- 2 days ago
Commanders GM Adam Peters opens up about the team's internal mindset following the chaotic finish against the Giants. Are the Commanders actually ready to turn their season around tonight?
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SportsTranscript
00:00Joining us right now to talk about the matchup, to talk more, is the GM of the Washington
00:05Commanders, Adam Peters.
00:06What's going on, Adam?
00:08What's up, guys?
00:08How's it going?
00:09So you flew into San Fran a few days early.
00:12What have you been up to here the last couple of days?
00:16Yeah, well, we had our walkthrough yesterday at Stanford, which was cool.
00:21I got to see Tavita Pritchard, an old friend of ours who's now the head coach there.
00:25He came off a win against Elon over the weekend, so we got a chance to go there.
00:29And just doing a little scouting and kind of, you know, back in the day for the first time.
00:36So that's an interesting feeling.
00:38But it's really been a cool week of practice for our guys, you know, coming off the game
00:44and seeing the mindset that they're in and getting out here and still just being locked in.
00:51So it's been a good week, a good weekend, and ready to go play.
00:54What has been the mindset this week after the disappointing tie against the Giants
00:59and, of course, the ending to the game?
01:03You know, I think Monday was tough, obviously, for all of us.
01:08But I think once you turn the page and, you know, you sit in the room and you sit in
01:12the meetings
01:13and you look around and see how these guys are, then you see them go out and practice.
01:17And I think, you know, what's been really impressive about this team and the coaching staff
01:23and leadership is just that the mindset is really good.
01:26You know, the vibes are really good.
01:28Everybody's pissed, but then everybody turns the page and says, all right, what do we got
01:32to do to get better?
01:33We're still in this thing.
01:34And we really did have a really good week of practice, a really good just overall vibe
01:41in the building and then on the trip and at the hotel.
01:43So, you know, it's been really positive.
01:45I don't want to harp on it and then we're moving on, but just to give our audience an
01:50idea, what is a day like that, like a Monday when you're going through?
01:53Is that like, are you guys like calm and cool, collected going through that?
01:58Or are guys like screaming at each other?
02:00Players, coaches, everybody.
02:02What's that like?
02:04There's no screaming, which is good.
02:06But, you know, I think everybody's, you know, we're all disappointed in a missed opportunity.
02:11And obviously, you know, what you have to do there is look at yourself, figure out what
02:18went wrong, what we have to do better moving forward.
02:21So something like that never happens again.
02:24I thought it was really, you know, it showed a lot of leadership and growth and maturity
02:30and all the people that were involved all took accountability, which I thought, you know,
02:36it was a sign of a good, good team and well, well coached, well knit, you know, kind of
02:40close team that nobody's pointing fingers.
02:42And then it's just about, all right, let's look at what we have in front of us.
02:47And it's still everything.
02:48It's still, you know, we still got 12 games.
02:50We said 70% of the season and the division is still open.
02:54So it's right.
02:55What are we going to do to go beat the 49ers?
02:57And that's, that's the mindset we took.
02:59And it was really, I was impressed to see that from the group.
03:02Adam, do you feel like this is when head coach Dan Quinn is at his best circling the wagons
03:07after adversity hits, like at the end of the game against the Giants?
03:11Is this when he is in his best form?
03:13Yeah, he did a really good job with that.
03:15You're right.
03:16And I think, you know, presenting to the team, you know, this is what happened.
03:20This is what, this won't happen again.
03:22And what are we going to do to fix it?
03:24And then what are we going to do to go out and beat the Niners?
03:26And I think he has created that culture where, you know, I've been on teams where things
03:32have fractured and people start pointing fingers and there's, you know, whispers in the building
03:37and the doors are closed and guys are having conversations and we aren't, we aren't even
03:42close to that.
03:43And that's a testament to his leadership and leadership in the building with, with the
03:46assistant coaches.
03:47And then the veterans on the team, the captains have done a great job of that too.
03:52AP, this might probably the last question about last week, but I just want to ask it.
03:56And you may not know the answer, but were Dan Quinn and David Blau telling Jaden in his
04:03ear, in his helmet, Hey, we need to speed it up.
