- 2 days ago
Ben Standig was happy with what he saw from the Commanders in joint practice against the Dolphins but he is somewhat concerned with the offensive line.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Joining us now is our friend, Mr. Ben Standig from the Last Man Standig Substack.
00:04You can hear him here on 106.7 The Fan and on 980 all the time.
00:08What's up, Benny? How you doing?
00:10I'm doing great. I was just telling Ryan I'm in air conditioning,
00:13so I am thrilled this morning.
00:15Rare event is so awesome.
00:18Yeah, dude, it is nice to get a day off from being out in the tents in Ashburn.
00:25Let's start with what we saw yesterday
00:27because I think these two joint practices are arguably the most important dates in August,
00:33at least for the starters.
00:34And I think, by and large, you've got to be encouraged by Washington.
00:39Yeah, no doubt.
00:40I mean, obviously the caveat is Miami might be the worst team in the league and all that.
00:45They've still got NFL players, and you've still got to take advantage of it.
00:48And Washington did that yesterday.
00:51Obviously, with the geography, you've got to have a field or layout.
00:54You've got to kind of pick a side.
00:56I went mostly with the offense.
00:57And, you know, I mean, Caden Daniels was just incredibly effective.
01:01The accuracy was very much on point.
01:05You know, he was able to hit guys, whether it was Traylon Burke streaking down the field,
01:11Van Jefferson pinpointing on the sideline, or just knowing when, hey,
01:14there's nothing down the field in coverage.
01:16Let me not force anything.
01:17I mean, other than maybe one or two overthrows, he was pretty on point the whole day.
01:25And, obviously, you know, again, they're not even showing everything that they're going to do in the offense.
01:30Same thing with the defense.
01:31But that was obviously a really good sign.
01:34And then defensively, you know, the front seven just got after Malik Willis.
01:40I mean, that very last series, I think the Dolphins ran five plays.
01:45There's no actually obviously hitting the quarterback.
01:47But the commanders would have had the equivalent of, like, three sacks.
01:50Willis was just having to throw the ball away.
01:53I think that the whole practice ended.
01:55The Dolphins were in, like, a third-and-twenty situation, or third-and-super-long after these hypothetical sacks.
02:01And they were just like, yeah, we're just going to call it here.
02:04We can do the end practice now.
02:06So, yeah, again, bodes well.
02:09The opponent, I don't know how much they're really informing everything.
02:13But in terms of what Washington needed to do, they certainly looked the part.
02:16Did you think that they are picking up on the new offense-defense relatively okay?
02:24Yeah, I think so.
02:25I mean, you know, the defense, obviously, it's just so many moving parts at all times
02:29and knowing when to, you know, who's coming after the quarterback,
02:32who's going to drop back, and where you need to be.
02:35You know, I think all those things look to be in play.
02:38I mean, we talked to Leo Chennault after practice, and he was like, yeah,
02:41but we're not even, like, close to showing everything yet.
02:44You know, we're still going to hide a lot of things.
02:47And then on the offense, you know, I'm not saying it's just about the quarterback,
02:50but obviously, you know, seeing what Jaden Daniels can do in the system,
02:55under center, all that, you know, again, I thought he looked more than comfortable.
02:59And, like, there's actual, like, progression,
03:01because the first two days of camp when they were doing a lot of red zone,
03:04it was not that way.
03:05The accuracy was off.
03:07You know, it looked like they were rusty, to say the least, which is okay.
03:10You kind of expect, but you actually have seen progression here,
03:13and he looked, you know, much more like the guy, you know, where he's seeing.
03:16I thought Jaden on whatever day, Wednesday, looked particularly dialed.
03:22And knowing how he is and the type of competitor he is,
03:26I'm not even that surprised that the first time there was somebody else.
03:29Like, do you remember his rookie season?
03:31We went up to New York, and he got to practice against the Jets,
03:34just how good he looked there in the rain, and it was kind of miserable.
03:38I do think there's something about him that takes a step up when it's competition.
03:47Yeah, you know, obviously, he's never going to talk about publicly what he thinks
03:52or if he cares about these various lists of quarterback rankings.
03:57I'm sure somehow some of these rankings have filtered into his orbit,
04:01and I'm sure seeing himself not just even down outside the top ten and mostly his list,
04:06but behind Drake May and Caleb Williams, I'm sure there's got to be some sort of fuel there for him.
04:12Again, maybe not.
04:14Maybe he won't claim it.
04:16But, you know, I think we all feel that it's a bit much.
04:19Of course, he's the guy that we're watching the most,
04:21so we're going to be more hyper-focused for better or for worse on what he does
04:25or anybody around here does.
