Commanders beat Giants!

The gang get together to discuss the Commanders (relatively) comfortable victory over the Giants yesterday:

- Lee's experience being at Northwest Field for the game
- Coaches grades for Dan Quinn, Joe Whitt Jr. and Kliff Kingsbury
- Man of the Match on both sides of the ball

@HailOnThreePod

Transcript

josh_1_09-01-2025_203851: 0:01

If we score 20 points on Sunday, we win. That's my Washington wins the game if stat line.

0:08

How would you describe the culture surrounding this football team? You know, the culture is actually damn good.

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 0:55

Welcome to another edition of the harlon Free Podcast, our first ever game recap episode. I'm your host, Josh, and that clip you just heard was Deebo Samuel scoring his first commanders touchdown yesterday. Against the New York Giants. A cart horse playing wide receiver according to some, but that was the fourth quarter nail in the coffin of the lackluster giants as Washington rolled to a 21 to six win in week one. Uh, I'm joined by James and by Lee. Uh, let's get straight into it by handing to our stateside member Lee, who was at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland yesterday afternoon. Lee, how much did you enjoy the first win of the Hail on Free podcast era?

ledders_1_09-08-2025_130302: 1:37

Hello Sports fans. Yeah, that was a much needed, um, week one victory I think.'cause you know, you go into that game, you're pretty confident that. We've all stated that strange things can happen in week one, but you know, I think the game was always in check, wasn't it? So, yeah, very much enjoyed walking out of there. One and oh.

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 1:58

Absolutely. James and I, uh, watched the game together bar in London. Also very much enjoyed it. I dunno how much we felt that it was always gonna go the right way on the night. Um, when I watched it back today, I did feel pretty good actually, and maybe we were just a little bit worried in the moment. Um, but that was, uh, a very enjoyable evening, James, I thought.

james-_1_09-08-2025_190302: 2:22

Yeah, it was good. Um, quite tired today. Um, we were out for quite a while, weren't we? But yeah, I mean, we were getting a bit antsy. We were like, just finish them off. The Giants, you know what they're like, Lee, you can probably imagine I was, I was doing my thing, you know, getting a, getting a bit annoyed. Um, but yeah, I watch it back again today and there wasn't really anything to be worried about really at any point. But yeah, goodnight. Um, and a bit of a trek home for me with the tube issues, but, uh, got home in the end.

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 2:52

Oh yeah, and you also had like 3% battery as well. You

james-_1_09-08-2025_190302: 2:54

Yeah, there's a lot.

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 2:55

for quite a long time.

james-_1_09-08-2025_190302: 2:56

There's a lot going on there. You know, I was happy, but then I was like, ah, I need to check things out and get home. And I had to walk quite fast to get to an overground and then, yeah.

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 3:04

Infrastructure.

james-_1_09-08-2025_190302: 3:06

Yeah.

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 3:06

Um, we're gonna do some, uh, some structured stuff and some segments, coaches' grades and matter of the match on both sides of the ball and stuff later in the pod. But, um, yeah. Lee, I wanted to ask you about, um, how the scene was at the game beforehand. What was your kinda movements and how was the vibe leading into the game? It did look like a great atmosphere on telly, but obviously it's really hard to to sort of see that. So how was it?

ledders_1_09-08-2025_130302: 3:29

Firstly, I think it's quite funny that I'm doing this from my, uh, lunch hour in Chicago, but we're talking about. James', um, travels home. But yeah, no, it was, it was good. Um, it was like clockwork. Everything went well. Um, in terms of the weekend. So, uh, love DC this time of year, it was a bit stormy on Saturday, quite warm. And then, um, after those said storms, yesterday was pretty much perfect football weather, so it was good. Uh, in terms of the vibes down there, I mean, very different, uh. divisional matchup. I can remember in recent memory it was very burgundy heavy, um, which was great to see. Um, looked completely full. So yeah, awesome. Atmosphere was good. It kind of, um, might have got even more lively if the game allowed, if that makes sense. But yeah, it was, it was a great turnout and nice to walk off that metro stop not in a sea of blue jerseys. So that was, that was great.

