It had been a couple of rough weeks, but when Jonathan Allen joined the Junkies Monday as always, presented exclusively by our partners at MainStreet Bank — Cheer Local. Bank Local. Put Our Team in Your Office. – he was not “pissed off” thanks to the Commanders’ win in New England.
The Commanders put out video of the jubilant locker room after the win, where Ron Rivera gave the guys off until Wednesday, which was nice to see – and even nicer to be a part of.
“Yeah man, you're excited. One thing I've learned in this league is you gotta enjoy the wins, every single one of them,” Allen said. “It was definitely cool to just let loose with the guys in the locker room, it meant a lot.”
A win is a win, especially a road win, and while it could be a springboard for the second half, Allen wants to pump the brakes on the playoff talk for now.
“One thing we can't do is we can't start focusing on the playoffs. There's so much football left to be played between now and then and we just got to take it one step at a time,” Allen said. “There's still a lot of things we gotta clean up; we still got to eliminate the stupid mistakes, turnovers, the big plays defensively. But, you know, we took a step in the right direction, and any time you can get a win is always a positive.”
What was even more encouraging about it was the defense’s performance; New England’s two touchdowns came on a short field and one explosive run, so it’s not like there’s a lot of mistakes to clean up, more of just better prevention.
“I feel like we played a really good game besides one play.
I think you take away that big 70 yard run, we’re talking about a different defensive performance,” Allen said. “They scored off a turnover, and you’d like to limit that to three, but besides that, we pretty much achieved everything we wanted to do. So again, the thing is you can't give those big plays, get them off the field or at least make them kick a field goal, but all in all, I think we played really well.”
Allen couldn’t really point to anything that made playing D tougher without Chase Young and Montez Sweat, and again, 14 points came from one big play and one offensive mistake. But why is the D still giving up so many chunk plays?
”In the NFL, the difference between a big play and a two-yard gain is so small, and on the run, we just didn’t fit right. We didn't fit right between the linebacker and the D-line, and that's how that big run got out,” Allen said. “One little adjustment here or there, one reaction faster here and there, that's a completely different play. But, you know, that's the NFL; you don't have the ability to have mental lapses like that, and when you do, most teams are gonna take advantage of it. We just have to make sure we’re locked in to the little things.”
But, the offense got two of their own, and Allen still believes they’ve found their franchise QB.
“As far as what I said about Sam, like, I genuinely believe we have a franchise quarterback. I think week in and week out you see him grow and you see him mature, and for him to be able to come back from that interception and how he played in the second half?” Allen said. “He can make every throw on the field and has the maturity to grow, and over time, he’s only going to get better. We've been searching for our quarterback for the future for however many years; we've been through so many quarterbacks. But, he's durable and he can run, and he just fits DC in my opinion.”
Take a listen to Allen’s entire segment, sponsored by MainStreet Bank, where he also talks about KJ Henry’s roughing the passer call, Emmanuel Forbes’ performance in Foxboro, and a few other topics!
