BMitch and Finlay welcome former Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski onto the show to discuss the Commanders 36-33 upset over the Eagles on Sunday.
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00:00And we are very excited to get to the phone lines and welcome in Ron Jaworski member
00:06for Monday night football Eagles quarterback for many, many years, quarterback expert jaws.
00:11What up? And a number one, dude,
00:13Speaker 3 Mitch Finley. Great to be with you guys. What a performance yesterday. What a
00:17great football game. I'm sure everyone is very, very happy in the nation's Capitol.
00:20Yes, sir. Have you ever seen a game where a team has five turnovers and still win the
00:24game? It's funny. I do the postgame show for here in Philadelphia after the game, the first
00:29thing I'm looking at to peruse the stats real quick, Eagle score 33 points, took the
00:34ball away five times, controlled the ball for 36 minutes and 18 seconds. You got to
00:39say, well, they won by 21. They lost the football game. That shows a great resilience at the
00:44Washington commanders have right now. I mean, you couldn't have said a better word than
00:49resilience and I want to get to his overall performance, but what about a young quarterback,
00:55a rookie quarterback, and he throws a pick with less than three minutes to play in a
01:00game where his team's had this crazy comeback and then they get the ball again.
01:05He gets another shot at it and goes down for the game winning touchdown. What can you say
01:10about Jaden Daniels? Well, you guys may recollect what I said about him in the first meeting
01:14between the Eagles and the commanders earlier this season. I thought he was the best young
01:18quarterback I had ever seen. And I know that's a bold statement. I know maybe some people
01:23may say outlandish, but, you know, I've studied him coming out of college. I studied the first
01:27few games of the commanders and I saw something very special in this young man. I said he
01:31had a great, great beginning of his career now against the Eagles that first game of
01:35the season, he didn't play well because he was injured. He had the rib problem and it
01:38was obvious when I looked at the tape after that game, there are throws I know he could
01:41make. I've seen him make and just didn't have a zip in a ball because of the injury. So
01:45I, you know, I knew it wasn't the kind of performance you'd expect to see out of Jaden,
01:49but he come back this week and he made plays that are just, you know, he made mistakes
01:54in the game.
01:55And the thing is, you know, he has one of the great attributes that all quarterbacks
01:57must have. And that is amnesia. You have to be able to forget when things aren't going
02:02well, you got to forget about it. You can't linger. You can't let them bother you. And
02:05he has that great quality amnesia, forgets the bad plays, moves on to the next play and
02:09makes great plays.
02:11He was simply amazing yesterday, Josh, not to zero in on one play, because there are
02:15a number of good ones, but the throw from Jaden to Terry McLaurin for Washington's first
02:20touchdown, when Terry kind of sealed it, he was going to make it like he kind of sold
02:25it. It was going to be a quick out. And then he kept that route going into the end zone.
02:29I mean, I'm sure you've watched it and dissected it by now. What did you make of that specific
02:34play?
02:35Well, again, that's just being an athlete. Sometimes you had limits, not perfectly designed,
02:40designed well, but not perfectly designed. And you just make a play. I thought the touchdown
02:43pass to Crowder was really the great throw of the game, because if you look at that,
02:48when he threw the football, and by the way, great design by Cliff Kingsbury. He had a
02:52little switch release, which threw the Eagles defense off and created a little separation
02:57in the back of the end zone. So Kingsbury did a great job of design, but the anticipation
03:01was just phenomenal.
03:03And Vaughn probably didn't get the depth he needed to get to stop that ball being thrown,
03:06but I'm not sure even if he took a perfect drop, he could have stopped that completion
03:10from happening. It was a great anticipation throw, a terrific route by Crowder, and they
03:15win the ball game. There are a number of plays throughout the game, the fourth down play
03:19where he runs for the first down. My God, this is the best defense in the NFL. He was
03:24doing these things. It wasn't some sloppy defensive team. The Eagles have arguably the
03:30best defense in the NFL on a 10-game winning streak, and they couldn't shut him down with
03:34the game on the line. So that's a special quality that Jaden has.
03:38I've looked at him, Dawson. I watch a lot of young quarterbacks when they come in the
03:42league, and they don't throw to a spot. They throw to a person. That dude seems to throw
03:47to a spot, so that's also he has a step ahead of a lot of young guys where they don't seem
03:51to have that in their repertoire.
03:54I totally agree with you. The one thing the anticipation throws are there with Jaden.