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 4:28

Yeah, so how many Giants fans were there compared to kind of previous incarnations of this game? Was it like 8 80, 20 this time, or,

ledders_1_09-08-2025_130302: 4:36

I would say even less. I mean

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 4:38

great.

ledders_1_09-08-2025_130302: 4:38

the giants are always gonna be well represented, but um, probably are not a franchise that would have as much as like a takeover of, um, as obviously Philadelphia when we were in the, those rough years. But. Uh, that I would say it was 85, 15, even on their sideline, which I think is a giveaway. There's a ton of burgundy,

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 4:59

Mm-hmm.

ledders_1_09-08-2025_130302: 5:00

which is great. So I, yeah, it was a very, very much a home crowd. Um, and you gotta expect that to continue now. I think we've sold 12,000 more season ticket holders, so that was great. Um, also a little bit tired today, but, you know, powering on.

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 5:15

Good work. Good work. Excellent that you were able to be there in person. Um, I'm gonna do a quick spin through of some box score stuff, so people, I'm sure people have watched by now. But, um, just to remind people of, of how the game went. The game script. So 21 to six final score. Uh, Washington scored touchdown in the first, the second, and the fourth quarter. I didn't score in the third. Jaden Daniels was 19 of 30 through the air. 2 33 yards, one touchdown, and he took three sacks, um, on the ground. Washington rushed for 220 yards as a team. we're gonna get into some of the specifics on that, I'm sure later. Um, and that's probably enough for that. Really, we, we wanted to do something on. Coaches grades. So kind of a bit of a chat about how we think the game went. Obviously we can do this with the, through the lens of how we think the game was coached from Washington perspective. So we're gonna do that from, head coach, Dan Quinn, and then both coordinators. Um, Lee, this is your idea. I think this is a really good way to kind of talk about the game, but keep it a bit structured. Um, did you want to kick off with, with this and, and your thoughts on, I guess what Dan Quinn first?

ledders_1_09-08-2025_130302: 6:24

Yeah, I think it's good to have some structural when we're actually, um, going through the season and it's really, of these shows will always give out grades and all this kind of stuff, but I think if we do the coaches, that gives it for a decent lens. Um, and in terms of the head coach. Really the grade's gonna be on kind of over overall preparedness. Um, you know, any big calls that were made during the game. and just kind of from a macro level in terms of the head coaching and the positional coaches will be on, um, in terms of offense and defense will be much more like schematic in terms of the grades and game

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 7:01

Yep.

ledders_1_09-08-2025_130302: 7:01

they call the game. Uh, for Quinn, I'm gonna go c plus. Um. Yeah, I just think there was some sloppiness and that comes from preparedness, but you can only really correct that by playing. And didn't play our players at all in the preseason, so although it might sound a little harsh, I am, I'm gonna c plus. And the way the first half ended to me knocks it out of the, out of the B range. Yeah.

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 7:27

Yeah, I think my initial reaction was like, oh, that's, that's quite, um, harsh, but. There was 10 penalties, wasn't it? I think overall, um, Quinn talked a bit today, this afternoon in his presser about cleaning up a lot of sloppiness. Um, C plus feels fair. I might get to B minus'cause I think they played so hard as well. I think that was a really good, good element too, that Quinn talked about today as well. Like yes, there was sloppiness, but that's kind of almost to be expected for most teams at this point, especially with preseason being a bit of a joke. But they, you know, they came in really hard. They, they, they weren't, um. They weren't kind of unprepared from a, um, all over the field standpoint. It was more just kind of some, some sloppy individual stuff. So I'll go a B minus from that. And like you said, I think, um, in game decision things and that kind of stuff is, is, um. We can talk about the end of the first half. Maybe we should do that now. Actually, maybe we should talk about the end of the first half. gonna just allude to it and keep alluding to it. Um, we can kind of forget about it right after this pod because we'd beat the Giants and they weren't close to us at any point really for it to be such a worry. But that was a bit of a shambles, right?

ledders_1_09-08-2025_130302: 8:36

Yeah, I was really annoyed actually the moment because I just thought that the giants, uh, you know, your prediction Josh last week, um, I think that, that had, that game was ripe for it, to be honest. We just needed to put them away and we had multiple chances to do it. But yeah, leaving points on the field, there was poor. A lot of that comes from obviously losing your time out early. But yeah, it just, it was a, it was a messy operation and you know, I didn't at the time, seeing it live, it's hard to kind of say, but looking back on the, the television that that is grounding, there's no one. There's no one there. So that was a

