Tag: Head Coach Ron Rivera

Rick ‘Doc’ Walker: ‘Detroit was tougher’ than Commanders

Doc Walker had plenty to say about the Commanders and the coaching staff Monday. He’s not wrong.

Former Washington tight end Rick “Doc” Walker still loves Washington NFL football.

Walker still wants to win as well. There are times like Monday when Walker is a good listen. While a guest on the “Kevin Sheehan Show” podcast, Walker had some compelling/provocative things to say about the Commanders’ 36-27 loss to the Lions in Week 2. Here are a few excerpts.

“They don’t seem to be clear about what it is they are trying to accomplish.  It’s like I don’t know who is really in charge. I have no idea. From a conceptual standpoint, we keep leaning on our defensive line, and that is good. But we have seen other people destroy us, disrupt us and we don’t seem to have that level of disruption.”

“It would seem we have to create more immediate presence through blitzing or play more man coverage than zone, to where we dictate the outcome. We seem to be a punching bag. I, for the life of me, don’t understand why we don’t contest our opponents’ passes.”

“Our opponents are catching balls uncontested. We are giving them too many junk plays, and that is confusion, disorganization, or incompetence.”

“If Jackson (William) is so good at what he does (man coverage) let him do what he does well. Same thing with 52 (Jamin Davis). ‘Well, he’s really athletic and fast.’ Well then, when in doubt, why don’t you have him rush the passer?”

“I’m telling you, it’s their job (coaches). They selected him (first round) and then said, ‘Oops, we want him to do something different. Oops, we are changing that.’ Come on, man. It’s a classic clown show act! You figure it out, and then we will follow you. The kid seems to be confused. It appears to be a mixed message on the defensive side of the room.”

They (Detroit) were tougher. They were more aggressive. That’s how they train. They were exactly what we thought they would be. I thought we had more talent, but we couldn’t get it cranked up. When we did, it wasn’t enough. And then we became analytics and all that other crap that goes into it. At that point, you can stick a fork in yourself.”

“It’s the new way out. It’s the new thing, the new jive. You can just say, ‘It’s the Analytics.’ Oh, ok, He (Ron Rivera) is really lucky that there are a lot of people who are not in that press crew.”

“We had Carter (DeAndre) last year, and he was a threat. But that was not a high enough priority for us. We figured it out. Maybe the Analytics didn’t allow us to think he had a value.”

“What matters is are we going to have people that can come up and fundamentally tackle people? This is the worst (pause), I don’t even want to call them linebackers. I don’t know what you call them, But I do know this, the guy that they don’t want to sign (Landon Collins) tackles better than anybody on their defense right now except 22 (Darrick Forrest). The best they have been is when he was at his best. They need an offensive lineman and a guy who tackles, and they are playing badass.”

Regarding the Commanders not bringing in more defensive help, “Yea, the Analytics said they didn’t need anybody.”

“Forget the publicity, forget where they went to college and all that crap. Just look at how they (Detroit) performed. People are different than we are. We get close, but we don’t get the prize. Our guy 90 (Montez Sweat) who I consider a freakish guy, is really good but he doesn’t finish. He doesn’t get the desired results. He’s close; our guys are close.”

“Payne (Daron) is playing like he just got out of lockdown. You see that difference? That is the difference that you either have to be coached into that, punked into that, or forced into that. We don’t have THAT. ”

“We have good guys, they are doing a good job, but there is not canine in them that comes out. You don’t get gashed like that. It just doesn’t happen. There is a disconnection, a communication void that is going on. It’s as clear as day to me because I’ve been on winners.”

“Right now if this was a soap box this would be a best-seller; it would be a No.1 rated sitcom because that’s what it is, a sitcom. You think I’m laughin’; I’m not laughin’. It’s pitiful.”

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Rivera talks Commanders’ defense

Ron Rivera discusses some of Washington’s young defenders.

Commanders head coach Ron Rivera had quite a bit to say regarding his defense, when talking with the media.

Are the Commanders looking to blitz more this season?

