Talk Commanders

The NFL gives us a couple of notable Mondays. One is the notorious “Black Monday” that comes after the last game of the season. Coaching staffs are unceremoniously taken to the curb. Some get recycled, most go to the trash bin. Many of them continue to get paid by the people firing them. In a game of win or lose the penalty for losing is swift in coming. The other notable Monday is after the first slate of games in the season. That’s known as “Overreaction Monday.” Fanbases are either searching for Super Bowl tickets and accommodations or are already resigned to depression. After 25 years of angst and despair the veneer of hope over the WFT fanbase is never going to be more than an Angstrom thick. So, it was no surprise that the loss against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was regarded by many as “Same Old, Same Old.”

The rebuilt WFT is set to embark on a transition year. Nothing about this will be particularly easy. Of the 17 games on the schedule only 7 are against teams that had losing records last year. Eight games are against teams that made the playoffs last year. And then, two are against teams with winning records that did not make the playoffs. Four games against the NFC East dominating Cowboys and Eagles are one thing. The other is the four games against the best division in football, the AFC North. Remarkably all four of those teams had winning records last year. This could be a rough ride. There’s no sense in starting on such a daunting journey with a cupcake. Tampa will be all the test this young squad will want…and more.

Anyone who has worked a night shift, spent a restless night camping, or waited in the chill for the first rays of light on a hunting trip knows that the last hours of darkness are the longest, coldest, and most trying. The fans of the Washington Football Team know this more intimately than most. It isn’t necessary to list all of the sins committed by former team owner Dan Snyder. There simply aren’t enough column-inches to do the task justice. Nor is there any need to punish the faithful by reliving a tranche of transgressions. But, the one constant in Snyder was a total inability or desire to learn from mistakes and failure. Behaviors and decision-making never changed despite horrific headwinds. It was a quarter-century of worse-than-awful. Imagine then being one Josh Harris. The ownership transferred in May. With the wicked warlock dead, the munchkins dancing jubilantly, and pall lifted from the land he had to do the least palatable thing imaginable: Sit on his hands and wait.

The pre-season mercifully comes to an end this week. Washington has the honors to close it out on a national Sunday night broadcast. If you’re tuning in to see Jayden Daniels he’ll be on the sidelines in sweats. His pre-season work ended last week. The joint practice with the Dolphins went well. The two series in the game went fairly well. Both ended in field goal attempts. One of them actually was good. The WFT started the pre-season with two place kickers. They’re both gone. Another one is on the way from Cleveland. He may just be another body in the conga line. Teams get criticized for drafting kickers. But, after a watching this kicking crew butcher the job it becomes more understandable.

Pre-season Game #2 takes the WFT to steamy Miami for a Saturday evening affair. Here are some notes from PS Game #1:

-Jayden Daniels provided the briefest of sneak peeks into the future. He engineered a successful drive completing two of three passes. One of which was a dime dropped into Dyami Brown’s hands despite blanket coverage. It was a bold, rogue play. Daniels audibled to an “All Go” when he saw the coverage. No doubt the pass called by the sideline was a short one. Dan Quinn equated the play to Tom Cruise requesting to buzz the tower in the movie “Top Gun.” Permission was denied. Cruise’s character did it anyway. If you’ve been lusting for a “Gunslinger” QB your wish may have come true.

The first preseason game features Jayden Daniels as QB1 in what left no question as to the quarterback to start the regular season.

As expected the WFT took LSU’s Jayden Daniels with the #2 pick. New GM Adam Peters simply had to draft a QB. The only two elements of drama were; which one at #2, or trade down and draft which one? Either way a QB was coming to town. As for which one at #2 the only two in play were Daniels and North Carolina’s Drake Maye. What Daniels has that Maye doesn’t is speed in abundance. What Maye has the Daniels doesn’t is size. Maye’s footwork was the big concern. Daniels durability was the big concern. Whoever was picked would leave a good chunk of the fanbase less than happy. Daniels it is. Trading down had lots of appeal. But, the old adage is to never trade down until guaranteed you will get the guy you want. With the last of the top six QBs gone at #12 there was never a guarantee of getting a good QB. And, Peters had to have one. Now the organization has to keep him upright.

The first thing one has to understand about the NFL draft is the absolute randomness of it. So-called “Mortal Locks” fail at an astounding rate. Inconsequential late-rounders defy odds and bloom. Even players that go undrafted somehow produce. The Hall of Fame includes undrafted players such as Kurt Warner, Larry Little, and Washington nemesis Drew Pearson among a decent number of others. Teams spend millions of dollars to formulate their “Draft Boards.” It’s person-hours of research in staggering amounts combined with travel, consultants, and interviews. Despite all that, in the end, it’s not all that different from picking lottery ping-pong balls. Washington’s immediate football future depends on picking a winner.

Yogi Berra famously said, “If you don’t know where you’re going, you might end up someplace else.” That sums up two-and-one-half decades of the Washington professional football franchise. Directionless, rudderless, and clueless are all attributes of the Dan Snyder era. So, it was with some measure of contained glee that newly hired Dan Quinn hit the exactly correct note at one point during his introductory presser. Nearly two-thirds of the way into the hour-long affair he was asked about a “Rebuild.” He shrugged off the word: “…this is a recalibrate, you know, finding our North again…” For a ship languishing and long lost in the open ocean it all starts with finding Polaris.

When Josh Harris and the new ownership group selected Adam Peters the pronouncement was that, ““We set out to find a leader, someone who could take this franchise to the next level and build an elite team that consistently competes for championships.” Peters in his first pronouncement stated, ““We’re looking for the best leader for this team, for the Washington Commanders.” During a radio interview within the past ten days Hall-of-Fame Coach Bill Cowher was asked what was the primary attribute to consider when hiring a new Head Coach. “He has to be a leader of men, first and foremost.” If you listen to football people long enough you’ll hear variations on this theme over and over, ad nauseum. What does it mean, though?