Commanders finally win a game - Merry Christmas!

A mish mash podcast episode of various recordings between Josh, Lee and James discussing the win (finally!) over the Giants, Jayden sitting for the rest of the year, and a brief preview of the game against Philly on Saturday night. Merry Christmas everyone!

@HailOnThreePod

Transcript

0:00

How would you describe the culture surrounding this football team? You know, the culture is actually damn good. First out of 20, got'em. There's McClaren inside. The 10 stays on his feet into the end zone for a commander's touchdown. 51 yards, Mario. Two McClaren. Welcome to another edition of the Halo Free Podcast. My name is Josh. I am Neil Solo host, as you'll soon become apparent. Dear listener, as unfortunately we had some technical difficulties earlier this week when Lee and I tried to recap the Giants game. Uh, we did manage to get through a lot during our chat and unfortunately only the last eight to 10 minutes is available. So you will hear that conversation between Lee and I at the end of this show where we discussed some kind of around the league stuff, some playoff implications stuff, some injuries um, as a non Washington football related chat'cause it was the tail end of the show. Unfortunately, some user error on my part meant that we lost. A lot of discussion of the victory against the New York Giants on Sunday when we got together on Tuesday to record. It is now Thursday, uh, lunchtime UK time, a hectic week, uh, for all three of your podcast hosts. James over in Iceland, uh, for his birthday. Uh, Lee traveling to the UK and myself with some particularly frustrating work issues, not Do you care about that? Um, so this episode has kind of stitched together a little bit. I'm calling this intro bit and I'll do a little bit of chat about the Giants game. Uh, James did send some thoughts on the Giants game from Iceland, which you'll hear shortly. As I say, festive season, not able to put too much into it at this point with all of our movements and schedules. So, um, as I said, it is worth mentioning that we did defeat the New York Giants on Sunday 29 to 21. Uh, Marcus Mariota leading the team to victory, um, as a first win after eight straight losses. And I don't regret the team a win in that scenario. I know that I did talk prior to the game, uh, about if we lost that game, I wouldn't be too upset. You know, I wouldn't be actively really against anyone, but I wouldn't really mind, it wouldn't be that much of a problem for me if it enhanced our giraffe position. Um, but having watched the game back, um, seeing some individual performances, I particularly liked. Uh, I do feel that it was a good thing ultimately for team, and dare I say, the culture, that we got a win and we were competitive against a very poor Giants team. Uh, but now four and 10, we would've been three and 11, and so would the Giants if they'd have beaten us. So it does make a difference. We were three games left. Uh, in terms of divisional standings, but we will see how that will shakes out at the end of the year. I'm not too worried. Looking at the Thankathon website, we are very likely to have top 10, uh, top 12 at worst pick, uh, heading into the draft. So, uh, without further ado, let's hand it over to James. You had some thoughts on the game, uh, before I come back and do another, uh, quick hit about the players that I liked in the game. Hello fellas. Happy Victory Monday, James coming here from Iceland, coming at the gases, uh, hot springs and all that shit. Smoke coming out the the ground. Quite impressive. Uh, minus three. It was pretty cold, but not crazy. Um, anyway, I also didn't catch the game last night. Landed in the evening, then went straight out for dinner. Um, but I've seen, I was trying to follow on my phone, uh, when I got back to the hotel and caught a few of the touchdowns on, on X as well, so. Nice to get a wind ticked off. Um, looked like we made it harder than it needed to be and I saw, uh, some fumbling issues, uh, rid their head again, but much needed win. I think everyone needed that. Um, let's not worry about draft picks. I think, um, the Saint's got a win there. It's also helps us out. Um, yeah, looking forward to hearing your guys' thoughts on the pod. Um, but I'll catch up again with you. Uh, next week hail. Thanks James. Uh, nice little voice note, recap of the Giants game there from his perspective. Um, I have to agree on most of the stuff he said there. I'm not gonna dwell on the game too much at this stage of the season, obviously. Um, but I did enjoy some of the individual performances. Terry McCluen in particular, I enjoyed. Um. I think he showed us yesterday that again, with another backup slash mediocre quarterback, he's able to be a very, very good, if not borderline kind of top 10, top 12 receiver in this league. Um, exceptional off the line of scrimmage, great deep ball threat and able to beat players once