Are The Commanders Cursed? | Sports Junkies

Are The Commanders Cursed? | Sports Junkies

What up, guys? So, I saw JP Finley tweet uh a video of the locker room afterwards and kind of the walk to the locker room. Um there was actually some positive vibes last week. Oh, yeah. None of that this week. None. Quiet, silent, and you know, there was for a couple reasons. One, I mean, obviously, listen, man, that’s a horrible, horrible loss. I don’t think I could probably use a couple more horriles, right? um they know that like that was that was just honestly it’s embarrassing. Um and then then you t you have that with the Zack Herz injury too like that crushed many of those guys because of how respected he is and they know um what that kind of injury means at his stage in his career etc. So like I think that weighed on them certainly in the locker room on the way the walk to the locker room. I just think there’s all those factors that come into play, but like just you you you get it’s a goose egg, you know, like that’s bad. You have an you’re facing a team with an offense that struggled and they hang up 30 hung up 31 on you. Like that’s bad. So it all adds up. But yeah, like last week or yesterday, Dan Quinn said they took a step forward last week and they took three steps back yesterday. You probably could have added a couple more steps on that one. You know, it’s just so frustrating because I mean, first and foremost, obviously, I mean, Jaden reagravating the elbows. Thank God it wasn’t anything worse. But even before that, I was like, watching it, you know, other than the first drive, which I thought I told the guys, um, I was telling my buddy who I was watching it with, I was like, “Oh, what a great response.” Right before, but then they don’t score. So, it’s kind of frustrating, but I was like, “Wow, what a great drive. So thankful to have Jaden back.” But then after that, you know, just they never even though they had Terry and Noah Brown and, you know, Jaden, we just there was no explosion. It was a dud. And then defensively to kind of backtrack again. I mean, just the overall game was just so it’s almost hard to explain. I don’t even know how to explain it. I I agree. And um I kind of thought after that first drive by the Vikings where they basically Yeah. the amount of Yeah. the the amount of they allowed a quarterback who has been bad and he for whatever reason whether because he’s young or he’s just not that good. They allowed a young quarterback to gain a lot of confidence on that first drive. And that’s when you start think like, you know, you get that they could be in trouble here and and then you fall down two scores to that defense which is very good and very aggressive and it just like that’s when you like you could not afford to get in the hole against them and and they did right away. But like that and the second drive even Quinn said like after a Minnesota second drive like that was essentially the ball game. You know it’s a 98 yard 12minute march again with a quarterback who has struggled against pretty much everybody else and he looked like Montana against these guys. And that’s where some of those defensive shortcomings come into play. Um they didn’t want to they didn’t really want to send any pressure at any blitzes. um they’re limited really to heavy zone coverage and this guy struggles against man because tight coverage makes it hard on this guy who is inaccurate and gets his mechanics all out of whack. But you didn’t see any of that yesterday and that was that was to me the brutal part like you know it’s one thing to get picked apart by um some of the quarterbacks they face with the Mahomes or guys like that you know even golf and etc but it’s another to get picked apart by JJ McCarthy at this stage in his career. John, give me your best guess. I know you, you know, there going to be medical reports and who knows, maybe he gets an MRI in the elbow. Your best guess right now, does Jaden start next week at the Giants? Uh, [Music] I mean, I I don’t know. I What I even asked Quinn after like, “Do you you know, do you still want to see him play this year?” like because that’s the third game that he’s in a row that he’s left early and he said basically yes I it’s important at this point for his development. So you know if if there’s nothing if there’s nothing structurally wrong and it was just because as he said like they never ruled him out of the game. So, I would I guess I lean toward that, but I’m I can’t lean very hard because one, I don’t know enough information, but two, you know, if if it if it certainly caused him some discomfort, whatever, like whether it’s reagravated, reinjured, or whatever it was, it caused him enough that he stayed on the ground and was clearly very frustrated on the sideline. Um, you know, so that’s where I would probably lean. Probably not. But um I think I kind of went back and forth on that one because I don’t know. But you know, I think if they start doing MRIs and stuff and searching for something, they’ll hold them out. If they do if they start doing MRIs and I think you’re right, they hold them out. But I think like when you look at it, if it’s just a pain tolerance thing, I think they’re going to throw them to the wolves because look, it’s the NFL, right? Well, it is. And and what one of the first things they did was took off there was one time they had to adjust the padding on there, um etc. So, I thought that was also a tough defense for him to face in his first game back because of all that blitzes that sent. But