Commanders Coffee #6

[SkinsNumberOne]

Strangely, that has been a "Washington thing" and a constant at that, for literally decades.
Both offense an defensively.
Going back all the way to Mike Nolan, I can remember.
We don't seem to adjust our schemes to players' skillsets.
It's like the old square peg in a round hole. Or was it a round peg in a square hole ?
Gibbs though, was a master at taking any player practically, and getting his fullest potential out of him

You're definitely right, and we talked a bit about the CBs in bad positions, but it's actually true almost across every position. LBs playing in roles outside of what they are used to, DEs... we are constantly shifting players around. Another comment Logan Paulsen made (he seemed more ready to talk badly about the defense) was that Del Rio's defense was really complicated, and calling out young MLBs for their mistakes may have been missing the point; maybe the scheme is too complex for young guys to easily pick up? Again, a lack of adjustment, an obstinance that seems to pervade our coaching staff.

By the way, as much as the Shanahan era was rife with annoying leaks and media garbage, Kyle definitely does adapt to his players. I will give him that much; I feel he tries to adjust what he does.

 

[Theismann To HOF]

Yes, Turner threw Taylor under the bus a couple of times and that wasn't a good look. However, it doesn't change the fact that Turner was correct in his statements.

I love me some Taylor. The kid is all guts and hustle and class. What isn't to like about that?

Having said that, he had nearly a full season last year and at the end, he was often making the same mistakes with his reads that he was at the beginning of the year. This offense left a lot of points on the table because Taylor would check down with a guy running open on a deeper route or he would focus on McLaurin while Carter was open on the opposite side of the field.

In short, I didn't see the growth from him in the mental aspects of the game that I ideally want to see, especially in a QB that is limited physically.

No QB plays their best their first season as a starter. Washington at the end of last season was depleted by Covid and by injuries, so it's wrong to judge Heinicke based on that.

And Heinicke never played as horrible as Wentz played against the Eagles....minus 16 yards passing in the first half??? Give me a break. Wentz is finished as a starting QB.

Heinicke would have been better this year than last year. And he still will be once he's the starter again.

 

[Lovin Cousins]

No QB plays their best their first season as a starter. Washington at the end of last season was depleted by Covid and by injuries, so it's wrong to judge Heinicke based on that.

And Heinicke never played as horrible as Wentz played against the Eagles....minus 16 yards passing in the first half??? Give me a break. Wentz is finished as a starting QB.

Heinicke would have been better this year than last year. And he still will be once he's the starter again.

When people say he's been let go by 2 previous teams, that doesn't even tell the full story.
Because he was actually turned down by 3 regimes, out of those 2 teams. Including twice in Philly.
Because first Pederson demoted him. Then Sirianni let him go. Followed by Indy.

 

[Boone]

Two things can be true at once. Wentz can be a fatally flawed QB and Heinicke can lack the base physical tools to be a legit NFL starter.

I'm not saying either of those is true - because people always want to go the black and white extremes when usually some shade of grey comes closer to the truth. Both guys have pros and cons and that's so obvious it shouldn't have to be argued.

We can all take solace in one likelihood. If Wentz IS fatally flawed and his issues unfixable, he won't last long. If Heinicke really is the 2nd coming of Drew Brees, he'll get another shot to prove it.

 

[Theismann To HOF]

Here's an example of what i'm talking about. This is a 5 step drop, Terry is WIDE OPEN. Wentz even see's it but he's still retreating and is not set to throw, by the time he gets his feet under him, the DB has reacted and is crashing down causing Wentz to pull the ball. If this is a 3 step drop where Wentz is set, the ball likely comes out.



Lets see if this works...

Here it is without the pause



Wentz may have taken an extra step, but it really looks like an intended 5 step drop where Wentz saw Terry flash WIDE and he tried to adjust but it didnt work.

Yeah, I think this drives home my point -- it's not the play caller's fault. Wentz is an undisciplined QB and he is taking 7 step drops when he should be taking 5 step drops.

I don't think Wentz knows how to play quickly. Again, he lacks good fundamentals, just too many bad habits.

 

[Theismann To HOF]

Two things can be true at once. Wentz can be a fatally flawed QB and Heinicke can lack the base physical tools to be a legit NFL starter.

I'm not saying either of those is true - because people always want to go the black and white extremes when usually some shade of grey comes closer to the truth. Both guys have pros and cons and that's so obvious it shouldn't have to be argued.

We can all take solace in one likelihood. If Wentz IS fatally flawed and his issues unfixable, he won't last long. If Heinicke really is the 2nd coming of Drew Brees, he'll get another shot to prove it.

