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I feel like it would probably be in our best interests as fans of the Washington Commanders under Ron Rivera just to fast-forward the season to November and start watching from there. Maybe by then, we might find ourselves playing decent football for a few weeks or so. Like clockwork, Rivera's group is off to a very ugly and slow start once again, after a demoralizing loss at the hands of the Tennessee Titans. A season ago, we felt like Washington's season was over on Halloween night, after an uninspiring loss at Denver. Just one season later, here we are barely at Canadian Thanksgiving and already writing off the season, with all three foes from the NFC East at least 3 games better than us in the standings. It's a sad state of affairs in the nation's capital, and we as fans are stuck in the middle once again. Should we hope for this team to win some games the rest of the way, or might it be in our best interests to accept repeated losses and the chance at selecting #1 overall? It is a question many fans will ask the rest of the way as we unfortunately start setting our sights on the draft and a potential tear down. Let's get right to this week's Studs, Duds, and Hat Tips.
Studs:
1. Washington Fans - we are leaders in the clubhouse in this category in 2022. The loyalty and devotion we have shown over the years deserves far better. It has got to the point unfortunately where we have to start tuning in to other games around the NFL in order to understand what quality football even looks like anymore. We sadly subject ourselves to a clown show week after week with seemingly no end in sight. When victory seems like it is right there for the taking, this team always defies the odds and finds a way to mess it up. See 1st and goal from the Titans' 2 yard line with 19 seconds left for proof of that.
Yesterday's game vs. Tennessee saw some inspiring performances from several players. However, at 1-4 in year 3 of Rivera's tenure, I have a hard time rewarding anybody for being a stud performer. Football is the ultimate team game, and in a pivotal year where this team was expected to take a major leap forward, we are floundering in a massive way. Winning is the name of the game, and freebies just can't be handed out anymore in my mind.
Duds:
This is an easy list to populate this year. Where do we start with the Titans game?
1. Ron Rivera - I have the utmost respect and admiration for Ron as a person. I have a very soft spot for what he has had to endure health-wise in his time in Washington. That said, as a football coach, he is failing miserably right now. The comedy of errors we are seeing on the football field (e.g., offensive line) are a direct result of his own football-related roster construction decisions. After yesterday's game, Ron said that we are going to find our way out of this mess by playing better and practicing harder. That was the best he could give. Joe Gibbs set the standard for coaching excellence in the NFL. At 0-5, Joe Gibbs locked himself in the team facility and didn't peek his head out the door until he figured things out. That's called taking ownership. Instead, Rivera is telling us guys have to step up, we need more time, and our offensive line is struggling because they are a group of guys that haven't been together for too long, who are constantly rotating in/out of the lineup. That's called excuse making. It would have been nice to hear Rivera say that maybe he shouldn't have wasted a timeout on an obvious Cam Sims non-catch that he challenged out of desperation. It may have come in handy down at the Tennessee two yard line. Over and above all of this, penalties continue to plague the Commanders in 2022. Yesterday, we amassed 9 for 71 yards. That is a reflection of fundamentals and coaching deficiencies and that falls at the feet of Rivera to an extent.
2. Scott Turner - Norv drove us bats**t crazy. This is clearly an apple-tree scenario with his son, Scott. Yesterday was one of the more maddening games I have watched Turner call. For starters, Brian Robinson Jr. is a great story returning from near-fatal gunshot wounds. In his first ever NFL regular season game though, coming back from injury, he didn't need to get three times as many carries as Antonio Gibson, who was non-existent in the ball game. As for the run game in general, Turner completely ignored it yesterday and it was very costly by the time the final whistle sounded. I get that we didn't have any timeouts down at the Tennessee two yard line with 19 seconds left, but a run on 1st and goal would have given you more options. In theory, even if you didn't score on a 1st and goal run, you had enough time to spike the ball on 2nd down, and likely still run two quick plays afterwards (assuming passes). Instead, Turner's decision to throw on first and goal essentially made the next plays in the sequence very predictable - Tennessee was sitting on the pass all the way. Inexcusable. More so, people want to talk about Rivera's wasted timeout on the Sims challenge, but Turner had his finger in the cake on that too. He threw two straights plays that fell incomplete on 2nd and 3rd and 1, forcing Rivera to desperately challenge. Then on 4th down, after all that (and the wasted timeout), Turner runs it to move the chains! Should have maybe thought of just pushing the pile a bit sooner in the sequence. Simple is sometimes better than overthinking, which Scott seems to do quite often. Oh, and how about Terry McLaurin? I mean, every time he touched the ball, he made stuff happen yesterday. Again, he is not involved enough in the game for super-long stretches. On top of that, if you are so insistent on throwing at the goal line, how about using him? I bet 31 other teams would if he was in their uniform. It's not THAT complicated, Scott!
