Tag: Jamison Crowder

NFL adopts new kickoff rule for 2024

The NFL hopes the new rule will lead to more returns. Who could the Commanders turn to as their kick returner in 2024?

The kickoff was once one of the most exciting plays in the NFL. However, with all the injuries over the years, rules were adopted that minimized the kickoff in recent years.

On Tuesday, the NFL owners approved a new hybrid rule that completely changes the kickoff in hopes of making it an important part of the game again but also keeping it safe.

Here’s this directly from the NFL:

  • By Competition Committee; for one year only, amends Rule 6, to create a new form of a free kick play that is designed to: (1) resemble a typical scrimmage play by aligning players on both teams closer together and restricting movement to reduce space and speed; and (2) promote more returns. Permits the Replay Official automatically review whether a free kick legally touched the ground or a receiving team player in the landing zone.

Essentially, the 2024 season is a trial run for this new rule and the league will reexamine again next March.

NFL.com went more in-depth on the new rule.

Kickoffs will remain at the 35-yard line, but the remaining 10 players on the kicking unit will line up at the opposing team’s 40-yard line. The receiving team lines up with at least seven players in the “set-up zone,” a five-yard area between their own 35- and 30-yard lines, with a maximum of two returners can line up in the landing zone.

After the ball is kicked, the kicker cannot cross the 50-yard line and the 10 kicking team players cannot move until the ball hits the ground or a player in the landing zone or goes into the end zone. The receiving team’s players in the set-up zone also cannot move until the kick has hit the ground or a player in the landing zone or the end zone. The returner(s) may move at any time before or during the kickoff.

Penalties on scoring plays also will not carry over and will be taken on the point after attempt. On any penalty that carries over to kickoffs, the set-up and landing zones will not change, nor will the alignment of the 10 kickoff team players and all the receiving team players — only the kicker’s positioning move.

Kickoff scenarios:

  • Kickoffs that hit the landing zone must be returned.
  • Kickoffs that hit the landing zone and then go into the end zone must be returned or downed by the receiving team. If downed, the receiving team would get the ball at its own 20-yard line.
  • Kickoffs that go into the end zone and stay inbounds that are downed would give the receiving team the ball at their own 30-yard line. Kickoffs that go out of the back of the end zone (in the air or bounces) would also be a touchback at the receiving team’s 30-yard line.
  • Kickoffs short of the landing zone would be treated like a kickoff out of bounds, and the receiving team would get the ball at its own 40-yard line.

The legislation also will lead to a tweak in onside kicks, which can only occur in the fourth quarter and onward when a team trails. The kicking team must declare its intent to onside kick.

On the same day as the NFL approved the kickoff rule, the Pittsburgh Steelers signed one of the NFL’s best returners, Cordarrelle Patterson, to a two-year deal. The 33-year-old is entering his 12th NFL season in 2024 and has 22 career receiving touchdowns, 16 rushing touchdowns and has returned nine kickoffs for touchdowns. When you consider how the league has limited the kickoff in recent years, those nine touchdowns are impressive.

Will Washington Commanders general manager Adam Peters add a dynamic player to the roster in hopes of boosting the team’s kick return game? Antonio Gibson returned kickoff the past two seasons, but he is gone. Veteran wide receiver Jamison Crowder returned punts in 2023, but is unlikely to return kicks.

A name to watch is Kazmeir Allen. Undrafted out of UCLA last season, Allen remained on Washington’s practice squad all of last season. He re-signed with the Commanders this offseason. During his time at UCLA, Allen returned 39 kickoffs at an average of 27 yards per return and had one touchdown.

Washington’s new special teams coach, Larry Izzo, is one of the NFL’s best and will certainly look to prioritize the return game in 2024.

How bad were the Commanders in the first half vs the Jets?

Sam Howell was bad on Sunday, but in that first half, the entire team looked ridiculously bad.

Sunday, the Commanders coaches again pulled Sam Howell, but this game stands out in seeing just how bad Howell was against the Jets.

Howell was horrible, yes. But you should not simplistically think as bad as he was; it was all on him. In fact, you might be surprised to be reminded how bad the Commanders’ team was in the first half, Sunday.

On his first play, Howell hit Curtis Samuel right in the hands for what could have been a first down, but Samuel dropped it. On his second play of the game, Howell hit Logan Thomas in the hands, and the pass was then intercepted. Don’t you think that shakes up a young quarterback on the road in New York?

Tight end John Bates decided he would also contribute a dropped pass, so in the first quarter, Washington receivers dropped three passes on Howell. Isn’t it time we are as equally hard on the receivers for all of their dropped passes this season? Howell had a tough game, but it is true: the three drops in the first quarter were huge as well.