Yes, but I think the verdict is in on Wentz. There is a large body of work on Wentz and it mostly says he has fatal flaws.

The jury is still out on Heinicke. He was essentially a rookie last year, but showed a lot of promise in my view. He deserves another season to prove himself.

 

[Boone]

Yes, but I think the verdict is in on Wentz. There is a large body of work on Wentz and it mostly says he has fatal flaws.

The jury is still out on Heinicke. He was essentially a rookie last year, but showed a lot of promise in my view. He deserves another season to prove himself.

That’s fair. I think most of us like Heinicke a lot more than you realize.

 

[SilentThreat]

Yeah, I think this drives home my point -- it's not the play caller's fault. Wentz is an undisciplined QB and he is taking 7 step drops when he should be taking 5 step drops.

I don't think Wentz knows how to play quickly. Again, he lacks good fundamentals, just too many bad habits.

how do you know what the 'drop' was on the playcall? That play may call for a 5 step drop (as I pointed out in my initial post). Wentz appears to be back tracking like it was intended to be a 5 step drop and he tries to shorten it.... but if a playcall is written with a 5 step drop, how do you hold that against Wentz? I don't think (I could be wrong) that the drop point of the QB is necessarily an 'optional' part of the playcall. It's not at the discression of the QB because blocking assignments are dicated by how deep the QB retreates. It was one of the big knocks against Griffin... that he was dropping incorrectly leaving his O-Line out to dry because they were blocking for a 5 step drop, thinking Griffin would be shallower and they could just carry the DE around the outside... instead he takes 2 extra steps and the OT carrys the DE right into him. That makes the OT look terrible, when in fact he executed what he was supposed to perfectly... Had Griffin taken the correct drop back, the DE would have just flown around the back of him without a chance of making a play.

 

[MikefromOH]

Cousins is a better QB than Wentz
RG3 even got us to the playoffs one year!

I'm a Heinicke supporter, but no way he's better than those two off the top of my head.

 

[Theismann To HOF]

Cousins is a better QB than Wentz
RG3 even got us to the playoffs one year!

I'm a Heinicke supporter, but no way he's better than those two off the top of my head.

You're judging Heinicke after one year as a starter. I think that is premature. And Cousins was nowhere near as good as Heinicke after one year as a starter.

I watched Cousins carefully in Washington for years. What I mostly remember is him playing subpar in big games, like that 2016 season finale choke job against the Giants. I firmly believe that Heinicke is a better competitor with better football instincts and a better all-round QB than Cousins.

 

[MikefromOH]

You're judging Heinicke after one year as a starter. I think that is premature. And Cousins was nowhere near as good as Heinicke after one year as a starter.

I watched Cousins carefully in Washington for years. What I mostly remember is him playing subpar in big games, like that 2016 season finale choke job against the Giants. I firmly believe that Heinicke is a better competitor with better football instincts and a better all-round QB than Cousins.

It my view, Heinicke was the best QB this team has had in decades. And he's a helluva a lot better than Wentz. That is now plainly obvious.

No, you judged heinicke. I just quoted you and did it back.

 

[Theismann To HOF]

No, you judged heinicke. I just quoted you and did it back.

True that. You checkmated me.

Having said that, after seeing Heinicke as a starting QB for one year, I would take him over any of Cousins' years in Washington.

 

[Boone]

I don’t want to see Wentz fail. But I love Heinicke and if he is under center at any time this year I’ll be rooting my ass off for him.

 

[Theismann To HOF]

I don’t want to see Wentz fail. But I love Heinicke and if he is under center at any time this year I’ll be rooting my ass off for him.

I don't want to see Wentz fail either, but I'm pretty convinced that he will. In fact, you can make a strong case that he already has failed.

That's why I'm indifferent about cheering for him, because I'm 90% convinced that he is finished as a starting QB. I actually do feel sorry for him.

What's going on right now with Wentz reminds me a lot of the early 2013 season, when Washington was getting blown out in the first half of every game with RG III as QB. And it became apparent that RG III was finished as a starting QB as well.

 

[SirClintonPortis]

I suspect Snyder told them that winning is no longer the focus and they can do whatever the fuck they want as long as we make no publicity and finish around 8-9 or 7-10. After all he has a scandal to quash.

Well, it looks my prediction has come true(we are not beating Dallas short of injury en masse).

 

[burgold]

We started the season with the NFL's weakest schedule. We're ending it with a losing record.

That's not what Year Three should look like.