Random Commanders Thoughts

[SkinsNumberOne]

If we cut Allen it is only 6 million in dead money, I don't think he's back next year. He's set to cost 24 million against the cap next year and I'm not sure extending him to make the contract more team friendly is wise. He's been a soldier on some bad teams but he's hitting that age where play could fall off a cliff quickly.

You get some DTs good into the 30s. It's not about him being a good soldier on bad teams, he does still produce. I am not saying they should or shouldn't but I think the decision isn't too clear to me. A lot depends on what they see that we don't (his attitude, buy-in, prep work, strength and conditioning... all of those aspects).

 

[DogofWar1]

Someone call John Mara, he loves to impose penalties on division rivals when they are doing some "uncompetitive."

Thought unlike 2012 this is actually a real problem, not a fake problem like back then.

 

[DogofWar1]

Big problem with DL is all three dudes are gap shooters. You need a fat man to clog the lanes, while our guys are get past the OL guys.

I'm not sure who the odd man out is, but Allen is both older (not OLD but 30 vs 27) and expensive.

I like Allen. He, like Terry, put up with a lot of crap here. I want him to get to see the fruits of his effort and not be tossed out right when we got good.

But the chart of DL cost vs play efficiency was really startling. We're top of the league by far, and getting below average results. Some of that is injury, but some isn't. Something has to give.

 

[Bulldog]

No to Allen.

He’s past his prime and is injury prone.

This line needs youth and size.

The old adage that talented big guys tend to beat talented little guys has been shown out time and again.

If you go back and look at the Dallas playoff game against the Packers the mismatch across the front reminded me of this game.

If you are going to play undersized defensive linemen and linebackers they better be as cat quick as Warren Sapp or Aaron Donald to avoid getting blocked standing up.

Armstrong is a good situational rusher but he gets pushed 5 yards off the ball on the early down runs.

 

[Shi no Tenshi]

i just don't understand why we don't do a tush push! if the eagles are going to continue doing it, then why not us? if they want to play that game, then washington needs to start using it also, practice it during the offseason training camp. don't use jayden! use the ultimate jumbo package! use daron payne under center and have him plow through! doesn't have to be daron payne! they can use any big guy that doesn't play a whole lot during the game. it's a game of chess. this team needs more creativity!

Um.... Why would we need a tush push? We have literally been the best in the nfl converting 4th down, many times with yardage that the eagles tactic couldn't dream of.
The creativity our team has is why they were so good at those conversions. Tush push is literally the most brute force low thought way possible of getting a yard or two. We had about 20 different ways of getting 5-10 yards on 4th down.

 

[Shi no Tenshi]

I agree there were impactful referee moments in the game, but I see it somewhat differently. It was inexperience by our team at dealing with that context. The Eagles know how to play the refs, have the cheap shot gamesmanship that is used to get in the opponent's heads and make them retaliate and get caught, or clumsily do something that is "too far" for the refs and gets called. Things like the Lattimore/Brown situation, where AJ gets away with something that is normally a personal foul at least...came down to Lattimore allowing them rent-free space in his head for significant portions of the game.

Sainristil's late hit foul? That's how it is called in the modern NFL, love it or hate it. In game speed it looks fair, slow it down and it's the same thing they call every single game, and it gets called the same way. While I am of the contingent of people that hates the way that particular call is made, it is consistent. In the end, the only thing you can ever really hope for with referees is that they make their calls consistently. As we see every single year in this sport (no different from others), there are different points of emphasis given during the season, trying to influence behaviors based on a specific interpretation of the written rule. There is always an uptick on certain things at the beginning of the year, and the players have to recognize it and alter their play for that updated interpretation.

Our players didn't do that well this game on several occasions. The Eagles obviously knew how much they could get away with, and stepped on the line enough to frustrate the shit out of their opponents (both fans and players). As much of a pisser as that as, and as infuriating as a tactic as it is...it's within the scope of play, and it wins you high pressure games. Just like any competition, the competitor that controls the flow is the one that will almost always win. They were in control, we were not. Blame the refs if you want, but at the macro level, it wasn't the specific calls.

