Speaker 1: Welcome to the Command Center Podcast. I'm Julie Donaldson. The
Speaker 1: off season is officially here for the Commanders, who finished
Speaker 1: eight eight and one. Logan Paulson and Fred Smith joined
Speaker 1: me to look back at the twenty twenty two season. Okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean most certainly there's players to build around. There
Speaker 1: were positives to take from the season, but overall, you
Speaker 1: didn't advance. The season did not go the way that
Speaker 1: they had anticipated or planned. And now that we're kind
Speaker 1: of like a couple of days removed from this, we
Speaker 1: should be preparing for a postseason game, but instead we're
Speaker 1: kind of digesting what happened this year? Fred, what did
Speaker 1: we learn about this team? We learned that we didn't
Speaker 1: finish what we started. Coaches said it we control down
Speaker 1: destiny and we still slipped through our fingers. We figured
Speaker 1: out a way to lose these games. It's no one
Speaker 1: position group you could point to in these lands four
Speaker 1: games and say we got better play from this group,
Speaker 1: we would be okay. It was a live bit of everybody.
Speaker 1: Special teams wasn't special offensiting school any points. Defense started
Speaker 1: to lag. They didn't make the impact play that they
Speaker 1: made earlier in the year. So I think it is
Speaker 1: a group we let the fan base down. But guess what,
Speaker 1: Like you see, it's so many bright points. You look here,
Speaker 1: and you look here, you say, oh, we with these clothes,
Speaker 1: we with these clothes, but yet we did far away.
Speaker 1: And I think there's the scary report about it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think obviously. I think Fred brings up a fantastic
Speaker 1: point because you're a smart guy, friend. Thank you. The
Speaker 1: idea that like this, this team fell short of expectations
Speaker 1: and we had so many high expectations at the beginning
Speaker 1: of the year, and you look at the quarterback position
Speaker 1: and we're still looking for a quarterback. All those issues
Speaker 1: are still apparent. But I do think that there are
Speaker 1: some really bright spots on the roster to be excited about.
Speaker 1: I think you look at the young pieces that are
Speaker 1: growing and developing. Jamon davis Man, he could be a
Speaker 1: really special football player. You get the young safeties, Cam
Speaker 1: curl Forrest, all these guys, Brian Robinson, Johan Dotson. These
Speaker 1: pieces are things you can build around. Now you kind
Speaker 1: of say, what do we need to get really really
Speaker 1: improved on offensive line, banking, the secondary piece. Find some
Speaker 1: of those pieces and maybe it's there for you if
Speaker 1: you get the right coordinator here. Yeah, you really had
Speaker 1: to find the quarterback to Coronover has been saying that
Speaker 1: what he went through eight different starting quarterbacks in his
Speaker 1: three seasons here, So still unable to find that to build.
Speaker 1: They tried to bring in a veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick injury,
Speaker 1: Carson Wentz injury. That route didn't necessarily work, although we
Speaker 1: understand what the philosophy was going in with that with
Speaker 1: a very young team. Now you saw what you got
Speaker 1: to get out of potentially Sam holl and what he
Speaker 1: could grow into. So what do we do going forward?
Speaker 1: Logan just said it. He just said he I say
Speaker 1: office lad, like at the end of the day, we
Speaker 1: just introduced Tuddy is one Bacon. Last time we was
Speaker 1: great on his officive lad. We had the hogs, we
Speaker 1: had guys to smell like Bacon. We see what happens
Speaker 1: on the defensive, lad, when you dominate the lad of scrimmage.
Speaker 1: If we can get that way on office, I believe
Speaker 1: you could take an average quarterback and he can play
Speaker 1: great behind a great officeive lad. Yeah, I mean I
Speaker 1: think that's kind of I think that's what we're getting
Speaker 1: to here, right is maybe you can build around Sam
Speaker 1: how I think he showed you some things to get
Speaker 1: You're really excited about his ability, his skill set, his moxie,
Speaker 1: all those different things. Maybe bringing a veteran to kind
Speaker 1: of mentor maybe compete with him if it doesn't if
Speaker 1: the progression doesn't happen the way you wanted to. But
Speaker 1: I think when talking to people around the bed, talking
Speaker 1: with people that I have a lot of respect for Sam,
Speaker 1: Sam Hall showed them a lot. I think they're excited
Speaker 1: about what he brings. I mean to the point we're
Speaker 1: talking about earlier as well as if you want to
Speaker 1: take advantage of Terry McLaurin, John Dots and Curtis Samuel.
Speaker 1: The line has to be able to hold up, to
Speaker 1: give the quarterback time to let the play develop, to
Speaker 1: be able to go downfield. And that's something that they
Speaker 1: were a bit of a disadvantage of this year. So
Speaker 1: they did want that kind of run first mentality. They
Speaker 1: did find success with that. If we go defensively, though,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of bright spots. We don't know if
Speaker 1: they can really keep everybody together. I think that's a
Speaker 1: big question this offseason two, Fred, what gives you hope
Speaker 1: for next year with that unit. The defensive line makes
Speaker 1: me smile. The defensive I sleep easy at night knowing
Speaker 1: them guys out there can The fool is still a
Speaker 1: young guy. Twenty seven, twenty eight, Saint Ju showed us
Speaker 1: a lot. Defolk came up full circle to show us
Speaker 1: the player he is. Cam Curroll is still they consistent
Speaker 1: guy back there. But Julie, we need linebackers. We need
Speaker 1: guys that run sideline, the sideline, the swamp paint this way.
