How Kliff Kingsbury Shined for Commanders vs Jets

it's time to get the breakdown started first up 10 observations boom put it right on the ground it's first and 10 yep we're back it's first and 10 if you haven't uh been with us during football season this is how we open the show the day after a commander game we have 10 observations from it and uh we'll get started with number one uh which is that cliff kingsberry really to me was kind of the star of this preseason game um I thought the way that he showed his that his offense is going to operate and including by the way the Jaden Daniels uh deep ball is really exciting and it shows an understanding of kind of who they want to be offensively and it shows an understanding of how offens is work in 2024 in the NFL that frankly was not here last year and so to go inside that play um and Dan Quinn talked about afterwards how Jaden really wasn't supposed to check not because it's not the right check because it's the preseason and because he was playing behind a backup o line they were being very particular on what kind of Freedom that he had and not want to expose him to hits but it was also very vanilla everything that they were doing like because audibles are not like that complex sometimes it's just like hey yeah no this is a thing that we should do here uh and and so we want to do it and it's day one install hey if you get this look and we call this play or like part of the the day one install is like okay play X if you get this look don't run the play audible to this and it is so fundamental to who the commanders are offensively that Jaden Daniels even when he wasn't supposed to ultimately was like I know what I'm supposed to do here audible audible check check check blah blah blah set but deep ball and it and it is an illustration I guess this is really the point if you want if you want to get real technical with it oh come on don't do this to me now with the hot Keys up Anthony we're uh we're gonna have to go manual numbers today uh because we have an internal processing error in the operation number one is that Cliff Kings Berry's reputation as someone who knows how to make the game easy for quarterbacks and pass catchers was on display with that it is so fundamental to who they are that Jaden even though he wasn't supposed to was like I know what to do here check bang and then you obviously get the the greatness of what we expect from Jaden Daniels which is a tremendous deep ball thrower on routes outside the numbers and hey good for dami brown as well getting into good situations this is the takeaway right getting into good situ situations is fundamental to who the commanders are offensively and that is a great way to play now that will become harder as the season goes because teams get tape on you and this has been a problem for Cliff in the past so I don't want to be so Rosy and optimistic that I brush away everything that has been his career from Texas Tech to Arizona where his teams fade in the back half of years they've got to find ways to keep things easy ultimately in the long run when you get into December and January which is some this team hopes to be if not this year I mean they'll play in December and and some in January because the schedule's 17 games long but you know what I mean uh in terms of playing well and then ultimately playing into late January if he wants to get there as a coach and certainly if the commanders want to get there with him as their OC there's going to have to be better than what we've seen in the past out of out of him but on a baseline level to start a season entering they are Cliff has always been excellent at getting things right situationally uh part duh of that I don't say that number two oh there oh very well done Anthony thank you uh is that they spread the ball around uh the Jets had 10 different players have targets which like that feels right for a preseason game the commanders had 17 players get targets 17 that's basically every running back that played every tight end that played and every receiver that played Terry McLaren not out there very long had a Target Jan do was out there for a long time we'll talk about that more in in about 5 minutes uh John doson got targets uh o Al zakas got targets dami Brown got the the multiple targets got the Deep one although that was kind of a Jaden call but he did get uh one with with Driscoll later and made a nice catch um you know all again all the tight ends Cole Turner get targets uh Ben cinate probably the best tight end out there great like if you played I guess outside of like I don't know if John Bates got one um but he was busy blocking his face face off um you got to Target and that is also fundamental to who Cliff is and it makes it very hard to defend because ultimately like I think Cliff trusts his fourth receiver over your fourth corner and I don't know that that's a bad thing not that lamade zius and dami brown or anyone else who winds up being the fourth Luke mcaffrey whoever is is ultimately wide receiver four on this football team not that they're actually outstanding wide receiver one caliber players but they're they're going to be a solid wide receiver for True NFL receiver and most teams aren't that deep if you got to go true dime quarterback situation those dudes don't get a lot of snaps they don't get to play a lot and Cliff puts them in tough spots and sometimes you know it's linebackers and stuff because they do stuff formally uh with some of the tight ends and create certain matchups so there there's just a really cool