04:06We don't have any timeouts left.
04:07And the clock was ticking.
04:08Were they telling him that?
04:10You know, I think there's communication throughout the drive, right?
04:13And it starts at the beginning of the drive when we talk about the situation and how many
04:17timeouts we have.
04:18So, you know, I think everybody was aware of that, um, you know, obviously, you know,
04:23it didn't pan out that way and it didn't look that way.
04:26And certainly, you know, uh, the result was that we didn't, we didn't execute it well
04:31enough, but the, I think the communication there is good.
04:34It was not as good as it needed to be in that particular instance.
04:37But it, you know, after we did the kind of the postmortem on that, figuring out, all
04:43right, where does this, where, where do we miss this?
04:46And where does this, where can we, how can we do it to make sure this doesn't happen
04:50again?
04:50So, uh, I wasn't on the headset.
04:52I wasn't, um, so I wasn't able to hear any of that stuff.
04:56I was down on the sideline watching it, uh, like you guys all were.
04:59And so, um, but getting, you know, getting the, the rundown from everybody, you know,
05:05we figured out where the miscommunications were and won't happen again.
05:09Joined by Adam Peters, general manager of the Washington commanders, a couple of personnel
05:13things that we just haven't had a chance to talk to you about.
05:17Um, Nick Allegretti had, you know, he's still contributing for you guys, but all preseason
05:23when he wasn't there, people were like, don't worry about center.
05:26Nick Allegretti is going to be the center.
05:28Nick Allegretti is going to be fine.
05:29And then all of a sudden you found a situation.
05:31This is from a fan's perspective where he's not really playing.
05:34He's moved over to guard.
05:35Then he's not really playing there.
05:36What happened with Nick Allegretti?
05:39Yeah, that's a great question.
05:41And I think, um, you know, it's, it's something that I want to say, like, first of all, Nick's
05:47Nick's a really good player and he's a, he's a great teammate and he's a great worker.
05:52And, you know, so he, what happened with him was unfortunate because we do have confidence
05:57confidence and we still do have confidence in him at center and really anywhere we put
06:01him in.
06:01He started all year in 24 and started a bunch of games last year and played a bunch.
06:05And so we had that confidence in him to be able to come in and be our center.
06:10Um, he missed pretty much all of training camp, right.
06:13With a calf injury.
06:14And so he missed all of those reps and, and all the things that, you know, that come with
06:20it with getting in shape, you know, being in unison with the offensive line, the calls,
06:25all those things.
06:25So, um, and we wanted him to get back for the first game and he basically came back for
06:30that first game with almost no practice, which is really hard.
06:33So you're, you're not getting the practice reps, uh, and with that, the sharpening your
06:40skills and, and being, you know, kind of with doing everything with all the other four guys.
06:45And then on top of that, you're, you're not in football shape.
06:48So, um, so throwing him in there against the Eagles, uh, with a really good interior defensive
06:54line, that's, that's a tough ask for anybody, but certainly someone who hasn't practiced
06:59at all.
06:59And then, um, then from there we got, we had injuries with Sam on the offensive line.
07:05And, and so we thought our best five would be, would be able to move him to, to guard.
07:10And, you know, so that was probably another tough situation for him, but being a team first
07:15guy that he is, he did it and he, and he played, you know, he played his ass off and,
07:19and, um, but from there he's, you know, his, he started, he got dinged.
07:24He ended up again.
07:25So it's kind of an unfortunate series of events.
07:28Um, and then Lucas Patrick came in and has actually played really good center for us.
07:32And the continuity has been pretty good there too.
07:34So we've been happy with that.
07:36So this, this week actually is probably the first week where Nick's been really healthy
07:41and in shape as a practice wise.
07:44And he's looked back to looking at like Nick Allegretti.
07:46So I'm really happy about that.
07:48And I think, you know, knock on wood, we don't have anything else happen up front, but if
07:52we do, I think the, the real version of Nick Allegretti will come out the next time he
07:56comes on the field.
07:58All right.
07:58I know you guys have been breaking this down for sure.
