamilton is out for Baltimore coming off of his two interception game Brandon Stevens one their other starting Corners is out as well one of their starting Corners is out as well now on the other side jayen wad is out for Miami but this this should be an absolute Banger in balore yeah I mean I think after watching what Baltimore did last week against uh kind of the the father of this Miami offense will be it' be interesting to see if anything's transferable there like what works versus them and also I think it's good for Miami cuz now they got a ton of beta about the plan and how to attack the structures that they're going to present so um I think defensively it'll be awesome I think Lamar the way he played last week the way he's played all season really like can he continue to elevate that group will be super compelling cuz I he is so when he is on I don't it's it's hard to imagine there's a better guy like just his ability to extend plays kill you with his feet he's become so accurate as a passer the Run game that they developed the offensive line they have in Baltimore it's just like a really well- constructed organizational team you know offense defense special teams and then Miami is kind of trying to get there from a roster standpoint you know I think there's still some holes excuse me in their roster but they're an excellent football team they're one of the most explosive teams in the NFL I think rahee moer is also out in this game yeah moard is out in this game so you're down to a chain which is a and Jeff Wilson like yeah okay you got two good backs but moard has 20 touchdowns on the season there's a reason he has his role he's excellent um so it'll be interesting I I do wonder the schematic side of it like you said like who benefits more the Ravens having already played against such a similar offense two now two weeks in a row getting that continuity uh or or is it Miami who can look at what they did against San Francisco and be like okay we see what you're doing we now we now have a counter punch and I think the other thing is one of the things when you watch that Baltimore game is like they brought a ton of pressure and traditionally teams have not been super successful pressuring Tua because he gets the ball out of his hand so quick so maybe you take a different approach this week and say you know this is what we did versus the 49ers because they like to run some of those longer developing play action pass Concepts and then this week we're going to do something a little bit different so we'll see going to be really fun to watch that is a 1:00 kick in Baltimore Saints and Buccaneers uh this one basically for the NFC South Atlanta still got something they can say about it but Buccaneers win this one and they are in the gigantic Siz driver seat uh Baker Mayfield if he can get let's see what are we at uh 3598 that means he needs 402 yards uh in the final two games to have a 4,000 yard passing season not bad for a guy who's cooked huh and I think the other thing is like 26 touchdowns six interceptions or eight interceptions whatever it is like that's incredible and I think a big part of that is Mike Evans and just how consistent Mike Evans has been over his career like what is this like year 10 for Mike Evans nine consecutive over a thousand yards Seasons like it's it's awesome having a big dude to throw to must be real nice and he's big and he's fast and he's super competitive and um I really enjoy watching him play I've always enjoyed watching him play the thing there is that's been a little disappointing is their defense um obviously with BS kind of heading hitting that Helm it's been tough but I do think that um this will be a fun game just because it's for the division so Dave Canalis their offensive coordinator is actually a name to watch I think for offseason and I do wonder the Bucks did this a couple years ago uh they let go of Lovey Smith for dirk cutter um because they were like we can't lose the offensive coordinator a totally backfired a terrible decision um not terrible but it didn't work out but do they do the same thing again where they might move on from BS to keep Canalis if they think that he's the better Coach as their OC Panthers Jags uh this is down to three and a half Carolina's a three and a half point dog on the road uh because Trevor Lawrence is out and the Jags have been playing like yeah I think that's the story is like why are the Jags playing so badly Trevor Lawrence is out for sure I think it's uh CJ bethard who I played with in San Fran fine player but again that offense just they I heard the best thing I heard is they don't make anything easy in offensively and everything's been very very challenging for them and if Trevor Lawrence isn't elevating that group they've been struggling the Panthers found something maybe we'll see I don't know but um I think it's just this is more of how bad the Jags have been playing as opposed to how well the Panthers have been playing yeah um it's they I mean Jags have lost four straight yeah not great coach not great the Panthers have won games more recently than the Jacksonville Jaguars uh uh we did Dolphins Ravens Titans and Texans CJ stoud is back today oh nice that'll be fun to watch and again like they they are in contention for the playoffs right the Tex and near one of Deo Ryan pretty compelling and what's his name will Levis is he playing cuz that's what I care about I don't think so will check we got to check that real quick cuz I think if that oh he looks like he's good so if those guys are playing today I am watching that game cuz will Levis you never know what that dude's going to do is he going to try and truck a defensive tackle is he going to throw an 80 yard bomb who knows and then CJ strout's playing good football so let's check it out yeah who knows what L will do and CJ strad is good uh Steelers and Seahawks it's actually a light 4:00 window today which is unfortunate cuz there's so many good games in that 1:00 window you just wish they'd move couple of them to to four Steelers Seahawks uh Seattle four and a half Point favorites at home Steelers without Minka Fitzpatrick again who knows what to make of them man every time every time you you start to believe they lose every time you're like all right they're finally cooked Mike Tomlin wins a football game yeah and uh I mean but I I I enjoy watching Seattle I think they're doing a lot of interesting offensive stuff Innovative offensive stuff Shane Waldren I guess could be in the head coaching circuit here a little bit um