Tag: WR Terry McLaurin 2019- current

Another season brings more quarterbacks for Commanders, McLaurin

Could 2024 be Terry McLaurin’s first winning season in the NFL?

Terry McLaurin is hoping to lead the Commanders in receiving for the sixth consecutive season.

McLaurin was drafted in the third round (76 overall) out of Ohio State in the 2019 NFL draft. On draft night, immediately, there was talk by analysts that McLaurin was a hard enough worker and a good enough athlete that he could make an immediate impact on special teams in his first NFL season.

In addition, Jay Gruden, the Redskins head coach, in his first press conference regarding the team drafting McLaurin, expressed, “He was the #1 special teams player on our board, but it’s really about what he is as a receiver.”

However, when the preseason began, head coach Jay Gruden mysteriously didn’t play McLaurin much at all. Was McLaurin injured? Why was he not getting reps to develop into an NFL receiver?

The season opener was in Philadelphia against the Eagles, and all of the Washington fan base quickly learned that this rookie was already making an impact, not on special teams but as the team’s No. 1 receiver.

In his first game, McLaurin not only started but also caught five passes for 125 yards, including a 69-yard touchdown. He continued to impress, finishing his rookie season of 14 games with 58 receptions for 919 yards (15.8), seven touchdowns, and 43 first downs.

Continuing to be the Commanders top receiver, McLaurin has totaled 1,118 receiving yards (2020), 1,053 (2021), 1,191 (2022) and 1,002 yards (2023).

Perhaps even more noteworthy are the quarterbacks who have played the position for Washington while McLaurin has been wearing the Burgundy and Gold: Case Keenum, Dwayne Haskins, Colt McCoy, Alex Smith, Kyle Allen, Taylor Heinicke, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Garrett Gilbert, Carson Wentz, Sam Howell and Jacoby Brissett.

McLaurin is not a youngster anymore. He has taken hundreds of NFL hits and will turn 29 in September. Washington will again have new coaches and quarterbacks for McLaurin this upcoming 2024 season.

The NFL is not a Disney make-believe movie. The new offensive system will need to be learned and performed under pressure. A struggling veteran (Marcus Mariota) and a rookie (Jayden Daniels) will need to be protected by a very unproven offensive line.

So yes, there are several questions about the 2024 offense, and Commanders fans are hoping, with McLaurin, that he will experience his first winning season in Washington.

 

Commanders listed as one of top 5 most underrated Week 1 games

Commanders and Bucs named a “sneaky good” Week 1 matchup.

What are the top five most underrated games of Week 1 in 2024?

Rich Eisen, on the “Rich Eisen Show” Wednesday, came prepared with his list of the top five games that he believes are under the radar of most NFL fans.

Eisen provided one honorable mention game that barely missed his list when he cited the Titans at Bears. Eisen stated this will be a big game as well because he believes overall No. 1 2024 draft selection QB Caleb Williams will result in the Bears being the most talked about non-playoff team (2023) during the upcoming preseason.

In his countdown, Eisen listed the Commanders at Buccaneers as the fifth most underrated game of the openers.

“Nobody is talking about this one. This team made the divisional round last year, and you want to talk about running it back, I am talking about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And it is the debut of Jayden Daniels in the National Football League and Dan Quinn as the new head coach of the Washington Commanders. Commanders at Bucs is an under-the-radar sneaky good Week 1 game that we are not talking about right now. I kind of dig it.”

“What if Washington hangs 30 on them and wins by two scores?” asked co-host Chris Brockman.

Eisen replied back, “Terry McLaurin, Jahan Dotson, Austin Ekeler, Brian Robinson Jr. These are no slouches, and Jayden Daniels comes in and shows up like he could be like, remember last year’s second overall pick in the draft did (referring to C.J. Stroud of course). No expectations, not high, right?”

The rest of Eisen’s list of Week 1 most underrated games were:

4. Cardinals at Bills

3. Texans at Colts

2. Jaguars at Dolphins

1. Raiders at Chargers

You can watch here for video of the entire segment.

