Before Kevin Sheehan and Ben Standig got into the game and what happened in the Washington Commanders' 20-16 win over the Arizona Cardinals, the two got into conversations about the atmosphere at FedEx Field, the return of numerous alumni like John Riggins, Sonny Jurgenson, Robert Griffin III, Champ Baliey.
But then it was time to get into the big takeaways from the game: "A wins a win. Week 1 is weird across the league. Survive and advance kinda deal," Standig said, before adding, "On the other hand, it just sort of felt like all the things that we've talked about for months about being the concerns, are still the concerns.
"Whether all those sacks were on Sam Howell holding on the ball too much – which was a concern – or the offensive line – which was a concern. He got hit a bunch. I would say it was alarming but we already anticipated this being an issue."
Of course, "the defense played great, for the most part, particularly the front line," Standig added.
Other concerns heading into the game that popped up during the game were the defense's failure to hang onto interceptions, limited production from the tight ends, the play of linebacker Jamin Davis in coverage and in run defense and then "unfortunately the Antonio Gibson fumble, I thought we were passed that," he told Sheehan.
Overall, Standig said, "the things that we all worried about seemed to still be there and I think that's gotta be a little concerning as they move forward to face some teams that are not projected to be the worst team in the league."
Listen to the full in-depth conversation on the Commanders win including the play calling, Ron Rivera's comments, the protection issues and much more on the audio player above.