Daily Slop - 18 Oct 24: 2nd-round DT Johnny Newton called on to start with season-ending injury to Jonathan Allen

Commanders linksThe Athletic (paywall) Jayden Daniels' growth with VR simulation has Commanders embracing mind games "I'm all in on it," Kingsbury said of the VR platform. "I mean, it's an unbelievable technology."

Perhaps the only thing quicker than Daniels' accelerated growth is the speed at which he sets the VR simulation. That would be the highest possible setting.

"It moves faster within the VR than actual human beings," Daniels said before Washington opened the 2024 season. "Once you get out there, everything slows down. I know this is coming. I've seen this before, (and) it moved...faster in VR."

The Commanders staff under coach Dan Quinn keeps an open mind about innovations, how they can apply to multiple positions and whatever is coming around the bend.

Daniels is also simultaneously hearing Kingsbury. The coordinator tweaked his daily schedule to spend 45 to 60 minutes narrating the weekly plays into a recorder. Kingsbury's voice is the soundtrack for those VR sessions.

"(Pilots) don't go get trained in real planes. They do their flight simulators. ... (Jayden) has that thing on all the time. He can see our reads and routes and hears my voice in it. It's as real as you can (get to) getting game reps, and your mind doesn't know the difference," Kingsbury said. "Your mind thinks you're doing it."

It's personalized each game "based on what we think they'll do on defense and what we'll do on offense."

Soon after the draft, the organization purchased the VR simulation for its quarterbacks. Marcus Mariota, the Commanders' backup and a former NFL starter, finds the modern application "amazing" in helping quarterbacks develop comfort within an offense and recognize patterns.

The experience isn't only about after the snap . Simulations allow the quarterback to move in the pocket and use the entire field. Details of road stadiums, including the location of play clocks, enable the user to experience the whole scene before stepping inside.

Commanders.com Johnny Newton set to have larger role in Commanders defense Quinn said during his Monday press conference that "a multitude of people" will be included in the plan to replace Allen's production, and second-round pick Johnny Newton will likely be one of them. Newton was widely viewed as a first-round pick leading up to the 2024 draft but slipped to the Commanders at No. 36 overall. The team is excited about the former Illinois defensive tackle, but his playing time so far has been limited because of his own injuries and players like Allen and Daron Payne being ahead of him on the depth chart.

That should change now that Allen is on Injured Reserve, and while he didn't want his chance to come at the cost of a teammate's health, he is ready to show what he can do.

"I don't want to put expectations or limits to it," Newton said. "But hopefully [I can] get back to the level of play that I was in college."

Bullock's Film Room (subscription) Is Johnny Newton ready to replace the injured Jonathan Allen? With Jonathan Allen lost for the season, can rookie Johnny Newton step up and fill his place?

Newton largely fell in the draft due to his medical report and that medical report caused him to miss most of the offseason recovering from foot surgery. He rarely participated in training camp and missed all three preseason games, so he's quite far behind in terms of reps compared to the rest of the rookie class. With that in mind, it's a lot to ask of Newton to replace Allen, who has proven himself to be one of the better defensive tackles in the NFL over the last five years. But of course he will be someone the Commanders will be hoping can step up and fill some of the void left by Allen.

The biggest part of losing Allen is missing his interior pass rush threat. Allen has long been the Commanders best interior rusher and his signature cross-chop/hump move gives huge issues to just about every guard he uses it on. Newton doesn't have the array of moves that Allen has, and you wouldn't expect him to at this point in his career either. But what Newton does offer is burst and quickness. That quickness as an interior rusher is a big asset and Newton has had some effective rushes with it.

On this play against the Browns, Newton works an interior stunt with Jon Allen. Allen lines up in the A gap between the left guard and center and stunts across the face of the center into the opposite A gap. Newton starts the play lined up on the outside shoulder of the right guard, but as Allen stunts inside, Newton loops around him. Allen's presence forces the center and right guard to focus on him, while the left guard leaves Allen to the center and turns outside to help the left tackle. This leaves Newton free and he shows his quickness to burst through the gap and close quickly on the quarterback. He can't quite prevent the throw, but he does hurry the quarterback and lands a good hit, causing the throw to miss its target.

When Newton is stunting, he can transfer that quickness into power effectively too.

