Ben Standig: Do the Commanders Have A Shot?

Let's go ahead. We out on the phone lines right now joining us. Ben standing here from the athletic covers all things commanders. Ben, how are you?

Hey, I'm doing great. Just going along for this ride that nobody expected. So yeah, it's kind of kind of wild times.

So you're correct. Nobody expected. What were your expectations for the commanders coming into this season?

Well, sort of part right of what's happened and part no. I thought Jayden Daniels starting with training camp and preseason looked to be the guy. Now does that mean he's going to be dominant as a rookie? No, because you know typically rookies have ups and downs.

He's showed he's not typical. I thought they would be competitive week in and week out under Dan Quinn. The part that's not discussed so much anymore is how dreadful the culture was under the previous ownership and all that. I thought the guys they brought in and just having the weight of that whole situation removed from them would mean that they would be in these games.

But in terms of wins, the over under was like six and a half. I didn't think that was necessarily wrong, but early in the season that's a crazy start they had when they didn't punt for like three games. You know that was like okay this is something unusual is happening here and you know other than the stretch where Jayden Daniels was hurt it just kind of kept going. Yeah, he's had the had that rib issue in the middle of the season.

Ben standing here with us covers the commanders for the athletic. You talk about Jayden Daniels not a full expectation that he would do this. What has impressed you the most about his play especially he's a rookie? Yeah, I mean I think I'm you know I'm sure it's been you guys have probably heard this but like his poise and composure you know forget an athlete human beings have ups and downs right.

I mean some days are good some days are not some things that aggravate you sometimes you can move on. Nothing seems to ever change with him like never we we've all asked him from the media group and can numerous ways of like uh dude do you ever get rattled you ever get nervous you ever get anything and he he never seems to he's often sort of blase about his own accomplishments the way I've always described it as his demeanor at all times just you know like like he's uh third in line Chipotle waiting to put in an order you wouldn't know through a Hail Mary or you know he was uh getting food like he's just so uh you know chill at all times and that I think at all times and that I think has been such a key for what what is happening here because you know they keep winning in clutch time moments to the point that I think we're all like four minutes to go it's a tie game where they're losing they're he's gonna find a way to win and you know that you know we saw all the physical skills athletic trades at LSU and those have translated and some of the passes are just off the charts accurate and impressive but yeah the composure the poise um especially in crunch time has really just been you know unbelievable well Ben we know that he also led the team in rushing they have Austin Eckler and Brian Robinson there as well are they well I'm not gonna say have they or are they over reliant do they have enough to you know hang in there with the Lions tomorrow of course they're gonna put some points up but is it gonna be enough you think well I've you know given up the idea that they can't do it I think yeah look the traditional running game has been pretty quiet now for a while Brian Robinson who was their leading rusher most of the year he's had some injuries but then like the last four games he's totaled 100 yards um that just hasn't worked and Daniel says there has definitely been some games if you go back and watch the Atlanta game and the regulation and overtime it looked like an NBA player superstar who just says I'm just I have to take over now give me the give me the ball I'm gonna put up the points and make the plays and all that that's what looked like them so yeah to a degree they are a bit over relying on him getting Austin Eckler back a couple weeks ago though I do think is kind of a big deal he hasn't done a ton statistically you could say the last couple weeks but against Tampa Bay he had a pretty huge catch and run on that final drive he had his best run of the game on that final drive I think he's gonna be a pretty key factor in this but they do need to keep running even though again it hasn't really been working in the traditional traditional way but they need to keep doing that both to you know help turn the clock shrink get tight shrink this game as much as they can in terms of the time don't let Detroit have the ball off and you know just have to give Detroit something else to look at so they're not constantly paying attention to Jay Daniels even though obviously they will be well you talk about them having a ball and defense we know that Marshawn Lattimore was finally able to to get going and probably not at at 100 or full strength when you think about the Lions and those wide receivers that they have from Jameson Williams and Amon Ra's St. Brown Marshawn Lattimore he has his work cut out for him how's he been looking how's that defense going to try to slow down the Lions try yeah I mean it's been a tough you know deal for him they acquired him from the Saints at the trade deadline knowing he was dealing with a hamstring he had missed one game at that point missed another four in Washington then was back for two didn't even finish the second game because of the hamstring injury cropped up again he missed two more games and then he's been back um you know the last couple weeks and look he didn't look particularly good against Tampa Bay I mean I think that's fair exactly that was the only game he got back and he only had one practice sort of going full speed that week so it's partly you know the coaches talk about this it's partly unfair to expect him to be the pro ball version we've seen on the other hand this is why they got him here the the reality is they don't you know their rookie Mikey Sanders still has been pretty solid all year but if Lattimore is out they their other quarterbacks are pretty uh inconsistent what we'll kindly call it so you know whatever you're going to bring them he does bring a lot of aggression out there and that helps sometimes in the run defense but yeah they're going to get a big game from him and the Lions don't have this Mike Mike Evans guy they have two guys who can get 100 yards as a touchdown so they'll need him uh you know to at least be a steady presence even if he's not like the pro ball version Ben standing here with us from the athletic you've seen this team all year long didn't expect them to be here how have the fans kind of taken to what they've seen so far this season I know the past couple of seasons there's been some optimism well here are the results under a different regime with a different coach and a quarterback are commanders fans yeah they're here but are they just happy to be here at this moment and just playing with house money um well you know it's funny you know people talk about the all the losing and you know they had a couple years here and there with the RG three year and you know they made the playoffs with Kirk Cousins and things like that and even just in 2020 uh they won a terrible NFCE field with a 7-9 record they made the they won the division but you know they have not been uh particularly good like a real contender and it's one thing to be mad it's another to be apathetic and I think that's what the fans kind of hit the last few years wow with with Ron Rivera but and then they were slow to come out you know even if you're like okay you know fool me you know 16 times you know you know that whole thing and they were slow to come out but slowly but surely as Jayden Daniels and his team kept winning they kind of poked their head out of whatever caves they've been hibernating in and they've gotten into it gotten back into this and yeah now it's like a full-blown love affair uh you know everybody is pretty thrilled I do think most people who are reasonable look at this like this is uh you know it's all gravy at this point because again nobody imagined any of this and the fact that Daniels he doesn't look to get the one-year blip because of Daniels mainly but also the work that Adam Peters GM and Dan Quinn have done so I think this is all being viewed as just I can't believe we're here I'm sure people will be crushed if they were to lose tomorrow but again if you take the bigger picture I've heard they are having most reasonable people be like wow what an unbelievable year well Ben there's so many conversations in the NFL right now surrounding owners guys like Jerry Jones and what's going on with the Cowboys Mark Davis and now having the ears and eyes and brain of Tom Brady out in Las Vegas if Dan Snyder were still in charge or what would this look like would we still have this would he have had to have I don't know struck it rich one time or has the ownership group really changed the vibe and atmosphere of the entire team do I get compensated for PTSD if you bring up Dan Snyder go ahead no no no no chance I mean obviously Jane Daniels has been tremendous but it really is the whole organization um you know what they've been able to to do Josh Harris the owner comes in you know he buys the team officially like the day they start the 2023 training camps there really wasn't anything he could do there and he wisely let it play out they lost their last eight games last season to get the number two pick then he brings in Adam Peters the next year who was like viewers like the hot GM candidate for a few years uh and Peters you know understood the task at hand it wasn't hey we got to go outside a bunch of free agents and try to turn this thing around it was like no no we got to bring in guys who can help rebuild the culture make it clear what's expected of anybody who comes in here in terms of work ethic and you know being together as a team and I know some of these things could sound cliche but none of this existed for the past decade or so um and then you know the guys they brought in specifically like a Bobby Wagner and a Zach Ertz and an Austin Eckler players who've been in you know winning cultures who played on teams and have gone on to you know win a Super Bowl like Wagner or or you know Ertz has played in big moments as well so you know I think all these things from the ownership down really made a difference. If it was Snyder even if they drafted Jaden Daniels the infrastructure around would just still be abysmal and you know we I doubt we'd be singing anything close to this version not because of Daniels because they just wouldn't have been smart enough to know how to put a team around a young guy like that. Yeah not not bad having a new owner in Shawshank not bad having Magic Johnson pop up every now and then too huh must be nice. I remember at that time when we knew that you know it looked like Harris was going to get the team like to get I know Magic Johnson's not the main guy he's the third guy but clearly he's you know the most visible owner when he's around to go from Dan Snyder to Magic Johnson is the ultimate 180.