so when to keep an eye on but yeah the Mike tomin thing is baffling cuz like they look so good they probably the first what was it eight games of the Season hit a little bit of a dull they're back at it who they going to be who's their quarterback can they play offensive football who knows Mason Rudolph is their quarterback today uh one of one of the two final games if they win it they will be over 500 which will be all 16 I think it is years of Mike tomlin's tenure Chargers Broncos doesn't deserve to be talked about so we're not going to talk about it uh we should the the Russell Wilson thing is maybe a podcast that's a uh Chiefs Bengals KC favored by seven even though they uh totally totally could not operate last week can they figure can they figure their lives out is the thing with Kansas City like it's it's been like it's been crazy to watch the the DraStic shift in offensive production and maybe the receivers are regressing maybe that's to be expected we don't have like kind of that Elite number one but can you kind of show hey we deserve the you know to be the team that won the Super Bowl last year again like kind of going to the playoffs with that kind of respect around our organization in our name so yeah I think I think people will respect them because momes is terrifying and their defense is legit top five good their defense is playing really well the offense has to help them out and for the first time I can ever remember watching the Chiefs last week I was like Mahomes is part of the problem right now he seems a little scattered um and and so can they get that fixed get that right back on track and then last but not least tonight uh there's no Monday nighter this week because the college football playoff tomorrow obviously the Monday nighter if you will was last night uh Packers and Vikings finishes it up on Sunday Night Football Minnesota is a one-point favorite at home with jiren Hall starting that's a I mean it's unbelievable like the sequence of their quarterbacks right it was dos Mullins and now we're at Hall again who got hurt in in when dos ended up getting the start that one time so uh the Packers are always fun to watch I think if they can even play a little bit of defensive football they're compelling they they're just a really talented team and they're on offense they're obviously very young defensively there's names all across the board I just feel like they should be playing better than seven and eight and they're playing a division rival and Minnesota just is like the inverse like there's a lot of holes in that roster the the defensive coordinator there as name has totally elevated that group with this kind of high blitzing percentage and more drop eight than anybody in league so they're blitzing more and they're dropping more in coverage Than People anybody else in the league so crazy there but elevated that group and it shows you how important coaching is specifically a defensive coordinator for sure and 24 teams are still alive for the playoffs that is the most in about 30 years uh that the NFL's tracking that uh so in terms of two weeks left in the season obviously used to be week 16 now week 17 uh but a lot of teams could see their playoff lives end today should be a fun day across the league uh we'll see how fun the day is in Landover we will get you the the final and active list next it's not pretty for the commanders how do they overcome it commanders 49ers preview one more hour of it here on the take command pregame show on a burgundy and gold game day [Music] [Music] e [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] a [Music] [Applause] [Music] he [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] a [Music] he [Music] [Music] [Music] e [Music] [Music] a [Music] [Music] [Music] he It's the final hour of the take command pregame show we only got four hours left of pregame shows Logan this season that's I mean I'm sad but you know considering the season correct I'm not that sad yeah I'm sad that we don't get to hang out as much you know yeah I mean we do a podcast I know actually I actually in the week talk to you way more than I probably should should yeah probably that's harsh I mean we talk like I talk to you more consistently than like some of my best friends yeah you know like like you do too like there's here's a guy that I work with that I talk to for how many hours a week seven hours a week well currently with the pregame yeah no it's seven seven for sure that's just in microphones and then we might up talking off air that's right um Logan and I are actually friends we're not we're not like best friends like weird but like I talk I sometimes in the week like when I'm I talk to you more than I talk to my wife sometime like in the in the course of the whole week because there's desicated time like it's just crazy like how much we talk and it's it's about the commanders almost exclusively which is also kind of wacky yeah what if we just did a a podcast where we just talk about other stuff talk about our lives I kind of wanted to do that this week the Craig and Logan non-c commanders take command podcast take take zero command that's what we'll call that episode that'd be a good one uh anyway we're going to talk about this game now uh for another hour uh and then the game is is going to happen and we're going to we're going to talk about it on a postgame show right uh on YouTube you can stream it live or of course subscribe more commanders content yeah take uh or take command podcast uh it will be out tomorrow morning in your AIO feed all right uh the inactive list uh which also couples as the injury report brought to you by CFA Ortho uh jacobe brette is out he is the emergency third quarterback meaning technically he can play today if the other two quarterbacks hurt yes he will dress although I mean if that hamstring's bad enough maybe he won't but I don't know why they designate him otherwise I guess they have to uh but then we haven't even talked about the fact that the top or three of the four defensive starters uh in the defensive backfield are out today uh Benjamin St juice and Kendall Fuller are on the uh on the list here of inactives Percy Butler is actually been moved to injured reserve so we'll talk about what that all goes to in just a moment uh Jaylen Harris defensive end who's been playing a decent amount is a is a healthy scratch uh and then Andrew Wy is out uh Charles Leno and Tyler lson moved to IR Cole Turner is out Mitchell Tinsley remains inactive today on the Niners sign of it Jaan Jennings