Category: Washington

Washington Commanders fire Ron Rivera, add NBA personnel genius to staff

The Washington Commanders have fired head coach Ron Rivera and added NBA personnel legend Bob Myers to the staff. May you live in interesting times.

The Washington Commanders made one of the NFL’s least-surprising moves on Monday morning, and then, they made one of the most interesting.

Head coach Ron Rivera, who bottomed out at 4-13 this season, went 26-40-1 over four seasons, and presided over one of the NFL’s worst defenses, was relieved of his duties on Monday. Rivera had been at the top of everybody’s “soon-to-be-fired” list through most of the season, and that came to pass.

Then, the Commanders under new owner Josh Harris added NBA personnel legend to their organization.

It’s an interesting time for the Commanders, who are finally free of the Dan Snyder stench, and have effective cap space of $63,806,242 for the 2024 season. Rivera’s former job should be quite a bit more attractive than it was in previous years.

2024 NFL Mock Draft: End-of-season quarterback decisions lead to surprising picks

How many NFL teams will stick with their current quarterbacks? A high number could make for an interesting first round of the 2024 draft.

Now that the 2023 NFL regular season is over, every team turns its attention to the draft — even those teams that are part of the postseason. Area scouts will start to move to the home facility to interact with scouting directors and general managers, and with the scouting combine less than two months away, it’s time to start putting your big boards together.

This applies especially to those teams with crucial quarterback decisions to make. For the purposes of this mock draft, we’ll assume that the Chicago Bears are sticking with Justin Fields, the Arizona Cardinals are committed to Kyler Murray, the Tennessee Titans think they have a future franchise quarterback in Will Levis, and the New York Jets think that eventually, Aaron Rodgers will stop shooting his mouth off long enough to play quarterback in 2024.

Conversely, the Washington Commanders, New England Patriots, New York Giants, and Atlanta Falcons will avail themselves of the best draftable quarterbacks possible in the interest of turning things around.

So, four quarterbacks go in the first round here, with more teams looking to build around the guys they’ve already got. That makes for one notable omission (Oregon’s Bo Nix), and a whole bunch of talented prospects at other positions pushing themselves up the boards.

Montez Sweat becomes first player ever to lead two teams in sacks in same season

Bears edge-rusher Montez Sweat becomes the first player in recorded pro football history to lead two teams in sacks in the same season.

When the Washington Commanders traded edge-rushers Chase Young and Montez Sweat to the San Francisco 49ers and the Chicago Bears respectively on October 31, it was a move toward an uncertain future for the Commanders. The 49ers were looking to upgrade their already fearsome pass rush, and the Bears were just trying to get someone on the field who could disrupt quarterbacks from the edge.

In Sweat’s case, it worked out pretty well. With his six sacks for the Bears over the last nine weeks, and his 6.5 sacks for the Commanders in the first eight weeks, Sweat is now the first player in the recorded history of professional football to lead two teams in sacks in the same season.

We don’t have all sack numbers throughout pro football history — the sack became an official NFL statistic in 1982, and thanks to the work of John Turney and other devoted historians, we now have sack totals going back to 1960. But it’s a pretty nice range of years, and it’s good enough to assume that Sweat has done something no other player ever has.

After the trade, Sweat signed a four-year extension with the Bears worth $98 million in new money, $41.96 million fully guaranteed and $72.86 million in total guarantees. Which might turn out to be quite the bargain at this rate. Per Pro Football Focus, who count half-sacks as full sacks, Sweat finished the 2023 season with career highs in sacks (16) and total pressures (63).

He also made history in quite a unique fashion.

Montez Sweat becomes first player ever to lead two teams in sacks in same season

Bears edge-rusher Montez Sweat becomes the first player in recorded pro football history to lead two teams in sacks in the same season.

When the Washington Commanders traded edge-rushers Chase Young and Montez Sweat to the San Francisco 49ers and the Chicago Bears respectively on October 31, it was a move toward an uncertain future for the Commanders. The 49ers were looking to upgrade their already fearsome pass rush, and the Bears were just trying to get someone on the field who could disrupt quarterbacks from the edge.