I mean it is completely the opposite end of the spectrum of how these people you know how the world sees them how people gravitate towards them. He was there after the Tampa game the other day and you know we're all there to cover the team and here's Magic Johnson talking and I'm like you know I'm old enough to have seen him at his peak so you know you're like oh let's go talk to this guy. It's yeah it's an incredibly wild situation that these are the things that you know it's hard to believe almost this is real life here after all the hell for the previous couple decades. So no Magic Johnson knocking on elderly couples to get the season ticket money that he's owed none of that right?

No none of that I mean that's the thing that's like it's not even that they've done anything like you know reinvent the wheel they're just being competent and you know have they have a plan and they're bringing in reasonable people to do the jobs they're letting them do them and you know look it's year more or less year one you know technically year two but year one of of this and you know we'll see what happens over time you know best laid plans and all that but just in terms of like I said running an organization and have it trickle down from there it is just it's almost you know indescribable to explain the difference from what we saw for so many years. I hear that well Ben and and finality here's my final question we're not going to see a game-winning kick by Gonzalez to beat the Lions not tomorrow right? I'll just say this I mean obviously the Lions are favored by a bunch and there's justification they're you know leading scoring team in the league but their defense is pretty beat up I'll just say this is it going to the fourth quarter the Lions better be up like 10 points because if this game is a one score game and Jayden Daniel gets the ball I mean look though five weeks in a row they have won the game on the last play from scrimmage most of that with the offense scoring uh he's just been absolutely clutch all year and I just wouldn't want to be from the Lions I would not want to be in a situation where Jayden Daniels has the ball in the last few minutes of the camp to beat us. Hey you know the commanders they've got to buy the skin of their teeth a lot but here they are we know the Lions they love to gamble let's see what they do Ben thank you so much for the time where can people follow you and all of your work following the commanders for the athletic for listening? Yeah no I appreciate it yeah of course on the athletic I have a story this week I talked to Washington's three Super Bowl winning quarterbacks about Jayden Daniels and how they're watching it after you know all these years of futility waiting for the next guy to come up and you can there I've got podcast last man standing and you can follow me on x twitter whatever you want to call it at Ben standing. Hey Ben thank you so much enjoy the game tomorrow I know we're gonna see some offense and at least everybody inside will be warm all the best we'll catch you down the line okay? I appreciate it thanks.