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 9:11

Yeah. James, we, we were apoplectic in the moment that call and I said, I've never seen someone throw it through the end zone and get intentional grounding. And then I looked at it back and Navil Carter's sort of free Russia about to whack him and he froze it nowhere near anyone. And you think, actually, you know what? That kind of his textbook, it just doesn't usually happen in that. bit of the feel.'cause usually you can, you can just throw it in the general vicinity of someone. Um, but yeah, you, you weren't, you weren't happy. I think you sort of stormed off either to the bar or to the toilet when that.

james-_1_09-08-2025_190302: 9:43

Yeah. Yeah, I wasn't happy. I, I, I just thought I really wanted to kind of wrap it up at half time, you know? Um, and then when that happened I was like, that's somehow, is that something I'm gonna cost us against the giants and get all weird and the second half? And so, yeah. Um, just the pessimistic side of me, um, was a bit frustrated. All seriousness that we hadn't got some points and got into a bigger lead, uh, for the half to try and put it to bed.

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 10:12

Yeah.'cause it was, I'm, I'm, I'm pretty sure I'm correct. It was 14 three at that point. Right. So it was like, right, we can go in

james-_1_09-08-2025_190302: 10:18

Yeah.

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 10:18

21 3 up at halftime. And my sort of idea about coming out in the third quarter and then getting up to like 40 points and really like. Becoming an absolute shellacking was, was on the cards and then that just sort of stalled it a bit, I guess. Frustrating.

ledders_1_09-08-2025_130302: 10:32

the ball as well, weren't they? So

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 10:34

Yep. Yeah, very true. Um, anything on Dan Quinn, James? Um, generally head coach wise, before we move

james-_1_09-08-2025_190302: 10:42

Yeah, I mean, item is a b um, got similar notes to kind of what you guys said. There was some sloppiness in there, but at the same time, he obviously had this whole group really fired up, um, with the way they're playing, which I'm sure we'll go into when we talk about both sides of the ball. Um, so yeah, I'm, I'm good for B on that.

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 11:03

Okay. Nice. Right. Well probably averages out to like a B minus for Dan Quinn. Um, which is good. Let's go Offensive coordinate. Actually no, no. Let's go defensive coordinator first. So let's go Whit Jr. Because I think the defense was kind of the story of this game from a Washington perspective about we were, we were worried coming in. How are we gonna fare against the Giants run game generally? How are we gonna fare this season? Against the run. And James, your matchup matrix from the preview show, it's already already a trademark that, um, was exactly that, right? So it was about how we're gonna fare against the run. Um, we have a new defensive line set up. We have a new secondary set up compared to the first game last year. Um, Lee, let's start with yourself. Obviously you were there getting juiced up 12th Man, you know, really helping this defense, helping Witt. Uh, how did it go, uh, and what do you think that he deserves as a grade for that game?

ledders_1_09-08-2025_130302: 11:58

Firstly on, uh, just on Dan Quinn. I think obviously these grays are, they could be linked to the coordinators, but I think for. In, um, it'll be an easier grade to make on like a close game where you're having to make those tough calls, whether to go for it on fourth down and stuff. So this one was a bit of a tough kind of, you know, way to grade that. But yeah, in terms of, um, Whit Junior, I mean, how can you give anything but an a I'm not gonna go, uh, you know, a star just on the basis of the opponent and the quarterback, I think. But yeah, they were out ready to play. I thought the communication was really good. Um, that's what I really like to see'cause. I just remember in Tampa, we were all over the place, but we had a lot of new players on the field really. So to have that good communication was looked awesome. I mean, you look on one of the tries down in the, in the red zone, they're, they're all pointing at the, um, eligible linemen. The Giants try with this trick play. And yeah, they, they were working in sync. Um. You know, we can go onto the individual players, I'm sure we will. Um, maybe I'll let you guys talk about them. But yeah, it was an a, a, a performance game and it was really what we wanted to see, especially bringing in that beef to the line. So, yeah, loved it.