In Sweat’s case, it worked out pretty well. With his six sacks for the Bears over the last nine weeks, and his 6.5 sacks for the Commanders in the first eight weeks, Sweat is now the first player in the recorded history of professional football to lead two teams in sacks in the same season.

We don’t have all sack numbers throughout pro football history — the sack became an official NFL statistic in 1982, and thanks to the work of John Turney and other devoted historians, we now have sack totals going back to 1960. But it’s a pretty nice range of years, and it’s good enough to assume that Sweat has done something no other player ever has.

After the trade, Sweat signed a four-year extension with the Bears worth $98 million in new money, $41.96 million fully guaranteed and $72.86 million in total guarantees. Which might turn out to be quite the bargain at this rate. Per Pro Football Focus, who count half-sacks as full sacks, Sweat finished the 2023 season with career highs in sacks (16) and total pressures (63).

He also made history in quite a unique fashion.

Five NFL head coaches who could be fired on Black Monday

These are the five head coaches to keep a close eye on as they could be fired by their respective teams on Black Monday.

On the day in which the NFL regular season concludes, today also marks the eve of several head coaching jobs becoming vacant.” Black Monday” as it’s known, will see several NFL head coaches be relieved of their duties, and these are the names to keep a close eye on being fired by their respective teams.

How the Dallas Cowboys’ defense can exploit Jared Goff’s one fatal flaw

The Cowboys play more man coverage than any other NFL team, but against Jared Goff and the Lions, it might be time to flip the script.

If there’s one thing we know about the 2023 Dallas Cowboys, it’s that they love to play man coverage. This season, Dan Quinn’s defense has lined up in man on 40.3% of their defensive snaps, most in the NFL. And if you take away their loss to the Miami Dolphins in Week 16, when they played much more zone against Mike McDaniel’s turbo-charged offense, that rate jumps to 41.0%. Ostensibly, that’s extremely good news for Jared Goff, whose Detroit Lions face those Cowboys on Saturday night.

Against man coverage this season, Goff has completed 71 of 124 passes for 837 yards, 547 air yards, eight touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 99.4. Against zone coverage, Goff has completed 233 of 325 passes for 2,775 yards, 1,701 air yards, 13 touchdowns, all 10 of his interceptions, and a passer rating of 97.9. So, more explosive plays against zone, but also all of Goff’s interceptions, and there are some common threads here.

In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys get into why Goff’s attributes as a timing and anticipation thrower of the football can also get in his way against certain coverages. Also, how the Cowboys can take advantage… if they want to flip the script a little bit.

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You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os,” featuring tape and advanced metric analysis of all Week 17’s biggest NFL matchups (including Lions-Cowboys, of course), right here:

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You can also listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…

…and on Apple Podcasts.

Now, let’s get deeper into this Jared Goff-Dan Quinn matchup.

The Commanders are laying an all-time brontosaurus egg against the Jets

The Washington Commanders are playing at a level that would make the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers turn away in disgust.

The Washington Commanders came into Sunday’s game against the New York Jets with a 4-10 record and the NFL’s worst defense, so the question was: In the battle between THAT and the Jets’ NFL-worst offense, which movable object would beat the league’s most resistible force?

Early on in the game, there has been no question. The Jets are demolishing Ron Rivera’s Commanders, who are playing football you may not have seen since the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Quarterback Sam Howell has not availed himself well at all, but his receivers have not helped him one bit.

That turnover led to a 25-yard field goal for Greg Zuerlein.

Then, a blocked punt with 12:02 left in the first quarter, which put the ball at the Washington nine-yard line for the Jets, which led to this touchdown pass from Trevor Siemian to Jason Brownlee.

Then, the Commanders went three-and-out, gave the ball back the Jets, and running back Breece Hall carved that defense up on this 36-yard touchdown run with 9:44 left in the first quarter.

