OT: 2024 Washington Commanders off-season thread: change we can believe in!

[Jags]

Why kick there when the guy wants close from 45 yards?

Agreed, but they might just have been giving the guy enough rope to hang himself with. "You want to keep your job? Nail one from 56 and maybe I'll forget the first one."

JFC, they really are trying to get him effing killed.

Totally agree on the playcalling, but it's unclear to me what his options are when the checks the play at the line. He did that a few times today, and it was always to a run.

Ero's just throwing a fit, but he's not wrong about the sliding. JD "slid" head-first all day. Clumsy and dangerous. That first hit that knocked his helmet off was 100% his fault. His head's not even there if he gets down properly.

We have made Mayfield look like a stud at points today, not okay.

Pffft, Mayfield looked great regardless. He's been playing great for them, and the team clearly loves him. Hat's off to Evans and our DBs are for shit, but both of those TD passes were absolute dimes.

Wait were there slides he didn't do well? Helmet thing is up in the air on who is responsible for that.

JD is responsible for his helmet. He's got the top strap fed up through his facemask, which reduced the torque big time. And the bottom strap just isn't tight enough. Look back at all his runs and watch how his helmet bobbles around. Can't wear your lid like a dipshit and ya need to learn how to slide.

They'll get on him about that stuff. The running tendencies need to be curbed by his coaches, too, and they need to get everyone involved. He definitely looked like a rookie, but there were plenty of bright spots. He'll be a star if he survives.

 

[usiel]

Lamar is actually great at protecting himself and still gets hurt. Not a great example.

By all means cheerlead and then ghost this thread when he suffers a catastrophic injury.

Having watched Lamars game on Thursday I just don't see what differently he did than Daniels.

 

[Jags]

This coaching staff ain't it.

Horseshit. It's their first game. Damn near everyone in the organization is new, on and off the field. They'll need a few games to find what works. No one learns anything in the preseason.

Same goes for Daniels. First game. Happy feet, a little hero ball here and there. Now we see if his coaches handle it better than Shanahan did, and if he has the humility to listen.

The defense was a shitshow for sure, but everything else is a work in progress. Today's loss is no big deal. Tampa's a good team.

 

[RedRocking]

Horseshit. It's their first game. Damn near everyone in the organization is new, on and off the field. They'll need a few games to find what works. No one learns anything in the preseason.

Same goes for Daniels. First game. Happy feet, a little hero ball here and there. Now we see if his coaches handle it better than Shanahan did, and if he has the humility to listen.

The defense was a shitshow for sure, but everything else is a work in progress. Today's loss is no big deal. Tampa's a good team.

Yea, but why go for a reasonable take when we have DOOM here at home, lol

 

[EroCaps]

Tampa's secondary had a ton of guys out and we didn't take advantage of it. No chance that Brown and Crowder didn't get open the entire game. Him having no one to throw too except Terry is a bail out take. He only attempted 11 balls to WRs. Too much checking down and too much pull the ball down and run with a ton of time to go through progressions.

His forward roll is a joke. How did this not get identified by staff? He was doing it in college.

No chance? Those guys are barely NFL players. A lot of those short passes seemed like designed plays.

Don’t get me wrong, I was originally a Maye or trade down and McCarthy guy because of exactly what I’m seeing from Daniels but I figured the new shiny professional coaching staff would develop him a bit.

I didn’t expect this gong show. The staff looks wildly unprepared.

 

[Beef Invictus]

Yeah geez I thought I was a pessimist. It's game 1 with half the roster, and all the coaches turned over.

The was a lot of concerning stuff but as far as I'm concerned, it isn't a true concern until nothing is done to fix it. Or something is tried and it can't be fixed.

Strongly think Forbes fits that bill but I've also been against him from the start, so I might be biased. At least they might be finding a way to make Davis passable.

 

[EroCaps]

Having watched Lamars game on Thursday I just don't see what differently he did than Daniels.

He generally avoids contact but that game against the Chiefs he was playing through contact you’re right.

Daniels looks like he’s trying to f***ing Mad Max his way through the opposing team flaming guitar in hand.