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 13:07

Yeah, it is. This is the easiest one, right? This is an a and communication issues in the secondary, not, not seen at all Yesterday, I didn't see one where I thought, oh, they haven't passed off the right read to someone in the zone defense or anything like that. No one kind of staring at each other after a play going. What are you doing? Where, where are you supposed to be pointing fingers? Nothing. None of that nonsense that was seen forever. Um, any kind of frustrating defensive plays were just. Standard, NFL, sometimes a man's gonna beat you, situation, neighbors and all that stuff. I didn't, I didn't think there was even bad, bad tackling. Mostly I think lvu missed one or something, but generally speaking, um, the game plan was really good. I think the game plan was exactly what they wanted to do. I mean, they, they basically executed exactly what they said they'd do in the off season and, and sort of in terms of bringing in more size on the defensive line, making it, um, the pocket on Wilson who. Just a quick thing on Russell will, I mean he just looks really confused out there. He looked like a rookie, more than a, than a vet. And I think some of that is'cause he knows he can't to the same level he used to in terms of like running around and evading people. And also his arm isn't what he used to. So I think there's a bit of that, but he just just looked completely confused and I thought we did a fantastic job of the pocket on him from the inside and then also setting the edge as well. Um. Run game in the backfield a lot. superb. Really, so definite a from me. James, I'm assuming Joe Whitt Jr. Gets an A from you as well.

james-_1_09-08-2025_190302: 14:35

C and no, I've got an A as well. Um, yeah, I loved it. It was great to see them so organized and like they had a plan and it was working and as you say, there was no pointing fingers. One example of that just. Them being switched on. There was, you know, when they tried that trick player to get the lineman in the end zone. Um, watch about this morning, you can see I think it was Will Harris point to him and he cocked it already and they covered him off and that's when Wilson got himself in trouble there. So that says them rather trying something like that against us. Um, but yeah, definitely an a it was really good to see. And as you say, we, we spoke about stopping the run and they'd done that really well. They didn't really have a sniff. Um, I think there was maybe one highlight scatter play, but. Um, I think he had minus, minus yards by the end of it. So, um, yeah, it was really great to see.

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 15:26

Yeah, happy days. Um, let's move on then to the offensive coordinator, cliff Kingsbury, and the grade for him. Um, this will be an interesting one. I'm not sure how we're all gonna go with this. Lee, what did you think of, of Cliff and I guess the game plan, how it all went, and also the, the game management as well.

ledders_1_09-08-2025_130302: 15:42

Yeah, I was going back and forth whether A, be or C on this one. I think I'm just gonna give a. B minus. I think the plays were there, we just didn't execute all the time. There was a couple of, um, occasions I didn't agree with the play call. Like we didn't have any timeouts did we? On they end of the first half and he run the Daniels draw. So that kind of forced that situation a little bit. I just wanna see two balls in the end zone there at that point. I mean, I get it. If he runs in, you look a genius, don't you? But there's always a danger of, um, of what happening, you know, going, um, excuse me. There's always a danger of what happening happened. Um, but yeah, overall I think the plays with their life. I mean, if he connects with Terry there and we score fa points, everyone's saying the offense is going, you know,

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 16:26

Hmm.

ledders_1_09-08-2025_130302: 16:26

again. He just, we missed, we missed a couple. Um, I like the way, I like the, all the different motions. I like the

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 16:32

Hmm.

ledders_1_09-08-2025_130302: 16:33

deebo the ball in his hands. So. hard to, yeah, hard to go in the A category, but yeah, it's not fallen to a C either. So decent, decent outing.

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 16:42

Yeah. James, do you, do you agree or are you gonna

james-_1_09-08-2025_190302: 16:45

Yeah.

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 16:45

bump him

james-_1_09-08-2025_190302: 16:46

Yeah. I.

