Mike Locksley never coached against Jayden Daniels, so how much film he watched on him is questionable – but he has seen the Commanders this season and was at the team's comeback win over the Bears on Sunday, and Coach Locks came away immediately impressed.
“It’s a bad weekend for me when we lose and the Commanders lose, because I grew up a Commanders fan, but to be able to see them win the way they did at the end and see the excitement there was great,” Locks told BMitch & Finlay Monday. “It helped lift my spirits after laying an egg up in Minnesota.”
Of course, as a football coach, Locksley had quite a lot to say about that final Hail Mary.
“The first thing that came to my mind was where was the person that should have been boxing out? As part of my Nick Saban recipe, we go over end of game situations like that, and the No. 1 rule for the defensive guys is put a body on every eligible receiver down there,” Locksley said. “There should be nobody without a body on them, and you can’t have multiple guys going up after the ball, you want one guy to go and kind of swat it down. And on the offensive side, you want to build the triangle around the jumper and fight just like a basketball box-out drill. I’ve seen both sides of it as a coach.”
Locks also praised ‘unbelievable execution’ by the Commanders on the play before…and that’s where he gave Jayden Daniels some pretty heavy praise.
“I remember him in college, but what I saw yesterday is exactly why the fan base in this area is really, really excited about the Commanders. You've got a kid that, as a rookie, has the mind of a coach, but the skill of a player,” Locks said. “I always say that's the job of a quarterback to think like me, but have the ability to make the plays that are there to be made. I watched him closely yesterday and he's playing as if he's a veteran. I’d like to see him get out of bounds and maybe not take some extra hits a lot of times, so we gotta keep him healthy man.”
Indeed, but as a DMV guy, Locks is excited for what’s building, and the feeling that the burgundy and gold are finally back.
“I tried to stay extra to allow that traffic to get out, man, and they didn’t leave!” Locks said. “It was a great feeling, and for me, it was really rewarding to see that type of support. I know what that organization has gone through, because I've lived it as a fan, and that energy and that atmosphere I felt yesterday, I’d love to see it here in Terps-ville.”