Why Adam Peters is Just Step One For Commanders | Take Command

On this episode of Take Command, the Washington Commanders have a new General Manager! Craig and Logan give their reaction to the Adam Peters hire and discuss how this move will affect the team’s search for a head coach. Afterwards, they go through the 2024 Wild Card weekend and share some of their favorite performances while breaking down how these games should influence Peters and his team’s decision as to who is the right man for the head coach position.

(0:32) How Exciting Is The Adam Peters GM Hire?
(22:30) Wild Card Weekend: Texans vs. Browns, Dolphins vs. Chiefs, Packers vs. Cowboys
(42:40) Wild Card Weekend: Rams vs. Lions, Steelers vs. Bills, and Eagles vs. Buccaneers

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It’s time to take command with former NFL tight end Logan Paulson and former Commander beat reporter Craig Hoffman it’s the take command podcast from Odyssey Sports I am Craig Hoffman he is Logan Paulson happy snow day Logan happy snow day man my kids are stoked man they’re going to be going crazy

Today so I’m sure uh I it’s the snow I don’t feel like driving in it so I’m probably not going to Ashburn at two o’clock uh to to meet Adam Peters but uh that is when he will Meet the Press today 2 o’clock as we record this on

Tuesday morning so if you’re listening a little bit later and you’re like hey it’s almost 2 o’clock uh turn your radio over to 1067 the fan or the team 980 and we will have Adam Peters press conference live of course starting at 400m I will be on your radio on the team

980 with full reaction or uh if you happen to be listening to this after all of that and you want to hear uh the the press conference you can rewind in the the free Odyssey app or you can check out the podcast of Chris Russell show or

Of Grant and Danny uh for the presser and of course my reaction in the Hoffman Show podcast feed all right that is enough of the housekeeping let’s get right to it and Logan people did hear some of what we had to say on this over the weekend as you join the show on

Friday and we put that here in the take command feed but high level um let’s let’s kind of recap a little bit they got Adam Peters we talked about three weeks ago this this feel felt incredibly unlike because we all thought Peters and the kind of the word around the league was

Peters is going to stay in San Francisco he didn’t hesitate he came here he signs a five-year deal and uh he didn’t even interview anywhere else I I think that’s a big big deal like no matter what happens I think this is a major major win for Washington just on those facts

Alone yeah no I think absolutely I think we’re all really excited when you talk to people familiar I think you know the relationship and understanding of what the new ownership was going to be for him here I think and what that opportunity would provide I think is and

It’s something that we talked about it’s something everyone in the area has talked about but I think it’s a big deal you know I think having that new ownership group in and having people that are you know that at least for the first year with Ron have abided by their

Word and done the right stuff and are not going to be um you know super uh kind of handson you know like their team yeah yeah I like that metalsome like you hate a metalsome owner I think that’s a big deal I think that’s a huge deal for

A guy who’s looking to kind of spread his wings and leave a great situation in San Francisco so obviously like I think he’s got we’re going to talk about this probably more he’s got a lot of work to do in terms of kind of roster development roster valuation and and

Building this thing back up but I think it’s an exciting opportunity uh to get him here a guy that you know by all account like literally anybody you talk to has only positive things to say about him in terms of his professionalism his talent evaluation like his skill and

Talent evaluation and and his experience so I think it’s a great hire and obviously does that mean we’re going to you know win the Super bowl next year like Houston or win a playoff game like Houston no but I think it’s it’s a good foundational piece that’s and again it’s

Like one of those things where like I’m super process driven you’re super trip process driven this is good process getting a good candidate getting him in the building getting him hired and getting him to move out here from San Fran and leave a winning organization so I think it’s I’m really excited and

Again it’s the first piece there’s a lot of other things that need to fall in place but um good good start to the offseason and good start for Josh Harrison and the leadership group here yeah without question by the way later in the show we will take a look at all

The playoff games for the weekend and kind of glean some things off of them in terms of team building for instance so we’ll talk about some of that work to do as things go and as well as obviously the head coaching hire but I think you know with Peters like this signifies

Washington’s back as a crown jewel organization like does that mean he’s going to succeed absolutely not and obviously if all of a sudden we’re five years from now looking at Josh Harris sideways and like you know he’s the next David terer like we’re in a we’re in a

Bad spot still and and the glean and shine of the organization will be again potential and and sleeping giant and all that kind of stuff versus you know what we think of it right now but again even if he is if if Adam Peters turns out that assistant GM is where he belongs

That is the highest step on on the ladder that when he goes and runs his own ship it doesn’t work the fact that they got him to sign here before they even he was even willing to go interview anywhere else that Black Monday was Monday and they hired him on Friday

Tells you what people think of this organization and you know I had Scott pii on the show on Friday uh Scott actually hired Adam uh for his first job in New England so some cool stories there but he talked about how you know he grew up a New York Giants fan this is

A guy that you know built the the first part of the Patriots dynasty along with bich and he has so much respect for Washington as an organization and I and I think that’s a credit in large part Logan to the fans like the fans many of

Whom were like I’m out as long as the SNY fell is here came back and we saw you know the party that we threw with the radio stations the the burgundy and soul party we saw the sellouts early in the season people saw how people showed up for that and and the history

Obviously speaks for itself and I think that’s part of the appeal like it just is and you know of course the ownership group itself matters and if Josh Harris was Josh Harris and and had all these partners and went and bought I don’t know the Carolina Panthers um a team

That is barely actually not even 30 years old J it was was founded in the early ’90s and started play in ’95 um like would he have left San Francisco for Carolina with the same owners maybe but I think that this like that little bit of prestige that that

Element of this sleeping giant of a fan base and what DC is as a city like it matters and and I think that you know when you look at the Dallas Cowboys for instance right and you watch the the games over the weekend and Tony Romo’s

The the a announcer on one and Jimmy Johnson’s on the pregame show and um you know Troy amman’s the a announcer on the other like if you’re something with this organization with Washington you can be that too you know because also like rg’s uh on the Monday night show and you know