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 16:47

Yeah.

james-_1_09-08-2025_190302: 16:48

I using the minuses and pluses. So, um, but yeah, I think similar to what Lisa, I think he was put in some tough spots with the penalties. Um, so often we're like second 20 and things like that. So I think it was a bit limited. So, uh, that's why kind of bump up from a sea. Um. Because as Lee said, some of the play calls not, not great, but um, generally it was well ex executed offense and, um, he was put in some tricky situations with the penalties there.

ledders_1_09-08-2025_130302: 17:20

That is a great point, um, because that just disrupts your whole gameplay. You basically have a script, don't you, with all these different plays and. You don't wanna be turning that notebook over to second and 22. And he had to do that. And we did overcome some of them. We made some, uh, we made some of those, um, interface downs. I think one of our touchdowns, there was two sacks on that drive, so,

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 17:42

Hmm.

ledders_1_09-08-2025_130302: 17:42

um, yeah, yeah, yeah. Credit to him for that. So.

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 17:47

Yeah, I can't give them anything worse than a, a b or maybe a b plus to be honest, because I think, like you said, the game plan was solid. Um, if they'd executed and not had the pennies that they had and some drops as well, a few drops in there as well. And, and, and that was frustrating. So I think, um. Oh, actually that call, leave that. Um, Jen Daniels rush, I, I really didn't like it'cause it's just such a low percentage thing. He kind of has to get in the end zone or they have to be up there on the line so quickly to get enough time for another, another couple of plays. So didn't like that one in that spot with no timeouts and I didn't like the fact we had no timeouts as well. It was frustrating, um, but really liked how we, um, in the second half kinda closed out the game in the fourth quarter and the way that they committed to and stuck with the run. To be able to do that and then end the game with the ball and, um, taking the knees is always great fun. So Sure. Kingsbury is pleased with that. So definitely a b plus. Um, we won't, I don't think we're doing great on Larry Izzo special team coach, but I did wanna have a, a quick mention'cause it was all pretty, pretty good stuff actually yesterday from a special team perspective as, as far as I saw. So some good kick returns from Deebo and, and McCaffrey. McCaffrey had one, one for 36 yards, which was really good and Deebo had. Two for 50 yards. Um,

ledders_1_09-08-2025_130302: 19:01

one. I dunno if

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 19:02

go on.

ledders_1_09-08-2025_130302: 19:02

this. Did they get a hand on one of Tres way's? Punts.

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 19:05

Yes. Sort of partially, but it was, it was Abdul Carter as well, actually. Yeah. I mean that was probably his most impactful play, actually. I mean, he was, he's gonna be good, isn't he? But that was it. He sort of burst through the line, I think, and got a hand on it. So it was semi blocked. Do he, I dunno how it really counts.

ledders_1_09-08-2025_130302: 19:18

a little bit concerning'cause they were, they looked a bit closer than normal a couple of times. But yeah,

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 19:23

Yeah.

ledders_1_09-08-2025_130302: 19:24

a bit of a disappointing, I guess we could say, um, outing for Jaden Lane.'cause we're all so excited about seeing him as a returner. I don't think he got anything but it

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 19:33

two fair catches. Yeah,

ledders_1_09-08-2025_130302: 19:34

a lot of fair catches and some of it is just the coverage.

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 19:38

yeah.

ledders_1_09-08-2025_130302: 19:38

but yeah.

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 19:39

Yeah. And we co coverage wise on the giant stuff was, was good as well. So, um, tress had five punts actually. I mean, sometimes it was funny'cause we were used to him going games without punting last year, you know, five yesterday. Um, because we weren't going on fourth, right.'cause we just didn't really need to, it wasn't a game script where we were desperate to go for it and forth down.

ledders_1_09-08-2025_130302: 19:55

not many fourth and shorts, and that's why I just that B minus in there.'cause if tress is on the field that much, you know, there's just so much, uh, so much improvement that can be, can be had. Tough

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 20:06

Fair. Fair enough. Yeah, I was gonna say, we're gonna get to the end of season. You're gonna be, Tough grading. Um, actually Tress had five punts for an average of 49 yards, two in the 20 and a long of 64. So really, um, taking, taking off where he left off last season. Good stuff. Cool. Okay. Um, good to spin through the coaches. Let's talk about some players because, um, some really good standout performances yesterday. Um, we're gonna do a bit of melding of kind of our, our. British European football heritage and do a man of the match for both sides of the ball. So, um, we gonna have a defensive and offensive man of the match each and obviously we can talk about some other guys that we think came close. Um, James, why don't you kick us off with your offensive man of the match and talk a bit about that player and their impact yesterday.

