The Commanders' coaching staff has been filled out, and the assistants on the staff were available to the media this week for the first time – and one of the things that stood out to BMitch & Finlay, at least, is just how many former NFL players, and recent ones at that, are on the staff.
On the defensive side, Darryl Tapp, William Gay, and Sharrif Floyd join Ryan Kerrigan as coaches who were in the league within the last five years, and that group doesn't count three-time Super Bowl champion Ken Norton Jr.
On the offensive side, Bobby Engram has been here, but one assistant is as fresh as it gets in assistant QB coach David Blough, who was on the Lions' practice squad last season.
It's not like the coaches are going to reinvent the wheel here, but simply understanding the evolution of concepts into the modern NFL could be a HUGE boost for the team.
"One assistant coach was telling me yesterday that, we know our scheme, we know where we've got to beat people, and we know where we've got to grind," JP Finlay said Thursday. "But, a lot of this is about leading and doing little things the right way, and how important it is that everybody hits the sled and does drills the same way. If you can play smart and locked in, it just changes so much."
"For the most part, all the teams have the same level of talent, but what happens is whoever makes the least amount of mistakes ends up winning the game," BMitch replied. "It normally comes down to that, so if you practice everything right, if you learn to do everything a certain way at a certain speed consistently, you will make less mistakes than a team that seems to want to take off a lot. When you play against a team where their veterans are always in there and they don't make the mistakes, they normally beat you. Everybody can play at this level, it's about who minimizes mistakes. When you heard me talk last year, it always went back to discipline, because I didn't see it."
Brian of course explained how he extrapolated what he saw on Sundays into that belief, and it all comes back to coaching and their role in making sure things are right.
"Dan Quinn is a polished dude and been a head coach for five seasons. Anthony Lynn and Kliff Kingsbury, these guys have been head coaches, they know what they're doing, and Joe Whitt told us that he's been ready to be a coordinator for almost a decade," JP said. "These are position coaches that don't do this very often, but they're not apprehensive about it, and almost to a man, you heard that we have to meet these players where they're at, we got to find ways to make it make sense for them. And that, to me, does feel like a departure."
"Mike Tomlin was talking about coaching, and I think a lot of times where we sit here and we hear coach speak, and the media guys who don't want to piss off a coach go along with the narrative," BMitch said. "But what Tomlin said is what the great coaches do, and what coaches need to learn how to do, is stop blaming a player if he didn't get it and blame yourself, because you did not really find a way to get to him. In the past, this is where a whole group of coaches sense had the mindset that if you fail, I failed you, but that's not how most coaches are today. Most coaches can't wait to see point fingers at the other guy, like, 'oh, I showed him and he messed up.' Well, if you showed him and you didn't hold him to it every play, then he messes up."
Time will tell how it all shakes out, but you can listen to Brian and JP's entire convo about the coaching staff above!
