No tendencies, no track record - Washington's new coordinators get their real test Sunday in Philadelphia
The Commanders open 2026 with David Blough calling offense and Daronte Jones calling defense - both for the first time in the NFL. Dan Quinn says the blank slate might just be the edge they need against the Eagles.
In brief
No tendencies, no track record - Washington's new coordinators get their real test Sunday in Philadelphia
The Washington Commanders have spent all summer installing two brand-new systems. Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field, they find out whether any of it works.
Dan Quinn acknowledged the obvious this week: the Commanders are entering 2026 with two first-time NFL play-callers - former quarterback David Blough running the offense and former Minnesota Vikings assistant Daronte Jones running the defense. Neither has any regular-season NFL play-calling experience. Then Quinn flipped the script. His read: Philadelphia doesn't have a stack of situational tendencies to study when there are no tendencies yet. What creates uncertainty for Washington also creates problems for Eagles coaches who don't know what to expect.
It's a reasonable point. It's also the kind of optimism that sounds a lot better before the first snap than after it.
How Washington got here
After a 5-12 season in 2025, the Commanders fired both Kliff Kingsbury and defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. They promoted assistant quarterbacks coach David Blough to offensive coordinator and hired former Vikings defensive pass game coordinator Daronte Jones as defensive coordinator.
Blough is 31 years old. He was a quarterback in the league just three years ago and spent the last two seasons as Washington's assistant quarterbacks coach before the promotion. Jones has more experience in the building, but his only coordinator work above the high school level was a single season at LSU in 2021, and his most recent NFL job was working under Brian Flores in Minnesota without ever calling his own defense.
Under Blough, Washington is moving away from Kingsbury's spread-heavy concepts toward a more traditional West Coast-inspired passing attack that focuses on quick-game rhythm, strict timing, and pre-snap motion to create mismatches across the middle of the field. For Jayden Daniels, that means less operating on the perimeter and staying in the pocket more and making quicker decisions, with his elite scrambling ability as the backup plan when a play breaks down.
On the other side of the ball, Jones is bringing a blitz-heavy, multi-front system that will shift between 3-4 and 4-3 looks with heavy pre- and post-snap disguise, with the secondary playing safe zone coverages that let defenders break downhill and make plays on the ball.
The roster they're working with
The scheme questions don't exist in a vacuum. Left tackle Laremy Tunsil, defensive tackle Jer'Zhan Newton, cornerback Trey Amos, and defensive end Deatrich Wise are all slated to miss the beginning of the season with various ailments. That's a lot of starters to lose before Week 1 even kicks off.
Expectations are sinking for Jayden Daniels and the Commanders nationally, with oddsmakers citing concerns about injuries, roster depth, and the two first-year coordinators. ESPN's Bill Barnwell named 22 people in the NFL under the most pressure in 2026, and Blough made the list as one of three coordinators singled out.
As for Daniels himself, this will be his first regular-season game since he was shut down after suffering a severe elbow dislocation against the Vikings. He only took three snaps during the preseason but has been getting substantial reps in training camp and at joint practices against the Dolphins and Ravens.
Quinn's bet: no film means no answers for Philly
Washington opens the season in Philadelphia with major questions surrounding protection, their new defensive identity, edge depth, receiver roles, and how Blough's offense handles its first real stress test. The Eagles, meanwhile, are bringing back Vic Fangio on defense and their own new offensive coordinator, Sean Mannion, which means both staffs are going in somewhat blind on scheme tendencies.
Philadelphia will try to identify the tendencies Blough and Jones start to establish, while Washington will be learning how both coordinators respond once the Eagles begin making adjustments of their own. Growing pains are coming at some point.
In a best-case scenario, the two young coordinators become the NFL's latest wunderkinds in a league that is eager to interview fresh voices for head-coaching jobs after a season or two of success. The worst case is obvious, and the Commanders went 5-12 last year living in it.
One concrete piece of good news: Quinn said as of Sunday that "everyone" participated in practice, including defensive end Odafe Oweh. That's not a clean bill of health - it's a practice participation note, and injury designations will follow later in the week - but it's something.
