Commanders rout Raiders

Josh and Lee get together to analyse and celebrate the Commanders comfortable, impressive victory over the Raiders on Sunday to take Washington to 2-1:

- Game discussion 
- Coaches grades
- MOTM on both sides 
- Injuries
- James dials in his thoughts to close out

@HailOnThreePod

Transcript

0:01

How would you describe the culture surrounding this football team? You know, the culture is actually damn good. Chris Moore in motion, straight ahead, run, and Tough Yards still on his feet. Jeremy McNichols. I don't think they're gonna get him. And he is in for the Washington touchdown.

josh_1_09-22-2025_175826: 0:35

Hello and welcome to another edition of the Hail on Free podcast. My name is Josh. I am joined by Lee Live from Chicago Lee on this fine, sunny, at least in London. Sunny Victory Monday as we get together to discuss the commander's. Impressive win. Yesterday over the Las Vegas Raiders Lee, a bounce back game, quite literally for Dan Quinn after the hit he took on the sideline. Uh, but more importantly, bounce back game for the team to take them to two and one.

ledders_1_09-22-2025_115826: 1:03

Absolutely. Hello sports fans. Happy Victory Monday. It was. Was a very impressive bounce back game. Um, a lot more of a clear cut victory than I was actually anticipating. So yeah, really happy with that. Feeling very positive to start the week.

josh_1_09-22-2025_175826: 1:19

I'm gonna ask you the same question I asked you about the Giants game. Uh, which was, was there any moment in this game that you were actually worried that we wouldn't get the job done? Obviously, a different vibe with no Jaden Daniels, and at one point it was 10 10 in the second quarter.

ledders_1_09-22-2025_115826: 1:36

Yeah. Uh, not really, to be honest. I was just a little bit frustrated I think when it, when the Raiders tied it up.'cause there was that really annoying sequence wasn't there? Um, when missed the short field goal after the refs missed a very obvious. Uh, offside, which led to a free play. And Jaden laying drops a touchdown, which is a great fro, by the way, uh, from Mariota. But yeah, there was that really annoying sequence and it's like, how on earth? I, I believe he put it in our WhatsApp didn't. He was like, how on earth are they? 10 10? And I was like, good God.'cause there was some unforced errors really as well in. In amongst that, first quarter. So that was just my, I was just a bit frustrated, similar to like the end of the half against the Giants, but when I started to see the pressure mounting on Gino, I started to feel good. And yeah, in fact, it could have been even like, like how Green Bay would've said it wasn't that place. I feel like this could have been a real blowout. Blowout and it kind of was, anyway, by the end.

josh_1_09-22-2025_175826: 2:31

Yeah, it started brilliantly, right with the Deebo return on the opening kickoff, taking it into the Raiders territory, I think up to the 30 or roughly the 30 or 25 of the Raiders. And then we, uh, rush four plays in a row, dominate the line of scrimmage, big push, uh, running back by committee, and then Mariota takes it in himself. The quarterback keeper. I think it was a one read. Kind of play. Like if, if, uh, Ertz wasn't open, he was just gonna run, and that was what he did and took it in. And that was like, wow, what a start. And it was exactly what we asked for after last week where we didn't commit to the run. Um, they got a, you know, real shot outta the Canon start. And then it was a bit sloppy, like you said. So, um, some frustrating kind of mistakes shooting ourselves in the foot a little bit. Um, but no, I wasn't worried at any point. I, I kind of thought it was pretty evident early on that we were a team. Uh, bouncing back and had a long break. Um, and they were a team coming off a, a tough Monday night football game. Um, I think that west coast to east coast thing did kind of matter maybe as well.

ledders_1_09-22-2025_115826: 3:33

Yeah, I agree that it was just a bit unusual for to play the Thursday night game. And then Raiders to play the later Monday night game. Obviously being on the West Coast, when you have a, a double header on a Monday night, there's even an extra couple of hours and then yeah, that leads, it was divisional as well, wasn't it? Then that leads into a short week and traveling across country. So I think it does matter. I probably, maybe even Matt, um, a little bit more early in the season'cause you're really focused on that divisional matchup and you're not really into the. To the routine as much. Yeah, I guess you could argue either way, but yeah, I think that does matter. Um, when you're coming across the East coast and you're playing a really early, uh, game on the Sunday, you know, it was that early window so that that's 10:00 AM their time, isn't it? So, um, yeah. But yeah, we took full advantage of it, which was great. And as you say, uh, we'll get into it in more detail when we're talking about the, the grading, no doubt for the coaches, but just loved the way we came out, just the, exactly the response you needed. Uh, big plays, physical, and just really set the tone. So

