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The Commanders had an incredible chance to steal the win yesterday in Philly, but they ultimately got denied at the goal line. In this segment, The Sports Junkies broke down Washington’s key mistakes that led to the loss. Where did the Commanders go wrong yesterday against the Eagles?
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SportsTranscript
00:00Initial reactions to the Commanders' 24-22 loss on the road.
00:05They're now 0-1, Eagles 1-0.
00:08Now the Commanders have to regroup and take on the Dallas Cowboys,
00:12who are also 0-1 after dropping a game last night to the Giants.
00:18Got to win on the road.
00:20Got to find a way to get a dub on the road.
00:22Not going to say it's over, but you're digging yourself a big, big hole
00:25if you start at 0-2 with Seattle looming.
00:28But we all saw this coming when the schedule came out.
00:31You shouldn't be surprised.
00:32The only good news is that we look like we have some more weapons to work with defensively.
00:37Just got to find a way to get that offense churning.
00:39Right, earlier in the game.
00:40Got to get them going more.
00:42I mean, I'm thankful.
00:43I love Jaden.
00:44I think he's an incredible player.
00:46But, you know, he's got to do his part, too.
00:48We've got to get better going in that first half.
00:51I also think they need to unleash him a little bit more.
00:54He needs to run a bit more than five carries for 31 yards.
00:58He seemed to not really want to do it until the game was kind of on the line.
01:02Yeah.
01:02And he just kind of put his cape on the back.
01:04And he almost did it.
01:05I mean, he almost did it.
01:06The guy was incredible in the fourth quarter.
01:08They didn't have many design runs for him.
01:11Maybe two?
01:12No.
01:12No, I didn't see much.
01:13Didn't appear that way.
01:14No.
01:14So they're staying away from that.
01:16They're making it concerted effort.
01:17There's no question about it.
01:18To get rid of the football.
01:19Protect yourself.
01:20If you go outside and take off, get down.
01:23I like it.
01:25I support it.
01:25I'd like him to make it.
01:27You know, you see the talent when he had the one with the 360 and everything.
01:33Yeah.
01:33But you also saw him make a concerted effort to get down at the end of that run.
01:37I don't know.
01:38We just got to find our weapons.
01:40We have too many weapons to struggle like that for a whole half.
01:45It's just not getting to any rhythm at all.
01:47But, again, I'm going to – look, people are going to chalk it up, too,
01:52and we can discuss it throughout the show to the, you know,
01:54not playing in the preseason.
01:56Maybe.
01:56I don't know.
01:57I think it's more just that's a hell of a defense.
02:00That's a hell of a assignment on week one.
02:02And it just took a while to get going.
02:04And let's be honest, I think it took Blau a while to get going.
02:07To find his footing.
02:08I think so.
02:09To get comfortable.
02:10I'm not sure he ever did.
02:11I'll be honest with you.
02:12They looked out of sync in the first half passing the ball.
02:15I don't know if it's – if I'll chalk it up to not playing in the preseason.
02:19I don't know either.
02:20New playbook.
02:21I don't know.
02:21They just looked completely out of sync.
02:24Remember, the opponent.
02:24The opponent was good, too.
02:26Yeah.
02:26They were really good.
02:27You got a hell of an opponent.
02:27You got a hell of a defensive coordinator.
02:30You got just so much talent over there that I think will have a better feel,
02:34I think, in week two.
02:35Like, is this going to be a theme?
02:38You know, is it going to struggle?
02:39I would expect – yeah, I mean, look at what Jackson Dart did yesterday
02:42to the Dallas secondary.
02:44Yeah, he looked great.
02:45I would expect their passing game to look better earlier in the game
02:49against Dallas.
02:51But, no, I was kind of surprised.
02:53I thought it was going to come around after a couple possessions,
02:55and it really didn't until about the fourth quarter.
02:58About the fourth quarter, it did.
02:58Yeah.
02:59Also, something to keep an eye on, does Bill have a fumbling problem?
03:04I know.
03:04He puts it on the ground late in the game.
03:06It didn't appear afterwards.
03:08That was the last drive of the game.
03:10Yeah, you got to be careful there.
03:11I got to say, though, it's so hard.
03:12I mean, that was an unbelievable play.
03:14That was a punch out.
03:14That was an unbelievable play.
