00:00Excited now to be joined by the homie Ben Standing. I'm going to put him on Monumental. Check this out.
00:05Put him on.
00:05Solo shot.
00:06He's made for the camera.
00:08I was going to say, I'm about to clean up a little bit.
00:12Ben Standing, of course, Standing Room Only podcast and the Substack. What's up, Benny? How we doing?
00:17What's up, fellas?
00:18How's the Stack doing, man?
00:20Pause.
00:22Pretty good.
00:25Pause what? You say Substack, I say Stack.
00:27Yeah. You know, we'll be asking about no other damn Stack.
00:31Standing, we got to hear from Durante Jones, and on the radio, we're going to hear from David Blau in
00:37just a few minutes.
00:37But what have your takeaways been from Jones the human, Jones the coach, and Jones' new defensive scheme?
00:45I like the human a lot.
00:47Yeah, I mean, you know, it's been at arm's reach to some degree, arm length.
00:52You know, not exactly. I haven't had a beer with a man or things like that.
00:55But from what I can see, he seems like the type of guy the players would follow, and it's been
00:59talking to the players over the last month or so.
01:01It feels like that's the case, that they really are buying into what he's doing.
01:05And, you know, I'm sure there are some – we'll see how it works, the system.
01:11But in terms of playing it, it seems like it's got to be one of the more fun ones out
01:14there, especially for the front guys, right?
01:16I mean, you get attack, attack, attack, and that's, you know, what you want.
01:19So I get to buy in from that perspective too, and I think, you know, this is the thing with
01:24all the hysterics that have gone on here
01:26over the last few weeks in terms of there's the sky falling.
01:29The defense was looking really good until the injuries started to pile up.
01:33And then, you know, you get to like that Ravens during practice, there's no away, there's no chase on, there's
01:38no pain.
01:38And even though they're not showing a lot, it's, you know, camp and preseason, you can't read into that too
01:43much.
01:43You couldn't even like see the things that are going to happen at a base level.
01:48So I'm generally excited to see what they can do.
01:52Obviously, they'll even be better when Dorrance Armstrong is back in week two.
01:54And hopefully we'll see if Owe and Shaysan are playing and are at full strength.
01:58But I'm really intrigued by what that is because also like, you know, the turnover has been pretty mild the
02:03last couple years, to say the least.
02:05And this group looks like by the system alone should be much more opportunistic.
02:10And I think that is what it could be to make this kind of special.
02:13I think one of the questions in there was that Chase don't say he loves playing offense on defense.
02:17And I take that as most times defenses react to what the offense do.
02:22They make the offense react to what they do.
02:26So if you're showing a look and they know, just like the offense knows, based off of this defense, they're
02:33going to be doing certain things.
02:35Well, based off of this offense, if we come from here, we know they got to throw a jump off
02:40over here.
02:41I think that's what they mean by that because they're going to be trying to dictate to the offense instead
02:45of letting the offense dictate to them.
02:46And I think that's what the interesting thing about, you know, we need to come up with a better name
02:51than the Brian Flores look because it's now the Durante Jones look.
02:54But, yeah, I mean, that is the thing.
02:55It is about exactly that.
02:57It is.
02:58No, no, no.
02:58You can do whatever you want.
02:59We're going straight at you.
03:00So we're bringing guys from different angles.
03:02I mean, you know, as he said from the beginning, it's not where you line up, it's where you wind
03:06up.
03:06And hokey is that.
03:07I love that line.
03:08Yeah.
03:09I mean, it is.
03:09It does make a lot of sense.
03:10It's an easy way to explain what this looks like.
03:13Also, I mean, again, as we know, this group got younger, faster on both sides of the ball, but particularly
03:18on the defense.
03:19You know, for all the issues last year from injuries and otherwise in depth, it's just an older, more plotting
03:24group.
03:24It's just the reality.
03:25And now you have, you know, linebacker alone, the guy who was the freakiest of the freaks at the combine,
03:31Leo Chennault, also, when he came out, was that kind of a guy, plus O.A. and Chason, Joshua Josephs
03:36now.
03:37So they have more depth and just more bodies, active bodies to go get after it.
03:41I think that's going to be, you know, at the end of the day, sometimes it's not like, obviously, you
03:45want to have perfect technique and read the right plays.
