Season in Review | Episode 80

the defense really kind of held their own. They kept them in games, but at times that showed that it might just be you need more than that. But the defense certainly wasn't lacking. Yeah, I was impressed with the job that Jack Dale real to defensive coordinator deal with this defensive unit. You know, got off to a little bit of a slow start PLO. Once he kind of saturday in, especially on the back end when you saw the emergence of a Benjamin Saint Jews and the way

he played. Derek Forrest was a you know what a goss in he was, and at the free safety position and then play a dron playing what he was able to do. Just you know, when you look at those guys and what they were able to do defensively. I was extremely impressed with what those guys were able to accomplish. And this was without Chase Sung for the majority of the season. So once we get a healthy Chase Young, I feel like this defense can take it even another

step forward. I think that they played above what was out there on the field to end up third overall in the league is a testament to the coaching and the teamwork, you know. I think once all of those players up front were drafted with first round picks, we all envisioned that, being the leadership part of this team, that this team is going to go as far as they take them. And I thought collectively they had an absolutely amazing year. And I'm with London here. We didn't

even see Chase Young play very much. Emergence of Derek Forrest was a big part of everything. With Cam Curl in the back end, and you saw them fill in vulnerabilities. Cole Holcom goes out for more than half the season. They have one viable starting linebacker. They survived with that. Benjamin say Jews starts in the slot, moves to the outside, their thin at corner. They survived with that. I think

the defense had a really great, great season. Yeah, we did see where I think depth at the end kind of hurt them a little bit the linebacker and in the secondary. But man, that d line certainly came out and performed well. Another question is can they keep them all together for a return next season. Now, offensively, they just didn't get the production that they wanted. Coach Ron Rivera said, they want to be a run first team, but you also have Terry McLaurin, Curtis Amuel johan Dotson,

so they had to find the right balance. But that offensive line just seemed to have issues all season long. And again, Bram, the rotation at quarterback. Yeah, rotation at quarterback, And I really think it comes down to, and this is for a lot of teams situational football. They were

not good at converting in the red zone. They had trouble converting third and shorts, fourth and shorts late in the season in tight, close games, specifically the ones against the Giants, which is really I think the difference between them being in the playoffs and not being in the playoffs. They were not able to come through. And so you know, there's some changes clearly that need to be made, but

I think situationally, if they get better, it's just that close. Yeah, you know, situationally need to get better, like you said, But I think really, when you look at this office in general, a lot of attention has been pay to the quarterback position. I'm looking at the offensive line is where they really need to ask and get better. Regardless of who's playing a quarterback next year, if you don't address the issues at the offensive lip position, you're going

to continue to have to struggles. We have heard them in the off season before even going into this last year, that you build from the inside out. Would they do that on defense? They obviously need to address that this off season on offense, and then they'll be able to figure out just what they have potentially in quarterbacks Sam Howe and if he can be the guy for the future. Plus I sat down with head coach Ron Rivera to

talk about what lies ahead this offseason. All right, coach, here we are in this auditorium and you're used to it being full, yes, of your entire team. It's it kind of eerie to you. It is. Come in the parking lots empty, the building's empty, the auditorium it's just us it is erie. I'm used to activity. I'm used to the hustle and bustle of what's going on, and it's kind of a different time of year for us offseason now I know officially there really is no off season.

I don't know why they call it that, you know, I joke that this season is kind of like you're running a marathon but at a sprint race. Do you feel that? And then do you feel a change of pace to where we are now? Yes? I do for a couple of reasons. You know. One is obviously, you know we we we've made some changes. We're making a change on our offensive side. I'm looking for a new

offensive coordinator, looking to do things a little bit differently. Um, you know, we have, obviously, I think, a very talented group of players that you know, I want to approach a different way. I also think as we start getting prepared going into next year, because of where we are with our personnel, it is a situation for us to even take a bigger step this year. What went into making that decision offensive coordinator? And we know that you're

doing a lot of interviews, so what is it? Is there something you're specifically looking for I'm looking for a different way to do things. I think, you know, we have to approach it in a way that it is different from what we've done. It's from different one I've

been involved with. But I also think it's a chance to to really give ourselves an opportunity to attack the opponent in a different fashion, using different players, different for nation groups, um, different personnel groups, shoos me in different formations that I fail can help us when it comes to like evaluating the talent that you do have on offense and defense, are there groups that you're really kind of saying, all right, this is this is what we

need to build around. This is where we are going to win and get into the postseason. Yes, because you know, you go into this and you say to yourself, you know what is going to be your philosophy with with your offense, Well, it's find your quarterback, protect your quarterback, and put playmakers around him. And I think we've done a really job. I like the playmakers that are around him. They're growing, they're getting better. They're a young group. That's

the other huge plus. You know, we got a veteran tight end and logan and we've got four young guys surrounding him. So you look at Terry and Curtis and we got a bunch of young guys surrounding them. And then you look at our running back room and it's very young, so you go, wow, we've got those guys. So now we have a quarterback we feel pretty comfortable in.

We're going to give Sam every opportunity to to see if he can be our starter, and we'll go from the free agency and draft are looming, and we know you're already doing work and meeting for all of that, but how do you approach what position groups and what you need on free agency versus the draft. Well, the biggest saying first form us is which of our guys that we want to take care of now that are free agents? And you know, and I did have our

meetings with the ownership. They've been tremendous, very supportive and the things that we want to do. So that's the first step. Second step is now going on and doing it. And then once we are able to take care of the guys that we wanted to initie and make contact and let them know what our plans are, then we start attacking free agency itself. You know, what guys out there from the different teams that we feel can come in and be part of what we want to do.

And then we look at and say, okay, if we can get those guys, these are the guys that we've got to target in the draft. So we know the positions that we want. Now it's a matter of finding those guys. So you're not sprinting anymore, you're just running. Yeah, Yeah, you're right. We'll start sprinting when we get into March, because that's when free agency is getting ready to start. How often are you having these meetings because while most

people think everybody's off on vacation, you're still here. You're still in building. I've been meeting for two weeks with different people with our personnel department, you know, obviously said with the ownership, with with Jason for that matter, and then for the different guys that I've been interviewing with some of my different offensive and defensive coaches. When it comes to some of the things we want to celebrate. You've got five players going to the Pro Bowl. What

do you attest that too? Um, I think, first of all, finding the talent and then secondly developing it and just the way those young men have played. They all deserve the opportunity. All right, coach, We look forward to what's going to be an exciting offseason with you cool. Thank you for all your Commander's news and analysis. Be sure to tune into Commands Center weeknights with five and ten pm on NBC Sports Washington. You can also stream on YouTube and Commanders dot com.