Speaker 1: Welcome to the Command Center podcast. I'm Julie Donaldson. The
Speaker 1: off season is in full swing, but we are taking
Speaker 1: one last look at the twenty twenty two season. Commanders
Speaker 1: play by play Bram Weinstein and Washington legend London Fletcher
Speaker 1: joined me to recap the year and what they will
Speaker 1: be looking out for heading into next season. Okay, so
Speaker 1: let's get a little bit further into the discussion about
Speaker 1: what happened this season for the team and defensively London. Look,
Speaker 1: the defense really kind of held their own. They kept
Speaker 1: them in games, but at times that showed that it
Speaker 1: might just be you need more than that. But the
Speaker 1: defense certainly wasn't lacking. Yeah, I was impressed with the
Speaker 1: job that Jack Dale real to defensive coordinator deal with
Speaker 1: this defensive unit. You know, got off to a little
Speaker 1: bit of a slow start PLO. Once he kind of
Speaker 1: saturday in, especially on the back end when you saw
Speaker 1: the emergence of a Benjamin Saint Jews and the way
Speaker 1: he played. Derek Forrest was a you know what a
Speaker 1: goss in he was, and at the free safety position
Speaker 1: and then play a dron playing what he was able
Speaker 1: to do. Just you know, when you look at those
Speaker 1: guys and what they were able to do defensively. I
Speaker 1: was extremely impressed with what those guys were able to accomplish.
Speaker 1: And this was without Chase Sung for the majority of
Speaker 1: the season. So once we get a healthy Chase Young,
Speaker 1: I feel like this defense can take it even another
Speaker 1: step forward. I think that they played above what was
Speaker 1: out there on the field to end up third overall
Speaker 1: in the league is a testament to the coaching and
Speaker 1: the teamwork, you know. I think once all of those
Speaker 1: players up front were drafted with first round picks, we
Speaker 1: all envisioned that, being the leadership part of this team,
Speaker 1: that this team is going to go as far as
Speaker 1: they take them. And I thought collectively they had an
Speaker 1: absolutely amazing year. And I'm with London here. We didn't
Speaker 1: even see Chase Young play very much. Emergence of Derek
Speaker 1: Forrest was a big part of everything. With Cam Curl
Speaker 1: in the back end, and you saw them fill in vulnerabilities.
Speaker 1: Cole Holcom goes out for more than half the season.
Speaker 1: They have one viable starting linebacker. They survived with that.
Speaker 1: Benjamin say Jews starts in the slot, moves to the outside,
Speaker 1: their thin at corner. They survived with that. I think
Speaker 1: the defense had a really great, great season. Yeah, we
Speaker 1: did see where I think depth at the end kind
Speaker 1: of hurt them a little bit the linebacker and in
Speaker 1: the secondary. But man, that d line certainly came out
Speaker 1: and performed well. Another question is can they keep them
Speaker 1: all together for a return next season. Now, offensively, they
Speaker 1: just didn't get the production that they wanted. Coach Ron
Speaker 1: Rivera said, they want to be a run first team,
Speaker 1: but you also have Terry McLaurin, Curtis Amuel johan Dotson,
Speaker 1: so they had to find the right balance. But that
Speaker 1: offensive line just seemed to have issues all season long.
Speaker 1: And again, Bram, the rotation at quarterback. Yeah, rotation at quarterback,
Speaker 1: And I really think it comes down to, and this
Speaker 1: is for a lot of teams situational football. They were
Speaker 1: not good at converting in the red zone. They had
Speaker 1: trouble converting third and shorts, fourth and shorts late in
Speaker 1: the season in tight, close games, specifically the ones against
Speaker 1: the Giants, which is really I think the difference between
Speaker 1: them being in the playoffs and not being in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: They were not able to come through. And so you know,
Speaker 1: there's some changes clearly that need to be made, but
Speaker 1: I think situationally, if they get better, it's just that close. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, situationally need to get better, like you said,
Speaker 1: But I think really, when you look at this office
Speaker 1: in general, a lot of attention has been pay to
Speaker 1: the quarterback position. I'm looking at the offensive line is
Speaker 1: where they really need to ask and get better. Regardless
Speaker 1: of who's playing a quarterback next year, if you don't
Speaker 1: address the issues at the offensive lip position, you're going
Speaker 1: to continue to have to struggles. We have heard them
Speaker 1: in the off season before even going into this last year,
Speaker 1: that you build from the inside out. Would they do
Speaker 1: that on defense? They obviously need to address that this
Speaker 1: off season on offense, and then they'll be able to
Speaker 1: figure out just what they have potentially in quarterbacks Sam
Speaker 1: Howe and if he can be the guy for the future.
Speaker 1: Plus I sat down with head coach Ron Rivera to
Speaker 1: talk about what lies ahead this offseason. All right, coach,
Speaker 1: here we are in this auditorium and you're used to
Speaker 1: it being full, yes, of your entire team. It's it
Speaker 1: kind of eerie to you. It is. Come in the
Speaker 1: parking lots empty, the building's empty, the auditorium it's just
Speaker 1: us it is erie. I'm used to activity. I'm used
Speaker 1: to the hustle and bustle of what's going on, and
Speaker 1: it's kind of a different time of year for us
Speaker 1: offseason now I know officially there really is no off season.