03:47But when something goes wrong, can you just go get the guy?
03:50And now they have players that can do a better job with that.
03:52So, on the offensive side of the ball, what is your concern level?
03:56Everybody freaked out for a month about the center position, then Alec Reddy's back, and I think people are done
04:01mostly freaking out.
04:03What is your concern level about the offensive line as a group?
04:07So, obviously, the starting group, you know, you lose tonsil.
04:10There's no playing that off.
04:12It's not a big deal.
04:13This is essentially the same group that started week 18, except you had Wiley at right guard instead of Cosme.
04:19So, these guys can all play to varying degrees, right?
04:22I think, to me, the issue is they are one injury away from a real problem.
04:26Yeah.
04:27Because other than Andrew Wiley, I just don't know that they have anybody right now on the bench that you'd
04:31be like, oh, sure.
04:32I mean, DJ Humphries got here 10 seconds ago, and he hasn't played a lot the last couple years.
04:36And then you have two rookies who we'll see.
04:38That, to me, is the bigger concern because it's a group that, you know, unless there's injury, you don't swap
04:43these guys out.
04:44Yeah, yeah.
04:44So, they'll be out there.
04:46And, look, I think the real – there is also at least some potential because Coleman and Connerly have that
04:52athletic upside.
04:54But consistency would also be pretty big right now, and that's been the issue.
04:58Connerly was a bit up and down in camp.
05:00Coleman obviously got thrown into the deep end when tonsil got hurt, has looked good at times,
05:05didn't look as good against Trey Hendrickson in the joint practice.
05:07So, how those two go.
05:09And, obviously, week one to go up against the Eagles and especially those two tackles, I mean, that's going to
05:15be quite the test for Chris Paul and Nick Allegretti at least.
05:18Yes.
05:18Cosme, too.
05:19But – so, I think the line is okay.
05:23I think the hysteria is a bit much, but the depth is, I think, concerned.
05:28How much – like, you know, the offensive line, I understand that, but having a Steph Diggs down, a guy
05:35who knows how to get open,
05:37Chig, a guy who also can get yours after the catch, having those people affect defenses to where maybe, just
05:43maybe,
05:44they're not going to say let's go all out because if one miss and then you got problems.
05:49Well, that's the thing, right?
05:50I mean, you know, this is maybe because I grew up in the era of the Hogs, but a good
05:55offensive line makes everything else better more than the other way around.
05:59So, if the offensive line can be solid, they have more weapons now than they've had, at least in the
06:05Jane Daniels era.
06:07Easy that Stephon Diggs is by far the best other receiver to go with Terry McLaurin since McLaurin entered the
06:12league.
06:12I don't even think it's even close.
06:13Not close.
06:14Yeah.
06:14And, you know, look, obviously Bill showed a lot of promise last year with his ability.
06:18Chig is a different type of tight end than Ertz, but he's going to give you that yak yardage, you
06:23know, between the 20s.
06:24We'll see how it goes in the red zone.
06:25So, the weaponry around Jaden is a lot better.
06:28And that's not even factoring in.
06:30I think the receiver depth is just generally better.
06:33You know, I think Ben Sinnott's got a chance to make a little bit more noise this year with Rashad
06:37White.
06:37So, I think the pieces, the skill positions are better.
06:43It's just a matter of can the offensive line hold up.
06:45And if they can, then I think this offense is a shot to be pretty specific.
06:48But, like what I'm saying, like those guys, Terry, I know Diggs for sure.
06:54And I have a lot of confidence in Williams.
06:58If they can win early, you don't have to sit back there all day.
07:02Remember last year, nobody can get space.
07:04None of those receivers were able to get space, especially when Terry got hurt.
07:07You know, those guys couldn't get separation.
07:08Now you got guys to get separation.
07:11That offense being sped up may not call for them to block for five seconds.
07:14Right.
07:15No, I mean, that's going to be interesting to see, right, how quickly is the ball getting out of there.
07:19I mean, that's the thing.
07:20Like people, you know, obviously they're asking me, they're asking you guys, what do you think is going to happen?
07:23I'm like, it's not just that there's new coordinators.
07:26It's completely different systems.
07:28Until we see it, I can't completely tell you what it's going to look like.