In addition, what was Terrell Burgess thinking on the Tress Way blocked punt? Five offensive plays, and Washington was down 10-0.

Early in the second quarter, Howell was about to start a possession in Jets territory because Jamison Crowder was returning a punt 24 yards, which he then mysteriously, with no contact, fumbled right back to the Jets. So much for that possession opportunity for Howell.

After a Casey Toohill fumble recovery, Chris Rodriguez scored to narrow the Jets lead to 20-7. The Commanders then put together an excellent defensive series, and the Jets were three out. Then, with the Jets in punt formation, Tariq Castro-Fields jumped offsides for some inexplicable reason.

The penalty provided the Jets a first down at their own 41, and they proceeded to drive the rest of the 59 yards for a touchdown, extending their lead to 27-7.

Yes, Sam Howell was bad Sunday. It was his worst game of the season, and the Commanders also contributed in various ways toward the worst first half of the season.

 

Giants’ Joe Schoen explains why he cut Jamison Crowder

New York Giants GM Joe Schoen explains why he cut return specialist Jamison Crowder prior to the season: “That’s on me.”

The New York Giants are underperforming in all passes of the game this season. Their offense is last in scoring and yards and their defense is ranked 28th overall.

Their special teams, a unit the Giants have prided themselves in the past few seasons, has also had its challenges. They are averaging just 6.5 yards per punt return (30th) and the reason is fairly clear – they have failed to find a reliable returner.

“That’s on me,” general manager Joe Schoen told reporters on Monday.

“To be honest with you, that’s another — we tried to address the punt returner. We knew it was an issue. In the draft, some of the guys we liked went probably higher than where we deemed you would take a guy.”

The Giants ended up settling on rookie running back Eric Gray, a fifth-round pick out of Oklahoma who averaged just 4.0 yards per return on 28 attempts and had serious ball security issues to boot.

Gray was injured in Week 8 and has been out with an ankle injury ever since. He returned in Week 12 but the Giants have moved on, adding free agent Gunner Olszewski, who has stabilized to the role, averaging 9.3 yards per attempt.

Schoen spoke about Gray and his background, which led to the Giants believing he could handle the responsibility of returning punts over several veterans, including Jameson Crowder, who the Giants cut.

“Eric had done it at Tennessee, and he had done it at Oklahoma and the coaches were comfortable, we were comfortable going into the regular season based off what we were seeing,” Schoen explained.

“I know Crowder is having success in Washington, you bring him up — we kept seven receivers; we couldn’t keep eight. Do the math, who do you move on from, from the group if you kept Crowder? So, there was some moving parts in there and that’s me being candid with you and that’s on me, the returner. I’m glad we got (wide receiver) Gunner (Olszewski) here, though. He’s done a really good job for us.”

Schoen didn’t quite close the door on Gray. The Giants still need him for depth in the backfield and could still try him as a returner in the future.

“Eric’s got a bright future and we probably put him in a spot that wasn’t most comfortable for him either, but he went out there, didn’t flinch an eye, didn’t bat an eye, and did what he could, but again that’s on me, early on. We couldn’t do everything overnight and as much as we wanted to and that was a position we continued to look for and Pittsburgh let Gunner go and we were able to get him,” Schoen said.

Meanwhile, out in Washington, Crowder is seventh in the league with 207 yards on punt returns.

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How Sam Howell has transcended the Commanders’ offensive line

Sam Howell of the Commanders has transcended his leaky offensive line with stellar movement in and out of the pocket. Here’s how it’s happening.

Through the first month of the 2023 season, we had no idea what the Washington Commanders’ offense would look like with new offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, because second-year quarterback Sam Howell, in his first season as a full-time starter, couldn’t stay off the ground.

In Weeks 1-5, per Pro Football Focus, Howell was pressured on 38.1% of his dropbacks, and he took a league-high 29 sacks in five games. He threw two touchdowns and four interceptions under pressure. 

In Weeks 6-9, Howell has been pressured on 36.2% of his dropbacks, and he’s been sacked just 14 times in four games. He’s thrown one touchdown and two interceptions under pressure, but he’s creating explosive passing plays under pressure all of a sudden. 

It’s not because Washington’s offensive line got any better; it’s because Howell has upped his game with knowing how to bail to throw – both with movement outside the pocket, and pocket movement inside the pocket. 

In late October, Howell talked about the pressure problem, and what he hoped to do about it.

