Official Game Thread - Week 9 - @ Patriots

[Primus Porcus]

Washington Commanders @ New England Patriots

When: Sunday, November 5th - 1pm EST
Where: Gillette Stadium - Foxborough MA
How to Watch: FOX - Kenny Albert and Jonathan Vilma announcing
TV Coverage Maps​

 

[Bulldog]

Based on New England's offensive output so far in 2023 and poor play from the quarterback position, I don't think the trade of Young and Sweat should materially affect the outcome of this game.

If Washington and Ron uses the trades as a crutch to a loss to the Patriots it's simply an excuse and further proof the organizational culture needs to change to as Magic Johnson put it 'produce more effort, urgency and accountability'.

Washington should win this football game, plain and simple. If the offense plays anywhere near as efficiently as it did against the Eagles New England doesn't have an answer.

New England's pass rush is average and their coverage from their CBs is way down from what NE has done even in recent seasons.

Receivers should be open.

I don't buy any pitty party comments that the trades this week have folks so down that they just can't raise themselves enough to beat a bad Patriots team that is lucky to be 2-6.

 

[Boone]

That’s very close to what I said in my game prediction. New England is tough against the run but vulnerable on the passing game. They also struggle mightily to score. We should win this game.

 

[Om]

About the only thing I can confidently say I "know" about this team is that it will not dominate on Sunday. Most likely, it will play to the level of its competition again. So far in 2023 we have played that way in all but two of our eight games, so odds are that'll be the program again Sunday. Which means another game decided on a few key plays, and more often than not those plays--other than the random-bounce or ref's call kind--turn one way or the other based on preparation ... meaning coaching.

So we have that going for us.

 

[Chris]

It will interesting to see which organization New York chooses to screw in this game. 😉

 

[Chris]

Looks like #4 will be out Sunday.

 

[Bulldog]

New York won't be watching a Commanders vs. Patriots game, it's not a marquee matchup.

Last week the favored Eagles were involved and the league wants to protect the Eagles, Chiefs, 49ers and other contenders as much as possible.

 

[Primus Porcus]

Friday injury report

 

[Boone]

Franchise in the house…

 

[Boone]

IMHO - the better team won today. No - the defense wasn't perfect, nor was the offense, but I felt we outplayed the Patriots overall. With any kind of balanced officiating, this is a comfortable win. There were plenty of opportunities to cave and mail it in today, but they kept fighting. Sam Howell played another strong game with some predictable mistakes.

 

[DieselPwr44]

In case you guys are interested? Montez Sweat had 2 tackles 0 sacks 0 pressures today.

Finally made the right move trading him off.

 

[Kel Varnsen]

In case you guys are interested? Montez Sweat had 2 tackles 0 sacks 0 pressures today.

Finally made the right move trading him off.

I agree it was the right move, but he had at least one pressure because he hit Carr’s arm as he went to pass. Maybe that’s not considered a QB pressure, but it was a good play. I remember because the announcers made a big deal about that’s why they gave up a 2nd rounder and paid him all that money. I snickered when they said it, and your stats point out that it literally was that one play.

 

[Canadian Hog]

Forget the end result and how the season plays out. By the sounds of it (I wasn't able to watch the entire game yet), it seems like Howell had a second straight impressive start. That is the only thing that matters. Those of us not on board should start embracing the idea of him being the captain of this ship. Yes, we may have to start over with a new staff, but a continued marriage between him and EB could give us the continuity we need to realistically pull off one of those quick rebuilds we are always envious of other teams doing, while we scratch our heads and spin our tires.

 

[Bulldog]

Ron’s late come to Jesus on Howell reminds me of Norv’s late recognition that he all but ignored the best quarterback on the roster, Trent Green, while starting Gus Frerotte and 40 year old Jeff Hostetler.

 

[Neophyte]

Amazing how the supposedly best minds miss things, yeah?

Although, I am reminded that early on last year, all the reports on Howell were that he really was NOT ready.

I am left wondering, if he can improve himself enough in one season to go from "not ready" (and I believe he wasn't) to beating the Cowboys in the final, what might he look like in January? He has looked much better the last 2 games.

 

[Bulldog]

The pet peeve I have with Ron in re 2022 was that Washington WOULD have made the playoffs with a win against the awful Cleveland Browns.

But instead of starting Heineke who the team was playing hard for even if losing a number of games or going with Howell a week earlier, Ron went back on ego to his big offseason addition, Carson Wentz, who hadn't started a game in weeks and was rusty. He clearly didn't want to take any hits and was basically done in the NFL but Ron couldn't see that.

Ron comes in 2020 and doesn't have a quarterback. So, he drafts a DE, WR, LB and CB in successive drafts in the first round.

The guy is tone deaf, he still thinks he can win like his teams did in the 1980's and 1990's on defense and an offense that makes the occasional big play.

The BIG irony is that while Ron tried to put that type of team on the field, Washington under his leadership has never been a defensive juggernaut or team that performed efficiently on offense, with a consistent 1,000 yard rusher and strong offensive line play.

So, even based on his own biases, he didn't get the job done.

 

[Boone]

Yeah, hard to argue in retrospect although Heinicke had looked so rough and ineffective in the preceding games that I remember there wasn't a lot of fan outcry over going back to Wentz in the hope he'd look more like he did very early in the season where he was making some plays. I have a bigger issue with him not pulling Wentz once it became clear it was going to be a 'bad Carson' day (especially considering that Heinicke has always been much better coming off the bench as a potential hero than he has as a starting QB). And of course, it was unforgiveable that Rivera didn't realize we could be eliminated with that loss - I will never forgive for not even being aware of playoff ramifications which personally I believe should've gotten him fired after that game.

 

[Bulldog]

Wentz didn't look that great. He threw 4 touchdowns with 2 interceptions in a game against a Jacksonville pass defense in the opener that not among the AFC's best. One could tell as we watched Wentz in subsequent games that he didn't have it anymore, he didn't want to take the hits and had a case of the 'yips'. It also seemed clear he wasn't a very popular player in the locker room and his return to the field wasn't greeted with much enthusiasm.

Carson Wentz in 2022 reminded me a LOT of Jeff George in 2003. George, also unpopular with teammates, was no longer a guy that was going to hang in there and make the hard throws. He started to throw the ball out and up for grabs and gave up on some plays to take a 'safe' sack and not expose his body. Once a guy shows that kind of behavior you need to get him off the field.

To his credit, Marty did just that and released him mid-season. It meant going with Tony Banks and scaling down the offense, but the team rebounded from what looked like a 2-14 or 3-13 season in the making to an 8-8 season.

 

[Boone]

I get it. But the fact that most fans were like 'okay, we can give him another chance' is a testament to how badly Heinicke was playing (with 3 lost fumbles in 2 losses against the 49ers and Giants). It was definitely pick your poison.

 

[Boone]

I concur.