03:16Look, but that's what NFL players, they concentrate on that now in 2026.
03:20Yeah.
03:20It's not like that's an outlier.
03:22Like, if a guy's approaching you and you see his fist out,
03:26and I know it happens in a split second, you got to corral that ball.
03:30You got to treat it like it's the most valuable thing on the planet.
03:32And DQ said, no, no, K-Tron, you're in.
03:35Yeah.
03:35He said, Fat Man, I'm calling your number.
03:37And Fat Man did fine.
03:38Bill, you're out.
03:38K-Tron did fine.
03:40And Bill had a nice pop, though.
03:41I mean, I really – he's probably better than I thought.
03:46I think Bill, all in the hole, is better than I thought.
03:48Yeah, I mean –
03:48He's got some explosiveness.
03:49His numbers are pretty good.
03:50They're pretty good.
03:51I mean, if he would have carried the ball 25 times,
03:54he might have – he'd probably have been over 100 yards.
03:56But they just weren't able to.
03:57He would have been as long.
03:58He was averaging a little – tick under four yards per carry.
04:00He's just got some explosiveness to him,
04:02even though he's kind of a smaller guy.
04:04He kind of surprises me, I'll be honest with you.
04:06But, yeah, I mean, the fumble's bad, of course.
04:08But, my God, those guys are just demons.
04:11And the way they punch it out, I mean, they're just so sick.
04:15I don't know how anyone holds on to the football.
04:17I honestly don't.
04:18They're really, really good.
04:19Up the middle, they're, you know, as good as anybody,
04:21if not the best.
04:22Yeah.
04:23I just –
04:23But the lack of targets for Chig and for Terry early in the game,
04:28it was kind of mind-numbing.
04:29Just think that he was running for his life, you know, kind of.
04:32Like, at one point, I mean, I don't know if it was throughout the game,
04:34but he was pressured at minimum 50% of the time.
04:37Yeah.
04:37He had a lot of pressures.
04:38Every other time he drew back, he was pressured.
04:41I mean, I thought on the whole, the offensive line did fine.
04:45It wasn't an outstanding effort.
04:49My guy Blau is way behind.
04:51Better team one, I think.
04:51He's way behind on the 10 targets per game to Terry.
04:54He's going to – he better have 15 against Dallas if he wants to get back on pace.
04:59I don't think they'll get there.
05:00I mean, Diggs, I think – I actually think at one point Diggs got benched
05:03because he had his second drop, and then we didn't see him for a while.
05:07If you noticed, we did not see him for a while.
05:10And I was watching.
05:11He still got targeted nine times.
05:12He did.
05:13And he came back late in the fourth quarter.
05:15More than double the next highest commander.
05:16Yeah.
05:17He was the most targeted guy.
05:18I mean, that guy has an unbelievable separation.
05:20Yeah.
05:20And again, you can't cover everybody.
05:22So if you're going to cheat over towards Terry, which I do think that they were doing,
05:27you know, Steph still has – Brady kept talking about that close situation separation
05:33that's made him an elite player in this league.
05:35But yeah, would have liked to have seen Chig get more involved before he went down.
05:40Williams looked good.
05:41Williams is a stud.
05:43Williams had a really high PFF score.
05:45Yeah.
05:45He's an absolute stud.
05:47He's got to incorporate him more.
05:48He's clearly their number three.
05:49Well, that's part of the reason why before the game started, both Burks and McCaffrey didn't dress.
05:55Right.
05:55They're both inactive.
05:56Yeah.
05:57Because they have to get Antonio Williams out there.
06:00He's got to play.
06:01He's too good.
06:01He just can get open.
06:02Yeah.
06:03And he catches everything they throw him so far.
06:05So that's super exciting.
06:08Frustrating on the whole that the offensive wasn't more explosive.
06:11But I'll be honest with you, I wasn't crestfallen when that game ended because I was like,
06:16wow, we got a defense that we can work with.
06:18There's some optimism, but it also hurts that you corral Barkley and Devontae Smith,
06:24but then guys like Wicks and Goddard and Hurts, they just had a little bit more.
06:30Yeah.
06:30They had just enough to get the Eagles over the finish line.
06:33I mean, they just made enough big plays.
06:36I mean, they were really good defensively for the entire game.
06:38They were a little gassed.
06:39I could tell Philly was a little gassed, especially up front in the fourth quarter with Carter
06:43and Davis.
