- 11 hours ago
Commanders Reporter Ben Standig from The Last Man Standig Podcast and Substack joins The Kevin Sheehan Show during the Commanders’ bye week to evaluate Dan Quinn’s job security following the 49ers comeback, break down Jayden Daniels’ alarming fourth-down decision-making and scrutinize the mid-season hiring of defensive consultant Steve Wilks.
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00:00game we get the bye week which means everybody can kind of kick back and watch football this
00:05weekend uh without a game with our team involved and that means ben standig will have a nice
00:12relaxing weekend i don't know is this the weekend don't you sometimes during the bye week don't you
00:19head out to like vegas or la is that you do one of those trips i forget if it's in
00:24the summer
00:25when you have time off or if it's during the bye week
00:30uh it's more of the summer thing i think i think the last what when they played uh
00:35oh they played to la somewhat recently i went the bye week before the game and i went out there
00:42for
00:43a little bit in advance and met the team sort of out there maybe it was the i don't know
00:46whatever
00:46game it was but yeah no uh i enjoy that this week because there's just a lot going on obviously
00:52between with this team the wizards just started last night i went into that game uh so no i'll be
00:57i'll be working pretty usual for the most part um that's right i forgot you went to the wizards
01:02game last night i'll ask you about that in a minute um i do want to get to steve wilks
01:05which
01:05is why i asked you to come on because it's a little bit confusing for me but i just want
01:11to go back to
01:12monday night for a moment and i want to ask you if you you know either know or you have
01:18any sort of
01:19punch had the first half continued in the second half rather than the turnaround in the second half
01:27and let's just say they lost 45 to 10 do you think dan quinn would still be the coach right
01:33now
01:36i think ultimately probably yes um you know again and jock harris's general reputation is not to
01:45sort of overreact in that way and you know it is still a long way to go in the season
01:52i think one
01:52thing we've seen and proved in this game as well is that dan coin has not lost the players that
01:58the
01:58players have still not only yeah i know it gets if you look if you get blown out sometimes people
02:03think well they gave up well no not necessarily it just may not be very good uh and i think
02:09that
02:09would be more of the the situation here so i think if you let dan quinn go i think it
02:14potentially
02:14causes more problems in the locker room from a mile and there's a long way to go in the season
02:20so i don't i think the answer would be no now that said what when i flew home but i've
02:25been nervous
02:25that the plane wi-fi is not going to work and something happened yeah but i don't think
02:29ultimately that it would have happened you wrote uh in your sub stack and i would encourage everybody
02:36to subscribe to ben's sub stack it's called last man standing and it's a couple of bucks a month but
02:42in talking about sort of the follow-up to the game and specifically jayden daniel's
02:47you know completely inexcusable throwaway on fourth and two in the first half
02:55um you wrote something that i just completely agree with and i kind of said in so many ways
03:00uh during the game and then after the game you wrote you know you can be pragmatic without being
03:06emotional emotional you can be chill while still staying serious saying you have to execute better
03:15which is what he said said may be sufficient in some cases but not after making an inexplicable
03:22decision on fourth down in scoring territory especially not after his role in last week's
03:29all-time gaffe what do you think of jayden daniels after back-to-back major in-game errors that are
03:38sort of basic 101 football situation stuff and his reaction to it
03:49yeah you know obviously we've all talked about the injuries the you know people pretty much
03:53didn't he walked in the door but really the last year in particular because of last year and then
03:58i started this year and sure that that is a huge concern but to me that wasn't like really changing
04:04my perception injuries do happen and you know you just have to do for the best but hope for the
04:08best
04:08plus none of the injuries have been like sort of the catastrophic type you know knock on wood
04:13you know that the out for you know six months or those types of things right just kind of little
04:17things that just keep adding up so that didn't freak me out too much about my perception okay
04:23this is a little bit different though because like you said these are just such basic things you know
04:30if the fourth down pass he throws into the end zone he throws into double coverage it's an interception
04:34all right well fourth down you know what are you gonna what are you gonna do um to just throw
04:41it away
04:41you know if you think the flag on the ground is on them well then it's a free play you
04:46throw it
04:46towards the player you don't know if the flag is on them you throw it towards the player because it's
04:50fourth down so to throw it away is it's very odd and on top explain it everybody listening that has
04:56watched football more than you know two or three years understands how basic the you know the premise is
05:06the expectation is on a fourth down play especially in the red zone in a game in which you've decided
05:15to go for a fourth down the the thing you cannot do under any circumstances and basically no other
05:22quarterback would ever do in terms of a quarterback that is good or has been around for a while is
05:28what
05:29he did we understand what happened everybody understands that except for him apparently so
05:35that's what why i'm asking you know what what are we to make of the obliviousness to the errors of
05:46the
05:46last two weeks yeah and also i would maybe throw in when he got injured in week two and he's
05:54fallen to
05:54the ground it was not fourth down he's i don't think it was he just threw the ball oh no
05:58it was
05:58the last play that's the last play of the half no but but but but but he did yeah well