yeah, I think if if you start doing testing on it, then you’re just going to like just you’re looking for something, you’ll find it. Yeah. But but if but otherwise, you’re right. If it’s a pain tolerance, like most a lot of those guys are playing with something, right? You know, what maybe not quite the same, but to some level they’re playing with something. I think it shows that these guys are so competitive that, you know, once the season starts and they come back from injury, they’re never 100%. Like he wasn’t 100%, but he’s good enough to play, but he wasn’t 100% and it, you know, and it just unfortunately landed right on it, you know, in a kind of an awkward deal. It was it was you know and unfortunately for him that’s like a couple times like the the way he fell that got it hurt was a freak kind of flukeish play but um you know and I think the other thing too is like I know you know he’s chasing down an interception and that’s the tough one but that’s the competitor part too and even Bobby Wagner talked about that like you basically want to see your guy doing that because you don’t if you if he stops running after the guy then it looks bad. It’s awful. Yeah. Yeah. So, but you know what? He needs to learn a couple things and he knows it, but his competitor instinct maybe prevents him from doing it. He dives head first too often. All right. So, you can take a hit there instead of sliding. And then maybe you can take a hit, too. That’s the problem. Yeah, he can definitely take a hit in the head. In some in some cases, it might be even worse. He doesn’t go down enough like there was on I think on that last drive he was tackled by two or three guys and he goes down awkwardly. I think it He was very upright on that one where he was scrambling and he basically got mauled by three guys and you know every Commander fan was probably bracing themselves like oh no and he survived that one but he didn’t survive the next right and to me like part of what it is too and this is something when you go back and watch the games like to see like did you have an option there to throw and there were a couple times early in the game and I wonder when you haven’t played as much he started to become much better last year at keeping his eyes downfield when he started to run and seeing guys and like and at least keeping the ball alive, right? Um but when you haven’t played a lot this year and you you kind of maybe you get out of out of um rhythm a little bit with that, I guess, right? Because there were a couple times early there were a couple times early where he ran. I’m like, could you have thrown the ball here because like Terry’s wide is open over here is seemingly seemingly in line of vision. Um, and could you have, you know, instead of running and taking either a hit or diving or whatever it is, just throwing it get 15 yards. And so, like that’s one thing I think as you get as he gets back into the swing of it that that I would like to see more of just because like you those are the chances for big plays and then it takes away the possibility of you having to make a play with your legs all the time. Um so and that you know but yeah the the um there are he got better last you know last year too at not always running out of bounds and just throwing it away like that’s the other thing as well. So I I think as he gets back into it I would see I would expect to see some growth there because he he saw we saw it last year. Yeah. Um, but yeah, but I think that’s another big This year has just been a wash because you can’t play a game and then miss three and then come back for a quarter and then miss two and then you’re just not going to get any rhythm and it’s just awful. It’s just throw it away. It’s that’s a disaster. But we still got a few more to play. I’d like to see him play if he can. What about with Z going down? That’s also sad. And you know, nobody else can see a guy in his career that way. And you know, I don’t know. I I feel terrible for the guy. Will we finally will they give Cinn it an opportunity to show anything or is that is that is that train already kind of passed and it’s just he is who he is? Um I think I I’d say I’m kind of in between there because he’s gotten opportunities like it’s funny because people ask about that it’s almost like he’s never played. He does play he plays a little bit catch and Yeah. Yeah. And so um but there he and I are very different players and different route runners and they’re different strengths. So what I’d be curious to see is if he gets more opportunities. It’s also Coulson Yankov who is more is probably more he seems more athletic maybe. Huh. Yeah. Yeah. And so he’s more of a he he would be more of the you know Ben Sinn has become a pretty good blocker and like right so that’s one area he’s really developed but they’re also like I said they’re very different. So if you know one talked to somebody over there who’s like probably better with like play action boots and all that. So if you get put him because then you get you put him in a situation where maybe there’s a little bit of space where he can run after the catch versus like Z is better at um you see those you know in the red zone especially the routes that he runs the precision he runs with the footwork he shows is just different and that’s not Sinnate’s game. So his is his would be more like again boots roll outs um play action whatever just where where space maybe is created for him and then he can run after the catch. So like that’s what I’d be curious to see does he do that. So, yeah, we’ll