3. Dax Milne - same story all season long - no decisiveness, no burst, too much dancing. Teams are obviously putting the ball on kickoffs in a spot where he is going to return it, and he routinely can't reach the 25, or even the 20 for that matter. His poor choice to let the punt fall and roll for many yards right before our final drive pinned us back even further. It was a valiant effort for Wentz and the offense to move into a position to score, but a few extra seconds at the goal line would have helped. The little things really show up in a bad way for this team, and Milne's play is a perfect example of that. Which brings us back to coaching - why are these guys not holding Milne accountable and replacing him with someone more explosive?
4. John Matsko - I have personally been a Matsko cheerleader for two years running and he is making me look silly right now. In his first two seasons in Washington, he was renowned for taking a line with lots of overhaul and spare parts and moulding them into a very functional unit. Guys would leave the lineup with injury, no problem! Matsko would work his magic and step up on Sundays. It's not happening by any stretch of the imagination in 2022. This is the worst our line has looked in years and Matsko has to share some of the blame as well.
5. Andrew Norwell/Nic Martin - disastrous day for both guys on Sunday. Norwell is straight up getting destroyed in one-on-ones and looks like a shadow of his former All-Pro self in Carolina. Nic Martin appeared to have motor oil on his gloves yesterday and repeatedly couldn't get a basic shotgun snap off with accuracy and effectiveness, something you take for granted that guys at the pro level can do in their sleep.
6. Dan Snyder - please let there be some sort of miracle that requires this man to sell the franchise. The Titans fans are not normally a group that travel well, but my untrained eyes saw a lot of blue/light blue in the seats yesterday. I also saw a lot of empty seats. I can't wait for the "whiteout" game against Dallas later in the year, where there is the potential that the Cowboys fans will take over the stadium with blue and silver if this putrid play from the Commanders continues. This is going to get real ugly, folks.
Hat Tips:
1. Defensive Line - we have thought for a long time that this is arguably the best unit on our team with all those high draft picks, and they certainly came out to play yesterday vs. the Titans. Montez Sweat had his best and most inspired game of the year. Jon Allen was his typical self, and we saw some nice contributions from the unheralded James-Smith Williams as well. On the day, the line was in Tannehill's face all day and brought him down for a sack on five occasions.
2. Cole Holcomb - Cole Holcomb should not be your #1 linebacker on the roster (that's a discussion for another day), but he certainly had his most effective game of 2022 vs. the Titans. He was all over the field, sticking his nose in everything, and always seemed to be around the ball. On the day, #55 accumulated 11 tackles.
3. Dyami Brown - two years later, we finally got something out of Brown. Better late than never I suppose. It was really nice to see him step up in a big way in the absence of Jahan Dotson. He showed really good vertical speed, coming down with two touchdown receptions and 105 receiving yards on the day.
4. Joey Slye - Slye nailed a 50 yard field goal. While he is only 2 for 2 on the season, something which doesn't get talked about much is how Slye has never missed a FG attempt since being acquired last year for Washington. He has a nice little streak going and let's see if he can keep that alive on Thursday in the Windy City.
5. Terry McLaurin - 5 catches for 76 yards yesterday. More impressive was his ability to make something happen every time the ball got in his hands against Tennessee. As mentioned, he is ignored too often in this offense. He is too classy to do it, but if Terry were to throw a little fit demanding that he gets the ball more often, I for one would have zero problem with it.
That's it for this week. Do you agree/disagree? Who did we miss?
It's a short week and we head to Chicago on a Thursday night in what is going to be an ugly uniform battle with the Bears wearing their orange helmets and jerseys. Let's hope that the Commanders' play will be prettier to watch.
Studs:
1. Washington Fans - we are leaders in the clubhouse in this category in 2022. The loyalty and devotion we have shown over the years deserves far better. It has got to the point unfortunately where we have to start tuning in to other games around the NFL in order to understand what quality football even looks like anymore. We sadly subject ourselves to a clown show week after week with seemingly no end in sight. When victory seems like it is right there for the taking, this team always defies the odds and finds a way to mess it up. See 1st and goal from the Titans' 2 yard line with 19 seconds left for proof of that.
Yesterday's game vs. Tennessee saw some inspiring performances from several players. However, at 1-4 in year 3 of Rivera's tenure, I have a hard time rewarding anybody for being a stud performer. Football is the ultimate team game, and in a pivotal year where this team was expected to take a major leap forward, we are floundering in a massive way. Winning is the name of the game, and freebies just can't be handed out anymore in my mind.
Duds:
This is an easy list to populate this year. Where do we start with the Titans game?