wide receiver Brandon Allen is their emergency third quarterback Jer Brown safety who's been playing well for them is out Jaylen Graham Jaylen Moore Ross dwelly your fellow tight end Brethren and then Eric Armstead has been out for a couple weeks for them still trying to get back healthy he is out today uh so I think we should talk about the defensive backfield I think we should uh it'll be Emanuel Forbes it'll be cam curl it'll be Terrell Burgess and Quan Martin kind of splitting that other safety Duty Quan obviously spending a lot of time in the nickel uh and then it'll be Tariq Castro Fields starting on the outside for Washington yeah I mean tough game to get your you know kind of first significant playing time you know this is one of those games defensively where you're a little bit concerned because I think all the stuff that San Fran does really well our defense has struggled with recently there's a ton of motions ton of shifts they get in bunches tight formations how do you pass that off the other thing that I think would be really interesting to watch today is how do you tackle this group of skill position players for the San Francisco 49ers because when you watch them they break more tackles than anybody and when you watch our defense the commander defense specifically last week against the Jets they had like 19 missed tackles or something like that and so while I think the defense is playing better as a whole I think if you're not going to tackle well today this is a group that can make you look absolutely silly in terms of creating stuff after the catch explosive plays I go back to the the the Giants game San Francisco played early this year and there's numerous opportunities where Debo's catching the ball on a flat on a screen or something like that and he takes a play that is very mundane very benign and turns it into an explosive play or a touchdown so this group of defensive backs I think forb is going to have an interesting challenge today Castro Fields is going to have interesting challenge today but safeties how well are you guys going to tackle today because that's that's going to be so critical to making sure that we don't give up an explosive play which this defense has had a hard time doing throughout the season yeah communication becomes key and uh you know if like you're Terrell Burgess and you want to make yourself a little bit of money today and solidify your spot on an NFL roster yeah I was going to say even just make sure you want to be playing next year right yeah can can you you know on a on a roster versus a practice squad or whatever like show that you can communicate back there and it's hard when you're a new guy but everyone's going to be a new guy um but this is also a chance like frankly for Camp C to you know obvious he's not going to be fighting for his NFL life but for a roster or for a for a bigger contract like they have had so many communication issues this year and now cam is the only guy back there with any real experience I mean Terrell's played some NFL football obviously Quan's been playing the last couple of weeks um but Cam's the guy back there he has got to get them organized and that to me that is my biggest hold up on paying him is like you can't be a a key part of a defense that's this bad and expect to get a gigantic contract and that is what cam Cur want here in a couple of weeks no I think that's 100% right and I think one of the things that you know has been a little disappointing about his plays you know he hasn't made a lot of big explosive Splash plays he's been cam curling that he's been very consistent with the tackling and and relatively with position obviously he's been involved in some big plays given up but I think that the disappointing thing for me is just the lack of great communication from that group you know like I think that's something that when you talk to Fred when you talk to people who coach defense London Fletcher is another guy that comes to mind is just the lack of communication in the secondary and I think cam has a responsibility to that you know we're not very critical of Cam because I think he's a good football player but this is one area where I'd like to see him kind of grow up a little bit and say I can take charge of this secondary I can make some of these checks I can get this directed I can get this you know this adjustment to motion communicated and um you know today was going to he's going to have to do that or it's going to be a long day for the defense and by the way you better do all that and then be prepared to stop Christian mcaffrey so your run fits all that kind of stuff becomes super critical today I think this is a huge as as we'll get to our uh our pick six next um I think this is a huge day for the defensive tackles as well um and can they can they make all this other stuff uh moot can they make it irrelevant because they just are super disruptive well we'll talk about it our pick six uh every Friday on the Hoffman show my producer Anthony Haney and I pick six players that we think are key for the commanders lately it's been to be relatively competitive but in theory to you know win the football game uh so we'll run that list by Logan and let you hear it if you missed us on Friday next it is the take command pregame show on a burgundy and gold game [Music] [Music] day [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] he [Music] [Music] [Music] a [Music] he [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] he [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] a [Music] [Music] he it's the take command pregame show on a burgundy and gold game day we've reached the standing portion of the show we're Logan and I just are tired of sitting in the same wooden stools for 3 hours it's also the portion of the show that if you watch on YouTube you realize there's a large height discrepancy between me and a former NFL tight end uh of course that is former NFL tight end Logan Paulson I am Craig Hoffman uh here on the take command pregame show on a Bergen and gold game day uh we're also live of course on YouTube at 1067 the fan at the team 80 and always live on the free Odyssey app uh on the team 980 uh YouTube and the Odyssey app you can also find the Hoffman show the radio show I host from 4 to 7 each and every weekday afternoon and at six o'clock on that show on Friday's Logan we do our pick six we pick six players so we think they'll have the biggest impact on the commanders on Sunday and uh it's I pick half of the list uh my producer Anthony Haney picks