What has happened since the Commanders opened on the road?

A lot has happened since the last time Washington opened a season on the road.

The Commanders will open their 2024 season at Tampa on September 8.

How long has it been since the NFL Washington team opened an NFL season on the road?

Well, put it this way: Jay Gruden was the head coach, and Case Keenum was the starting quarterback. Keenum’s backups were Colt McCoy and Dwayne Haskins.

Terry McLaurin was playing in his first NFL regular season game, and the two running backs who had carries for Washington that day were Derrius Guice and Chris Thompson.

McLaurin made a huge splash debut into the NFL that day, catching five passes on seven targets for 125 yards, including a 69-yard touchdown from Keenum. The other receivers catching passes that day other than McLaurin were Vernon Davis, Paul Richardson, Trey Quinn, Kelvin Harmon and Jeremy Sprinkle.

Washington had traveled to Philadelphia to open the 2019 season and started magnificently. Keenum connected with Davis on a 48-yard touchdown and McLaurin on a 69-yard touchdown. Plus, Dustin Hopkins’ 41-yard field goal was sandwiched between, and the Redskins were beating the Eagles at Lincoln Field 17-0.

When Hopkins booted a 48-yarder on the closing play of the first half, the Redskins led the Eagles 20-7. However, Carson Wentz led the Eagles to 25 consecutive second-half points for a 32-20 fourth-quarter lead. The final was Eagles 32-27 over the Redskins.

A great first half had launched the season with great hope and excitement. However, the second half would be a microcosm of the season, as the Redskins began 0-5, and Gruden was fired.

Things were so bad in 2019 when the Dolphins were unsuccessful on a game-ending two-point conversion attempt; it actually saved the Redskins from starting the season 0-10.

The dreadful season saw Haskins celebrating with fans and thus missing the final possession for the victory formation snap against the Lions. The silly act was a sign of Haskins’s future actions with Washington, which resulted in his not lasting two seasons before being released.

In a bizarre twist, the following Sunday, the Redskins went down to Charlotte, defeated the Panthers 29-21, resulting in Ron Rivera being fired by Carolina’s new owner David Tepper.

Washington owner Daniel Snyder hired Rivera as the team’s next head coach one month later. Snyder strangely kicked off the press conference with a mysterious “Happy Thanksgiving, Everybody.”

Next summer, Federal Express owner and Redskins minority owner Fred Smith challenged Snyder that the team needed to change its name from the historic “Redskins.” Nike and Pepsi soon hopped on that bandwagon, pressing Snyder to cave, and the “Redskins” were history.

Rivera then coached the Washington Football Team/Washington Commanders to four consecutive losing seasons and was subsequently fired by new majority owner Josh Harris.

Harris then hired Adam Peters as general manager and Dan Quinn as head coach, who hired his coaching staff. Sam Howell was traded to Seattle, and Peters blew up the roster, signed many free agents, and drafted nine new college players, including LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels, who won the Heisman Trophy.

Isn’t that a tremendous amount of water under the bridge since the last time Washington opened an NFL season on the road?

 

Commanders drama grows concerning Eric Bieniemy

Has Eric Bieniemy pushed too hard? Opinions will be mixed.

The Commanders’ drama continues into this week’s bye week.

From the outset, it should be stated explicitly if the Commanders were 7-6 instead of 4-9, there would be much less drama right now.

Just last week, Grant Paulsen of 106.7 The Fan reported that he was being told that there are Commanders players not endorsing Eric Bieniemy in his coaching style.

Now, John Keim and Jeremy Fowler of ESPN have combined to write a story that unfolds how this season, which began with such high hopes, is now crumbling in its last month.

Apparently some players were not going to make their treatments because Bieniemy was running over the usually understood time for offensive personnel meetings. One player communicated that Bieniemy had suggested they could use a foam roller during the meeting.

Another player said it was getting better, “He’s gotten better at respecting our time.”