06:44But for the most part, you know, you corralled all their big players, but they just made
06:51a couple more big plays than Washington did.
06:54All right.
06:54800-636-1067.
06:56I want to hear from you.
06:57What is your vibe?
06:58What is your instinct?
06:59I know a lot of people were very frustrated, especially with the offense.
07:04I get, you know, all of the JD5 people that say he's going to be the next RG3.
07:09They were all over my timeline.
07:10They were trashing Jaden.
07:12People were trashing David Blau.
07:14I think if you went to Commander Nation and you lined up every fan, none of them would
07:22say they loved that call on the two-point conversion.
07:25Nope.
07:26Mostly just because you give it to a guy that's so slow.
07:29Yeah.
07:30But like they said, it got blown up.
07:33He didn't even have a chance.
07:34I think it was Chris Paul or somebody didn't miss their block and didn't have a chance.
07:37Yeah.
07:37The play did not have a chance.
07:38I think it might have been Allegretti.
07:40I think Carter just peeled off of him and he was just right there to be able to make the
07:43tackle.
07:44Yeah.
07:44So that's the thing.
07:45I don't understand.
07:46Why would you run a play that's basically going up the middle against their strength?
07:50I just feel like at that point, you've got to break out your best two-point play.
07:54Your best one.
07:55Is that your best one?
07:57That's your best short yardage two-point play?
08:00I mean, I don't know.
08:02Again, it's early.
08:04This is David Blau's first go-around calling plays.
08:08It's not going to be all sunshine and rainbows.
08:11There's going to be some peaks and valleys.
08:14They look at the film, so they obviously thought that there was going to be a hole there.
08:18They look at the film.
08:19We don't.
08:20So for whatever reason, they thought there was going to be a hole up the middle there.
08:22Okay.
08:23And they prepared their play.
08:24But they probably won't do that again.
08:25They ran a shovel pass into probably the biggest strength of the Eagles defense.
08:30Yeah.
08:30Yeah.
08:31I didn't love it.
08:31To try to tie the game.
08:32I didn't love it.
08:33They went with trickery.
08:34I'm sure Kime probably asked them that after the game.
08:38I'm sure they did.
08:39We'll have to get his answer.
08:40But yeah, I didn't get it.
08:42I'd rather have Jaden rolling out and trying to get it to Diggs or Williams or Terry.
08:48I mean, yeah.
08:49But Diggs is going to make some big plays this year.
08:51Obviously, you know, no-brainer.
08:53That mistake he made there, like celebrating a little too much there in a critical part of that game.
08:58But he's going to be just a massive pickup for them.
09:03Antonio Williams, as we talked about, he was great.
09:06I mean, he's just a revelation.
09:07I think he's as good as advertised defensively.
09:09Nick Cross was all over the field.
09:11Sonny, thank God.
09:13Sonny popped a couple times.
09:14The play where he just trucked Barkley and got the sack.
09:17Yeah.
09:17I mean, that's an NFL highlight for the whole league.
09:21Super stud play.
09:22That's a league-wide highlight.
09:25So that was awesome.
09:25That's one where you're like, okay, that makes sense why you picked that guy at number seven.
09:29Yeah.
09:30Because he can make that sort of play.
09:31In his first NFL game.
09:33Yeah.
09:33And he was in coverage a lot, too.
09:35Right.
09:35Yeah.
09:35I thought he got kind of lost in coverage once or twice when I was hoping he would be a
09:40little bit better.
09:41He probably did.
09:42But, you know, first game.
09:43And who knows if the Goddard touchdown at the end was his fault.
09:46I mean, he was the guy who got beat.
09:47I'm not sure if it was his assignment.
09:49Yeah.
09:49There was a lot of miscommunication on the line.
09:51Yeah, that was bad.
09:52So we have to figure out what happened there.
09:54But, yeah, I mean, that's what you wanted.
09:55You wanted him to make a flash, and he did.
09:57All right.
09:58800-636-1067.
10:00Want to get your initial thoughts.
10:02Let's go to – let me see here.
10:04Let's go to Mike in Hyatt.
10:06Are people down already?
10:08We're just one weekend.
10:09It's week one.
10:10Come on, guys.
10:11You cannot mail it in on the season after one loss.
10:14A two-point loss to a division foe on the road.