josh_1_09-22-2025_175826: 4:37

Hmm. Yeah. And to be fair, we were a bit banged up. And I mean, the obvious place to start is that Jaden Daniels didn't play the game. Um, and actually it was released on Friday, the news that he wasn't gonna start. Um, so, you know, they, they, they didn't. The kind of mind games up until um, kickoff or anything like that, it was clear that he wasn't ready. And actually there was a report on game day that, you know, even if this was a playoff game, there's no way he was gonna play'cause they just haven't seen enough yet. And his response to that knee sprain. So we knew it wasn't gonna be Daniels, we knew it was gonna be mariotta. We also found out on. On game day that there'd be a couple of changes to the offensive line, which one of them was a big surprise actually. I, I thought I was surprised that Chris Paul got the start of left guard and Coleman was inactive. Um, and then they also brought in, um, Andrew Wiley to play, right guard to give Josh Conley a bit of help on the line. We had no John Bates and we had no Noah Brown, so we were a bit, a bit banged up. Um, but look, we, we prepared for that all week. We were kind of aware of, of that situation. Marriott had all the reps all week. Um, and we went into the game, like you said. With a game plan that I was very pleased about, um, given the opponent and given their struggles. Um, I think we can go straight into coaches' grades if, if you like.

ledders_1_09-22-2025_115826: 5:52

Yeah, let's do it.'cause that would just lead into some general, um, conversation about the game and how it, how it panned out. Yeah. So I'm ready.

josh_1_09-22-2025_175826: 5:58

Cool. Right. Well, so does, does Dan Quinn getting whacked in the face bleeding and jumping straight back up, uh, like Frankie Lou said, after the game popped up like toast. Uh, does that influence your grade for Dan Quinn at all? I'm assuming not, but let's get into it. What did you think of Quinn's, uh, approach to the game and, and how he called things?

ledders_1_09-22-2025_115826: 6:16

Yeah, I mean just on that, to be honest, I was like, oh God, he is taking a bit of one in the face and he is a bit bloody, no problem. But when I saw the replay, it was a bit scary. Proper whacked his head, didn't he? And that can. Be dangerous, you know, obviously, especially with that force going down. So very pleased to see him jump straight back up. He is obviously a, a tough individual. I don't think that's, um, up for debate, but yeah, that was a bit scary watching that replay, so very glad to hear that his, his fine. Uh, the optics of it with the kind of blood dripping down his face as his celebrating the late field goal, I guess it would've been at the time was quite. It was quite funny, wasn't it? Um, so yeah, that was probably a meme for, for times to come. But yeah, he definitely took one for the, for the team there. But yeah, I mean, just getting into the, the way the game was approached, as we said, this grade is gonna be a lot about how prepared the team is. I think that really is where the head coach, um. Comes into play and then obviously some decision making and just how the team fares throughout. So yeah, I'm gonna go straight in with the grade and then if you're ready, and I'm gonna give him an a, a straight a. Um, really, really pleased with the response. I think he's handled the, the press conferences after the Green Bay debacle quite well. And you know, it was a tough week'cause we lost some players on injury. Then all of a sudden your star quarterback is. They say kind of a game time decision, but I think it was pretty clear by the middle of the week it was gonna be Mariota, so that there was a lot to sort out in those 10 days, wasn't there? I think he's handled it perfectly and just the way they came out really, really impressed me. I'm giving him an a. There's, we haven't played a clean game yet, so there is stuff to, to kind of mop up a little bit. And in terms of the opponent, I do think that you have to take it into account a little bit. So that's kept me outta the A star plus category. But yeah, loved everything about it from Quinn. Huge bounce back and that's pretty the theme of the day from throughout really.

josh_1_09-22-2025_175826: 8:14

Yeah, totally fair. I I the one question I wanted to ask you about, um, and intrigued us to whether, you know, the answer to actually is the challenge in the first half, um, that we lost, um, on a catch down the sideline for the Raiders, which I mean, once that was caught and, and ruled a catch, I just thought it was a really. Kind of rough challenge to try and try and overturn that. And it, it almost hurt us in the sense that we, we ran out of timeouts or almost ran outta timeouts in the first half. Is that a Dan Quinn decision? If it is, does that not affect things for you?

ledders_1_09-22-2025_115826: 8:46

Yeah, very good point. Please.

josh_1_09-22-2025_175826: 8:47

I.

ledders_1_09-22-2025_115826: 8:48

that up.'cause that's certainly. Is exactly what we should be looking at when we're grading the head coach. So he'll obviously get the call from his headset. It was quite near him. It was on our sideline, wasn't it? So he may have had a gut feeling as well. mind a challenge as much, I guess there, but you know, I think it was a nine yard play and would've put'em in third and long if my memory serves. But

josh_1_09-22-2025_175826: 9:10

Yep.

ledders_1_09-22-2025_115826: 9:10

to be a bit more over 50% if you're gonna go go into that. So I don't mind losing the time out so much in the first half than I do in the second half sometimes. But it actually did kind of come to hurt us and you don't wanna be using your challenges too early. So yeah, he lost one. Not gonna kill him for it, but probably was best to keep the flag in his pocket there.

