- 6 weeks ago
Commanders fans can’t seem to catch a break, and that didn’t change yesterday. In this segment, John Keim joins The Sports Junkies to break down Washington's terrible loss to Dallas and Jayden Daniels’ gross elbow injury. What was your biggest takeaway from the Commanders loss yesterday?
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00:00Commanders reporter for ESPN. Hey John. What up fellas? I think you dubbed it a doomsday in Dallas. Is that
00:07how you dubbed it? Yeah. Sounds pretty appropriate. So we got to start with Jaden. Your thoughts on the call,
00:14the decision, and then just seeing what unfolded there.
00:18I mean, listen, the call, the decision does not cause the injury. A lot of times there are players that
00:26have their foot stepped on and fall to the ground. They don't get hurt. I didn't have a problem with
00:33the call. I would say this. Before you say, what about the call? Did anybody watch your defense? Yeah, we
00:39watched it. They were bad. Yeah, they were.
00:41So you need as many points as you can get in that game. It was an aggressive call. Like, I
00:48didn't mind it for that reason. And I know, I understand, like, hey, you get the points, you get the
00:53ball. All right, let's say, best case scenario, you're up 20-17. They go down and score, and now it's
00:5724-20. And so, you know what I mean? Like, I think to get ahead of that, I didn't mind
01:04that call. But I think it speaks volumes about how their defense is playing, and I think it's the reason
01:09for the call that is troubling.
01:10And I think that's, you know, that's the issue, right? Like, you know, you now have a quarterback who's out
01:17for however long. You need a bedrock side of the ball, and you don't have one. And that's, I think,
01:23you saw that kind of encapsulated in that decision. I mean, people can disagree with that. That's fine. It did
01:29not cause the injury.
01:31No, but I do think it was as aggressive. And I didn't mind it, again, because the way that defense
01:38plays, they need a lot of cushion.
01:41I personally would have kicked the field goal, but not because it's a prevent injury. I just want, like you
01:45said, I wanted the momentum.
01:46Keep the momentum.
01:47Yeah, and then see what, you know, roll the dice.
01:49Yeah, but that injury was going to happen regardless. You could tell.
01:54That elbow's unstable.
01:55Yeah, if it didn't happen yesterday, J.K., it was going to happen next week or in two weeks or
01:59three weeks.
01:59At some point, that was going to happen.
02:00It's just the way he falls, and it is not, for whatever reason, I'm not smart enough to know why,
02:06because I'm not a doctor.
02:09And there are a lot of internet doctors out there, I guess.
02:11I'm not one of them, but I would say, too, you know, I remember talking to, I know, like, Jaden's
02:19not this massive guy, right?
02:21But I don't know how many quarterbacks are like that.
02:24I remember when Kirk Cousins was here back in the day talking to him about, like, he's not a big
02:29guy either, but talking to him about, like, how, you know, he was always, you get hit, whatever, until the
02:37one year, he never got hurt.
02:38Like, why is that? And he's like, he talked about learning how to fall properly, et cetera.
02:43And, like, so he, there are just ways that he felt like he could protect himself, and I would bring
02:48him up, because, again, I mean, people are going to talk about what Jaden's so skinny.
02:51Jaden's narrow, but I don't know that he's any smaller than some, you know, in terms of, like, bone structure
02:58or anything like that than some other quarterbacks that I've covered.
03:01So I don't know if that's the reason, right?
03:04I don't know. I have, I mean, I have no clue.
03:08Yeah, here's the reality of the situation. They're in a spot now.
03:11I personally would hope they brace him up and get him out there and deal with it in the offseason,
03:15but they may choose otherwise.
03:17Like, who knows what they're going to do? We'll have to wait and see.
03:20The problem is, is it, you know, that defense that we saw in week one, that wasn't there this week.
03:25And I don't think it was just because Frankie Louvoo wasn't there.
03:27It just, I don't know.
03:30We're not built, we can't win without five.
03:33This is the way the team's built.
03:34We have some good players.
03:35Steph Diggs is a nice player at the end of his run, but we just don't have enough, we're not,
03:39we're not Seattle.
03:40We're not even Minnesota, right?
03:42So this is the first time in my 56 years, John, where I do think it's over and we haven't
03:49even had the home opener yet.
03:50Grant Paulson pointed that out last night on Twitter and it's brutal.
03:53It's brutal.
03:54I've never felt like this ever before.
03:56I felt like this in like week five.
03:57Not to have J.D. for your home opener.
04:00Well, I mean, it's just hard.
04:01In week three.
04:02It's unbelievable.
04:04It is.
04:05And you could just like, talking to Terry in the locker room, the look on his face was just, it
04:11was like they had lost a playoff game.
04:13It was just, yeah, you know, and like, but you're right.
04:16Like there was a point yesterday on that drive where I'm like, Jaden is being Jaden again.
04:20And like, and watching him play.