james-_1_09-08-2025_190302: 20:51

Yeah. And I bet you thought I was gonna go cross your merit. Um, but I haven't. And it's, uh, it's taken us 20 minutes to mention him. So done Well. So, uh, keep calm. Um, now I've gone with De Samuel, um, just because. Obviously he looked good and made some big plays and just really happy for him. Um, there's a lot of noise in the off season, obviously. He's obviously worked really hard to get in shape and, and learn the playbook and, and get stuck in, so I was really happy for him to kind of silence some people and you don't, like he did, I think last season was a mess, but the year before that he had a really good season, so he looked like that guy and it wasn't just. You know, ender rounds and gadget players, like he was coming up making like really important catches when Jayden needed them on third down and things like that. So he really, he really stepped up. Um, so yeah, definitely he's my offense player of the match, man. Of the match.

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 21:48

He, he, um, he was a leading receiver,

james-_1_09-08-2025_190302: 21:50

I.

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 21:51

receptions for 77 yards, uh, off 10 targets. He had a 21 yarder. He had, I think it was at least two or three for down conversions or, or conversions. For first downs. Um, and like you said, he was kind of running the whole root tree. Like

james-_1_09-08-2025_190302: 22:04

Hmm.

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 22:05

it wasn't all gadget stuff. He actually only had, at least on the stat sheet, I, I swear I remember more than one, but one rush, which is his touchdown rush that we heard earlier on the, the 19 yard touchdown rush where he, he was, yeah, he looked really, really strong and it was a

james-_1_09-08-2025_190302: 22:18

Hmm.

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 22:18

play. That was the sort of stuff we would

james-_1_09-08-2025_190302: 22:20

Yeah.

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 22:20

him. But he was

james-_1_09-08-2025_190302: 22:21

And shout out to Krosky Merrit on that play. When I watched it back, he had a great block, um, for Sam to go through there and someone, someone did bounce off Samuel showing his strength as well. So yeah, I really enjoyed that one and, um, happy for him as well.

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 22:34

Nice. And, um, might as well skip straight to my offensive man of the match now because we're talking about Bill. Bill Crosky, Merritt. Jaco. Crosky. Merritt is my offensive man of the match. Um. I think some of that is like, he's a rookie and for a rookie to come in and have an impact like that is, is pretty impressive. Um, but also just, you know, where he was drafted and stuff, he was great yesterday, 10 carries for 82 yards. 8.2 a pop a touchdown obviously where he bounced outside on that zone, read, good stuff from Daniels to hand it to him actually on that zone read'cause there was nothing for Daniels. Um, had that 42 yard rush, which basically iced it. half. and I thought he ran with a lot of poise, power kept hold of the ball.

23:18

Ks outside first down, maybe a lot more. All the way up to midfield, Jaco, Krosky. Merit breaking free

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 23:32

No turnovers yesterday, right? Which is another positive on the offense, but he kept hold of the ball. He didn't really look like he was gonna, he didn't get worried with him running. He looks quite balanced. Good first step. I just thought he really looked the part for his, for his grade. I think he deserves that from me as a man of the

james-_1_09-08-2025_190302: 23:46

Yeah, and, and there's that explosiveness we've been talking about all last season. We wanna see in the run game. So it was really great to see that come to fruition straight away. And just as a side note, that run, you spoke of that ice, the game that's longer than any career run that Brian Robinson's ever had.

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 24:01

Oh no. Oh, no. Bero. Sorry mate. Yeah. Yeah. And, and, and you know what? He almost could have broke it, right? Like, it, it was, he, he, he looks like he had that juice to keep going. Um, whereas we've seen, like with Bero, he doesn't really have it. Do you remember when we had Adrian Peterson for a bit and he, he would like break a couple and then he would just be kind of stumbling along. So, yeah. Lee, you're giving me the hand signals to speed up. Come on then. Who's your offensive player that came out of the match?

ledders_1_09-08-2025_130302: 24:25

um, well, also, I just wanted to say, I think they were just great offensive debuts around. Um, tonsil will take a look at him on the diva, um, sweep as well. He's down there blocking. So yeah, it was a, it was a good. Day for, for debuts. Um, so offensively I've actually gone, this isn't based of what I saw in the stadium. Um, if anyone has seen the Twitter account this morning, you will see a retweet. Uh, John Bates, not the most sexy pick for player of the match, man. The match. But every single big offensive. This is elite blocking. He must be the best in the league. Now, maybe Kittle five years ago could stake that claim, but it is unbelievable movement. He does a fake block where Andy then, then he like pancakes. Someone that starts, he takes two players out in the same play. Um, but literally every single big offensive player Yesterday, just go and take a little watch of that two minutes. Incredible stuff from Bates.