 

[qc14]

Postgame thoughts:
1. I was pleasantly surprised by the play of both lines, not dominant but competent. Payne and Allen especially just need to close out a few of those plays
2. Daniels I thought was encouraging. Didn't really take any hits he shouldn't have, used his legs well, passing was not incredible but fine. Obviously nowhere near Lamar but I think you could see how if he hits his ceiling he can be a very similar player. Pretty much exactly what you would want.
3. BRob will be a fantasy monster
4. The game was lost in the spots everyone knew were problems heading into the season. Forbes, Chinn, and BSJ are absolute garbage and none of the pass-catchers besides Terry are any good.

The issues in the secondary and the skill positions aren't going to be fixed this season so they'll probably continue to lose a lot. I can totally take losing like this though, and in comparison to previous years I can actually see a clear plan towards contention.

On to NYG

 

[Beef Invictus]

I hate making these comparisons...but Lamar was a terrible passer out of the box. Spending some time behind Flacco was good for him because if he'd played out of the draft he'd have burned out of the league.

Let's not write a guy off in game 1. Dude wasn't playing like Newton or even Howell in terms of throwing himself into hits

 

[qc14]

Let's not write a guy off in game 1. Dude wasn't playing like Newton or even Howell in terms of throwing himself into hits

Yea I don't really get the "he needs to protect himself more" takes, thought he did a great job minimizing every hit he took and only got really smoked on the fumble which I would put almost completely on the O line

 

[Beef Invictus]

Postgame thoughts:
1. I was pleasantly surprised by the play of both lines, not dominant but competent. Payne and Allen especially just need to close out a few of those plays
2. Daniels I thought was encouraging. Didn't really take any hits he shouldn't have, used his legs well, passing was not incredible but fine. Obviously nowhere near Lamar but I think you could see how if he hits his ceiling he can be a very similar player. Pretty much exactly what you would want.
3. BRob will be a fantasy monster
4. The game was lost in the spots everyone knew were problems heading into the season. Forbes, Chinn, and BSJ are absolute garbage and none of the pass-catchers besides Terry are any good.

The issues in the secondary and the skill positions aren't going to be fixed this season so they'll probably continue to lose a lot. I can totally take losing like this though, and in comparison to previous years I can actually see a clear plan towards contention.

On to NYG

Playing almost permanent nickel with Sainristil providing coverage backup looked to really help shut down mid and short range passing relative to last year. QBs didn't have to worry about the line because quick passes could always be effortlessly had. LBs weren't being tasked with covering in the way they were under JDR, thank God.

But overall it won't matter if the CBs almost never make plays and can be routinely slaughtered for 20-30 yards if the other team can let the play develop.

 

[Beef Invictus]

Seeing Curl play now has me going full Wolverine Nostalgia Meme.

I wasn't excited about ditching him

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

Not going to dump on the coaching staff yet. Brand new coaches at every meaningful position and the most roster turnover in the NFL from last season to this. Expecting them to be a well-oiled machine week one isn’t realistic. I’ll be more interested in how they develop as units and if they show marked improvement.

That said, the defense was embarrassing and looked no better or more prepared than last year. I would have thought we were watching a JDR defense today. Multiple blown coverages, terrible 3rd down play, no turnovers. It was pretty deflating seeing how unprepared and overwhelmed they look.

 

[ynotcaps]

Take away those garbage time completions and yards and we're looking at Dewayne Haskins numbers give or take 30-40 yards rushing. His inability to find open receivers at this level is concerning. It's only one game but the same shit everyone who wasn't swooning over him called out pre-draft happened. I thought the line played decent, a lot better than last year. There were plays where he had more time to throw than Howell did his entire series and he checked down repeatedly. He can't slide to save his life, literally. He'll be injured if he continues to run for 80-100 yards a game. He took several ugly shots today and teams don't even know how to scheme for him yet or catch his tells. This team doesn't look any different to me on D. In fact they might be worse with no impact edge rushers now. Going to be a long year. Arch Manning 2026 draft here we come!