half the list you know this by now hopefully most of the audience knows this by now now everyone here at Tap Sports Bar knows it as well uh and so we go over our list here on a Sunday uh I got the actually sorry I I got the second pick Anthony started he picked Cornelius Lucas who'll get the start at left tackle today he gets to see uh our old pal he gets he gets our old pal Chase young today um who has had a very interesting time in San Francisco he has been largely the same player but what he has done for them and Ben standig wrote about this in the athletic he has really unlocked their pass rush um he like Nick Bose's sack numbers have gotten significantly higher since he arrived even if Chase hasn't actually had a ton of production himself no I totally agree and I think he's going to be Cornelius I think I actually like this match up for the for the commanders uh because I think uh kin like when you watch them in training camp when you watch them in one-on ones kin is such a big man I think people sleep on how big he is he's like 68 I think he's 325 or 330 he's got these long Spider-Man arms and Chase does doesn't do well with guys of that kind of length and that kind of power so I I think this is going to be a tough matchup for Chase I think it's always going to be competitive right but to me the matchup that's more that's more interesting is the matchup on the other side I keep forgetting the backup's name what's his name uh Trent Scott Trent Scott he's gonna get Bosa in this match up and this is you know your second string right tackle your swing tackle position and I think your fourth tackle because cour normally if if W out be the cor would be the guy and so it's really your fourth tackle and so this is a really tough matchup and I think um and I think this is in terms of just matchup he's a guy that I think is a very good football player but he is he lacks kind of that Eli trait to play highle tackle in the NFL what I mean he lacks that kind of elite arm length you know I think he's a guy that might even be better guard but Nick Bosa has shown a a proclivity and a history of just eating guys up when it comes to pass rush who are not in that kind of top tier pass protector and there's certain guys just have a knack for it I think Nick Bose has got a knack for that so how do you manage that today cuz I think actually matches up fairly well with Chase it's really that other match up on the right side that gets me uh gets me a little bit concerned um I don't think I think Scott has only played right tackle at least here that's the thing too is like well if Korn's a swing guy could you put Trent Scott at left tackle and put K over there that's not a bad idea actually you know obviously if if it's going super haywired you kick cosmi out um they called up Alex aimol off of the practice squad as well so um those are your options none of them are good cuz there isn't really so much thing is a good option against Nick Bosa by the way I forgot to uh mention this in the last segment when I told everybody that Andrew Wy was out and that Charles Leno was out etc etc that the injury report is brought to you by the Center for Advanced Orthopedics more Physicians more locations more advanced care sh around one thing you visit CFA ortho.com they pay for that so you know it's very important to get in that's that's that's what you're professional uh allegedly they pay me so by definition yeah uh cam curl is my first pick and we talked about why the last seg need to to rehash too much but when you've got one uh all the communication stuff and you're the veteran in the back end you're the guy with the experience that's super important the part we didn't mention is he's also their best matchup on George KD yeah George KD or um Christian mcaffrey like in years past when Christian mcaffrey was in Carolina he matched up with him so because cam Krill gives you that flexibility it's like who do you want on George who do you want on Christian maybe Quan takes that other match have huge responsibility I think in this game specifically with Cam it's not only how you doing coverage but how are you fit in the run because we talked about I think pretty not not in super detail but pretty extensively Christian mcaffrey but the scheme and how elevates them and how they use their receivers to block linebackers and really kind of find creative angles in the Run game and they stress secondary players to make tackles so Kim cam Ken cam defeat blocks with his hands get in on runs and kind of prevent some of these um younger Corners you know specifically Emanuel Forbes from having to be tackling Christian mcaffry one-onone in the home so yeah you saw a really great example of this last night Donovan Wilson for the Cowboys was phenomenal at blowing up some of the lions run stuff last night taking on guards just bowling through them he's the guy that plays like linebacker for them though right uh he play yeah he's he's a bigger safety um I mean curse is I mean both their safties are big definely got like a style of guy to fill that out uh it's amazing what having a organizational Vision will do what uh number three on our list Anthony second pick was Terry McLaren uh just the ability to create some of those big plays we saw it as soon as jacobe gets in can he create that with Sam you know we talked earlier in the show about the uh kind of the traits that Bucky Brooks and uh Daniel Jeremiah pointed out on their podcast of what really is a through line between Elite wide receivers that play strength that toughness and one of the things they use as an example is when guys catch the ball and can break tackles and have like an energy to you see it last night with CD lamb and am mon ra St Brown there's no doubt in my mind that Terry has that getting the ball in his hands quickly obviously is is a huge deal for them today yeah and I think in like today if you got any shot you got to find a way to manufacture some big plays and he's been one of the more consistent guys in this offense about manufacturing those plays so how does EB maximize him I think the big thing with Sam coming into the starting rle is can Sam just give him some opportunities you know like it might not look open but just kind of throw that ball out there give him a shot at uh making a play for you and using some of that competitiveness and physical toughness to elevate the offense yeah and again if are just tuning in uh you missed the news this morning Sam how is starting for Washington after jacobe Bret's hamstring injury midweek