04:22I'm like, and he's doing, you know, he's putting that cape on and doing what he has to.
04:27And he's showing the formula on how to stay healthy, right?
04:30That's the, that's the ironic thing.
04:32He was doing all the right things.
04:34Yeah, yeah, no, exactly.
04:35And that's why I say it's a fluke injury to the same elbow.
04:38And that, you know, I, I mean, again, I'm not a doctor, so I don't go there.
04:43But it is, that's, that's the problem that I have.
04:47Again, going back to defense that you don't have that bedrock side.
04:50Like if they had, if they're, their defense is pretty good in the opener, right?
04:54But they had those four big plays.
04:56And those are the plays that concerned me going into yesterday.
04:59Like somebody on my podcast asked me like, oh, what's, how would you rank the games as far as winnable?
05:04And I had the first three, like, which team could you see them beating?
05:07And I had Dallas third, because I just thought that, that they would have the trouble with them if they
05:11couldn't get pressure on deck.
05:12Cause they just can't cover those guys and they're not equipped to cover them.
05:17So if you're not getting pressure, it's going to be a long day.
05:20And, and we saw that.
05:21So now is every team going to be like that?
05:23No, but, but, you know, you'd like to have seen a lot better.
05:27And because then, then you'd at least say, well, maybe the defense and the running game and this thing,
05:33that can just kind of power them through for a couple of weeks.
05:36I don't, I mean, I have a hard time saying that that can be the case because we haven't seen
05:42it.
05:42So that, that would require a lot, a big leap of faith at this point.
05:46And not that, you know, it is the first year for these systems.
05:50I get that.
05:51And so like you would hope to see improvement as year goes on, but what you need to see right
05:56now are wins.
05:57The fact is, and this is another one you got to give Grant credit.
06:00He tweeted this out and pointed out, we've mentioned it a couple of times that now dating back to last
06:04year,
06:04they've lost 12 of 14, John.
06:06And that's, that's because, you know, the quarterback hasn't been healthy for it.
06:10Right.
06:10And everyone likes Marcus Mariota.
06:12He's a great guy with this group.
06:14He can't win a lot of games.
06:15It just, it goes beyond the quarterback though.
06:17That's the problem.
06:18Of course.
06:19Yeah.
06:20And like Seattle, Seattle loses Drew Locke.
06:23Yeah, but they have a complete team.
06:25Exactly.
06:25And they lost Sam Darnold.
06:26They lost Darnold.
06:27Drew Locke was.
06:28I'm sorry.
06:28They lost Darnold.
06:29Yeah.
06:29Yeah.
06:29Sorry.
06:31But yeah, like that, so you lose, but because you have that, you can compete and it's very
06:36hard, right?
06:37Like some quarterbacks just can do more.
06:39I mean, you know, the chiefs without Mahomes were a lot different, but, but you know, you
06:45just, the one thing I thought with this defense and you, you would hope for them that like
06:50you have enough in that front seven to mitigate whatever you don't have in the back end.
06:56And yesterday that did not.
06:58The first game again, like there were a couple, you know, obviously obvious busts or lapses
07:02of whatever it is.
07:04Um, but you know, those are the ones that always come back to, to kill you.
07:09So that's just, that's disappointing that they haven't, that they're not in a position where
07:14you can maybe, and we'll see, like, you know, there's, we'll see what happens.
07:18Um, but after two games, it's hard to, to think a certain way.
07:22What's your best guess at this point on the plan behind Mariota on the depth chart, Cali
07:28McBannis.
07:28I know Hartman's on the practice squad.
07:31They wouldn't turn to Hartman last year when, when they had to, they went outside of the
07:35organization.
07:35What do you think is the best guess there behind Mariota?
07:38I would, I would think like, depending on how long Jane will be out, it would be like,
07:43my thing would be, you need to get a veteran here, you know, for even if it's four or five
07:48weeks, I think you'd need to get someone in here who, you know, who have to go in the
07:53game.
07:53Yeah.
07:54God.
07:54Yeah.
07:54I mean, he's yeah.
07:55Someone like that.
07:56Yeah.
07:57Yeah, exactly.
07:58Somebody who, who's been through it, who can go in there and Josh is good.
08:01And I remember going back to when he was here the first time that the reason why Jay wanted
08:06him instead of, um, Sanchez is because he can run.
08:10And like, when you don't know, you know, if you don't know the offense quite as well,
08:15you can always make plays with your legs.
08:17And somebody like that is always kind of a, a good one to bring in as a third guy or
08:23a
08:23guy behind Mariota.
08:25John, there's a lot of kind of back and forth here, mostly between Jason and Eric about
08:29Sonny styles.
08:30What are you seeing from him on the field?
08:33He was really good in week one.
08:34He had a bad game yesterday, but the entire defense did.
08:37Well, the entire defense did.
08:38And I'll, to be honest, I have to go back and watch more just because sometimes you think
08:45things and then you go back and watch.