For a long time uh in the early 2000s like Joe thyman was the lead analyst on Sunday Night Football and like I think if you’re Adam Peters and you’re trying to build this thing back up you know that if you succeed on to the level that

You want to like you become an NFL legend and that’s pretty freaking cool and something that will peel you away from a place in San Franc Isco where by the way it’s kind of the same thing yeah no I think you said everything there right I think it’s it’s the it’s the

Prge like I heard somebody say this I think it was Bram Bram Weinstein was like you know basically you get the opportunity to be bronzed you know like you get to be the opportunity to kind of get everybody get this organization get the city back on track and I think

There’s 100% Merit to that and I think uh it is it an easy job absolutely not but is there an opportunity here to do something really really special get supported by I think and I think we can’t overstate you know you said oh like he doesn’t go out and interview for

Other positions right I think you got to give credit to the ownership I think they understood what it was going to take to keep him here I think financially they understood what it was going to take to keep him here they made that happen I think that’s all important

To understand in and so great job by them but it’s also like this job is a big deal you know like you get kind of a clean slate and there’s very few times where GM gets a clean slate like that you know you have all this cap space you

Have all this draft Capital you have the second overall pick and you know usually you’re going to jobs like where it’s like I don’t have all these resources imagine taking the job out in LA right now with the Chargers they have zero cap space they’re not really picking high in the draft like

It’s a mess and I don’t you know but here this this opportunity like from a logistics standpoint from an opportunity standpoint from an ownership standpoint just seem like the right fit and I think that’s why you know he he does leave s ultimately does leave San Fran and and

The opportunity looks like a like a good one you know but again I think it’s important to just ackn knowledge Josh Harris and and that group’s commitment to understanding who they were dealing with and making sure he was in the building yeah can you imagine if you

Were like a house flipper and you had to spend $6.1 billion on a house and then you had to pay all the money to actually renovate it because that’s kind of what Josh Harris is doing but um it’s a good reminder that while Josh Harris uh

Obviously spent a lot of money on all of this this ownership group is worth 50 billion and uh that makes it a lot easier to pay Adam Peters and pay the head coach and pay their staffs like money is not going to be an issue here even though they just spent $6.1 billion

On the team um because it well it is Magic Johnson and Mitchell rails and and Josh Harris predominantly um there’s all those limited partners that they can pull cash from if they want to um and that that becomes really important because there a lot of those folks are

Like you know worth over 10 billion dollar and just bought a tiny piece but it’s like hey we need we need uh whatever million a year to to get Adam Peters and someone ‘s like okay I’ll go search my couch cushions must be nice um

On the football side of it um I think what I really love about Peter is is like he helped build the San Francisco team helped build the Denver team before that the New England team before that um you know kind of the best teams of of

The last you know 25 years he’s been a part of uh Denver went to obviously two super bowls with pton and and that was a big part of it but that was a good team like that was a great roster that New England roster um you know that he

Helped build obviously he was a much smaller of that way down the ladder at the time but you know he helps find some of the guys that that help them go into that 2007 season right um that they they’re the best team in the league and they actually don’t win the Super Bowl

Um because they get upset by the Giants and then obviously he’s a huge part of the San Francisco but there’s a toughness to all of those teams even the Denver teams like we remember them as the pton Manning Super Bowl teams but there was a toughness to those teams and

How they played that is exactly I think what you and I have been talking about the past couple of weeks of what’s been lacking here and also what wins currently and and forever in the NFL despite how uh the league has changed schematically or Pass Run emphasis on

This emphasis on that that toughness always is the through line and and he’s Built Tough teams before and I think that’s really exciting yeah and I think like you know we’ll talk about this more when we talk when we review the playoff games like we just discussed like I

Think there is there’s so many qualities that those that those really good teams have like they’re tough guys love football they’ve found really talented pieces and the other thing is they seem to be really interwoven with the coach’s vision of of what of what the expectation is for the team and so I

Think that’s something that again like it’s going to be tough and I think you know everyone’s like what’s he going to do with the second overall pick what’s he going to do in free agency I think that conversation if I based on what people have said about him you know it’s

Not going to start in Earnest until the head coach gets here because you got to understand what the coach’s vision is and if that aligns and how you kind of supplement and find pieces to fit that so I think that’s going to be a huge

Part of of the of the team process but yeah like the toughness in San Fran especially this year like I mean it’s almost like they’ve they’ they’ve flipped a gear they’re like man we maybe that’s the addition of Christian mcaffrey I don’t know but like this this commitment to running the football

Playing violent defensively um you know talk about you know what the you talk about what the um what the Denver Broncos were I mean offensively they were pretty flash they had a lot of explosive plays but defensively they were awesome in terms of being a physical tough downhill tackling group

And again like that fits the vision of that team at the time and so but even even offensively like Deary Thomas was a big tough son of a gun like Emanuel Sanders like as a tough slot receiver like that’s what I think of when I think

Of a guy like Emanuel Sanders who was a part of that team Julius Thomas their tight end like they there was again it’s not like the physical brute toughness that they had defensively but there there was a there was still a toughness mentally and kind of approach wise to

Them that I think was pretty pretty present and I guess what I’m saying is I think offensively that’s more reflective of Payton Manning you know pton Manning at the time in terms of his offensive Vision but again like they found the pieces right to make that all work

Together and you got to get the right personalities you got to get the right people in there and I think that’s ultimately like what you’re looking at like I think Houston this year is such a fascinating case study and we’ll talk about that more later but again finding tough pieces finding young pieces

Developing young pieces and when you look at all of those teams there’s a lot of talent developed in house like I look at San Fran you got George KD and I George KD was going to be good from day one like I was there with him his rookie

Year and I was super impressed the second he stepped on the practice with just like this dude’s got it but for how good he got like how the development that they saw there Brandon auk’s development there dvo Samuel’s development there some of those young offensive linemen the defensive line the

Linebackers Fred Warner’s development like it’s you’re getting the right pieces but then also having the ecosystem to develop those players and I think that’s why like GM’s a really important higher right that Talent evaluation is so so critical but making sure that fits in a structure where