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 25:23

Nice. Thanks Lee. Yeah, I actually woke up to Brian balding a breakdown of his, of Bates' contribution yesterday and I was like, yeah, he's, he's, I dunno how he's kind of turned into such an incredible blocking, tight end, but he's superb and he was great yesterday. He's a good call. Lee, let's go back to you then for your defensive man of the match.

ledders_1_09-08-2025_130302: 25:42

Uh, yeah, I mean you could have picked any, um, along the line. I guess I'm gonna go for Duron Payne, just'cause it's been so quiet for a couple of years, but he seemed to be everywhere. Um, but yeah, you could have literally have picked any of them. I. Fought I fought wise, um, flashed. I fought, um, kin law. We, our very first episode we were like kind of a bit shocked about the money we paid him, but that's probably his, I think I saw that was his second best NFL graded game ever. So you can see what they're trying to do with the scheme. Um, so yeah, just all great stuff on terms of the defensive debuts as well.'cause I thought the secondary played tight as well, so it's good to see.

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 26:19

I'm Payne almost got it for me. I thought one of you might go for him. I think Ken Law deserves it. For me, he was really disruptive yesterday. He was in the backfield a lot. He was, um, causing issues in the run game. Um, I think I thought he was the best defensive tackle on the field. And that's with, you know, Dexter Lawrence and. On the other side. So I was really impressed by Kinlaw. Um, and yeah, maybe that's Adam Peter's thing, that we look back and go, well, fair play. You know, people talked about too much money or whatever. But he was excellent. do you have a different guy from Kinlaw or Payne?

james-_1_09-08-2025_190302: 26:49

I've got pain. Um, yeah, like, like Lee said, you often hear this preseason noise. This guy's gonna have his best here, blah, blah. A lot of the time it's smoke, but it's just good to see that it obviously is happening, uh, week one. And he just looked like a, an animal out there. So really great to see him shout out to Dorrance Armstrong. I think he had the most pressures out of anyone on the Sunday slate as well.

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 27:11

Oh wow. Nice. That's good stuff. So, yeah, defensive line. It's kind of funny, right? That's like what Rivera wanted on defensive line, two studs in the middle causing havoc. And now we've maybe kind of stumbled across it a bit more now, which is cool. I think a couple of quick, um, shout outs to some other guys. Think Trey Moss and his debut looked pretty good. Um, we weren't, lamore wasn't follow. the whole time. Um, sometimes it was passed off to Amos and he did a pretty decent job. He had one really good breakup on him and he was basically stride for stride, which is really good to see. So I think he looks the part already. Um, real big struggles from, from anyone else. And actually, Kwan Martin had a, a good game as well. He had three, three tackles in the open field and a QB hit on Wilson. So good stuff from the secondary.

ledders_1_09-08-2025_130302: 27:53

I thought the secondary was great. I mean, neighbors, five of 12, that's, you'll take that all day. Left less than catching less than 50%. The boards went its way. Um. really good performance all around.

james-_1_09-08-2025_190302: 28:04

Yeah, me and me and Joshua, uh, fired up on that tramo breakup of the neighbor's pass. We were pretty fired up about that one. And, um, I think there was a lamore German suplex of someone at some point in the game. But, um, apart from that, all good from him really as well.

ledders_1_09-08-2025_130302: 28:20

I.

