A collection of articles, podcasts & tweets from around the web to keep you in touch with the Commanders, the NFC East and the NFL in general
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Articles
Bullock’s Film Room (subscription)
Evaluating Benjamin St-Juste’s development at cornerback
Looking forward to the future by evaluating the development of CB Benjamin St-Juste
If you were to build your ideal cornerback, it would look a lot like St-Juste. He measures in at 6-foot-3, 200 pounds with long arms and elite foot quickness. In theory that has the potential to lead to a very good cornerback, especially in press coverage. However, St-Juste hasn’t quite turned out that way. In fact, most of his struggles come when playing press man coverage.
This clip shows three examples of St-Juste getting beat while up in press coverage. On the first play of the clip, we see him lose to Bears receiver DJ Moore. Moore uses a patient release at the snap, slowly selling a jab step outside before suddenly bursting inside and up the seam. St-Juste fails to jam him at the line which allows Moore to release freely. From that point, St-Juste is playing catch up. He attempts to anticipate Moore cutting inside and make up ground by undercutting the route, but unfortunately he ends up biting heavily on a double move. Moore fakes the break inside and takes off back down the sideline. St-Juste is significantly beaten and Moore picks up a huge catch on the play.
The other two plays of the clip are fairly similar to each other. Both are shots down the sideline and we see some similar issues to what we saw on the first play. St-Juste fails to get his hands on the receivers at the line of scrimmage which means none of the receivers in this clip get disrupted or knocked off their paths. They’re all allowed free releases into their routes, which immediately puts St-Juste on the back foot. On top of that, St-Juste struggles to stay with speedy receivers down the field. St-Juste isn’t a bad athlete and his short area quickness is elite, but his long speed isn’t great, so he struggles to make up ground down the sideline once he’s beaten.
Washington Post (paywall)
Commanders LB Jamin Davis is out for the season with a shoulder injury
Washington Commanders linebacker Jamin Davis will undergo surgery for a shoulder injury he suffered in the team’s Week 13 loss to the Miami Dolphins and be placed on injured reserve, ending his season early.
It’s unclear when Davis suffered the injury against Miami. Coach Ron Rivera said Davis came off the field briefly at one point, and the team’s medical staff checked him out, but he felt well enough to return. He played 55 of the team’s 61 defensive snaps. An MRI exam taken later confirmed the injury, and two doctors confirmed his course of treatment. Neal ElAttrache, an orthopedic surgeon in Los Angeles, will perform Davis’s surgery, a person with knowledge of the situation said.
Sports Illustrated
Washington Commanders vs. Los Angeles Rams Shines Light on Coaching Staff Discrepancies
The Washington Commanders coaches don’t have a lot of defenders these days, but going up against the Los Angeles Rams might be the biggest example of why this season.
This weekend’s matchup against the Los Angeles Rams may provide perhaps the biggest example of ‘coaching matters’ this season and pour a bottle of lighter fluid on top of an already hot-burning flame.
Los Angeles’ fifth-round rookie receiver Puka Nacua has 82 catches, 1,113 yards, and four touchdown receptions this season. Those numbers match or top any Washington receivers.
The casual observer could chalk it up to playing alongside star receiver Cooper Kupp, but he has been out for four of the games that Nacua played in, and produced.
In fact, in the four games without Kupp, Nacua produced three 100+ receiving games and caught 39 passes in the process.
Really what it boils down to is, coaching matters. Scheme matters.
It’s not just having guys on the field, it’s how you use them.
And from what we’re seeing Los Angeles has gotten a much bigger return on their investments, not simply because they found two diamonds in the fifth-round rough, but because they found a way to polish those gems better than most.
Podcasts & videos
Episode 717 – Guest: Logan Paulsen. Deep dive on what #Commanders‘ next regime should be thinking.
– insight on Jon & Daron
– Kam worthy of big $$?
– Logan’s lean on Sam as QB1
– Terry & Jahan not getting open?
– why Logan’s open to Dan Quinn as head coachhttps://t.co/q1PpkPWeQI— Al Galdi (@AlGaldi) December 11, 2023
On video. Entering the final month: @RealBramW and I discuss Jon Allen, Eric Bieniemy; don’t forget the D collapse is a (the) major culprit; Draft status vs wins. More. @ESPNRichmond https://t.co/gBCD9wy9Ab
— John Keim (@john_keim) December 11, 2023
Ben Standig and Kevin Sheehan prepare for the homestretch of the Commanders’ season