identity in my opinion forming for the commanders offensively and it's cohesive um it it's one that fits the quarterback skill set it's one that fits the play callers prefers style uh it's one that fits their personnel guys like diami and Terry uh Jan also you know their 43 guys can get deep so this is something that I I think is going to be really fun to watch and then the last part of it uh Anthony if you will number three number three is the use of personnel not just to create good matchups in the passing game but one thing I really love was is I guess technically it's an extension of the of the running game but it's the passing game is on some of these screen but also in the running game quarterback run game specifically using formation and Personnel to get good blocking matchups and this is part I'm sure Cliff but also like let's give credit to on all this stuff to Brian Johnson to Anthony Lyn to Bobby Johnson and on down the list of coaches and coordinators and whoever else special assistants whatever all these dudes titles are that have a role to play in this like their ability to say okay Cole Turner not the world's greatest blocker although we'll talk about Turner as the show goes like that dude is trying to make this team like he is playing as hard as he can and I don't know if he's ultimately going to do it but man is he forcing the issue and he deserves a ton of credit for that but they know he's not John Bates he's not the best blocker he's not Senate like he's not uh George KD he's not whoever right so let's have him block a corner how do we get it so that he's the furthest guy on the the outside and that if Jaden Daniels keeps this that he gets to drive a corner through the back of the end zone let's set our guys up to win and it's not possible all the time there's some times in this game where like Bates gets stuck on a d end or whatever and like stuff like that happens and that's you know that's John bates's job ultimately is the Y tight end is sometimes he's going to have to block a defensive end Logan talks about having to do that sometimes and it's like you know it's just part of the gig but if you really are are going after something in a big situation Red Zone always a big situation and you want to set guys up for maximal Success how do you formation things and use your personnel intelligently and Cole Turner blocking a a corner is great Cole Turner having a block a defensive end not going to end well Cole Turner blocking a linebacker not even ideal because he's not a great blocker but he's trying and you set him up in a corner he drives him literally out of the end zone Bravo cliff and everybody else involved in the process Bravo bravoo Cole Turner and uh Bravo jayen Daniels on reading it out correctly and Waltzing into the end zone number four and let's get into some of the players now uh Jan doson played 32 snaps in this game the most of any non-offensive lineman the only guys that played more were guys like Mason Brooks and Chris Paul who moved around the line and played with multiple units uh and we'll talk about the o line situation uh later on in first and 10 but the fact that Jan played this much I think is pretty fascinating um I still think he's gonna wind up being a starter on this team unless something uh unexpected happens and and I'll touch more on that in a second I'm not trying to be koi um but I I I think they want to see more out of him I think that there's a a physicality and a toughness that you need to play with to play for this current iteration of this staff that I don't know that Jan plays with and to be clear I don't think it's because Jan lacks toughness in want to and it's not actually even toughness it's play strength it's a stylistic choice that they want you know I I'll use a name that's I'm I'm using this name because he's someone that was drafted by Adam Peters not because I'm trying to start something but like Brandon iuk plays physical as hell Debo Samuel I could have used him I guess too plays So Physical uh they're strong they run through contact as ball carriers but also as route Runners and there's a play in this game where Jan it's it's when he gets targeted on the Deep ball and and he gets pushed off the route a little bit and that's the kind of stuff that he's got to figure it out and part of it is a a toughness that can be learned again it's not like a mental thing I don't think Jan is weak-minded or anything like you have to learn the tools to ultimately fight through that stuff and he hasn't yet and so yes there's the weightlifting part of getting physically stronger that has to happen in the off season and will continue to happen during the season but it's also him working with Bobby Ingram in the position group to understand how to fight through some of that stuff and it's part of this offense it's part of what you need because they want to run vertical routes they want to get you down the field but if you can be easily knocked off your track like that causes not only issues for you but spacing issues in the offense for others part of the dami brown uh completion from Jaden is I think it's a tight end that's running up the seam it might be Turner like he holds his line and and there's good spacing on that play which leaves plenty of room for diami the other side is well spaced hold which makes Jaden holding the safety with his eyes so effective because it's it's real there's a real threat there and so I just think that for Jian I wonder if he fits what they want and if not he could fit better somewhere else and