Austin Ekeler Ruled Out Week 4 vs Cardinals

Grant and Danny react to the news that Commanders RB Austin Ekeler has been ruled out for Week 4's matchup with the Cardinals.

Transcript

00:00Danny, the breaking news. Dan Quinn telling reporters just minutes ago, Austin Echler has

00:05already been ruled out, will not play in Arizona. That obviously means he's likely not going to make

00:11the trip to Arizona as well. Kuhn Farrell already ruled out, interestingly enough, so that injury

00:16he suffered last week, more serious than just a day-to-day situation. But more importantly,

00:21maybe the star early on of this offense for the Commanders through three games,

00:26Austin Echler ruled out, will not play on Sunday. He will be on our show at 5 p.m. on Friday,

00:34so we'll get an update on how he's feeling. We'll preview the game with him at that time.

00:38Yeah, certainly been their most effective per-touch player, right? I mean, just the burst

00:42he's shown, the kind of the easy button, taking some of the short little, you know, I don't want

00:46to call them gimmicky things, but that are meant to just help move the chains a little bit or stay

00:51ahead of the chains. He's converted their first downs. I mean, you saw the start of the game,

00:54right? 8-yard carry, 8-yard little flip pass that they get your first down. Later on, a bubble

00:59screen that he takes for 15, 16 yards. He's been so effective and is such a weapon for this offense.

01:05You can't overuse it, right? You can't have him bash between the tackles like you do Bryan

01:09Robinson because of wear and tear. Just such a bummer, man, because he was off to such a

01:13blistering start for this offense. I agree that you don't want to overuse it. I do think still

01:17there's a big gap between how much they're using him and overusing him. Agreed. To the point where

01:21I would push the gas pedal down a little more. I know someone will say, he just got hurt. It was

01:25a fluky thing. He got hit in the side of the helmet. It was a concussion. It wasn't like it

01:28was a usage fatigue thing. He had two carries against the Bucks. I'd like to see that number

01:34be in the five to seven range. He had eight against the Giants, averaged about five yards per. Then he

01:38had three for 35 with a 24-yard touchdown and a half against the Bengals. We were probably on our

01:43way to a five or six carry game for him against Cincinnati if he didn't get hurt, which is kind

01:48of the floor of where I want it to be. The good thing is as a receiver, four catches in week one,

01:53three catches in week two, two catches in week three, well on his way in week three and a half

01:57of football, that would have been a five, six catch game. Perhaps like the touches are going

02:01to be there six in week one, 11 in week two, five and a half of football in week three.

02:07They just got to find a way to incorporate him, but not having him is going to be

02:11a significant blow. We'll talk a lot more as the week goes on about how they try to replace him.

02:16The next man up at running back is Jeremy McNichols. McNichols had a really nice blitz

02:20pickup where he just de-cleated a linebacker that's gone viral in one of the few plays where

02:26he was noticeable on the field on Monday Night Football, but it's a lot more Brian Robinson

02:30thumping and Robinson catching the football out of the backfield. It would be a really,

02:34really big game for him in terms of touches and opportunities against Arizona.