will keep him out uh back to the defensive side number four in the pick six Cody Barton and really it's a lot of the same reasons that I said cam curl you got to have the communication you got to have everything organized you got to have the front uh in the right place to get lined up against this extensive detailed Run game that uh the San Francisco 49ers run and you know if if you're not on KD uh you're not on mcaffrey you're on the other one so Cam's going to have one Barton probably has the other um so huge huge day for for Cody Barton and I think also the thing that Kyle does so well and this offense in San Francisco does so well is it manipulates the linebackers and it forces you to have to kind of be of Two Worlds I'm either fit in the run or I'm covering the pass and Cody's actually to his credit over the last couple weeks done a really good job I don't know if it's through film study or just general preparation of being good in that role this is going to be kind of like the Master's test of what he's seen the last couple weeks can I fit the runs effectively and can I get in coverage and kind of fill in these kind of deep dig holes that they are so good at hitting I we watched a play earlier this week on um the the command center show that I do and you know like there's so much space right over the heads of those linebackers um against the in the New York game I mentioned that already but he's got a huge task in that regard can I fit can I get guys lined up I this almost I would almost consider moving this up to number one like he's going to have a huge role in this defense in terms of getting people lined up getting the checks communicated and then just his play is going to need to be super high level today cuz they are trying to manipulate him as much as possible with their offense yeah Cody Barton is going to sleep well tonight he will be thoroughly exhausted after this one uh and then number five the defensive ends that was Anthony's last pick um if you if you want to make some plays defensively marrying that pass rush in the coverage is important and they've had very little pass rush as of late the other thing too though is the Way San Francisco runs it with that outside Zone yeah a lot of the play action off of it keep Christian mcaffrey or Debo Samuel or whoever else off the edge the one thing that I can say James Smith Williams and Casey two Hill do a really good job of like an NFL really good job of is setting a really hard and sometimes I think with James especially High Edge um you know there's been some times where you wish James could make a play when he gets that penetration but but he will string something out make it bubble around um and so that that is was kind of the rationale for Anthony picking them which I think is a good pick I think it's an excellent pick and I think it's to understand like how much Leverage is on them so for example an outside Zone the back is taking a landmark to the outside leg of the ghost tight Ender the tight Ender that side and if the back cannot advance that grass because the edge has been shortened it kills the stretch run so San Francisco knows that they double team the heck out of those guys they're bringing re reers they're bringing tight ends they're bringing fullbacks to double team that edge player to ensure that horizontal stretch and because they present so many various looks to that position it's going to be exceptionally important in this game exceptionally important that they are a physically dialed in but also mentally like am I getting the double team can I skate this guy can I do this am I using my hands is it run away is it run two is it Gap scheme is it outside Zone it's a lot on their plates and if they play well and can set those edges like you're talking about there is a shot here but it's the the reason no team has been able to really stop San Francisco running the ball even Baltimore they couldn't keep Christian mcaffry under you know from getting that 100 yard Mark it's because of all the complexity and Nuance that goes into making those defensive ends just have to play a bunch of different looks yeah Baltimore's way of stopping San Francisco from running it was uh picking the ball yeah get get some turnovers uh take the ball away run up score we could do that too that would be cool that would work if if just you know if anybody wants to any burgundy and gold clad men although at this point if you're still driving to the game you're probably in trouble cuz you're a little late but uh you know we can get the message soon oh yeah it is it's 12:30 yeah yeah we're we're almost done we got we got a we got 24 minutes left here of this radio show uh by the way Grant Paulson will join us next but not before I tell you the last in our pick six defensive tackles it was my last pick because if you if you need plays to be made to transition that smoothly um if you need plays to be made those are The Playmakers Allen and Payne and if they can just stop like all this other stuff doesn't matter if donon Payne makes the guard whiff and just gets to the Back Field like that is the best way to ultimately stop this offense it's a tall task they scheme it up Kyle knows how good those guys are they're going to have extra focus on them but I do you have the dep chart for um for San Francisco because I think they they've got a couple guys injured right um on the interior like Banks their starting left guard is out um I don't know if their Right Guard I think the guy who started the season is out out potentially but they are they're a little bit banged up on the inside so if you're going to maximize your ability and kind of draw favorable matchups cuz I will say like as much as I love Casey Tel and James Smith Williams like they're not getting sacks on Trent Williams like that's just how good he is right the other their right tackle I think is a guy that can give up stuff but I think the advantage from a Personnel standpoint for Washington is definitely on the interior from a pass rush and run run game standpoint and Kyle knows that they scheme up accordingly they do all this different stuff accordingly but it would be nice if those guys could come up and make some Splash plays and you alluded to this they played better last week those two guys inside the edge guys generated more pressure which was good to see can they build off that performance because like you said if you can generate a consistent pass rush and alleviate some of the pressure on the back end you might be in a good spot and then the other