- 7 weeks ago
The vibes surrounding the Washington Commanders get lower and lower as week one approaches and some fans of the team have counted them out already. Kevin Sheehan reacts to the Commanders losing 41-3 in their final preseason game and addresses all of the panic from the fanbase claiming the season is gonna be a disaster.
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00:00People, is it unreasonable to think that this team has some issues, some flaws, areas of concern entering the 2026
00:11season?
00:12No, it's not unreasonable to think that.
00:15Is it unreasonable to think that the season is over before it starts?
00:20Yes, completely unreasonable, unless this is your first football season as a fan.
00:26Unless you are a very new fan to the NFL and you don't know how this stuff works, that's fine.
00:33But for those of you that have watched the NFL for a while, it is completely unreasonable to think that
00:40this season is doomed before it starts.
00:42And you know why that is? Because the players and the team that played during the preseason are not the
00:50players that are going to suit up and play against the Eagles on September 13th in Philadelphia.
01:00Yeah, I'm concerned about the offensive line. Yeah, I'm concerned about center position.
01:04Yes, I'm concerned about the corners, you know, and yes, I'm a little bit concerned about first time coordinators on
01:11both sides of the ball because coordinators, really good coordinators and a really good head coach do things that cover
01:20up some of the flaws that you have.
01:22You know, something they don't do in the preseason, you know, game plan, you know, oops, we might have an
01:28issue with interior pass protection.
01:30So let's not call dropbacks. Let's go quick game. Let's go bubble screens. Let's try to run the football.
01:38Let's chip and double the guys that we're most afraid of or the guys on our team that we're most
01:44concerned with.
01:45That doesn't happen in the preseason. It will happen in the opener against Philadelphia.
01:51I doubt they're going to let Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis just have their way with the interior portion of
01:57the offensive line away from Sam Cosme.
02:00I doubt that'll happen. You know, they do. They there's no rules outlining double teams.
02:06There's no rules involving running back stepping to the line of scrimmage pre snap on a drop back.
02:12What you'd like to do is not be in a lot of drop back situations.
02:16It's totally unreasonable. Some of the reactions I read from over the weekend are really I think some of you
02:24know this.
02:25These are these are fans that don't have a lot of experience in following the NFL.
02:32Those that are, you know, running whatever kind of Twitter or Instagram sites they have and they are saying this
02:40season's over or we're in deep trouble.
02:43And Dan Quinn should be fired today. Not sure who should be fired first, Adam Peters or Dan Quinn before
02:50the actual players on their team who are going to play in a game have actually played in a game.
02:56For any meaningful amount of time. That's someone's first flight. I'm really nervous, really nervous.
03:03I haven't flown before. What do I do? Where do I put the luggage? What do I do? How does
03:08the seatbelt work?
03:09Paying attention to every single thing that the flight attendants are telling you pre takeoff.
03:13Takeoff. That's fine. If it's your first flight.
03:17If it's not, you should be embarrassed if you actually think the season's over.
03:23If they stink people this year in 2026, it's not because of what you just watched on Friday night.
03:30Those players, for the most part, are not on the football team and aren't going to play for this team
03:38when the real season starts.
03:41God, preseason football and training camp.
03:44I say it every year. I said it at the beginning of this camp.
03:47It is the part of the football calendar that is without question the worst part of it.
03:54Now, there are things that can happen that absolutely can impact a season.
03:59Laramie Tunsell's injury is a real thing.
04:02The addition of Stefan Diggs right before camp started is a real thing.
04:07They may make a move here before the opener.
04:10We're still now 13 days away from the opener.
04:14That's a long time.
04:15The way this works out now in the NFL with the three-game preseason,
04:20the end of the preseason is further away from the beginning of the regular season than it used to be.
04:28We used to have nine, sometimes 10 days.
04:31Now it's 16.
04:32For the teams that played on Saturday, it's 15.
04:35By the way, that's terrible scheduling.
04:37Anybody that played a preseason game on Saturday,
04:40maybe it was for TV purposes, maybe it was stadium availability, I don't know.
04:45But you'd want to play that last preseason game if you're not playing your starters.
04:50Furthest away.
04:51Now, let me just say this.
04:53I do have a problem with, and I say I have a problem.