he has the ball in his hands, which he did for that long touchdown from Marcus. So that was great stuff. Um, it's just a real shame how it happened in the off season and the injuries that he got earlier on this year. Along with the injuries on the rest of the offense, uh, I did wanna talk about Jaylen Lane, who's had his second pun return, touchdown the season, thus joint leading in the league. He himself, uh, is a real fret on, uh, special teams. He hasn't quite lived up to what he could be as a receiver yet, but he is a rookie and willing to wait a little bit on that. Um, it was an excellent, uh, punt return touchdown that you'll hear now. And Lane also had another one that he almost broke earlier on in the game. I got Sir around midfield. So he is, he is really, really electric, uh, in those punt returns. And it was the first, uh, Washington player to record two punt return touchdowns with a season since Brian Mitchell in 19 19 4. Uh, so he has a shot for a, a kinda special teams Pro Bowl shout maybe, who knows? Um, Chlor and himself passed Bobby Mitchell. Number seven, all time in career receiving yards in franchise history, just showing how important he is to the franchise and has been since being drafted. Um, I'd like to talk about another couple of young players, rookies who had improved games. It was nice to see Croskey Merrick back in the fold. Um, almost getting a hundred yards. A nice touchdown. As we said previously, he has got some really good vision and that was on show on that touchdown where he cut back inside instead of following the blocks, the left hand side of the line. A nice kind of semi draw play there, drawn up by Kingsbury and I thought well done to Bill for getting back and to bold. I know that that has pleased James as well, who has, uh, bill in fantasy and some fantasy relevance again for the first time in a long time. Defensively an interesting one. I mean, let's not go overboard. It was the Giants, they kind of hurt themselves a lot. Uh, Quinn has a lot to live up to after his comments about taking over the play calling maybe even next year. I think that was probably a throwaway comment. I don't think that's very likely. Saw what good defense and good teams have done to this unit. Whoever it is that's calling plays, working out the scheme. Um, Antonio Hamilton senior, a 10 year veteran, had the highest grade. On the defense per PFF, I mean, that's kind of telling the story a little bit. Um, when you kind of pair that with the fact that Von Miller, uh, has seven sacks, which is the most, he's recorded for a couple of years, four years, um, and seven Sacks is probably like exactly what you wanted him to do as that sort of. Specialist past Russia for this team, it just hasn't really made any difference because of how poor the rest of the defense is. Um, Preston Smith had two tackles, two quarterback hits to tackle the loss in the past. Offended again, these are veteran players showing up at the twilight of their career rather than young players like John Newton, who again only face 6% of snaps, which is not great. Um, one more player to talk about before we move on. Sam was still, um, had a, his fourth in inception of the year. That's pretty good stuff considering how poor he has been or had been earlier in the season. He have three tackles and, and a pass defender as well, so probably one of his bad games of the year or definitely one of his bad games of the year. Um, he's the first cornerback to have four interceptions since Kendall Fuller in 2017. Um, first defensive player ever, overall since Star Forest in 2022, which I just did not remember those four picks. Um, there's a great return as well to be fair to him. 55 yards. Um, so well done Mike. He let's hope he can build on that next year and we don't see him in the slot too much. Um, I'll shout out Jake Moody. I mean, he missed an extra point, but he did kick three field goals from 46, 39, 42, and he did convert two extra points of three. Um, that's good. Um, and ultimately we do need a bit of consistency there, but again, it's not really that it's, it is pretty much immaterial because of how the season's gone, which is why I'm not gonna dwell on it, uh, too much. Uh, I will say that in terms of one more young player, again. That has grown this season that impressed, uh, Josh Connolly Jr. Played all 61 offensive snaps again, uh, and that that offensive line is fairly well set now. Chris Paul, Josh Connolly, Jr. Sound, Cosme, Tyler Bish, um, and Larry Tonsil in there. Um, I do think that that is something we can build on next season, but we're not gonna get into too much of that discussion now. I think it's just a good thing that Josh Conley's playing so many snaps. I I would like him not to sit. Any games for the rest of the season, the more reps for him, the better. Okay. Hopefully I did a decent enough job of recapping that Giants game. I haven't gone to, you know, too much detail