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

[CapitalsCupReality]

It feels like every game 3 more Lions defensive players get carted off the field and they still manage to scratch and claw their way to wins.

They have created a culture of excellence that they all have bought into. Impressive.

 

[ynotcaps]

They have created a culture of excellence that they all have bought into. Impressive.

Plus the extra calcium from all the kneecaps they bite.

 

[g00n]

Damnit, 8pm Sunday is almost worst case scenario for me.

I'm irritated that we have to listen to Tirico's fake enthusiasm and Collinsworth's droning non-stop brain dump.

 

[NoVaCapsFan]

My dude, we have FIVE games against teams that won 14 or more games. FIVE!!!!! We play 8 games vs playoff teams. We have five games in the central or pacific time zone, four of them against playoff teams. Its brutal.

The only position-based games are Dolphins-Seahawks-Falcons. That is not bad for a second place team. Otherwise it is a tough draw based on NFC North and AFC West but that was gonna happen anyway.

 

[Ajax1995]

In only the 4th season of playing 17 games. Shocking…

 

[Ovechkins Wodka]

Ouch. That’s a hard one

 

[Ridley Simon]

Two 15-2 teams, a 14-3 team, and three playoff teams among the 11 out of division games. Brutal schedule. Just brutal. Our combined SoS, since you have to include the 14-3 Eagles, has to be about the hardest ever! @twabby can you run a spreadsheet on this?

Haha, actually the Giants have it worse because they play most all the same teams plus us twice. Damn!

View attachment 957091

Yeah but — each NFC East team as the same divisions. The AFC West and the NFC North. That’s all the same. Brutal for everyone, basically.

Niners and Saints are filler. As are the Pats.

Whoops. I saw the Giants sked. Rather okay the Hawks, Falcons, and Dolphins, as an aggregate

 

[Devil Dancer]

That's a tough draw. Thank goodness the Giants are a mess.

If the Cowboys continue to crumble it might not be so bad.

 

[Roric]

The opponents may be better but so will this team after AP works his magic in the offseason. I say another 10+ win season, take the division in year 3

 

[Chokingdogs]

Man that’s something, I would have bet at one point during the Gibbs heydays, someone would have done that. Clark, Sanders, Brown? Hell even Garçon, Moss and Coles would have popped into the fringes of my noggin, from recent history.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

lol Bears request to interview Mike McCarthy…

 

[Jags]

RGIII was a myth, it never actually happened.

The f*** did you just say?

We got the scars, man! The nightmares and flashbacks! Every time we pull apart the bones on a chicken wing... That sound... Don't tell us it never happened!

This. Quitting on your team in the 4th qtr got a couple other players suspended for the remainder of the season, or cut outright, already this year alone. It's not good, it's not excusable.

Amen. As notable as they may have been otherwise, it's the #1 thing I remember about Antonio Brown and Keyshawn Johnson. Randy Moss phoning games in, especially with the Raiders, tainted his legacy for me, too. f***in hate a quitter.

#1 reason I never got too much of a hate on for Owens, even with all of his maddening antics. Despite it all, dude always showed up and gave everything he had. That speedy Miami midget can suck a butt. I don't want him here.

Man that’s something, I would have bet at one point during the Gibbs heydays, someone would have done that. Clark, Sanders, Brown? Hell even Garçon, Moss and Coles would have popped into the fringes of my noggin, from recent history.

Those 80's teams really spread it around though. The Hogs got all the attention, but The Fun Bunch was a thing, too. Those teams were loaded with receiving talent, plus Warren and Didier. Opponents might cover the big guys, then someone like Virgil Seay would have a big day. Our brand of Air Coryell was too much to handle, even with middling QBs. And this was in an era when throwing 30+ TDs in a season was way more rare. Hard to catch 10+ back then.

Garcon, Moss, and Coles played with horrible QBs and in dodgy offenses here.

JD and Terry being out of sync the last couple weeks is a concern. You heard it when JD was mic'd up and could see it a few times, yesterday, too. Terry's frustrated. Nice to see MM come in and do the pre-snap stuff Jayden doesn't to help get Terry some targets.

Yes, I said a nice thing about Mariota. My crow was delicous, thank you very much.

 

[kicksavedave]

Man that’s something, I would have bet at one point during the Gibbs heydays, someone would have done that. Clark, Sanders, Brown? Hell even Garçon, Moss and Coles would have popped into the fringes of my noggin, from recent history.

Well as I'm sure you recall, those Gibbs teams had a pretty famous OL which used to salivate in the red zone because they know they were going to cram it down the DL's throats for another Riggo/Riggs/Rogers/Byner touchdown run. The 91 team spread it all around so much, Gerald Riggs had 11 TDs on fewer than 80 carries. Byner had 5 more. Hell, both Russ Grimm and Mark Adickes had TD catches that year, and they were OL. Gary Clark lead them in Rec TDs with 10 that magical year.

 

[kicksavedave]

The f*** did you just say?

We got the scars, man! The nightmares and flashbacks! Every time we pull apart the bones on a chicken wing... That sound... Don't tell us it never happened!

I'm only aware of a media dude who likes to draw attention to himself in ridiculous ways, like racing an owl on Twitter or fighting with ex coaches who benched him. The football player, I have no recollection of that. PTSD is a bitch.

 

[Ridley Simon]

My dude, we have FIVE games against teams that won 14 or more games. FIVE!!!!! We play 8 games vs playoff teams. We have five games in the central or pacific time zone, four of them against playoff teams. Its brutal.