This time, Newton lines up head up on the right guard, but is actually stunting inside to the center, enabling linebacker Frankie Luvu to join the rush working against the right guard. With Newton stunting inside and the offensive line not able to predict exactly where he's going, Newton is able to use his quickness to build up some momentum. He then transfers that momentum into power as he engages with the center. Newton could potentially look to shed this block after he begins to drive the center back, but he does a really nice job containing the quarterback with this rush.

The Commanders knew DeShaun Watson could take off running with his athleticism, so instead of trying to break through on one side of the center and opening up a rush lane for Watson to escape, Newton just continues to drive the center back towards the quarterback. The result of that rush is that as Watson attempts to climb the pocket to avoid Luvu's rush, he has nowhere to go. The center is right in his lap, preventing him from climbing the pocket. That allows Luvu to latch on and eventually bring him down for the sack.

So that quickness is clearly a big asset for Newton and he can use it effectively, particularly when stunting. But he's been a little overly reliant on it too. He needs to be able to back it up with different hand fighting techniques in order to get off blocks and penetrate into the backfield consistently. He had a few reps against the Ravens where he generated some decent pressure with his quickness, but was ultimately unable to get off the block because he didn't back up the quickness with any sort of move.

Commanders.com Practice notes | Brian Robinson provides positive update on health Although most of the national attention surrounding the Commanders has been justifiably focused on quarterback Jayden Daniels, Robinson has been nearly as important to the offense's success. He's already carried the ball 73 times through five games of action — it took him six weeks to reach that number last season — and he's already tied his career high in rushing touchdowns (5).

Robinson has also played a pivotal role in making sure the Commanders' offense stays on the field. He's converted seven of the team's 35 third downs and one of its nine fourth down plays. He's also been tough to bring down, as he ranks fifth in yards after contact and is tied for sixth with six broken tackles.

"He's a big part of what we do, both emotionally and physically," offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury said of Robinson. "The way he plays the game, the joy he plays with, what he brings to practice. It's a big deal for us as a unit."

Robinson missed practice for most of the week against the Browns and was a game time decision with the same knee injury. He ended up playing, although the team limited his reps once the game was safely in the Commanders' control. He ended the day with 18 yards on seven carries but did score two of the team's touchdowns.

Robinson wasn't on the practice field at all leading up to the Ravens game. He never wants to miss a game, but he was grateful that coach Dan Quinn and general manager Adam Peters made the decision for him to be inactive.

"It helped tremendously," Robinson said of not participating in practice last week. "Thank DQ and AP for deciding that for me ... They decided that [playing] wasn't the decision for what we were trying to do. And I'm thankful for them being in my corner."

Robinson was back on the field Wednesday after a week of rest, and he gave a positive update on his health.

"I feel great," Robinson said in the locker room. "More like myself again."

NFL.com NFL QB Index, Week 7: Jordan Love, Caleb Williams make big leaps; Dak Prescott slides Rank 6 - Jayden Daniels Washington Commanders · Rookie

The Commanders lost to the Ravens , but Daniels made only one noticeable mistake in the passing game (he overthrew his target for an incompletion), and it didn't end up playing a big part in the outcome. Otherwise, Daniels looked as good as he has for most of his nascent NFL career. He's poised beyond his years, appears to already have a high-level understanding of how to manipulate defenses with his eyes (SEE: his touchdown pass over Marcus Williams to Terry McLaurin) and continues to execute Kliff Kingsbury's offense at a high level. The scrambling opportunities weren't nearly as frequent against Baltimore as they'd been against other opponents, but Daniels was surgical with the football, dotting all areas of the field nearly perfectly with confidence and precision. The designed run game was a little bumpier than usual, due to the way the Ravens defended it, but overall, he played quite well once again.

Upcoming opponentCat Scratch Reader Panthers vs Commanders: Defensive Preview The Panthers take on their next opponent, who could make things hard for the defense.

The Panthers continued to frustrate fans with their pass rushing ability (or inability) each week. They may see Jadeveon Clowney return to the lineup for this game, and they brought along reinforcements in Marquis Haynes and Shaq Lawson on the edge over the recent past, but the bottom line is the team isn't cutting it. Their secondary is battered, their linebackers are battered, so at some point, the pass rush needs to step up.

