Tag: Punter Tress Way

Kam Curl wins Washington Commanders’ March Madness bracket challenge

No one involved picked a Final Four team correctly in a wild NCAA Tournament.

It was nothing short of March Madness in 2023, but Kam Curl came out on top.

Curl, a safety out of Arkansas, did not have a team of his four picks to advance to this year’s Final Four. However, neither did anyone else, as it was a crazy tournament as no top seed advanced to a regional final and only one No. 2 seed advanced to a regional final.

Curl finished atop the Commanders bracket challenge scoring a total of 570 points. Unol (not sure who that is) finished second with 540 points 30 points behind Curl.

Linebacker Jamin Davis was third with 530 points. Others I recognize were Daron Payne, Tress Way and Camaron Cheeseman finishing fifth, sixth and seventh respectively.

Interestingly enough, it was Payne who was the leader following the round of 64 games. Payne totaled 260 points to lead Curl (250) and another participant who is not recognizable by their entry name who also scored 250 in the first round.

Curl made up his ground in the second round scoring a high of 200 points, when he predicted 10 of the 16 games correctly in the round of 32.

Alabama was the overall top seed in the tournament and sure enough Payne, Sam Howell and Christian Holmes all had the Crimson Tide to be standing alone in their bracket.

Curl chose Arkansas, Davis went with Kentucky, while Way and Cheeseman both selected the Kansas Jay Hawks as their choice to win it all.

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Counting down the Commanders’ 20 biggest cap hits in 2023: Beginning with No. 15

Here are the next five Commanders’ biggest cap hits for 2022 (No. 11-15).

Which Washington Commanders players will count the largest cap hit for the 2023 NFL season?

This week, Commanders Wire is counting down the top 20 Washington Commanders with the largest cap hit for 2023.

Thus far, we have learned those Commanders who will be the largest cap hits from No. 20 to No. 16.

Now, we look at Washington’s next five biggest cap hits for 2023, beginning at No. 15.

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All salary cap numbers are courtesy of Spotrac.

Four Commanders named to the NFL Pro Bowl

Terry McLaurin and Jeremy Reaves earn their first Pro Bowl nods.

Jonathan Allen, for the second consecutive year, was named to the Pro Bowl, leading the way as four Commanders were named to the 2022 NFL Pro Bowl.

The other Commanders also named to the Pro Bowl were wide receiver Terry McLaurin, punter Tress Way and special teams player Jeremy Reaves.

Commanders head coach Ron Rivera decided to have some fun with the players Wednesday, in the manner in which he revealed to them they were named Pro Bowlers (see video below).

 

Allen, a defensive tackle out of Alabama, was taken in the first round by the Commanders in the 2017 NFL Draft (17th overall).  Allen has been a stalwart of the Washington defense, and it is certainly no surprise Allen was voted to the Pro Bowl.

McLaurin, a third-round choice out of Ohio State in the 2019 NFL draft (76th overall) has from his first NFL game, been productive and a leader of the team. It is the first time McLaurin has been voted to the Pro Bowl. McLaurin has collected over 1,000 receiving yards in each of his last three seasons.

Way, a Pro Bowler in 2019 when he led the NFL punting average with 49.6 yards per punt, is averaging 46.8 yards per punt. Undrafted out of Oklahoma, Way signed with Washington in 2014 and this is his ninth consecutive season with the Burgundy and Gold.

Reaves, a veteran of 39 NFL games, has actually only started eight as a defensive back and has one career interception. Reaves has been outstanding on special teams this year and was voted in as the Special Teams representative.

It has no doubt been the defense that has carried this team during its recent success. Consequently, Daron Payne and Montez Sweat were also named as Pro Bowl alternates. Both are unquestionably very deserving of the honor.

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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?

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Nate Kaczor pleased with Commanders special teams development

Washington special teams coach Nate Kaczor met with the media on Friday.

Commanders special teams coach Nate Kaczor met with the press Friday, expressing he likes Antonio Gibson returning kicks.

“He does a nice job of getting where the seam is and has a good feel for that. His size and quickness to put his foot in the ground and get there before it closes up allows him to get productive yardage. And I know that when you get to the 30 or 31 yard line to the naked eye might not seem like a lot, but if you statistically look at the amount of returns in the NFL to the 30 or passed, there are just not a lot of them.”

Jeremy Reaves has pleased Kaczor with his punt coverage this season.

“There’s a lot of times where they’re bringing eight people and all of our interiors are occupied blocking a rush so [P] Tress [Way] can even punt the ball. So in that event, the gunners are singled up and they need to win for us. So when you see Jeremy Reaves down the field, he’s already blocked somebody and left. Or there’s times when they may double a gunner and Jeremy’s not blocking and he can get out fast.”

On CB Christian Holmes as a gunner:

He has “improved from potentially having a big play in Detroit to executing and getting the play done. He’s the one that actually downed this one at home against the Packers. But where he has improved is just his situational awareness. Obviously, when we drafted him, he is a big muscled up and a really linear fast player and he’s just gotten better and better.“

K Joey Slye has missed a field goal in each of the last two games.

“I think as long as the kicker knows they’re striking the ball well, the alignment stuff is something you can work on. As long as their mind is right, as I’ve said to you all before, then you’re not as concerned. And when you win a game and it’s not as at the forefront, it just makes the work environment more conducive to getting things fixed. He’s really hitting the ball well.”

Muff punts are a time when “any little indecision that can cause mechanical problems on a returner, those can happen. The bottom line is when they don’t catch the ball, if you’re not there to do something about it, you’re not gonna get ’em.”

Often special teams are simply not being a heavily recognized part of the game.

“You have to recognize that people might not notice this or notice that, but once in a while when everyone recognizes it, there’s a play to be made to help win the game…Those are the things in our special teams meetings that we have to prop up and give them a lot of credit in front of their teammates. Like, man, that’s really good.”