03:59A lot of guys, when guys are open, it's the NFL. They hit them. You watch college games,
04:03when guys are open, they hit them. You have to throw the football before receivers are
04:08open. I had a simple rule. One of my great coaches, Hall of Famer Sid Gilliam, I had
04:13for a number of years, he would always say, if the receiver sees the ball in your hand,
04:17you're late. If the receiver sees the ball in your hand, it's too late. You must anticipate
04:22the throw, get the ball out of your hand, so when that receiver turns, the ball is already
04:26in the air.
04:27That means you have precise timing and rhythm in the passing game. We've seen that from
04:30Jaden really ad nauseum so far this season.
04:34He's been so impressive. Talking with our friend, Ron Jaworski, you can follow him at
04:38JawsCEOQB. Jaws knows the quarterback position at a really high level. Jaws, when you watch
04:47Jaden week after week after week, you can also tell, I think, that he had that little
04:52patch where he clearly wasn't healthy. He seems all the way healthy, but unfortunately
04:57for Washington, and certainly Philly's defense is a part of this, but Washington now has
05:03really been unable to run the ball in three of their last four games. Was there something
05:09you saw yesterday that made them ineffective? Was it just the Eagles' defense? How can commanders
05:15get the run game going again, especially going into what looks like it's going to be a playoff
05:19season?
05:20I think they're going to need to get that running game going. You can't rely on your
05:24quarterback just making plays with his arm. I'll look at it this way. Look at the Eagles
05:29team. When Jalen Hurts went out of that game, it wasn't the same football team because you
05:34took away the bootlegs. You took away the quarterback draws. You took away the RPS.
05:38You took away half the Eagles' offense when Jalen Hurts goes out of the game because that's
05:41how they designed their offense. I'll switch that to the commanders. I think they should
05:45do more runs with Jaden Daniels involved in the running game because you've got to stretch
05:51the field not only vertically from end zone to end zone, but sideline to sideline in the
05:54running game. You've got to stop the pursuit backside. That's what has helped Saquon Park
05:59have all these yards. The fact that Jalen Hurts has the ability to keep the football
06:03in run with the RPOs, with the bootlegs, with the waggles, so the defense must defend the
06:07entire field.
06:08I think the next step would be to get Jaden involved more with the running game. He's
06:15had over 600 yards. It sounds like he's not involved in the running game, but more those
06:18designed runs where you keep the defense balanced. I would think that's the next step
06:23in his evolution.
06:24See, I kind of feel like the fact that he's involved is going to eventually open it up
06:28for more of the running. I look at the game yesterday. Saquon first half had 109 yards.
06:33First quarter had like four minutes left over. Then the rest of the way at 41, you're right.
06:39When you don't have that quarterback that can put pressure on the edges, you can play
06:43that run game a lot better. With Jaden, he can help the run game a little bit more, but
06:49I think it was too much concern here about, oh, he might get hurt. He's been protecting
06:53himself lately.
06:54Oh, I agree. That's always the number one thing. You don't want to put your quarterbacks
06:59in harm's way. Look what happened with Jalen Hurts. The league is, and I say in a very
07:06positive way, is protecting the quarterback from concussions and all players from concussions.
07:11They're very serious. I've had them. Mitch, you've probably had them yourself, and we
07:14know how serious they can be and where you are for a while after a concussion. I think
07:18the league has done the right thing, but the quarterbacks must learn to protect themselves.
07:22Jalen got hurt. He should have slid. It looked like as he was running, I looked at the plate
07:25probably 30 times already. He was starting to slide and stayed up to get a couple extra
07:29yards. That's stupid. Jalen's not. He's a smart player, but that was stupid trying to
07:34get a couple extra yards. You must protect yourself. The league is trying to protect
07:37the quarterbacks and players from head injuries and concussions.
07:41You don't want to put your quarterback in harm's way, but sometimes in the outcome of
07:46the game, you have to do that with your quarterback. You're going to have to take some risk, but
07:49he's also got to be well aware to protect himself when the hit is coming and getting
07:53down.
07:54And I think also, like they had a call yesterday, they picked the flag up where Pickett waited
07:58super late to slide. I think the quarterbacks have to understand, if you're going to slide,
08:03slide. Don't wait until that guy starts touching you to slide, because that's where you put
08:06everybody in harm's way then.
08:09Yeah, I agree, and there probably would have been the penalty call. It was called. It was
08:13picked up because he did not hit Pickett in the head, so that was a good call by New
08:17York. The referees got together and decided. I didn't see exactly how it happened, but
08:21he did not get hit in the head, so it was absolutely the right call to pick up.
08:24It looked like it was coming in for a hard hit, which is football. You look and hit people
08:27hard, and you'll make that thunderous hit, but hey, it didn't hit the helmet, so the
08:32referees, I think, did the right thing and had to pick the flag up.