08:46What I know is it was a quiet day.
08:47Right.
08:48And there were a couple of times where I, a couple of times where I saw him blitz and,
08:52but, um, and applied some pressure with that.
08:56But again, it was a quiet day.
08:57And, uh, so that's what I know.
09:00I, I, I really, I hate to sound like that.
09:03No, I think that's fair.
09:03I think that's fair.
09:04He had three tackles.
09:06Um, no sacks, no tackles for loss, no quarterback hits.
09:10I don't know who, you know, it was kind of quiet for everybody out there.
09:12And that's, you know, but you need, and again, they're with a guy like that, there's going
09:17to be growing pains.
09:19Cause he's a rookie.
09:20Um, but you know, they need, they need noise.
09:25They can't have them quiet.
09:26There's going to be noise.
09:27Well, what, the other thing is like, here's a, it's a, it's another year where they're
09:31off to a start with no turnovers.
09:33Like, I don't understand this.
09:36It's, you know, you do all, you know, have, do all these things.
09:39Like they know they do drills.
09:41I know they have coverages that you can, you hope to trap them into mistakes or turnovers,
09:46you know, pressure, et cetera.
09:47And no turnovers are two games.
09:49Like you can't, you can't, it's just hard.
09:52You can't win like that.
09:53And then you're also facing a number of injuries like they did last year.
09:57I mean, maybe Frankie and Chig are back Sunday, but who knows?
10:01But then, uh, Cosme and Kinlaw.
10:05Yeah.
10:05John, I mean, they're bad.
10:09I am at a loss for words with that.
10:11Yeah.
10:12I think it's just, it's incredible.
10:14Why a couple of things defensively.
10:17Why did it seem like that pressure?
10:19Remember we, we pressured or whatever blitzed the second most in the, in the league last
10:24week, only, uh, only behind Brian Flores yesterday.
10:27Didn't seem that way.
10:28Didn't feel that way at all.
10:30Is that because they just don't feel like they can expose the guys on the back end?
10:33It's that bad.
10:36It certainly would play.
10:38I know.
10:38Listen, I say this.
10:39I know that was an absolute factor last year.
10:41Yeah.
10:42And, um, so it stands to reason, but I think there was a time.
10:47Where they started, when they started to claw back in it, that's when they were being more
10:50aggressive.
10:51Yeah.
10:51And the problem is like, when you play that way, if you're not getting home, it's danger.
10:56Yeah.
10:57And it might be worth it.
10:58Otherwise we're not going to stop anybody.
11:00Oh, I agree.
11:00I agree.
11:00Yeah.
11:01And I, I agree with you.
11:02Like, I think if you're going to play that way, you're going to have to live with some
11:05mistakes the other way.
11:07Yeah.
11:07It's just, I always liken it to like, if you're going to press, like Nolan Richardson, 60 minutes
11:11of hell, like if you're going to press like that, you're going to give up some easy ones,
11:14but you have to live with it for the sake of the mentality and what you, what you hope
11:18to create.
11:20And I thought they were going to be a little bit more aggressive early on.
11:23Um, and they, again, they, they were at times.
11:26And then if you're not getting home, then it's going to be danger.
11:29And that's, and, and shoot, like the problem was too, when, even when they were rushing
11:34for a guy's wide open, like there was a, there was a pass to CD lamb over the middle
11:39where I did a free frame of it.
11:41There's nobody he's over the middle.
11:43There's nobody within seven yards.
11:45Nobody.
11:46Yeah.
11:47That's the part.
11:48And then, you know, again, like this is a defense where it requires like the safety
11:52is now that you have to be really, really smart.
11:54And they'll talk about having, you didn't have a high football IQ to play this.
11:58Well, my first thought when you hear that is like, that takes time to develop.
12:02You don't just get it coming out of the gate because you have to play in it and see these
12:07things.
12:07And sometimes you're seeing guys like, you know, their arms are up, like, what are we
12:11doing?
12:11Right.
12:12Um, and so I think, I don't know, is this early growing pains or is this just bad?
12:17And I, you know, so I think you, like, it is the first year that I don't think this
12:21is a complete, certainly not, you know, you, you have to make some improvements at some
12:26player in the, in the backfield, right.
12:28And the defense of the backfield, but I think, you know, how much is that playing into it
12:31as well?
12:32In addition, like maybe you're not as uber talented in the backend and you're having
12:36some of these other issues along with that.
12:39And, um, so I think that's all I know is it was a disaster yesterday.
12:44It was a disaster as you called it doomsday in Dallas, John, always great stuff.
12:49Thanks guys.
12:50All right.
12:50That's John Kime.
12:51When we come back, we'll open up the phone lines again.
12:541-800-636-1067.
12:57Moving forward.
12:58Can this team recover from the 0-2 start and Jaden Daniels injury?
13:031-800-636-1067.
13:06Junkies coming to you on a misery Monday.