Ron Rivera’s look at the end of that play said it all. How bad was this, given the Jets’ history of futility in the first quarter of their other games this season?

Very.

Big changes are coming in the nation’s capital, and given the way this game is going, Rivera might not survive the regular season.

Worst of the Week for Week 15: Pickens and Toney, Sean Payton’s meltdown, Ron Rivera’s folly

MIke Tomlin, Sean Payton, Kadarius Toney, George Pickens, invisible Panthers fans, and the Jets. It’s time for the NFL’s Worst of the Week!

Football is a wonderful, thrilling, inspiring game that can lift us to new heights in our lives.

But football is also a weird, inexplicable, at times downright stupid game that may force you to perform Keith Moon-level furniture destruction in your own living room.

So, as much as we at Touchdown Wire endeavor to write about what makes the game great, there are also times when it’s important to point out the dumb plays, boneheaded decisions, and officiating errors that make football all too human.

Folks, it’s time for the Worst of the Week for Week 15 of the 2023 NFL season.

The NFL’s Worst of the Week: Jamal Adams, Kadarius Toney, and the NFL doesn’t care about concussions

This week’s Worst of the Week in the NFL features Kadarius Toney, Jamal Adams, and a league that still doesn’t care about head trauma.

Football is a wonderful, thrilling, inspiring game that can lift us to new heights in our lives.

But football is also a weird, inexplicable, at times downright stupid game that may force you to perform Keith Moon-level furniture destruction in your own living room.

So, as much as we at Touchdown Wire endeavor to write about what makes the game great, there are also times when it’s important to point out the dumb plays, boneheaded decisions, and officiating errors that make football all too human.

Folks, it’s time for the Worst of the Week for Week 14 of the 2023 NFL season. And we’re not covering officiating errors as we generally do, because we have a more important issue to discuss — the NFL still doesn’t care one bit about head trauma.

Who made the better route adjustment: Tyreek Hill or Odell Beckham Jr.?

Odell Beckham Jr. and Tyreek Hill have been competing for the best in-play route adjustment in the NFL this season.

Tyreek Hill of the Miami Dolphins and Odell Beckham Jr. of the Baltimore Ravens are two of the NFL’s more preposterously athletic receivers, allowing them to correct issues in communication on the fly when it comes to routes, and where the ball is thrown. In Beckham’s case, we saw this early on in Baltimore’s Sunday game against the Los Angeles Rams.

With 5:27 left in the first quarter, Lamar Jackson threw a nasty in cut/fade to Beckham, and Beckham had cornerback Derion Kendrick beaten all the way. But he then had to adjust to the fact that he and Jackson weren’t on the same page regarding where the ball was supposed to go, and Beckham made an outstanding adjustment right in time for a 20-yard gain.

This put us in mind of Tyreek Hill’s 60-yard touchdown catch from Tua Tagovailoa against the Washington Commanders last Sunday. The Commanders employed the highly controversial (read: insane) strategy of playing a ton of man coverage against Hill with no help up top, and Hill had a predictably enormous game as a result. On the touchdown with 9:22 left in the first half, Washington was actually in Cover-3, but it didn’t matter. Hill got off the snap at full speed out of motion, barbecued cornerback Kendall Fuller, and then had quite the adventure as he had to calibrate his route to where the ball was going.

“It’s insane,” Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel said after the game of Hill’s catch. “Specifically for really fast guys. It’s something that Tyreek has always been very adept at but to, just think of it this way, in the heat of battle you see the ball and then you just turn away from it and try to find it again. That is very difficult. He makes it look super easy. But that ability, there’s few and far between that are able to make that play down the field wide open or not. Tua knows that and he knows that if he puts it far enough sometimes that Tyreek has done that several times in practice before.

“The fact that it was in stride makes it even more impressive of a catch because a lot of times when guys go blind to the ball, they’re able to make a play if it’s by stopping them and hitting them in the stomach. To go Willie Mays on it is pretty impressive.”

No argument here, and we’ll bet that Ravens head coach John Harbaugh will have something similar to say about Beckham’s adjustment.