in terms of the, the plays and how the giants hurt themselves. But I think it's worth, um, talking about a little bit, even though it was in the rear view mirror. To clarify, you said you would talk about quarterback next week. If you guys are eliminated today by what happens at four o'clock we can be eliminated. Yeah. If the Packers beat the Vikings, oh, then you guys are eliminated. Hello folks, Josh here again. I wanted to do a quick preview of the Eagles game upcoming on Saturday night, um, when the two Eagles games were announced, when the schedule was announced earlier in the season. Um, putting one here before the Christmas weekend and then one in the final week of the season was obviously a big gamble from the NFL who expected Washington to be. In contention for the division this season after the success of last year. Um, it hasn't worked out that way. Um, which they'll be frustrated about, clearly not as frustrated as me, James and Lee. Uh, because a Saturday, 10:00 PM UK time, weekend before Christmas kickoff in a divisional game that would've meant something is pretty much as perfect as it could be for our schedules and the way we like to watch football. Um, so a real shame that this doesn't mean what it could have meant. Because of the way our season was derailed. Um, looking at this game, the Eagles can clinch the division on the road and watch. There'll be loads of Eagles fans there. I I very much expect them to do so. Um, my prediction for this game is a 31 to 10 eagles victory. Very comfortable romp on the road. Um, we have shown that we cannot stop any offense that has playmakers or is able to scheme stuff up. Um, or run the ball that effectively against us, uh, whether it's Quinn or wit as dc and I think the Eagles will come in here and, and, and basically be a team that wants to win this game. I dunno about the, the final game in Philly actually on, in the final week. If they've clinched and seedings that matter as much, I think that could be a closer, weird, strange game. But this one, I think they'll, they'll come in, roll over us and, and take the win and the division. Um, obviously the news that came out this week is that Jade and Daniels will sit for the rest of the season. That's an interesting one. Um, personally, I'm, I'm fine with it. I mean, ultimately they want to protect their prized assets who. Um, when you look across the league at the injuries to Mahomes and Parsons and stuff, you realize that, you know, that's really what matters for next season. Is Jaden coming in healthy and he is been banged up all this season. Um, I would be interested to know the extent to which this was an ownership or coaching or general manager decision or combination of, of the three. Sounds like Jayden wanted to play but was ultimately told. Best thing for you and the team is that you don't, um, he's not been placed on ir, so he is obviously. Still clear to, to train and practice with the team, which he wants to do, make clear he wants to do. So, you know, he would play in any meaningful game. He is healthy enough to play in any meaningful game, um, but he won't against the Eagles Cowboys and the Eagles again. Um, Marcus Marriott is one of the best backups in the league, and he is been, you know, pretty good ultimately in, in a team that's been ravaged by injury. Um, for most of the time that he's been out there, he'll play, uh, again and start. Um, there is an argument to suggest that. AKA should be sat as well, given that he is also a kind of almost surprised asset as well, given how many games he's played this season. Um, but I, I guess they're, they're just gonna stick with Jaden. I, I will be interesting to see if people like Larry Tonsil play. I mean, he doesn't need any reps, right? And, and we'd like to resign him given how well he's played. Um, some other veterans and stuff. I don't know. Um, I dunno if it's just gonna be a Jaden thing or it's gonna be. Um, some of the others at the top end of that roster that they wanna protect for next season. Um, I'll be watching this game live. It's a nice time and during the festivities, um, and I'll be intrigued as to some of those young players get on after the performance against the Giants. People like sin, people like Lane, um, but also some of the guys from previous seasons, Crosky Mayor as well. Like to get him a good run. Why not at this point? Um. Yeah, it's one of those things where all the excitement has been drained from the year and now it's more about enjoying football as we move forward. So that is very much what we will do. Uh, the next thing you will hear is Lee and I discussing the one bit that we managed to salvage from the podcast earlier in the week is us discussing kind of round the league stuff. Um, so I hope you enjoyed this, uh, mishmash of a pod that we've managed to put together. Um, and we will be back soon. But, uh, until then, here's me and Lee talking about around the NFL.

