Daily Slop – 27 Sep 24: Opinions on Kliff Kingsbury changing quickly; Daniels-McLaurin connection finally clicks

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Bullock’s Film Room (subscription)

How Kliff Kingsbury is setting Jayden Daniels up for success

Breaking down the things Kingsbury is doing to help set up his rookie QB for success

Box Counts

If you watch some of the best offenses in the league, like Kyle Shanahan’s 49ers or Sean McVay’s Rams, you’ll often see them call multiple plays on any given snap and trust the quarterback to get them into the right play at the line of scrimmage. This is a good tactic, but it puts a lot on the quarterback. The quarterback not only has to know their formations, motions, shifts, concepts, coverages and potential blitzes, they also have to be able to identify the looks they want to run the ball into. Each coach will have ideal looks to run certain concepts into. Shanahan might prefer to run wide zone schemes to the strong side to try and create more horizontal movement while McVay might prefer to run the ball to the weak side to try and create more double teams up front. On any given week, Shanahan or McVay might have game plan specific things to identify too, like wanting to run the ball away from a particular defender or attack a defensive tackle that is weak against particular run schemes.

That’s a lot to put on the plate of a quarterback. A veteran like Matthew Stafford can obviously handle all of that at this point in his career and he does a terrific job identifying fronts that are weak to certain run schemes and checking to those runs to take advantage. He’s also just as good at identifying bad looks to run into and checking out of runs into passes instead. Brock Purdy does a good job with this too, which enables Shanahan and McVay to call multiple plays in the huddle and trust their quarterbacks to make the necessary adjustments at the line of scrimmage to get into the right play against each look the defense gives them.

But for a rookie quarterback, that’s a lot to try and handle on top of everything else they’re trying to learn and adjust to. So for the Commanders, Kliff Kingsbury hasn’t been overloading Daniels with that type of information. Instead, he asks Daniels to do basic math. One of the first things that stands out with the Kingsbury offense is how many run-pass options (RPOs) they’re using to generate favorable looks for the offense regardless of what the defense shows them.

Here are two RPOs that Kingsbury called on the Commanders opening drive against the Giants. Both of these are run plays packaged with a tunnel screen on the outside. On the first play of the clip, you can see the Giants initially have four defenders over the tunnel screen outside, which means the screen is outnumbered. However, just before the snap, one of those defenders drops down off the edge, leaving just three defenders outside, one of those being a deep safety. With the math changing, Daniels knows it’s better for him to pull the ball and throw the screen outside. He snaps the ball and throws the tunnel screen outside and the Commanders pick up a solid gain leading to a first down.

The second play of the clip is quite similar. It’s a slightly different look inside with the run scheme, but the tunnel screen on the outside is the same. This time the Giants start with just three defenders out over the screen while loading up the box to stop the run, so again Daniels pulls the ball and throws the screen and the Commanders again pick up the first down.

Those screens might look like boring plays for minimal gains, but they serve a greater purpose. By consistently picking up solid gains on those screens, the Commanders force the defense to choose between continuing to give up easy small chunks on the screens, or try to stop the screens and risk being light in the box against the run. In that game, the Giants got tired of giving up the easy screens, so they adjusted in the second half.

This is another RPO from later in that game. You can see the adjustment from the Giants before the snap. They keep four defenders outside over the potential tunnel screen, ensuring they can keep any gain to a minimum. However, to do that, the Giants leave themselves light in the box against the run. You can see they have four down lineman and one linebacker in the box, and then a cornerback and a safety sitting deeper. Every offense in the league would love to be able to run the ball into this type of look and box count. With that favorable look, Daniels hands the ball off and running back Brian Robinson picks up 32 yards on the carry.

By calling these RPOs for Daniels, Kingsbury is getting to the same end result that Shanahan and McVay get to – favorable looks to run the ball into – but he does it in a way that makes it much simpler for the quarterback to figure out. As a result, Daniels isn’t overloaded with information and is able to diagnose good and bad looks simply by counting where the defenders are. This doesn’t just apply to run plays either. Late on in the Bengals game, Daniels used this same principle to make a check at the line of scrimmage on his own.

