Commanders Rookie Mini-Camp

I note that Rick Snider, long-time Washington Football commentator, and Ed Oliver, veteran Fan and commentator, think the Commanders need an edge. Ed went over Jadeveon Clowney. While Rick intimated the Commanders may be overlooking the Defensive End position.

I agree with Ed. Jadeveon Clowney is solid. He would fit the defense (at least as far as I understand it). I have anxiety attacks over what Rick brought up. Felt the same way about last year's offensive line. Adam Peters came through.

If I had to guess, which is worthless, they think better coverage will lead to more sacks. You could argue the coverage will be better. You could also argue why bother passing against the Commanders when you can run right over them. 

Rookie Mini-Camp is here. Maybe somebody dazzles there. Correct me if I'm wrong, but those camps tend to be more about teaching young guys how we practice because "not everybody lives like we do".

The best people to check out if there is an Edge sighting at Mini-Camp:

Ed Oliver

Rick Snider

John Keim

Rico

May these sources be with you.

Comps Going into Summer Vacay: 71 Skins 95 Panthers

How are the Washington Commanders going to do this year? 

I have no earthly idea. All I have is fleeting football memories in the archive of my aging mind. 

I remember for instance the 1971 Skins, George Allen's first Washington Squad. Allen stocked that team with veteran players who knew what he wanted in a football player. Those veteran winners, the Ramskins, helped bring a winning mindset to a perpetual .500 football team and they went 9-4-1 and went to the playoffs Allen's first year.

The Carolina Panthers acquired veteran leadership in the expansion draft their first year of existence. They won 7 games. They brought brisk competition. The next year they got Kevin Greene. They went 12-4.

Both these teams were in the Conference Championship games the very next year. The Panthers lost to Green Bay. The Skins beat the Cowboys and lost to the Phins in the Super Bowl.

The Free Agent Class Adam Peters signed this year reminds me of those Panthers and Skins signings. Really solid. Bringing in guys who play the way the team wants to play. Veteran leadership has been significantly upgraded. Judging from a history buff perspective, that tends to produce rapid change in win totals.

I hadn't expected Peters to do what he did in Free Agency. I thought he was a Draft guy. I am happy to see he is a "by any means necessary" type guy. Drafts, trades, free agency. Grocery bagging.  

Quinn was 8-8 his first year in Atlanta.

So somewhere between 7 and 9 wins. 

If they get solid offensive line play and the defense goes ape over turnovers it will be more than that.

As with a George Allen type team, the vets on defense might be the difference between being a good first year team and a good first year playoff team.

Is Jayden Daniels the Beginning of the End for the NFL?

I enjoy the speculation all the fan blogs and channels are doing on the Washington Commanders. 

But there won't be tangible evidence of really ANYTHING until the NFL regular season kicks off. I think they maybe, the Commanders, can lead the league in rushing and field a Top Ten defense but that is all I can imagine at this point without seeing them in the line of fire.

From a football futurology standpoint, there are interesting things to consider.

Such as the following: Will the NFL still be in business in 2050? Is College Football going to end up KEEPING players the entirety of their football-playing careers? Is AI going to eject humans from the game of football? Or is AI Robotics going to inject humans of all shapes and sizes into the game based on motion capture, robot avatars, and Madden 2050? 

By Madden 2050, there should be tech in place allowing a four-foot four hundred pound video game master to insert his cybernetic ectoplasm into a robot avatar and play any position in football. And excel at it. 

Avatars made of titanium chassies rendering Team Doctors Unemployed. Humans participating only as pit crew members replacing parts, rebooting wi-fi, coaches calling plays. Hell, AI calling plays. 

And talk about nostalgia. All the greats could have avatars constructed of themselves and return to the gridiron. Play against each other once again. Easy enough right? Load the 2D tape of the classic games. Use the 2D to transfer to 3D Holograms. Use the 3D Holograms as motion capture. Load it into a Bot. Et voila! Super Bowl 22 relived in titanium crunching three dimensions!

People talk about football immortality. What about our heroes choosing to live forever in their newly constructed football avatar bodies? 

All of this because of 3D QB and Jayden Daniels? Is Jayden Daniels going to load the NFL into the Matrix? And if they go, do we all go?

Touchdown Technology

I mean, I don't believe the NFL can compete with College Football. College Ball can promise full employment figures. The NFL's elitist structure surgically removes the "bums" and only employs 50 people a team.

College Ball has bigger rosters and can offer lifetime involvement in football with career tracks that last beyond playing into coaching and lecturing with things like tenured football professors and football experts emeritus.

The NFL just isn't all that interested in full employment. It is interested in making money. They should have 90-man rosters but instead offer these American Football Has Talent Shows every year that breaks hundreds of hearts and dashes dreams as a matter of course.

They are crass and College Ball is not.

A Med School model which is what College Ball is looking like it is using would work way better than the NFL works. You get paid in Med School. You become a surgeon. You lose your skills. You lecture. 

They you play golf in the Carribean.

What's more is the football will probably be BETTER in the new College Model than what you see in the NFL where after five years they basically kick you to the curb.

The NFL is not ready for that kind of competition. They are a monopoly and their self-satisfaction has ruined them as far as competitive environments is concerned.