06:02yes and no
06:03yeah sure right right exactly um because it was just kind of a duck out there um no it it's
06:11it's
06:12it is more of a much more of a red flag for me than the injuries are now again i
06:17you know we don't
06:18have full context because they're you know being guarded about what the heck happened you know both
06:22between the giants game and then this one as well a little bit but his reaction as you said okay
06:28if
06:28you just want to go with the generic i gotta do better okay but then he was asked sort of
06:33the
06:33follow-up and his the last line was like i just didn't understand what he was saying he's like i'm
06:39not really into into that so that's tough as if he was like i i don't know what it means
06:45not into
06:45what not into paying attention to fourth downs and therefore like that's that i don't know like
06:52that answer made no sense on a hundred levels which only adds to the confusion over what what he did
06:59there so yeah i mean i do think it is much more of a red flag than the the injury
07:04talk that we've been
07:05going through um you know again that doesn't mean trade him or anything like that but it does mean
07:10he's like well wait a minute what what is happening here and i and i do think you know i
07:16mean it's
07:17also because like look he was so on top of his game you know the 2024 these scenarios i mean
07:22it wasn't
07:23like it's not like we haven't seen him it's not like this is like a first year player that we're
07:27like
07:27oh no is the spotlight too big for him but just very odd choices that he made and um yeah
07:34like i said it
07:34is more of a red flag than the injuries are for me yeah it's it's certainly a shocker for me
07:42and i
07:42think you know it makes me wonder why in 2024 there weren't any of these considering how many close
07:49football games and how much game management clock management uh was involved in their games in 2024
07:57and the only answer i can come to is that cliff kingsbury was a big deal for him in 2024
08:032024 yeah i mean um look that's certainly that's certainly possible i mean i i wondered after the
08:13uh at the end of the uh giants game did somehow i don't know have the instincts been sort of
08:20been beaten out of him to a certain level like he's certain you know they like hey don't run the
08:25don't run the ball in the traffic don't run in the traffic and then he decides to to not do
08:30that but
08:31then he like takes away his general instincts overall a little bit this one is even just more
08:36inexplicable though because i can't imagine there's any coaching there's any coaching scenario that could
08:42get caught up in in in this so um yeah i you know because we just don't know all the
08:49details it's a
08:51little hard to understand exactly what what to make of it but it really almost doesn't matter is the
08:56point i guess like ultimately it doesn't really whatever whatever anybody wants to tell us as to
09:00how that could have possibly happened it makes no sense so yeah i mean it it's it is something
09:05i don't know how to argue that it's not yeah yeah um look i think maybe you know i don't
09:11see jayden
09:12ever getting rattled you know there's just nothing about his demeanor that says he's ever going to be
09:19nervous or rattled but a caller said yesterday it's it's the obliviousness uh in the casualness
09:28is what makes him so great but also makes him vulnerable in those moments and there could be
09:34some truth to that i i think dan quinn now is a different story i think he may have entered
09:39monday night just rattled after a week in which he understood i think how badly that went against the
09:47giants and maybe was just like on on pins and needles walking on eggshells to not do it again
09:54and there we were with multiple situations including at the very end of the game um all right uh they
10:01you you found out the beat found out yesterday that steve wilks was hired uh a while ago i guess
10:10now
10:11you can give us the timeline to be you know a consultant slash part-time defensive assistant
10:18please explain the chronology of this and then why you think they did it
10:26yeah very very odd rollout of this to say the least we find this out yesterday that he's going to
10:34be a
10:34consultant meaning basically he'll be with the team you know once like a game end right and they get
10:40back to to ashburn where they're home on the road and then you know we've always next day ask dan
10:47quinn what's the tape show well it's because they're starting to watch it the night before and start
10:50thinking so he's going to show up then and then stay essentially up until wednesday and then let's
10:57assume the game's on a sunday i guess and then he's gone he's not sticking around for practices
11:03essentially he's not sticking around for he won't be around for the game and then he'll come back the
11:08next week so it's just a part-time consultant thing okay i mean look i if you want more eyes
11:14on any of these situations sure go ahead great i mean steve wilkes has been around forever former
11:19head coach former defensive coordinator i think when ron rivera was here i think he was the first
11:24thought that we all had that he was going to be the one hired as a defensive coordinator
11:29um cool i mean you know he was with the jets last year so okay you won't you think he's
11:34good to help
11:34so be it but then they said that this is something that's been been discussed at the beginning of the
11:40year meaning it's not in reaction to whatever's happened here over the first few weeks of the
11:46season okay then they said it's he started last week and i'm like wait a minute so you this this
11:53is an
11:54idea that began beginning of the year but you only got him here for week six like what what happens
11:59to
11:59week one through five uh i don't know the whole thing just seems very confusing but okay look if
12:06they want to do this so be it i think where it gets more confusing to me we can get
12:11into it if you
12:11want is the the offensive side of this equation definitely needs more of this but in any event um
12:16yeah i mean so durante jones is going to have uh another set of eyes i would also say that