04:26But I just find that the best thing that any of those three quarterbacks have done
04:31is what Jaden did in the run up in 2024.
04:34So unless you just think he's got no chance of ever staying healthy,
04:38I just don't know how he's ranked lower than them,
04:40and I imagine he feels the same way.
04:42Ben, when you look around, and there's a lot of competition going on on this team,
04:46what will you be focusing on tomorrow night?
04:49What position grouping?
04:52Yeah, I mean, I think from just the television perspective of it all,
04:56I'm curious to see how the receivers look.
04:59You know, they have got eight guys.
05:03I'm not even counting, like, Jacoby Jones or Jaden Bradley,
05:06like two, you know, UDFA types who look interesting,
05:08but, you know, they may just be more for the practice squad.
05:11But all the other guys, we know what Terry McLaurin,
05:13and Stephon James are going to do, and Tony Williams,
05:16his job is, you know, relatively secure, you know.
05:19But after that, the other guys, I mean,
05:20they could all justifiably be viable rotation pieces,
05:24or they may not make the team.
05:26And I don't know how this is all going to shake out.
05:28So just to see the usage and what they can do now,
05:31I think it is probably fair to say, based on what we just saw yesterday,
05:34I don't know what we're going to see.
05:36Other than the fact that it's a home game,
05:37and maybe they throw the home crowd a bone,
05:39I don't know if we're going to see Jaden at all.
05:40I don't even know if we're going to see Marcus Mariota.
05:42It may just be a Sam Hartman, Nathan Kelly, Amanda show.
05:46So in that case, you know,
05:48we'll have to see what that means for the passing game in general.
05:50But the receivers, I'm curious about for sure.
05:54And then, obviously, I think the offensive line.
05:56I mean, it's not just – ironically, now having thought about it
05:59for a couple days, Brandon Coleman is not one of my bigger concerns.
06:03The center position and the overall depth, I think,
06:06is more concerning for me.
06:08Again, obviously, Coleman is not tonsil, but, I mean,
06:10I think he'll be fine.
06:12The rest of it, though, they're like one injury away on the line
06:14from really having a problem.
06:16So how they get about this, we'll see.
06:20Nick Allegra should be back soon, it sounds like.
06:22But even still, like what happens if he goes down again
06:24to depth across the line,
06:26I think that's going to be really interesting to see how they look.
06:28Because I think Miami did get the pressure
06:30against the backups yesterday.
06:32So let's see how that looks in a real game.
06:33Yeah, I mean, I think we're talking with our friend Ben Standing here.
06:36Covers the Commanders.
06:37Check out his sub stack, Last Man Standing.
06:39You can give him a follow, at Ben Standing.
06:41I think the, by and large, the Commanders were the better team
06:45on Wednesday.
06:45And that's what you'd like to see with a team
06:47that's expected to be among the worst in the NFL
06:50in a clear rebuild in Miami, right?
06:52The one concern you could have from that practice
06:55was the inability of the starting offense to run the football.
07:00And I think, one, give some credit to Miami's defensive line.
07:04I think Chop Robinson had a really good practice.
07:06Local boy, right?
07:07Yeah, Quintorchard.
07:08But I also think not having Allegretti out there
07:12is going to be a big deal.
07:13Seems like he's tracking to be back.
07:16Dan Quinn said, you know, could happen Sunday
07:19when the team has a walkthrough.
07:20We're not out there until Tuesday.
07:22You'd certainly like to see Allegretti out there Tuesday, right?
07:27Yeah, I mean, you would think so.
07:29And obviously, when he initially got hurt,
07:31they were like, oh, we had a week of lost track of time.
07:34But it's like three weeks, like a couple weeks beyond that.
07:37It's like three weeks at this point, right?
07:38Because he got hurt on the first day.
07:39So hopefully he's back out there.
07:41And, you know, they talked about the Peters and Quinn
07:44went at the start of camp about how his smarts,
07:48his communication skills are going to be such a big deal.
07:51Cool.
07:51Well, then you've got to get that going.
07:52And I think it's just even more important now
07:54that there is no Tunsil, that there are questions.
07:57You know, I mean, how does Chris Paul perform without Tunsil?
08:00You know, even with Josh Conner,
08:01who I think has been a little uneven here so far in camp,
08:04like he's only a second year.
08:05It's not like he's got it all figured out either.
08:07So, you know, if Allegretti's superpower is going to be communication,
08:12then let's get it out there and help everybody across the board
08:15in that regard.
08:15And then again, I just don't know that they even have a backup center
08:18on this team right now that they would feel remotely good about.
08:21So, yeah, he needs to get out there, I think,
08:23for everybody to start feeling a little bit better about the situation.