Those guys are going to develop is is pretty outstanding so again like it’s so early with with with with Adam Peters and all what he’s going to do but I think the next big step is the one I’m kind of most he’s probably going to talk about today at the press conference is

Is the coach and and what he’s looking for and and the vision for that so um in the NFL how much of Player Development is on the GM front office and how much is on the coaches like how much of it is structural because I I I’ve looked at

This more in the NBA um but it’s something that I’ve definitely thought of more recently in the NFL and I don’t feel like I really know the answer and I also feel like it probably changes organization organization to an extent but like in the good ones how much of

That is the head coach structuring practice a certain way that young guys get reps or whatever versus kind of it coming down from on high that like this is a priority and here are the the pieces in place uh and the resources to make sure that we actually develop our

Young Talent that’s a great question you know in terms of like who’s who’s making that uh making that assertion making that assessment you know like when I was in um when I was in Atlanta for example you know something I always associated with Dan Quinn was like we had like a

Youth period at the end of practice where if you wanted to stay you could do they would go through like team run script or seven on seven script and they would throw the football around a little bit and get everybody who wasn’t playing for the weekend reps reps in in the

Offense and I think like and the coaches would stay out and they would coach those guys and you know maybe that was the GM’s prerogative at the time you know Scott Pei was on that staff and like that’s something I know bich does a lot of or he was he’s kind of notorious

For doing uh but again I don’t know and I think like whatever it is I think having a coach that understands the importance of talent development but also I do think like that’s a great point I never even thought about it that the GM could be like hey man like let’s

Make sure player X is coming along the way we want him to come along I think is extremely valid point you know and I think like in San Fran for example that that to me is Kyle like that that youth development is Kyle because of Kyle’s attention to detail but I also think

It’s just good sound football process and I think like in in this Adam Peters Le organization football organization I can’t imagine it not being a huge part of his vision in terms of hiring the coach like getting someone that understands how important that is is going to be Paramount because again look

At all the teams in the playoffs right now like Detroit Lions Green Bay Packers even um the LA Rams to a certain extent like they are developing young pieces at a very very high level so that you’re not leveraging these free agent decisions these draft decisions too

Crazily so I think like yeah finding and I don’t know the answer to this but whatever that is whoever is leading that ship I’m sure it’ll be like a you know like a good a good opportunity to kind of just say hey like if I’m hiring a guy

If I’m Adam Peters hiring a coach that’s something I want to prioritize in addition to a myriad of other things but yeah I think that’s that’s a great Point Craig um and it’s something that in the NBA is different because they have like play they literally have like a Player

Development staff like they have player coaches yeah um and it’s a part of the staff where it’s like you know and and every every player in the NBA has their own assistant coach um now like obviously assistant coaches have multiple guys so it’s not like a one to one ratio um but

It’s like three to one maybe um or one to three because because the way the staffs have grown over the years and so you have like with the Wizards there’s a guy you know EXA Guthrie is one of their assistants and Zach works with like

Three or four of the guys and like he’ll work with Denny Avio one-on-one and they watch tape and like he’s kind of responsible for Denny’s development and you know you see uh that that in really good organizations young players develop and um Oklahoma City is kind of notorious for this but whether it’s

Watching tape or whether it’s the individual skill workouts that happened pregame or at practice or you know on a whatever on an off day or you know they have like a a detailed tailored development plan for what they want workout plans and stuff for how they get there those Player Development coaches

Like and and they could be assistant coaches who like work during the game as well so in many ways it’s like your position coach um in the NFL but they also are working in conjunction in good organizations with the front office for like this long-term plan and the Wizards

Have talked a lot and obviously like no one really wants to hear about the Wizards right now because they’ve just lost to the Pistons and who’s the worst team in the league and like the Wizards are the second worst team in the league but like long term they have all these

Very Advanced metrics and very specific things that they’re working on and those are front office driven and I think that if you you know could apply some of those same Concepts to the NFL I think that would be really interesting and like you know you look at a wider like

For instance one of the the things they’re tracking and I promise I’m not going to get on a basketball tangent here but like they’re tracking percent rebounds that Daniel Gafford grabs so their Center when he’s on the floor does he get 20% of all available rebounds and

Could you take something like that that is non-core related very individualized to a wide receiver you know do you win 68% of your routes do you you know as as a pass protector like do you win X and like do you have a plan to make sure that the individual skill development is

There and it’s hard because the NFL there’s 53 plus practice squad 90 in the off season when most of the Year happens by the way um you know versus 12 to 18 uh of an NBA roster with g-league guys two-way guys whatever um so yeah it’s

Just i’ I’d be fascinated to talk to a coach or a GM about that in great detail because I think the level of detail is certainly not as high in the NFL but that’s not it’s not because they’re dropping the ball it’s because it’s so much harder with 90 guys versus 18 yeah

And you know like when you’re talking of people at the combine you know Scouts uh GM front office people like they do use those metrics in their evaluation but I think it’s interesting kind of a compelling thought like could you find coaches that are good at saying hey like

We really value separation rate for re receivers like that’s a thing we want to like really pursue in terms of talent evaluation but is there anybody that can develop those skill sets here right develop those opportunities here and like uh you know talking with previous staffs that have been here previous

Staffs I’ve been on like they do have interesting kind of more traditional development process like you know like when people say oh let’s get the guy to play special teams there’s something to that you’re kind of building a toughness of mentality when the guy plays teams and then transitions to something more

But could you do something more specific right we mentioned like post-practice stuff and again like that’s you’re just running through practice you’re coaching the offense right but what if I said hey man we got this young guy he’s 65 240 we want him to see if we can kind of

Develop him as that F tight end what are some specific things we can track with regards to that individual and again I I’m sure there are some teams that do variations of that but I don’t think anything as specific of that and that’s really cool to hear the basketball thing