Shocking take! Still pissed they haven't fired Peters yet?

 

[qc14]

That said, the defense was embarrassing and looked no better or more prepared than last year. I would have thought we were watching a JDR defense today. Multiple blown coverages, terrible 3rd down play, no turnovers. It was pretty deflating seeing how unprepared and overwhelmed they look.

I'm admittedly not the most trained football eye but it seemed like the defense was schemed fine (or at least better than JDR) but just got consistently burnt in 1v1 matchups because our corners suck ...

 

[Langway]

They'll need a few games to find what works.

It's not that kind of a league. You either know or you don't based on internal evaluation. It's not like this is their first time around the block as coaches. It's their first go round with these players but they know the league. They internally must realize they don't match up that well against average or better teams, at least not yet. They lack primary dominant carrying talents. They also at least early on crucially lack much of any schematic brilliance or overachievement potential. They also would seem to lack obvious breakout candidates aside from the readier-than-usual #2 pick.

It is early and maybe against some of their earlier weaker competition they can grind out Ws and build off of it but...it's still a pretty weak roster. It's one game against a pretty solid team but the prep didn't obviously look superior to anything else we've seen recently. This season is really about development, planning and trying to compete, sure, but also resisting foolish shortcuts. How they're using Daniels does seem pretty shortcut-ish, though. That maybe keeps Their Guy confident and playing to his strengths and that's great. But not having a functional passing game seems like the same old dysfunctional non-sense we've become accustomed to. The OL in the run game still seems unimpressive. The less said about the secondary and defense in general the better.

They have a real GM in place finally. Now it's on him to put his stamp on the team day-to-day in a way that's on the upswing. That's not happening right off the hop in a way that's immediately refreshing I don't think. Thinking that finding their identity and strengths are just going to be the result of trial and error on game day seems pretty idiotic, though. It's early, early days but if those answers aren't more abundantly clear based off of how they prepare and self-assess before game day then it's going to be another season of largely getting taken to the cleaners. It's not like they're supremely skilled to the point where things can be allowed to fall into place. That's got to be more determined in their detail beforehand.

 

[ynotcaps]

The offense will ride on how well the line can be pieced and come together. If they can open holes for the RBs and the QB on a handful of called runs, Ds will have to play honest and we'll see what the skill players can actually do. The only players on that side of the ball who have played together regularly up to now are the right side of the OL (and Wylie's replacement level) and our #1 WR and RB -- both of whom depend on other players to be able to do their thing. We'll see how long it takes for that unit to reach its potential (and what its potential actually is -- we still have no idea whatsoever what we have in Coleman, and won't until he's into a full practice and playing routine. Not at all optimal for a rookie, but it's where we are.)

To me, the state of the D is more concerning. Our interior DL is supposed to be our strength. They had a number of opportunities to get Mayfield down but couldn't get it done. They also got run over by a TB team that was bottom of the league in rushing the last 2 years. Of course they're part of a bigger unit, but their inability to anchor the D puts our biggest liability -- our CBs -- in position to get smoked, which they did. St. Juste is tall and that's about it. And Forbes can't play. It's not because he's too skinny. It's because he just can't play. If our biggest defensive strength can't produce, our biggest defensive liability is going to continue get exploited. Sainristil had some good and bad -- as a rookie should be expected to. But our rookie slot can't be our best corner if the D is going to have success. And as of now, it looks like he is and will remain so.

On the bright side, though -- kicker tryouts bright and early Monday morning!!!

 

[Beef Invictus]

I'm admittedly not the most trained football eye but it seemed like the defense was schemed fine (or at least better than JDR) but just got consistently burnt in 1v1 matchups because our corners suck ...

That's how it looked to me. They shut down the run totally for a while. They took steps to try and help coverage deficiencies. There's just so much that can be done though. And at least they're trying to mask these problems now and not waiting until Game 14

With the "the defense shall be 3 separate loosely connected units" method JDR ran, I could be pretty sure that some players were ass but couldn't know for sure. For one game, they looked like a whole defense...and got shredded on some weak links.