There was the preseason incident when receiver Terry McLaurin felt a cheap shot was delivered to one of his offensive teammates. “Bieniemy fired an expletive warning for him to return to the huddle. McLaurin wouldn’t back down, vowing to defend his teammate” (Keim report).

Ron Rivera raised eyebrows in training camp, conveying some players had come to him about Bieniemy. Some might say Rivera, in sharing this with the media, undermined/undercut Bieniemy. That is understandable.

Media personalities and fans talked of how insignificant players, unproductive players were simply whining.

But if that were the case, why would Rivera have even batted an eye? Isn’t it more reasonable to see that it actually was respected players who came to Rivera? Because Rivera respected them, might it have even alarmed Rivera that there was already unnecessary friction in the camp?

There is no doubt Andy Reid wanted Bieniemy to land another job last offseason. Reid was openly campaigning for someone to please take him, enabling Reid the opportunity to rehire Matt Nagy as his offensive coordinator.

Bieniemy should be credited for doing a nice job with Sam Howell. He appears to have significantly helped Howell’s “growth and development.”

Just last week, Bieniemy said, “I’m never going to change who I am, “I’ve always been like this…”

Some media personalities have responded that Bieniemy is the one man with Super Bowl wins in the organization, while the rest are part of a last-place organization. So, who cares what they think?

But for Bieniemy to insist he is “never going to change?”

Isn’t it convenient to think you don’t need to change in some areas? Aren’t each of us flawed? Don’t we all have limitations, biases, and, yes, blind spots?

This season was a big opportunity for Bieniemy.

Might he have pressed too hard?

Commanders season opener in 17 days: Washington’s best No. 17

17 days until Week 1 and some impressive players have worn the No. 17, including a current star.

Commanders Wire continues a countdown to Washington’s season opener for 2023 in 17 days. Who was the team’s best player wearing No. 17?

Doug Willliams (1986-89) had been drafted with the endorsement of Joe Gibbs in Tampa Bay. Ten years later, this resulted in Gibbs bringing Williams to Washington for the last four seasons of his football career. In his four Washington seasons, the team was good, yet was only 5-9 in games Williams started. His passer rating of 79.1, completion percentage of 55.9 and touchdown/interception ratio of 27:20 are all less than stellar. But Williams was HUGE in Super Bowl XXII when his 18 completions totaled 340 yards and four passing touchdowns! He was thus voted Super Bowl game MVP. Williams was great on his biggest stage, and for that, he is always remembered and appreciated by fans and media.

Jason Campbell (2005-09), in his five Washington seasons, completed 1,002 passes (61.2%)  for 10,860 yards and 55 touchdowns (38 interceptions). His passer rating of 82.3 was not bad, but the team was 20-32 in games Campbell started. Washington traded up to take Campbell 25th in the 2005 draft, one selection following Green Bay choosing Aaron Rodgers.

Terry McLaurin (2019- current) was drafted No. 76 overall in the 2019 draft. An immediate starter, McLaurin showed himself to be vastly underrated. In his four Washington seasons, McLaurin has made 299 receptions for 4,281 yards (14.3 per reception), 21 touchdown receptions and 197 first downs. If McLaurin can continue his current pace for even a few more seasons, he will become the player who accomplished the most in franchise history wearing No. 17.

Billy Kilmer (1971-78) was a game-manager quarterback who though he had his struggles came through often in close games for Washington. Kilmer led the NFL in both 1975 and 1976 with four game-winning drives. In 1976, he also led the NFL with three fourth-quarter comebacks. In 1975 he completed the NFL’s longest pass of the season, a 96-yard touchdown to Frank Grant. He quarterbacked the 1972 team to the NFC Championship and Super Bowl VII, leading the NFL with 19 touchdown passes. In those 1972 NFC playoff wins over Green Bay and Dallas, Kilmer passed for three touchdowns without an interception. Kilmer was 50-23-1 in games he started for Washington. Back when only four teams qualified for the playoffs, Kilmer led the Redskins to the playoffs in 1971-74 and 1976.