Anthony Armstrong spent two of his NFL seasons with the then-Redskins in the Shanahan days, but he’s now living down in Dallas, where he had a first-hand look at the shellacking the Cowboys gave the now-Commanders on Thanksgiving Day.
That was the final straw that got Jack Del Rio fired as Commanders DC, and come Sunday, Ron Rivera’s first test as the new defensive play-caller is a stiff one in the Dolphins, who are at the top of the league in most offensive categories.
“Itt's one of those things like if you're gonna be up for a challenge, you might as well have it be this one,” Armstrong laughed as he joined Chris Russell to preview the game on Thursday. “The tough part is you're going up against an offense that has only given up 18 sacks, so they're gonna get the ball out quickly. Are you gonna anticipate trying to bring pressure? Well, shoot, you don't get to the quarterback that often, so your best chance is to have the offense hold the ball and almost have that Philly-type plan where you dominate possession, and keep Tua on the sidelines as long as possible.”
Sunday marks Fins head coach Mike McDaniel’s return to DC, where he was an offensive assistant while Armstrong was here (and later his wide receivers coach in Cleveland).
“That coaching staff was so young, I thought he was like just an intern or something! But it wasn't until a couple years later when I was in Cleveland, he was the receivers coach there, and I was well versed with Kyle's offense and I knew it inside and out,” Armstrong said. “The way Kyle called the plays, I could tell who was the play caller – and some days I was like, who is calling these plays I've never ran? Come to find out, those days he let Mike script the plays, so he had an ability to see things differently then.”
McDaniel wasn’t necessarily a ‘boy genius’ like Kyle Shanahan or even Sean McVay, who was also on the Shanahan-era DC staff, but he got a head coaching gig after just one official year as a coordinator in San Fran, and is making the most of it.
“What he did with San Francisco and what he's doing now, he's definitely a couple of years ahead of the game and how he's treating things, and it's good to see. It's very refreshing,” Armstrong said of McDaniel. “He was in that offensive assistant position in 2011, when we had Keenan McCardell as wide receivers coach and McVay as quarterbacks coach, but he’s very smart and he’s a good dude, and I’m impressed by what he’s doing. I’m watching from afar, and blessed to know I was part of his journey.”
So what is it McDaniel is doing, in the big picture, to have Miami at 8-3?
“You think about it, that receiver group is like have a 4x100 relay where everyone can run anchor,” Armstrong said. “What he what he has going on down there is genius, because he's working to his quarterback strength.
When Tyreek (Hill) first went there, a lot of people questioned it, because Tua couldn’t throw it that far, but Mike said there's very few times you gotta throw it 60 yards in the air, and he's doing exactly that right now. They’re working like Wayne Gretzky, seeing the play before it happens and throwing it into a hole or a void in the defense before the receiver gets there. You have to respect speed deep, so you’re going to play deeper than normal, but as fast as they get by the linebackers, they take a turn and Tua is already throwing the ball into a wide-open hole.”
Add in a running back group that has been stellar, and, well, Washington’s best chance to stop them is hoping they can’t run?
“They get to the edge so fast because they have so much speed, and there's not very many linebackers that can keep up with that,” Armstrong said, “so I think the best thing Washington could do is just forget to mow the grass for the next couple of days.”
Take a listen to Armstrong’s entire segment above, which includes his thoughts on why Terry McLaurin’s performance is down a bit this season, the Commanders’ 2023 offense as a whole, and more!