thing I just kind of tag on stream of Consciousness here is what kind of pressure is Ron bringing in this game yeah to help maximize that Rush no doubt uh I mean it's worth remembering that until the game-winning field goal last week the defense did pitch a shut out in the second now the Jets offense is horrible but they did it obviously you have an anti horrible offense today one of the best in the league anti- horrible anti- horrible uh in San Francisco we get back we'll go out to FedEx Field Grant Paulson will join us live and we wrap things up with our game changers and predictions here on the take command pregame [Music] show [Music] w [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Applause] [Music] he [Music] [Music] he [Music] he [Music] [Applause] [Music] a [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] he [Music] take Comm man pregame show burgundy and gold game day I'm Craig Hoffman he is Logan Paulson and joining us now is our buddy Grant Paulson I'm assuming from FedExField Grant on on a holiday Day New Year's Eve are you at FedEx I am here they have announced this morning fellas that this game is sold out it's actually their third highest attended or at least ticket purchas just how many of them will be Commander fans is the question luckily for them I guess this is one of those similar Jersey color combinations so the aerial shots might not be as alarming well the game will be so that'll make up for it you know there's very possibly there is that um I know that you you and I were texting about this this week uh in part because we're like you know going back and forth on Twitter just invites all kinds of goonery uh and and like you Logan Grant and I are friends so we don't we don't need that that's a recurring joke from earlier in the show Grant you don't need to worry about it uh the point is that we were texting about this you are you are much more I think excited that Sam how is playing today this is how you would have had it all along why and and how do you think that he'll do today I I guess excited I would say is probably not the right word I don't think it's going to go particularly well at this point but I just think this is the way it should have been for me it's more black and white frankly it it's less about you know the gray areas and the context of this situation um a couple of things number one it's week 17 of an 18we Lost season I want the Young quarterback with potential on the field not the journeyman veteran backup who may not be here in several months just as a rule of thumb uh so that's number one number two I thought the idea of announcing and this is what they did they didn't say it in the words but that this player is broken that we can't possibly ask him to go out there and play against these violent Defenders from San Francisco and throw meat into the lion then I just thought it was lazy coaching I mean this is the job the job is find a way for it not to be awful find a way for him not to be six of 22 you know if you need to run the ball more do it if you need to get them more layups do it you look at the expected completion percentage on balls out of Sam house and this season it's 30th among quarterbacks in the NFL number one is Patrick Mahomes in Kansas City where benmy was last year oh by the way so to me what is coaching on offense coordinating or being a head coach it's helping your players get through tough games especially when you're developing at the end of the year and this idea that if he like played he'd crawl into the fial position and you know never be the same again that was lazy coach him through it find a way for him not to be six of 22 figure out some layups and get him to no one's expecting you to win he doesn't have to play great but get him through the game in a way that isn't embarrassing and they didn't think they could do that so they benched him I thought that was ridiculous and then the weirdest thing ever happened and now he's starting again well I mean don't you think this is again like something because it's it's not to me it's not just one game it's been like the last four or five games Craig ises that sound about right four four is really when it's been super downhill just like games in a row yeah and he's struggled pretty pretty tremendously in those games and really not looked like like a shadow of the guy that you know we saw earlier in the season like isn't that part of coaching too is identifying hey man you know maybe we got to sit this guy down to give him an opportunity to kind of reboot and find himself or you don't think that that there's any validity to that maybe but I I would have done that a week or two ago maybe uh I don't like now at the like literally on in January that's when we do this when the games don't matter at all the results don't matter at all I mean is is the fear that you break him irreparably um is one more bad game after five bad games going to do that like where's the line of delineation there um is it true that like a baseball player he could be in such a slump and he just needs to to sit out a series right and not have at bats basically and go back to the drawing board yeah I guess that's possible but then there's a whole other conversation we need to have that hasn't been had this week which is how did he get so broken how did we go from a month ago uh people feeling okay about this guy possibly being the the starter not just next season but for the long term to now him being if kind of based on your question and what the team is suggesting so terrible that he can't possibly play against San Francisco because he's just he's broken how did that happen uh I think people have to answer some tough questions whether you're coordinating the offense or you're the head coach and I haven't heard you know any kind of mopa in that regard yet the only other thing I would say too is you know in reference to um you know Rivera this week like it would be a lot easier for me to to to play that game Logan where you go all right it's five straight weeks it's really really bad if a month ago he wasn't answering questions from the beat about the defensive line by saying well we found the quarterback you know like you can't play both games you can't say we found the quarterback literally a month ago and then bench the guy because you're afraid that he he's going to be so bad uh a couple weeks later like that makes no sense to me well I I think that a lot of what you're saying makes sense sense to me and I agree with in terms of like the larger questions of how did