08:34Talking with Ron Jaworski here. You can give him a follow at JawsCEOQB on X, and of course,
08:42Jaws, a pro bowler during his playing days, most of them in Philly. Jaws, for Washington
08:48to get that win, it's funny how Brian and I were talking about this. The conversation
08:54around the commanders seems like one of these where the goalposts keep moving, where they're
08:58pretty good, they can't beat any good teams.
09:01Now they beat Philly, but Hertz was out, and you get Pickett in that game. I think the
09:06offensive performance to put up 36 and to come back at the end like that outpaces the
09:12fact that Hertz wasn't there to do it against a really good Eagles defense. What do you
09:17make of the progression over the course of now 16 weeks and what Washington has built?
09:24Statistics bear it out. Scoring 22 points in the fourth quarter yesterday to win that
09:32football game. The Eagles in their previous 10 games haven't given up 20 points in an
09:35entire game. They didn't give up 20 points in an entire game the last 10. So to put 22
09:41with the game on the line to win the game against statistically the best defense in
09:47the NFL, and I would say probably from an overall talent, best defense in the NFL, they've
09:52had guys, defensive lines have been awesome. Linebackers have been surprisingly great.
09:58Rookies in the secondary playing phenomenal football. It's a young defense that's coordinated
10:02by Vic Fangio doing a great job. It's a week-to-week game. You've got to show up every
10:08single week. I thought Cliff Kingsbury did a great job. The one thing that I can see,
10:12maybe I'll put my fan hat on, not an analyst hat, but energy. There seems to be a renewed
10:19energy that Dan Quinn has brought to the organization. Cliff Kingsbury, Dan Quinn,
10:23these are outstanding coaches. I'm not directing any animosity with Ron Rivera, who I thought
10:28did a good job. There's some good people in the organization prior, but there seems to
10:31be a rejuvenated sense of the fans are excited. Yeah, winning certainly does help. You've
10:36got a good young quarterback, so you know you've got the future bright for a decade
10:40with Jayden Daniels. But I think as an overall, you see the energy, despite things going south,
10:46turning the ball over, making mistakes, there wasn't like, oh, woe is us. It's not the
10:51old commanders throwing in the towel. It's like, hey, we're going to battle, we're going
10:54to fight. I think a lot of that is Dan Quinn, and there's still a great feeling amongst
10:58that team in the locker room. You've said Cliff Kingsbury's name a few times here,
11:04and a lot of people give Cliff a lot of hell. They don't believe in a lot of things. You
11:08talked about his design early. What you've seen from him so far, what would you grade it?
11:14Well, I think you said it best, design and understanding, and a little nuance,
11:19the touchdown pass to Crowder, switch release, which confused the defense once the ball stepped,
11:23little things like that that if you look at, he's been very good at. He didn't have success
11:27as a head coach in the NFL, but he's always been an excellent designer of X's and O's,
11:32going back to his playing college days, how he executed coaching in college, how he did
11:36a great job of designing, and what he's now done in the NFL by designing and getting the
11:40players to execute. I don't know their playbook, but when I watched him play, it seems to be
11:46a simple offense with nuances that always cause some confusion for the defense. So,
11:51I think the future looks very bright offensively for the commanders.
11:55Well, Jaws, you know what I find interesting, specific to Cliff, and I think they did this
11:59defensively too. I mean, Saquon was killing them, and then they're able to make an adjustment,
12:04right? Like in this, in the, really the second quarter on, but certainly the second half,
12:07they slowed Saquon way down.
12:09What is the kryptonite of the running game? Penetration.
12:12There you go.
12:14And I think I was watching ESPN this morning, they were showing a stat,
12:18five times Saquon was tackled for losses. Five times. I don't know if they've had five times
12:23all year tackled for losses. The defensive line was getting penetration. Now again,
12:28a lot of those are when Hertz went out, so it was almost just pedal to the metal from the
12:32defensive line and linebackers. They were just going to attack because, you know, you didn't
12:35have a running quarterback or mobile quarterback in there made a difference when, you know,
12:39when Pickett was in the game. So that made a difference, but I think the key to it was
12:43penetration. They were defeating the Eagles offensive line, which I think many would argue
12:47is the best in the NFL, but the commander's defense line really showed up yesterday.
12:51For sure. And then in the second half, I noticed Washington was ineffective running the football
12:57and their backs put a couple of balls on the ground. They almost went full air raid in the
13:01second half. It was four wide outs or wasn't a lot of run. What did you think of that decision
13:06from Kingsbury?
13:07Well, what's the definition of insanity? You do the same thing over and over again.