“It’s one of those things where we want to… obviously the sack problem is definitely an issue and we want to try to avoid that and try to limit those numbers. But at the same time, I still want to go out there and play how I’m coached to play and still keep my eyes downfield and be able to locate those guys and not be too worried about the rush and let those guys up front do their job. There’s definitely a balance of trying to avoid sacks, but also trying to still play quarterback for sure.”

Now, Howell is doing both things at a higher level.

Pete Carroll, whose Seattle Seahawks face Howell’s Commanders at home this Sunday, clearly understands the challenge.

“He moves a lot,” Carroll said Wednesday of Howell. “They move him out of the pocket, so he can do all of that stuff. He’s not a runner but he scrambles; he’s got 157 yards and he’s got a five-yard average when he runs, but that’s not the feature part of it. He is in the mold of what Kansas City looked like; they’re using the quarterback in the same way. Everyone is familiar with seeing that and they’re counting on Sam to do his stuff. He’s a dropback guy, good rhythm, he’s strong and physical, and he can throw the ball all over the field. The main thing you can see with the young guy, the confidence that they have in him and how they’re calling their stuff. It’s impressive.”

Linebacker Bobby Wagner is also on the case.

“Teams have been able to get after [Howell] and been able to sack him a lot. For every sack or whatever, he’s able to escape some plays. There’s a play, he got a third-and-23 by using his legs. We need to be mindful and understand. They know that they’ve been getting pressured a lot, but he’s also getting comfortable with it and being able to trust his legs a little bit more and escape. We just need to be on our job and make the plays we’re supposed to make.”

Let’s start with the third-and-23 run Wagner mentioned; this was last Sunday against the New England Patriots. Given the situation, the Patriots were right to play with deep drops in coverage, but the pressure gave Howell an opening to run, and the void in the middle of the defense allowed him to gain 24 yards on the run to extend the drive.

Now, let’s get into two examples of Howell using pocket movement to beat pressure, starting with this 26-yard touchdown pass to Jamison Crowder against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 8. Crowder ran an over route as the inside slot receiver in trips right, and Howell moved to his left as Josh Sweat and Milton Williams collapsed everything inside. Crowder ran through Philly’s Cover-4, but that would have not mattered had Howell not adjusted his launch point in a subtle way to extend the play. Then, it was up to Howell to make a ridiculous throw to Crowder over Reed Blankenship and James Bradberry, and Howell’s got the arm to do that. 

Then, there was this 24-yard completion to Jahan Dotson against the Patriots. Again, Howell faced pressure, and again, he moved subtly to extend the play. This time, edge-rusher Anfernee Jennings, end Deatrich Wise Jr., and DI Christian Barmore crashed the edge protections, overwhelming tackles Charles Leno and Andrew Wylie. Not a problem for Howell, who survived it by using that sense of pocket movement to make the outstanding throw.

And as he showed on this 22-yard completion to Terry McLaurin against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 6, Howell is perfectly comfortable moving outside the pocket against pressure, and recovering from that to make another bang-on throw.

In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys get into how Howell’s adjustments to pressure have put the Commanders’ offense at a new level.

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You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os,” featuring all of Week 10’s biggest NFL matchups, right here:

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

…and on Apple Podcasts.

Commanders midseason awards: MVP, Rookies of the Year, Most Improved and more

As we review the first half of the season, we hand out midseason awards for the Commanders.

The 2023 NFL season is far from over, but last week was the midway point for the Washington Commanders. The Commanders improved to 4-5 after a 2-0 start, with a 20-17 win over the New England Patriots.

So, while it’s been a disappointing season overall for the Commanders, there have been bright spots. After Washington traded away starting edge rushers Montez Sweat and Chase Young last week, the Commanders were clear the remainder of this season was about quarterback Sam Howell’s development.

As disappointing as the first half of this season has been, Washington remains only one game out of the NFC’s final wild-card spot.

Since we are at the midseason point, let’s review the first half and hand out our midseason awards.

Commanders’ Bieniemy knows he needs to improve as well as players

The Commanders played well enough to entertain some folks last week, says Bieniemy. That’s not the goal.

Commanders offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy knows his players need to improve, but he was also honest enough to admit he does as well.

He pointed out to the media Thursday he liked what the offensive line did last week.

“I thought those guys did a heck of a job. They stepped up. They played hard. The communication was great, but like I said, we played good enough just to entertain folks. We didn’t win. So, did they play well? Yes. Did we do enough to win? Absolutely not.”

When asked about being a former running back and running backs coach, yet passing more than running he jokingly blamed Andy Reid, then turned serious.