08:01The media has been asking, but give our audience what, what from your perspective is going
08:05on defensively.
08:06I can tell you as a fan, at times it looks really good, right?
08:12And you're making stops and we're getting some turnovers the last few weeks.
08:16And to DQ's credit, he said they were coming.
08:18They have some sort of metric and the number of times they touch the ball, whatever, and
08:21they were coming.
08:22And he was right.
08:23We've created seven.
08:24The problem is we're like one, one, and one in those games.
08:26Haven't been able to really capitalize, but also, you know, it seems like we're playing
08:31much better defense in the first half, second half, we're giving up, you know, the numbers
08:34better than me, like something like 21 points a game in the second half.
08:37From your perspective, what is happening there and how's that going to get better, especially
08:42against a team as talented as the Niners?
08:45Yeah, I mean, your, your eyes are right.
08:47And that's, that's exactly right.
08:48We're playing better in the first half and the second half.
08:51And, you know, when you see us play as well as we do, you know, in those spurts, whether
08:57it's, you know, in the first half or wherever it is, and we can be a dominating defense at
09:02times and really good against the run.
09:04And like you said, we're attacking the ball more and, and making plays on the ball.
09:09We had, you know, an interception that was, was taken off.
09:13We probably would have ended our game last, last week.
09:16That was a bad call.
09:17That was a bad call, AP.
09:19It was.
09:19Yeah.
09:20We're aware.
09:20We, we turned that one into the league and I won't say anything else besides that.
09:25But, you know, so we're, we're getting our hands on the ball.
09:28We're making plays on the ball, but you're right.
09:31You know, in the second half, we haven't been as effective and consistent.
09:35And those are things we're looking at and figuring out, all right, what do we need to
09:38do?
09:38Is it, is it our calls?
09:40Is it our execution?
09:41Is it our stamina?
09:43Is it, what, what are the things that are holding us back from being a great 60 minute
09:48defense?
09:48Because the great defenses that I've been a part of, and I've seen those, those are the
09:53ones that close out games.
09:54And at the end of games, whether it's 60 minutes or 70 minutes or however long the game goes.
09:58And so that's what we need to get to.
10:01And so Durante and DQ, we had an extra day this week, which was good to be able to self
10:06scout and really look into our, what do we need to be doing differently to be more effective
10:12in the second half, to be able to close out these games and play as well as we played in
10:16the first half and then really in spurts, we played really, really well.
10:19So how do we maintain, like keep that consistency throughout the whole game?
10:24And those are all things we're looking at.
10:25We've tweaked a few things this week in order to get there.
10:28And I think that's what, you know, really impressed with, with really DQ Durante and
10:33Blau is they're very, you know, they are always going to look at themselves critically.
10:38They have, they have great humility in terms of, all right, we didn't do this right.
10:43How can we get it better?
10:44And they're always working to get things better rather than doing the same things over
10:48and over again, which I've seen done and it doesn't work, but what they're doing and
10:53they're getting incrementally better.
10:55And I think you'll see a better performance again this week, even though these guys are
10:59really good, you know, just the things we've been working on, I think are going to kind
11:04of play out throughout the rest of the season.
11:07Joined by Adam Peters, general manager of the Washington Commanders, of course, face the
11:1149ers tonight.
11:12That's an organization you're very familiar with.
11:15I'm curious from your perspective, what makes Kyle Shanahan special?
11:19I think this is the third time the Niners under his tenure started off 5-0.
11:24Yeah.
11:25I mean, shoot, I can go on and on about Kyle.
11:28You know, first of all, he's a great person, great human being and a person who's got a
11:33lot of, you know, just compassion and empathy and just leadership.
11:39And so the players really love him and they play really hard for him and they know how
11:46much he cares and they know how much he cares about them.
11:49But, you know, the thing that I think you'll ask any 49er player and myself as well is his
11:55football acumen is as good as I've ever seen and his ability to understand the game offensively
12:01and defensively, be forward thinking and be able to explain that to people like myself
12:07or the players and team meetings.
12:09Like you get a PhD course in football when you sit in a team meeting with Kyle.
12:14And so he's an excellent coach.