07:33But, yes, if they can get the ball out quicker, Jaden, I think, is going to be fine making the
07:36decisions, that could be a big deal.
07:38But I think also at the same point, do the Eagles this week, can they get to the quarterback rushing
07:43only four?
07:44If they can, then that's going to make life more complicated in the back end.
07:48And I'm worried that maybe they can, right, because they have really good players and we don't know exactly how
07:53this line is going to go.
07:54Talking with our friend Ben Standing here at the BigBear.ai Performance Center.
07:58You can give Ben a follow at Ben Standing.
08:00I've got to get a makeover before I come back.
08:02This is terrible.
08:03I keep looking at myself in the camera.
08:05This is awful.
08:06Just look at Ryan.
08:07You'll look better.
08:08Do you want me to move it off you?
08:10It's too late.
08:11It's already out there.
08:11I was trying to promo your stuff and you interrupted me to tell me how bad you looked.
08:15My bad.
08:16You don't have to look at Ben, but you can read his work on Substack at lastmanstanding.substack.com.
08:23Ben, you're not a supermodel.
08:24You're just bringing the news, man.
08:26I would have.
08:27You know, the hat's on crooked.
08:29It's just the whole problem going on here.
08:31I'm wearing a damn desert.
08:32No, no, no.
08:33You're fine.
08:33Look, I'm wearing a desert.
08:35What you care?
08:36We don't worry about it.
08:36You're good.
08:37You're good.
08:37People are scared of you.
08:38They're just like, come and mean.
08:39What are you doing?
08:40Don't worry about them, man.
08:42Listen, do what I do.
08:43Don't pay attention to what people say.
08:45Yeah, yeah.
08:45To that point, you said something interesting.
08:48It's two new systems, a lot of new players, a lot of overall out here, right?
08:52Adam Peters, I think last week after roster cuts, comes out and says, listen, I love the
08:58fans.
08:58If they're concerned, they don't know what we got.
09:01We know what we got.
09:03Do you think he's right?
09:07To a degree, I think that the fans' apprehension is reasonable because from what we, they can
09:15see, there are questions about the line.
09:17Now, I don't think it's as bad as what was discussed after the Ravens' whole week and
09:21that was a bad, but yeah, there are questions.
09:23I think they also didn't do the best of jobs explaining why they moved on from Vyadish to
09:28Alec Reddy.
09:28It's a completely reasonable decision that they made, and I don't think it's as big of a deal,
09:32but because it was like kind of vague, it was like, well, wait, now you had this guy
09:38who has been a solid starter who immediately got signed by another team to decent money.
09:42Unfortunately, of course, he got hurt with the Chargers, and you're going with a guy
09:46in Alec Reddy who has not been a starter at that position, and you tried to make a play
09:51to get the number one center in the league, or at least the highest paid guy, so it feels
09:54like a bit of a disconnect.
09:55You're either going to go all in on this guy, or you're kind of going with a player who wasn't
09:59even starting at the position really in this league, so I think that part is weird, but
10:05the other end, we have not seen the full version of the offense or the defense, and
10:09I think, look, as I sit here now, I'm fascinated to see how it all works.
10:14How does David Blau scheme these guys open?
10:16How does Stephon Diggs and McLaurin work together?
10:18Two guys who are extremely polished at route running.
10:22How are they going to work off each other combined with some of the other pieces?
10:26The defense, again, last year, Doran Thomas got hurt in week seven.
10:30The pass rush disappeared with them.
10:31Now, even without Doran Thomas throwing this week, they have guys, so I think Adam Peters
10:37is right, but I wish he had maybe acknowledged the apprehension a little bit more than he did,
10:44because you're right.
10:44We don't see it, but that's up to you then to explain to us maybe a little bit better
10:48than they did what's going on.
10:49Like, I've been telling people, I've been talking about, everyone says Jaden, and I
10:55believe, listen, I know Jaden is an outstanding player, but I believe quarterbacks depend on
10:59offensive line receivers, running backs, defense to give them the ball back.
11:03I've still been saying, I believe if these guys are healthy on defense, this team is going
11:07to be special.
11:09Do you agree, in a sense?
11:11Well, look, I mean, if the defense is just average, that's a big step up from a year ago.
