NFC Notes: Commanders, Cowboys, Giants

Commanders

The Commanders are starting to get a sense of what new OC Eric Bieniemy‘s offense will be about as they go through OTAs. Bieniemy held the title the past few years in Kansas City, but HC Andy Reid and QB Patrick Mahomes were pretty big influences on what the offense looked like. In Washington, Bieniemy is putting his own distinctive stamp on things, which will look similar but not the same as what the Chiefs did. 

“How he wants to attack and the way he wants to attack and the way he wants to use the throws and the way he wants to use the runs, there are some opportunities for us,” Commanders HC Ron Rivera said via the Athletic’s Ben Standig. “And I’m pretty excited about that.”

One example is that so far Bieniemy’s offense has been stressing the defense a lot more in practice with its spacing. There are a lot of deep, vertical routes down the field, with a large mix of screens to take advantage of the space created. Washington’s running backs, particularly slash back Antonio Gibson, should be a big beneficiary of more involvement in the passing game. 

“We’re covering the vertical routes, and (they) dump it off to AG. That’s a very elusive, electric back (who can) make a lot of plays,” Commnaders CB Benjamin St-Juste said, adding, “This is what we want. We want an explosive offense that can create plays from everywhere.”

Cowboys

Cowboys QB Dak Prescott said HC Mike McCarthy‘s playcalling has some examples from a West Coast system and what Dallas has run in previous years.

“This is the ‘Texas Coast,'” Prescott said, via NFL.com. “We just renamed that, the quarterbacks. It’s got definitely some West Coast principles, but has a little bit of what we’ve done in the past and just marrying them together with a lot of detail and maybe in a sense, a system that’s not out there.”

Cowboys G Zack Martin thinks McCarthy’s play-calling style is more about “mindset and attitude” than schematic changes.

“It’s more of an attitude deal,” Martin said. “That’s the best way I can describe it. The plays aren’t going to change. We’re going to run our inside zone, outside zone. I think it’s just the mindset and attitude we’re going to bring and that edge I talked about.”

McCarthy said they’ve been challenging Prescott mentally this offseason and the quarterback is responding well. 

“I love the way we’ve challenged Dak mentally, and more importantly, I love the way he’s attacked it,” McCarthy said. “I wouldn’t say I didn’t know it about him. I just think it’s like all of us: You don’t really know until you really stress and push. He’s really handled these changes and adjustments, the input, because at the end of the day, the quarterback … they need to own the offense.”

Giants

• The Athletic’s Dan Duggan notes the Giants will have a little more leverage to ask DL Leonard Williams for a pay cut the closer the regular season gets. Williams is due $18 million in 2023 but none of it is guaranteed. He’d have to weigh whether he’d make more from another team than the Giants at a point in the calendar when most teams have spent the bulk of their budget. 
• However, Duggan says the downside of that move is how it would play in the locker room to squeeze a respected veteran for a few million, plus the possibility of cutting a key starter with no compensation.