Official Game Thread - Preseason Week 1 - Dolphins @ Commanders

Conn said:
I heard he’s got moxie
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He definitely lacked aggression and physicality in these clips. Somewhat matches Quinn pushing hm to be more aggressive and take bigger risks.

No worries on Styles, but not the best 1st showing for sure.
 
Conn said:
The opening series was really bad in the trenches, time will tell if that was a “first game” thing, or they are seriously in trouble
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It was bad because Miami was playing their starters in that first series and Washington wasn't.

Different teams have different agendas in the preseason.
 
I somehow missed that our old buddy Sam Howell is a backup for the Cowboys now
 
Conn said:
I somehow missed that our old buddy Sam Howell is a backup for the Cowboys now
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I liked Sam. I still think he showed a lot of hustle and grit. It's possible he could have become an average or slightly above average starter for us. Mind you, I think he also got the heck beat out of him while here and it may have permanently gotten to him.
 
burgold said:
I liked Sam. I still think he showed a lot of hustle and grit. It's possible he could have become an average or slightly above average starter for us.
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In the same way that anyone with good tools can technically develop into a starting NFL QB, sure. But I don’t think he’s got what it takes as a decision-maker, and despite having a good arm his height is an issue throwing over the middle. He could still take the long, roundabout path to developing that other guys with tools like Geno Smith and Sam Darnold did, but it would take a lot of patience and time in NFL offenses. I doubt we see it with him but he did his best for us and had some great throws in a high-volume disaster of an offense in a miserable season. Gave us some highlights while we tanked, which I appreciate. But he got worse and worse with that volume, really. And has bounced around since.
 
burgold said:
People keep bringing up Driskel. That QB is so Kliff Kingsbury.

But seriously, Driskell looked good in Kliff's system. I'm not sure how good he is in other systems. One would would think not very since he's available and it's mid-August.
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Yes, Driskel does have that experience with this team, but there is another connection too. David Blough and Jeff Driskel both played for the 2019 Lions, with Ben Johnson on staff.
 
burgold said:
People keep bringing up Driskel. That QB is so Kliff Kingsbury.

But seriously, Driskell looked good in Kliff's system. I'm not sure how good he is in other systems. One would would think not very since he's available and it's mid-August.
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Yes, Driskel does have that experience with this team, but there is another connection too. David Blough and Jeff Driskel both played for the 2019 Lions. Ben Johnson was on that staff, interestingly.

So Driskel does make some sense from a perspective of fit, if you really wanted to add a quarterback, though I think Mariota and the Greek would be fine backups. Hartman I don’t get, we signed Josh Johnson instead of playing him last year.
 
Wasn't really thinking about it before this morning, but one fun aspect of Henry and Allen is we got to see a version of thunder and lightning. It wasn't great thunder and lightning, but it was definitely two different styles each time they switched backs.
 
Other general thought, Athan K. was by far the most disliked pick. It was great seeing the Greek get some love.
 
burgold said:
Wasn't really thinking about it before this morning, but one fun aspect of Henry and Allen is we got to see a version of thunder and lightning. It wasn't great thunder and lightning, but it was definitely two different styles each time they switched backs.
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Why do you say it wasn’t great? I mean they aren’t hall of famers or even roster locks… but sometimes you are so overly positive and then sometimes you add qualifiers to things and I have a hard time understanding.

I am by no means trying to dog you. I’m genuinely curious.

I think they looked good, and based on last year I have more confidence in those two than I did our running game last year as a whole. We didn’t even see White or Bill’s improvements, either.
 
KDawg said:
Why do you say it wasn’t great? I mean they aren’t hall of famers or even roster locks… but sometimes you are so overly positive and then sometimes you add qualifiers to things and I have a hard time understanding.

I am by no means trying to dog you. I’m genuinely curious.

I think they looked good, and based on last year I have more confidence in those two than I did our running game last year as a whole. We didn’t even see White or Bill’s improvements, either.
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I think I was hoping for a little more for Allen. He thundered okay, but I think I want my hammer to break a few more tackles. It felt like he was falling forward but not breaking free for extra yards. Maybe it's just the way he has been hyped on this board?

And yeah, I'm generally very positive, but I have my low blood sugar posts too ;)
 
burgold said:
I think I was hoping for a little more for Allen. He thundered okay, but I think I want my hammer to break a few more tackles. It felt like he was falling forward but not breaking free for extra yards. Maybe it's just the way he has been hyped on this board?

And yeah, I'm generally very positive, but I have my low blood sugar posts too ;)
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To me he looked like he got what was there but no more.
 
