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The Washington Commanders defeated the Miami Dolphins in their first preseason game of the NFL season and while many may look at these games as meaningless, Head Coaches like Dan Quinn use these games to evaluate and finalize roster spots for the regular season. Kevin Sheehan reacts to Dan Quinn's comments on the big takeaways from the Commanders' performance in the preseason and how that factors into future roster decisions.
Transcript
00:00We played a little bit of Dan Quinn's sound from earlier in the show, and if you missed it, I'll
00:05play what he said about the kicking competition and about Jaden and the preseason games.
00:12But this was Quinn earlier this morning talking about the two running backs, Katron Allen and Robert Henry Jr. from
00:21their performance Friday night against the Dolphins.
00:24And what have you seen from the two rookies beyond the preseason game, Katron and Robert?
00:30Yeah, I like a number of things like they're different in terms of play style, but they're both eager in
00:36terms of how they want to do things.
00:39You know, can they make an impact on special teams? So seeing Rob on the return side, seeing Katron as
00:44a lead blocker and the kickoff return side, I thought they've made an improvement in pass protection.
00:50So that's the stuff. And although Katron had a drop, I thought, in the game, like he's got really good
00:56hands.
00:56He's demonstrated both of them can catch. And so that's a big deal because now there are well-rounded guys.
01:01They've got pass protection down. They've both got good hands coming out of the backfield.
01:05And so there's more reps and getting a chance to go do it.
01:09Yeah, he did drop a pass, but that was not an issue for him at Penn State.
01:14Right. Robert Henry Jr., Jr., we talked about his performance on the show yesterday.
01:20You know, it's very clear given the number of touches he got, you know, as a running back, 12 carries
01:28for 75 yards.
01:29And then the fact that they had him both on kickoff and on punt returns, there was a sense that
01:36this guy is he's got something.
01:39And we got to see if he can do it on special teams as well.
01:43They put Jerome Ford on the injured list.
01:47Right now, Jeremy McNichols is banged up and on the injured list.
01:51They signed Craig Reynolds from Detroit.
01:57I guess there's a possibility that the four backs on opening day could be Bill Krosky-Meritt, Rashad White, Katron
02:06Allen, and Robert Henry Jr.
02:09With Robert Henry Jr. potentially being a guy that starts on kickoff returns.
02:14If they'd have four backs active on game day, that seems like a bit of a reach.
02:20But Ford really, I thought, you know, as much as you can, you know, get anything out of a preseason
02:29environment, it was very clear he's a very natural zone runner.
02:36He's patient.
02:37He's got excellent vision.
02:40He's got burst.
02:41He's got really good feet.
02:43He's got a really good cut and then followed with a burst once he sees it.
02:48And I think Katron Allen, I liked him at Penn State, and this is one preseason game.
02:52I'm surprised that any back in the – there's no way any back in the league got 23 carries in
02:58the preseason.
02:59Did Katron Allen lead the league in carries over the weekend?
03:02That may be a hard thing to do without going box score by box score.
03:06But 23 carries in a preseason game is insane.
03:11Why did he get all those carries?
03:15They wanted to see something from him too.
03:17I don't know if this is a battle for a spot on the team, but I certainly wouldn't be beholden
03:24to a sixth-round pick if I thought that the undrafted player was better.
03:30I mean, we're not talking about protecting a second or a third-rounder.
03:34Katron Allen was picked in the sixth round.
03:36I like Allen, though.
03:37And they're seeing these guys every day in practice.
03:40But the fact that Henry got that opportunity, got 12 carries, and then got the kick and punt returns that
03:48he got tells you that they wanted to see this guy under the lights to see if he could do
03:55it in a game atmosphere.
03:58And, you know, the other part of that is with all of the different guys back there on kickoff returns,
04:03and it's not like they had a bunch.
04:05Jerome Ford was back on one.
04:07Henry was back on another.
