How else would Joe Theismann want to spend his birthday than joining Brian Mitchell and JP Finlay to discuss Jayden Daniels’ NFL debut and the first game of the new Commanders era?
Rhetorical question but the answer was at least true…so what did No. 7 think of Game 1?
“Great to join you on the first Monday of the season, and I hate to say it but things didn't look a whole lot different,” Joe said as he jumped on. “Tampa’s offense getting behind our guys was an issue, and has been and it will be, but this year to me is a little bit different. I think what Dan and Adam are trying to do is you're building a foundation here. I anticipated communication issues because you basically have started half of your football team that hadn't been there, and it takes time to develop cohesiveness and communication, especially when you're on the road. But people seem to get by our secondary a little too frequently for me. I thought our line really put a lot of pressure on Baker at times, just couldn't quite grab him and get him down, and he made some really good plays – you could see the difference in somebody being comfortable in a pocket and, in Jayden's case, not comfortable yet in a pocket. You can see the distinctive difference between experience and youth.”
There has to be a balance between development and success at some point, but in an instant gratification world, the way the NFL just simply is may be part of the problem.
“It’s human nature; Jayden was the pick and everybody knew he had to be the pick, he's a very talented young man and we got a tiny little sample of his athleticism and his abilities in preseason – but we have talked about this, do not take anything out of preseason, because now there is no preseason,” Theismann said. “All preseason is right now is an evaluation process for coaches to figure out how to fill out a 53-man roster, and usually, all you’re looking for is a handful of spots and practice squad. This is gonna require patience and time, and it's something that we haven't seen here; since I got hurt in ’85, I believe there are 43 different starting quarterbacks in Washington over that period of time. We've seen coaches come and go, philosophies and players change, but unless you have stability at that position, you really don't stand a chance to enjoy any degree of success.”
It’s only Game 1, but Theismann thinks the Commanders are on the right track – now it’s about continuing down it.
“I think Jayden is going to be a wonderful foundation. He has the athleticism, and now we have to watch him grow into playing the position,” Joe said. “His footwork, he was rushed yesterday, and this is really the first time he’s seen the speed of the game, the pressure you're going to be under, and the awkwardness that you have to be able to make plays trying to get the ball out of your hands. It takes time to figure out who's supposed to be where, and you can sit and study all the film you want, but then coaches are going to make adjustments to you. Now we're starting to get into the little nuances of the game, but foundationally, I think it was important that Jayden had a chance to see himself on film and be able to evaluate his reads, his delivery, and his footwork and he has to be honest with himself and say, ‘these are the areas where I need to improve.’”
So that said, what did Joe think of Jayden’s debut proper and what he saw?
“I thought there were times that he made some good throws, I thought he showed a degree of composure at times in the pocket with a lot of things going on around him, and to me, he felt pressure but he didn’t see it, and I thought he protected the ball well,” Joe said. “It was sort of hard to evaluate because he was the leading rusher by like 40 yards, and you're not gonna make a living in this business and you're not gonna survive if you're going to be the leading rusher. You play the position to throw the football, and I thought there was a foundation to build on where he got the ball out of his hands. When he knew what he wanted to do with the football, we could see what it looked like. Now, it's a question of building on that, knowing what you want to do with the football. I want to see how people handle adversity, and now he knows the speed of the game.”
A steep learning curve indeed, which is why Theismann doubled down on an earlier trope.
“When people asked me about Jayden in the beginning of the year, I said very simply I wanted to start 17 football games, so he can continue to accumulate knowledge to get better and better and better at his trade,” Theismann said. “You have to be accountable to yourself, number one, and then you have to be accountable to your teammates. Every guy in that locker room has to look at that film and say, ‘how can I get better at what I do?’ Coaches can guide them, but they’re the ones who have to work harder and implement it.”
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