Commanders @ Dallas - Next Day Thread

[Voice_of_Reason]

Immediate thoughts:

- I personally don't question the effort or desire or "want to"
- Daniels was having a good game before he got hurt. Not a great game, but a good game. Had he remained in the game, they would have had a better chance.
- Bill: 13 for 33. Even London and Logan said that they Cowboys were just basically telling the Commanders "you can't run." Daniels and some combination of the WRs/TEs were going to have to beat them. And they couldn't.
- 11 Penalties for 118 yards is unacceptable.
- They had 2 turnovers, Daniels' fumble and Mariota's pick-6. That's 3 turnovers in 2 weeks for Daniels. Gotta clean that up.
- 3rd down offense actually wasn't bad: 7-16. But 0-2 on 4th down.
- The biggest crime of the game was letting Dallas go down the field in 45 seconds and answer the TD the offense put on the board.
- Conerly didn't look to have a great game.
- McCaffery had a really solid game as a kick returner. 8 for 209 yards including a 41 yard return.


Bigger picture, the team has a lot of work to do and a lot of players to get back before they can really be considered a contender. I have some faith the offense can still be great, but they need a healthy Daniels + actual WRs. The defense? I dunno. I'd like average, and I don't think we will get average this year.

Anyway, have at it.

 

[SkinsGuy99]

Last season, one of the reasons for Washington's success is they were one of the most injury-free teams in the league.

This season, the injury gods seem to be making up for lost time.

 

[NoCalSkins]

This team is not very good on either side of the ball right now. On offense it is obvious that they can't sustain the injuries they have to remain consistently productive. They manage to put together an impressive drive here and there still, but never any rhythm never much to show they have actually turned a corner.

The problem is that the defense is so bad and non-competitive that the offense has no margin of error. Go a few drives without scoring and the team is likely to be down by multiple possessions. It's not that I am letting the offense off the hook, but the defense really has no excuse to be this bad. The personnel isn't up to par, but there are things they do that are just beyond absurd.

Does Lattimore ever turn around to play the ball? I swear there are times that his actual coverage isn't bad, he is on the WR and in position to make a play, but it seems like he is just waiting there watching the WR to try and break up the pass after it is already in their hands. Just turn around and it could easily be a pass deflection or more.

Teams are going to stack the box to stop the run until we get some WRs back on the field, so why oblige what they are doing by calling run after run straight up the middle. Where are the zone pulls, the HB toss, a sweep etc etc.....I know with Deebo out, some of the dynamic tendencies are going to be missing, but does that mean you can't even try to run around the edges ever?

Joe Whitt.....why is he still employed. Has he done anything since the beginning of the season to shake things up, to simplify, to work on the failures on the personnel? At 3-4, I think this defense is a few bad performances away from having to empty the benches and get a true look at what the youth on the roster is capable of. Will they get burned some times? Sure....but so are the starters, so what's the difference. Can it get any worse?

I really was counting on seeing the first instance of back-to-back good seasons from this team, but with the Chiefs up next who look like they have already figured things out, I am already mentally prepared to be 3-5, and being that the game is on MNF......humiliation in front of a national audience is going to be the rancid cherry on top.

I am not sure if this team has the personnel to rally from 3-5, into a playoff spot.

Finally, as I was watching Clowney wreck the middle of the O-line over and over today it had me asking how long was he sitting on his couch NOT being called by AP, before the Cowboys signed him. This pass rush was not seen as a strength going into the season and could have really used that kind of help.

 

[Dah-Dee]

ESPN:
Where does Washington go from here? The Commanders have upcoming games at Kansas City before going home for games against Seattle and Detroit. In other words: uh-oh! A season full of anticipation could turn quite bad. The Commanders' defense has shown no reason to think it can spark a turn-around. It allowed 409 total yards, and though it did record a safety, it has caused only three turnovers this season. Plus, the offense is missing too many key parts to play with any consistency; namely their top three receivers and then quarterback Jayden Daniels exited with a hamstring injury in the third quarter.

Biggest hole in the game plan: A lot of teams can't hang with Dallas' receivers, but Washington traded for cornerback Marshon Lattimore last year in part to compete more with talent like this. But Lattimore was flagged for two pass interference penalties for a combined 55 yards, and he gave up a 44-yard pass to Pickens on a second-and-17 late in the first half. -- John Keim

Biggest takeaways from Week 7: Thumbs up for the Colts, Chiefs ... thumbs down for the Jets, Dolphins

Our NFL Nation reporters answer the biggest questions out of each game. Here's what we learned from Week 7.

www.espn.com

 

[burgold]

I think Kliff failed us when it came to the run game. Every run play until the fourth quarter looked like the same run up the gut. The thing about Bill is he is both shifty and fast. Take advantage of that. Maybe the dives are R/O staple, but you need to deversify. I get that we were handcuffed with all our receivers down, but we made it harder on ourselves.

I also want to say I really don't see any (long term) advantage to playing Chosen and Moore so extensively. I'd rather lose giving Lane and McCaffrey those reps. At least then you hopefully are giving them a chance to grow.