Forbes isn't a surprise. BSJ..he made the good early read on a route. That was it. He was promising once and I'll be disappointed if he goes nowhere.

 

[qc14]

I think overall the overreacting to the coaching staff is a combination of
1) forgetting just how terrible Rivera/JDR/Bienemy were last year
2) underrating how bad (by design!) a lot of the roster is

I agree I didn't see any brilliant schemes on either side of the ball that will get us to overperform but I also didn't see anything (beyond that punt in the 4th quarter) that was egregiously bad or clearly not getting the most out of the players available

 

[ynotcaps]

That's how it looked to me. They shut down the run totally for a while. They took steps to try and help coverage deficiencies. There's just so much that can be done though. And at least they're trying to mask these problems now and not waiting until Game 14

With the "the defense shall be 3 separate loosely connected units" method JDR ran, I could be pretty sure that some players were ass but couldn't know for sure. For one game, they looked like a whole defense...and got shredded on some weak links.

Forbes isn't a surprise. BSJ..he made the good early read on a route. That was it. He was promising once and I'll be disappointed if he goes nowhere.

I will say one thing in defense of the defense: they were on the field way too much, and it was a brutally hot and humid day. Yes, the weather affects both teams, but there's a difference between living and preparing in FL for FL than living & preparing in the mid-Atlantic, which has been relatively "nice" the last couple weeks. I think that was definitely a factor later in the game when TB really pulled away. (But they already had the game well in hand.)

 

[Jags]

Thinking that finding their identity and strengths are just going to be the result of trial and error on game day seems pretty idiotic, though.

Yeah, that's not what I said. I said they'll need a few games to put it together. This team has never played together and the coaching staff has to gel, too. NFL O-line, for example, is a chemistry unit. They need reps and continuity. The D needs to take to the new leadership. JD needs to work off the butterflies and rookieisms. And so on and so on.

Practice doesn't get it done and camp is about selecting your roster. The team comes together on the field in games that count. Now we see how the coaches hold them accountable, how they check and challenge each other to improve, how they adjust the schemes and playcalling in response to what worked and didn't.

A brand new team getting off to a rough start against tough competition is the most predictable outcome ever. Now we get to see how they respond. That will be the measure of the leadership of our coaches and the resilience of our players. It's not trial and error.

Your assessment was well-written but ill-considered. You simply cannot draw the conclusions you have by watching a brand new team play a single game. But what the hell do I know? I'm "pretty idiotic" after all...

 

[Langway]

But what the hell do I know? I'm "pretty idiotic" after all...

Nah. A relatively light schedule in their first nine games do give them a decent opportunity if they can get their act together. But they're further behind than I anticipated, most glaringly in the receiving game. If they can't act quickly to resolve some issues and grasp what's fixable and which situations demand change it's not hard to imagine them largely floundering again...

Whatever few strengths they have still seem very mitigated by their patchwork holes. Barring exceptional individual performances and doing just enough schematically to mask some glaring issues it's hard to expect drastic improvement. There's not a great ceiling here that they're working their way towards I don't think. Not yet. I don't know about being a bottom five team but 6-10 seems very doable on paper. (IF Daniels were to get hurt at some point then, I mean, they'd have all the makings of being a bottom-feeder again.)

 

[sycamore]

Week 1 of the NFL, and everything going pretty much as expected...except for one thing, same as last year, same as the year before, the Cincinnati Bengals off to their slow start again. They asked Joe Burrow in an interview a couple of years ago what he thought the window of opportunity for the Bengals was to win their first SB. Joe's answer: "Their window of opportunity is the length of my career." Yeah, well hows that looking for you so far, Joe? So overrated.

Impressed by the Texans, Bears, Dolphins and Eagles ( Hurts looked shaky but that offense is stacked). Underwhelmed by the Bengals and Carolina. Panthers might not win a game this year.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Doom and Gloom!

 

[Devil Dancer]

The only thing that really matters is that Daniels passed the test. He looked ok running a NHL offense against a pretty good opponent, and his run game could be elite.

He outperformed Caleb and maybe Nix.