Daily Slop – 21 Oct 23: Giants OL ‘banged up’; Nick Gates on return to NY: ‘It’s just a football game’

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

Washington Post (paywall)

Stats of the week: Banged-up Giants will compensate for offensive line

the Giants (1-5) have shown fight. Last week, backup quarterback Tyrod Taylor led their most complete game of the season even though the Giants allowed two fourth-quarter touchdowns in a 14-9 loss to Buffalo.

Sportsbooks generally consider Washington a 2.5-point favorite.

“These guys are professionals, doesn’t matter what the record is,” Coach Ron Rivera said. “This is a divisional game. … These games are important. They’re all important, but the divisional games bring a little something extra.”

Six offensive linemen injured

Six of the nine offensive linemen on the team’s initial 53-man roster are hurt. In the past week, New York has added two linemen to injured reserve and signed four off practice squads. One of them, Justin Pugh, went viral for introducing himself on “Sunday Night Football” as coming from “straight off the couch.” During the game, left tackle Joshua Ezeudu suffered a toe injury, and Pugh replaced him despite rarely playing left tackle in his 11-year career.

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Commanders.com

Three keys to Washington getting a win over the Giants

2. Take advantage of the Giants’ offensive line issues.

Among all the issues that the Giants’ offense has had this season, the most glaring is that their offensive line is going through a rough patch.

Six of the Giants’ 15 players on the injury report are offensive linemen, including starters John Michael Schmitz, Andrew Thomas and Evan Neal. Neal has a shot to play, but Schmitz and Thomas have both been ruled out.

As a result, whether Daniel Jones or Tyrod Taylor is under center, the Giants’ quarterbacks have been under duress all season. The offense has given up 33 sacks, which is second behind the Commanders for the most in the league.

All the signs point to the Commanders’ defensive line having a disruptive day against the Giants. Not only are the Giants struggling with a makeshift front, but the Commanders are also tied for sixth in sacks. Chase Young also has more pressures than almost any player in the league, and Montez Sweat leads the team with 4.5 sacks.

Regardless of who is starting at quarterback, Washington needs to take advantage of how banged up the Giants are up front. The defensive line has shown it can take over games, and Sunday is another opportunity to do it.

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Riggo’s Rag

3 players the Commanders must keep quiet at the NY Giants in Week 7

Saquon Barkley tops the list of three players the Washington Commanders must keep quiet against the New York Giants in Week 7.

Commanders must commit to stopping Saquon Barkley

Corralling Saquon Barkley is never easy, but the Washington Commanders need everybody up front to commit to the cause in an NFC East clash they should win. That means filling all gaps with Burgundy helmets and forcing him to run sideways instead of vertically.

The Commanders have the personnel to do this, at least in theory. Any team that’s invested so many first-round draft picks along the defensive line should expect to be able to stop the run. The problem is Washington’s defense is surrendering 4.6 yards per carry on the ground.

That number’s a bad omen ahead of facing one of the NFL’s best backs. Especially when Barkley often gets stronger as a game progresses.

He did exactly this against the Buffalo Bills in Week 6. Barkley ripped off consecutive long runs in the fourth quarter. The second of those gains was highlighted by DAZN.

Stalling Barkley demands gap control, discipline, and technique. All of the things defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio’s unit has been lacking too often this season.

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Pro Football Focus (subscription)

Sam Howell continues to show promise, but taking sacks has been an issue

Sacks are a quarterback stat as much as they are an offensive line stat, and Howell is contributing to that number in a major way. Washington’s offensive line isn’t an elite unit, but it isn’t the current problem. Outside of Week 6, Washington has started the same five offensive linemen each week, and not one has a pass-blocking grade lower than 60.0.

Here’s the breakdown of who has been responsible for the 34 sacks:

• Sam Howell 15
• Offensive Line 12
• Other 7

Not only is Howell creating his own pressure, but he’s also turning offensive line-allowed pressure into sacks at an unsustainable rate. He currently leads the league with a 33.7% pressure-to-sack percentage. The league-high rate last season was 30.8%.