j_2_12-15-2025_193026: 14:36

Cool. Um, chiefs eliminated from the playoff contention, um, in week 15, which is not, um, well, I mean. Some people did predict this could happen this year, but I mean that's something that a dynasty, an era and homes hurt as well. Um, that is worthy of a, a quick discussion, I'm sure.

ledders_1_12-15-2025_125804: 14:57

Yeah, you always thought they were, you were just waiting for them to do their usual thing and start looking awesome again, weren't you? And they had flashes of it and they looked really good in spots, but they were just a. Never got to a position where they really turned the corner this year after a tough start to the season. And that did seeing him walk down that tunnel at Arrowhead limping off with. What apparently is a bad ACL injury, so will have a significant impact, you know, throughout, well his summer's done, isn't he? He is not gonna have a training camp, like if you look, look at it. So yeah, that did feel very significant to me of that era. And I mean the Mahomes era has started in what, 2018 and went right through to last year. This season start this year obviously. And yeah, he'll be back, he'll still play at a high level, I'm sure. But this, it did feel like a bit of a shift there, chiefs. Six and eight my home. Seriously injured. Never wanna see it. I still think it's the best callback I've seen play the game. You know, it's from

j_2_12-15-2025_193026: 15:54

Yep.

ledders_1_12-15-2025_125804: 15:54

those that like 2019 to 2023 in particular, it's just, uh, incredible. But yeah, things are changing and there, and nothing lasts forever, does it? So it'll be interesting to see in terms of some of those players who's coming back. I mean, Kelsey's obviously getting old now as well and stuff like that. It does feel maybe, um, that their era of dominance in the a FC is gonna be if not already there.

j_2_12-15-2025_193026: 16:21

Yeah, good shout on a 12 and two Broncos team now heading up that division. Uh, not what you'd have expected potentially, but

ledders_1_12-15-2025_125804: 16:28

Green Bay last night. I thought that I did. I I would never go as far as calling Denver a fraud

j_2_12-15-2025_193026: 16:33

mm-hmm.

ledders_1_12-15-2025_125804: 16:34

are not with their defense. But I was still skeptical about the offensive side of the ball, especially what I saw in, in DC that night. So I was like, yeah, maybe they're, they're not really what their records says they are,

j_2_12-15-2025_193026: 16:45

Yeah,

ledders_1_12-15-2025_125804: 16:45

go. I mean,

j_2_12-15-2025_193026: 16:47

yeah,

ledders_1_12-15-2025_125804: 16:47

it's like, okay, go there and do that and now you're like, well they could number one seed potentially. Right. So

j_2_12-15-2025_193026: 16:55

yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely.

ledders_1_12-15-2025_125804: 16:58

in Colorado about them on a, on a big run. Now

j_2_12-15-2025_193026: 17:02

Yep. And the last thing, another a FC thing. Did you catch any Philip Rivers for the Cols?

ledders_1_12-15-2025_125804: 17:07

I saw some of it. Yeah. I didn't, I I really can't make too much comment on that.'cause it was just like on the side screen. Did you see any of

j_2_12-15-2025_193026: 17:15

Yeah, I, I mean, I watched, I watched the highlights today and, and, and just, I better than I thought he would, to be honest. Um, like ultimately like a lot of dink and dunk, uh, that kind of stuff, but Absolutely fi

ledders_1_12-15-2025_125804: 17:26

the game. Really?

j_2_12-15-2025_193026: 17:27

yeah, yeah. yeah. Fired up and, and actually if it wasn't for their defense allowing a, a, a late field goal when Seattle had no timeouts as well. Um, then they, they probably would've won the game and actually they did have a chance until, and, and right at the end, and then Rivers threw a pick. But he lived way better than I thought he would. I think they'll be like thinking, well, actually there's a, there's a slight chance here. But I think it's tough for them, obviously, with the Texans and the Jags being what they are record wise. But yeah, a nice, cool story and, and, uh, he's a good guy, right? He's fun, fun to listen to and stuff.

ledders_1_12-15-2025_125804: 18:00

Yeah, big win for the bills, wasn't it to come back obviously against New England as well. So the A FC is gonna be a great watch in January. It's gonna be really interesting to see how these teams fare off against each other. Some names we didn't even think would be in a conversation with huge, you know, really great records. So

j_2_12-15-2025_193026: 18:16

Yeah.

ledders_1_12-15-2025_125804: 18:17

huge wins on the board yesterday around the league. Let's see what happens. The, I like I had. Some, um, I know they were playing the jets, but looking at some of the Jags players yesterday, they, they look pretty handy on offense at times, didn't they? As well. So I, I'm actually really looking forward to see how the a OC playoff picture shakes out.

j_2_12-15-2025_193026: 18:35

Yeah, me too. And, and like I said before, we'll get some good playoff chat in this, uh, off season in the post-season podcast episodes moving forwards, as obviously we won't be in it ourselves, but we, we, we, we enjoy the rest of the league just as much and hopefully we'll get some people listening and interested in that as well.