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Commanders.com

Trent Scott calls ‘thick six’ TD ‘one of the most fun moments of my career’

Scott never thought he would be on the receiving end of rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels’ first passing touchdown.

With new offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury at the helm, the Commanders’ had practiced a play about once a week where the veteran lineman was the only route on the play, but Scott never imagined it would actually be used in a game.

Yet, as the Commanders readied for a pivotal second-and-goal play during the third quarter of the game, the 6-foot-6, 320-pound lineman was positioned as an eligible receiver.

The only thought in his head during that moment: “Let’s not drop the ball on Monday Night Football. Let’s not do that.”

Scott celebrated his first career touchdown with a dance — a nod to his Omega Psi Phi fraternity brothers — in the end zone.

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The Athletic (paywall)

For Jayden Daniels and Terry McLaurin, Monday’s connection is preview of how good they can be

[A]ny outside doubt about whether the rookie and veteran would establish game-day chemistry has left the scene. The topic did not make the trip to Arizona, the site of Washington’s Week 4 game against the Cardinals.

“We took some shots in some previous games. Didn’t quite nail them,” coach Dan Quinn said on Wednesday at Arizona State, Washington’s practice home this week. “I had no (worries) that it was going to happen. I just knew that it would. I’ve seen it too many times already in practice.”

McLaurin finished Monday’s national showcase with 100 yards on four receptions and his first touchdown of the season.

The plays and gains carry equal weight in the box score no matter the receiver, but witnessing Washington’s top playmakers connect after weeks of practice added heft to the equation.

“Man, pieces fell in place,” Daniels said. “It wasn’t anything specifically. We just kept working. Kept growing.”

Some frustration wafted through the air early in the season. For McLaurin, the new guy represented yet another quarterback change — Daniels was his sixth different Week 1 starter in six seasons. However, this one arrived with significant acclaim thanks to deep-ball accuracy, soul-snatching speed and poise beyond his age.

“That’s the testament to Terry. He is a pro,” Daniels said. “Be able to just be out there and be patient, because, like I said before, it’s not going to be smooth sailing. (We’re) going to have some adversity, some ups and downs. So, salute to Terry.”

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Commanders.com

Practice notes | Terry McLaurin’s chemistry with Jayden Daniels helps open up Commanders’ offense

“Going forward, we’re going to continue to stack on that,” McLaurin said. “We put that on film, and I think that’s going to open up a lot of other things for us. But for him, to clearly walk that ball to me with the game on the line, those were big-time throws for a rookie to make.”

It also helped that Daniels went out of his way to keep working with McLaurin and reassure him that he was going to keep coming back to him even though they hadn’t connected much up to that point. McLaurin said the two get reps together “at least once or twice a week” where they’re just working on the catch point.

The plays were pivotal in helping Washington come away from a hostile environment with a win, but perhaps even more importantly, they provided proof that Daniels and McLaurin have chemistry that can create problems for defenses. Now that it’s happened in a game, the two want to keep building it.

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The Athletic (paywall)

Jayden Daniels, budding Commanders optimism and the psyche of a healing fan base

[T]he capacity for real hope and joy have returned under a new owner, Josh Harris, and with a promising new quarterback in Daniels, but the musculature for experiencing those emotions remains atrophied. Fans might know in their minds that doom no longer waits around the corner, but they’ve been conditioned for so long to expect the worst that those who did not disengage entirely might yet flinch out of habit.

Washington’s upset at Cincinnati, under the “Monday Night Football” lights and with Daniels flashing franchise-altering potential, serves as a marker along this path toward renewal. No one knows what might happen next, but for the first time in a long time, something really good happened on the field, and there’s no chance for Snyder’s ownership to mess it up.

(Note: Former DE Charles Mann was interviewed for the article)

Mann:

What a difference this young quarterback makes. He is coming around. He did miss some throws, some wide-open people he didn’t even see because he had jumpy feet in the backfield, but he settled down and he played great. I was very impressed. I’m watching. I want to watch. Give me a reason to watch. And they are starting to give me a reason to watch.

A lot of us were alienated. A lot of us did not feel comfortable coming around. A lot of us just did not like Dan Snyder for all the reasons that the fans disliked him.