And I think like that I think that’s something that definitely could be implemented not maybe at a at the scale you’re talking about in the NBA but kind of more like hey man like this is our practice review and instead of saying oh you know this guy ran the wrong route

It’s like his separation percentage was X today and we really we’re really fired up about that we got to keep that going in terms of encouraging that skill set so potentially yeah for sure yeah um definitely definitely would be interesting but I also think to your

Point like some of that just comes from the coaches themselves making sure that they coach the young guys as hard as they coach the guys who start because NFL coaches are right here right like there what’s right in front of me how how can we win today um and if you’re

Kyle shanan and you’re so detail oriented that when you have your youth period you’re just as locked in as when um you know just as locked in as when you have uh your starters out there then that’s going to obviously help develop players as well yeah and I also think

Like finding those guys that are very coachable and like fit your culture is a thing like you know they were talking I was listening to a podcast today talking about the Detroit lions and I think the thing about the Detroit Lions is so interesting is they’ve got a whole bunch

Of guys that are passionate about football and when you get guys that are passionate about football it doesn’t really matter how good they are at football but if they’re super passionate about it like they will get better you know and I think that’s something that people often Overlook you know in The

Scouting process and I think the teams are getting better about identifying these guys but like how much do they love ball and like it is a thing and it’s a thing that lets you say hey this guy is is this now but he lives breathes eats sleep football and

Become super passionate I was talking to somebody um at the last at the last com at the last combine yeah that’s right about development and what he looks for and he’s like obviously you look for height weight speed but the thing that I look for probably the most is how much

Do they love football because if they love it they’re going to develop and I think that there is a lot in terms of how what you’re looking for in terms of evaluating guys and getting those guys in the building to say this guy is not the fastest guy not the strongest guy

He’s kind kind of middle of the pack from these measurable standpoints but he comes in the building at 6: a.m. in college and he’s studying tape and he’s going to get better and he’s going to fit our organizational identity and I think that’s where you you’ve identified

Somebody as a GM right or a talent evaluator that has the has the the the foundation in place to to develop in some of those areas which I think is is again like it’s talk about the role of a GM like that’s a huge part of it as well so no doubt about

It Again Adam Peters press conference today 2 p.m you this is of course Tuesday it’s podcast maybe you’re listening on Wednesday in which case it was yesterday but Tuesday at 2 pm. uh you can listen to it live on the team 980 Logan that leads us then to Adam Peter’s next task

Which is finding a head coach and a lot of the candidates were playing this weekend or coaching this weekend I should say so let’s go through the playoff games and let’s take a look at a couple things how these teams were built and if there’s any of the coaching

Candidates that we need to talk about let’s talk about them and the first game of the weekend is someone that I think we need to talk about Bobby slowick is the offensive coordinator for the Houston Texans who thrashed the Browns 45- 14 that was and I know that there’s

A pick six or there’s two pick sixes in this game yeah so it’s not like their offense went out and put up 45 um but still they went out and put up a lot they still went out and put up 31 against the defense that was supposedly

The best in the NFL and I was so impressed with what they do schematically like they’re how they run it how they then leverage their play action fakes like they do it right and you know obviously slowick is part of that 2013 Washington staff and it was

Really interesting Friday on the radio I had Nick Wagner on the ESPN uh San Francisco 49ers reporter and listening to him talk about SLO and covering him sounded like what I used to tell people about Shawn McVey back in 2015 2016 I think Slow’s the real deal um you you

Played for him so you can you obviously know more than me but watching what he’s done with CJ strad and and this offense and hearing kind of how he is I think he should be a real Contender to be in the mix here with Ben Johnson with you know

Dan Quinn with whoever else that Washington is going to interview and I think if he’s like as real deal as everyone says who’s talked to him he’s going to interview EX extraordinarily well and he’s going to be head coach somewhere yeah I mean you know when I

Knew Bobby he was 23 you know what I mean like it it’s been a while since and so seeing Bobby’s kind of meteoric Rise feels like you know what I mean like I know he’s been slogging through the NFL he worked at PFF for a little bit like

Um it’s pretty fantastic but like let’s get back to the scheme real quick and it’s obviously it’s Kyle’s offense you know but I do think it’s important to know that like when you watch when I watch this game and when I watch Houston over the course of the Season like CJ

Stroud’s impact on that team cannot be overstated like the first third down they have like there’s a free runner to the quarterback he sits in there finds Nico Collins for a big play great job next Drive the next big play they have almost plays exactly the same way so you

Know like talking about guys elevating offenses and the X’s and O’s are are big elevators and I love how they don’t leverage the offensive line but ultimately you got to get guys to go out and make plays you know and I think like we talked about that a lot here with Sam

How you know and Sam how like how early in the season he was elevating the offense making plays um and this is what Stroud’s done for them you know and when you hear Deo Ryan talk after the game about how much they lean on him how much

They rely on him like it just shows you the importance of that position so as much as Bobby is doing tremendous stuff and like you love the sequence of play and it’s again like they’re not doing anything unique you know there are teams that run similar Concepts like you watch

Similar Concepts similar execution but it’s the players that come to life and again it goes back to something we talked about with the GM stuff like Eco Collins develops into a true one right in free agency they identify Dalton Schultz and he comes in has been very productive for them brevan Jordan the

Guy that they drafted in the fifth round three years ago has an explosive play for them on a nothing play like talk about scheme it’s just a keeper he’s the flat control get the ball to him and that’s what happens when you have Playmakers at different levels and the

Quarterback elevates so it’s one of those things where it’s like yeah I think Bobby deserves a lot of credit and I think Bobby deserves probably Credit in this area more than anywhere else is the fact he was able to this stuff in a year is the thing that is really

Definitively it can be done yeah I guess so right and again like they have the quarterback in place right they have they have that that ultimate piece and I don’t think anybody thought CJ shroud was going to be this but man like he does some really spectacular stuff and

He’s not he’s not always on Rhythm he’s not always on time but there is a playmaking ability there that is that’s pretty exciting I think and and so it’s it’s the scheme it’s the fact that it was taught so well like you see guys guys buying into this geme and then the