ledders_1_12-15-2025_125804: 18:52

Then

j_2_12-15-2025_193026: 18:52

Cool. Alright.

ledders_1_12-15-2025_125804: 18:53

side, there's gonna be a decent team, miss out. I'm not sure who it's gonna be yet. And the a FC side, probably there's, it'd be interesting to see if there's any 10 win win that teams miss out. um, yeah, I dunno really, I dunno who I fancy now after watching yesterday's slate, but I guess the rounds was the, probably one of the bigger wins of the day.

j_2_12-15-2025_193026: 19:15

Yeah, yeah, no, for sure. It was, um, yeah, and some Saturday football now as well in the next few, uh, or the next week. And then NF the Christmas day slate actually doesn't look as, as great as it did at the start of the season. Um, with the games. No, no. Um, with games on Christmas Day with both teams have anything to play for, and obviously with ours, probably nothing to play for. For Dallas, most likely. Um, so the NFL and then Netflix experiment not quite worked out the way they'd hoped for Christmas day.

ledders_1_12-15-2025_125804: 19:44

Yeah, that's the travel that, the early scheduling. It's hard to predict what was, what might happen for me. Now, just really quickly, um, little bit bigger picture in the last few weeks of the season,

j_2_12-15-2025_193026: 19:55

Mm-hmm.

ledders_1_12-15-2025_125804: 19:55

wanna see? I wanna see? the young guys contribute. I feel like for the people that are rooting for a GI draft position, I. Don't think we have to worry too much'cause I don't think we're gonna gonna suddenly win these free games. But after Saturday, there might not be a ton to play for, for our opponents as well. So bear that in mind.

j_2_12-15-2025_193026: 20:18

Hmm.

ledders_1_12-15-2025_125804: 20:18

Like that last game, for example, at the link, if seating's already sorted, you're gonna see. An awful lot of backups for Philadelphia. So stuff like that, we might end up maybe two and one in this stretch, which could, could hurt a little bit. If that's your mantra in terms of what you're rooting for at this stage of the season, then I guess that's to bear in mind. But yeah, I wanna, I wanna, um, watch this game on Saturday night. I don't wanna see them celebrating the N Ffc East's title on our field. So that would be my, my interest in, in the game Saturday at least.

j_2_12-15-2025_193026: 20:49

Yeah, that's, I was about that. You've, you stole my fund. That's exactly what I wanted to say. I don't really wanna see that. Um, so I agree with that at the moment. Look, we are four and 10 and an eight overall pick let's, you know, who knows where that could end up, but it's unlikely to end up any worse than the top like 12 pick ultimately. So let's not worry about it too much. Uh, we're not gonna be the, the number one pick, so it is what it is. Um, alright. Nice one. Thank you, Lee. Um, we haven't discussed about a Philadelphia pod moving forwards, James in Iceland, who knows? There might be a solo pod from myself. We'll see how things go. A very brief one or maybe a, a look back at, uh, or something potentially dialed in, maybe. Um, but yeah, we'll try and get something out as, as ever. Um, but it's the festive period, so I'm sure everyone's busy, as are we. Um, but yes. Um, a win finally, uh, which is always good. In the grand scheme of things, who knows? But it was good to see them celebrating and good for those that made the trip.'cause there's quite a few skins fans in that 40,000 actually.

ledders_1_12-15-2025_125804: 21:48

there was, yeah, obviously so many gonna be living New York and stuff, so, and on

j_2_12-15-2025_193026: 21:52

Yeah,

ledders_1_12-15-2025_125804: 21:52

But yeah, it was good to see, like for everyone. Have a great week this week. I know it's Christmas, uh, party season for where we work and stuff, so.

j_2_12-15-2025_193026: 22:02

Yeah, Behavior sales.

22:03

By all means, enjoy it, but enjoy it by being fucking disciplined here.

ledders_1_12-15-2025_125804: 22:07

there, enjoy it. Uh, this was a bit of a jumbled together podcast with forks all over the place, but you know, that's the content we bring this time, this season for a fall win team. There we are.

j_2_12-15-2025_193026: 22:18

Yeah, exactly. That's the better way to do it. Alright, good stuff. And until next time, hail.

ledders_1_12-15-2025_125804: 22:23

Yep. See you Thursday or Friday, Josh Hale.