Notes Post Green Bay Apocalypse

The Giants showed impressive improvement in their rollicking contest versus the Cowboys.

They usually go to Jerry World and get cold-cocked. 

Not this time.

Eagles clipped the Chiefs again. 

Explications of the Packer Apocalypse abound. Few of them if any focus on cognitive load.

Or in this case cognitive overload.

I don't usually write of one Jayden Daniels, M.D. But his reaction time vis-a-vis the Cheeseheads seemed afflicted by brain fog. A classic cause of said fog is cognitive overload.

Power lifters have known this for years. Frying the CNS is not only a drain on performance but a generator of injury. Power lifters often speak of managing stress. They know they pay dearly by not doing so.

It isn't that pro football teams don't recognize this. How many times have we heard: We don't want them thinking too much. That's cognitive overload.

What concerns me about the phenomenal Mr. Daniels is his use of Virtual Reality and its potential for adding to rather than processing his cognitive load. 

I doubt judicious use has any contraindicating effects. But say you use it--VR-- to compensate for a short week. Using it for mental reps in lieu of physical exertion.  Thinking its the physical exertion that is the overload. Nobody has studied this that I know of. But the concern is it contributes to stress-induced brain fog by giving the brain too much to do. 

Young players aren't immune to brain fog. They demonstrate it all the time. That's why a lot of them don't play. They haven't adapted to the load. 

They literally have a load on their mind.

Visiting teams on Thursday Nights are overloaded. They lose almost 60% of the time. Visiting QBRs are way lower than home team QBRs. 

It is a rip off.

There is nothing we can do about it. 

But maybe not hold it against the visiting teams.  

The Professor: New York Over Washington

This week let's use Co-Pilot and head to head to analyze the New York Giants-Washington Commanders football game.

As Head Coaches, Dan Quinn and Kliff Kingsbury are undefeated against the New York Football Giants with a 5-0 record. Dan Quinn also had success against the Giants as Defensive Coordinator with the Dallas Cowboys, including two routs last year. 

The Commanders are at this point 1.5 point favorites. 

The Sharp Money is on the New York Giants with the moneyline as high as +120 for New York.

New York's sound defeat last week has many Commander fans thinking win this week. But as Rick Snider has pointed out, Washington hadn't played together before the first ball game this year. A rather partitioned preseason had many regulars sitting in preseason games. For many, the Tampa Bay game was their first time on field together.

As Snider intimated, playing time issues impacts coaching as well as Coaches during preseason mostly called plays for people no longer on the roster.

I expect this lack of experience together to continue to be a negative for Washington for at least four to five games. 

Interesting to me was Dyami Brown's lack of involvement in the offense though he was listed as having played 33 snaps. There was only 50 yards rushing from the running backs. The Defensive Backs as it stands now are a tad confused.

Another erratic place kicker has been signed which doesn't bode well in a 1.5 point game.

Public money according to Co-Pilot is on the Commanders. Some people are buying the negative self-talk coming out of the Big Apple.

New York is 108-71-5 versus the Washington NFL Franchise. 

New York wins 21.5 to 20, with the Commanders missing a potential game winning field goal with one second left on the clock.

This is a money losing game with both teams in negative trends.

The Water Cooler on Training Camp

Hanging around The Water Cooler trying to overhear what dudes are thinking about the Washington Commanders 2024 Training Camp..

Commanders 2024 Media Guide

Commanders Lives

RB3 Job with David Harrison of Locked on Commanders

Training Camp Day 6 Ed Oliver 

Training Camp Day 6 Street Scores

Training Camp Reactions Josh Taylor 

JD5's Best Day According to Rio Robinson

Impressions of First Week of Camp by John Keim and Bram Weinstein 

It does not look like the New York Jets have their media guide out yet. Here's their 2023 Guide,. Aaron Rodgers latest presser, and the Jets Channel in case you wish to prep for that first preseason game next week. Don't go to The Water Cooler unprepared. You may be assessed as trash and thrown in the dumpster.