On top of it all....we lost the game on our sloppy play. Hard to let Jayden carry the team when the ball is constantly given to the other team by the squad around him. That kickoff fumble was brutal. On top of it, we started the game playing not to lose, and I absolutely hated the field goal on the first drive. Wrong mentality for winning this game in my opinion, and we played like the little guy against the big bully, and got pounded into the dirt as expected.

Plus side? This is the worst our team will be for the next decade. Getting back in the playoffs is now an expected thing, getting to the Super Bowl is a plausible reality, and one off-season could get us there. We'll get our chance to put the Eagles in their place, and this game gave our younger players the opportunity to learn the right responses and reactions to ensure scummy tactics don't undercut us next time.

 

[burgold]

I agree there were impactful referee moments in the game, but I see it somewhat differently. It was inexperience by our team at dealing with that context. The Eagles know how to play the refs, have the cheap shot gamesmanship that is used to get in the opponent's heads and make them retaliate and get caught, or clumsily do something that is "too far" for the refs and gets called. Things like the Lattimore/Brown situation, where AJ gets away with something that is normally a personal foul at least...came down to Lattimore allowing them rent-free space in his head for significant portions of the game.

Sainristil's late hit foul? That's how it is called in the modern NFL, love it or hate it. In game speed it looks fair, slow it down and it's the same thing they call every single game, and it gets called the same way. While I am of the contingent of people that hates the way that particular call is made, it is consistent. In the end, the only thing you can ever really hope for with referees is that they make their calls consistently. As we see every single year in this sport (no different from others), there are different points of emphasis given during the season, trying to influence behaviors based on a specific interpretation of the written rule. There is always an uptick on certain things at the beginning of the year, and the players have to recognize it and alter their play for that updated interpretation.

Except Lattimore is at least as tenured a vet as AJ Brown. And the late hit is not how it's called in the NFL if Sainristil is called, but the defender who not only hit Ertz much further out of bounds, but then completed the tackle hit got off scott free.

My only hope is that the refs get a memo in the offseason that Washington is now considered one of the good teams and to knock it off. The clear biased and uneven reffing is a disgrace. We've moved beyond Captain Obvious to Captain Corrupt.

 

[Shi no Tenshi]

Except Lattimore is at least as tenured a vet as AJ Brown. And the late hit is not how it's called in the NFL if Sainristil is called, but the defender who not only hit Ertz much further out of bounds, but then completed the tackle hit got off scott free.

My only hope is that the refs get a memo in the offseason that Washington is now considered one of the good teams and to knock it off. The clear biased and uneven reffing is a disgrace. We've moved beyond Captain Obvious to Captain Corrupt.

Tenure or exposure means nothing to how much somebody actually learns. Part of the reason a victim mentality is so damaging: it stops you from growing when things are perceived to be unfair.

I have always had full faith in the likelihood of human incompetence versus a conspiracy existing. Refs make mistakes, fairly constantly. These ones missed things on us as well, it wasn't like they called every single thing we did during the game. There were a few impactful calls on us though, and those will absolutely loom large in our assessment of the situation...and I always try to account for that bias within myself.

I definitely do not excuse the ref crew we had, as I was wondering how they managed to get such a prestige assignment given how terrible they have been all year long. Daddy Hochuli has a strong pull with the office, obviously.

 

[Chris]

According to John Keim, Peters and Quinn will appear before the media at 5pm.

 

[DogofWar1]

Crazy Idea.

So you know how lawyers can strike jurors in a jury trial.

What if we allowed teams in the division round onward to, prior to refs being picked, they can strike one crew?

Probably a complete non-starter, bc it tacitly admits that some refs suck at their jobs and/or are biased, but I feel like, setting that problem aside, it would help a lot to eliminate the "Eagles are 6-0 with Hochuli oh here we go again" stuff.

 

[Darrell Green Fan]

I'm just glad I didn't read Lions fans crying about the refs, I'm sure they could give examples as well, and they didn't lose by 32 points. Instead we should be looking at our players as most of the flags, and there weren't a lot in this game, were in fact penalties and we committed several big ones at bad times.