12:18He's got great football IQ, great football EQ, and he's a tireless worker.
12:24So, you know, he's, you know, he'll probably go down as one of the better ones to ever do
12:27it.
12:28And, you know, his consistency and his ability to do things, you know, through adversity and
12:34get that team to play at a high level all the time is really impressive.
12:38AP, I know you know this as well.
12:40Tight ends have killed the commander's defense this year.
12:43Here, Goddard, Ferguson, Barner, Tyler Warren, likely.
12:47Well, good news, we're not playing a good one this week.
12:49Right, that's my point.
12:50So, what can Coach Jones do because these tight ends have seven touchdowns against the commanders
12:57this year and likely was obviously huge last week.
13:00Now you're facing Kittle.
13:01What can you guys do?
13:02Is it based, is it strictly just coverage?
13:04Is it just getting after Purdy and forcing him to throw it quicker?
13:07Parker, what can they do against George Kittle tonight because tight ends have, have been
13:12a real threat for, for coverage this year?
13:15Yeah.
13:16Well, well, George is a Hall of Fame player and, and I think when you get, have a guy like
13:20that, they're going to always kind of get theirs at some point.
13:22But what you want to do is limit that so it's not a huge game.
13:26And with, with George, you know, we talk about something called premium awareness and like
13:31the premium players and making sure we understand where those guys are on the field at all times
13:36and making sure that, especially on the money downs that, that we're accounting for them.
13:40So, you know, that is something obviously that during the self-scout we're aware of as well
13:45and, and trying to, you know, just make sure the guys that are the big time players, we
13:50got to make sure we, we are paying extra attention to those guys.
13:53And, and George is one of those guys.
13:55So, um, you're never going to stop, you know, great players like that, but you can limit them
14:00and, um, just focusing on the middle of the field and making sure we're tight in our coverages.
14:05We're, we're tight on our landmarks.
14:07We're doing, we're, we're not, you know, what we call biting on the cheese, you know,
14:12in, in zones and jumping the underneath guys and seeing the ball thrown over your head.
14:17It's all the, it's all those different things, the discipline, the awareness, the, the details.
14:22And those are the things we've been stressing.
14:24Adam, how concerned are you with Bill missing with a groin injury?
14:27What, what do you think the plans are going to look like at running back for the commanders?
14:31Yeah.
14:32I mean, Bill was, you know, he was coming along and really had one of his better games this last
14:36week.
14:36So that, that's super disappointing.
14:38Um, he's an explosive element that, um, you know, that we're losing because of that.
14:44But we do, the good thing is we have Eckler who's, who's another explosive element.
14:49Rashad White is the guy who can do everything and do everything at a good level.
14:54And then, um, you know, we have a guy on the practice squad, uh, and, and then we got Jeremy
15:00McNichols, um, who is eligible to come back to off IR.
15:04So those are our options.
15:06And I think, you know, just making the best decision for us, but I think we have some guys
15:10that play a lot of football that'll, that'll help take up the slack for Bill, but certainly
15:14he will be missed with his explosiveness and his ability to run.
15:18What about, uh, Nick and, uh, Amos?
15:21Can you give us a little early update on that?
15:24Are they going tonight?
15:27I know, I know the 49ers are up here at 6 a.m. listening, but, um, you know, those guys
15:32both, they really had, um, good weeks of practice.
15:35So, uh, been, it was good to see them out on the field.
15:38They both made a lot of, a lot of plays in practice.
15:40So, you know, they're trending in the right direction.
15:43We'll make, we'll make the, um, the decision here.
15:45It'll be four o'clock your time, one o'clock here.
15:48That's the thing about Monday, Monday games and games that aren't on Sundays is you can
15:52do those things on game day up until four o'clock Eastern.
15:55So we'll wait till that time to do it.
15:57We don't want to give them any lens into what we're doing, but I will say that they're both
16:01trending in the right direction.
16:02So Adam, you already mentioned it.
16:04Um, we haven't seen the division this bad this early in the season in a long time.
16:09And no matter what happens tonight, the season for even for a one, four and one team,
16:14it's not lost in this division.