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 28:20

Let's, let's quickly talk about how fired up we are or we aren't after that performance, then as in general one. Oh, um, Philly one. Oh, after beating Dallas, obviously we talked about that already. Sometimes on these, we'll gotta to talk about the other nfcs teams a bit in their games. But, um. giants are pretty poor. Russell Wilson was terrible. We don't really know how much of that is'cause our defense has improved massively. Or how much of that is'cause they were just inept. I think that's too early to tell in week one. We don't wanna get too excited. Um, has this changed anything for either of you or start with you James? Has this changed anything for you heading into the season? Has it allayed any fears? What are your general thoughts about beating New York yesterday really?

james-_1_09-08-2025_190302: 28:57

I feel good about it. I don't think it's changed anything. I think I'm just, I was already confident. Um, and it is just great to see Jane Daniels again on a football field looking great. So yeah, nothing's changed for me. I'm where I am.

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 29:11

Nice Lee.

ledders_1_09-08-2025_130302: 29:12

Um, this is gonna sound a bit crazy'cause it was the giants and stuff, but I was thinking on my flight home last night. How would it have been if Jaden Daniels played, how he would know how he can play, because by his own standards, there was some misses out there, but he was still a, a fret obviously. Um. if we'd have won like, you know, 34, 31, I think my expectations would've gone down. To be honest, I would much rather have seen us just not quite clicking on offense than the defense really step up. So I'm actually, I'm a little bit even more positive after that just because of what I saw from the defense.'cause we've been so bad. In there for a while. But yeah, the caviar is the giants. I don't usually like saying a quarterback is done and washed. Um, but he is, he, I mean, I've seen Wilson slowly regress now for few years, but overall I'm feeling even more positive on the basis of just seeing a cohesive, defensive unit out there.

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 30:10

I agree with you, Lee. I'm feeling, I think if we can the giants the way we did and not ever really be in any danger and a defense play like that, and our offense pretty much not click for much of it and have all those mistakes that just ease past them. We got ahead of a long way to go. Like the ceiling is so much higher than what that game was, so. We've got a tough one on Thursday. There's a quick turnaround over to Green Bay and we'll get a, a preview podcast out before that. We'll talk about that in a bit more detail, but we'll see how we feel on Friday when we're talking about that game. But for now, let's enjoy it. Right? Let's enjoy the win. Let's enjoy some of those performances. Um, one final one for me is, is Josh Conley Jr. Who started Right Tackle, um, had a couple of struggles like you'd expect against that front in his first NFL game, but it was by no means a disaster, and I thought had a, had a pretty decent game as a, as a rookie, so. Two early picks, starting and playing well, that's gotta be good. Early doors as well. Um, cool. Happy days. Any final thoughts, Lee, from yourself? Um, lots of coffee today, hopefully for you. Right. Get through it. You got this.

ledders_1_09-08-2025_130302: 31:12

Yeah, no, I'm not. I'm not too bad. I actually did make it into my apartment just to see the winning, uh, Buffalo Bills drive at the end, say.

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 31:19

Oh wow.

ledders_1_09-08-2025_130302: 31:19

It wasn't, it wasn't too bad. Um, it's a quick flight, honestly, but yeah. Um, I just hope I'll be back in DC in January. That's pretty much it for me.'cause for the one PMs this year, there's a couple more in September, but won't be doing those. So, um, yeah. Great weekend. It's, we've had to keep these, uh, we're gonna keep these. recaps a little bit tight'cause we've gotta get a couple of pods out a week during the season. So unfortunately no DC restaurant scene or how was your London Wings talk, um, this week, but yeah. Great week one. Um, very fast turnaround, yeah. Can't wait for Thursday now. Super excited. Um, we're probably slight underdogs, but I think we can, we can definitely go in there and, and test ourselves.

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 32:02

Yeah, absolutely. Thanks Lee. James, anything from you my friend?

james-_1_09-08-2025_190302: 32:05

Nope, I'm fired up. Ready to go? Uh, yeah. Can't wait for Thursday.

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 32:10

Happy days. I think I invited you round for it

james-_1_09-08-2025_190302: 32:12

Oh yeah, you did that.

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 32:13

I drunken

james-_1_09-08-2025_190302: 32:14

That's.

josh_1_09-08-2025_190302: 32:14

is it? No, you're very welcome. But you know, um, cool. Actually I'm gonna take a bit of a victory lap. I said if we'd win, if we scored 20 points, we'll win that game. Scored 21 won the game. No problem. Um, my first stat line prediction, so that was good. Right? Let's keep, let's leave it there guys. Thanks for coming on. Um, until next time, which will be a couple of days, hail.