I think trading Jahan Dotson was a good move, but it was also reflective of a mindset that didn't value route running--which is how you get open against man coverage. Dotson was our best receiver at the stem of his routes--getting open against man. Now Dotson was not a natural man coverage beater despite being solid at the stem of his routes because he lacked physicality and allowed the corners physicality to affect him so he would not have been a great answer to the man coverage we have seen this year.
But this year the league has figured out the best way to play the Commanders is tight man coverage. Jayden can scramble some against man coverage, but if you have a disciplined D-Line that can somewhat mitigate that. McLaurin is decent, but not great against man. He is good at contested catches but middle of the pack is getting separation. Deebo is slightly below average at getting separation. We just don't have the types of receivers who are good against tight man coverage. We need to get a route runner with more physicality than Dotson.
I think i have some credibility for not being a pollyana about the team this season. In the summer, i was a bit of a doom and gloom guy as to expecting early set backs. I was wrong about the Giants game but that ended up a peak moment, its been up and down, and more down since. And I think in the Giants game they got lucky that it was Wilson instead of Dart and they didn't know yet what they had in Skattebo.
i didn't like parts of the off season especially what they did at WR. I didn't like that Jayden didn't have Noah or Terry in camp and didn't make one throw in the preseason. I didn't like hearing aout the super light camp. I didn't like that they got their asses kicked in the preseason -- yeah it was their backups playing but lol what if the season evolved where the backups would have to play which ironically did indeed play out. The fact that some NFL observors defended Quinn's decision to keep Jayden in the game because hey he's not a lot of reps with these WRs brings it home.
There was in my view a too cool for school vibe with this team where Quinn and Peters (both whom I like) had an edge of cockiness about them. And I look i don't blame them. It's human nature when everyone is sucking up to you. And I felt they might lose their edge and it would filter to the team. I know all this is amorphous and there is no way for me to know a vibe about a team. But it felt that way to me. And it did feel that way to some beat guys around the team.
While it doesn't shock me that fans have turned quicky on Peters and Quinn albiet it does surprise me its to this extent. I am shocked about the turning on Jayden. As Keim likes to say he's been around a lot of QBs here, Jayden is the real deal. Among other things his work ethic is second to none. He's humble and will keep working to improve.
I don't think Peters is a moron. I think he's a smart dude. He's made some mistakes. But he's done plenty good, too. To me the next move is on Peters. And two things I expect
A. They will load up on weapons. Peters' off season at WR reminds me of Rivera at O line. Remember that one year where the O line subs played almost as well as their starters and Masko was hailed as some sort of genius who can make lemonade out of lemons. The next off season Rivera let some O lineman go and did squat to help the unit and it fell off a cliff. Felt like that last year with Peters at WR. Zaccheus was a low key hit. Noah was a good signing. Dyami developed at the end of that season. Heck even Crowder was good. So why not Gallup, Osborne, Chris Moore? Well, Peters lucked out that year. It wasn't because his every instinct of cheap discarded WRs are amazing or Jayden will turn water into wine at that spot. it was arrogant and it blew up in their face.
It blew up in their face in ways I didn't imagine. It hurt Jaydens confidence as we are speaking about here. I was just listening to Bullock talk about it. He says you can see Jayden sees it, he's looking right at the Wr, but he doesn't trust the WR. Also for as much as they focused on the O line, the Wr spot hurt their protection. The WRs posing no threats have allowed defenses to close the running game and just tee off at Jayden with blitzes.
Jayden killed the blitz last year. Why not this year? Some of his new critics say hey its because he doesn't see it this year. To me that's absurd. He's not killing the blitz because Chris Moore and McCaffrey or Burks or whomever is the Z Wr du jour aren't beating their coverage.
B. Take some chances on signing big FAs. Part of the reason why this team is old is because he's signing old cheap FAs. Take some chances and sign the Milton Williams, Josh Sweat types. Don't be so afraid of making mistakes.