“I think that’s something that as we evaluate who we are and what we do, we have some guys that we think are very good blitzers. We think [LB] Jamin [Davis] is a very good blitzer. We think [S] Bobby McCain is a good blitzer. We like who [CB] Benjamin St-Juste is in terms of blitzing. You have guys that are quick and understand. You want to use those guys and it does help the defensive line if you blitz and you blitz early in the game, now, they don’t know what to expect.”

2021 rookie CB Benjamin St-Juste suffered injuries, but this year is looking better prepared as well.

“There were some things that Jacksonville did that we weren’t prepared for. I think they caught us with something that was different, a little new and it kind of put us in a tough spot, but we got out of it. I thought he handled that pretty well. That was good. It was really good to see him out there playing to his ability. He has a tremendous skill set, has good size, and he can run. I think he is only going to get better at that position and really be an asset for what we want to be on defense.”

Coach Rivera likes Kam Curl and is hopeful he returns quickly.

“I think with him, just a little bit more of a DB presence near the box. I know DFoe (Darrick Forrest) did a great job. He did things tremendously well and the things we asked him to do did very well. With Kam, there is a bigger presence. His stature, size and his impact as a player, but again, take nothing away from what Dfoe did. That was a tremendous performance, and he made an impact in the game.”

Rivera spoke to some of Jamin Davis’ issues but remains confident Davis will contribute greatly.

“Really, playing to your leverage side, understanding exactly, if I have inside leverage, I want to make sure that this guy goes up and over. If he goes over the top of me, it makes it a longer throw and forces the ball to be elevated, it gives the safety a chance to help me. If I pop my feet and back up just enough and that guy gets underneath, now I’m in a chase position and that is not where my leverage is. That’s the mistake he made. He knows, hey, go take the air out of them from an inside position, make them roll over the top. If I’ve got help outside inside then I want to get him inside as quickly as possible. Then, I know the guy is down there to help me. Those are some of the things that he has got to be aware of. It is with reps, time, understanding, growth and development. He is a young guy that is still learning but because of his skillset and what he is capable of he can make those plays.”

Losing Phidarian Mathis in the very first half of the first game, after losing both Tim Settle and Matt Ioanidis means the Commanders were extremely thin inside at defensive tackle. Thus, they added Donovan Jeter to the roster from the Steelers’ practice squad.

“Big, stout, physical young man (Jeter) more so than anything else. Right now, with our situation, we opted to sign the bigger guy, a bigger body. Space eater up inside, very active as a player. I like his first-step quickness, his ability to get into the crease and hold the point. He holds doubles pretty well. He is going to be a little bit of a space-eater and allow those guys behind him or next to him to work and make some plays. Big guys like that, with quickness, command a little bit more attention inside.”

“Having gone through camp with the Steelers and playing as well as he did, we just felt this is a young man that we will give a shot and see. He is a bright young man and he has done a nice job so far. He has only been in the playbook for two days but he has had an opportunity to rotate in and out. ”

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Commanders waiver claims: The one time they struck gold

Washington has struck gold with waivers before. Could it happen again with either of the new cornerbacks?

What benefit will the Commanders receive from claiming two cornerbacks off of waivers last week?

Yes, the reality is both Rachad Wildgoose and Tariq Castro-Fields were not valued as the top 53 players on their respective teams. Consequently, Wildgoose was let go by the Jets and Castro-Fields by the 49ers.

Did you notice head coach Ron Rivera looked to GM Martin Mayhew while admitting, “I think he’s (Wildgoose) a second-year player from the Jets,” and Mayhew confirmed that was correct.

It illustrates the league has too many players out there for a head coach to know everyone available. This is why you hire scouts and rely on Mayhew and Marty Hurney. One man cannot do it all, nor should he attempt to.

Mayhew himself was a good corner in the NFL with Washington (1989-92) and Tampa Bay (1993-96). You don’t last in the NFL eight seasons (starting the vast majority of your games) unless you know much about the position and are a great athlete.

Mayhew spoke highly of Washington’s new corners. After all, would anyone else in the organization know as much about what it takes to play corner as Mayhew?

