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Grant & Danny are in the camp of believing the Commanders need to play the starters against the Lions this Friday.
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00:00Here's what really surprised me today.
00:03Dan Quinn has talked a lot about this section of camp today and tomorrow being really, really important.
00:11He's been calling it one of the last big periods where they're with themselves to get a lot done.
00:18And he had said several times on the record that they were going to be in pads today and tomorrow.
00:23They weren't in pads today.
00:25So they had their game on Friday night, which the vast majority of the key players on the team did
00:31not play in.
00:31Just shy of 30 players did not play in that game on Friday night of the 53 that will make
00:37the team, mind you.
00:39And so you have 29 guys that didn't do anything Friday night anyway, other than maybe some sprints before the
00:43game.
00:44Then Saturday, Sunday, Monday, yesterday even, they're off.
00:48There aren't practices.
00:49They're not getting after it, which is totally understandable.
00:51Think about the NFL after a Sunday game.
00:53It's typically Wednesday before you're back on the practice field doing anything physical.
00:58But I thought for sure in the middle of training camp, without a joint practice this week,
01:02and just because we were told it would be a padded practice today and a padded practice tomorrow,
01:06they're going to get two hours each day of padded work in.
01:09And there they were in shells for a pretty short practice that was around 90 minutes today
01:14with a couple special teams periods baked in.
01:17Tressway punting for the first time.
01:19They did some punting and kicking stuff.
01:21By the way, shout out to new kicker Drew Stevens, who won the job, who was 6 of 6 with
01:25a made field goal from 60 yards today.
01:28But it was what I would consider, having been at every single practice, one of the lighter practices that they
01:32have had.
01:33I mean, Toby, would you agree with me?
01:35Like, you were there.
01:36They had a, and I'm not knocking this.
01:38Someone will do some kind of video where I'm a tough guy saying this shouldn't happen.
01:41That's not what I'm doing.
01:42But, like, they had a hydration period.
01:44They had a punting period.
01:45They had a kicking period.
01:47And they, of the 90-minute practice without pads today.
01:49It was kind of light.
01:51Yeah, definitely the first portion was light.
01:53It felt like maybe after when Dan Quinn assembled the whole team was like, we got to pick this up
01:58a little bit.
01:59It felt like the intensity picked up, but the beginning portion was like, me and you could have run through
02:02practice.
02:03They were going through the motions.
02:04And I bring all this up to say, you and I talked a lot yesterday about, are they going to
02:09play in the game against the Detroit Lions on Saturday?
02:11And I was kind of 50-50, not really sure, don't know what the plan is.
02:15I now think that they're going to, but they have to.
02:17And the reason I say that is, Danny, a lot of the guys on the team have not had a
02:21real practice since the Dolphins were here on Wednesday last week.
02:24They will have gone a full calendar week between legitimate practice.
02:28And they will have a padded practice tomorrow, but I'm told they're not going to have pads on on Thursday.
02:32So there's one padded practice between a Friday preseason game that most guys don't play in and a Saturday preseason
02:38game that potentially a lot of guys don't play in.
02:42Without going full Herm Edwards from yesterday, football players play football.
02:46I'm now on team.
02:48They got to get some work in on Saturday in Detroit.
02:50It's not anymore like a they should probably play guys the way that they're doing their practice schedule tells me
02:57expect to see starters against the Lions.
02:59And if you don't, now I got some questions.
03:01So I understand the trend line.
03:03I'm even in favor of it, to be honest with you, about less preseason play.
03:08When I was a kid, it was, you know, the first game.
03:10I can't remember the exacts, but you'd get a quarter or, you know, the second game, you get a half.
03:15The third game, you get three quarters.
03:16Last game, you'd rest because there were four.
03:18And, you know, now we've kind of wisened up.
03:21The season's longer, 17 games, more wear and tear.
03:24There's Thursday night football where there wasn't in the 80s.
03:26I mean, there's push and pull.
03:27It used to be those guys had to get off-season jobs and were out of shape, and part of
03:30training camp going two a day was to work yourself back into shape.
03:34Times have changed.
03:34These guys show up usually in really, really good condition.
03:38So there's, you know, always kind of the health versus rust or health versus effectiveness thing that coaches have to
03:44weigh.
03:45And you think of some of the great conversations on hard knocks, even though, you know, it's kind of a
03:49punchline now.
03:49But Hugh Jackson's sitting in that chair for the Cleveland Browns, and everyone's, like, begging him, please, please, we've got
03:54to work hard.
03:54He's like, when you're sitting in this chair, it's just different.