Elevation of the offense through young guys developing but specifically CJ strads kind of embracing this offense and and like the drive and the hunger to be great I guess is pretty exciting so one thing that stuck with me from the reception perception podcast that we did

Um a couple weeks ago is how um you know Matt talked about uh you gotta you got to put guys where they’re great and they you know they when as he tracks it it’s like Nico Collins great outbreaking routes tank Dell great in-breaking routes those run the routes they’re at like

That understanding ofel I think is that speaks really well toic and obviously the development of the Young quarterback and the ability whatever input he had on selecting him in the first place um I think is obviously uh pretty good because they you know they took a risk

And making the trade with Arizona to take both him and Will Anderson um but also to your point like uh orovi had a great line Monday on ESPN he’s like I don’t know how many dudes right now are better in the league than CJ stra but

It’s than his jersey number and he wears seven so we’re talking about a top seven quarterback easily in the NFL as a rookie um that’s that matters a lot but he you know it’s about to me the thing that I’ve thought about a lot too recently with like bich and Brady for

Instance his bel’s career you know comes or at least his run in New England comes to an end we’ll see if his career comes to an end um but like it’s so important for a coach and a quarterback to find their Muse like the idea that like a

Quarterback or a coach is just great no matter what is like there are guys that that are right like pton Manning was going to be great pretty much wherever he went like he was just one of the most special prospects to ever play in the 105 year history of the league um you

Know 66 got a huge arm the smartest guy to ever ever strap it up right um but he finds like a great Muse for this back half of his career in Denver with Adam gase and gase actually can’t really work with anybody else but that doesn’t mean

He wasn’t good good with pton um you know bich and Brady I think were perfect for each other I don’t think either man is nearly as successful without the other um would they both have won maybe they’re both great but they were perfect together because they complimented each

Other so well and I think that’s what we’re going to find out over these next couple of years were like SLO and Stroud the perfect Muses for each other are they both like just dudes at their jobs and I’m pretty sure Stroud’s a dude and he’s going to be just fine with whatever

Offensive coordinator um especially because I think demo is going to be smart enough to find someone else off the Kyle tree and try to you know keep some continuity there when he loses SLO as a head coach but I think what we’re going to find out is like can slowick do

It without Stroud and obviously a head coach is a different job than a offensive coordinator anyway so there’s that but um that idea of like is it the perfect fit or are they both independently just phenomenal yeah and I I think that’s a great question and

Again like you got to give SLO some credit like for getting it installed and you know they don’t leverage him a ton like they they they lean on him a lot but they do a good job of saying like hey like Hey we’re going to run we’ve

Run three Keepers now we’re going to run jolt right we’re going to run Dalton Schultz on that you know looks like a corner then he runs the post easy throw protections easy for the o line great time to call that play we’re in kind of that high Strike Zone area great job you

Know and I think like that’s the thing and like they’ve done a good job of manufacturing big explosive plays and and that’s that is a huge element to what they’re doing really well and that’s schematic that’s an offens identity thing you know and they they run 40 I think they ran 45 offensive

Plays and you know like they find all these explosives they run the ball relatively effectively like there’s something to that right there’s something to saying hey man we need you to be great on 20% of these offensive plays and he does and he he did a great

Job of that you know well to sl’s credit too like he realizes how special Stout is and so there’s like there’s one play uh that and maybe it is jol um but there’s one play I remember one of the analysts talking about where it’s kind of a play action uh and typically they

Have the guy so like play action you boot out to the right and typically you have uh the tight end run or the slot receiver run a corner yeah instead because and the reason is because you want to have the the receiver run to the side where the

Quarterback is because it’s a shorter and thus easier throw well they know strout’s got arm strength for days so they Haven him run a corner post the safety’s always jump the corner and then all of a sudden you know he’s going back to the post and trout has the arm

Strength to get it over the top that’s design that’s understanding your Playmakers that’s understanding that if uh if Case keenum’s got to get in the game you’re probably not calling that uh but you can call it for for CJ strad uh when your starter in so there there’s

Little things like that in terms of using your personnel that I think SLO already shows obviously a great feel for and um you know that’s a heck of a job by Houston and no matter what happens to them next weekend um because they’re going into Baltimore and good luck with

That be you know good luck with that but they’ve already had so far in away a better season than anyone anticipated maybe even including them uh but if not anybody but them thought dolphins and Chiefs I feel so bad for the Dolphins because they are just going to get

Trashed by national media and it’s already started they’re soft do Miami can’t go in the cold they fell apart in December again and it’s like they did fall apart literally they are so banged up like this is not the same team that it was in October November and to

Pretend otherwise is to be disingenuous to me and I don’t know how much more I take out of this game than that like the Dolphins are underst staffed by a lot yeah yeah I heard a crazy statistic and it was uh what was it it was three and

Five which is um Drew Brees’s road record right in the playoffs and then it was two and five which is pton Manning’s road record in the playoffs right and those are precision timing offenses led by both those guys and that’s what you want right you want offenses that are

LED in a very high level way by the best player on the field Miami is a Precision Time in offense and so I think the the the takeaway I have after watching that game is you don’t want to play Road games in the playoffs and they had an

Opportunity playing the bills the last game of the season um to kind of make sure that they were in a position to play that game at home because that’s where they’re built to play they want to play in a warm environment and there’s nothing wrong with that part like that

Team structure I just mentioned two players who yeah po of Fame caliber players that were not good on the road in their whole playoff career one of the best quarterback they played yeah they played in domes I guess pton and Denver but yeah but you know what I’m saying like that and I

Think there’s something to that like when you are a precision timing offense with a quarterback who doesn’t have a cannon for an arm which is a lot of quarterbacks in the NFL this is going to be the result I also think you know you get so much from that Miami offense

Elevation in terms of scheme in the Run game sometimes I I think after watching that Detroit game sometimes you just got to line up put your put your mouthpiece in and be like hey we’re going to beat you and I think that’s something that is again we’ll talk about that when we get