D is just awful. They did create some stops. They even made a few plays, but whenever we began to close, whenever the moment got big... they folded.

 

[NoCalSkins]

The other frustrating thing is that even with Amos for the most part playing well, it hasn't translated into the secondary overall being much better as a unit. A rookie is out there holding it down for the most part. Yes, he gave up that sideline catch today, but overall it is pretty telling that QB's are making it an actual strategy to target Lattimore over and over rather than Amos.

 

[Professor_Nutter_Butter]

They're about one good ass beatin away from me turning into Rob Lowe for the remainder of the season.

 

[HOF28]

Immediate thoughts are this team is just off. They haven’t looked right all year. Injuries have hurt the offense but the defense is terrible and has been mostly healthy by comparison.

Bigger pictures looking forward I’m really concerned. The team traded away much needed draft capital and need younger players badly. I don’t know how we can build a competitive roster without drafting well, which they haven’t really done. The 24 draft looks pretty bad right now. FA has been a mixed bag. Peter’s had an impossible task rebuilding this team but last year’s amazing performance masked serious issues that haven’t been addressed. I think they sunk too much into the O line thinking they were close to a SB run and the results are disappointing. Huge need at WR,TE,RB, Every position on defense really, not sure how they fix it.

There are a lot of games left. I’d like to see the offense whole again before it’s too late, I’d also like to see us be competitive against good teams at least once this year. Next couple games will tell a lot.

 

[NoCalSkins]

Immediate thoughts are this team is just off. They haven’t looked right all year. Injuries have hurt the offense but the defense is terrible and has been mostly healthy by comparison.

Bigger pictures looking forward I’m really concerned. The team traded away much needed draft capital and need younger players badly. I don’t know how we can build a competitive roster without drafting well, which they haven’t really done. The 24 draft looks pretty bad right now. FA has been a mixed bag. Peter’s had an impossible task rebuilding this team but last year’s amazing performance masked serious issues that haven’t been addressed. I think they sunk too much into the O line thinking they were close to a SB run and the results are disappointing. Huge need at WR,TE,RB, Every position on defense really, not sure how they fix it.

There are a lot of games left. I’d like to see the offense whole again before it’s too late, I’d also like to see us be competitive against good teams at least once this year. Next couple games will tell a lot.

If this team is approaching mathematically challenged scenarios to make the playoffs as the deadline approaches, I expect AP will be trading away a lot of contracts in exchanges for picks. If not then, it will be happening as soon as he is allowed to in the post-season.

 

[HOF28]

If this team is approaching mathematically challenged scenarios to make the playoffs as the deadline approaches, I expect AP will be trading away a lot of contracts in exchanges for picks. If not then, it will be happening as soon as he is allowed to in the post-season.

That would be a great strategy if he can pull it off. Not sure who we have other teams would want though.

 

[Faithful Fan]

Good:

1. Tress Way
2. Daron Payne
3. Jeremy McNichols

Bad:

1. Turnovers
2. Penalties
3. JCM, sadly

Ugly:

1. Injuries
2. The last 40 seconds of the first half

 

[SkinsNumberOne]

Immediate thoughts:

- Bill: 13 for 33. Even London and Logan said that they Cowboys were just basically telling the Commanders "you can't run." Daniels and some combination of the WRs/TEs were going to have to beat them. And they couldn't.

I guess you didn't hear the commentary towards the end of the game. They asked each other, what should they be looking at; Logan was pretty explicit - but he doesn't seem to like to criticize harshly. Still, it was pretty direct.

He said that Kliff needs to take a look at 1st down runs, it looked like that was a tendency that needed to stop. Many of my friends texted me the same thing; uh, how can an NFL Coordinator not notice? Logan gave him an excuse, even: "Sometimes coordinators don't realize they are doing it." I mean, that is typical of Logan, but honestly he was as direct as he typically would be. That is VERY specific: 1st down runs. It was atrocious, frankly.

He also said in more general terms, our running game was predictable. He didn't say it in those words, it was more something along the lines of how Dallas seemed to know pretty well when we were running due to formations. He said our formations were giving away runs (as usual, he softly said it, but again as direct as Logan typically is; he said they need to look at how their formations may be telling "run").

This commentary at the end of the game is NOT about Dallas stacking the box. It is NOT about defenses "daring us to pass." It is about how this offensive scheme telegraphs run, builds up stats to show that we "tried" to run, and in a vacuum if you don't notice, talking heads then think that the run game is failing.

I don't know how strong our run game is with good calls, but our calls (especially timing and formations) are NOT good. Logan finally put it out there as I mention above; it was surprising how direct it was (for him).

 

[RedWolf]

What is the status on JD?

 

[SkinsNumberOne]

Bad:
3. JCM, sadly

No - when the other team knows with 99% certainty that you are running the ball - and has a 75% certainty on where, it is extraordinarily difficult to run the ball unless you have a gigantic personnel advantage. That isn't on JCM. That is on Kliff. He had some of the worst predictable tendencies in a running game I have ever seen in a game, today.