Speaker 1: I don't know why they call it that, you know,
Speaker 1: I joke that this season is kind of like you're
Speaker 1: running a marathon but at a sprint race. Do you
Speaker 1: feel that? And then do you feel a change of
Speaker 1: pace to where we are now? Yes? I do for
Speaker 1: a couple of reasons. You know. One is obviously, you
Speaker 1: know we we we've made some changes. We're making a
Speaker 1: change on our offensive side. I'm looking for a new
Speaker 1: offensive coordinator, looking to do things a little bit differently. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, we have, obviously, I think, a very talented
Speaker 1: group of players that you know, I want to approach
Speaker 1: a different way. I also think as we start getting
Speaker 1: prepared going into next year, because of where we are
Speaker 1: with our personnel, it is a situation for us to
Speaker 1: even take a bigger step this year. What went into
Speaker 1: making that decision offensive coordinator? And we know that you're
Speaker 1: doing a lot of interviews, so what is it? Is
Speaker 1: there something you're specifically looking for I'm looking for a
Speaker 1: different way to do things. I think, you know, we
Speaker 1: have to approach it in a way that it is
Speaker 1: different from what we've done. It's from different one I've
Speaker 1: been involved with. But I also think it's a chance
Speaker 1: to to really give ourselves an opportunity to attack the
Speaker 1: opponent in a different fashion, using different players, different for
Speaker 1: nation groups, um, different personnel groups, shoos me in different
Speaker 1: formations that I fail can help us when it comes
Speaker 1: to like evaluating the talent that you do have on
Speaker 1: offense and defense, are there groups that you're really kind
Speaker 1: of saying, all right, this is this is what we
Speaker 1: need to build around. This is where we are going
Speaker 1: to win and get into the postseason. Yes, because you know,
Speaker 1: you go into this and you say to yourself, you
Speaker 1: know what is going to be your philosophy with with
Speaker 1: your offense, Well, it's find your quarterback, protect your quarterback,
Speaker 1: and put playmakers around him. And I think we've done
Speaker 1: a really job. I like the playmakers that are around him.
Speaker 1: They're growing, they're getting better. They're a young group. That's
Speaker 1: the other huge plus. You know, we got a veteran
Speaker 1: tight end and logan and we've got four young guys
Speaker 1: surrounding him. So you look at Terry and Curtis and
Speaker 1: we got a bunch of young guys surrounding them. And
Speaker 1: then you look at our running back room and it's
Speaker 1: very young, so you go, wow, we've got those guys.
Speaker 1: So now we have a quarterback we feel pretty comfortable in.
Speaker 1: We're going to give Sam every opportunity to to see
Speaker 1: if he can be our starter, and we'll go from
Speaker 1: the free agency and draft are looming, and we know
Speaker 1: you're already doing work and meeting for all of that,
Speaker 1: but how do you approach what position groups and what
Speaker 1: you need on free agency versus the draft. Well, the
Speaker 1: biggest saying first form us is which of our guys
Speaker 1: that we want to take care of now that are
Speaker 1: free agents? And you know, and I did have our
Speaker 1: meetings with the ownership. They've been tremendous, very supportive and
Speaker 1: the things that we want to do. So that's the
Speaker 1: first step. Second step is now going on and doing it.
Speaker 1: And then once we are able to take care of
Speaker 1: the guys that we wanted to initie and make contact
Speaker 1: and let them know what our plans are, then we
Speaker 1: start attacking free agency itself. You know, what guys out
Speaker 1: there from the different teams that we feel can come
Speaker 1: in and be part of what we want to do.
Speaker 1: And then we look at and say, okay, if we
Speaker 1: can get those guys, these are the guys that we've
Speaker 1: got to target in the draft. So we know the
Speaker 1: positions that we want. Now it's a matter of finding
Speaker 1: those guys. So you're not sprinting anymore, you're just running. Yeah, Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're right. We'll start sprinting when we get into March,
Speaker 1: because that's when free agency is getting ready to start.
Speaker 1: How often are you having these meetings because while most
Speaker 1: people think everybody's off on vacation, you're still here. You're
Speaker 1: still in building. I've been meeting for two weeks with
Speaker 1: different people with our personnel department, you know, obviously said
Speaker 1: with the ownership, with with Jason for that matter, and
Speaker 1: then for the different guys that I've been interviewing with
Speaker 1: some of my different offensive and defensive coaches. When it
Speaker 1: comes to some of the things we want to celebrate.
Speaker 1: You've got five players going to the Pro Bowl. What
Speaker 1: do you attest that too? Um, I think, first of all,
Speaker 1: finding the talent and then secondly developing it and just
Speaker 1: the way those young men have played. They all deserve
Speaker 1: the opportunity. All right, coach, We look forward to what's
Speaker 1: going to be an exciting offseason with you cool. Thank
Speaker 1: you for all your Commander's news and analysis. Be sure
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