josh_1_09-22-2025_175826: 9:31

Yeah, I think for me it was a, uh, maybe, maybe knocks him to an A minus for the day. Um, but like you said, the, the kind of, um, preparation, how they came in, they didn't come in flat, which sometimes on a long week, like, or half A by is, is, is, we've seen that before. In the past it wasn't the case at all. Um, so yeah. Dan Quinn, an A minus me. Um, let's move on to offense. Um. This was the second straight home game where we rushed for over 200 yards. Obviously we didn't rush for more than 50 against Green Bay Packers and really struggled in that regard. Cliff Kingsbury's game plan, uh, how he called the game and your grade for him on the day.

ledders_1_09-22-2025_115826: 10:08

Yeah. So let's leave the, uh, quarterback conversation a little bit for later in terms of, uh, individual players, but just in terms of the, um, the scheme, how everyone performs. Catching the Raiders off guard early. bounce back for, for Kings Free. I really believe that was a, a tough loss with John Bates in that Green Bay game early. Maybe changed the game plan a little bit, but quite rightly, we really did get on him a little bit for that game plan, didn't we in general?'cause we, it was struggling there. We weren't adapting to what the Packers were showing us, but absolutely loved how we came out against, the Raiders. It was, it was like watching the offense from last year again, and that's really, really good. The quarterback fits the scheme. We all know that. We'll talk about that in a bit. But loved the, loved the running early, that set the tone. Loved the run back by committee and just loved how we were getting in space all day. Yeah, really good stuff from Cliff on this one.

josh_1_09-22-2025_175826: 11:06

Funny'cause he is gonna go from an F to an A from me. Um, which I guess there's an element of. Uh, who the opponent was in that, but actually the, it was the game plan that I hated. Um, and the lack of adapting in game against Green Bay more than it was perhaps Green Bay's quality'cause what can you do with that sort of pass Russian stuff. Um, this week they did have to face Max Crosby. Um, and I thought what they did on the first drive, set the tone, put them on the back foot, ran, ran at them, tended to run away from him a little bit on the left hand side of the line, um, behind tonsil and, and. And Paul, um, and I thought everything they did, which was the classic running setup, the past was fantastic and it worked really well. Uh, obviously, uh. Um, played to the strengths of, of Marietta as well, which will I'm sure we'll come on to. Um, but I, I didn't see really anything that I didn't like in the offensive game plan. I also was looking at the snap counts and stuff. Um, Ben Sinner played 33% of the snap seat. He played more than s um, they had. Colson yank off in there for 34% of the snaps. Trent Scott was in the big guy on the offensive line. We had six linemen on the first play. We just kind of really set the tone of what we wanted to do, and they did get push up front, which obviously helps. Um, but really in terms of how, how it was called on offense, I mean, it could have been a route, like you said. I mean, it almost was a route, really 41, 24 final score. Could have been a 50 burger I think at one point. But, you know, a couple of drops and stuff like you said. Um, and a fumble. We'll get onto my, um, uh, commander's win matchup, uh, if it's stat line of thing.'cause it didn't come true, but we still won. But it was an interesting one. Um, actually just quickly on that, we've only had one turnover in three games. Uh, eat for either team, which is a really weird stat, uh, for three weeks. Uh, not great from our defensive side. Not to have a takeaway yet, but yeah, that's a, a bit of a tangent. Sorry. So yeah, I think an A for cliff from an f from last week.

ledders_1_09-22-2025_115826: 13:01

Yeah, I've got, I was, I was debating on a minus. Just there's a couple. All of, I'm really nitpicking here. There's a couple of times I wanted, to run it where, where we, where we didn't, um, just'cause I thought we had the push all day and we, but yeah, just, I, I'm, I'm gonna be right there with you, is jumped from, you know, a fail to a pass with an a, to, to say the least. So yeah, I really love the way they compensated for losing baits with doing the six linemen. I think that was really, really good. And if you can set. You know, you know how the old adjective in football was the past, you know, sorry, the, um, run the up the past, vice versa. But I just think if you can get running early, this team that really opens the offense up. So there's been times where we are, we're a bit past how, how. Heavy early, and I loved that first drive. Obviously starting in the Raiders territory helps, but I just loved getting Rodriguez the ball. He runs for a first down and then, yeah, they're on the back foot already, aren't they? And that just really, that makes it a much more comfortable day for the quarterback.

josh_1_09-22-2025_175826: 14:04

He looked good, right? Like Rodriguez, I know he is your guy. Like he, he looked good. I mean the, the running back by committee I loved, like you said, even gotta give deebo the ball for a few. Carries and Marriott are on some keepers as well and we know he is got that skillset. Actually I think Marriott's got a better, um, zone Reeds decision making sometimes than Daniels. Um, took that one for, for a long, long. Gain before the fumble. Um, but yeah, I, I agree. And, and I think, um, maybe there was a couple of times that you said that we could have run it when, when, and just dominated and asserted that dominance, but I agree, I think with this team it is, it is about that and getting it rolling early for sure. I. Let's roll onto defense then. Um, and Whit Junior, be interested in, in your thoughts on this one.'cause I mean, we obviously dominated the line of scrimmage against the Giants and then we, we lost that battle on defense against the Packers and we're on the back foot. Didn't really notice people like Durron Payne in that game and it kind swung full circle background again on the defense.