When Howell is able to get out of the pocket and use his legs, he’s a weapon. In his final college season, he forced 65 missed tackles — the most by a Power Five quarterback since 2014. That has carried over in the NFL. He has currently forced 12 missed tackles, the second most by a quarterback in 2023, behind Lamar Jackson’s 19 and ahead of Jalen Hurts and Justin Fields.

His problem is getting to the point where he needs to scramble. He’s done a much better job at working through his progressions and making the right decision, but if nobody is open, everything breaks down. He hesitates to either throw it away or scramble from the pocket. He has to make a decision, and it has to be quick.

The video below is a great example of him getting through his progressions and then panicking when it’s time to scramble from the pocket.

There’s a franchise quarterback in there somewhere, and Howell has made drastic improvements from his time in an RPO-heavy college offense. Still, his biggest issue in college remains his biggest issue in the NFL — creating his own pressure and turning it into sacks.

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Commanders Wire

Commanders C Nick Gates on facing the Giants: ‘It’s just a football game’

Gates remains beloved amongst New York fans and his former teammates. On Sunday, Gates makes his return to MetLife Stadium for the first time with his new team.

Does this game have any more meaning for Gates?

“Nothing, it’s a football game, you know, it is what it is,” Gates told Scott Abraham of ABC 7 after practice this week. “It’s a business, it’s part of this league. So, you’re going to move on; you’re going to go to other teams. It’ll be nice to see my old buddies, all the old training staff. Other than that, it’s just a football game.”

Has there been any trash talk so far?

“No, not yet,” Gates said before saying he needed to call Daniel Jones, who he called a good friend.

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Washington Post (paywall)

The puzzling Commanders defense seems less than the sum of its parts

Daron Payne and Jonathan Allen are exceptional football players. Chase Young has uncommon explosiveness and athletic ability. Montez Sweat might match him in those areas. Kendall Fuller is playing really good football. Jamin Davis turned around one game by forcing a fumble and sealed another with an interception.

All of those people play for the Washington Commanders’ defensive unit. Sounds like a pretty stout bunch. So, why aren’t they — oh, I don’t know — good?

“We’ve had some ups and downs,” said Jack Del Rio, in his fourth year as the team’s defensive coordinator. “I think we’ve had some great moments, and we’ve had some moments that are a little bit disappointing.”

The numbers are stark: The Commanders are giving up 29.3 points and 377.2 yards per game. The first mark is tied for 29th in the league and the second is 29th all by itself. Those stats are easy to understand, but they’re a little archaic because they don’t offer much context.

What’s more telling: Washington is allowing 5.7 yards per play, which ranks 27th in the league. The Commanders are in the NFL’s bottom seven in both net yards per pass attempt and yards per rushing attempt. And how about this one: Opponents have scored on 51.6 percent of their possessions, a higher percentage than every team but one (Denver).

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Big Blue View

Giants-Commanders: What to expect when the Giants have the ball

First and foremost: Which quarterback will be out there?

[Tyrod] Taylor performed a lot better than expected against the Bills, showing why the Giants retained him as a backup. He went 24-for-36 (66.7%) for 200 yards, which, at 5.6 yards per attempt, is not that impressive but is still serviceable. He had three big-time throws, per Pro Football Focus, against one turnover-worthy play.

Compared to Jones, Taylor did a better job of avoiding pressure. He was under duress on 19 of his 44 dropbacks (43.2%), which is not that much less than Jones (91 out of 197, 46.2%). Still, Taylor’s average time to throw was 2.61 seconds compared to Jones’ season-long average of 2.84; he also had a 15.8% pressure-to-sack ratio, as opposed to Jones’ 30.8%. Taylor had four throwaways against the Bills, while Jones has six the whole season.

Part of this may have been the game plan, though. The Giants knew that their backup quarterback would have little chance if he hung in the pocket, so they designed quick throws, much like they did with Jones in 2022. For some reason, Brian Daboll and Mike Kafka have refused to revert back toward that plan with Jones at the helm. Taylor’s performance against the Bills may have exposed some of Jones’ deficiencies — or it may have exposed the coaching staff’s.

