When the Junkies Hit the Skins on Thursday, they did a hypothetical question of whether you’d rather have Eric Bieniemy or a deposed Bill Belichick as the next head coach of the Commanders, assuming Ron Rivera is gone and Belichick is available.
Only 25 percent of poll respondents on Twitter said they’d want Bill if available, and if given the choice, the same 25 percent would want him over Bieniemy.
So it’s clear the new EB is beloved.
“The fan base likes the thought of the Bieniemy, they like his personality,” JP Flaim said, “and I think the only guy who I think might beat him would be like Kyle Shanahan, who is kind of unlikable, but has kind of a mythical status here with fans.”
Here’s one problem with Eric and his new offense though: where the hell is Jahan Dotson?
Sam Howell was asked a lot about sacks in his Wednesday press conference, but he was also asked a lot about Dotson, and he said this:
“Our plan is always to spread the ball around, because we want to utilize all the talent that we have, but at the same time, you really never know how the flow of the game is gonna go. Throughout the game, you know kind of who’s been getting the ball and who hasn't, and I don't think Jahan had a catch. So I’m sure everybody wants the ball more, but at the end of the day, they just wanna win.”
Maybe, but Dotson has 31 targets and 17 catches in six games, which is basically five and three a week, and he had just one that he dropped on Sunday…which is uncharacteristic?
“The weird part is the drops because his reputation was he doesn't drop the ball at all,” JP said.
”He wasn't dropping balls as rookie year, and that was the whole thing in training camp: last year the guy doesn't drop balls, catches everything, and this year there's been a few drops,” EB replied.
Eric did bring up that some advanced stats are showing Washington’s receivers are having trouble getting open, and maybe that’s part of the problem?
“Sam Howell’s getting sacked a lot, and some of it is on Sam, some is on the line, and some is on the receivers not getting open and some is on the play calls,” JP said. “I saw something on Twitter where they had gone through film and saw Jahan wasn’t getting open on his routes, but then I clicked on it and the guy had like one follower, so I don't put any credibility into it – but we do know he was open on what could’ve been a 40 or 50 yard gain but he dropped it.”
And when EB brought up that he’s known as an elite route-runner for his age?
“Maybe, but they have a true No. 1 in Terry McLaurin and they’re trying to feed him the ball,” JP said. “Sam had 13 completions in the last game, so how many are you gonna be able to even get to Dotson? Sometimes, you have a low-attempt, low-completion game because of the game flow.”
Dotson does have the second-most targets on the team, tied with Curtis Samuel, but Samuel has 27 catches to Dotson’s 17, and Jahan has the lowest yards per reception average on the team, so…
“When it all comes down to stats, the most important is points per game, and regardless of who is getting the ball, they’re scoring more than last year,” JP said, “so I don't really care if Dotson all of a sudden doesn't have the production he had last year, but your offense is better. What’s the issue?”
Take a listen as JP, EB, and Bish discuss it all above!