ledders_1_09-22-2025_115826: 15:03

It did, it did I, I'm not gonna lie, I dunno what you thought when I saw Chino, um, roll out on that first offensive play for the Raiders and just hit us with a big. My heart sunk and I was like, oh no, don't tell me. It's gonna be a back and forth game and we are just gonna be giving up chunk plays all afternoon. So that was, that was a concern. Luckily we got bottled up a little bit and we got the pressure, which was the key thing I, with the defense. Just the NFL and even when it's your own team, you just dunno what to expect. I came into the season really, really believing that the secondary will be a massive strength with the upgrades I was still a little bit worried if we had enough talent on the line to generate pressure and stop the run. But we've definitely taken advantage of the two weaker opponents in terms of their offensive lines and we've really, really stepped up in that aspect. And you know, we talk about running back by committee. It's almost past rush by committee, isn't it? We don't have any elite.

josh_1_09-22-2025_175826: 15:58

Hmm.

ledders_1_09-22-2025_115826: 16:00

You know, top five past Russian talents in the NFL, but we've got some good players there and we really great pressure all day. So that was, that was so encouraging to see. I think everyone played well. It was a similar performance to, it was against the Giants, you know, five sacks, Gino was. Essentially running for his life much of the day. And we bottled up Gente as we kind of alluded to. He was get in touch behind, behind the line, first contact a lot. So yeah, look, I looking at that, I think it is one of the worst offensive lines in the league, but we certainly took advantage of that and that's what you can ask.

josh_1_09-22-2025_175826: 16:35

Yeah, we did. We did. We, you can only beat what's in front of you, that kind of old adage. And they certainly did up front. Um, they're in the backfield a lot. Gente iss an interesting one, man. Like if he gets going, he's a bit of a freight train. Um, if you hit him early, he, he hasn't got the same, same sort of cuts and kind of quick. Quick feet in the backfield, I don't think. But that line is isn't great, especially from a rum blocking perspective for the Raiders. And we really took advantage, like you said, five sacks. I think there could have been 10, to be honest. I mean like Gino Wriggled out of a couple, threw a couple away late. Um. I was just looking at the, the fur down efficiency. So we held the Raiders to three, uh, fur down conversions of our 14. Um, so that's really, really impressive. I think like that's one of the things that we used to just get killed on this, those fur downs, third and medium and long and, and that kind of thing. So that's, I mean, there's a lot of positives defensively. Um, for me. I'll give you my, my grade then, because I think there's, there's some stuff that. Needs cleaning up and I'm, I'm worried about longer term for the defense and Whit Junior, I'm giving him a B minus, which might sound a bit a bit harsh, but where they did hurt us was the same old stuff, which was a few miscommunications in the back end, um, and some sort of deep, deep open crosses and stuff down the sideline, which we've seen like we're giving up big plays, um, and continue to do so when the quarterback has time now. You know, Gino didn't have any time, most of the game, so it wasn't gonna really affect us. But I do worry that if we play teams where, you know, we can't get as much past rush or they're able to scheme things open a bit, that that's still a problem and a, a miscommunication element in the backend. So it's a B minus, just because I think almost sort of looking ahead, I'm worried that that could be the story potentially in in closer games.

ledders_1_09-22-2025_115826: 18:22

Yeah. Um, I can, I can see that. Sunday, I'm going to him in the the B category. I was also debating with B minus. feel like the game plan was, was correct overall in terms of, okay, let's bottle up gent, let's bring the pressure. If we can get pressure with four, we're gonna force him into down and distance. It's favorable to us and I, I think the game plan was correct for the Raiders, so I'm just gonna go off that as a really decent bounce back. Just stopping in the run has been, has been pretty impressive. Whoever we've, um, whoever we've faced so far. So overall, it's a decent outing for wit. There are definitely issues in the secondary, hopefully ones that are correctable, but unfortunately the injury bug is obviously hitting as well. So I'll go slightly higher than you on that one. I'll, I'll put'em in the B categor.

josh_1_09-22-2025_175826: 19:12

Yeah, that's, that's totally fair. Um, we, we we're still on the same page, broadly speaking. Right. Which is good. And I think lots of positives, um, especially coming off such a, a tough loss in Green Bay. Um, we don't do special teams coach grades, but we we're gonna give IZO an an a today just because it think it's worth mentioning. Now, obviously you've got a couple of special returners there that we're gonna. Get into, um, but you have to kind of, you still have to scheme that upright and you still have to make sure that you have the right kind of, um, set up on those returns of the gunner and all that kind of stuff. And, and Zo seems to be like loving his life at the moment with those special guys running the bull back. Right. So he gets a, a definite a after that game.

ledders_1_09-22-2025_115826: 19:49

Yeah, A star

josh_1_09-22-2025_175826: 19:51

Yeah.

ledders_1_09-22-2025_115826: 19:52

from the special team. So coverage has been great all year, which is also worth. Excuse me, which is also worth noting. So yeah, brilliant day for special teams. It set the tone for the game diva's,

josh_1_09-22-2025_175826: 20:03

Yeah.