so I I guess this is kind of the point that I'm going to make about him and I'm going to make About Emanuel Forbes next it's not necessarily that they're bad football players or that they're not good or or whatever you know anti-up perlative you want to put on them but they might not be good commanders and ultimately that's what Adam Peters is trying to build is and and Dan Quinn is trying to build is they're trying to build their version of the commanders and so if someone came with a good offer for Jan doson like it would not surprise me for a second if they were just like yeah no that's good like go ahead we'll take the draft capital and that's not me reporting anything I haven't talked to anybody I've been in France for 10 days but I just that to me makes too much sense watching this clearly they want to see more and I think they're trying to also figure out what it what his superpower is because that is a Dan Quinn philosophy to figure out what guy superpowers are and put them in the right position and I don't think they figured out with Jan yet despite the fact that he was a legitimate first round pick you know maybe some teams would have taken him in the second but a really talented guy who has great route running ability and and good hands and and all these kinds of things uh that made him a first- round pick for Washington a couple years ago speaking of first- round picks a couple years ago number five let's talk about it let's talk about Emanuel Forbes um Emanuel Forbes if you did like a a chart of red got red dot Green Dot good plays bad plays would had way more way more green dots than red dots and I think that should be said as context unfortunately the Red Dot is he gave up a touchdown after he gave up some big plays in The Joint practices to Garrett Wilson which okay he's Garrett Wilson but he gave up big plays to Terry McLaren and in practice and okay well it's Terry McLaren like eventually you got to stop giving up big plays and in a league that is more geared towards explosive plays than ever as the smartest coaches figured out wow I think I know what what scores points in this league big chunks of yardage how do we generate explosives and as a defense it doesn't matter how well we play Down In down out if we give it all away we undo all our good work in one play it's it just is too damaging to have a guy that gives up this many explosive plays and I think unlike the guy we're going to talk about next and jam Davis you you you hear people talk about Forbes a little differently in terms of the mistakes and the corrections and the the Buy in uh that that is happening right now and you know we watched the l22 back of of this play actually right before the show Anthony and I were like let's go check out what happened and it's simple like it's a go ball and and he just technique is poor he's too Square you know you you give up you know you you want to kind of gear your guy towards something once he's getting vertical it's like okay well then I'm going to push you outside I'm going to use uh your what you're trying to do against you I'm going to use my shoulder to get into your chest and kind of guide you out of the way of the ball like there there's and his eyes are in the back field he knows the fade Ball's coming like you can see it and so I just I struggle because when I hear Forbes talk I like the kid um I think he definitely got off to a bad start last year and I think it's it's set him off on a track that is bad and it's the same kind of thing I said about Dodson if they got the right call for him it would not surprise me at all if they moved him and I honestly wonder if it's best for both parties I just I I don't think he can't play I think he'll probably wind up starting uh if he's here because he is better than the other guys around but he can't keep giving up big plays and they've got to figure out how to get him to not do that and then they've also got to figure out how to get him the ball production that made him special at Mississippi State and ultimately why he's a first round pick he's he's physically gifted as hell I know he's really light um and he's slender but he's got crazy long arms he's very fast he's got good feet and it's just putting that together on the one part of his game that is killing him right now which is giving up vertical routes which is the worst thing that you can have as an Achilles heel as a DB number six I would say down in down out Emanuel Forbes is probably playing better than Jamon Davis but we even heard from Jamon today post practice we'll play some of this audio coming up in our pick six later on the enthusiasm that Jamon has attacked this new position switch with is something that is made the coaches I think willing to continue on with this experiment it's funny watching the game because the things that Jamon did the best are linebacker things he pursued the ball and he tackled he was in and around the ball quite a bit on in the Run game he set a couple of good edges he also had a couple that were bad situationally terrible uh on that third and seven I think it was towards the end of the game uh in the two-minute the one that led to the the game-winning field goal it's a third down he gets washed inside like he tries to make a move inside and situationally you can't do that he leaves open a quarterback scramble quarterback runs first down Jets kick the game-winning field goal it's the preseason I don't care about the loss it's just like hey man if you're going to do this you got to have the situational awareness here to to