Speaker 1: If any place on their defense you could say need
Speaker 1: to be addressed, is linebacker. Yeah? For me, I think
Speaker 1: Cam Curl the most suciting piece. And the fact that
Speaker 1: Percy Butler has developed and as a guy that can
Speaker 1: kind of supplement what Campro does, I'm really excited about that.
Speaker 1: A big question for the Commanders' off season is the
Speaker 1: quarterback position. Rookie quarterback Sam Howell had an impressive outing
Speaker 1: in his regular season debut, recording over one hundred and
Speaker 1: sixty passing yards and two touchdowns against a tough Dallas defense.
Speaker 1: I sawt Dalla Howell to get his thoughts on his
Speaker 1: rookie year and how he will attack the off season. Okay, Sam,
Speaker 1: you got that first start. Was it everything you imagined? Yeah?
Speaker 1: It was awesome, Just truly a dream come true. And
Speaker 1: I'm just super grateful for the opportunity to get out
Speaker 1: there and play football again. So it was awesome everything
Speaker 1: I thought it would be. A lot of guys will
Speaker 1: tell me they kind of visualize the games. Could you
Speaker 1: have visualized it going the way that it did and
Speaker 1: getting that win over I mean, of all things and
Speaker 1: all teams, the Dallas Cowboys, and know that they were
Speaker 1: playing for a lot. They were, and we knew that'd
Speaker 1: be playing for a lot, and you know that kind
Speaker 1: of gave us a chip on our shoulder. You know,
Speaker 1: even though we weren't we're playing for anything, you know,
Speaker 1: we still have a lot of pride and every time
Speaker 1: we step on that field, you know, we were playing
Speaker 1: for the name on the front of our jersey, the
Speaker 1: name on the back, um. And so we weren't gonna
Speaker 1: let them come in here and let it be easy
Speaker 1: for him, um and so and so that's what we did.
Speaker 1: Did anything surprise you about the game? Um? I mean honestly,
Speaker 1: not really. I Mean I knew, I know how good
Speaker 1: this team is, and I know, you know, when we're
Speaker 1: playing good football. We can beat anybody in this league.
Speaker 1: UM and and Dallas is a really good football team
Speaker 1: and they'll they'll probably make a good run of the playoffs. UM.
Speaker 1: But you know, we played our best last night and
Speaker 1: it showed. Everybody was curious to kind of see how
Speaker 1: you would have chemistry with the guys and what kind
Speaker 1: of rhythm you would take. UM, how do you feel
Speaker 1: that went for you? Yeah? I think it went pretty
Speaker 1: pretty good. UM. You know, there's obviously a couple of
Speaker 1: players i'd i'd like to have back. UM, but you know,
Speaker 1: we we connected when we needed to and put points
Speaker 1: on the board when we needed to. UM. And it
Speaker 1: was just really credit to our defense. UM. They I
Speaker 1: mean they played great all night long and gave us
Speaker 1: a good field position, which made my job easy. Um
Speaker 1: and and special teams made um two big players as well, UM,
Speaker 1: which we made it really easy for US boys. They
Speaker 1: weren't letting up and they're considered a top defense in
Speaker 1: the NFL. How much was it going up against and
Speaker 1: kind of just being around the defense that Washington has
Speaker 1: pretty darned stoup themselves that kind of maybe helped prepare
Speaker 1: you for that. What did you learn from from our defense. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I was doing a lot of scout team
Speaker 1: stuff throughout the year, and so going against our starting defense,
Speaker 1: and you know, I really just learned a lot, you know,
Speaker 1: just how good they are and how how fast on
Speaker 1: those guys are, and how how good of a job
Speaker 1: they do of closing windows and so being able to
Speaker 1: do scout team stuff. I took it very seriously and
Speaker 1: I learned a lot from our defense, and I was
Speaker 1: glad to get out there against a really good defense
Speaker 1: in Dallas. You know, there are some talks that they
Speaker 1: might be rushing some guys or whatever the situation might be.
Speaker 1: But I wanted I wanted their best um and I
Speaker 1: wanted their best out there. So I was other side
Speaker 1: of that that we got it. There's a lot of
Speaker 1: question marks at this position. We hear um, you know,
Speaker 1: going into the off season, where is your mind and
Speaker 1: what you know you're capable of doing and what you
Speaker 1: want to be able to do going forward here with Washington. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I don't want to get ahead of myself.
Speaker 1: You know, it's just one game and I just want
Speaker 1: to go to work this offseason and you know, just
Speaker 1: come back ready to go. You know, I don't. I
Speaker 1: don't know what the situation will be. I'm sure they
Speaker 1: have a lot of decisions that they need to make,
Speaker 1: but whatever it is, I'll be ready to go um
Speaker 1: and this team will get my best, all right. Congrat Sam,
Speaker 1: see you around. Thank you for all your news and analysis.
Speaker 1: Be sure to tune into Command Center weeknights at five
Speaker 1: and ten pm on NBC Sports Washington. You can also
Speaker 1: stream on YouTube and commanders dot com.