ledders_1_09-22-2025_115826: 20:05

uh, run back on the, on the very first kick. So yeah, really, really good stuff. And let's just talk about Jayden Lane now, as we're probably not gonna talk about him as an individual in terms of, uh, you know, the offense. So

josh_1_09-22-2025_175826: 20:19

Yep.

ledders_1_09-22-2025_115826: 20:19

yeah, just I believe that what they, you know, a four round draft pick is. It's decent capital, but it's not crazy, is it? So I love what they've done there. If they really saw a potential star as a returner on the punt game, go draft him. And what we've seen, I mean, was already glimpses before yesterday, but this could be really, really exciting. And I just wonder if that's the one that's put the league on notice and if we're already gonna see maybe some kickers being a bit a bit wary now. So maybe he's got a couple of more weeks before people start getting really scared of him. But. But was so impressive from a personal standpoint. It was annoying'cause I wasn't celebrating'cause I just assumed a flag or something on our side, which I guess I shouldn't have done.'cause the flag came out really early, didn't it? I was like, oh God, it, is it, is it on us? And you know, when you see a runback and you see a flag, you just assume the west. Um, so it,

josh_1_09-22-2025_175826: 21:12

Yeah. Yeah.

ledders_1_09-22-2025_115826: 21:13

in that sense. I wasn't often up celebrating.'cause an explosive play like that is not. It's not one you see too often from our return game, but we might have an actual star on our hands because man, his vision and when he gets going, that is scary.

21:27

The 10. Here comes a flag drop right away and Jaylen Lane gets cast, pulled the putter, he's gonna go all the way for a touchdown,

josh_1_09-22-2025_175826: 21:42

Yeah. And, um, it was such an early flag that I was a bit like taken aback by it. And then in, in retrospect, it makes sense that that guy went out of bounds and, and didn't come back in quick enough. I think that was the penalty, right? Um, but yeah, I mean, I used to kind of switch off a bit on returns for us over the years. Um, and now it's the opposite. I get pretty excited, um, you know, the disappointment of not converting, um, for the, for the. Offense on the opposite side. Like, you get excited, well done, we've kind of stopped them or whatever. Uh, but then you think actually, you know, we've got a hell of a chance here of, of good field position. He is electric and he has got an amazing vision. And I mean, when we drafted him it was, you know, I think we talked at the time, didn't we, about like the speed and that being a big thing.

josh_1_04-26-2025_182048: 22:27

Just having a quick look at the, um, relative athletic score for the receiver. We just took, so Jayden Lane, Virginia Tech that we just took in the fourth round, um, he scored a 9.56 Raz score, uh, that's really, really high score. So he's, he's really quick, basically is the, is the, um,

james_1_04-26-2025_182048: 22:43

I was gonna

josh_1_04-26-2025_182048: 22:43

the headline 4.34 40. So

james_1_04-26-2025_182048: 22:46

yeah, we need some speed. I think so. Yeah. That sounds good to me.

josh_1_09-22-2025_175826: 22:54

Um, so that's really exciting. Um, and Deebo as well, right on the kickoff returns. And actually, to be honest, even Luke McCaffrey, who I think when they kicked to his side on the kickoff returns, he's got some juice as well and, and good vision. So yeah, really excited about that. And, and we can't, we can't blame IZO at all for the kicking issues. Um, which we're a bit mixed. Let's briefly talk about Matt Gays Day, actually. So, um, he, he's trying these kind of pooch kicks, isn't he, from the kickoffs, rather than kicking it up high for a. In the landing zone and he tried one of the first half that went straight out bounds. It was quite close to the corner to be fair to him, but it did sort of bounce out bounds, which obviously is not ideal'cause the opposition starts on the 40.

ledders_1_09-22-2025_115826: 23:32

Yeah, that was disappointing and it's something that's gotta be corrected. You can't have a kicker doing that, really. So I, to be fair, the rest of them, I thought he, he'd done a pretty good job. You obviously are trying to get it in that, in that landing zone, so you don't want to be just putting it through the end zone.'cause that also gives, you know, very decent starting field position now. So I think the rules are in our favor with our return game now, so that's really exciting. But. Yeah, that needs to be, that needs to be corrected. Uh, but yeah, when the coverage units are really playing up to their strengths as well, we really want to be making sure that we've, we've got them catching the ball in that zone for us to be able to, you know, really get after the, the returner. Because generally it's been really, really good when it's when that's happened. So hopefully that gets corrected as we're talking about him. Then let's talk about the field goal issues. I saw some stuff on social media at the time. Look, I get it. It's, it was, it's not been a good start or a reliable start to the season has it? So I, I completely get that, but just feel like he hasn't really missed one under 50 in forever. So let's just hope that's his one if this becomes a ongoing theme and you have to make a move. But I'm really pleased that he, he redeemed himself.'cause I'm not really just to run him out of town yet, to be honest.

