Tag: 2022 NFL Season

Daron Payne has message for Kirk Cousins after he sacked him last season

It was courtesy of “Quarterback” on Netflix.

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As NFL teams prepare for training camp next week, fans and media took to social media to discuss the current running back market.

But the most popular NFL topic of the past week was Netflix’s hit docuseries, “Quarterback,” featuring Patrick Mahomes, Marcus Mariota and Kirk Cousins.

Cousins is of particular interest because there was a focus on his return to Washington. The Vikings traveled to FedEx Field in what was Cousins’ first game back at his old stadium. Cousins spent the first six seasons of his NFL career with Washington.

The Vikings came away with a 20-17 win after kicker Greg Joseph nailed a 28-yard field goal with 12 seconds remaining to defeat Washington. Cousins took a beating that day, as the Commanders knocked him down 11 times, including two sacks.

Washington defensive tackle Daron Payne had one of those sacks on Cousins. And in a clip from “Quarterback,” we get an up-close look at the play. Payne knocked Cousins down, got up, patted him on the backside and said, “You’ll be alright.”

It was funny looking back.

Cousins did have the last laugh, as he actually completed a long pass to wide receiver Justin Jefferson on the play. For the day, Cousins passed for 265 yards and two touchdowns. Payne was terrific, too, registering six tackles, including four for loss and a sack.

Payne and Cousins never played together, as Payne was a first-round pick in 2018. Cousins’ final season in Washington was in 2017.

Washington fans will always be split on Cousins. The fact remains he is the franchise’s best quarterback in years.

 

Here’s what we learned about Chiefs from Episode 1 of Netflix’s ‘Quarterback’ docuseries

Our @goldmctNFL recaps what we learned about the #Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes in the first episode of the Netflix “Quarterback” docuseries.

After much hype in recent weeks, the Netflix “Quarterback” docuseries is finally here.

Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes, Minnesota Vikings QB Kirk Cousins and former Atlanta Falcons QB Marcus Mariota take the spotlight as their lives are chronicled throughout the course of the 2022 NFL season. We’re getting a behind-the-scenes look at a lot of what into the Chiefs’ Super Bowl LVII season from the perspective of the star quarterback.

Football in July, it’s a beautiful thing.

Below you’ll find some quick thoughts about what we learned from the first episode titled, “The Quest.”

Spoilers ahead:

WATCH: Commanders DT Daron Payne thanks his mother after receiving player of the year award

Awesome speech from Daron Payne.

What a year it has been for Washington Commanders defensive tackle Daron Payne.

At this time last year, the Commanders were prepared to let Payne play out his fifth-year option and test free agency. There were no deep discussions about the team wanting to extend Payne beyond 2023.

The Commanders gambled, and Payne made them pay — literally.

After Payne set career highs in tackles, tackles for loss and sacks, and earned his first trip to the Pro Bowl, Washington applied the franchise tag on the fifth-year defensive tackle.

Shortly before free agency began, Payne and the Commanders agreed to a four-year deal worth $90 million, the second-most ever for a defensive tackle at that time.

Payne was relieved to remain in the burgundy and gold and thanked head coach Ron Rivera and others for believing in him. But the person Payne was the most thankful is his mother, something he has shared on more than one occasion.

Last week at the Burgundy & Gold Banquet, Payne was awarded the Quarterback Club of Washington’s Player of the Year Award for 2022. He took the stage with his mom by his side and praised his mother.

Check it out.

That’s excellent stuff. What a Mother’s Day treat for Payne’s mother.

Payne also thanked all of his teammates and coaches.

 

Brian Robinson talks the advantages of having Eric Bieniemy as offensive coordinator

Robinson believes Bieniemy being a former running back, is good for him and the offense.

Washington Commanders rookie running back Brian Robinson Jr. had a trying season in 2022. Robinson appeared to have won the starting running back job from Antonio Gibson in Week 1 of the preseason before tragically being shot in late August during an attempted robbery.

Amazingly, Robinson missed the minimum of four games and returned for Washington’s Week 5 game against the Tennessee Titans. From that point forward, Robinson’s workload gradually increased, and by Week 7, he carried the football 20 times in a win over the Green Bay Packers.

Robinson was outstanding as a rookie, finishing the season with 797 rushing yards and three total touchdowns. Imagine if he were fully healthy the entire season. Or, imagine if the Commanders and former offensive coordinator Scott Turner had stuck with the running game more, such as in Washington’s Week 14 loss to the Giants, where he averaged almost eight yards per attempt, but Turner inexplicably only gave him the ball 12 times.

That likely cost the Commanders a win and likely a playoff spot.

The Commanders fired Turner after the season after players had lost confidence in him. Washington hired two-time Super Bowl champion Eric Bieniemy as his replacement, exciting players and fans alike.

Perhaps no player is more excited than Robinson.

Bieniemy is a former standout NFL running back. After his playing career, he turned to coaching where he’s been one of the NFL’s top offensive coordinators for the past five years.