Most of the time you claim a player off waivers, and he reminds you why he was on waivers. But then there are times the guy was maturing and blossomed when provided another opportunity.

Such was the case when Washington drafted an offensive tackle in the 11th round (272 overall). It didn’t work out, he went to Kansas City, but they waived him a month later.

The next season the Cowboys claimed him, but he didn’t impress enough there either and was waived during the preseason. The very next day Washington claimed him off waivers, hoping it would work for him the second time around. 28 days later, they again waived him.

Thinking he could play, they tried again a third season. He broke through, making the roster, even starting 7 games. His fourth season he started every game, playing well enough he started at right tackle for 12 consecutive seasons.

When he retired he had played in 156 games (all for Washington) starting 146. He had become good enough to be the starting right tackle for 6 Redskins playoff teams, 2 Super Bowl teams and 1 Super Bowl championship team.

He deservedly became an original member of “The Hogs,” and the Washington football organization does not regret having claimed George Starke off of waivers.

 

Eric Stokes enjoying learning with the Commanders

Washington’s senior director of player personnel Eric Stokes spoke to the media Wednesday, and he’s been a fan of Armani Rogers for a while.

Eric Stokes, senior director of player personnel for the Washington Commanders, spoke with the media Wednesday.

“I’ve been assistant director. I’ve been college director. I’ve been assistant GM. Obviously working day to day with Coach [Rivera], I get a better sense of our overall coaching staff. You just kind of get a better sense of how everything kind of comes together and operates.”

Stokes was asked what he got from the Front Office Accelerator program.

“I’m really excited about where the direction of that program’s headed. It really gave us some really good insight in terms of having some of the one-on-one communication and dialogue with the owners around the league.”

Stokes spoke highly of others in the Commanders organization with whom he has had the privilege of working.

“Tim Gribble’s done an outstanding job as our director of college scouting. Always excited to work with him. I really kind of joke to both Marty [Hurney] and Martin [Mayhew] that he’s really kind of one of the glue guys of our group. I’ve been with five different organizations, nine GMs, seven different head coaches.”

When asked about rookie tight end Armani Rogers who is converting from a college quarterback, Stokes said, “You’re gonna laugh, but this is almost a three-year process because both Marty [Hurney] and I actually saw him initially at UNLV when he was a quarterback. But you could see that he, necessarily, wasn’t gonna be a quarterback. It was too far away to see what he could actually evolve into. To predict that he would end up being a tight end, I can’t tell you that I would’ve saw that because really you have to give that to Armani. I mean, what he did is quite frankly remarkable. I can’t say that I’ve really ever seen anything move at this type of pace and that’s why I’m so excited about where he’s going.”

“I mean, that’s the beauty of the situation every day I have an opportunity to sit back and learn from two guys (Mayhew and Hurney) that have been there and have done it. I just appreciate both those men so much. They’re so humble. They’re so transparent.”

He talked of how he has been learning the last 24 hours with cuts, signings, and practice squad matters.

“Look, there’s a lot of moving parts to what’s taking place. There’s a lot of unknowns or a lot of things that we may not have answers to right away. Chris [Polian] our director of pro personnel’s done a great job of leading our pro personnel department and really getting everything prepared in terms of all the different possibilities.”

When asked what Stokes is responsible to do during the week, he responded, “When I get back on Monday after the games, it’s all about evaluating from within and just kind of seeing where we are seeing injuries, just kind of checking to see if there’s anything that we need to do in terms of transaction, bringing guys in for workouts. I’m working collaboratively with Chris [Polian] just kind of getting an idea of an emergency list.”

Stokes was drafted out of Nebraska by the Seattle Seahawks in the 5th round (142) in the 1997 NFL Draft. He relayed how he received a call from his agent informing him Seattle had included Stokes on the expansion draft list. Consequently, he was drafted by the Browns. Stokes said he loved Seattle, and his girlfriend at the time said to him, ‘Well, we’re gonna have to get married here if you’re gonna send me off to Cleveland’.”