josh_1_09-22-2025_175826: 24:51

Yeah, agree with that. Um, it, it was a, a clutch kick in the end on the 56 yarder at the end of the half, which I think he would've, he would've had a huge sigh of relief going into the half, uh, with that and good for him to absolutely nail that one. Um, I don't know why teams ice kickers or take time outs before kick. Try it on the first attempt. I honestly, I reckon the stats on that are, are, are not good any anymore in the NFL. Just seems to calm the kickers down even if they miss it just to have another shot. Right. Kind of free go. Um. And that came just after the, the, the Dan Quinn gang whacked on the sidelines, didn't it? At the end of the half where Mario took it out bounds, which was good stuff at the end of the half. Um, let's, let's move on then,'cause we haven't got too long on this recap. Um, should mention really that James isn't here, got all this way in. Didn't even mention his name. Uh, he's got on his gallivanting around on various holidays. He's, he's gonna send in a clip to round out the show once he's, um, once he's watched the game back. But let's move on to.

ledders_1_09-22-2025_115826: 25:46

he, imagine if he was just sitting here patiently waiting to, to turn it

josh_1_09-22-2025_175826: 25:50

27 minutes in, oh, sorry mate. Yeah, you go. No, um, he's not, but we're gonna do man of the match now'cause we talked about a few individuals and performances on, on both sides of the ball. Um, let's start, Lee with your offensive man of the match for the day. I reckon it's the same as mine.

ledders_1_09-22-2025_115826: 26:05

Yeah, I can't look outside the quarterback. I've got an honorable mention, but I'll see where you go first. But yeah, I was really, really impressed. I was a, that was my biggest concern coming into the game. We know he can do it, but the fact that he'd been, um, struggling throughout the summer with his tendonitis and hadn't framed the ball was like, oh my God, a year on, are we gonna see some rustiness? But the way he came out and on a different day, he has potentially four touchdowns there. Lane one. He should have caught, think Terry got in. Uh, so yeah, just a really incredible performance from a, from a backup. Yeah. It's not the best defensive team in the league, but he gives you so much confidence. He fits the system so well and he really, really delivered. And on a personal note, I'm really, really pleased for him. I think he deserves it. Like he actually started that game and he. Finish that game. He didn't come in in relief and this was his game to own and get the win and I'm, I'm really pleased for him.

josh_1_09-22-2025_175826: 27:04

Yeah, absolutely the same for me. My man of the match on offense is, is the quarterback, mariotto. He's fantastic all day. Um, set the tone, like you said at the start. Um, just control. The, the huddle like a true pro, like he is no kind of signs of rustiness, which would've been totally fair as you say, given the off season. Um, I think having the full week and then probably knowing that it was unlikely Jayden was going, was, was good for him, like you say, rather than being in relief. But he was just fantastic. He's got some wheels still as well, is impressive. Like when he gets into the open field. Um. And as you say, I mean, his final stat line was, was, was pretty good. Um, but he could have had a better one. He could have had up to sort of 20 out of 23 or so. So completions, if there wasn't the drops, um, the fumble, you can kind of forgive'cause it was like an open field, great play by the, the guy in the background, um, who came from behind. Um, so that's fair play. Um, yeah.

ledders_1_09-22-2025_115826: 27:55

he looked fast as well, didn't he?

josh_1_09-22-2025_175826: 27:57

Yeah.

ledders_1_09-22-2025_115826: 27:57

looked, this looked like Oregon tape. It was

josh_1_09-22-2025_175826: 27:59

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's a true, he's a true professional. I heard Luke McCaffrey after the game talking about how, you know, it doesn't, that he's actually quite similar personality to Jaden, which helps as well. And he has a similar, you know, just a similar natural cadence and everything like that and, and how he calls plays, which is always good. I, you know, the article about, um, the best backups in the league and he was like fourth or something. I, I don't see how he isn't above cousins in the best backup in the league just because of the system fit, to be honest. I think it's, it's perfect for him.

ledders_1_09-22-2025_115826: 28:25

I think it's, I think that's a bit of lazy journalism. It's like what has cousins done in his career as a starter compared to what has Mariot done in his

josh_1_09-22-2025_175826: 28:32

Yeah.

ledders_1_09-22-2025_115826: 28:33

a starter? Probably. So that's probably what it is. If you actually look at the system, the fit, and for someone to come in and play a game, he's gotta be right there. In fact, you know, you don't wanna ever see it. But if Cliff was head coach somewhere and they didn't have a quarterback, I'm pretty sure that he'd be on the phone as a placeholder because he looks better than yesterday. At least he looks better than some. Of the worst starters in the league, doesn't he? So

josh_1_09-22-2025_175826: 28:57

Oh yeah, absolutely. He's, uh, he's now ranked 11th in active quarterbacks in career rushing touchdowns. Um, he's got 19, it was his 75th start in the league. Um, and he's beaten 25 different teams in his career now, and he'll, he's, he's on a little mini revenge tour depending on if he, if he plays again next week against Lander. So.

ledders_1_09-22-2025_115826: 29:17

that actually. Yeah, I

josh_1_09-22-2025_175826: 29:18

Yeah, good for him. Top pro and, and someone I'm, you know, really, really pleased for. Let's move to defense and see if we've got the same guy again. Who's your man of the match on defense?