To the Detroit game but it it’s you can’t overvalue that kind of physical identity you can’t always find the perfect angles you can’t always find the perfect setup um to to maximize and I think they do lean on that quite a bit um Miami does and rightfully so they got

They got The Playmakers in the scheme to get that done but that was that was the thing I took away is like this is this is they’re not built most teams are not built to play in weather games like this and I think it’s a credit to Andy Reid

To kind of always keeping the ability to run the football in the bag you know you always got to have it you always got to be able to do it a high level kudos to Isaiah pachenko like the way he runs is perfect for that just violent as hell

And no one wants to tackle him and make that game feel like it’s negative 100 because he’s running so hard so yeah and you always get playoff Pat too who runs more he only had two carries in the game but he has that big 28 yard Scamper the

Other one’s a 13 Yer um you know Clyde Edwards Air has seven carries and that a three- yard average but you just you know they ran it 34 times yeah now granted they threw at 41 they ran a billion plays but um the other thing I think you take away is like the

Chiefs are a real Contender still but it’s because they have one of the best defenses in the league like they’re so good on that side of the ball they’re physical um the Tyreek Hill getting jammed by lerus Snee where he doesn’t even get off the line and then uh Tyreek

Quote tweeting it afterward saying he jammed my ass to canun um pretty funny um but like that’s who they are um and it’s Chris Jones and Company up front they’ve dudes who play hard as hell on the back end their linebackers are solid they’re just a good they’re just a good

Defensive football team and I think like I’m glad you brought the defense up lots of young pieces that have developed there outside of Chris Jones the secondary I’ve heard that defense is really hard to learn they’ve got the coaches in place and we’re always trying to bring it back to the commanders right

They’ve got good coaching that have developed and coached this scheme up to maximize the guys they got in the back end right and I think that’s so important it’s like you can’t rely on the big free agent spash you got to develop guys and I think that defense is

A perfect understanding of developing guys and look at look at the the leading receiver I think for Kansas City’s a rookie right yeah rashy rice yeah like getting a rookie player in there to make plays for you it’s it’s a big deal and I think you’re seeing you saw with Houston

You’re seeing it with uh with Kansas City one of the kind of The Perennial powerhouses is Youth Development on a roster and it’s um you know you think of spags over the years by the way like think about what he did internally with the guys he developed in New York back

In the day manura Justin Tuck like those guys were all inhouse yeah and I think like you know we didn’t even mention uh gosh the linebacker for Houston who had the two pick sixes like he was a guy a developmental linebacker that has now developed and he’s making a ton of plays

For you so it it just it shows you just how important if you want to make a playoff contending team it’s not just Talent acquisition it’s talent development and then teaching that Talent how to execute in that scheme which I think is Kansas City’s defense is the perfect model for that yeah

Talking about Christian Harris had the one of pick six and Steven Nelson had the other one the DB but I think Harris was like had the pressure on that play or something like that yeah like he had a great game but again a developmental guy that no one was sure how he’d pan

Out but you get Dem o Ryan with him and and a good defensive staff and you get something better which I think again in the context of the commanders this GM hire’s big deal right Adam Peter’s big deal but it’s it’s the ne the next

Couple hires are going to be huge so of course uh and sorry to C you off but Scott Pei on that when he called in said understanding that it’s the coach’s team is something that you see here as well too so for sure um same thing in Green

Bay by the way um they realize that Matt laflor is that dude and he has built uh incredible incredible team um 4832 the final score um Dallas just Dak was awful early in this game the defense was awful early in this game and really the defense never got better Dak got a lot

Better Dak second half was pretty impressive actually um it’s not going to help him in terms of the narrative case nor is it going to help the $59 million cap hit that he has set to incur for them next season and they’ll I’m sure try to work on a restructure or

Something um but McCarthy’s job up in the air for sure um I think part of the reason it was up in the air is because Jerry Jones really doesn’t want to lose Dan Quinn to be a head coach somewhere else now it’s like well do we want to

Really replace Mike McCarthy uh with Dan Quinn whose defense just gave up 48 points in a playoff game yeah um that’s a yikes man what did you see in this one so I think the thing that took out to me just rewatching it this morning was just

You know how good love was and again love love in specific situations and again he’s sat for a year he developed we’re going to say this word at nauseum got develop guys right but a couple of their biggest plays early in the game are off schedule him just buying a

Little time this this vaunted pass rush of the Dallas Cowboys wins he buys a little time makes the guy Miss bits a huge huge completion on third down that’s two consecutive third Downs he does that on so obviously there’s the X’s and O’s there’s the you know this

Kyle Shanahan offense that I think Matt laflor does an excellent job of executing right but it’s also getting those guys like the jimmies and Joe’s right is so important and they talk about developing young Talent they have two rookie team in the league two rookie tight ends young receivers like all of

Them are under like 23 years old it’s crazy to look at insulating the offensive line leaning on Aaron Jones when you have to great job then defensively just again they have young pieces that have stepped up in the playoff game and give credit to you want

There um but I I think I think when you look at these and the other thing about that that Green Bay team is there were a lot of different targets there’s a lot of different targets in the Houston game there’s a lot of different targets offensively that they can go to and when

You compare that to the Dallas Cowboys right with CD lamb who is a little bit off right that connection which has been so good for them is a little bit off early in the game and all of a sudden the offense looks terrible you know like

Lean on other people and I think that’s what not having a true a true one in Green Bay forced Jordan love to do a little bit was like hey I got to distribute the ball and in this game it was extremely important and extremely powerful because it it led to a very

Productive offensive day for them so yeah do you think that was it for McCarthy and Dallas SL let me even ask you let me ask you this this is a better question would you like they’ve won 12 games three straight years and can’t win in the playoffs to me I’m like I’d

Rather take my chances with someone who’s consistently winning 12 games I think I think the team was better this year than they were in the previous couple years I think McCarthy unlocked Dak at a new level they got to figure out the playoff thing but I would not I

