2025 Washington Commanders- All Things Defense

You know Gibbs or Parcells or other winning coaches manage the TEAM and never let chaos ensue as it has here at times.
You must be too young to remember seasons like 1989. He also went 6-10 and 5-11 here.
 
You must be too young to remember seasons like 1989. He also went 6-10 and 5-11 here.
This is a cheap shot. When Gibbs was under 72 and not working under Snyder he went to 4 Super Bowls in 10 years.

The only thing Quinn has done so far is lose the biggest lead in Super Bowl history.

BTW, I had season tickets in the 80’s and went to Super Bowl 26 in Minneapolis.

Once you get to see a winning team and how it looks and feels week to week you get a sense when looking at another team that they just don’t have it.

This team doesn’t have an identity. It doesn’t have accountability. Coaches seem to be running this like Club Med.

It doesn’t appear anyone is afraid of losing their spot.
 
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This is a cheap shot. When Gibbs was under 72 and not working under Snyder he went to 4 Super Bowls in 10 years.
I'm sorry it doesn't fit with your narrative, but Gibbs did have bad, chaotic years. He's the greatest coach in history, but he was still human and made mistakes.

He also lost a Super Bowl 18 by a whole lot, to a huge under dog.
 
This team doesn’t have an identity. It doesn’t have accountability. Coaches seem to be running this like Club Med.
I think this is a failure in roster building. We had a strong identity in 2024 as a hustle team of castoffs. A team that played much better than the sum of its parts. This year, the players we signed did so not to prove themselves and build something, but to be part of something great. Players wanted to be a part of Jayden Daniels' magic and be part of a Super Bowl contender. So, somehow that little extra bit, that little extra push, or that little extra bit of lode-bearing responsibility wasn't as present, but there's another factor I have been wondering about.

It's hard to build and sustain an identity when you rely so heavily on one-year mercenaries. The lack of draft picks, the need to restock a diminished roster, and other factors have made it hard to establish that core that sustains the identity. That's particularly true this year not only because of all the new faces, but because even those new faces wound up being shelved because of injury and so the team lacked the cohesion and familiarity that allows for identity or for players to intuit how the player on either side of them will respond to any play. It takes reps to get down not just the play, but how the person next to you plays.

So, there are many reasons why this team lacked identity, but I don't discount that part of that is because so many of the players were strangers to each other and to the coaches.
 
So, there are many reasons why this team lacked identity, but I don't discount that part of that is because so many of the players were strangers to each other and to the coaches
Kingsbury talked about not having any continuity on offense as a big reason for the struggles, so you've hit the nail on the head, I think
 
Bringing in one year mercenaries is a great way to bring in specific talent to fill roster holes. They can also be used for quick mentorship to recently drafted players.

There will always be a need a these one year players but they do not add to the continuity of the team. Continuity is achieved by building from the core. This is normally done through successful drafts and long term FA signings fitting a specific "identity" the GM and their HC selections vision is for the team.

In fairness to AP and DQ they came in with a vision of the identity, drafting specific players that fit perfectly into wishes.

We are preparing to head into year 3 of this vision and will need to again rely too heavily on FA and in particular, one year mercenaries to fill all the voids. We need to have more draft picks and for them to hit each year so the roster will have 4 year contract continuity while those players also fit the type of talent desired whether starters or backups.

We are in a bit of hole down a couple picks right now and why I can see them seriously listening to any and all draft day trade offers. I also believe they will try to sign players to more than one year contracts.Even a two year deals offers more continuity moving forward and hopefully collecting more identity type players. Interestingly there are definitely players that want to come to Washington to play. That is something we have lacked for the better part of 3 decades
 
I think AP has generally done a good job with FA, and maybe counter to popular perception, has signed a bunch of guys to more than 1 year deals - Ekeler, Harris, Armstrong, Kinlaw, Biadacz, etc - extended Terry and Reaves, and helped put the team in a position to re-sign others - Mariota, Wagner, Ertz, McNichols, and perhaps Tunsil/Deebo, etc. Plenty of his 1 year deals performed well for us too - the above guys, plus Fowler, Zaccheus, Chinn, Martin, and Brown (to an extent anyway). I’m sure I’m missing some.

He’s also had some nice draft hits with Daniels being the big one, but Conerly and Amos look good, and we’ve seen flashes or better from others - Sainristil, Croskey-Merritt, Luke, Lane, and even Sinnott as a blocker and Owens (granted, he’s an UDFA) as a STer. Magee has drawn some praise, though who knows how that plays out. With that said, overall I think it’s fair to grade the drafting as an incomplete for now.

He’s had personnel misses too of course, as well as drafted guys that the jury’s still out on, but early returns don’t look too hot. I don’t want to downplay those misses or question marks at all, but it’s also tough to give a full eval with the combo of injuries (and other bad luck), Whitt as our DC, not knowing if he’s had spending restrictions and so on.

To me, the bottom line for this offseason (and our judgement of AP, et al) is that while we need added depth, we especially need at least a couple/few high impact players, particularly at certain positions. We can hope the draft brings help, but can’t rely on it. Peters has to make an impact via FA, and that’s not going to be easy IMO. Cap space is only part of the equation after all, and intentions only get you so far.
 
Packers just don't miss tackles. I'm so envious...
 
I do wish they'd run Bill off tackle or wide more often. I think there are missed opportunities to use his speed.
 
The more and more I think about it, the more open I am to the base package being odd front vs even front
 
The more and more I think about it, the more open I am to the base package being odd front vs even front
I hope they are already eyeing potential DC's. They should be able to get a good one, just don't want them going with a buddy like Whitt was.
 
Keim just now said he kept hearing from the team than Newton's time is coming, he was getting better. He's referenced that a couple of times for weeks. Hope they are right. And don't get me wrong, even when healthy I don't like their edge group but it would help if Armstrong can return early next season.

Washington Commanders lose their sack leader; the stats show how bad it is​

The Washington Commanders' injury crisis deepens. Their top pass rusher is out, and Next Gen Stats reveal the devastating impact his absence will have on the defense.

The biggest name everyone will be talking about this week, as the Washington Commanders get ready to face the Kansas City Chiefs, is Jayden Daniels.

However, as important as Daniels is, there’s another injury that won’t be talked about as much, which should be getting at least close to the same amount of attention. That’s because the loss of Commanders defensive end Dorance Armstrong doesn’t just weaken the defensive line; it threatens the integrity of the entire defense.

We’re not trying to be overly dramatic here, but losing the man Washington head coach Dan Quinn says “was really starting to make his mark,” is no small occurrence.

In the team’s seven games this year, Armstrong wasn’t just the leading sack-getter; his solo pressure rate was better than his positionmates combined.

According to NFL Next Gen Stats, “With Armstrong on the field this season, the Commanders have generated a 41.2% pressure rate, which would rank 3rd-highest among all teams in the NFL (not including Washington). Without Armstrong, they have posted a 36.0% mark, which would rank 12th-highest. The starting edges without Armstrong available are Jacob Martin and Von Miller, who have combined for 31 pressures on 231 pass rushes for a 13.4% pressure rate (Armstrong: 19.1%).”

 

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