Robinson recently spoke to Commanders’ official website about the advantages of playing for Bieniemy.

“Him being a former running back easily helps him relate to the things he needs me to do,” Robinson said. “It’s easier for me to listen to him based off playing the same position. So it’s easier for me to take advice and easier for him to give me advice because we kind of have experience in the same position, so I think that’s a little bit more advantage for the running backs on the team now since our OC is a former running back.”

Robinson didn’t throw Turner under the bus; he was only sharing the excitement that playing for Bieniemy can be advantageous for him with Bieniemy having played the position.

“Maybe he can scheme and find ways to give the running backs more opportunity based off of what he see as a former running back,” Robinson said.

Some say we have yet to see a true Eric Bieniemy offense. This is why Bieniemy wanted a chance away from Kansas City, to prove he could design his own offense and call plays.

The Commanders are excited to have Bieniemy. And it’s not just the running backs. The quarterbacks, wide receivers and tight ends all believe Bieniemy can take the offense to another level in 2023.

Commanders receive poor marks in NFLPA’s team report cards

Another perspective on how Washington is viewed internally.

The NFLPA, led by president J.C. Tretter, conducted the first-ever team report cards, and the results were unveiled on Wednesday.

The purpose of the NFLPA report cards was to improve the overall working conditions of the players. So teams were judged in eight categories, from the weight room to traveling conditions, and to the surprise of no one, the Washington Commanders did not fair well.

How the did NFLPA arrive at these grades?

The NFLPA polled over 1,300 players across the NFL with the goal of finding where teams excel and where teams need to improve.

As a whole, the Commanders ranked No. 32 — out of 32 teams.

What more is there to say at this point? Under current ownership, things aren’t going to improve. We have 24 years of data points and things continue to worsen.

Let’s break down how Washington fared in each category with comments from the results.

Conflicting schedules led Rivera to inform Wentz of his release via phone

It’s the least surprising transaction you’ll see all offseason.

Acquiring quarterback Carson Wentz was the biggest move of the 2022 offseason for the Washington Commanders. After striking out on multiple quarterbacks, such as Russell Wilson, Aaron Rodgers and Jimmy Garoppolo, Washington head coach Ron Rivera turned to Wentz.

In acquiring Wentz, the Commanders gave up a third-round pick in the 2022 NFL draft, swapped places in the second round of the same draft and a conditional draft pick in 2023 that turned into a third-round selection.

In return, Washington received eight games of Wentz, with a record of 2-5 as the starter. Wentz completed 62% of his passes with 11 touchdowns and nine interceptions.

One of the more memorable moments from Washington’s 2022 season was just before its Thursday night game at Chicago in Week 6. This was when the ESPN story broke of owner Daniel Snyder supposedly saying he had dirt on other owners. Also included in that report was the notion that it was Snyder who pushed for Wentz — not Rivera.

After the game, an emotional Rivera was fired up, saying it was he who wanted and pushed for Wentz. Later in the season, with the offense struggling under Heinicke, he gave Wentz another shot. It failed miserably, leading to rookie Sam Howell starting Week 18.

On Monday, Washington released Wentz. It was the least surprising transaction you’ll see this offseason, saving the Commanders $26 million in 2023.

According to Josina Anderson of CBS Sports, Rivera would have preferred to have met with Wentz to inform him of the team’s decision to release him, but conflicting schedules made that impossible.

Rivera deserves credit for wanting to handle it the old-fashioned way. However, it was clear by Week 6 that Wentz wouldn’t be in Washington next season.

 

 

3 Commanders make PFF’s top 101 players of the 2022 NFL season

One name is a bit surprising.

After the NFL draft, the NFL Network releases its annual list of the top 100 players of the previous NFL season. Pro Football Focus has its version of the top 100 players, highlighting the top 101 players of the prior season.

PFF uses its grading scale to determine the top 101 players.

How many Washington Commanders made the 2022 list? PFF has three Commanders ranked in the top 101, and the top-ranked Washington player will surprise you. Also, PFF strangely leaves off two players who should be in anyone’s top 101 players.

The top-ranked Commander is defensive end Montez Sweat, who ranks No. 42.

With Chase Young out for almost all of the season, Sweat was the Commanders’ primary source of edge pressure this season. Sweat accumulated 62 total pressures and 30 defensive stops, earning 83.8-plus PFF grades in both facets of play.

Star receiver Terry McLaurin came in at No. 87:

Yet again, McLaurin had to endure rough quarterback play in a season, and yet again he showed he can produce regardless. McLaurin caught 67.0% of the passes thrown his way in 2022 and led the team’s receivers by a distance with 2.04 yards per route run.

Finally, safety Kam Curl, who missed five games, is ranked No. 93.

Curl was excellent at safety in just 12 games this past season, earning PFF grades of at least 80.0 in three separate areas. He missed only four tackles all year and was a consistent presence in coverage from a variety of different alignments.