04:57It's a very, it's an uneducated hunch about the way they handled the preseason.
05:05Because I don't know what specifically goes into their thinking about not playing any of the starters,
05:12really, for any meaningful amount of time.
05:16I don't know if it's that they just are absolutely fearful of it.
05:19They don't think there's much value in it.
05:21There's a lot of answers that could make sense, including they don't think there's much value in playing it.
05:26And that the risk far outweighs the reward.
05:30And there is some thought to, okay, so if we played all of our starters for a half against the
05:36Ravens,
05:37we're still 16 days away from the opener.
05:41Like, yes, that gives some that get injured or banged up more time to recover.
05:45But is it really providing any carryover effect to the regular season?
05:51You know, it's like it's the last game before you go into a bye week.
05:55When teams come out of the bye week, you're always a little leery.
05:58Man, it's been a while since we played football.
05:59Been a while since we've hit people.
06:01Been a while since we've been hit.
06:04I personally believe, though, that it's just my opinion when you have so much that's new,
06:14so many new players, two new coordinators, a quarterback that's in a new system,
06:19coming off a season that was difficult and, by the way, didn't start very well.
06:25They did beat the Giants in the opener.
06:27And then they clearly were not ready for a quick turnaround game against Green Bay.
06:31They did start the season 2-1, all right?
06:34For those that say they always start the season so poorly,
06:37they actually were 2-1 last year.
06:39You know, they beat the Giants.
06:40They beat the Raiders.
06:41Not two good teams.
06:42And the one team that was good that they played, they got absolutely suffocated by,
06:47you know, on a short turnaround, on the road, at Lambeau.
06:50But I just kind of feel like with everything that was new,
06:53I said this before the preseason started,
06:55I'd prefer, as Quinn has said and referred to, I'd prefer some calluses.
07:02I'd prefer some getting banged around a little bit, playing some football.
07:06You know, that's what they're going to do on September 13th.
07:08They're going to actually play real football.
07:10They're going to prepare to play real football.
07:12They're going to prepare for this specific opponent that they're going to play real football against.
07:16And I don't know, maybe I would have taken the Baltimore game or the Detroit game
07:20and prepared and played it like it was a real game.
07:24So that, you know, there's some sort of level of comfort that, hey, we did this.
07:30We prepared for the opponent.
07:31We actually game planned a little bit for the opponent.
07:33There's no rule that says you can't game plan for an opponent in the preseason.
07:38There's no rule that says you can't play your starters for a half or longer in the preseason.
07:43Now, they may, again, say, we think there's very little value.
07:47There's so much time between the Detroit game, 22 days in the opener.
07:51And we've got two new coordinators.
07:54We'd like to keep people guessing.
07:55We don't want to show too much.
07:58Okay, their reasons are probably justifiable.
08:01And if we were sitting in the meetings, we might say, oh, yeah, I didn't think about that one.
08:04That's a good reason as to why we're not going to play anybody until September 13th.
08:10You know, the team they're playing really hasn't played many people.
08:13And they've got a new coordinator.
08:15They also have an existing defensive coordinator and an existing defense on paper that looks really, really good.
08:24Philadelphia does.
08:25But, man, I got to tell you, I know it happens every year, but it's happening more and more.
08:31It's social media that drives it.
08:33And I shouldn't, and many of you don't.
08:35Bless your hearts, the people that have been able to stay away from it.
08:38Because you just wouldn't believe some of the outlandish, outlandish reaction and then projection of what's coming.
08:47It might be coming.
08:49They might suck this year.
08:51It's possible.
08:52But it's not because of what you saw on Friday night.
08:55Okay, you want to say they weren't well coached.
08:58They weren't prepared.
08:58Yeah, but they had players in the game.
09:02So did Baltimore.
09:02So did Baltimore.
09:04Baltimore did have Tyler Huntley.
09:06You know who I like, Max?
09:08I like that kid number 26.
09:09I said it last year when they played Baltimore.
09:12It may have been two years ago.
09:14The running back Ali for them, Rasheen Ali, did he play in the regular season last year?
09:21He was a rookie last year.
09:24He had 10 carries for 31 yards.
09:26But I think he was their kickoff returner last year.
09:30I think he was last year.
09:33Oh, last year was his second year.