16:16You got two teams that are starting backup quarterbacks, uh, the Giants, they don't even
16:20know.
16:20I assume it's going to be McCarthy going forward, but who knows?
16:24Um, Jalen Hurts might not play the rest of the year.
16:27Dak Prescott looks terrible the last two weeks.
16:29I mean, the division, you said it, it's still wide open.
16:33So it doesn't matter what happens tonight.
16:35Uh, is that being emphasized in the locker room?
16:38Yeah, I think that the, really what we're talking about is everything's in front of us.
16:44And that's, you know, 12 games, 70% of our season in our division.
16:48We're still, we're still right in that.
16:50We're still right in that.
16:51And, and, you know, hopefully we'll be that till the end.
16:53So, um, you know, we're not saying whether we win or lose, we're going to go out there
16:58and, and if we win this game, then we're right back in and even closer.
17:02So that's, that's what we're going to be trying to do, but we're not going to, um, you know,
17:06we're, we, we still have, after this game, we'll have 11 games left and that's still
17:10a huge chunk of the season.
17:12So, you know, we're doing, we're putting everything we can into this game to win this
17:15game.
17:15We've got a buy coming up after that.
17:17And then we'll, we'll get some guys healthy after the buy, which I think is really, um,
17:21will probably be our healthiest knock on wood.
17:24We come out of this game.
17:25Okay.
17:25We'll be as healthy as we've been all season after the buy.
17:28So then we'll have a chance to make a run.
17:30So that's, you know, that's what we're looking at.
17:33We're looking at getting better this week, trying to get a win against, you know, one of the
17:36best teams in the NFL on a Monday night.
17:39And that's a great challenge.
17:40And I think our guys are up for it.
17:42Adam, just quick, quick question.
17:44Just kind of, you know, when you look at the trade deadline, I know growing up, I never
17:48thought of the NFL trade deadline as something like major league baseballs, right?
17:52When you look at yourself and you go, okay, are we buyers or sellers here?
17:55But it seems to be kind of trending in that direction a little bit as an NFL executive.
18:00Do you look at the deadline that way as like a real big kind of seminal moment for you
18:06where you have to make a call one way or the other?
18:10You know, I think, you know, because it's the trade deadline coming up and because there's,
18:14you know, that, you know, you know, deadlines, you know, kind of spurring action.
18:19So, you know, those are things that, you know, our staff has been doing really the last,
18:23you know, few weeks.
18:24They do it throughout the year, but it really ramps up as you get closer to the trade deadline
18:28in terms of those conversations.
18:29So we're having a lot of conversations and really nothing, nothing's coming to fruition
18:35right now that at least for us, you know, there's teams that have made some deals, but
18:38you're really looking and just canvassing the league, canvassing, you know, what's out
18:42there, what can help your team possibly.
18:45And so, you know, we have a few more weeks until then, obviously the trade deadline is a
18:50little bit earlier in football than it is maybe in baseball or wherever where, you know,
18:55not everything's defined yet for teams.
18:58So, you know, you can call a team and say, hey, would you be interested in moving this
19:02player?
19:03And they're like, well, we're not out of it yet.
19:04So, you know, we're still kind of in limbo.
19:07So, you know, you're trying to figure those things out.
19:10And as you get closer towards the deadline, then those things crystallize a little bit more.
19:14But, you know, at this time we are, we're actively making calls.
19:18Teams are calling us and we're just assessing the market right now.
19:22And if there's something that makes sense for us, we're certainly going to take action.
19:27Would you say, though, that you're more likely to be a buyer than a seller?
19:30Because some people are suggesting that you just be a seller and essentially give up.
19:34I just feel like it's too early for that, especially the way the division is playing.
19:39No, we're, I mean, I don't think, I would say we're, I wouldn't categorize us as either
19:44of those right now.
19:45You know, as we get closer, that'll crystallize a little bit more.
19:48But certainly the give up part, that ain't happening.
19:51Yeah.
19:52Yeah.
19:52Good.
19:52Yeah.
19:53All right, Adam.
19:54Appreciate the time as always.
19:55We'll talk to you next week, hopefully after a dub.