03:56Now, whether you believe them or not and want to laugh at them or not, still, the point, I understand.
04:00There's a push and pull.
04:02But here's just how I am in general, in my life.
04:05If something disastrous happens based on pretty tangible courses of action that I took, and I have a way to
04:13do something different, if I get a chance to do that thing again, it's going to look different.
04:18It just is.
04:18I'm going to do it differently.
04:20That said, more simply, last year, they were complacent.
04:25They were relaxed.
04:27They didn't feel any urgency.
04:30And they just sort of cruised through the training camp, preseason, and the like.
04:34Some of it was bad luck.
04:35Some of the vets were banged up, et cetera, time of year, is what it is.
04:38But the other part, to me, was this feeling of, we've arrived.
04:42We're one of the elites now, and we've got to play the long game.
04:45We've got to be ready for January football, not September football.
04:47And they never got there, and they were awful.
04:49And they were bad from start to finish.
04:51The injuries happened, and it cascaded and got worse.
04:53I would have a raging fire behind me, a near panic every morning that I got up going, am I
05:01doing enough to prevent that?
05:02But the thing we just lived, this horrible season, where from Jump Street we were doomed, and I'd be doing
05:09it differently.
05:10Again, whether that means play a guy, two possessions, three possessions, whatever, you would not catch me after a preseason
05:15game.
05:16It's just that no one played, doing nothing.
05:17Saturday, Sunday, Monday, walkthrough Tuesday.
05:20You wouldn't.
05:21So, to be clear, it wasn't a walkthrough.
05:23It was a practice.
05:24I know.
05:24I'm seeing, you're right.
05:25It was a real practice in shells.
05:27Like, they were thumping.
05:28But it's just shells.
05:30It's closer to a walkthrough, I'd say, or probably closer to a jogthrough than a padded practice in some ways.
05:35They may push back on that.
05:37But we're having two conversations that are a little bit different, I'd say.
05:42You're looking at the grand scheme from coming in wondering how different will this camp be from last year,
05:47where the revisionist history and the hindsight having become wisdom was they didn't do enough to get ready for the
05:53season.
05:53Well, I was saying there at the time, where the second day of training camp, it was vet days off.
05:57That was the thing.
05:57And I went, oh my God, emergency.
05:59Right.
06:00But I'm saying, after the fact, a lot of people decided, like, that wasn't a good enough camp, they got
06:04to do it different next year.
06:05I'm not even using today as an indictment to have that conversation.
06:08That's not the discussion I'm trying to have.
06:11I'm always very careful, anyway, as a portly fellow who's out of shape,
06:14talking about the in-shape gentlemen running around and busting their butts every single day and how hard they're working.
06:19All I'm trying to do is have a conversation about Saturday night and the Detroit Lions,
06:22where I think there's an argument to be had when you have the joint practice, like you did against the
06:28Dolphins,
06:28that you don't need to play in the game that weekend.
06:31No problem.
06:32When you have a joint practice, assuming the Ravens don't bail on you again this year,
06:35and because they don't have to come to your place, you're going to their place,
06:38it's less likely that they are going to say, we're not going to practice against you.
06:42So you're probably going to get your joint work, very important work in, with Baltimore next week,
06:46and then you're not going to play in that preseason game.
06:48No problem.
06:50The only way that you can convince me this week, Danny,
06:53that you don't need to play in that preseason game against the Lions without a joint practice
06:57is if we found out they were having a team scrimmage.
07:00Remember last year's Burgundy versus Gold when they did that?
07:03Oh, they're very excited about that.
07:03When the Ravens bailed, or if you had back-to-back days of two-hour, 20-minute practices
07:08where you just got after it and it was the most physical, intense period of the entire training camp.
07:13Which, to me, is what it sounded like Dan Quinn was kind of setting up at press conferences.
07:16He talked about this being a really important block, he kept calling it.
07:20These two days, these 48 hours, this is one of our last big blocks.
07:24And it starts today with the team not in pads.
07:26Now, I'm guessing a bunch of guys are banged up coming out of the game.
07:29I know Adafi Owe today is an example, Caleb on chase on, not on the practice field.
07:34And you're going to have some bumps and some bruises after your first game.
07:38A lot of the guys, including the two I just named, didn't play in that game.
07:41But you're going to get guys banged up, no doubt about that.
07:45Fine. One padded practice tomorrow, great.
07:48Now, Saturday, I need you to play.
07:50So, all of this is to say, while today getting out there,
07:54expecting to have this huge padded practice that I didn't get to see that was a little frustrating,
07:58I actually think we're more likely now to see the starters and Jaden Daniels on Saturday night.