09:34This is his third year.
09:35I like him.
09:36You know who else I like?
09:37I like Tyler Owens a lot.
09:40I like 18.
09:41Homegrown.
09:43What did you say?
09:44Homegrown.
09:44Homegrown, he is a guy that just whenever he's out there, I feel like that guy can play football.
09:53I hope he ends up being a bigger part of it.
09:56Anyway, that's my rant on the, you know, I just honestly ignore some of these people, okay?
10:07You know who didn't really get moved much by Washington's horrendous 41-3 preseason loss?
10:14Or, you know, Washington's freshman team that they won't be playing in any varsity games.
10:20Or JV.
10:22And some of those guys will get called up from the JV to play varsity.
10:24So let's call it their JV team.
10:27You know who didn't get moved at all by the terrible preseason, the terrible joint practice, the terrible loss to
10:34Baltimore?
10:34And I know some of you don't care about this, but trust me, I do.
10:39I do care about this.
10:40Do these people reside in the desert?
10:42The people that work in the desert that usually have a much better handle on things than most of you
10:50do,
10:51the line, actually, I see more, I'm looking at more 3 1⁄2s than 5 1⁄2s.
10:58The average point spread is what it's been literally since the schedule came out.
11:03Philadelphia minus 4 1⁄2.
11:05That's essentially been the line since this game was announced when the schedule came out.
11:10I actually see a couple of 3 1⁄2s max.
11:14It's come down to the lowest point that I've seen it.
11:17I also see a 5 1⁄2 out there.
11:19But we've seen a couple of 5 1⁄2s already.
11:22Line jumped at 1.5 1⁄2 and came quickly back to 4 1⁄2.
11:25That's usually some big money dude that moved it one person, one group.
11:31But it's not like Philadelphia, oh, my God.
11:34The boys in the desert are sitting around, oh, my God, Washington.
11:38Did you see that performance against Baltimore?
11:42God, they are going to suck.
11:44Let's lower their over-under win total to 4 1⁄2, and let's make Philly a 9-point favorite.
11:49No, that didn't happen.
11:51Weirdly, and I'm just looking at this for the first time, weirdly, as I look at nine different shops right
11:57now,
11:58there are two 3 1⁄2s, which I haven't seen at any point during the spring or summer, meaning the line
12:06came down.
12:07They think it's a closer matchup than they did before preseason started.
12:12Philadelphia didn't have any bad injuries, did they, in their preseason?
12:15I didn't pay attention.
12:17Look, the thing that typically moves point spreads in significant ways or major, major injuries,
12:24typically it's got to be a quarterback injury, you know,
12:28or you just had a mass number of injuries to four or five key players, and that'll move the number.
12:34I'm talking about prior to week one.
12:37The boys in the desert don't seem to be very panicked about Washington.
12:44Now, again, back to the what's not unreasonable.
12:48What's not unreasonable is what are they going to do at center here?
12:52Is Alec Reddy going to be ready?
12:54Is he the answer?
12:55Look, that's their plan.
12:57That was the plan they went into the, you know, offseason with after Linderbaum, you know,
13:04fell through in the very early hours of the first day or first hours of free agency.
13:09And it was like, okay, we're okay with this.
13:11This is what we said when we cut Tyler Biotish, that if we didn't get Linderbaum, we were fine with
13:17Nick Allegretti.
13:18We thought we were as in good a shape with Allegretti, maybe even better.
13:22The room loves him.
13:23The O-line room, trust me, they really like him.
13:26They think he's smart.
13:27They think he's a really good communicator.
13:30He better be ready to play because they didn't provide much in the way of competition for him.
13:37You know, much in the way of what if it doesn't work out with Allegretti?
13:41We knew that from the beginning of camp.
13:44So that's an area of concern.
13:46Not unreasonable to be concerned about that.
13:48Not unreasonable to be concerned about Laramie Tunsil's absence.
13:53I know many of you believe that Brandon Coleman's going to prove to be more than adequate as a left
13:59tackle because he played it in 2024.
14:01And yes, he did.
14:03And he played at a nice level.
14:05And now he's in year three.
14:06Hopefully he's even better.
14:07More mature.
14:08Understands the game better.
14:10Bigger and stronger than he was as a college player coming out.