13:12They didn't result. They couldn't run the football, you know, and Brian Robinson was
13:16having a tough time holding on to football. Maybe, maybe next week, next time they play,
13:20if they do, it'll be a playoff game. He shouldn't talk about, you know, the Eagles aren't as good
13:24as the, as the commanders are. So sometimes you can't overload your, your butt with your mouth.
13:28So that does happen occasionally this game, as we know, but, but clearly I think they changed
13:33the game plan and they executed the game plan a lot better. You know, once you realize they
13:37couldn't run the football.
13:38Have you ever noticed that? Like, sometimes, you know, the team does, they run the ball,
13:42they do different things. Then they completely change their game plan, like in the middle of
13:45a game and it throws the defense off.
13:48Oh, I think that that's what good coaching is, you know, because when you put a game plan
13:52together, Brian, you play with a lot of different coaches. Everyone's got different ways of doing
13:56it. You put a game plan together, you spend all this time putting a game plan together.
14:00And also you play a quarter of the game ago. This isn't exactly what we expect.
14:04Yeah, exactly what we practice. So the good coaches, the coaches that can
14:09deviate from their original game plan and scout and do the self-scouting during the game,
14:13have people up in the press box that are really good at seeing and analyzing what the defense
14:17or the offense is doing that you're playing against. When you have coaching staff that
14:20communicate that and you adapt during the game, that to me, that shows the teams that
14:25have not only the adaptability to win, you know, with the game plan originally designed,
14:29but the change during the game.
14:30And that's what the good teams do.
14:32Yeah. I mean, you saw it yesterday for, for sure.
14:36Um, jaws kind of going forward here, predicting this thing out. Obviously Washington's got to
14:42the best way for them to get in is just to win next week against Atlanta, right?
14:46There's other ramifications and stuff. How do you see the top of the NFC shaken out?
14:51Billy now falls a game behind Detroit and Minnesota, but those two teams are going to
14:56play each other. Who do you think gets the one seed? And who do you think is the best team in
15:01the NFC? Yeah, I actually thought, you know, going into yesterday's game, the Eagles were
15:05clearly the best team in the NFC. They played the best. They're, they're, they're the young
15:08team. They're a young team that was getting better every single week. You know, uh, I think
15:13kind of there was, there was good. There's a little, the groundswell, the Eagles was a team
15:16to beat. Um, I still think they are. Uh, but the one thing you do not know about is Detroit's
15:21health. Um, if you'd asked you this a month ago, I'd have clearly said Detroit, but they
15:25lost so many players on defense. Um, then I thought, wow, they're just gonna have a hard
15:29time stopping anybody, but they've kind of weathered the storm. They've solidified things.
15:33They're getting some players back. So, you know, right now I'd probably give a slight edge to
15:38Detroit lions, the best team in the NFC. Hey, am I crazy? I think Minnesota ends up getting this
15:44one seat. I just think the Vikings having that heads up game against Detroit at the end of the
15:49year, maybe I'm nuts. I don't know, but no one knows right now. That's a beautiful, why we're
15:54doing these shows. The only thing that bothers me about Minnesota and, and, and I know he's
15:59he's having a great year, but your quarterback has got to play well in big games and Sam Donald
16:04to me, I just don't trust him. He hasn't been enough big games. You know, if you,
16:08if you look at his history, he hasn't performed in, in games in the regular season when they've
16:12been important or significant game. So I, you know, I know it's a different story.
16:16He's got a really, you know, he's a great job with that, with that team. He's, he's got his
16:21hand in the offense. They got great wide receivers. They can run the football a lot
16:25better right now. I know their offensive line is, is, is a lot better, but I just don't trust
16:30Sam Donald. A lot of people don't, it's hard to, we have the foundation to say, yeah, this guy's
16:37going to get it done. I haven't seen it and maybe, maybe it'll come to fruition, but I just haven't
16:41seen enough to say he's the guy we have years and years of visual evidence of him. I think it's
16:49important to point out. I don't think the Eagles are out of this run for the one seed either,
16:54even with that third loss now, because Detroit has at San Fran and then they've closed with
17:01the Vikings and the Vikings have the Packers. And then the lions, I, I think it's very possible
17:07at least one of these teams is getting a third loss. Cause they play.
17:10Speaker 3 I mean, there's a chance, but I think it is, I saw the analytics, which were all
17:14also ingrained in the Eagles chance of getting, you know, the bi-week and the number one seed
17:17are about 5%. So I still think it, I'd like to say, oh yeah, we got a good shot, but that that's
17:24a long shot at 5%. I think there's a pretty good chance. Washington's coming up to Philly
17:29in mid January for this wildcard game. That'd be a pretty, uh, pretty rapid juicy game.
17:40I get it. I get it. Hey, jaws. Thank you for making time for us, man. Have a great holiday.