I am going to use this blog for something else.
I'll be taking down the football posts.
You may find links in the sidebar useful. Especially the food links.
There were some good ideas there.
Good luck with the football season.
See you in the funny papers.
Sammy Baugh is a fascinating guy.
As a rookie multi-talent, QB, DB, and punter, he won the NFL Championship in 1937.
In 1941, he starred in an anti-Nazi infowar movie serial called King of the Texas Rangers. Fighting the Fifth Column.
In Michael Wilbon's homage to Baugh upon Slingin Sammy's passing in 2008, Steve Sabol is cited as noting Robert Duvall based his Lonesome Dove character Gus McRae in part on Sammy Baugh with whom he had met while researching the part.
Maybe King of the Texas Rangers was what inspired Duvall to consult Sammy as well as to get the flavor of the Texan Accent.
In football jargon, Duvall was obsessed with game film from an acting standpoint.
Anyway, you can stream King of the Texas Rangers on YouTube at Atomic Age Pictures.
I stumbled on all this trying to figure out what precedents Jayden Daniels might set this year and I think the best he can do is to win the Super Bowl as a Rookie, which no one has done.
Determining if no one had won an NFL CHAMPIONSHIP as a Rookie QB was easier for me being an amateur Redskin historian and knowing about Sammy Baugh. BUT, if he was the only one or the FIRST seems to be a research project worthy of a grant simply because recordkeeping during the early era of Pro Football was virtually nonexistent.
However, Skins fans know winning the league title as a Rookie for Jayden wouldn't even be a team first.
Well.
Only the Super Bowl Era counts.
Right?
The Commanders secured another good win over a favored to win opponent as they took it to the Arizona Cardinals 42-14.
Noticeable improvement in the defense surfaced. Populated by savvy vets and young developing stories, the thing missing from the defense was time under task together. Guys getting snaps. The best thing about their process is coming out of the unofficial NFL preseason (first four regular season games) 3-1.
Winning while developing, learning, and growing. You can't ask for more.
The Offensive Line is noticeably better this year with three straight good performances.
The Receivers are playing well. Getting open. Blocking.
The Running game has spaceous holes to run through with a killer screen game.
The Spaceman QB (short for space manager QB) is playing well beyond expectations. The QB is creating space in the run and pass games and the Offensive Coordinator is going full throttle maximizing the QB's skills.
If the Defense keeps improving and Special Teams continues its steady play, Washington will be hard to beat.
Hope everybody gets a chance to check out the D.C. Jazz Festival this Labor Day Weekend.
I'd been thinking of a theme song for Washington Commanders Head Football Coach Dan Quinn his first go round in D.C. Of course there's the obvious: The Mighty Quinn.
But hey. This is Jazzfest weekend in D.C. And for DQ I figure Pick up the Pieces is just about perfect seeing as how that's exactly what he's doing here.
I don't know if you noticed but Riggo posted over on his YouTube Channel MegaRiggins. Sounds like he's going to do some posting on the Commanders' season. I recently ran his Steve Sabol interview in the which he mentioned his acting exploits making note of his "emotional preparation". Sounds like Sanford Meisner. The best acting philosophy I ever came across was David Mamet's. His simple direct economy of motion principles would fit Riggo well.
Somebody should have had Riggo in a Western. I could see him playing Captain Call in Lonesome Dove. Of course, I'd have to cast Joey T as Gus and Chris Cooley as Newt. Doc has to play Ranger Walker.
Kevin Sheehan and Thom Loverro were over on their podcast talking about Dan Quinn's "secret sauce". I expect that sauce is the NFL wanting to get Washington back into the swing of things. If the NFL wants D.C. back in the playoffs for economical reasons, they will be back in the playoffs.
Not that they would ever cheat. But if the League wants something it usually gets it.
As regards the final roster debate, there is no FINAL 53 Man Roster. Guys come and go the whole year. Some say the Washington Commanders Roster "blows". They have unknowns at receiver and offensive line. The secondary is a mystery. Disaster looms.
I expect their answer to secondary questions is Joe Whitt. Questions about the O-Line and receivers get answered with Jayden Daniels, the tight ends, and the running backs. I expect Kingsbury to involve the tight ends way more than we have seen in recent years. They won't be just chipping and fullbacking. They are going to actually score in the red zone this year.
Jayden gets rid of the ball quick taking pressure off the O-Line and his run-pass psychological leverage on the defense is going to spring those no-name receivers free. He's also going to declutter the running game. That's why people are picking B-Rob in their fantasy leagues figuring he might have an Alfred Morris type season.
Even with Jayden compensating for the personnel weaknesses, it is going to be hard getting over .500. The defense so far has been weak against the pass. But the starters have been out most of preseason. What they have on defense won't be known until Kliff Kingsbury student Baker Mayfield looks it over week one.
I think there'll be a lot of shootout type ball games. That could mean a slide at the end of the year. And one and done in the playoffs, if any.
Still, I think one and done in the playoffs would be seen as a win for Dan Quinn and Adam Peters in their first year.
Hanging around The Water Cooler trying to overhear what dudes are thinking about the Washington Commanders 2024 Training Camp..
RB3 Job with David Harrison of Locked on Commanders
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.
Washington Commanders Training Camp has opened. Time to gather around the water cooler. Check some people's post-it notes.
The Rumor Mill is hot and heavy. Wild Predictions dominate the airwaves. Commanders: Super Bowl Champs!!!
Does anybody really know what is going to happen?
On this post, the human did the draft. A.I. wrote the post. The qualities and virtues ascribed to Dan Quinn and Adam Peters might be scienc...