 

[Chris]

 

[Riggo Reincarnated]

Need to train intensively in TRENCH WARFARE. Will Shipley ran over us, not just Barkley.

 

[Shi no Tenshi]

I'm just glad I didn't read Lions fans crying about the refs, I'm sure they could give examples as well, and they didn't lose by 32 points. Instead we should be looking at our players as most of the flags, and there weren't a lot in this game, were in fact penalties and we committed several big ones at bad times.

There were plenty of Lions fans crying about the refs that game. Especially with the Goff hit on the pick 6.

 

[CuredFromBatteredFanSyndrome]

I'm just glad I didn't read Lions fans crying about the refs, I'm sure they could give examples as well, and they didn't lose by 32 points. Instead we should be looking at our players as most of the flags, and there weren't a lot in this game, were in fact penalties and we committed several big ones at bad times.

Odd hill to die on.

We’ve provided at least a half dozen ridiculous examples of calls/no-calls that negatively impacted our team. You provided one example of a ticky tack PI on Lattimore that wasn’t called on a drive where the Eagles scored a TD anyways.

X/Twitter is full of accounts, general NFL related accounts - not Commanders fans, that were posting in real time how awful and one sided the reffing was in our game.

You keep citing the 32 points like this game was never close. It’s disingenuous and reads more like something Philly fans would beat their drum about.

 

[Darrell Green Fan]

I don't want to cause a rukus, I'm new here. But let's be honest, this game wasn't close and to me it's a bad look to complain about the calls when we could not stop the Eagles all afternoon and a few calls were not going to change that. That's all I'll say on the topic.

 

[CuredFromBatteredFanSyndrome]

I don't want to cause a rukus, I'm new here. But let's be honest, this game wasn't close and to me it's a bad look to complain about the calls when we could not stop the Eagles all afternoon and a few calls were not going to change that. That's all I'll say on the topic.

The game would have been much closer though if the 2 most obvious/egregious situations were corrected. The 4th and 5 to Brown, clearly should have been flagged and made to be 4th and 15 where Philly obviously has no choice but to punt. That’s 7 points right there. The personal foul called on the Barkley hit was atrocious and instead of a FG try, they extend the drive for 7.

That’s 11 points in the first half of a game that was 14-12 prior to that.

Yes, guys fumbled but those 11 points were game changing huge and flipped the entire game script.

Again, Philly was supposed to win. But they didn’t deserve all the help they got to make it much easier than it ever should have been.

 

[Bulldog]

Again, Daniels made this team look much better than the overall talent level and other than #5 the Washington rookie class of 2024 was not exactly front and center on this run.

There is little clarity about our having younger players that stood up enough to show they are core pieces going forward alongside the quarterback.

On offense it looks like we still need under 25 pieces at WR, TE and RB that can elevate the squad. The line doesn’t have one pro bowler on it.

On defense you could make a case a complete tear down is still necessary, two years after Washington was ranked #30 under Ron Rivera and we jettisoned that defensive roster.

I look at KC and they keep finding these guys over the years like Chris Jones and L’Jarius Snead outside of the first round who made the all pro team regularly and put a top 5-10 unit out there.

 

[RandyHolt]

Need to train intensively in TRENCH WARFARE. Will Shipley ran over us, not just Barkley.

We need to train forced fumbles. We heard for decades it was frowned upon to go for forced fumbles because you have to make the tackle as the highest priority. Finally, the league figured out the peanut punch can reap rewards but before that we'd be lucky to see a rip of the ball attempted even down 3 scores with 3 minutes left.

I think the Egles have forced 29 to date. Turnovers are a game changer. We saw it first hand 2 weeks in a row. Its time to no longer be a spectator getting punched in the gut, like we were with hurry up for 3 decades.

 

[burgold]

Things we need to emphasize on defense.

Being in your gap is okay.
Actually covering your man and not playing five yards off a receiver is a good thing.
Turnovers and punts are our friends.
Being there and tackling is not the same thing.
Backups accidentally cheap shotting refs who repeatedly screw us is a forgivable sin.
It's HTTR and never HTTC