This is where I became who I am as Charles Mann, and so there is stature here, and that is why I stayed. To not be able to use that because some poor owner disenfranchised all of us, that’s sad. But now I’m 63 years young, and now I want to come back and I want to be a part and I want to see it, but I’ve kind of moved on. I have kind of divorced myself. I watch the games. I’m watching every single game for sure and I support them 100 percent. I’m watching it all the way through now because this is a new era

Doug Williams called Dexter and me. The next day, we were over there. We met (general manager) Adam Peters. Saw Doug, saw (team exec and former teammate) Martin Mayhew. We hung out, and that was nice. Dan Quinn said, “Any time you want to come by here, speak to the team, hang out, whatever, just let me know.” Josh Harris invited us to the stadium before the season. We had a lunch at FedEx Field (recently renamed Northwest Stadium). We got to see (minority owner) Magic (Johnson). They had a watch party for the first game and they asked me to participate. The team is engaging us.

Mann said Snyder would engage former players more exploitatively, enlisting them to sign autographs. The team’s current ownership invited Mann and Tyrena, his wife and an avid tennis fan, to experience the D.C. Open from the private box of minority owner Mark Ein, who chairs the tournament.

My wife and I went, and Mark left us alone. I said hi to him, greeted him on the way in; he was doing his thing, I was doing my thing. It was really nice. That is the kind of relationship that is forming. And it’s a good thing. I’m not pushing it, because I don’t want anything. And I applaud them. I thought this was the way it was going to be when I retired.

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Hogs Haven

Jayden Daniels is the Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Week again

Congratulations Jayden!

Jayden Daniels was voted the Pepsi Rookie of the Week for his NFL debut in Week 1 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and he’s done it again for his breakout performance against the Cincinnati Bengals in primetime. The Washington Commanders won their second game in a row, and they’ve been scoring on every drive over the last two weeks.

Jayden Daniels was breaking setting NFL rookie records on Monday night, and also earned his first NFC Player of the week award. He was 21 of 23 for 254 yards and two touchdowns. Daniels also ran 12 times for another 39 yards and a score.

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Podcasts & videos

Jayden Daniels All-22 Breakdown: Week 3

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Jayden Daniels combining with Kliff Kingsbury is encouraging for Commanders | Chris Simms Unbuttoned

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JD5 Has ARRIVED!!! MNF Recap and Arizona Preview | Command Center | Washington Commanders | NFL

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We Here! Brian Robinson Jr. Mic’d Up for MNF | Washington Commanders

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NFC East links

NFL.com

2024 NFL Season, Week 4: What We Learned from Cowboys’ win over Giants on Thursday night

It wasn’t pretty [T]the penalties kept adding up, starting with Lamb’s celebration penalty after his TD. There were too many flags that turned second-and-shorts on offense into third-and-longs. On defense, it was silly stuff like jumping offsides and too many men on the field. There were even four special teams flags on an ugly laundry night all around. But Dallas’ battered defense kept the Giants out of the end zone, and the offense did just enough, although Brandon Aubrey ’s late field goal miss – his first of the season – kept the door uncomfortably open. It wasn’t pretty by any means, but the Cowboys got back to .500.

Why didn’t Brian Daboll go for it on fourth down? The Giants trailed 14-9 at halftime and got the ball to open the third quarter. They started humming offensively, with Daniel Jones hitting on five plays of 8 or more yards on that drive alone, wearing down a tired and thin Cowboys defense. The Giants faced a fourth-and-goal at the Dallas 3-yard line, and with more than 23 minutes left Daboll took the easy field goal. But why cut a one-score lead to a one-score lead? Sure, the clock worked in his favor, but the Giants had been driving up and down the field all game … and settling for slightly longer field goals. This was the closest the Giants came to sniffing the end zone all game, and Malik Nabers and Wan’Dale Robinson were making up for the lack of a run game. The Giants went for it three times Monday night – once prior to this play and twice afterward. So Daboll showed some aggressiveness when it was called for. But when they were 9 feet from the goal line, he shriveled up. It was a strangely passive moment, and the Giants only crossed midfield once on their final four drives. That was a missed opportunity.

