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

[EroCaps]

A lot of folks poo pooh'd the MAriota signing, saying he was over rated and not worth the contract. Well apparently he can play a little (albeit vs Carolina), and also his former team mates seem to love the guy. Maybe he's fitting in here well too?

That’s cool. He’s the backup QB for a reason. Let’s hope this isn’t a regular thing for Daniels bc it’s going to make you want Drake Maye real quick.

 

[kicksavedave]

That’s cool. He’s the backup QB for a reason. Let’s hope this isn’t a regular thing for Daniels bc it’s going to make you want Drake Maye real quick.

There's almost nothing that would make me prefer Drake Maye over JD.

 

[Ridley Simon]

There's almost nothing that would make me prefer Drake Maye over JD.

Be careful, please

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

That’s cool. He’s the backup QB for a reason. Let’s hope this isn’t a regular thing for Daniels bc it’s going to make you want Drake Maye real quick.

I’m sorry, who?

I’ll never want for Maye now that JD is our guy.

 

[ynotcaps]

I mean, if we were to ever want for another QB from this draft, I think it's pretty well established that it would be JJ McCarthy...

 

[TheSmokingMan]

My prediction...JD will not play in the Bears game. My guess he'll miss one to three games.

Missing two games would be my ultimate guess.

I think the odds of him playing against Chicago are slim if he isn't practicing yet.

 

[Jags]

There's almost nothing that would make me prefer Drake Maye over JD.

Is one of those things potentially him being consistently injured? Because that's what Ero said. Maye has looked good in the couple games he's played, so maybe let's not pretend that Maye with KK and DQ and our new regime would be tragic.

I had a conversation at work a couple days ago about JD vs Caleb. Bears fan, we've been playfully jawing all season, and our Monday conversation after the injury came to him asking, "If the Bears offered you Caleb plus this year's 1st for Jayden, would you take it?" I told him that I would tell the Bears GM to jump off a bridge, and he told me I'm nuts.

While Caleb is a special talent he strikes me otherwise as a typical guy. Jayden's character and work ethic are incredible. He's a rare talent AND a rare human.

But if it turned out he's going to be consistently injured and I could get in The Wayback Machine and take Maye? Sure I would. I would like to win Super Bowls, please. Can't do that with a busted QB, no matter how much I like him.

(P.S. Please get Jayden a Slip 'n Slide and hire Rickey Henderson as a coach, STAT, because time travel never seems to go well and I really don't want to have to help my dad to seduce my mom or be killed by robots.)

(P.P.S. If I absolutely had to choose between the two, I would rather be killed by robots.)

 

[g00n]

Thing is, JD could not have slid on that play. He was trying to go down but got piled onto in a strange way.

He does need to learn how to go to the ground safely, though. Just being tackled normally. Maybe it hasn't happened enough because nobody's been able to catch him.

 

[Jags]

Thing is, JD could not have slid on that play. He was trying to go down but got piled onto in a strange way.

Not sure we're talking about the same play. He saw the guy coming from his left. The time it took for him to decide "I'm going to try to stiff-arm and keep going" is more than the time it takes to just think "Uh oh" and turtle. No reason he can't slide or turtle there.

He also made one (baffling) move in the open field, opting away from the sideline instead of toward it, which brings us to...

He does need to learn how to go to the ground safely, though.

He runs to daylight when he should run for the sideline. We've got this new generation of QBs like Kyler and Lamar that can do that sometimes, and they shouldn't. And you're absolutely right that it's because he's been able to outrun everyone up till now, but it's not like "NFL DBs are crazy fast" is a secret.

Running to the sideline is just as important as learning how to get to the ground safely. As a QB, when it's time to run, you take what they give you. You have to put yourself in the position to bail out the second that gap closes. No team wants their franchise QB risking their body unnecessarily. Those few points aren't worth your season, especially versus a team you know you're going to trounce.

He and RG3 are very different, but Jayden's got 100% of Griffin's running hubris. We want the compete level, but he needs a rap on the knuckles every time that hubris comes out until it stops.

 

[g00n]

Not sure we're talking about the same play. He saw the guy coming from his left. The time it took for him to decide "I'm going to try to stiff-arm and keep going" is more than the time it takes to just think "Uh oh" and turtle. No reason he can't slide or turtle there.