Conn said:
Everything else aside, I do think there’s a high probability this is his final year as our #2. Developing a cheap young backup QB will be necessary for when Jayden gets paid anyways.
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Hence why they took a shot at AK. He has upside Hairdo does not have.

The more I think about it, the more I think he’s going to make the 53 almost no matter what. Unless he completely poops the bed.

The plan probably is to have him sit behind Mariota this year and take the backup job next year.

I don't necessarily think that was the plan for Hartman because he was a noodle armed UDFA. The reason they signed Hartman was probably just to pander to the female vote. :p

Funny story, my wife and I were having dinner last night with friends, and my wife was talking about this really hot assistant coach on the Commanders. I was like, "uhhh, I dunno about that." Well, turned out it was not an assistant coach, but Hartman. Both women started blubbering around a little bit. Was pretty funny. He's a good looking lad for sure. His future is in male modeling. The other guy said he should start an OnlyFans and just blow bubbles and he would make millions. I thought that was kindof funny, and very true.
 
KDawg said:
Why do you say it wasn’t great? I mean they aren’t hall of famers or even roster locks… but sometimes you are so overly positive and then sometimes you add qualifiers to things and I have a hard time understanding.

I am by no means trying to dog you. I’m genuinely curious.

I think they looked good, and based on last year I have more confidence in those two than I did our running game last year as a whole. We didn’t even see White or Bill’s improvements, either.
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I don't know if I posted this somewhere, but Keim said that they view Allen and White in the same light and in comptetion, essentially discarding the fact one was drafted and one was an UDFA.

And I think it was on JPs pod he said Allen saw the productivity White was having early, and that motivated him to try even harder.

I think both did well. And one thing on the YPC for Allen, to my memory, at least a couple of those carries were short yardage. There's some advanced stat which is like "productive runs" or something like that, which measures like if you get a first on 3rd and 1, it's productive, but if you get 1 yard on first and 10, it's not. It would be interesting to see that statistic for Allen. I'll try and look it up later. I think it might look better than his YPC.

I think we're a long ways from knowing how this is going to play out in the end. Bill and White are locks. McNichols is hurt, which isn't great for him right now, and Ford, I mean, he's a vet, and dependable but that's probably it. I did see them putting him on a lot of ST stuff in the game, and that's somewhat interesting.

We'll see. Both could improve between game 1 and game 2, also. It was both of their first NFL game. Even preseason game speed is different than college game speed.
 
Voice_of_Reason said:
I don't know if I posted this somewhere, but Keim said that they view Allen and White in the same light and in comptetion, essentially discarding the fact one was drafted and one was an UDFA.
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That’s surprising as I feel they have almost opposite skillsets
 
Conn said:
That’s surprising as I feel they have almost opposite skillsets
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Yeah, I think Keim was more saying one doesn't get the edge over the other because one was drafted and one was not. And maybe I implied they were only competing with each other, I don't think that's what he meant. The way I heard it, he was essentially saying both had the same shot to make the roster, their draft position wasn't going to influence the decision.

Which doesn't mean both couldn't make it or neither could make it. Because they are also competing with Ford and McNichols. At least, that's the way I interpreted it.
 
burgold said:
I think I was hoping for a little more for Allen. He thundered okay, but I think I want my hammer to break a few more tackles. It felt like he was falling forward but not breaking free for extra yards. Maybe it's just the way he has been hyped on this board?

And yeah, I'm generally very positive, but I have my low blood sugar posts too ;)
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His feet aren't quite quick enough to capitalize on what he's seeing (my guess here). So he needs better blocking to give his feet a smidgen more leeway.

You see on some runs with slightly better blocking that he is capable of forcing defenders into poor arm tackles where he can push through them.

He's limited because of this, I don't think he'll ever be a starter in the league like say Alfred Morris. But a good change of pace with a solid OLine? Sure.
 
Always Commander Never Captain said:
His feet aren't quite quick enough to capitalize on what he's seeing (my guess here). So he needs better blocking to give his feet a smidgen more leeway.

You see on some runs with slightly better blocking that he is capable of forcing defenders into poor arm tackles where he can push through them.

He's limited because of this, I don't think he'll ever be a starter in the league like say Alfred Morris. But a good change of pace with a solid OLine? Sure.
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I think it's premature to make this assessment after his first preseason game.

Another possibility is the game will slow down for him with repetitions, and he'll be able to hit the holes just fine.

We'll see. But any thought of what the game on Friday meant to his overall ability and long term prospects is, in my opinion, wildly premature.
 
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