10:17Mike, what's up, buddy?
10:18You're on the junkies.
10:21What's up, guys?
10:22Mike, honestly speaking, I think there's no moral victories.
10:26I don't believe in that.
10:27But I think there's a lot of positives to take from this game.
10:32One being that our defense is going to be top ten in the league.
10:35I fully believe that.
10:37The fact that we were able to get to the quarterback,
10:41even without Doran Armstrong, with him coming back this week against Dallas,
10:45is really positive.
10:47So defense is going to be much improved.
10:50I think one thing I noticed was Jeremy Reeves just getting kind of lost in coverage
10:55on that first touchdown to Dallas Goddard.
10:58I'm hoping to see Quan Martin a little bit more next week as the week comes on.
11:04And I just think that Blau kind of just needs to understand, you know,
11:08the talent that he has around him, especially in certain, for example,
11:12short yardage situations.
11:13I think in the first half it was a third and one.
11:15And then you go with Rashad White on that third and one instead of Keaton Allen.
11:20I mean, you know, why do we have Keaton Allen?
11:22You know, he's our bell cow.
11:23So, you know, at the end of the day, you know, some miscues,
11:26but a lot to be positive about for sure.
11:29Yeah.
11:30I kind of feel that way.
11:30I don't think this team, clearly, they do not have a bell cow running back.
11:34I mean, that's like Derrick Henry territory.
11:37You know, like there's only a couple of those guys in the league.
11:39But they might have a guy like in Keaton that could pretty much fall forward more often than not.
11:45Look, if they feel like Keaton is a better fit for the offense going forward than Bill,
11:50I have no problem with Bill taking a secondary role behind him.
11:53Maybe just in short yardage situations.
11:55I don't think they do because Keaton doesn't have the pop that Bill does.
12:00He might not.
12:00Bill could take anything to the house.
12:02He might not have the burst.
12:03But if they feel like he's a more reliable option,
12:07is he going to fumble?
12:08Well, he doesn't fumble a lot.
12:10Then he may overtake Bill at some point.
12:13He could.
12:13Or start seeding carries to him.
12:15Let's just give Bill a couple more games and see what happens.
12:17But I like his pop ability.
12:20I do too.
12:21I like the explosiveness that he has.
12:23All right.
12:23800-636-1067.
12:26Want to get your initial reaction.
12:29I know it's frustrating.
12:31I mean, in my opinion, they should still be playing.
12:33Should have, you know, executed the PAT.
12:35And, you know, who knows?
12:37Maybe be in overtime.
12:38Let's go to Chris in Edgewater.
12:40Chris, what's up?
12:42Hey, fellas.
12:43How are y'all this morning?
12:44Hey, Chris.
12:45Good.
12:45What's up?
12:46So, I thought they played better than I expected.
12:50Yep.
12:51I think the team that made the most mistakes lost.
12:55I mean, that challenged me they were competitive.
12:58But they made the most mistakes with the field goal and the extra point.
13:02And that's what the deal is.
13:05Excuse me?
13:06And the big plays they gave up.
13:09Yeah.
13:09Well, exactly.
13:10I mean, there's a couple more.
13:11But I'm surprised they put themselves in a chance to win the game, actually.
13:16Yeah.
13:17I didn't think they would.
13:18Yeah.
13:18They had an opportunity to steal that thing.
13:20I mean, the kid clearly has got the leg to make the big kicks.
13:24You know, but you're not going to hit those at a high rate.
13:27I know people in this league make them regularly.
13:29But you're probably not going to make them more than, like, 60%, maybe.
13:33You know, 55-yarders.
13:35He hit it good.
13:36Just pushed it.
13:37But the PAT, we've got to get a better snap.
13:39We've got to get that down.
13:40We've got to get that into rhythm.
13:41We can't be missing PATs like that.
13:43It's got to be routine.
13:45Yeah.
13:46Details.
13:46Yeah.
13:46And the offense was generic.
13:49I don't know what the heck happened.
13:50Why you can't find Terry at least one or two plays in each half.
13:54I don't get that.
13:56But they were competitive.
13:58And if they correct the mistakes, they can win.
14:01Yeah.
14:01Would have liked to have seen a little bit more of a concerted effort to get it to Terry.
14:05Just even where you just, you know, one of those where you just, he just turns around
14:09and just throw it to him right away.