Would not move on I would try to be like you know what we’re GNA play the continuity game here um and some stability but Jerry Jones is and I area very different people you know I probably agree with that I think those 12 wins are really hard to come by I

Just think it’s also this is where like having a a GM and coach ation would be really important to me like and so what I mean by that is when you look at when dak’s not going well like can you run the ball and they can’t right they what

Are your other options and I think you know Detroit La there were moments in that game where Matthew Stafford despite his greatness um struggling and they ran the ball really effectively right same thing with Detroit right same thing with Houston all these games where Green Bay

Ran the ball when they had to run the ball and having that as a piece of your identity right and so like I heard something on a podcast yesterday talking about how like not having that kind of bruising imposing Zeke Elliot type Runner negatively affects them offensively and I think kind of saying

Hey is there somebody we can bring in you know maybe it’s Derrick Henry that lets us stay efficient when we got to have it um it’s a conversation that again the GM and the coach have to have and say like this is an area where we’re

Weak we have to kind of prepare for these contingencies but I do agree Mike McCarthy seems like the guy that you would bet on it’s hard to win 12 games in the NFL now you got to win playoff games but I think like this is a Personnel Jimmy and Joe’s Talent

Development situation again for them where they don’t have anybody outside of CD lamb really they they have people on the roster but no one that Dak felt comfortable going to obviously Ferguson late in that game but um but I think I think that’s something I would look at

As like how what are some other ways we can win football games if dak’s not playing at an MVP caliber level right um I do think though if they do move on belich becomes real interesting there like that is one of the that is one of the fits where I’m actually like no

That’d be a good idea cuz the roster is built um and you know obviously that’s been the problem for belich the last couple years all right uh Rams Lions this is probably game of the weekend this one was phenomenal phenomenal football game super stressful um but the

Lions I mean really this comes down to the Lions converted in the Red Zone the Rams didn’t that’s the football game 100% And defensively they stood up when they had to um but you see that Red Zone execution like a lot of that is really

And this is red like I think I think offensive coordinating matters in the Red Zone more than anywhere else on the field because you have to create in a way that you can just kind of rely on the space and guys to win um in other

Areas of the field and Ben Johnson put on a clinic uh down there in the red zone and 2423 they ultimately get it done I I totally agree I think you know that’s that’s the main point of the game but I think you just see you know Ben

Johnson obviously a guy on the on the candidate list here um there at least been reporter on the candidate list here and I think the thing I took away from that game from his perspective is man that roster that offense is good man that offense has a lot of pieces

Offensive line they’re excellent running back excellent receivers they’ve again some guys have come along and I think that is the scheme elevation but Sam lorta excellent right am Ross Brown just excellent you know and I think like that you know when you’re building a team like like Detroit and obviously Dan

Campbell in the GM there worked really hard on that Brad Hol shout out to him I don’t care how good of a coach you are you got to get the talent in place and I and I think to your point like Johnson deserves a ton of credit Dan Quinn

Deserves a ton of credit Dan Dan Campbell excuse me deserves a ton of credit like they’re in the low red it’s fourth and one they throw a pass to Sam leap Porter for a touchdown in a man that play is so cool like they get they

Find a way with motion or with like a little shift in Personnel to get a guy who has no business being in coverage on Sam leapa yeah and it’s easy yeah stealing and I think like it’s part of again like your identity and playing against expectations like I think

Everybody expects them to run the football down there and they’re like nope we’re going to shift to this we’re going to get in a bunch with our tight ends who again great job in Talent acquisition finding guys that can win in one-on-one situations at a high level

And that you you find good matchups that way and again that’s talent that’s coaching that’s getting that dude who is an excellent football player in Sam laporta so and I I even think about Gibbs like we can’t like leave this game not talk about Gibbs like there’s a

Couple check Downs in this game where it’s a 5y nothing play he turns it into an 18 yard 15 yard explosive first down keeping the offense on schedule and so like while that while that decision was much beline like he’s a good football player that elevates that offense and

But they knew what they wanted and I think that’s they knew what they needed and I think that’s the overall takeaway when we talk about Peters and the next head coach and like what peoli said to me last week in terms of do you have that fit and that understanding between

Front office and talent acquisition and Coach is like do you know what you need they needed that player they needed jir Gibbs um and they went out and got him um they knew they needed Sam laap Porter they went out and got him um they’re not just like ah who’s the best player

Available on Mel Kyper board um or on our own board it’s like we’re building a board to make sure that we get the dudes that we want um and we’ve got these things in place and we need this other thing but it for them the thing that I

Think is common with a lot of these teams is like they they got they started on the o line um they have at least I feel like a lot of these teams also have like at least one Elite offensive lineman and that helps the rest of your

Guys a lot like whether’s laramy tunel in Houston uh pan Su and Detroit like if you can have one it makes the other Four’s job a lot easier I mean that was for years here like I really don’t know how great like obviously Sheriff was great Morgan when he was healthy was

Really good like having Trent as the anchor on that left side it made everyone else’s job so much easier and I think that is that is something that we should we’re going to do like a how they built it podcast kind of if you will um NPR don’t come after us for the

Trademark on the the how they built it but like how they built it Contender Edition uh next week when we’re down to four teams and I I wonder how many of those teams wind up with with that like they have one all pro level offensive lineman who makes everyone else’s job

Way easier yeah no I think that’s a great that’s a great idea because I think like when you look at Houston’s o line it’s not like oh my gosh they’ve got five murderers they’ve got laremy tunel who’s maybe the best protecting left left tackle in football not the

Best tackle but he’s very good at that one thing he takes miles Garrett out of the game with an excellent performance and deserves so much credit but it it helps those other guys kind of settle in find good matchups you get a bunch of double teams over there which is awesome

So um yeah man and I think you know Sean McVey ton of credit and you talk about Talent acquisition and identifying guys like I’m sure everyone’s seen that thing about puka AA right yeah that was incredible the video where it’s like his his vision for that player was so strong

