There were questions for the Washington Commanders prior to opening the regular season in Tampa after a complete overhaul of the back office, coaches and team during the offseason.
A few questions may have been answered in the team’s loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, 37-20, in the first regular season game, but this team is a work in progress.
First round pick QB Jayden Daniels answered Tampa’s defense with an elusive running style. But we knew he has extraordinary speed and can run. Can he remain in the pocket and pass?
Sunday was the first day for three first round NFL QB draft picks for 2024 including Daniels, Denver Broncos QB Bo Nix and Chicago Bears QB Caleb Williams. Williams was a winner against the Tennessee Titans because the Bears took advantage of poor judgement bordering on stupidity from Titans QB Will Levis and an ill-advised “throw” that turned into a pick-six and a special teams play–a blocked punt picked up by Jonathan Owens (aka husband of gold medal gymnast Simone Biles) for a touchdown to help lead the Bears come back for a 24-17 win.
Daniels, despite his dazzling albeit risky runs, he didn’t have the luxury of support from his defense or special teams.
The defense had some early fortune. Two misconnections from Baker Mayfield to Jalen McMillan in the first quarter of the game could have put the Commanders into a deep hole. Instead, it was a bend but don’t break defense that kept the score 16-7 after the first half. If the Commanders played better in the second half, they may have overcome that fortunate nine point lead in the second half.
Instead, Jaylen Daniels overthrew an open Terry McLauren at the beginning of the third quarter and even though the Commanders caught a break with a defensive holding penalty, Kliff Kingsbury called a questionable trick play—a throw to Luke McCaffrey designed to throw back to Daniels–didn’t work on third and long.
Kicker Cade York then missed a 56-yard field goal after missing a 47 year kick earlier in the game. Both were long field goals but kickers on other teams made those field goals. It’s time to just start a revolving door of field goal kickers into Ashburn until one becomes a good fit.
Tampa’s secondary had been depleted by injuries but the Commanders couldn’t take advantage of it.
Down 16-7, Mayfield channeled his Tom Brady courtesy of Emmanuel Forbes, Jr. poor coverage and the Commanders defensive backs in general.
A TD pass from Mayfield to Mike Evans made the score 23-7. Perhaps the most hopeful moment of the game for the Commanders was the combination of Daniels scrambling, short passes to Austin Ekeler and nice catch-and-runs by Brian Robinson, Jr., to cut the lead to 23-14 on a Robinson TD. But that would be all the scoring for Washington.
When the fourth quarter started, unlike the first quarter, Mayfield did connect with a wide-open McMillan on a 32 yard strike for a touchdown. That put the Commanders not only into a deep hole but one late in the game. At 30-14. Mayfield followed up with a 91 yard drive and a 1-yard pass for the second Mike Evans TD. At 37-14, Daniels drove the team down the field against a prevent defense for a touchdown to end the game, mercifully for fans, 37-20.
Fox Analyst Daryl “Moose” Johnston said at the end of the game that there were some good things the Commanders did during the game and things to learn from and that’s true. The offense looked out of synch for most of the first half and seemed to get a little bit more on track in the second half. Of course, Tampa’s defense teed off on Daniels at the end of the game and the last score was on a prevent defense.
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It goes without saying that this team was not competitive against a playoff team from last season. In fact, this team is a work in progress and must be treated like one.
But it won’t be long–maybe next week against the Giants–when defenses watch game films and test Daniels. They’ll likely force him to stay in the pocket and throw the ball.
Meantime, Daniels is going to need to learn to keep his helmet on—if was knocked off twice when getting tackled—and Kingsbury needs to hold off on QB draws because it’s an unnecessary risk for a franchise quarterback (see RGIII in 2012).
As for the defense, Mayfield may have proved himself to be a successful NFL quarterback last season leading his team to the playoffs but on Sunday against the Commanders, the Washington secondary made Baker look like Sammy Baugh.
Mayfield had 4 TD’s in the opener. Ironically, the most TD’s in an opening game since Troy Aikman threw 4 against the then Washington Redskins in the 1999 season opener against Dallas. It was a heartbreaking loss as Dallas came back from 21 points in the fourth quarter to tie the game and Washington lost it in overtime.
But unlike 1999, the loss to Tampa Bay wasn’t heartbreaking and unlike 1999 this team has been completely overhauled from last season. And after 1999, unlike building on a team that nearly beat Tampa to go to the NFC Championship, Dan Snyder completely overhauled that team with past-their-prime overpaid players who would underachieve and ended up at 8-8 causing Norv Turner to get fired even thought they were in contention for the playoffs.
So there is a difference. However, weak coverage and poor tackling next week at Northwest Stadium (previously Commanders Stadium) and a loss against a mediocre NFC East New York Giants team, might change “they can learn from these things” to “this team isn’t very good. Will they win more than 4 games this year?”
But that’s also the thought process of a Washington fan. It’s still just game one and it will be well forgotten in late December. The question then will be: “How has this team improved from game one to game 17 and what areas need improvement?”
If this team loses to the Giants, there will be more to learn. If this team wins 4 games or less and doesn’t learn anything or improve by the end of the season, that’s another story.
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