Ship on Course

The Washington Commanders looked fairly decent in their game against their Northern cousins, the Baltimore Ravens.

Sam Howell played well. Fit a lot of passes in tight windows. Nobody gets wide open much in the NFL anymore.

A few commentators didn't like Sam hopping around in the pocket and missing a hot read. Don't even know if they had hot reads. The one play where the Raven guy comes clean looks like the Raven linebacker was going to jump the "hot" route had Sam thrown it. Once upon a time, the Ravens picked off hot routes. It was something of a specialty for them.

The Ravens had that play leveraged.

These were the twos and threes Sam played against. Which means the O-Line didn't really get tested to the maximum. And they won't until the opener. 

The Commander second team defense has to play better. I'm thinking they are going to play more this year than last. This Commander offense seems poised to score more than last year with the potential for quick drives. Our defense is not used to that. It will be a tempo change. And that means second team has to play like starters. Or we're looking at some track meets.

The Ravens made Second Team look like the Sisters of the Poor. And the Sisters may have done better against the running game.

The good thing about the Offensive Line is these are veteran guys. That will speed up the gelling process. The worry as always is injuries but it looks like there is enough youth to sprinkle in, on a pay as you go basis, that young guys will gain experience as the year goes on. By the playoffs, maybe everybody will be good to go.

I think the people talking 7 to 10 wins are about right. I'd extend it to 7 to 11. With the possibility for better IF the Fans go nuts.

Never understimate the magical powers of a Fanbase that has gone complete bananas. Fanbases have the power to raise level of play. 

The Redskins beat the Cowboys in that 83 NFC Title Game in part because RFK Stadium was registering on the Richter Scale. A Fanbase can rip open the gates of Football Heaven causing the blessings of the Football Gods to rain down upon a football team. 

There's nothing more breathtaking on this planet than that.