ledders_1_09-22-2025_115826: 29:28

I know I picked him last week, but that was really just kind of almost, you had to pick someone, didn't you? But yeah, Wagner, just for the, the game he had the, was it 11 solo tackles yesterday and two sacks in the game? Uh, just that he's not gonna, you, you don't really want to in coverage, but outside of that, just an absolute. You know, well, you know, he is gonna be a hall of famer, but just still at this age, he's just playing at an all pro level. So awesome to see. And the fact that they rush him as well. I like

josh_1_09-22-2025_175826: 29:57

Yeah. Yeah, I was about to say, I love seeing him on those stunt kind of, um, blitzes where he is, you know, coming off maybe from the kinda weak side and then he runs right up the middle and gets, you know, un opposed to the quarterback. He's just really good at doing that. Um, and that's where I wanna see him play downhill actually, rather than sideline. Sideline, like you say. Um, he had a brilliant day. I'm actually going Toron Payne. Um, who, uh, uh, both of my players are the highest rated on p fff, which is a complete, um, coincidence'cause I only just saw that on Twitter, literally as we, I'm looking now. But pay is the highest graded for the, for the whole game for us. I thought he was really good again. Um. He was properly in the backfield and, and he hit genty, I think three or four times, um, either at the line or just slightly ahead of the line. And, and a couple in the backfield, um, had a sack himself and was, was excellent. Um, so that's good to see. Um, because he was kind of conspicuous by his absence in Green Bay, like a lot of the defensive line wear off balance. But Ron Pain gets it for me. Um, a, uh, a, a mention to. Von Miller for that sack where he, um, just kind of rolled back the ears with that classic past rush move where he pushed the pocket back and round and then used his hands to get inside and, and, uh, sack Gino. That was a bit of class, wasn't it?

ledders_1_09-22-2025_115826: 31:13

That was great to see. And that's exactly what I said on that podcast preview at some point over the summer that you wanna bring him in on far down.'cause he can still do that. He's not gonna be in every down edge rusher and that technique. You just can't. I, I put it in our group chat, didn't I? I said you got. He can't coach that technique. That is just superb. And then my honorable mention that I forgot to say just then. Um, so left guard Chris Paul coming in. He was really, really good. So it might be his position to lose now. He had an 87.8 pass, pro effectiveness grade, gave up no hurry or pressures.

josh_1_09-22-2025_175826: 31:46

Excellent stuff and I think I'll give all three running backs. Another honorable mention as well, right?'cause they all looked good. Obviously. McNichols touchdown that we had at the start was a, was. Really brilliant run. Um, nice to see him kind of run through Jeremy Chin as well on that play. Um, but yeah, I mean, Crosky, Merrit looks like shot of a cannon, but also really good behind the line of scrimmage and, and really good vision and patience. Um, and Rodriguez, like you said, on the first drive in particular was, was good. So all running backs played well today and obviously the line helps that, like you say, and, and Paul having a good day. So yeah, all good stuff, really. Um, let's, let's try,

ledders_1_09-22-2025_115826: 32:19

mention, sorry. On the running backs, like I think the by committee's the best strategy to have. You've got a really good blend of experience and, and a rookie and everybody is really, really wanting, you know, Crosby merit just to take the role as a. Lead back. It probably will happen at some point, but remember this is the NFL now and he played very limited football. So I actually like what they're doing. They've got a lot of confidence in McNichols. That's obvious and I'm really pleased with him as well. A vet to have his longest rushing touchdown. I saw him in Arizona for us last year and he played really well. So I think the bike committee is, is a smart way and I'm sure if bill's. Touches increase and he, you know, makes the most of them. I'm sure we'll see more than than eight touches as we, you know, we, the weeks tick on here, but I actually like what they're doing. The PI committee strategy is smart to me. I.

josh_1_09-22-2025_175826: 33:05

Yeah, agreed. And I think Bill actually will be a goal line back just because of his vision and his quick cut. Um, Rodriguez is a bit stronger potentially, but Bill always falls forward as well. So I think he, he'll be in there in those, uh, in those situations. Um, let's talk about injuries.'cause a few key guys we're in and out of the game. Um, at one point it flashed up on the screen that. Terry, Latimore and Amos were all questionable to return in the second half. Um, it's hard to see too much on a Monday afternoon here at UK time, um, in terms of information on those guys, but it seems hopefully that those are precautionary. But at this point we, we kind of don't know.

ledders_1_09-22-2025_115826: 33:42

Yeah, this is just the story, isn't it? Over the last couple of weeks we've got to two in one, but we were. much better off early season last year with injuries. This, it is really, the bug has really hit us already. Wednesday's gonna be a very interesting day. Did we take these guys out as a precaution?'cause we were up big. I actually saw Terry run and get the ball for, uh, Luke McCaffrey's touchdown. He like jogged down the sideline and looked okay. I know you can't take that as gospel, but he clearly isn't in a, a really bad state at least. So I'm just hoping the likes of Amos and McClarin were precautionary. But man, the secondary really is. Been hit by the injury bug and yeah, let's hope that we can just see some limited on Wednesday and then they're in full by Friday. Then I'll feel a lot better about it. But obviously Will Harris looks, um, serious and that's, that's a big one, man. We've, we've got hit so early, early on and that's, uh, don't wanna put it out there almost, but that can derail the season if it gets really bad. So fingers crossed we can, um, get some of these guys back. But we've obviously already had some season enders and we've got a couple of long term ones potentially as well, so pretty scary.