Curl proved his value more in the games he missed than in the ones he played. Washington badly missed Curl in the games he was injured.

As for McLaurin, ranking him among the best should be easy. Imagine if he had consistent quarterback play?

Finally, with Sweat, he had a much better season than people realize. Some focus only on sacks and disregard everything else. You shouldn’t. Sweat has improved each season, but he still needs to finish more sacks. Through four seasons, his career high is nine, set in 2020. If Sweat can consistently reach double figures in that category, he’d likely be considered one of the league’s best defensive ends. He is excellent against the run.

The biggest knock on this list is how can you leave off Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne? It cheapens the list a bit when at least one of those two does not make it. They were dominant for much of the 2022 season.

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Jahan Dotson dominated man coverage as a rookie

The best is yet to come for Jahan Dotson.

Remember when some criticized the Washington Commanders for trading back five spots in the first round and selecting Penn State wide receiver Jahan Dotson No. 16 overall in the 2022 NFL draft?

Dotson’s numbers didn’t blow anyone away, but he led the Commanders with seven touchdown receptions despite missing five games with a hamstring injury. Dotson showed he belonged in Week 1 with two touchdown receptions in a win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Dotson showed immediately that he wasn’t easy to cover, particularly in man coverage. According to Pro Football Focus, Dotson led an impressive class of rookie wide receivers with five touchdowns vs. man coverage.

You can check out some of Dotson’s impressive work here.

The Commanders had quarterback issues in 2022, yet Dotson shined in every opportunity he received. His touchdown against the Giants was arguably Washington’s best offensive play of the season.

Washington’s offense missed Dotson while he was out. Despite not being a big target, Dotson is an outstanding red-zone receiver because of his route-running, feet and ability to win at the line of scrimmage. Those traits bode well for Dotson’s future.

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Jonathan Allen ranked as one of PFF’s top interior defenders from the 2022 NFL season

Somehow, Daron Payne isn’t even ranked.

Pro Football Focus is a unique metric for grading NFL players. While some will argue much of PFF’s grading is subjective. As many players have noted, PFF analysts don’t know a player’s responsibility for any given play.

PFF recently released its top 25 interior defenders for the 2022 NFL season. Chris Jones of Kansas City topped the list, and he should have. Aaron Donald didn’t finish No. 1 for the first time since 2015, partly because he missed six games.

The Washington Commanders have a pair of dominant interior defenders in Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne, both of who made the Pro Bowl in 2022.

Where were they on this list? Allen came in at No. 10, which feels low. Allen is dominant every week against the run and the pass.

Allen posted another pass-rush grade above 80.0, which has kept him inside the top 10 at his position in that category in each of the past three seasons. Allen has also provided strong value as a run defender, tying for the most tackles at or behind the line of scrimmage against the run (16) among defensive tackles.

It’s hard to justify nine defensive tackles better than Allen.

Well, if you disagree with Allen’s ranking, Payne’s will make you furious. He didn’t even make the top 25.

Let’s think about this for a minute. Payne recorded 11.5 sacks in 2022, third in the NFL for defensive tackles. His 18 tackles for loss were No. 5 in the NFL and second for defensive tackles behind Jones, who had 20. There were weeks when Payne was unblockable. Yet PFF says he’s not a top-25 interior defender for 2022?

It may be time for PFF to reevaluate some of its grading scales.

Meanwhile, it’s too bad Washington can’t use Payne’s PFF grade at the negotiating table. Regardless of what PFF thinks, Payne is about to get paid.

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Commanders QB Sam Howell had one of the NFL’s more impressive throws in 2022

Sam Howell had 19 passing attempts as a rookie and made quite the impression.

Washington Commanders rookie quarterback Sam Howell attempted just 19 during his rookie season. The fifth-round pick from North Carolina started Washington’s final game, a 26-6 win over the Dallas Cowboys, and did enough to make head coach Ron Rivera give him a chance to enter the offseason as the starter.

Howell completed 11 of 19 passes for 169 yards with one touchdown and one interception in the Week 18 win. He also rushed for 35 yards and a touchdown. Howell showed a little bit of everything in the win. He also showed he still has plenty of developing to do with his one interception in the end zone.

There was more good than bad, though, and one throw had all Washington fans and Howell’s teammates excited. It was Howell’s 52-yard completion to star wide receiver Terry McLaurin that set up a Commanders’ score.

It was a throw that McLaurin called a “dime” after the game. Howell did everything right on the throw.

According to Next Gen Stats, it was one of the NFL’s more impressive throws of the season. Howell’s pass to McLaurin went for 52 yards but traveled 60 yards in the air. It ranked No. 8 in the 2022 NFL season in air yards.

How many times in the past decade or more have you seen a Washington quarterback throw the ball 60 yards in the air on a rope and completed it?

No, that throw or game doesn’t mean Howell is Washington’s future at quarterback, but you shouldn’t discount him based solely on where he was drafted.

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