It’s the same for the entire division? We all have the same teams (home vs road is a thing), save SEA, ATL, MIA. All the other 14 are the same for Phil, Dallas, NYG

I mean, come on now

 

[g00n]

In only the 4th season of playing 17 games. Shocking…

Even if you adjust down to 9 wins for seasons prior to the schedule change it's not that common

 

[kicksavedave]

It’s the same for the entire division? We all have the same teams (home vs road is a thing), save SF, NO, and NE. All the other 14 are the same for Phil, Dallas, NYG.

I mean, come on now

Ok ok, I get that the other teams in our division also have brutal schedules. And that the Giants have a harder SOS than we do. But still, this 2025 schedule is brutal all the way around. The AFC South and NFC South have it much easier.

 

[RedRocking]

Kraft has become so insufferable since BB left, increasingly hellbent on taking credit for the dynasty.

Fires Mayo, in classless fashion, right after the game. Then comes out today for a presser - “I feel terrible for Mayo. It’s all my fault, I’m so so sorry…”

Dude, you made a stone cold business decision - just stand by it and shut up. This need for the press to like you is some pathetic main character syndrome bullsh*t.

Maybe empower a real GM to make these football decisions so you don’t have to feel so bad about screwing up.

 

[Jags]

Kraft has become so insufferable since BB left, increasingly hellbent on taking credit for the dynasty.

This 100%. That documentary series last year was such a screwjob. They did a deep dive on every skeleton in the closet except Kraft. Not one mention of all his drama. Same thing at the Brady roast. Brady getting up and warning Kevin Hart not to tell another Kraft joke was the one mark against an otherwise great show.

I get being fixated on legacy when you get up in years, but who does he think he's kidding?

 

[Ridley Simon]

Man that’s something, I would have bet at one point during the Gibbs heydays, someone would have done that. Clark, Sanders, Brown? Hell even Garçon, Moss and Coles would have popped into the fringes of my noggin, from recent history.

The fact that Art Monk didn’t do it, is the CRAZY part.

Dude was first to 100 catches (106) in 1984. Has 1375 yards or whatever. But only 7 TD’s.

Mr Monk has 3 seasons that eclipsed 75/1000 together. Just never had the TD’s (8 was his max).

We can blame John Riggins for most of that, and frankly Gibbs entire O scheme that highlighted the counter trey.

All that said, it pretty much worked out ok for everyone

 

[ChaosLord]

Lions HC Dan Campbell really reminds me of the old Steelers HC Bill Cowher.

 

[Roric]

Here's a guy you trade for

 

[ynotcaps]

Two 15-2 teams, a 14-3 team, and three playoff teams among the 11 out of division games. Brutal schedule. Just brutal. Our combined SoS, since you have to include the 14-3 Eagles, has to be about the hardest ever! @twabby can you run a spreadsheet on this?

Haha, actually the Giants have it worse because they play most all the same teams plus us twice. Damn!

View attachment 957091

Another way to look at this schedule:
Dak x2
Hurts x2
NYG 1st rounder (?) x2
Caleb
Goff
Nix
Some shmuck
Geno
Love
Mahomes
Herbert
Darnold/JJMC
Tua
Penix

Here's hoping we add some serious pass rush and secondary help this off-season.

(When I originally did this exercise, I was looking at the NYG schedule -- thanks for that misdirection! -- and all I can say is: man, are they ****ed.)

 

[Kazer]

Another way to look at this schedule:
Dak x2
Hurts x2
NYG 1st rounder (?) x2
Caleb
Goff
Nix
Some shmuck
Geno
Love
Mahomes
Herbert
Darnold/JJMC
Tua
Penix

Here's hoping we add some serious pass rush and secondary help this off-season.

(When I originally did this exercise, I was looking at the NYG schedule -- thanks for that misdirection! -- and all I can say is: man, are they ****ed.)

It's very foolhardy to predict NFL strength of schedule based on any given year as things can change so much. Yes, I suspect KC and Detroit to be very good again next year. But imagine we had faced the AFC East and NFC West this year.

Bills were expected to be good and were even better but the AFC East ended up being pretty easy especially if you caught Miami without Tua. Jets ended up two games worse than last year and the Pats made almost no improvement despite drafting Drake Maye.

As for the NFC West, the 49ers were way down with the Rams/Seahawks staying pretty flat. Arizona did improve slightly.

So, going into the year, if the Commies had faced those 8, I would have said:

Bills - definite loss
Miami - probable loss
Jets - maybe
Patriots - good chance at a win
49ers - definite loss
Rams - probable loss
Seahawks - maybe
Cardinals - good chance at a win

And of those, I'd move Miami, Jets, and 49ers into the 'good chance at a win category' based on what we know now (note: not factoring in how much better the Commies were but rather how the teams were against what they were projected to be) and Cardinals to a 'maybe'. I could've used the AFC North too (Ravens were expected to be good and were but Browns took a huge step back and Bengals were crap for half the year though they ended up with the same record).

Broncos had a soft schedule. Chargers had some Harbaugh juice and could come back a bit. Can KC stay 14-15 wins every year (probably yes but maybe not)? Detroit could easily take a half step back. Minnesota could take a big step back, for a year, if they go with a rookie QB. And there are always injuries. Bears should be better but maybe they hire McCarthy and get worse somehow.

 

[kicksavedave]

Here's a guy you trade for

We've already got a few posts on this topic. A few for, and some against. For me, I hate that he quit on his team in the middle of a game. Guys get suspended or cut for that, but he did it in the last game, then he's bailing on them in the middle of his contract. The Chiefs traded him, then got better and won Super Bowls without him. Not sure he's the all in committed guy we need here. Chemistry is so important and ours is just about perfect right now.

(When I originally did this exercise, I was looking at the NYG schedule -- thanks for that misdirection! -- and all I can say is: man, are they ****ed.)

Hah, yeah the Giants are f***ed. They get that whole schedule plus JD X2.