08:04If we don't, we can have a very different conversation on Monday about the preseason,
08:08about training camp, about the readiness.
08:10Are they going to be able to hit the ground sprinting against this tough schedule?
08:13I think everything's on the table after that.
08:15But for right now, I'm kind of waiting and seeing and assuming that this is all leading up to
08:19maybe they're planning out the week four, like starters for a quarter against the Lions.
08:24And then things make a little bit more sense.
08:27Fair.
08:27I'm still not done with my part, though, that I know you're trying to move on from.
08:32How could, even if you did what we're asking, or what I, I don't want to put words in your
08:37mouth,
08:37what I think you're asking for, multiple possessions, a quarter, a quarter and a half,
08:40whatever that boils down to, right?
08:41If you go three and out twice, you get six plays.
08:43That's probably not enough.
08:45Whatever the number is, 15 plays, 20 plays for starters, including Daniels and whoever else.
08:49How could you still be off on Monday of this past week where a bunch of the guys that we're
08:56talking about didn't play?
08:57You know what I mean?
08:58And then not ramp up.
08:59To me, it's the overall totality of it where they're going to pat themselves on the back because they did
09:05kind of a pro forma thing.
09:07What the minimum needed to get guys ready to play Saturday.
09:11But I don't know.
09:12I mean, to me, it's still the same.
09:14And I hate using this word because, as you said, I'm not an in-shape NFL football player, but I
09:19can observe.
09:19It's the same soft approach that led to disaster last year.
09:23And they don't seem to think that.
09:24Like, again, how could, in good conscience, I understand the day after a preseason game be off Saturday.
09:28By all means.
09:29Nothing Sunday.
09:30Nothing Monday.
09:31And lighter than we thought on Tuesday.
09:33And we're going to go, we're going to play 15 plays on Saturday, assuming they even do that.
09:37And we're supposed to go, yep, you guys are ready to rock and roll.
09:40Job well done.
09:41It just doesn't sit well with me.
09:43You know what I'm curious about?
09:44I'm going to look this up.
09:45What does the Dolphins practice schedule look like after that game on Friday?
09:49Was today their first practice since Friday, and were they not in pads?
09:53Because it would be interesting to see if this is more, like, if your anger should just be at the
09:59state of the league in 2026, I think that's possible.
10:02That this is a cultural NFL-wide thing, or if this is more of a Dan Quinn thing.
10:08Whereas Halfley was coaching at Boston College and also a defensive mind.
10:13You would think the defensive guys are sometimes the more hard-ass type coaches that want guys out there in
10:18pads more often, hitting and being physical.
10:21But I'm just looking at their camp schedule here.
10:24So this is just the public dates.
10:27But, I mean, today was their first public date since last Monday.
10:31So I guess I'll have to text the beat reporter to see what their actual...
10:34Remember, they were up here Wednesday.
10:35So, yeah.
10:36So they would have had open to public on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, because it was all up here.
10:39But they also could have been practicing yesterday or, you know, Sunday and not had it open.
10:43Yeah, Saturday you'd be forgiven for traveling back from the game or whatever.
10:46I don't know.
10:47And it's easy to say...
10:48What I don't like is, on multiple fronts, when it comes to the business side, they go,
10:52well, this is the league trend of not having open training camp dates.
10:56Yes, that is the league trend.
10:57But you lead the league in it.
10:59Like, the arrow's going in one direction, and you're at the front of that tip of that arrow
11:03with the least amount of open practices or among the least.
11:06Why do that?
11:07Why not be in the middle?
11:07Why not be towards the top in the other direction?
11:10If you're coming off a disastrous year, please treat it as a disaster, not some weird aberration.
11:16Please treat it like this...
11:19I guess the word I want is urgency, and I don't see it.
11:22I want the urgency.
11:23I want the urgency that so many fans like me have, where I'm going, if I sensed the desperation
11:28to never, ever, ever make any of us go through what we went through last year, I would feel
11:34a lot better.
11:34I'm not questioning the guys, you know, are they doing the lifts, are they doing the workouts?
11:38Of course, they're all working hard.
11:39I want to feel the urgency that I feel in my gut when I wake up in the morning every
11:44day
11:44to never have a year like last year again, and I don't get paid.
11:47Well, it's totally true that this week you haven't felt that.
11:50Yeah.
11:50And that's kind of my plan.
11:51Really, leading up to and since preseason game one.
11:53But they also, there's a timing element of this.
11:56I'm going to try to play devil's advocate here a little bit.
12:00The opener for the season is on Sunday the 11th, right?
12:07Let me think here.
12:09No.