we get here I do think that there are and like the criticism as well of like okay maybe weeks ago or not answering questions um which I'm sure you on your show and and did as I did on my show which I said this is a ridiculous thing what are you doing Ron Rivera we're not dumb quit pretending that we are but that doesn't mean that it wasn't the right thing right now and I think that's maybe where like the the interesting conversation about Player Development comes in of like is the best thing for Sam to get to use the baseball analogy he used to get that that couple series off now even if it should have happened is it better late than never because you know he has like I wouldn't say he played well against Dallas but his final numbers he did throw for 300 yards and that was four games ago you know the Giants it's it's 256 uh you know a couple or you know that was five games ago right yeah but they I I wouldn't say they were good but you know they're in those games you know the first half of the Dallas game in it then it completely falls apart versus the last three complete blowouts you know terrible results uh at the time of his exit and it's it it just feels like you need to make a change so I I get why they didn't do it earlier and I I guess the really the thing that I would ask um is like right now without this larger context is it the best thing for him to be playing and I think reasonable people could could certainly disagree on that so yeah okay so in a vacuum if your point is just is this possibly beneficial to him in the long term I can say yes and if like that's the end of the conversation fine I guess we're probably having two discussions because I am really interested in everything around that how did we get here why are we here I watched every other game every single week guys like Jake Browning are slicing and dicing defenses how did it get so bad with this player that they thought a month ago was an answer but that is significant and important no oh yeah for sure but I also I guess we can care a little less when all the people who made all of those decisions aren't going to be here in 10 days sure but I also don't need to then care what they think about his development either right you know and what's best for him yeah it's just a matter of not screwing it up any further um which I guess and that's the other part is like and and I'd be interested I mean Lo Logan probably has a thought on this as a player but like the idea of um does him playing poorly again is it you know taking out a shovel and digging the whole deeper in terms of what he ultimately has to climb out of you know I just think that based on what we've seen and where we're at when you get benched two straight games you play at this level now they're they go with peret over you at least uh By Design before what happened this week it kind of answers the question for me about whether or not you're an answer type quarterback I I there's not a long list of guys who have had this happen and then go on to have great careers well I think that's the thing that's kind of disappointing about the whole process is this you know and I think that's kind of to your point it's like was he was the scaffolding was the infrastructure there to support him enough I think that's we all kind of agree that they probably could have handled it a different way but I think you know in terms of his development I don't think it's a bad thing he's getting benched or he was going to get benched when he had been playing so poorly before I think sometimes you just need to get guys out of the fire it's like uh you know I've been in games like that or in Seasons like that where you can't just you Just Can't Get Right mentally and sometimes you take a step back and the coaches need to help you do that so um and I think also there's a Motivation by Ron and the staff they want to win a game you know and I know that's like I know that people don't want to hear that that I that I have like no you know that they can want that but that just doesn't matter to me at all like that's you know good for them I guess but right they they should want to win they are the coach that's currently in charge even if they're only in charge no I I agree I'm not saying they shouldn't want to I'm just saying that's not interesting to me that's all right no 100% um is there anything else that you were interested in today Beyond how Sam rebounds and what happens I mean obviously defensively there's all these injuries anything else on your radar today yeah it's a good question there certain I mean there's there's guys on this team that matter you know I want to see how Jan doson finishes the season who who's really frankly other than Sam the last few weeks I mean who's had a bigger fallof from expectations in week one to now than him I think a lot of us felt like they had under a gem and maybe drafted a potential star and he's played a lot more like a depth wide receiver for much of this season in terms of production so I'll be watching him closely um their running back room I think is pretty good and is interesting I guesses Gibson will walk I don't think they should pay him but with Robinson and Rodriguez as Thumpers maybe you add some speed and a home run hitter this offseason so I'll be curious to watch you know coming back now B Rob getting healthy what happens in the back field and then the secondary is interesting enough I mean I just think Emanuel Forbes and Quan Martin are going to play more and have bigger roles today than they've had at any point all year I know that the guys that drafted them are going to be gone and those picks right now don't look like they were good picks but they're still going to be on the roles for a couple seasons can they play you know how much better is Forbes than when we last saw him Martin as a safety and as a corner and in the nickel does he look capable of some type of production next year you're helping them out and the depth chart I think those are things that are all worth watching today for sure Grant Paulson you can catch him weekday 2 to 6:30 on 1067 the fan of course live as well on the free Odyssey app uh GP I'm I'm gonna watch this one at home today so you and rooster spread out and have a great old time in the I was literally about to ask you reie you can move down a little bit Craig's not coming today yeah I'll be back I got nobody to my left and nobody to my right so me and slashy might not be banging elbows today yeah no there there's just I I don't I don't need to come out there today next