All good things must come to an end, and Friday saw a sad farewell in the Audacy DC family: the final time John Feinstein joined the Junkies for a Feinstein Friday, bringing an end to a 12-year run of weekly visits from the author and columnist.
And after the requisite goodbyes and final playing of “Piano Man” to bring him in, John wanted to talk about one thing that is very positive: the resurgence of the Commanders.
“I think we saw a good example of Adam Peters’ (importance) last week with Marcus Mariota, because you have all sorts of options on who to sign as a backup quarterback, and they signed a guy who had some experience, had some playoff experience, and who would be able to step in if Jayden Daniels got hurt and keep the team respectable,” Feinstein said. “Now, that's not the most important thing you do as a general manager, but to me, it was an example of why he has succeeded, and obviously, the Jayden Daniels pick was huge. I think they got lucky Jayden fell to them, as for at least one year he’s been the better player, and we’ll see what happens in the future.”
John reminisced about going back to the Jack Pardee days as a Commanders pundit, and surviving the entire Dan Snyder era – which, of course, he’s still glad is over.
“I just hated what Snyder did to the franchise, one of the proudest franchises in football and he totally disgraced it in every way, on and off the field. I'm kind of proud of the fact that he hated me,” Feinstein said. “Now, nobody cares where he is; it's like, okay, good riddance, be gone. In town, I can feel the different vibe, because the team's winning and you feel good about who is representing your city. This team has gotten good again. They have the right coaching staff in place – and I was not a big enthusiast of the Dan Quinn hiring, I thought it was too far inside the box – but he’s a charming guy and has the right approach to people.”
John thinks Sunday’s game will be ‘one worth staying up for,’ and a close game that ‘I give them a good chance’ of winning – but whenever this ride is over, the hard work truly begins.
“Championships often come when you least expect them, so you never know when teams get their act together at just the right time,” Feinstein said. “The thing that’ll be interesting is next season, they’re not going to play a last place schedule. They're not likely to win as many games at the buzzer as they won at the buzzer this year, and there may be some letdown potential there. It's just something you have to be aware of going forward. The schedule will be tougher, and they;’ll be more of a target depending on what they do here in the postseason, and it'll be interesting to see if they can make the moves to maintain what they've accomplished this season.”
Take a listen to John’s final visit with the Junks above!