make that happen and so I I think it's interesting hearing Dan Quinn say that he's actually surprised them as kind of a edge Setter and some of the first and second down stuff that you need while the pass rush thing is just not come along in the way that that I think think the plan was but because he's so dedicated to it because Jam's head is on straight because he is showing up with a great attitude a great work ethic and because he's so physically gifted that he's not like he he's got all these traits I think they're going to keep going with it and and one of the things we did before I left was a roster projection I didn't have Jamon on it if I had to do one today I would change that and it has everything to do with the weight the things they're saying about him the things he's saying and kind of some of the Rumblings you hear you know guys like k reporting about the things that they value in the building that he has and so I really honestly while I'm not sitting here saying like Kudos Jam Davis on an awesome game nope it was a huge learning experience and it's the first time he's played for real at defensive end I'm I'm actually more positive on Jamon and some of the things that I'm hearing and some of the things that that are being said than I was before I left even though the results are really not all that different number seven all right number seven the offensive line situation we'll run through these last couple real quick um if this Brandon Coleman thing is gonna wear on they need to bring in a veteran and they need to just do it now um Coleman needs to be the starter because we see in this game and we see in the joint practices the limitations Trent Scott has Cornelius Lucas is a great stop cap but he's very very limited athletically and it's going to limit your offense and in a in a you know we talked about Cliff earlier and how much he likes the screen game and spreading the ball around and it's just limiting you can't do that stuff with the left tackle who can't move uh it doesn't have the the movement skill to be out on the perimeter and Cornelius Lucas just doesn't have that that's not how he's built that's not what he's good at you know straight up pass blocking okay fine it's a movement in small spaces in the Run game fine but he doesn't have the mobility and so there aren't a lot of guys available but you got to figure it out and the fact that they were like I know what we'll do with all these these tackle issues we're going to start Chris Paul I mean good for Chris one because he thought he played well I think it also another compliment to Cliff Cliff called the game like he had backup offensive lineman in and by the way they ran the ball pretty well inside where their starters were so there there's some good there from the offensive line there's some great stuff from Cliff but that doesn't change the reality that you need to have a starting caliber left tackle or the best one you can possibly have and if Brandon Coleman's hurt I would I would hope that there's another option available number eight Frankie louu Mike S still showed the flashes of what I think are going to make them both special players for this team hopefully for a long time I mean louu only played like four or five snaps but he has a big tackle for loss like he's lining up at DN on third down situations and it's really fun to see and I'm excited to see him in full boore Sanders still obviously played a lot more and on that same play that he and louu combined you just see the pursuit and you know Logan and I were talking about this on the phone actually earlier today I don't think it actually made the take command podcast that we recorded um but Sanders Stills a really special special mover like he's just a very fluid athlete obviously played wide receiver now plays DB and he's so instinctual and you canb that and the game just looks easy for him because he knows where he's supposed to be and he has the movement skills to get there and so I can't wait to watch more of this kid moving forward number nine Bryson termain continues to show why he's around I do think it's interesting that they are going to work out Martavius Bryant apparently another big wide receiver but Chaine continues to show like hey being tall has a place in the NFL at receiver and I know he had another route later in the game another Target that didn't go great but I didn't love the throw on that I think overall taine continues to play well continues to play hard and I would still have him on the team uh so Bryson traine trained let it continue Choo Cho last but not least number 10 I know everyone wants to crush Chris Rodriguez today and no one thinks he's going to make the team because he had six rushes for zero yards the blocking in front of him at that part portion of the game was uh not great Bob not good at all um I do like what I see from Wy I've liked it you know what I've seen from him all Camp um you know I thought it was interesting that McNichols was the third guy in uh I think that situation is very very flu behind brob and Eckler who both were excellent and their limited reps on that first drive but I don't think that the Chris Rodriguez story is over quite yet I'm not saying that he's actually making the team in his a lock or anything but I I don't think that like I I I would say this I think the reports of Chris Rodriguez's demise are slightly premature and circumstantial and we'll see ultimately if he can can turn it around in the back half of training camp this is the Hoffman show on the t980 and the Odyssey app