Washington’s pass rush

Still, the Giants will be able to throw the ball only if they neutralize Washington’s pass rush. According to Pro Football Reference, the Commanders’ defense ranks 13th in the NFL with a 24.8% pressure rate and a 9.7% quarterback knockdown rate. They’re tied for sixth with 19 sacks. Giants quarterbacks have been pressured over 45% of the time this year and have taken 32 sacks.

Still, it’s worth noting that the Bills’ defense has the highest pressure rate in the NFL at 31.1%, and they’re tied for the league lead in sacks with 24. It’s not that Taylor wasn’t pressured or sacked last week, but he still managed to be productive. Two big parts of it were his quicker time to throw and his willingness to throw it away.

Chase Young is off to an incredible start this year, as he has a whopping 17.3% pressure rate and is fifth among edge rushers with 31 total pressures. Young has lined up almost exclusively on the right side of the defensive front (over the left tackle), mostly as a five-technique or seven-technique. With Andrew Thomas still not practicing and Joshua Ezeudu on injured reserve, the Giants will likely need to give Justin Pugh some help against Young.

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ESPN

NFL trade deadline 2023: Early buzz, rumors, teams that might deal

Young and Sweat, whose contracts expire in March, are popular names this year. Here’s what I’ve been told: Washington, as of now, very much sees both in its future. The Commanders’ team strength is the defensive line. Daron Payne produced in his contract year to earn a four-year, $90-million deal in March, and Sweat (4.5 sacks) and Young (3.0 sacks) are the next in line. As one source told me, betting odds on one or both being dealt should not be great. So, my sense is they don’t plan to trade them.

But one AFC exec believes Washington would at least listen to offers and potentially consider them, which the source didn’t completely shoot down.

The sense after talking to several people is, if one were to be dealt — again, huge if — it’s likely Young, in part because he’s more inclined to play out the year and entertain free agency. Plus, he needs to play a healthy season.

Sweat is considered a stronger franchise-tag or extension candidate at this stage.

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Podcasts & videos

Kam Curl gets EXPOSED?!? | Hang Time Ep. 2

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Washington Commanders vs. New York Giants: Tendencies and Kamren Curl, Sam Howell Keys to Victory

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10/20/2023 – Cody Barton on the Jim Rome show

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Photos

Commanders.com

PHOTOS | Commanders practice, 10/20

The Washington Commanders wrapped up their final practice before heading to New Jersey to take on the New York Giants.

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NFC East links

Big Blue View

Giants’ QB Daniel Jones still not cleared for contact

Tyrod Taylor will start again if Jones can’t play

New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones is still not cleared for contact, coach Brian Daboll told media before Friday’s practice. Jones has been listed as questionable for Sunday’s game against the Washington Commanders.

Daboll said that offensive linemen Andrew Thomas (hamstring), John Michael Schmitz (shoulder) and Matt Peart (shoulder) are all out for Sunday’s game.

Daboll said right tackle Evan Neal (ankle) and cornerback Adoree’ Jackson (neck) will be listed as questionable. If Neal can’t play, Tyre Phillips, just signed off the Philadelphia Eagles’ practice squad, seems like the likely candidate to play right tackle.

Jones, who sat out the Week 6 game against the Buffalo Bills, due to a neck injury, has practiced on a limited basis this week. He has done individual work, but taken no reps during team periods.

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Blogging the Boys

Reports splash cold water on the idea of the Cowboys being big buyers at trade deadline

The NFL trade deadline is just a couple of weeks away. There was a report that the Cowboys might be buyers at the trade deadline. But we are also getting a conflicting reports.

According to NFL insider Jay Glazer, the Cowboys are not looking to make any big trades by the deadline. In a conversation with David Helman Glazer had this to say earlier this week:

“They did in the past with Amari Cooper a few years ago, right,” Glazer began. “Dallas is always pretty aggressive, especially if they think, ‘We’re on the cusp here, we need something else.’ But just in my conversations this week, when I was asking around, ‘Hey, who are the some of the names we might see?’ There really wasn’t a lot. In the past, you knew, okay, these players whose contracts are in the last year of their deal, these guys might be valuable. We just didn’t see a lot of marquee names.”

Other reports from ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler also attest to the same idea that Dallas will not be big players before the trade deadline.