next week will be an interesting postgame locker room but I I don't need to come out there today it's slim I'll say it's slim picking there are so many people that are out sick today it's crazy so it's a th press spot I heard some sniffles on multiple podcasts yeah so so I hope hope everyone out there is uh is feeling all right uh GP enjoy the game sir I'll see you back at the shop this week by the way the uh 49ers coming out to the field Trent Williams and Chase young leading through the tunnel just so you guys know yeah that sounds that sounds about right all right thanks Grant that's Grant Paulson everybody Grant Danny 2 to 6:30 always appreciate his time especially here on our New Year's Eve edition of the take command pregame show when we get back we will wrap things up quickly with our game changers and our predictions with Logan I'm Craig it's the take man pregame show on a burgundy and gold game day you're out [Music] [Music] seven [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] a [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Music] e [Music] [Music] a [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] he [Music] [Music] e [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] h all right we got just under 5 minutes left here at Tap Sports Bar filling up here at MGM National Harbor uh we got Raiders fans in the house we got Ravens fans in the house commanders fans Cowboys fans Dolphins fans getting ready to watch their teams play here on all of the televisions at Tap Sports Bar uh where we're going to have a lot of good football today and also commanders 49ers Logan stop all right all right I'll be here all actually no I won't we'll be here for one more week we'll be back here next weekend one final pregame show we're also live on YouTube postgame so make sure that you subscribe to the team 980 and 1067 the fan on YouTube it's time now for our difference makers of the game presented by Zips Cleaners Zips Cleaners knows that looking good makes all the difference whether on the field on the job or wherever life takes you at just 329 or less per garment we make it easy and affordable to look your best find a Zips near you at Zips cleaners.com Logan who is your Zips Cleaners differen maker of the game that's great great question it's a great question my Difference Maker of the game today I'm going to say is Cody Barton and I think for all the reasons we talked about in our pick six he's going to have to be instrumental in terms of fitting runs communicating coverages handling play action he's been I'd say I don't know maybe most improved or the most exciting player to kind of watch on film the past couple of weeks but again the one big blemish that I think about when I think about his game not always the most effective at fitting runs obviously involved in that explosive play uh last week against the Jets to breee Hall I I think that's that's a Benjamin St juice issue but that's a conversation for another time but he's gonna have a huge role today coverage tackling fitting runs communicating stuff a lot on his plate especially against this really complicated offense for the 49ers yeah that's a great one definitely high on my list am I gonna do this I think I am Logan I'm gonna be stubborn what are you gonna do I am gonna be really stubborn because Brian Robinson that is exactly who I'm picking if if the commanders want to be competitive today if Eric enemy for the first time all season would like to make Sam how's job easier because Sam is starting today if you're just getting out of church or whatever it is that you have not heard the news Sam how is starting uh as jacobe Brett's hamstring injury uh is going to prevent him from playing he suffered in practice on Thursday if Eric benmy for the first time all season would like to make Sam how's job easier he will simply tell Sam more times than he has all season turn around hand the ball to number eight turn around hand the ball to Brian Robinson let's get the screen game going B Rob's been excellent out of the back field just as a general receiver he is back after two weeks off with his hamstring injury please For the Love of All Things uh Sam how being healthy uh let's have Brian Robinson being a Difference Maker today love it I don't think it's going to happen I don't either yeah but I'm going to try to will it into existence until well we only have one more game next week all right Logan uh that means it is time for our predictions the 49ers are last time I checked 13 1 12 point favorites uh let's double check that number uh is it up uh the board the board here at tap sports bars around the corner so I'm just have to I'm going to have to go to the internet and see what the internet says even though we are sitting in an active sports book right now uh that is the nature of where we're sitting it is now up to 14 14 is the line can the commanders at the very least cover can they compete today I I don't think so I don't think they cover that score I think with all the injuries they got in the secondary it's going to be really really challenging for for them to be competitive I think one of the things we talked about in in the preview is just how effective this team is creating space you've got a whole bunch of guys haven't worked a ton together there going to be a lot of space you got to tackle well Forbes has been tackling better but didn't tackle well early this year they they Leverage The Corners into the Run fits so much probably the most in the NFL I I think they're just going to have a hard time stopping the Run stopping the pass today and I think Sam's going to struggle tremendously against that Divas I hope I hope I'm wrong but I'm thinking like maybe 10 points off defensively and I think the defense has probably given up 30 30ish points so that's what I'm kind of feeling as of as we've gone through the pregame show usually I get more optimistic it's it's gone the other way um I I agree with you San Francisco look last week against Baltimore San Francisco and the first half if they don't have some bad luck is playing really good football I thought they were the better team in the first half that had some bad luck and then and then the bad luck spiraled and then the Baltimore Ravens kick their butts in the second half um and that's that's against Baltimore this is this is not Baltimore I'll take the ners big as well be back to talk about it on Tuesday on the radio we'll see you postgame for the stream thanks for listening to the take command pregame [Music] [Music] show [Music] he