Also worth watching this week in the DMV
While the Commanders prep for Philly, the Washington Nationals are wrapping up their West Coast trip at San Diego. Outfielder Daylen Lile has been the story of Washington's September. He was named NL Player of the Week after hitting .458 with 11 hits, three homers, 10 RBIs, and five walks from Aug. 24-30. He celebrated the award by immediately doing more damage: the 23-year-old outfielder hit a go-ahead, two-run homer off the 2019 World Series championship plaque in right field and into the Nationals' bullpen, a ball that left the bat at 106.7 mph and traveled a projected 373 feet, igniting a four-run rally in a 6-3 win over Miami. James Wood had won the NL Player of the Week honor twice this year, Luis Garcia Jr. once, and CJ Abrams once - Lile became the fourth Nat to take it.
On the Monumental Sports front, bet365 launched in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, September 8, becoming an official partner of the Capitals, Wizards, and Mystics simultaneously. The operator gets branding at Capital One Arena and CareFirst Arena, including virtual signage during Capitals games, and will be integrated into Monumental Sports Network as the presenting sponsor of Monumental Game Center - the feature that lets viewers opt in to see real-time betting odds overlaid on live game streams. The District is bet365's 19th American market.
The Commanders' captains were also formalized this week. Quinn announced his team captains Monday, breaking from his previous week-to-week approach by naming them for the full season, voted on by the players. Quarterback Jayden Daniels is among the five season-long captains, with Quinn also planning to name one additional game captain each week.
Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field. Noon kickoff. The first real answers start then.
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CAN I KICK IT? screens New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument, on Aug. 22. (Courtesy SHAOLIN JAZZ)
The live-cinema series CAN I KICK IT? returns to the National Mall this month with what its producers are calling the "Gangsters on the Mall" chapter of their free outdoor summer run. On Saturday, August 22, the SHAOLIN JAZZ production brings the 1991 crime classic New Jack City to the Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument for a night of film, music, and community under the DC summer sky.
What sets the event apart is the sound. As the film plays, DJ 2-Tone Jones builds an original score in real time, reimagining one of the most iconic crime movies of the ’90s through hip-hop, soul, funk, and more. It is less a movie screening than a live performance built around the film.
The details:
Film: New Jack City (1991), with a live soundtrack by DJ 2-Tone Jones
When: Saturday, August 22 — seating opens at 7:30 p.m. (bring lawn chairs and blankets); film begins at 8:30 p.m.
Where: Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument, Independence Ave SW & 15th St NW
A parking note from the organizers: expect road closures and restricted parking east of 14th Street NW due to a separate race event in the District. Roads west of 14th Street NW will be accessible and available for parking.
New Jack City is the second of three screenings in this year’s free CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series, which opened with Black Panther at Skyland Town Center and concludes with Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial on September 5. Produced by the Washington, DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, the series has presented more than 150 live cinematic experiences at venues across the country, from Lincoln Center to SXSW.
"I wanted to be able to tell good stories with substance and remove the ‘ego’ out of the art," said Andrew Huang during a recent interview. Now, he’s building his career at the intersection of discipline, creativity and innovation.
Andrew Huang, founder of New Place Studios. (Courtesy photo)
As a Chinese American, Huang was reared with a deep respect for hard work, consistency and excellence. He describes his childhood as "not so affluent" and later attended college to hone his passion for videography. "In college I tried to do something I loved, which was video, but along the way I knew that I had to find a job. And so I thought, ‘what was the low hanging fruit to get to that stable 9 to 5 job?,’" he stated.
Later in life, Huang found himself working for corporations where his creativity was often limited, eventually leading to burnout. "I worked in a corporation for a long time and there were a lot of missing pieces. I wanted to fill in gaps missing in corporate video production," said Huang.
He later described how his upbringing and a mindset of "survival" led him toward a corporate career. However, his desire for balance and authentic storytelling ultimately pushed him to take the entrepreneurial leap.
"I founded a new place where you can create video and film with ‘substance and style,’" said Huang. His desire for work-life balance and passion for storytelling naturally evolved into a small business based in Virginia. With the launch of New Place Studios, the entrepreneur quickly found himself reconnecting with the values that would become the foundation of everything he creates behind the camera.
Huang said being a business owner has allowed him to first embrace himself. While others may see video as simply capturing moments, he sees it as a way to preserve stories that inspire, connect and leave a lasting imprint.