08:25And when you, the running back position, what were your thoughts on that?
08:31Yeah.
08:32So, I mean, obviously, look,
08:32I think Bill's looked pretty good to me so far.
08:35I mean, he put on some muscle, some upper body strength,
08:40and it looks like it's paid off.
08:41He's really been physical as much as you can be in these types of scenarios
08:47without tackling.
08:48You know, Rashad White, he was giving them that third down back element.
08:52I think that Bill has looked good also as a pass blocker.
08:55I mean, good at least.
08:57He had a hell of a block yesterday on a deep throw from Jaden was able to take.
09:02Yeah, yeah, yeah.
09:02And I think that's a huge deal, right?
09:04Because if he's able to do that, then they can leave him on the field more often.
09:08And that's especially true now without Tunsil.
09:12So, if he can stay out there, I think that raises the feeling of what this offense
09:16can do from an explosive perspective.
09:19Obviously, Jeremy McNichols has been out a few days.
09:21We'll see what that means.
09:23And I'm sort of curious about Kaytron Allen.
09:25I'm going to be honest, and maybe you guys thought, it's not that he didn't do
09:29anything yesterday, but I didn't notice it, which is, you know, there's a hundred
09:32things happening.
09:33But I was like, wait, did he do anything yesterday?
09:35So, I'm kind of curious to see him also in this game.
09:37Just to, you know, obviously, he's going to get a lot of work, you would think.
09:41Like, so, what does he do?
09:43Because, you know, it's just been a little bit quieter, it feels like, than maybe I was
09:47expecting.
09:47I think Kaytron may be a guy where they have to be going full goal for you to see the
09:52best
09:52of what he could be.
09:53Yeah.
09:53Because he's, like, I think what they might want to see is him inside the tackles.
09:57How does he break tackles and get those extra yards?
10:00Because I don't know if he's that, you know, space out on the edge type guy.
10:05He's that grind them out type guy.
10:07I think tomorrow night's a big opportunity for Kaytron, honestly, because maybe we see
10:12Bill and Rashad for a series.
10:14I won't be shocked if we don't.
10:16The Jeremy McNichols absence over the last three or four days is something certainly to
10:22monitor.
10:22I can't expect him to play tomorrow night.
10:25So, like, all of a sudden you're talking about a lot of possible work for Fat Man and
10:29for Robert Henry.
10:30And I think you'd really like to see him look forward.
10:33We're still forwarding Robert Henry.
10:35You got those three.
10:36Yeah, you're right.
10:37But, yeah, I'm with you with Fat Man.
10:40I think it's a big opportunity for him tomorrow night.
10:44Ben, I did want to ask you this.
10:47We've watched every day of camp so far, and in seeing it, you see the installation of both
10:53a new defense and a new offense.
10:55And they're both pretty radically different than what we saw last season.
10:59And they're both far more mentally taxing for these players.
11:04There's a lot more motion, a lot more shifts on both sides of the ball.
11:07For Blau and Jones, like, Dan Quinn has a job to get them ready for week one, right,
11:15against the Eagles.
11:16For Blau and Jones, do you think it's imperative that they see some of their starters on the
11:20field tomorrow?
11:22No, it's a great point, because this is their preseason debut as coordinators, right?
11:27This is their first opportunity to call the players and get settled.
11:31So, yes, you would like to think, in theory, have some of those guys out there.
11:33That said, I think that's what Dan Quinn's going to say, hey, that's why we have practice.
11:38You can do it there.
11:40You know, a lot of the guys, you know, a lot of the obvious names were set out of Tuesday's,
11:47you know, lighter practice ahead of this, and I won't be surprised if that's the case.
11:51And obviously, some guys will probably be out there.
11:53Like, I could imagine much of the offensive line other than maybe, you know, Sam Cosme,
11:57you know, and, you know, I don't imagine we'll see Terry McClure or Stephon Diggs, especially
12:03if Jayden's not out there for even a series.
12:05And then, you know, defensively, I don't know that they really need to see Owe and
12:09Jason, et cetera.
12:10But, like, yeah, I mean, it would be helpful to at least have you guys, because ultimately
12:14it's just helpful to have the coordinators be in a position where they can call what
12:18they would want to call under normal circumstances, because, yeah, again, for them, they got to
12:22get done.
12:23Like, I think, like, to me, we can talk all we want about how impressive Blau is.
12:27And he certainly seems to be the case.
12:29But when it's third and eight, you need to pick up a first down to get in field goal
12:33range.
12:33You're down two with a minute to go.
12:35What are you calling and how is it going, right?
