Tag: Jack Del Rio Commanders DC

Daron Payne now providing for the one who provided so much for him

Daron Payne is appreciative after signing his contract extension last month.

Daron Payne came through for the Commanders in 2022, and now he feels the Commanders have come through for him.

Payne recently expressed that his mom “suffers with Lupus and kidney failure. She’s been dealing with that a good portion of my life. She does dialysis at home and carries the machine with her where I am, to just get her stuff done.”

“Seeing her fight and determination just made me want to go out there and work hard so she don’t have to work so hard. I’ve put in a lot of work to get to this position today, and it is just nice to see it all finally coming to me.”

Payne has provided for himself through hard work, and now he has the opportunity to provide for his mother, who provided so many things for him when children are unable to take care of themselves.

Drafted No. 13 overall in the 2018 NFL draft, the 6-foot-3, 320-pound defensive tackle out of Alabama had played four seasons for Washington (2018-2021) and wanted a new contract. But the Commanders didn’t feel they should give him one.

In his four NFL seasons, Payne had achieved 14.5 sacks. When he did not get offered a new contract extension from the Commanders, Payne did the right thing. Instead of pouting and publicly complaining and whining about it, Payne went out and got his contract extension the old-fashioned way; he earned it.

Payne recently told Julie Donaldson, “I was kind of upset because they didn’t want to do a contract, and they didn’t offer me. So I just told them I will show them why I deserve to be here, and that is what I did.”

2022 saw Payne put up career-highs in tackles (64), assists (32), tackles for a loss (18) and quarterback hits (20) and quarterback sacks (11.5).

Upon signing his new deal, a four-year, $90 million contract with the Commanders on March 12, Payne came to the Commanders’ Ashburn facility and could be heard expressing to head coach Ron Rivera while putting his arm around Rivera, “I appreciate you getting this done for me.”

Rivera, rather than taking all the credit when he had the opportunity, instead instantly pointed to Jack Del Rio and replied, “Jack always felt that you were the guy. We felt you earned it, you deserved it.”

 

Martin Mayhew looking forward to working with Eric Bieniemy

Martin Mayhew talks about his longstanding relationship with Eric Bieniemy.

Martin Mayhew is not attempting to be an isolated super hero when it comes to the upcoming NFL draft or free agency cycle.

Speaking with the media during the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, Mayhew realizes the need to draft players that can best fit into the system the Commanders coordinators Eric Bieniemy (offense) and Jack Del Rio (defense) are going to be installing.

“We’re still working through that process with Eric,” Mayhew said. “He’s only been there for a couple days…So we’re still evolving with that process with him and trying to figure out exactly what he’s going to be looking for at different positions. We have some thoughts, obviously, but we’re going to blend all that and we’ll get into free agency and get into the draft and start getting input from him and we’ll make some of those decisions down the road.”

Mayhew was not shy to point out he will not only give an ear to Bieniemy but the entire coaching staff.

“Our coaches do a great job evaluating players,” the GM said. “That’s one thing I think that [Head] Coach [Ron] Rivera’s done a really good job of putting the staff together of guys that know what they’re looking at. So we lean on those guys a lot. Eric will be very involved in the process.”

Mayhew and Bieniemy have actually known each other for decades, and Mayhew is counting on that to help in their working relationship as well.

“Eric and I go way back,” Mayhew said. “We’ve got probably a hundred thousand or so friends in common. He’s a fraternity brother of mine, Omega Psi Phi. So, when I interviewed him, I was just trying not to piss him off, you know, but we’re so glad to have him. It is a guy that’s been in three of the last four Super Bowls. Had the number-one offense in the league last year in terms of scoring. Just as an offensive coordinator has accomplished a lot, and our guys are really excited about it too. Our team is excited about it. The whole building is excited to have him join us.”

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbykgy681k112p8 player_id=01eqbvhghtkmz2182d image=]

How are the Commanders defensive numbers?