While Jayden Daniels has clearly separated himself from this year's batch of rookie QBs, his best weapon by far has been Scary Terry. This would be an excellent week to bring out a new coverage scheme that has Horn playing press man as much as possible against McLaurin.

This will definitely be a season of growth among the Panthers linebacking group. They have gotten the kind of performance you would expect and be proud of from rookie LB Trevin Wallace, as he has amassed 24 total tackles, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery (those two on the same play) in his two weeks as a starting linebacker. His fellow young buck Claudin Cherelus has shown his own bright spots, however both have been subject to the mental errors you'd reasonably expect from young guys unexpectedly thrust into the starting lineup. A return from injury by veteran LB Josey Jewell would alleviate some of that pressure, however as of this writing he hasn't practiced this week after dealing with a hamstring and groin injury taking him out two weeks ago.

Cat Scratch Reader Panthers vs Commanders: Offensive preview The Panthers offense tries to find itself against a softer defense.

This week is another chance to put points on the board. The Commanders have on of the league's best offenses, which is going to put pressure on the Panthers to keep up. To help with that, the Commanders are owners of one of the worst defenses in the league. They rank 28th in defensive DVOA and 29th in opponent yards per play. They play shootouts, which is fun for most fans.

The Panthers defense will surely provide little resistance to the Commanders high powered offense, so their own offense is going to need to keep scoring to try to maintain the pace. Here are some things that need to happen for the offense to do that.

Hit big plays down the field. The Commanders have allowed opposing quarterbacks to amass a 114.7 passer rating, second highest in the league. The 8.1 yards per pass allowed is third worst in the league. They give up explosive plays at the highest rate in the league. The Panthers have been somewhat muted in the explosive plays department in recent weeks (years?) and have been moving the ball in smaller chunks. The Commanders defense provides them an opportunity to hit some shots.

Attack the void left by Jonathan Allen. The Ravens had a lot of success running on the Commanders last week and didn't have a single carry that lost yardage. They had their biggest plays up the middle and out to the left, which has been the MO for Chuba Hubbard and the Panthers this season as well.

Touchdowns, not field goals. The Panthers have been middle of the road in terms of converting their red zone opportunities into touchdowns. The Commanders defense has been one of the worst in the league at keeping teams out of the end zone once they make it inside the 20.

The Athletic (paywall) Frankie Luvu making an impact for Commanders — Panthers are still trying to replace him The Panthers are still trying to find someone to replace the do-it-all Luvu, who filled up the defensive stat sheets while playing for two head coaches (and two interim coaches) during a tumultuous time for the organization.

When Carolina (1-5) visits Washington on Sunday, its injury-plagued defense could be without seven starters, including inside linebackers Shaq Thompson (on IR with a torn Achilles) and Josey Jewell (who's missed two games with hamstring and groin issues).

Meanwhile, Luvu is among the reasons behind a surprising 4-2 start for a Washington team that sought to remake its competitive spirit this offseason.

In a three-day period in March, the Panthers traded edge rusher Brian Burns to the New York Giants, dealt starting cornerback Donte Jackson to the Pittsburgh Steelers and watched Luvu leave for Washington in free agency on a three-year, $31 million deal.

While Burns was the only Pro Bowler of the three, an argument could be made that Luvu was the most valuable because of all he did. The Panthers, who are giving up an NFL -worst 33.8 points a game, miss Luvu on a couple of levels — specifically, his production and positive energy.

The Panthers planned to replace Luvu's energy with Thompson before the veteran went down with a season-ending injury in Week 4. Woods, cornerback Jaycee Horn and rookie linebacker Trevin Wallace have all led pre-game speeches. But none has done the Siva Tau chant.

Woods conceded he didn't exactly know what Luvu was chanting, but could "feel the energy that was coming from it."

Podcasts & videos Darrell Green's Greatest Moments , Daniels to McLaurin Connection, and Preparing for the Panthers Carolina Panthers vs. Washington Commanders | 2024 Week 7 Game Preview Jeremy Chinn + Fred Smoot on DARRELL GREEN and the PANTHERS | Next Man Up | Washington Commanders

Commanders.com PHOTOS | Taking on the Queen City The Washington Commanders were back on the field for their second day of practice this week.