12:37I mean, until you get into some of these circumstances, you can have all the beautiful
12:40plays you want, but you got to do it when it's in real time.
12:43So any real-time opportunities, you know, whether it is with Jayden Daniels or Sam Hartman,
12:47I think you got to, you know, give the coordinator the best chance he has to execute.
12:53Yeah, it's going to be interesting, man.
12:56I kind of feel for fans if the only action these starters get is on the road in Detroit.
13:02You know what I mean?
13:03Yeah, for sure.
13:04It might be that.
13:04I kind of think it's going to be that.
13:06See, we discussed yesterday about how they feel they can control situations.
13:10Right.
13:11What Dan has talked about all training camp is they are calling specific things, putting
13:16them in situations that they may be in.
13:18I think they're handling all the stuff with the starters in our practice.
13:21Totally.
13:22Dude, in the joint practices yesterday, Jayden and Marcus got a ton of work.
13:27You know what I mean?
13:28Like, Terry and Steph got a ton of work.
13:30Mm-hmm.
13:31Standing, how impressed have you been by Diggs, by the way?
13:36You know, I think there's some players, like, you don't always appreciate.
13:40It's funny, like, if Russell Westbrook gets retired, and obviously, you know, was a tremendous
13:43player, but, you know, it was not always my cup of tea, but the year he played here with
13:47the Wizards, and I got to see him, like, all the time, you just, I gained so much more
13:51appreciation for what he does out on the court, just how he plays.
13:55I feel like that's going to happen here for me.
13:57It was Stephon Diggs.
13:58Like, obviously, he's been incredibly productive, but I wasn't one of those people screaming that
14:03they had to get him.
14:04But watching him in practice, he is just so smooth.
14:08He gets open easily, you know, it is, and I think he ultimately, I mean, obviously,
14:16getting big plays on third down has been part of his deal, but in an era, in a world now
14:21without Zach Ertz, without that sort of security blanket for Jaden, you know, in any part of
14:26the field, especially the red zone, I think Diggs is going to probably inherit a lot of that
14:29role, and, yeah, it's been wildly.
14:32I mean, to the point, it's, you know, if we did a game of who's going to lead this
14:38team in, like, receptions, oh, man, like, it's been a Terry Locke for seven years.
14:44I don't know.
14:45I think it's a lethal conversation just because of how Diggs might be the more volume guy and
14:50Terry may be the bigger play guy.
14:51What are your thoughts on the young one?
14:54The number 14, you know, he'll get a ring.
14:57Yeah.
14:58Yeah.
14:59Yeah.
15:00Look, I think the shiftiness, the speed coming out of route, you know, coming out of turns
15:06and routes, you can see all the reasons why you'd be impressed by him.
15:11How that's going to translate in terms of his role on game day, that'll be interesting
15:16to see.
15:16You know, they've been pre-Diggs, they've been largely having Luke McCaffrey as the third
15:21receiver with McCorn and Burks, so essentially him coming out of the slot.
15:25Diggs is going to be in the slot a lot.
15:27I know they say Williams can play on the outside, but the slot is where he's probably best at.
15:31So how much he gets used this first year will be interesting.
15:34But, you know, you can, again, you can see all the reasons why they would fall for him.
15:39And, you know, I'm not saying that this is any kind of redshirt season at all, but him
15:43getting to watch Stephon Diggs, what he can do, you know, should be such a great learning
15:48tool for him so that next year when Diggs, you know, possibly isn't here anymore, that
15:52he can really step in.
15:53But yeah, I've liked what I've seen from Williams.
15:55I just don't know exactly how big of a role he's going to have, at least at the beginning
15:58of the year.
15:59All right, man.
15:59The answer to this might not be quick, but what did you think of the news this morning
16:03with Jaden and LSU?
16:07I'm not smart enough to get it.
16:09I guess what I don't get is if it's really about NIL, if you're telling me, like, if
16:13Tim Tebow, if Florida is still using Tim Tebow, if Texas is still using Vince Young and, you
16:19know, all that to live.
16:20Right.
16:21Yeah.
16:21Then I don't understand what we're talking about.
16:24I almost wonder if this doesn't open a new door into new back-end NIL deal.
16:30Like, I just asked White Brian, who's a proud Auburn alum.
16:33They're still selling Cam Newton jerseys at Auburn.
16:35Like, in the new world, shouldn't Cam be getting a cut of that?
16:38He should be.
16:38You wonder what this door may open all over college football.
16:43Hey, USL, I'm calling you.
16:45I bet we appreciate you, man.
16:47Only number one jersey.
16:48I need to hear some of that.
16:50See you, buddy.
16:51See you.
16:51All right, bro.
16:52That's it.
Comments