We examine Washington’s defensive numbers, and they are a primary reason the Commanders are in a good position to make the playoffs.

It’s been a fun last seven weeks as the Commanders have won six of their last seven games and five of the six games started by Taylor Heinicke.

I decided to look at some more of the defensive numbers and see what I learned about how the Commanders are performing defensively (through 12 games) in relation to the other 31 teams in the NFL.

Here are the team offensive numbers I shared Saturday.

DEFENSE

*I have emboldened where the Commanders rank 1st

Points Allowed: 14th with 236

Yards Allowed: 12th with 3,720

Yards per play: 14th with 5.3

Takeaways: 15th with 14

First Downs allowed: 7th with 207

Passing Yards allowed: 16th with 2,419

Passing Touchdowns allowed: 28th with 19

Passes Intercepted: 20th with 7

Passing Yards allowed per attempt: 13th with 6.0

Passing First Downs allowed: 10th with 117

Rushing Yards allowed: 14th with 1301

Rushing Touchdowns allowed: 5th with 6

Rushing Yards per carry: 16th with 4.4

Rushing First Downs allowed: 7th with 63

Percentage of Drives ending in offensive score: 7th with 31.6%

Percentage of Drives ending in offensive turnovers: 9th with 8.8%

Passing Completion Percentage allowed: 4th with 60.1%

Passer Rating allowed: 16th with 90.8

Times Quarterback Sacked: 13th with 30

QB Hits: 1st with 87

Tackles for a loss: 3rd with 65

Percentage of time sacked QB on pass attempts: 12th with 7.4

Net yards gained per pass attempt: 13th with 6.0

Points allowed per game: 10th with 19.7

Average Number of Plays allowed per offensive drive: 1st with 5.3

Net Yards allowed per drive: 5th with 27.5

Average time allowed per drive: 1st with 2:24

Average points allowed per drive: 8th with 1.68

 

Del Rio has the Commanders defense trending upward

The stats confirm that Washington’s defense is good — really good.

Have you noticed the Commanders defense trending upward?

Following losses to Detroit and Philadelphia many in the Commanders fan base cried out that the Commanders defensive coordinator had to go.

Del Rio had actually named Jamin Davis as someone who could play better, and that didn’t go over well with the fan base. Del Rio also this year talked of last season having some players who performed like they were individual contractors rather than teammates playing together as a unit defensively.

The Commanders third-down defense is allowing only 32.8% conversions, up from 31st in 2021 to 3rd after nine games and they are bringing pressure, tied for 10th in sacks with 23 sacks.

Del Rio indeed has his defense improving, yielding 217.4 passing yards per game, which is 18th in the NFL. The rushing defense is also on the rise, tied for 12th, yielding 4.4 yards per rushing attempt. They are also at No. 1 in the NFL in rushing defense per the Football Outsiders DVOA metric.

Keep in mind this reforming and progression defensively has occurred without the second overall selection in the 2020 NFL Draft, defensive end Chase Young.

Did you know Jonathan Allen is third in the NFL in tackles for a loss (11)? In addition, Daron Payne is right behind Allen with 10. Montez Sweat is second in the NFL with 19 QB hits. Payne, James Smith-Williams and Allen have also produced 13, 12 and 11 QB hits respectively.

The offense is not significantly better with Taylor Heinicke. Though Heinicke has more mobility than Wentz, it’s not a matter of Wentz being bad and Heinicke being good. No, they both have their struggles and limitations.

The offensive line continues to struggle in pass protection, regardless of the quarterback. In addition, we’ve not seen the line control portions of games via the running game like we did during a four-game winning streak in 2021.

How much is Del Rio’s defense carrying this team? Well, did you realize the punter who has been forced to punt the most times in the NFL through nine weeks is Tress Way?

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbykgy681k112p8 player_id=none image=https://commanderswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

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.”

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbykgy681k112p8 player_id=none image=https://commanderswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]