josh_1_09-22-2025_175826: 34:48

Yeah, actually on the Will Harris one, I think I, I, I just saw that we are going to have some guys in for tryouts right straight away at the position. Darnell Savage Jr. Who used to play for the, the Jags and Green Bay outta Maryland. He's, he's in for a visit today, so you're gonna start to see guys off the street coming in now and, and bolstering the, the lot, the, um. Roster because of these injuries. Um, but look, next man up is, is Quinn's kind of strategy with that stuff, right? And his philosophy and, and we'll have to try and get those guys acquainted quickly if they do join. Um, yeah, let's talk very, very quickly if you've got time about the rest of the league.'cause it was a crazy end to the window and I dunno if you like, switched over to Red Zone. I had both games going once we were up a lot. I did'cause I had the iPad going as well and it was mad and obviously really fucking annoying that Phily got that crazy win at the end of their game.

ledders_1_09-22-2025_115826: 35:37

Yeah, they're living a bit of a charm life at the moment. There was what? There was the drop by CD in the first game, the Drop by Kelsey, and you know, the two blocks yesterday, like, shortly nine. Nine times outta a hundred. The rounds win that game. But at the end of the day, you know, they're making plays, they're free. And I so credit to them, they're obviously finding a way. But yeah, that was a bit frustrating, wasn't it?'cause that would've been the perfect day, um, for our NFC East rivals. But yeah, crazy endings and the Browns obviously had a good defense, but no one saw that coming in. So the NFL is the old up week to week league. I'll put this out there now a. A team that comes off as shellacking like Atlanta did, especially one that has talent like Atlanta is a very dangerous team. So don't just suddenly walk in the next week to think that we're suddenly gonna, you know, stroll through that game or anything just because Carolina had done that. Weird things happen in this league, especially in September. So we've got, bear that in mind. But yeah, look from, from an entertainment standpoint. Redling was just kicking off, wasn't it, the end

josh_1_09-22-2025_175826: 36:35

Superb.

ledders_1_09-22-2025_115826: 36:35

yesterday.

josh_1_09-22-2025_175826: 36:36

Yeah.

ledders_1_09-22-2025_115826: 36:37

for our games, uh, just to get back to us really quickly, it's kind of weird that every single game in the fourth quarter has kind of been in check one way or another, so I'm sure we're in for that close, uh, emotional nail bite scene. So that's when we need to clean up and play a little bit more, um, clean football. But overall, yeah, uh, a fun day in the NFL in terms of incredible endings and a really, really. Good sign that Dallas are struggling already.'cause Chicago kind of put it to them. So that was good. Even though Dallas have got dangerous players, they look like they can really have the football thrown on them, don't they

josh_1_09-22-2025_175826: 37:12

Yeah.

ledders_1_09-22-2025_115826: 37:12

the last two weeks. So that's gotta be encouraging. New York Owen free say we are right where we need to be.

josh_1_09-22-2025_175826: 37:18

Yeah, we're right where we need to be. Agree with you about Atlanta, though. I mean 30 nothing shutout against the Panthers. They're gonna be, um, they're gonna be looking for a big bounce back against us on Sunday. Um, we will have a preview pod out later in the week, and hopefully we'll have miles on the Atlanta fan from Dubai. He'll be able to give us a, a reaction to that loss and, and his keys to the game and a prediction for Sunday. Um, but yeah, until then, uh, we will close out with James' forts in a minute. Uh, anything else from you, Lee, before we do?

ledders_1_09-22-2025_115826: 37:47

No, we've obviously had to keep it tight. We're a bit on a bit of a schedule and the working day over here. But yeah, really, really pleased to get to two and one. I thought this was a, a big game. I thought we really showed up. I was actually so surprised that we played as well as we did in many, uh, aspects of the game. And we, we look, we blew the Raiders out and the Chargers didn't do that. So lots to be really positive about, as I said, as I, on the, uh, outro. Last week, keep the faith. This is a team that plays for their coach. They've got some good players. We've got some stuff to clean up. We've got some injuries, but I think we're gonna have a very, at the very least, competitive season and hopefully we can just get some players back, get through this stretch if we can get to Atlanta and get out of there free and wonder in really good shape. So an exciting week ahead and that, you know, probably where we thought we'd be right after the start to the season on the schedule. So all good stuff.

josh_1_09-22-2025_175826: 38:36

Absolutely. We're now eight and seven as well in the all time series against the Raiders after your lookback last week. So that's gotta be good as well. Um, let's close it out with James and then until later in the week, hail.