The NFL can be replaced. We're seeing some candidates forming. 

Question is. Does the NFL see it?

 

Teaching the Band to Play

It was twenty years ago today. Sergeant Pepper taught the band play. 

Musing about supergroups and football. 

When you draft guys and bring them together for the first time it is a bit like supergrouping. You pick guys you think would be good together. Do some riffs. See what people can do in OTAs. Figure out what signature sounds the band will have. Then after OTAs and mini-camps, start writing some music scheming up the 2024 playbook.

Put the finishing touches on the concert material right after training camp. Hopefully go on a whirlwind tour during the season.

So when you try to evaluate the Washington Commanders it is to say the least a bit premature to make judgments. I don't think it is ever appropriate to judge guys. You put an artificial ceiling over their heads. That goes for everybody not just the young guys with their fluid brains and their virtual reality tutors. Even a veteran can surprise. And surprising football teams are a joy to behold.

Remember the Sgt. Pepper film where they put the Bee Gees and Peter Frampton together. Featuring the one and only Billy Shears, the central figure in the Paul is Dead alternate reality/conspiracy theory which was really the Beatles doing a Stanley Kubrick to create buzz. 

It was okay. But it wasn't the real Billy Shears was it? Billy was a Beatles creation, their attempt at Paperback Writing. The Beatles were creative geniuses. Never underestimate the extent of their playfullness.

I guess the equivalent of creating a phony narrative to sell records in football would be selling the defense on misdirection plays. Phony screens. Phony jets. Phony horror stories about bad practices. 

The worst supergroup I can think of would be the 2000 Washington Redskins, the 1999 Redskin version of Billy Shears. Snyder thought that was a supergroup. They sounded horrible.

I think the NFL banned phony injuries which must be the least enforceable rule they have because phony injuries are the go-to gimmick play at the end of games. Nobody throws a flag. 

Nobody threw a flag on Paul McCartney's phony injury. He's made millions and he's a Knight of the Realm.

Hopefully, Kingsbury and Whitt, like Lennon and McCartney, have a few good tunes up their sleeves getting this Commander Band ready to be a smash hit in 2024.

For now, the Coaches are teaching the band to play. It is mostly experimental music right now. But there is a glut of Commander Commentary. A ton of new people jawboning about Washington. 

I recommend the people on the sidebar for your edification and enjoyment.

 

Commanders Raising Hail is a Cheap Trick

Since the demise of the nickname, the Washington NFL Franchise has been bereft of a Team Anthem, in essence, because the nickname was central in the lyrics of the Team's Fight Song: Hail to the Redskins.

HTTR was a college rah rah type ditty played with gusto at moments of touchdownish excitement. Bill Parcells took note of the college like atmosphere when he compared playing the Skins to playing Southern Cal.

When Rookie Camp opened, the Commanders came out with Gonna Raise Hail as a meme. Coach DQ wore a shirt featuring the now familiar inoffensive "W" with a controversial feather attached to one corner of it.

I can't think though who would find Cheap Trick's Gonna Raise Hell offensive other than really devout Christians. It is a workout anthem for a lot of people. But is it HTTR?

It is clear that the team struggles with its heritage both from a marketing standpoint and from an on-the-field performance standpoint. You can't blame them for wanting to reclaim the performance standards of the Golden Era. 

That was the Age of Camelot for Skins Fans. And many are hoping Jayden Daniels will be Prince Valiant bringing Camelot back to D.C.

                          Jayden Daniels Rides into Town
 

How can you recall Camelot without offending sensibilities? 

Well, as many have pointed out, the Colors are not offensive. And . . . the PLAYERS are not offensive. They could be offensive to opponents. And to Mike Ditka. But Camelot was an age of heroes and the folklore of our heroes help us claim what they passed down to us. 

Retiring 28 was a step in that direction.

 

You could say 28 was the Keeper of The Flame for Skins Fans. That's another Cheap Trick song.

Guess we should invite them to do a Half Time set.

Jazzed on the Newbies

JazzFest in New Orleans was this past weekend. WWOZ.ORG broadcasted it around the world. Some good stuff.

Toward the end of the Washington Commanders preseason, the D.C. Jazz Festival is taking place August 31 thru September 1. A good way to get jazzed up for the Season.

Here's the Howard University Jazz Ensemble Spring 2023 Concert.

Getting you ready for this weekend's cavalcade of Rookies at Commanders' Camp:

Keyshawn Johnson and Jayden Daniels. 

John Keim speaks with Johnny Newton's Coach.

The Sidewinder by Lee Morgan

Miles Davis

Rico From Street Scores gives you the rundown on Brandon Coleman. Brandon Coleman's Coach was on ABC7. One thing stuck out to me. Brandon played in the Air Raid at TCU. Might ease his transition a bit to Pro Ball. 

Well, because Kliff Kingsbury is an Air Raid Master who added a running game hemi.

A Darkhorse who is not really a darkhorse is Sam Hartman, coming to D.C. as a UDFA. Much has been made of his devilish good looks. So much so, the Broccolis are considering offering Sam the part of James Bond.

Just kidding.