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  • The Deafening Silence Around the Montez Sweat and Chase Young Trades

    It’s been four weeks since the Commanders traded away their two star defensive ends. Since those trades the Commanders pass rush has fallen off a cliff and along with it any hopes of turning around the defense’s performance for the year. We’ve taken keen notice how little the trades have been discussed by the local media, Commander’s fan blogs (Hogs Haven, Riggos Rag, 106.7 the Fan, NBC Sports Washington), etc… Apparently the guys who have opinions on everything related to the team, including the effect of ping pong tables in the locker room, have nothing to say about two major moves that have dramatically changed the outcome of the current season and future seasons to come.

    Since the local media refuses to discuss the monumental trades, we did some digging to find some national perspective. Here’s what we found.

    With Jack Del Rio gone, is Ron Rivera next?

    At this point, we don’t know what will happen. We do know that owner Josh Harris is “disappointed and frustrated” by the team’s record. We also know that the Commanders traded away two key defensive players, Chase Young and Montez Sweat, which naturally will contribute to a more disappointing and frustrating record.

    I keep hearing a lot of talk about accountability, well maybe someone should look at the guy who traded away two young stars, who are significantly improving their new teams, got very little in return, and has caused our defense to fall off a cliff.

  • Checking in on the Montez Sweat Trade

    Checking in on how the Montez Sweat trade is going for the Bears.

    How Montez Sweat Has Changed the Bears’ Pass Rush

    “Montez Sweat arrived in the Windy City at the trade deadline and instantly made an impact on the Chicago Bears’ defense. In four games, Sweat has generated 2.5 sacks and 18 pressures. But his impact goes well beyond the individual stats. Sweat’s presence forces opponents to send help his way, creating one-on-one opportunities for other Bears defenders.“

    The Bears sure do appear to have found a gem in Sweat. I wish the Commanders could acquire some talent like that, maybe one day.

  • Checking in on the Chase Young Trade

    Checking in on how the Chase Young trade is going for the 49ers.

    49ers defense ranks No. 1 in points allowed

    “Since acquiring defensive end Chase Young, the team boasts a perfect 3-0 record. The defense managed 10 sacks out of 62 total pressures during their losing streak. That statistic has escalated to 22 sacks out of 79 total pressures since, reflecting a substantial jump in sack percentage (16.1% vs. 27.8%).“

    The 49ers sure do appear to have found a gem in Young. I wish the Commanders could acquire some talent like that, maybe one day.

  • Revisiting the Chase Young and Montez Sweat Trades After the Dallas Loss

    The Washington Commanders were 3-5 four weeks ago when they decided to become sellers, defying even the most aggressive of predictions they traded Chase Young to the 49ers for a conditional 2024 third round pick. As PFF noted at the time:

    “Young is playing the best football of his professional career in 2023. His 79.7 pass-rush grade is a career-high, as is his 18.2% pass-rush win percentage. It’s hard to believe a conditional third-round pick is all the Commanders could get for Young, who is on pace for a career year.“

    Much to everyone’s surprise they had already moved Montez Sweat to the Chicago Bears for a second round pick. As the Athletic noted

    “Sweat was leading the Commanders and is tied for eighth in the NFL with 6 1/2 sacks this season. Sweat, a first-round pick out of Mississippi State in 2019, is one of seven players with at least five sacks in each of the last five seasons: Montez Sweat, Myles Garrett, T.J. Watt, Khalil Mack, Maxx Crosby, Brian Burns, and Chris Jones”

    The Commanders defense struggled mightily early in the year, but one area where they hadn’t struggled was in sacks, they were ranked sixth at the time of the trades and since then they have fallen off a cliff. Now we’re not football geniuses here at WFT4LIFE, but we tend to think that trading away the part of your defense that’s working isn’t the best way to improve.

    This past week the Cowboys put a 45-10 beating on the Commanders, the win was entirely predictable. While fans and the local media have been quick to cast blame on everyone and everything, they have been noticeably quiet about discussing the trades and the impact the front office had by making them. It’s tough to start selling assets, a nice way of saying you quit on the season, and then chastise players for a lack of results. If the front office didn’t want to be embarrassed on national TV then maybe they should have been more judicious with their decision making.

    Ironically a Cowboys reporter has talked about our team’s trade impact more than any of the local media, the trades that shall not be discussed. It’s really really bizarre.

    Ed Werder has this to say:

    “It seems worth noting that Washington was a poor defensive team made worse by the organization trading starting defensive ends Chase Young and Montez Sweat at the deadline.”

  • Commander’s Defensive Coordinator Jack Del Rio Fired

    Jack Del Rio was fired along with his defensive back coach Brent Vieselmeyer. We took a look back at his numbers over the years. Del Rio’s first season with the Commanders was 2020, the defense finished top five in yards per game and points allowed, it regressed in 2021 to 22nd in yards per game and 25th in points per game, then rebounded to 3rd and 7th in 2022. 2023 has been an absolute dumpster fire, with the exception of being 6th in sacks prior to the Sweat and Young trades, there hasn’t been much to appreciate.