“Okay. We’ll continue working the ball and running it. I thought last week the guys did a heck of a job. I still got to become a better playcaller and give those guys more opportunities to run. There’s a lot of things that I need to continue to work on, just like the players. So, as we continue growing together at this stage in the season, we will improve. And I’ll say this, that I promise you.”

Like head coach Ron Rivera, Bieniemy was praising quarterback Sam Howell.

“I thought he did a heck of a job of just processing the information…I thought Sam just had great rhythm and when you have that rhythm, there isn’t any disruptions. You get an opportunity to just take a snap, go through your progression, let the ball loose.”

Bieniemy stressed having patience with his young quarterback, who has still only started nine NFL games.

“I’ll keep saying this as long as we are here, all right, every day is a new day. Every day, I’m still learning who Sam is. Now, the thing that I know of him is that he’s a competitor. He hates being wrong. He auto-corrects…”

“I want to see him and the guys develop that chemistry, whereas we’re not adding all the input it’s coming from within. When you have it coming from within, that’s when you know those guys are in the right place. So, I just want to continue to see him grow as a leader.”

A few other players were singled out by Bieniemy for their performance against the Eagles, such as Jamison Crowder and Jahan Dotson.

“He’s (Crowder) the ultimate professional. He doesn’t take anything for granted. I love the energy and the excitement that he brings to the table..”

When you play in this league long enough, you’re going to have some drops throughout the course of the season. This week, he (Dotson) did a great job making some catches, made some big-time plays. I thought he played fast and explosive.”

Commanders PFF grades: Best and worst performers vs. Eagles in Week 8

The Commanders lost their fifth game of the season. Which players graded well against the Eagles? And how did the new-look OL fare?

Washington Commanders quarterback Sam Howell had perhaps the best game of his young NFL career on Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles. Howell completed 39 of 52 passes for 397 yards, with four touchdowns and one interception.

Howell wasn’t perfect, of course, but he kept the Commanders in control for much of the game, trading scores with the defending NFC champions for the second time in five weeks.

Was Sunday’s game Howell’s highest-graded performance from Pro Football Focus?

Who was Washington’s highest-graded player?

Here are PFF’s top-graded players from Week 8.

Studs and duds from Commanders’ 38-31 loss to Eagles

Who shined in the Commanders’ 38-31 loss to the Eagles? And who struggled? Here’s our latest edition of studs and duds.

The Washington Commanders dropped to 3-5 after Sunday’s 38-31 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. Much like their meeting four weeks ago, the Commanders had multiple chances but failed. Whether it was QB Sam Howell’s late interception, Terry McLaurin missing two catchable passes, or another pathetic performance from the defense, Washington couldn’t make enough plays to defeat the defending NFC champions.

After a loss, a team’s focus immediately turns to the next game. However, things are a bit different for the Commanders, with the NFL trade deadline approaching on Tuesday. Will the Commanders sell? There’s a growing belief that at least one of Washington’s four former first-round picks on the defensive line will be moved.

As for Sunday’s loss to the Eagles, we look at the studs and duds from Week 8.

Behind Enemy Lines: Week 7 Q&A with Commanders Wire

With a Week 7 matchup between the New York Giants and Washington Commanders on tap, we go behind enemy lines for a chat with Commanders Wire.

The New York Giants (1-5) and Washington Commanders (3-3) will square off on Sunday afternoon in a Week 7 matchup at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

The Giants opened the week as 1.5-point home underdogs but that has only gotten worse since then. They are +3 as of this writing.

With this matchup on tap, Giants Wire took the opportunity to hold a Q&A with Commanders Wire managing editor Bryan Manning.

Commanders WR Jamison Crowder named NFC special teams player of the week

Crowder wins the award for the second time in his career with Washington.

Over the last few weeks, Washington Commanders wide receiver Jamison Crowder looked close to breaking a big punt return. After a quiet start to the season, Crowder had punt returns of 14 and 20 yards in Weeks 4 and 5, respectively.

In Week 6 against the Atlanta Falcons, Crowder finally had the game-changing play Washington has been looking for from its return game.

In the first half, with the Commanders trailing 7-3, Crowder takes the punt and returns it 61 yards to the Falcons’ 11-yard line. Washington would score a touchdown three plays later and never trailed again.

That excellent punt return was enough for Crowder to be named the NFC special teams player of the week. It’s the second time he’s won the award in his NFL career, both with Washington. Crowder is in his first year back with the Commanders after four years away. Crowder was a fourth-round pick of Washington back in 2015.

The Commanders meet the Giants in Week 7.