Tony McGee was one of my heroes back in the Gibbs Super Bowl Days. What was it? He and Doc, he and George Starke, he and Mark May on Home Team Sports? His channel deserves some love from Washington Football Fans. You can catch him and the legendary Donna Hopkins over at the Tony McGee Pro Football Plus TV Show YouTube Channel. Here's a representative sample.

There is not much to comment on myself as nothing seems dispositive about the team until the first regular season game.

I am going to sit back and enjoy the preseason as that is when everybody's wishes, hopes, and dreams get pursued with the utmost gusto.

Even the stars of those games may end grocery baggers. Outside of Olympic Beach Volleyball, nothing could be more intriguing.

All because the NFL won't go to 90-Man rosters.

The New York Football Giants

As Washington Commanders fans know, the only team in the NFC East the BnG did not beat last year was the New York Giants.

The Commanders split with the "Big Boys", Philadelphia and Dallas. A fact lost on the so-called experts who place this team at the bottom of the league.

There are problems in matching up with the Giants. The main ones are Brian Daboll, Daniel Jones, and carelessness with the football. 

There is an invisible chess game that I think impacts games a lot more than people think and that is the clash of titans that takes place between opposing NFL coaches and the three dimensional chess they play against each other. 

I thought Nick Sirianni was Coach of the Year last year but Daboll won it. He is a former assistant with the Buffalo Bills where Ron Rivera disciple Sean McDermott is head coach. He is familiar with Rivera thought processes. 

You would think injection of Eric Bieniemy into the thought milieu would effect a surprise element in Giants-Commanders games this year. But the Giants played the Chiefs tough in their 2021 game under Joe Judge. I'm sure the players have some muscle memory of playing the Chiefs Offense. Bieniemy's presence should not change the nature of these tough, scrum-infested Commanders-Giants contests.

But Bieniemy is working with a different set of players in Washington. He's not necessarily going to play Chiefs Copycat. He's got options in the passing game, the running game, and RPOs he didn't have in Kansas City. 

The Giants collected 8 sacks against the Commanders last year. It is clear what needs to be done. It will be on the new offensive line and the Quarterback to reduce that number, preferably to zero. The line has to block and the QB has to protect the football. 

The Commanders have to contain Daniel Jones (over 700 yards rushing in 2022). He sprang for 71 yards in their first matchup. He seems to depend on the middle breaking open. The recommendation from around the league on Jones is disciplined pass rush. Stay in your lanes. Circle the wagons and meet at the QB. 

Given the improvement in the Commander Secondary, Jones will probably end up wanting to run more. Preparing to stop his running game is top priority. The Commander Secondary should test his accuracy this year better than last. Jones was infuriatingly accurate against Washington.

Prescription for beating the New York Football Giants: Continue running the football especially to wear out Lawrence and Thibodeaux. Sack Daniel Jones at least 5 times. Hold the Giants to under 100 yards rushing. In the four games they were held to less than 100 yards, the Giants were 1-3. Get at least two hundred yards passing with a Tight End presence (a la Dallas Goedert) in ball distribution and three turnovers.

Tall order? Obviously. But there is one additional factor to consider: The Whammy Factor. Superstition. Hexxing. 

Last year, before the Giants return engagement with the Commanders, the Giants posted an accolade video on the 1986 Giants going 3-0 against the very good 1986 Washington Redskin Squad. It was an obvious attempt at a psyche-out. Let's go back to the days where we had their number and they couldn't beat us. Joe Gibbs during that time could not beat Parcells. The Parcells Giants flummoxed him. It was not until 2005 that Gibbs started to turn the tables.

So let's go back to the days we beat the Giants. As a ritual before Giants games, let us call to our collective minds games where Washington beat the Giants. 

For now here are some Giants losses from last year that may help clue us in on how to beat them:

New York Giants versus Seattle Seahawks, Stats

New York Giants versus Philadelphia Eagles, Stats