04:08The Dolphins only scored once on the opening drive and then had the kickoff to start the second half.
04:14But you wonder if they're also looking because there's a plan maybe to move on from McCaffrey.
04:22This was Quinn talking about that early defense against Miami and what he wants to do to correct it.
04:33I know you guys weren't happy with the first defensive drive from the preseason game.
04:37Correct.
04:39What did you see from that?
04:41What do you want to correct this week?
04:42I just didn't love kind of the urgency that we played with.
04:47You know, it just wasn't, like, as downhill and aggressive that I saw from the practice, and so I wanted
04:52to see more of that.
04:54So, you know, third downs, you know, obviously, you know, allowed a conversion.
04:58So it just didn't feel as, you know, violent and as strong as I'd like to see, you know, from
05:03the unit overall.
05:04And then offensively, I didn't love the way we started the second half.
05:06You know, like, we had a real chance to do some things.
05:08We scored, got a stop, you know, and then having the ball to go back, man, like, could have went
05:13up big into that space and had to punt.
05:15So those are, you know, two points of emphasis for sure, like, starting both halves, you know, being aggressive.
05:22If you missed what he said about the kickers, we played it right at the beginning of the show, but
05:29Drew Stevens is their guy.
05:32Jake Moody was released.
05:34Here's what he said about the competition here in training camp being won by Drew Stevens.
05:39You guys released Jake Moody.
05:41Yeah, I don't know if that definitively means Drew Stevens is the kicker,
05:44but what about Drew Stevens has impressed you this camp?
05:47Yeah, and I thought this was a good competition all the way back from the spring when we had here.
05:51We kicked just about every day from the spring and like two out of three days in these blocks for
05:56training camp.
05:57And both guys, I thought, have had, you know, productive days.
06:00But I thought Drew established himself.
06:03I thought he's kicking it, you know, pure and clean.
06:05And so it is important for him to have the next two games where he gets all the kicks, all
06:10the moments.
06:11And so it was just a good competition.
06:13I thought, you know, earned it.
06:14And so we're moving forward.
06:16Love to see on Saturday, you know, a fourth and seven, fourth and eight at the Detroit 47-yard line.
06:24I'd love to see him trot out Stevens for like a 64-yarder.
06:28Why not?
06:29Indoors, preseason, doesn't matter.
06:31Let's just see the leg.
06:33Or maybe they're hiding it, but I don't think they can hide Drew Stevens.
06:36Everybody knows he had a big leg coming out.
06:39There will be a lot of pressure on Drew Stevens when we get to the 13th.
06:44And it does appear, based on what I've heard, that this is their move.
06:48Unless he completely soils himself in these final two preseason games or, you know, God forbid, gets injured,
06:56he's going to be the kicker on opening day in Philadelphia.
07:02This was Quinn, and we played this and talked about it earlier.
07:05But if you missed it, he was asked about Jaden playing in the preseason.
07:09What have you seen with Jaden Daniels?
07:11Would you be comfortable if he plays zero preseason snaps?
07:15Yes, I'd be comfortable with him and other veterans that have played to go.
07:19But, yeah, we haven't decided in terms of, like, will we or won't we.
07:23We had a joint last week.
07:24He got a lot of reps.
07:25He'll get a lot today and tomorrow going against our defense.
07:28So I'll have a better sense for where everybody is before we make any of those decisions.
07:32But he's thrown, like, an incredible training camp.
07:36His accuracy, his command of it.
07:38A new system, you wouldn't feel like that for him.
07:42But I've been, like, certainly impressed by what I've seen so far by him.
07:46Certainly seems to be leading towards Jaden Daniels not playing in the preseason
07:50and maybe other veteran starters as well.
07:52Rome writes, DQ will get them in that space to go.
07:57That's how he gets down.
08:00Everybody getting ops.
08:02Yeah.
08:03Sounds just like Dan Quinn.
08:05Thank you, Rome, for that.
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