    Despite the insistence of some of the local media and fans, Jack wasn’t a dinosaur running an out of date defense that didn’t work in the modern NFL. He actually ran a base package that included the Buffalo Nickel, a hybrid position that is explained well here. While Del Rio was up and down, he obviously was a capable coach, and his firing appears to be more about holding someone accountable than his ability to get the job done. It’s also worth noting that whenever the local media covers the defense they’re eerily quiet about the organization trading away its two best pass rushers. Perhaps that would be a good question for the next press conference, who decided to trade them, and do they still think it was a good decision? I can’t imagine Pittsburgh trading away TJ Watt, Cleveland trading Myles Garrett, SF trading Bosa and expecting the defense to improve, and while neither Sweat or Young may have been on that level, certainly the two of them combined would be comparable if not more impactful.

  • The Commanders Fall to the Giants

    The Washington Commanders fell to the Giants 31-19 this past Sunday. It marks a two game slide for the Commanders who are 1-2 since they traded away their star defensive ends Sweat and Young. In a move reminiscent of the Daniel Snyder era, ownership interfered with football operations and traded away the star defenders. The local media and fanbase seem to be giving the Harris group quite the pass on this move, whether it’s because they’re jubilant to have anyone but Snyder or afraid to call a spade a spade isn’t clear, but it hasn’t worked out well. Despite being a top 10 team in pressures and sacks with Young and Sweat, the team had one sack in two games going into Sunday. You can read more about that here, SI did a pretty good job explaining it.

    The Giants meanwhile were 1-5 and there were rumors they would offload their star running back, Saquon Barkley, however they didn’t do that and it paid off handsomely this past week. Saquon was brilliant with 140 total yards, 14 rushes for 83 yards, 4 receptions for 57 yards and two touchdown receptions. Despite having their third string quarterback starting, the Giants were able to take advantage of wild blitz schemes designed to create pressure and generate enough points to win.

    The Commanders played awful, they had 6 turnovers on the day and simply looked defeated. One has to wonder how much of that can be attributed to the psyche of the team. While the media and fanbase haven’t talked about it much, when you trade away great players, you’re basically giving up on the season and apparently that message from the top has come down to the players. Losing is a disease and it’s contagious, that’s another storyline that we’ll write about soon.

  • Don’t Fire Ron, Fire Ron’s Haters Out of a Cannon.

    Look, I’m not 100% in love with Ron either, but the delusion is running strong with Commanders fans. We’ve seen this before fire Bill Callahan, fire Jay Gruden, fire Mike Shanahan, fire Jim Zorn, fire Joe Gibbs, fire, fire, fire…

    You see what we need to do to win is fire our coach, that will fix it. We’re going to hire a GM, this mythical savant, who knows football, they’re going to come here, hire a great head coach, another mythical savant, and then life will be good again. Especially when this mythical savant hires a defensive coordinator, another mythical savant, and we will dominate the competition. Don’t forget an analytics guy, because everyone knows that nobody is better at coaching football than nerds. I mean Ron’s been here for four seasons now, and he hasn’t fixed anything, well except for having the highest winning percentage of any football coach since Joe Gibbs 16 years ago.

    I can see the job listing now. Wanted awesome head coach to come to a franchise that fires coaches every four years, must love analytics and nerds, and be willing to put up with ownership scorching you on Twitter after every loss.

    I’ve got a different idea, maybe we could admit that although we’re not happy with their current performance, Ron knows how to coach football, Jack Del Rio certainly knows how to coach defenses, and EB has been one of the premier offensive coordinators in the league. We have a good coaching staff, certainly more proven than any staff that’s going to be available this off-season and let’s give them some space to keep working.

  • We’re 1-0 This Week, it’s time for Ashburn Syndrome.

    Ashburn Syndrome is a derogatory term for positive and realistic Washington Commanders fans who understand under all this mess lies a real gem of a football team. The WFT is undefeated this week, so let’s show our pride, left hand up, sing it loud and proud.

  • Washington Commanders Beat the New England Patriots 20-17

    For the first time since 09/28/2003 the Washington Commanders beat the New England Patriots. The Commanders only won by three but their play was far more dominant, they controlled the ball on offense dominating time of possession 37:10 to 22:50, outgained the Patriots 432 to 327, and were 9 for 17 on third down including a conversion on a brilliant 23 yard scramble by Sam Howell.

    The Patriots came out flat and dug themselves into a hole early, down 10-0, the Commanders threw them a lifeline with a Brian Robinson fumble and short field. The rest of the game was a back forth battle that was controlled by Howell and the Commanders offense. One key thing to note today was the Commanders defense got no pressure on Mac Jones, they were clearly missing their two stud defensive ends, Young and Sweat. Apparently addition by subtraction doesn’t work when it comes to QB pressures and sacks.

  • Fans Sign Petition to Bring Back the Washington Football Team Name

    A group of local fans started a petition to change the name back to the Washington Football Team and that petition has gone viral, garnering over 250,000 signatures. To quote one fan, “Why would they change the name when we won the division the first year we were called the Washington Football Team?” The success and storied history under the WFT moniker has many fans clamoring for new ownership to bring it back.