Grant and Danny discuss why the Commanders might be just fine without Marshon Lattimore matching up with this Steelers offense.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00In that game, Washington will not have Marshawn Lattimore.
00:02They acquired him at the trade deadline on Tuesday.
00:06There was hope that despite having a hamstring injury that kept him out of
00:09last week's game for the Saints, he was gonna magically heal,
00:12leaving the bad team that he was at odds with,
00:14coming to the good team that he's happy to be on.
00:17But the hamstring's actually legitimately not quite right,
00:19sparking it seems like.
00:20He did not practice again today, and so he will be out.
00:23My logic on that is, if they lose to the Steelers,
00:28it will not be because they got eaten up by wide receivers.
00:32This is not a game to me that will hinge on corner play on the outside necessarily.
00:37Marshawn Lattimore will help, and in any game, you're better off having better
00:41players, but I look at the Steelers passing game, and even when it's good,
00:47it's kind of George Pickens and not a lot else, right?
00:51Pickens is the type of guy that Benjamin St.
00:53Joost is a more favorable matchup for, and he'll beat St.
00:57Joost some.
00:57He's a good player.
00:58He was, high draft pick has become a really nice weapon for them.
01:03I don't like St. Joost against A.
01:04Flowers.
01:05I don't like St.
01:06Joost against the twitchy guy with the wiggle who's shifty and diminutive.
01:11But when he goes up against another big fella that's long,
01:14he can get his hands on like Pickens.
01:15I think that's a much better matchup.
01:17So I'm okay with him against Pickens this week,
01:21taking your chances with like Calvin Austin, who is that smaller guy who maybe
01:24chews them up here or there as a number two against San Rostil and Ibn Agni.
01:30When I really need Lattimore is that Eagles game when you're dealing with
01:34A.J. Brown and Devante Smith, a wide receiver game, a game where
01:39the personnel becomes a lot more problematic for
01:42what this defense is built to do right now.
01:43No, I will say passing totals have not been huge and
01:47receiving totals obviously follow that for Pittsburgh.
01:51Because the first six games,
01:52it was more the Justin Fields run and gun type show, right?
01:55Where he's running around, they're making plays and
01:58the occasional bomb here and there.
01:59But for the most part, business has picked up the last couple of weeks.
02:02Russell Wilson throwing for over 270 yards per game.
02:05And I think some of the stats are gonna follow along with that,
02:07the longer he ends up being a quarterback for this passing game.
02:11So I'm a little more worried about it than you are.
02:12Cuz I think Pickens has some of that,
02:14obviously not quite the same caliber player.
02:16I'm not putting him in this class.
02:17But he's got some of that DeAndre Hopkins game where he's not as fast as you'd
02:21think, not as explosive, not like a big bulking Hulk like a Mike Williams or
02:25somebody.
02:25But he's someone that runs great routes, is very crisp, has good footwork,
02:29toe taps on the sideline, I feel like he's dangerous.
02:31And you mentioned Austin kind of running and
02:33being a predator underneath, kind of keeping them off balance.
02:36So to me, this is a Pittsburgh offense that we're thinking about them
02:40through a lens of 75% of their season.
02:42I think we need to look at them more what they've been the last couple of weeks,
02:45where they've been a bit more prolific throwing the football.
02:47So I'm a bit more nervous about that part, I think, than you are.