12:22what's odd about it is the head coach is a defensive minded coach right so you would think
12:28that that in and of itself should be enough you know i mean you know you've got you know ken
12:34jr is a coach on this team he's been a defensive coordinator um you know you got some other guys
12:40who've had that level of experience and that to me would seem to be enough to think you're good but
12:46they decided they still wanted more so yeah so they brought in more for a little bit
12:51the tie i'm assuming is with adam peters he was in san francisco in 2023
12:59i mean that would make that would make the most sense i'm not aware of you know i'm sure he
13:03and
13:03dan quinn have crossed paths but right i don't know of an obvious tie there the peters one
13:09um makes the most sense uh that's something i don't know about him and durante jones
13:13if i don't know that they've worked together uh per se so uh yeah adam peters would be the more
13:19obvious one but obviously steve wilkes has been around enough this isn't just a random person
13:22that you know any of them could have said hey what about him i mean i can't discount the possibility
13:28and i'm wondering if you can uh that we're gonna get news about somebody being brought in to assist
13:36on the offensive side of the ball because like you said if you had told me yesterday if you had
13:42texted
13:42me and said did you see they brought in a consultant i would have said oh well you know
13:47who'd they bring in to help out blau i wouldn't have guessed on the defensive side of the ball for
13:52two reasons one i think blau right now is struggling a little bit more as a first-time coordinator than
13:58jones is and two like you said the head coach could be the consultant for the defensive coordinator
14:05that he hired um so is it possible that they're looking to do the same on offense
14:14yeah i mean you would you would think so i you know even just straight up looking at these two
14:21first-time coordinators you know just durante jones is you know i don't know 15 years or so
14:27older than blau and that counts first of course yeah he's also just as a coach even as a coordinator
14:33i mean i know it's college versus the pros but he was the lsu defensive coordinator for one year
14:38even even last year with the vikings he was the passing game coordinator so at least that counts
14:43on some level with what these nebulous jobs have but like these job titles that counts for something
14:48whereas blau obviously it's only been two years only the assistant qb coach and yet i you know again i
14:54remember i went back and read my notes like from the moment that he got hired i was like okay
14:58cool
14:59you're going for your sean mcveigh cool now who's going to come in and be that guy that sort of
15:03being his being his ear he's like you're keeping brian johnson what have you i know people pointed
15:09to anthony lynn uh i don't know i mean look they took away his run game uh coordinator title and
15:15he's got his own position like i don't think that he he's in the room but i don't think he's
15:21in the
15:21room more than like other position guys this is you know somebody specifically hired to help
15:27the coordinator not do other jobs help the coordinator which is not uncommon a lot of teams have
15:32have this so yes i would have bet that that's where they would have gone for this and instead
15:37no at least not at least not at the moment um and again sort of my point with with with
15:43the steve
15:44wilkes thing you can tell me you were thought about this this was discussed since the beginning of the
15:48year what was he on vacation for the first week like what i don't understand why why not just
15:54implement it right off the bat and same thing here even if you bring in somebody like this is pretty
15:59obvious a first year guy who's barely been a coach that would have just been the most obvious hire to
16:04make and it wasn't made so that was curious and yes it's odd if they don't bring on the consultant
16:09to help blow when you're doing it on the other end um yeah i totally agree all right real quickly
16:16i've got
16:17you you were at the wizards game last night i spent a lot of time in the open uh of
16:22the show today
16:23talking about the game what were your takeaways yeah it's um it is just remarkable just to look
16:31at the rotation that they have after all these years of sort of you know i'm not even talking
16:36about the most recent year but you're going back for for many years of like you know random g league
16:41or high in the rotation some 38 year old uh that's way past this prime that you're pretending is still
16:47like a top three score none of that exists anymore in this rotation you've got the the young kids
16:53uh unfortunately debonson didn't play yesterday hopefully he's back soon but the young kids did a
16:57lot of good things uh keishon george i thought in particular but then to have anthony davis in the
17:02middle of it all a guy who's you know an all-time nba player who so many people have you
17:08know dismissed
17:09written off why would the wizards you know want him um you know he obviously got his reputation took
17:14big hits after the luka donchich trade and i've maintained i think he's still one of the 20 best
17:19players in the league when healthy the when healthy part is everything but wow he looked all all he
17:26looked all nba last night in a dominant performance i know milwaukee's not a particularly good team this
17:31year so be it uh they went out and you know in the second half davis scored 16 points in
17:37the last
17:37like five minutes of the third quarter and then everybody else kind of took over from there and it
17:41blew him out in the fourth so it was a pretty exciting game i thought i mean even if it's
17:47even
17:47if this doesn't lead to a playing game appearance or a playoff where the the interest level the
17:53excitement level of watching this team this year after years of blech is going to be so much more
17:58and i think that is the most exciting part let alone hey they actually could be a some part of
18:04a
18:04playing game playoff game contender this year i'm totally with you all right thanks for doing this
18:09appreciate it yeah man yeah ben standing