And now he didn’t he probably didn’t think he’s going to you know break all these rookie records but right like and you know again like I was listening to something the other day where it’s like the reason you get excited if you’re the commanders about Adam Peters is he’s

Worked with Kyle who has a very clear vision of what he wants and what he needs for an offense and you see that also with Shawn right and all of the people that come off of his tree he’s got a very clear vision of the type of

Skill set that he wants and is valuable in that system and then now you as the talent of value waiter can go out and say I think this guy does it the best player X who’s going to be a fourth round pick does it the best let’s target

That guy in that round and make sure we make that happen for our head coach so I think that’s where where again like there like with like with Kyle you know puka nakua or not puka nakua Debo Samuel Brandon auk guys George KD’s a fourth round pick like guys that again fit what

You need offensively and it makes a better product and I think like again Sean his relationship with the GM there you see that’s a young team it’s a very young roster but they have an elite like Matt Stafford is amazing like watching him is awesome very good at football and

Then all the young pieces that they’ve identified and inserted and and and got growth from and I think that’s like again like what makes that so so impressive and it’s it I it feels like a very common theme a lot of offensive Playmakers right a lot of different ways

For for those winning sides guys have developed and a very clear vision of what we need like think about like Sam lorta tough hardworking L football like could that be more of a Detroit Player and then that’s all the guys on that offense right they very very clear

Vision there too so no doubt all right uh Steelers and bills I I don’t think there’s a ton to talk about here like Steelers they’re especially without TJ watt like they didn’t have a chance um you know elite players matter a lot and TJ watt went their record with and

Without him is pretty remarkable um we obviously see what happens with Tomlin uh because if he if Tomo becomes available you bet your bottom dollar that the commanders are going to want to talk to him um so we’ll we’ll see on that uh and then Eagles and Buccaneers

Um man I know you want to talk about the Eagles and and what fell apart there um shout out to the Bucks uh playing well and and Canalis and that offense doing great things um but for Philadelphia just a sad end um Jason Kelce retiring

Like this this is the end of an era in Philadelphia in some ways you know we’ll see how how they can replace him and they still have the rest of that o line um but I mean no AJ Brown Jaylen just did not look good in the latter half of

This season like I’d be nervous if I was in Philly with him um which I hate because he seems like an A+ dude but um it’s it’s not pretty um and that defense was something even worse than that that defense was horrendous the last seven weeks of the season and uh if serani

Keeps his job he’s going to have new coordinators probably for the second straight year put it that way um but what what do you take out of Philly’s collapse yeah I mean I think the thing and we’ve talked about this off air quite a bit and so I think the thing

That people forget about Philly is they lost both their coordinators and coaching is important in maximizing Talent like it just is and I think I look at what they how they changed from last year to this year specifically offensively and to me that that regression I don’t want to say was

Inevitable but it felt like it was always just around the corner next game like it never was super clean early in the season and Jaylen Herz was playing out of his mind and so the second there’s a little bit of a hiccup from him right the second teams kind of

Figure out the patterns a little bit better like there was just nowhere to go with the football and so much of what they did last year was built on kind of this principle that you see was San Fran we’re going to run the ball we’re going to get simple coverage structures we’re

Going to really lean on our on the best group position group on the field which is the offensive line and that’s what we’re going to do and I think there was a departure from that you know with the new c um and Ganon you know I think his departure is significant like that

Defense was never super Dynamic right they were very kind of solid and straightforward but obviously he was coaching it at a very high level to maximize those guys so you know it’s looking at it from a commander perspective it just shows you like you can have all the talent in the world but

If you don’t have the coaches that are putting those guys in the right right situations to be successful and continuing to Foster that growth from those players you’re going to see a pretty heavy duty regression and there are very very few players that are scheme proof you know that are that are

Coaching proof and what I mean by that is like you know Trent Williams can play in outside zones Gap scheme whatever right he’s that’s what makes him him right but you know Tyler palumbus who shout out to 2012 was excellent was excellent in that kind of Zone read

Heavy play action pass system but couldn’t do it in other systems because like he was insulated in his very specific way in that system so I look at that and I kind of say like that’s what you you’re seeing here is guys leaving what was working not developing the

Talent in a safe environment much like the Baltimore did with Lamar Jackson like they stayed with uh Roman for a little bit longer than I think a lot of people wanted I think to make sure that he was ready to go Lamar Jackson and then now Lamar’s Lamar and I think they

Thought Herz was maybe a little bit accelerated they changed their offensive identity and to me this is this is the result yeah this is the result yeah um I just stick with what works don’t ever overthink it that’s that’s where football coaches get themselves in trouble all the time and and certainly

This is an example of that and we’ll see just how much trouble um you could wind up depending on what happens in Pittsburgh Dallas Philly you could wind up with as many job openings basically from uh playoff teams did uh in the immediate aftermath of the season um I I

Guess some of them stacked up eventually and obviously there’s there’s ultimately eight with some of the ones that opened during the season as well but um you could have a ton of of open so we’ll see uh with how that goes and obviously that’s a big deal for Washington because

That’s going to affect the market of where these top guys want to go um but right now Washington I think is the best job available and we’ll see if that is true by you know this afternoon uh when when some of the owners in some of these

Places or whatever Tomlin wants to do um you know figure out that that future all right again Adam Peters press conference 2:00 today on 1067 the fan of the team 980 reaction for me on the radio at 4 for we’ll probably talk a little bit

About it on the second pod this week as well um this week is still a little crazy with the schedule because of the holiday but our plan moving forward for the offseason record on Mondays and Wednesdays released Tuesday Thursday mornings um sometimes you know if there’s stuff that’s happening you might

Do a bonus pod so make sure that you’re subscribed to not miss anything that we do here at take commit uh that’ll do for our show today for Logan Paulson I am Craig hoffen and we’ll see you next time on take command thanks for watching this

Clip of take command first why don’t you why don’t you like it it lets other people know that it was good and then they should watch it too and Logan we have a new exclusive home for full episodes we do 1067 the fans YouTube page go check it out and please

Subscribe yeah do do what Logan said do very very smart