get a chance to see more of that. And I like everybody else, like I, you know, we’ve seen what we’ve seen. Um, and it hasn’t been enough, you know, if you’re like, typically you’re going to earn those moments versus being handed to them, right? And and has he earned those? Um, but we’ll get it now. And that’s I think a good thing to see going forward because that could be that’s a position that’s on the list if he doesn’t. And but Yankov’s another guy who will get more chances and he’s he’s had some too. So it’s it’s hard to be excited for even next season. I mean when you have a game like this, I mean the end of the season’s one thing, but then like what’s this off season going to be like? How much turn how much turnover do you think there’s going to be? A lot. I mean they only have 34 guys signed for next year already. Yeah. Um so and then a couple of those guys will probably be released whether it could be a Latimore, right? Um, so you’re gonna they’re going to be a lot of turnover. But yeah, and this was this is the um when you start getting into the draft positioning discussion, this has always been my point that if you just collapse on the stretch, yes, you get the fifth pick, but if you’re collapsing down the stretch, you’re going to need a hell of a lot more than the fifth pick to turn this baby around. And you know what I mean? Now, now finish strong is also like if they had lost yesterday 2120 it’s like all right well it’s another competitive game similar team right you know okay it’s a little bit different 31 nothing exposes other things and like if you if you have that kind of a finish then we’re looking at a whole different um ball game going into next year you know questions about everything about the organization versus hey that was just a bad year because of injuries right like that that would be so um but yeah They need they always knew they needed another good off seasonason to keep this to to really build this thing up, but it’s like way more than what anybody thought. I mean, you need to get some defensive playmakers, man. Oh, yeah. The the one thing I would say in yesterday’s game and maybe something that can carry over into the offseason is the offensive line looks good. Um, they allowed two sacks in the game and Chris Rodriguez and Bill when they were given the ball ran pretty effectively. Yeah, I think Rodriguez was over five yards a carry. Bill was closing in on that. Um, so there’s that, but there’s not much else. No, you’re right though. the but if you you know to build they I agree with you on the offensive line and when you know again watching that yesterday ear you know I was able to watch some of it on the plane ride back last night where like the it was the pressure that they got it was not because of line um mis shortcomings as much as it was they just they were fooling them and you know that’s a hell of a scheme that that you know the the blitz scheme that that Minnesota uses but overall they’ve been pretty they’ve done much better lately right And so I think that’s a building block for sure. And um I still think they have the quarterback. Just got to stay healthy. So you have that. But beyond that, when you look at the positions, you know, receiver with McLaren, um we don’t know what’s going to be beyond him at this point because, you know, Noah Brown will be out. I mean, he’s free agent. So is Debo. Like what do you do there? Um I think you need to get some young guy in there to al to you know, help. Um, tight end, you’re going to need somebody unless it unless it really has a strong finish, right? Um, but defensively, what are the building blocks? How many are there really? Um, that’s that’s the question and I think, you know, that’s going to be the hard one to really dig into. So, you just got to hope that Amos comes back healthy and you got, you know, you drafted Sanill. So, and I think you know like like I would and I think yesterday kind of goes to just to pause on that for a minute like when you look at that defense yesterday part of the problem was they can they’re only playing they’re they want to be a heavy press man team and they’re really right now they are a zone team because you don’t have those press man corners in Amos and Latimore. So, I think you still need to get another corner there to play the style like yesterday. They again stuck with heavy zone because I don’t think they they didn’t feel comfortable playing man um against that group. And I think it it it leads to an inability an ability for a good offensive-minded coach on the other side to pick you apart. All right, John. Good stuff. Eight straight losses. It’s been a tough season for sure. Thanks, pal. Thanks, guys. I I just can’t believe we are where we are. It’s unbelievable. Well, four of us on the show range from 10 to 12 wins. Yep. That was our preseason predictions. Turns out they’re going to have 10 to 12 losses. In my in my worst case, they already have 10 losses, right? Could be 14. Other than like a catastrophic injury to Jaden, I couldn’t have seen this. Impossible. It’s possible to see this. Phone number is 1 8006361067 if you want to chime in. We’ll open up the phone lines. We’re going to tackle the next topic, which is Jaden Daniels specifically, and can you find a way to keep this guy healthy? Should he be playing? Should he have been playing? And how do you protect Jaden? And we’ll tackle that next here on the Junks.

John Keim joins The Sports Junkies to recap Washington’s loss to Minnesota.

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