Jones, Nabers have their moments, but Giants bog down. Jones has played at a much higher level since his poor Week 1 performance, stringing three straight respectable performances together. He connected on 29 of 40 passes for 281 yards, converted a key fourth-down conversion and even drew Dallas offsides with a nice hard count. Things looked good until the fourth quarter, when Jones was 7 of 15 for only 45 yards and the desperation pick late. He’d relied all night on Nabers and Robinson, who caught 23 of his 29 completions, but when Nabers left the game late with a concussion, the offense fell flat. Nabers had another terrific performance with 12 catches for 115 yards but couldn’t haul in a fourth-down pass with 3:30 remaining. Jones misfired on his final three passes, and the Giants fell to 1-3. The Giants have something special in Nabers, and Jones has responded well, but they’re not going to win too many games with just field goals.

Next Gen Stats Insight from Cowboys-Giants (via NFL Pro): The Giants offense ran 23 designed rushing plays for a net 27 yards in Week 4 against the Cowboys, generating minus-49 rushing yards over expected, the lowest total RYOE on designed runs by the Giants in NGS era (since 2016). On designed runs, Giants ball carriers have averaged minus-0.1 yards before contact, while being contacted behind the line of scrimmage on 48% of those runs.

NFL Research: Malik Nabers has five or more receptions in each of his first four NFL games, which is tied for the fourth-longest streak to start a career since at least 1970. The record is six, held by the Cowboys’ CeeDee Lamb.

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NFL.com

Giants standout rookie WR Malik Nabers leaves Thursday night loss with concussion

A historic and brilliant start to the rookie season of Malik Nabers was dimmed Thursday night when the New York Giants wide receiver suffered a concussion.

Following the game, Nabers posted on social media that he was “all good.” He’ll have 10 days to get through concussion protocol before the Giants’ Week 5 game against the Seattle Seahawks.

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Pro Football Talk

X-rays negative on Micah Parsons’ injured ankle, but he will undergo an MRI

Cowboys defensive end Micah Parsons injured his left ankle with 3:30 remaining Thursday night.

He was carted to the X-ray room, giving Cowboys fans a scare in the 20-15 win.

Parsons told reporters that X-rays were negative, but he will undergo an MRI on Friday.

The Cowboys have 10 days until their next game, at the Steelers on Sunday Night Football, and Parsons said he intends to play.

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Big Blue View

5 things we learned from the Giants’ 20-15 loss to the Cowboys

An inept offense does not bode well for Daniel Jones’ future

For the second consecutive week, Jones completed a high percentage of his passes and accumulated significant yardage. Still, though, he couldn’t make explosive plays happen. Unlike last week, when he overthrew Malik Nabers several times by a lot, this week he was consistently underthrowing Nabers and Darius Slayton. There’s more than one reason why the Giants had five scoring drives and only walked away with 15 points, but Jones’ inability to connect deep with his wide receivers is a big part of the story.

Jones’s final stats looked pretty good: 29 of 40, 281 yards. If you watched the game, though, you saw a game manager who was unable to close the deal in a game the Giants could have won. A quarterback who is risk-averse most of the time and can’t hit receivers deep when he’s not. He looked pretty similar last week, but at least he managed to find Nabers in the end zone twice. It will be interesting to see how long Jones’ leash is if this continues.

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NFL league links

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ESPN

Betting buzz: Jayden Daniels takes OROY odds lead

Jayden Daniels had a banner evening in his third career start, completing an astounding 21 of 23 pass attempts for 254 yards and two touchdowns, adding 39 rushing yards and another TD in the Washington Commanders’ big upset of the Cincinnati Bengals. The electrifying performance had bettors rushing to bet on him to win Offensive Rookie of the Year, with Daniels attracting a leading 40% of bets and 71.3% of handle at ESPN BET since last Thursday.

The impressive display and proceeding betting action moved the LSU and Arizona State product from +300 on Sunday morning to the top of the odds board at +165 immediately following the end of Monday’s game. As of Thursday morning, Daniels sits at +150 to win the rookie honor.

Next on the odds board is New York Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers (+260), who briefly topped the list on Sunday after a stellar performance in the New York Giants’ own upset of the Cleveland Browns. No. 1 overall draft pick Caleb Williams, who continues to disappoint for the Chicago Bears, has fallen from the first position to fourth at +700.

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