14:10Sure.
14:10Just get him going.
14:11Just manufacture touches however you can.
14:13Just manufacture a touch.
14:14He finally did that in the, I don't know if that was the second quarter or third quarter.
14:18When was his first catch?
14:19Oh, it was the fourth quarter.
14:20His first catch was fourth quarter?
14:21I think so.
14:22Yeah, it was late.
14:22It was late in the game.
14:23I think so.
14:24He was looking at it going over.
14:25They finally did it.
14:27But I don't know why they didn't do that in the first half.
14:29And that gave him a little juice.
14:29He gives them a little juice.
14:31He just does.
14:32Because they clearly were targeting digs.
14:34And that's one too where, look, Terry is, you know, like, he's a great dude.
14:39But, like, if he's not getting targeted through the first half into the third quarter, he's
14:45got to come over and just let, wow, or some of the assists know, like, hey, like, I'm
14:49out here.
14:50I'm getting open.
14:51I need the ball thrown my way.
14:53Well, I'm sure you do.
14:54Like, not being a jerk.
14:55But, like, he's an integral part of the offense.
14:58They got to know it, though, too.
15:00The ball needs to go to him.
15:00They got to know it.
15:01They're not stupid.
15:01I know they're not stupid.
15:02But, like, they got to look down and go.
15:03You know what?
15:04They might need to be reminded.
15:05Like, if he hasn't caught a ball through the third quarter, you might need a little gentle
15:10prodding.
15:11Well, I guarantee you.
15:1217's out there.
15:12I guarantee you there was prodding at halftime.
15:14I'm sure there should have been.
15:15Yeah.
15:15Hopefully that was the case.
15:17Yeah.
15:17I just would like to maybe, you got to maybe force it a little more to get him going.
15:22Because he is.
15:23Do whatever you have to do.
15:23He's a spark for the team.
15:25I don't think there's any doubt about that.
15:26I was definitely disappointed that we weren't able to create more opportunities for Chig, too.
15:30Because I do think he's going to be an absolute stud.
15:33He had, but just, you know.
15:35Yeah, they just, they didn't look.
15:36He got dinged up, too, in the game at some point.
15:38Yeah, he hurt his ham.
15:38She was out.
15:39He was out late in that game.
15:40All right.
15:41Let's go to Reggie, D.C., 800-636-1067.
15:46Reggie, what's up, buddy?
15:47You're on with the junks.
15:48Look at me.
15:48What's going on, fellas?
15:49Hey, Reggie.
15:50This was one of the most, like, excitingly frustrating games that I've, like, seen.
15:55Because, like, EB, all last year, man, our defense was, I mean, we just knew that we
16:00were going to give up plays.
16:01The defense yesterday, man, was so exciting.
16:05So fun to watch.
16:06Okay, I want everybody that was calling in about Sonny Stiles to line up and apologize.
16:10Because they're going to use that boy just like Dan Quinn did, Micah.
16:14He was, okay, run over Saquon Barkley.
16:19Saquon is right there.
16:20He's ready.
16:21And he just ran him over.
16:23Oh, he destroyed him.
16:24I mean, I love the aggressiveness.
16:26Now, the one thing that was concerning was Reeves.
16:30He's not athletic enough.
16:33And, again, I know Harrison Smith was kind of playing that similar role.
16:37He'll be down in the box and then shoot back up to where his assignment was.
16:40But it seems like that first got a touchdown, it was Reeves.
16:44Reeves was supposed to be back there.
16:46So maybe, again, your Owens or your maybe Percy Butler, somebody with a little bit more athleticism
16:53that can get back when they are putting those disguises in.
16:56But right now, because, you know, they say offenses take a little time to click.
17:00I'm excited about the defense.
17:02This defense kept us in the game in Philly for the entire game until the last minute.
17:09So if we can get that type of defensive effort always chased on, Stiles, Cross, Louisville before he got hurt,
17:17pain, like everybody was getting crushed.
17:20You've got to be excited, man.
17:21You've got to be excited.
17:22There's a lot to be excited about.
17:24All right, coming up a bit later on the show, John Keim, Commander's Reporter for ESPN.
17:28He will join us coming up at 725.
17:31Chris Russell, host on the Team 980.
17:33He'll join us coming up at 840 here on a Misery Monday.
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