Talk Commanders

Imagine, if you will, two networks fighting over rights to cover a WFT game (with apologies to Rod Serling.) It is not a fiction show although it was unthinkable a few weeks ago. CBS had the rights to the Washington vs. Baltimore game at 1 p.m. since before the season. The 1 p.m. slot is where the networks and League place the lower-rated games. At 4 pm the higher rated games are shown to larger audiences. Lo’ and behold the Burgundy and Gold upset the script by becoming something unimaginable; relevant. NBC runs the enormously successful Sunday Night Football franchise. It wanted to get this game from CBS and “flex” it into SNF. No dice. CBS will keep it, send it’s top crew of Jim Nance, Tony Romo, and Tracy Wolfson, and present it as the featured game of the week. Washington football has arrived nationally. If that feels disorienting, that’s ok. It’s enough of a sea state change to cause confusion.

The Washington Commanders crushed the Cleveland Browns to put Washington at 4-1 after Sunday’s win. The Commanders are still in sole possession of first place in the NFC East as the calendar has moved into October. Washington is 4-1 for the first time since 2008. The Commanders have already matched their entire 2023 season win total and have won consecutive games by a combined 49 points. The NFL season is now nearly 30 percent complete.

The Commanders also have the bragging rights as Jayden Daniels is the top rated rookie quarterback in the NFL with a 72.8 QBR. He is 4th overall for all quarterbacks with that QBR rating. Daniels leads all NFL quarterbacks in completion percentage at 77.1 percent and fourth overall of all NFL quarterbacks in passer rankings at 106.2. On the FOX game broadcast today, the TV booth was discussing Daniels as a legitimate MVP candidate.

Life comes at you fast. But, football fortunes come and go even faster. That sound you hear in the background is the accumulation of WFT fans hard at work on the old Bandwagon. After a tough first week the faithful were resigned to a season of pure disappointment. New faces were going to produce the same sad results. Three weeks later the emotions meter is now hard against the opposite peg on the gauge. Jayden Daniels appears to be the real deal. He is the NFL’s “Player of the Month” on Offense. The offensive production numbers are staggering. Pundits have gone off the rails in praise. If not satisfied with the level of praise from one analyst, keep looking. Another will up the ante. One went so far as to say that young Daniels was the best player in the entire league. Yes, the same league with Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen. And, yes, after all of four games. The fanbase collectively resembles a dog when first released from a kennel. Shot from the guns the pups invariably run willy nilly, hither and yon burning off pent up energy. It’s all so exciting! Hey, let’s pump the brakes just a little bit.

The Chicago Cardinals originated in 1898 making the franchise the League’s oldest.

Exorcising demons is a messy business. After witnessing systemic organizational failure for 25 years the inclination is to disregard any positive. As one fan put it, “Any bright spot was simply cover for the Dan Snyder rot that lay within.” An old song said that the first cut was the deepest. But, those heal with the faintest of scars. When sliced repeatedly the accumulation of scars leaves a mosaic of hardened, nearly impenetrable shielding. To come out from behind it and expose oneself again is a tall ask. So, if you look at Monday night’s startling performance against a high-caliber team with folded arms, a cocked head, and doubts aplenty that would be understandable. On the other hand, if you found yourself excited again after all these years, that would be equally understandable.

Last Sunday’s win was a Rorschach Test of sorts for the WFT fanbase. What you saw depended on your frame of reference. Even those wearing the most rose-colored glasses could not help but notice gaffes and deficiencies aplenty. Then again, a win is still a win. There is no column in the NFL standings for “Style Points.” Both teams were in a spot where a loss meant a quick relegation to insignificance. Nothing was expected of the Washington squad this year except a vague notion of “improvement.” Patience will be an important staple. Forget that notion for a New York team…any New York team. Between the media in general, the back page cover of the New York Post, and the fans there exists nary a bit of patience. This was a good week to be anyone else but Giants’ Head Coach Brian Daboll.

The NFL gives us a couple of notable Mondays. One is the notorious “Black Monday” that comes after the last game of the season. Coaching staffs are unceremoniously taken to the curb. Some get recycled, most go to the trash bin. Many of them continue to get paid by the people firing them. In a game of win or lose the penalty for losing is swift in coming. The other notable Monday is after the first slate of games in the season. That’s known as “Overreaction Monday.” Fanbases are either searching for Super Bowl tickets and accommodations or are already resigned to depression. After 25 years of angst and despair the veneer of hope over the WFT fanbase is never going to be more than an Angstrom thick. So, it was no surprise that the loss against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was regarded by many as “Same Old, Same Old.”

The rebuilt WFT is set to embark on a transition year. Nothing about this will be particularly easy. Of the 17 games on the schedule only 7 are against teams that had losing records last year. Eight games are against teams that made the playoffs last year. And then, two are against teams with winning records that did not make the playoffs. Four games against the NFC East dominating Cowboys and Eagles are one thing. The other is the four games against the best division in football, the AFC North. Remarkably all four of those teams had winning records last year. This could be a rough ride. There’s no sense in starting on such a daunting journey with a cupcake. Tampa will be all the test this young squad will want…and more.

Anyone who has worked a night shift, spent a restless night camping, or waited in the chill for the first rays of light on a hunting trip knows that the last hours of darkness are the longest, coldest, and most trying. The fans of the Washington Football Team know this more intimately than most. It isn’t necessary to list all of the sins committed by former team owner Dan Snyder. There simply aren’t enough column-inches to do the task justice. Nor is there any need to punish the faithful by reliving a tranche of transgressions. But, the one constant in Snyder was a total inability or desire to learn from mistakes and failure. Behaviors and decision-making never changed despite horrific headwinds. It was a quarter-century of worse-than-awful. Imagine then being one Josh Harris. The ownership transferred in May. With the wicked warlock dead, the munchkins dancing jubilantly, and pall lifted from the land he had to do the least palatable thing imaginable: Sit on his hands and wait.