12:11September 13th is the first game, right?
12:13I think that's right.
12:14That's Sunday afternoon.
12:16Double check, yeah.
12:16Which means you still have just under a month from now three plus weeks, you know, leading
12:23up to that.
12:24So you have to hit the ground sprinting.
12:26Like this week might not be the week to slam the gas pedal down if next week you're doing
12:30that with the Ravens.
12:31We'll see.
12:32I mean, I'm also willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and defer to them, but
12:36you got to come out and play well at the start of the year.
12:39If you look like crap against the Eagles after all of this, you probably did it wrong.
12:44If you play Philly and Dallas and Seattle and you're 0-3 and you've been handed your
12:50butt three times, I'm going to have some questions about the time you went a calendar week without
12:56having anyone in pads in the middle of August.
12:59Because if you're Stephon Diggs or Terry McLaurin or Frankie Louvoo or a really important player
13:04like Deron Payne or Javon Kinlaw, as of right now, you have not had a legitimate hitting
13:10practice since last Wednesday until tomorrow.
13:13You're going a full calendar week.
13:13You'll go a full week.
13:14This was Dan Quinn on the Junkies today out in Ashburn talking about the possibility of
13:19playing Jaden Daniels in the starters in preseason game two.
13:23We haven't got there yet.
13:24Like the next two days, we're still like back into our camp space to go.
13:27So I kind of look at the whole team.
13:29Pause real quick.
13:29That is a very rare space to go.
13:32Camp space to go.
13:33You don't normally, you get in that space and you get to go, but you almost never get
13:37in that space and to go.
13:39He's spaced in to go right there.
13:40That's worth it.
13:41That's bonus.
13:42That's like an IOU 250 foul right there.
13:44Everybody's bingo card just lit up.
13:46Anyway, but he listened to how much he talks about these two days and how important they
13:50are.
13:50And I reiterate again that they had originally said they'd be in pads today.
13:54Like this is not me just expecting and assuming they'd be in pads because they've been off
13:57for a few days.
13:58We had been told pads on Tuesday and Wednesday.
14:01Those are the padded days this week and now it looks like only Wednesday.
14:04But anyway, we got there yet.
14:06Like the next two days, we're still like back into our camp space to go.
14:09So I kind of look at the whole team, you know, once we get through like Thursday and then
14:12we can decide who we're going in.
14:14But with new systems today, tomorrow, man, like back to camp and going to dig in.
14:18So that's where we're at.
14:19What are the pros and cons of playing versus not playing?
14:23Obviously not playing the pro is they don't get hurt.
14:25Right.
14:25So that's that's the pro.
14:26The I mean, the con, excuse me, the pro is new systems, timing, you know, new looks.
14:32So when you had the joint, that helps when you have the joint practices to get some of
14:36those guys work in that space.
14:38But just having the time together in a game, it helps for sure.
14:41And then also like going through the entire routine of what it looks like to go play.
14:47Dan Quinn with the junkies earlier today.
14:49So we've talked since yesterday about whether or not we'll see the starters.
14:53I think based on the fact that they're only going to get the one padded practice in tomorrow
14:58and because they'll have gone a week between hitting, they really, really should be playing
15:02the starters.
15:03I'm also assuming they already know their plan and they're working back from that plan.
15:07Like he suggested we're going to get through Thursday.
15:09Then we'll make up our minds and see.
15:11I don't think that's how it works.
15:12I think that's what you say, because you don't want to admit whether it's
15:15to the junkies this morning on the fan or reporters at the podium, what you're doing.
15:19But I think this is all laid out.
15:21It's like Blake Butera's spring training binder that he shows us.
15:24He knows on March 1 what they're doing on March 24th on backfield number 4.
15:29And I think a lot of this is laid out and they know exactly how much guys are going to
15:32play on Saturday.
15:33And you work back from that.
15:35And that's why maybe you can be a little bit lighter today.
15:37Because you know you'll get work in tomorrow and that guys will get those game reps on Saturday.
15:41But I'm curious to see what people think about that.
15:45800-636-1067 is the number.
15:48A, do you think starters and Jaden Daniels play on Saturday in Detroit?
15:52B, do you think the way this week is going and the fact that they've gone a week between
15:56padded practices now, do you think that that is indicative of the fact that they should
16:00play in a game?
16:01Or do you think they're perfectly fine?
16:03The pace with which they're operating?
16:05The urgency to use Danny's word is okay.
16:07And even if guys don't play at all in the preseason with kind of how this camp is trended
16:11here, getting a little bit lighter and taking their foot off the gas pedal some with the
16:15physicality, you're okay with that.
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