14:15Yeah, that's a concern.
14:17Trey Amos going on to the IR with designation to return after four weeks.
14:21It's not what we wanted.
14:23But let's face it.
14:24Trey Amos had a serious injury in the season last year and then got banged up early again.
14:30He's barely even practiced, let alone played any.
14:33He wouldn't have played had he been healthy because the starters didn't play much.
14:37Am I concerned about the pass rush all of a sudden with Adafi Owe's health question for early in the
14:45season?
14:45A little bit.
14:47Yeah.
14:48But I don't know what this is going to look like, man, when the games start.
14:51I don't know how they're going to scheme it up.
14:53Durante Jones is going to scheme it up on defense.
14:56How he'll cover up for what may be a weakness at a certain position.
15:01No, Trey Amos means who's the number one corner.
15:05I mean, it's not really Mikey Sanders still.
15:09But are they going to play more zone than man?
15:12You know, are they going to have their best pass rushers?
15:14I'm going to tell you right now, the most important thing against Philadelphia in week one defensively is stopping the
15:19run.
15:20Stopping the run is the number one focus.
15:23Because that's where you get worn out, dragged out, and all of a sudden your best football player on the
15:30team is standing on the sideline watching football.
15:34That's not what we want.
15:35We want five on the field a lot.
15:38Five being on the field healthy, Jaden Daniels, along with Terry McLaurin and Stefan Diggs and Chigga Konkwo.
15:46And I actually think Rashad White and the combination of Rashad White and Krosky Merritt.
15:53I still believe in this team offensively heading into 2026.
15:58I'd much rather have Laramie Tunsil out there.
16:01I'd much rather have a solid, proven veteran center.
16:06But you can't have everything you want.
16:09I don't like the plan they had at center.
16:11We'll see how it plays out in the regular season.
16:13I don't think that's an unreasonable thought.
16:15But I still feel like when this number one offense, when they actually hit the field together, not just three
16:21plays in Detroit, but with an actual game plan, hey, man, we might have some issues protecting here.
16:27We've got to run the football.
16:28We're going to go quick game.
16:29We're not dropping back, you know, on the first two plays.
16:33Play action or not, we're not doing a lot of drop back.
16:36That would probably be incorporated into the game plan against Philadelphia if they're concerned about protection.
16:42Something that they don't necessarily think about in one series of preseason football.
16:48I still feel pretty good about Jaden Daniels being on the field.
16:52I feel pretty good about Terry McCorn bouncing back with a really solid year.
16:57Diggs.
16:58You know, some of the other players as well.
17:01I mean, Diami.
17:02You know, Traylon Burks.
17:04I'll tell you what, in terms of the cuts, I mean, I kind of knew it was coming.
17:08But I'm telling you, one of the cuts that hurt them the most was releasing Van Jefferson.
17:14We'll see what happens, you know, after everything shakes out here.
17:20There's also always the notion of when you have veteran players on that roster that once they play week one,
17:29their salary is then locked in for the season.
17:31So is it possible that some of the veteran players can be brought back after week one?
17:35Of course it is.
17:36I felt good about watching, you know, and hearing and having the discussion focused on a guy like Joshua Josephs
17:44this summer.
17:45You know, and if they don't have Dorrance Armstrong and Adafi Owe in the opener, you know, is Josephs a
17:52big part of the pass rush with Jason?
17:56We'll see.
17:57I'm telling you, man, this NFL is week to week.
18:01It's not offseason to offseason.
18:03It's not training camp practice to training camp practice, you know, in terms of reacting.
18:09All this, what we just witnessed the last two months, doesn't mean a lot.
18:14Unless you ended up getting devastated by injuries.
18:17And they had enough.
18:19I'm not saying that they didn't have some.
18:21They had more than their fair share.
18:24You know, and we'll see who ends up being ready.
18:26You need Alec ready ready.
18:27He'd be nice if always ready.
18:29We know Armstrong's out for the opener.
18:31I feel good about Nick Cross, the combination.
18:35He just flat out can play football.
18:36And Reeves, I like the safety position for them.
18:40I think Amik Robertson and Sandra still and Rasul Douglas are going to be a big part of probably more
18:45zone coverage early on.
18:48But, I don't know.