The Cowboys are not expected to be major movers at the deadline, barring surprise. They are content with the roster as currently constructed.

With very little draft capital as it stands, the front-office may be looking to hold off using any draft picks for its roster heading into the second half of the season. And with the news of the team trying out a number of free agent players this week, this only seems to reinforce the idea the team may not look to trade.

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NFL league links

Articles

The Athletic (paywall)

NFL trade deadline: Why have teams been so much more aggressive lately?

The league pushed back the trade deadline in 2012, but it didn’t spur the instant gratification it had been seeking. There were just two trades from Oct. 1 through the deadline that season.

But that surely evolved. During the same timeline (Oct. 1 through the deadline), there were an average of 4.5 trades per season from 2013-16, then 8.5 from 2017-18 and 14.25 from 2019-22.

Two straightforward elements set the table for the remaining aspects.

First, the trade deadline had been the Tuesday after Week 6 until 2012 when it was pushed back two weeks. This gave teams a more thorough opportunity to evaluate their chances of competing in the playoffs or whether they should shift priorities to the following season.

Second, the playoff field expanded from 12 to 14 teams in 2020. By keeping more teams engaged, it creates a more competitive environment to improve the roster.

The GM factors

Only 10 of the league’s general managers have been in their positions since before 2017. So about a third of the NFL’s top decision-makers were running their team before this transition to a flurry of trade-deadline activity.

Of course, the better front-office managers evolve with the rules, but the vast majority of the league’s key decision-makers weren’t in place during the old rookie salary structure, which went by the wayside in 2011 and significantly changed the way business is conducted.

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Washington Post (paywall)

NFL defenses have caught up, and the game is more compelling

It’s impossible to ignore the evidence. Through six weeks, nine teams are allowing fewer than 300 yards per game. The Browns are yielding just 200.4, which is the stingiest any defense has been through its first five games in more than a half-century.

To put the statistics in context, no defense allowed fewer than 300 yards per game last season over the full 17-game schedule. In 2021, just one team did. It seems inevitable that offenses will improve as the season progresses, but conventional wisdom is that the game slows down as winter approaches, leading to lower scores and a preference for controlling possession over racking up yards.

Week 6 proved to be a perfect storm, magnifying all the good of NFL defenses — and the bad of offenses. The 15-game slate saw just five of the 30 teams surpass 21 points. Miami (42) and Jacksonville (37) were the lone teams to score more than 26. Across the league, teams averaged 18.4 points, which represented the lowest average for any NFL week in nine years.

As we inch closer to midseason, 16 teams — exactly half the NFL — are averaging 21.5 points or fewer. It’s not ugly. It’s retro. Finally, there is tension on every snap.

The cat-and-mouse game is back.

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Washington Post (paywall)

NFL says it will work toward its players competing in Olympic flag football

Team owners also tweaked the coaching interview calendar, and the league could ban hip-drop tackles in the offseason

The NFL will work with its teams, the NFL Players Association and the relevant governing bodies to attempt to clear the way for any interested current or former players to participate in flag football at the Los Angeles Summer Olympics in 2028, a league official said Tuesday.

“We think it’s a great opportunity … because the player interest is real and palpable,” said Peter O’Reilly, the NFL’s executive vice president of club business, international and league events. “So I think there’s a desire to work through with those stakeholders and get to that outcome for July in a window that is, at least in the first week, prior to the veteran reporting date [for training camp].”

The International Olympic Committee added five sports, including men’s and women’s flag football, to the 2028 Los Angeles Games on Monday.

“It’s the pinnacle of global sport,” said O’Reilly, whose comments came as NFL team owners began a two-day quarterly meeting at a Manhattan hotel. “And to now have the ability for flag football to be on that stage and to be amidst those Olympic sports in L.A., it’s [momentous]. … We’re committed to growing flag football in this country and around the world over the long haul. The Olympic decision accelerates that, and we do see it as a long-term commitment as we move forward.”

Presumably, not all NFL players would represent the United States. There were 113 foreign-born players on NFL rosters as of Week 5, O’Reilly said.

The league will have to work through issues related to players’ contracts and teams’ wariness about them being injured to enable any interested players to compete.

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