He also made one (baffling) move in the open field, opting away from the sideline instead of toward it, which brings us to...



He runs to daylight when he should run for the sideline. We've got this new generation of QBs like Kyler and Lamar that can do that sometimes, and they shouldn't. And you're absolutely right that it's because he's been able to outrun everyone up till now, but it's not like "NFL DBs are crazy fast" is a secret.

Running to the sideline is just as important as learning how to get to the ground safely. As a QB, when it's time to run, you take what they give you. You have to put yourself in the position to bail out the second that gap closes. No team wants their franchise QB risking their body unnecessarily. Those few points aren't worth your season, especially versus a team you know you're going to trounce.

He and RG3 are very different, but Jayden's got 100% of Griffin's running hubris. We want the compete level, but he needs a rap on the knuckles every time that hubris comes out until it stops.

He was trying to score on the long run and when he realized he wasn't going to make it he basically folded his legs and tried to go down but the tacklers landed on him and he rolled over awkwardly.

He has several people right behind him running at full speed. He's trying to score in a competitive play. Sliding there is also risky and dangerous, not safe.

I don't have a problem with him trying to stiff-arm that guy and create separation. The problem is he seems to have had the coach/media/fans in his head and tried to slide when he should've just covered the ball and gone down like a regular tackle.

He's basically kicking his legs out in front of him and "sitting" down in a half-slide kind of move. Those defenders then rolled over him.

QBs are more likely to slide when defenders are closing in from the front. With guys behind him he was fine in trying to keep running. He just didn't know how to take the tackle correctly.

There is no reason to start sliding here, when you are ahead of the defense.

There was also plenty of defensive coverage blocking the sideline so he couldn't just run out of bounds.

The problem isn't his running it's his sliding. He should not have tried to slide when he was engaged with the defender.

 

[RandyHolt]

He tried to slide and that's not a place to be, to try to slide. Coaching him up to slide made him slide IMO, and backfired. VR can't fix this one. That was late career Portis level awkwardness to finish a run. He got folded in half and rolled.

Coaches being hush hush on the severity of BRobs knee tells me to not trust anything our coaches say about Jayden's injury. We knew more about players injuries 25 years ago than we do now. I still think its telling the league killed the Probable designation. I wonder if big sports books made that happen.

It would not surprise me if he plays.

 

[ynotcaps]

If he slides on that play he ends up pushing his upper body and head back into the pursuing defenders. And maybe he could/should have taken the outside lane to be able to get out on the sideline, but in the moment he saw more potential inside and he went with his instinct. But let's not pretend that he has been continuing to make the higher risk decisions. Since week 2 he has consistently been getting out of bounds , hitting the deck, and, yes, sliding.

That's a play they'll look at and ask what he saw and why he made the decision he did and coach him for similar situations in the future. Because, you know, he's seven games into his pro career so he still does need some coaching.

 

[Jags]

There was also plenty of defensive coverage blocking the sideline so he couldn't just run out of bounds.

His path to the sideline was wide open from the beginning of the play. The one cut he made in the open field was away from a wide open sideline. Absolutely nothing between him and that lane. Went left when he should have gone right. Not sure what you're seeing in that regard.

Once he turns into contact and not away from it, yes, absolutely he needs to learn how to get to the ground. But my point is we already knew that we're living in a world where he doesn't know how to handle contact. And since I'm a realist, yeah, I think we should stress that we want him to run AWAY from contact, not directly into it. Sideline. Every time. Easy to remember, no sliding required.

Like you said, if he's going to run like a running back, then he needs to learn how to be tackled like one. So for me the pragmatic route is, "Don't run like a running back. Run like a quarterback. Get the f*** out of bounds. We don't need the miracle run from you. We pay guys for that. We need you to be alive for the next play, the one after that, and so on until you're ready to retire at 45 with two fistfuls of Super Bowl Rings. Please and thank you."

 

[Chokingdogs]

I saw the same, the JD run where he got all twisted up. The second I saw the inside cut I thought “oh shit!”

As Jerry G so eloquently said…the NFL, which means not for long, if you keep doing that.

 

[g00n]

His path to the sideline was wide open from the beginning of the play. The one cut he made in the open field was away from a wide open sideline. Absolutely nothing between him and that lane. Went left when he should have gone right. Not sure what you're seeing in that regard.

