Austin Ekeler reflects on a short week, a long weekend, and two straight losses with G&D

It’s Dallas week, and by the time Austin Ekeler made his weekly appearance with Grant & Danny on Tuesday, he had long put the TNF loss to the Eagles in the rear view and was looking ahead to a game that has Washington now installed as double-digit favorites.

“Thursday night games obviously lead to a longer weekend, so I've been enjoying getting myself mentally prepared to go back to the facility,” Ekeler told the guys. “It’s a little weird because we get a routine that we've been doing for so long, and then you kind of break it up and we're watching football on Sunday, and it just kind of feels off a little bit. So, I'm glad to be back in the building here soon.”

So how is Ekeler feeling after a long weekend, and how was he feeling Thursday after a short week?

“It’s definitely something you wouldn't want to do too often, just how grueling the game is,” Ekeler said. “I was definitely still sore, like my neck was still sore and my legs were still sore going into Thursday. So it's one of those things that we luckily only have to go through once a year, but feeling good now is the best part. Getting a couple of days after definitely lets you recover from playing two games in the five-day stretch.”

Ekeler had perhaps the best individual performance on the Commanders offense on Thursday, catching eight of nine targets for 89 yards and adding seven on the ground on a pair of rushes…but it came in a loss, so in the end, it doesn’t mean much.

“That’s the game of football, a lot of individuals that are doing individual efforts, have their individual job, and we need to all come together and hopefully do our job better than our opponent can,” Ekeler said. “Some days, you're gonna have good days, but that doesn't always mean it's gonna be a win. This is a team game, so you need people around you as well to pull up their end of the bargain, just like they're relying on you to do that for yourself and your job. We weren't able to make enough plays offensively to get that job done Thursday night, unfortunately; we felt we left some stuff on the table, but I think we realize our potential and we see the potential that we have and we've seen success from that potential, so I think coming back into the building after this long weekend, letting everyone kind of relax a little bit, get your mind off of football, and now get ready for these next two games before the bye week, is really gonna be a good opportunity for us to really lock in and really make sure that we're really focusing on the small details that show up in the game that make the biggest difference.”

One good thing about the stretch: back-to-back games against really good defenses, which allowed the Commanders to really test their mettle as they head down the stretch.

“I definitely think there's the ebbs and flows, ups and downs you go through; a couple games of good stretches, a few games where maybe it’s not your best ball, but it’s something you have to fix quick in the NFL,” Ekeler said. “You have to be on most of the year, because you can’t go through too big of a lull. Back-to-back losses put pressure on us as competitors, like, we know we're better than this, but you only have so many games to go out there and prove that. So we gotta make sure we’re on our details, because we know what’s at hand here; you don’t wanna let moments like this slip, but we’ve got six games left, and we’re gonna take it one at a time and still continue to try to put ourselves in a position to have a chance to get in the playoffs.”

Take a listen to Ekeler’s entire visit, as he also discusses the grind of a season and hurt vs. banged-up vs. injured, answers some listener questions, and more!