By combining cinematic visuals with cutting-edge production techniques and a keen understanding of branding, Huang helps organizations and individuals communicate their vision with purpose. He said understanding a client’s "why" serves as the compass for delivering the services they need.
One benefit of working with a small business, he said, is that clients get to see the production process unfold through a micro lens while working with the same faces throughout the entire project. "The work feels personal," said Huang.
Huang does not regret leaving behind the flash-over-substance mentality and corporate hustle culture. That does not mean the Asian American entrepreneur has been without challenges in the industry. "It’s relatively hard to find other Asian American creatives or people who would want to work with me in the DMV," said Huang.
He identifies the industry culture in which everyone is trying to blend in, creatives may fear displaying their Asian identity and some feel pressure to adopt an American corporate persona. He also points to what he describes as a level of gatekeeping within the industry. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2024 statistics, Asian American and Pacific Islander entrepreneurs own more than 3 million businesses and employ 5.2 million people in the United States.
After tapping into organizations such as SCORE, which offers free small business mentorship, New Place Studios has become a trusted creative partner throughout the DMV (Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia). The company produces a range of creative services, including commercials, corporate branding, documentaries, film, 2D animation, motion graphics and photography.
For Huang, entrepreneurship has become more than a departure from corporate life. It has given him the freedom to create with intention, build meaningful connections and tell stories that go beyond the surface.
The 2026 CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
For three Saturdays this summer, some of Washington’s most familiar public spaces will do something they rarely do after dark: fill up with blankets, lawn chairs, and the sound of a movie being scored live, in real time. CAN I KICK IT?, the traveling “live cinema” series produced by the DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, is bringing a free outdoor run to the city — pairing three era-defining films with an original soundtrack performed on the spot by DJ 2-Tone Jones.
The premise is what sets it apart from a normal screening in the park. Rather than simply pressing play, 2-Tone Jones builds a score as the film unfolds, pulling from hip-hop, soul, funk, jazz, rock, electronic music, and sounds from around the world. The result, the organizers say, is less a movie night than a one-time performance — the same film you know, wired to a soundtrack you have never heard and will not hear again. Guest DJs warm up the crowd starting at 7:30 PM before each 8:30 PM screening.
The 2026 outdoor schedule
All three events are free and open to the public.
Saturday, August 8 — Black Panther at Skyland Town Center. A pop-up marketplace and community activities kick off the evening; guest DJs at 7:30 PM, film at 8:30 PM. Marvel’s superhero epic gets a one-night-only live score in Southeast DC.
Saturday, August 22 — New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument. Seating begins at 7:30 PM; the film starts at 8:30 PM. The 1991 crime drama plays out at the foot of one of the country’s most recognizable landmarks.
Saturday, September 5 — Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial. Seating at 7:30 PM; film at 8:30 PM. The series closes with Brian De Palma’s crime saga against the backdrop of the Memorial, scored live from start to finish.
First up: Black Panther at Skyland Town Center on August 8. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
A DC company with a national footprint
SHAOLIN JAZZ describes itself as a Washington-based arts company working at the intersection of music, film, art, and culture, and CAN I KICK IT? is its signature production. According to the organizers, the series has staged more than 150 live cinematic experiences around the country — at performing arts centers, museums, festivals, and cultural institutions including Lincoln Center in New York, SXSW, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Republic Square in Austin, the Tacoma Armory, and The Cary Theater.
“CAN I KICK IT? has always been about creating a shared experience,” said Gerald Watson, co-founder of SHAOLIN JAZZ. “When you combine iconic films with live music in public spaces, something special happens. People aren’t just watching a movie — they’re experiencing it together. That’s what makes these nights so memorable.”
Cinema as a community event
The DC run lands as cities across the country look for new ways to activate public space through arts and culture — and this series is a straightforward pitch for how to do it: take a landmark everyone already knows, add a film everyone has an opinion about, and let a live soundtrack turn the evening into something neighbors experience shoulder to shoulder. Families, film buffs, and music fans are all invited, and admission won’t cost a thing.
The CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series runs August 8, August 22, and September 5. All events are free; check SHAOLIN JAZZ (shaolinjazz.com) for the latest details and any weather updates before heading out.