Once he turns into contact and not away from it, yes, absolutely he needs to learn how to get to the ground. But my point is we already knew that we're living in a world where he doesn't know how to handle contact. And since I'm a realist, yeah, I think we should stress that we want him to run AWAY from contact, not directly into it. Sideline. Every time. Easy to remember, no sliding required.

Like you said, if he's going to run like a running back, then he needs to learn how to be tackled like one. So for me the pragmatic route is, "Don't run like a running back. Run like a quarterback. Get the f*** out of bounds. We don't need the miracle run from you. We pay guys for that. We need you to be alive for the next play, the one after that, and so on until you're ready to retire at 45 with two fistfuls of Super Bowl Rings. Please and thank you."

He saw daylight to the end zone and went for it. He beat the last man in front of him and only got caught from behind because the safety tripped him up slightly after he'd already made the move.

Right here he sees he has one man to beat and that player is turned toward the sidelines. An inside move could mean a TD. He went for it.

Gets tripped a little at the 31 yd line but still ahead of the other defenders. The player who tackles him hard (45) was 5yds behind him before the juke and still 3yds back here.

If that safety doesn't get a hand in there the result is probably a TD and a completely different narrative.

I think people are using hindsight to criticize this play, with the false notion that QBs are fragile eggs that should never be exposed to any risk at all (run OB or don't run, always slide, etc).

JD stands in the pocket with 320lb guys trying to smash him into the ground from the blindside on every play. You can't eliminate the risk.

I don't have a problem with him going for it here. But if he was trying to smash through defenders with his helmet like Tua keeps doing, yeah that'd be an issue.

 

[Neil Racki]

No problem w him going for the TD there .. explosive players make explosive plays

No problem w JD attempting a slide there ... Ive noticed w JD and Lamar is that they try to dictate contact. They will initiate contact w a soon to be tackler vs waiting to get hit.

They dictate how they go down to the ground with their forward dive thing.

Here .. JD was trying to dictate how he went to the ground probably to avoid a horsecollar or hip drop or some from behind get yours legs folded under you situation.

Who knows .. maybe he saved himself from a serious knee injury by doing what he did

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

He should have just dove forward to go down in that situation…

 

[RandyHolt]

He should have just dove forward to go down in that situation…

Yeah at least he is learning. Like most greenhorns, the hard way.

I suspect he's probably not used to getting caught from behind... He does have one of the highest recorded on field speeds this year IIRC.

 

[g00n]

He should have just dove forward to go down in that situation…

That or just tucked and rolled in kind of a shoulder dive. Guys go down like that all the time. If he's going to run like a WR or RB he has to learn how to go to ground like they do.

 

[kicksavedave]

I think the lesson he learned was that plenty NFL DBs are as fast as he is. Getting tackled from behind is always a risky proposition. The NFL even outlawed a certain form of it because of all the injuries it caused. Hopefully he'll be more cautious in the future, but he wasn't being reckless by any stretch.

 

[RedRocking]

Not sure if this is a bluff, but fingers crossed.

 

[ynotcaps]

Not sure if this is a bluff, but fingers crossed.

I sooooo want to see the JD vs. Caleb showdown, but I more want to see us have the best season we can. If he needs to sit, he should sit.

 

[RedRocking]

I sooooo want to see the JD vs. Caleb showdown, but I more want to see us have the best season we can. If he needs to sit, he should sit.

Yea, I’m confident in the org to make the smart choice, either way. But still hoping they think he is well enough to play. This game could have serious WC implications.

For some reason, I’m more hyped about this (potential) matchup than some of our normal rivals. I guess I broke my brain researching these QBs before the draft, and am now overly invested in seeing how they stack up, lol.

Caleb is playing really well now, and might feast on our secondary. Even Maye looked pretty good last week (albeit against JAX). This could be an unusually successful QB class - like 2020.

 

[Ridley Simon]

I don’t want us making ANY dispersions towards Maye or Penix or McCarthy or Nix. Let’s just be happy with our guy so far.

Like 1983 (and the Athletic had an article on this), 2024 had 6 first round QB’s who as a group look pretty impressive. I hope Daniels = Elway for success, but obv Marino/Kelly wasn’t bad either. Hell, even Eason played in a Super Bowl. Blackledge was the only dud.

 

[Ridley Simon]

And down go the Vikings, again. NFL is such a slippery slope