 

[Faithful Fan]

No - when the other team knows with 99% certainty that you are running the ball - and has a 75% certainty on where, it is extraordinarily difficult to run the ball unless you have a gigantic personnel advantage. That isn't on JCM. That is on Kliff. He had some of the worst predictable tendencies in a running game I have ever seen in a game, today.

Fair enough on Kliff’s play calling, the defense keys on JCM on first down. Also rushing yards are a function of offensive line play, so it’s not all on him by any means.

Really I love Bill, he is a great athlete, fast, makes guys miss, fun to watch, great story, amazing attitude, but he has room to improve. He has been one of the culprits in our negative turnover ratio, and he just averaged 2.5 yards per carry against what was supposed to be one of the worst run defenses in the league.

 

[SkinsNumberOne]

Fair enough on Kliff’s play calling, the defense keys on JCM on first down. Also rushing yards are a function of offensive line play, so it’s not all on JCM by any means.

Really I love Bill, he is a great athlete, fast, makes guys miss, fun to watch, great story, amazing attitude, but he has room to improve. He has been one of the culprits in our negative turnover ratio, and he just averaged 2.5 yards per carry against what was supposed to be one of the worst run defenses in the league.

Watching the game, that 2.5 was because we telegraphed too much. I was surprised because Logan Paulsen is usually very slow to critique coaches, but towards the end of the game he said basically the same thing. I think it has to REALLY be bad for him to speak up like that. It was, today, to my eye. It was horribly predictable.

 

[Dlts20]

Watching the game, that 2.5 was because we telegraphed too much. I was surprised because Logan Paulsen is usually very slow to critique coaches, but towards the end of the game he said basically the same thing. I think it has to REALLY be bad for him to speak up like that. It was, today, to my eye. It was horribly predictable.

Yea I felt like it was obvious when we were running but in fairness to Kliff, he called some decent pass plays that didn't hit due to bad player execution so it through off our rhythm every series and made the run plays pretty obvious.

My main issue was it seemed like 90 percent of our runs were basic calls right up the gut. Like can we run any off tackle plays or something different. I guess they saw a weakness in Dallas on film up the middle but when it's clearly not working, when do you adjust?

That's my problem with our coordinators. Our game plan better be spot on because they will never adjust once the game starts, even when something clearly is not working like they thought it would.

Also, I'm sorry but Whitt just ain't it. Nice guy but sometimes you can look at guys and tell that he has it. I can not picture this guy ever being elite. Also, how can other great head coaches still run the position that made them famous and call plays but DQ can't? Andy Reid, Sean Payton, Schottenhimer, Shanahan, McVay, and a ton of others are doing it. DQ needs to take command of the defense. Otherwise we might as well let him go and let Kliff be the head coach.

Sometimes you have to make tough decisions and demote friends. With that being said, I'm not going to absolve DQ of this mess either since in the post game he said that he's been more involved and doing some things. I'm not going to fully blame Whitt when some of this may actually be DQs design and calls. He needs to start feeling some heat also

 

[Petey hodge]

Selfish Terry watching the game today….

 

[SkinsFTW]

No - when the other team knows with 99% certainty that you are running the ball - and has a 75% certainty on where, it is extraordinarily difficult to run the ball unless you have a gigantic personnel advantage. That isn't on JCM. That is on Kliff. He had some of the worst predictable tendencies in a running game I have ever seen in a game, today.

I can't believe that Klifford broke out the Tecmo Bowl playbook for this game.

Same lame ass running play over and over and over and always on 1st down. It's like he is mad that Quinn is making him run the ball so he calls the same BS play over and over. If that is all he has in his playbook then we are going to need a new OC. I'm sure some dude in SF or LA can call plays. Hell, McDaniel is going to be available soon.

 

[Dlts20]

I love Jayden but I'm tired of the extra tough guy act or the doctors, or DQ. You can never get a clear answer or response. Jayden said that he was good to play in the 2 games he missed. The doctors or the coaches say otherwise. Jayden said that he was good to come back in this game. The doctors or the coaches say otherwise.

I don't care about this game because it was clearly over but Jayden needs to be honest and not just say what he thinks makes him look brave while the team also needs not to baby him if he truly can play. Right now I don't trust any of the three entities and I can tell already that we are going to go through the same thing again this week. Jayden is going to say that he's fine to play, DQ is going to talk about the doctors, and then he's going to sound like he's making his own call at the end of the week depending on what he sees through practice.

No one seemed to have caught it but in the LA game, Ben Olsen clearly said that DQ told him that Jayden was cleared to go by the doctors in the Falcons game by the end of the week but the coaches chose to sit him. That's why I don't trust none of them.

The doctors have been wrong on diagnosing the return of multiple players, Jayden seems to never wants to admit when he's hurt or injured, and DQ lies a lot or tries to make it sound like everything is a medical decision when he clearly has made the final decision in certain situations. It's all annoying