1. Ron Rivera - I have the utmost respect and admiration for Ron as a person. I have a very soft spot for what he has had to endure health-wise in his time in Washington. That said, as a football coach, he is failing miserably right now. The comedy of errors we are seeing on the football field (e.g., offensive line) are a direct result of his own football-related roster construction decisions. After yesterday's game, Ron said that we are going to find our way out of this mess by playing better and practicing harder. That was the best he could give. Joe Gibbs set the standard for coaching excellence in the NFL. At 0-5, Joe Gibbs locked himself in the team facility and didn't peek his head out the door until he figured things out. That's called taking ownership. Instead, Rivera is telling us guys have to step up, we need more time, and our offensive line is struggling because they are a group of guys that haven't been together for too long, who are constantly rotating in/out of the lineup. That's called excuse making. It would have been nice to hear Rivera say that maybe he shouldn't have wasted a timeout on an obvious Cam Sims non-catch that he challenged out of desperation. It may have come in handy down at the Tennessee two yard line. Over and above all of this, penalties continue to plague the Commanders in 2022. Yesterday, we amassed 9 for 71 yards. That is a reflection of fundamentals and coaching deficiencies and that falls at the feet of Rivera to an extent.
2. Scott Turner - Norv drove us bats**t crazy. This is clearly an apple-tree scenario with his son, Scott. Yesterday was one of the more maddening games I have watched Turner call. For starters, Brian Robinson Jr. is a great story returning from near-fatal gunshot wounds. In his first ever NFL regular season game though, coming back from injury, he didn't need to get three times as many carries as Antonio Gibson, who was non-existent in the ball game. As for the run game in general, Turner completely ignored it yesterday and it was very costly by the time the final whistle sounded. I get that we didn't have any timeouts down at the Tennessee two yard line with 19 seconds left, but a run on 1st and goal would have given you more options. In theory, even if you didn't score on a 1st and goal run, you had enough time to spike the ball on 2nd down, and likely still run two quick plays afterwards (assuming passes). Instead, Turner's decision to throw on first and goal essentially made the next plays in the sequence very predictable - Tennessee was sitting on the pass all the way. Inexcusable. More so, people want to talk about Rivera's wasted timeout on the Sims challenge, but Turner had his finger in the cake on that too. He threw two straights plays that fell incomplete on 2nd and 3rd and 1, forcing Rivera to desperately challenge. Then on 4th down, after all that (and the wasted timeout), Turner runs it to move the chains! Should have maybe thought of just pushing the pile a bit sooner in the sequence.
Simple is sometimes better than overthinking, which Scott seems to do quite often. Oh, and how about Terry McLaurin? I mean, every time he touched the ball, he made stuff happen yesterday. Again, he is not involved enough in the game for super-long stretches. On top of that, if you are so insistent on throwing at the goal line, how about using him? I bet 31 other teams would if he was in their uniform. It's not THAT complicated, Scott!3. Dax Milne - same story all season long - no decisiveness, no burst, too much dancing. Teams are obviously putting the ball on kickoffs in a spot where he is going to return it, and he routinely can't reach the 25, or even the 20 for that matter. His poor choice to let the punt fall and roll for many yards right before our final drive pinned us back even further. It was a valiant effort for Wentz and the offense to move into a position to score, but a few extra seconds at the goal line would have helped. The little things really show up in a bad way for this team, and Milne's play is a perfect example of that. Which brings us back to coaching - why are these guys not holding Milne accountable and replacing him with someone more explosive?
4. John Matsko - I have personally been a Matsko cheerleader for two years running and he is making me look silly right now. In his first two seasons in Washington, he was renowned for taking a line with lots of overhaul and spare parts and moulding them into a very functional unit. Guys would leave the lineup with injury, no problem! Matsko would work his magic and step up on Sundays. It's not happening by any stretch of the imagination in 2022. This is the worst our line has looked in years and Matsko has to share some of the blame as well.
5. Andrew Norwell/Nic Martin - disastrous day for both guys on Sunday. Norwell is straight up getting destroyed in one-on-ones and looks like a shadow of his former All-Pro self in Carolina. Nic Martin appeared to have motor oil on his gloves yesterday and repeatedly couldn't get a basic shotgun snap off with accuracy and effectiveness, something you take for granted that guys at the pro level can do in their sleep.
6. Dan Snyder - please let there be some sort of miracle that requires this man to sell the franchise. The Titans fans are not normally a group that travel well, but my untrained eyes saw a lot of blue/light blue in the seats yesterday. I also saw a lot of empty seats. I can't wait for the "whiteout" game against Dallas later in the year, where there is the potential that the Cowboys fans will take over the stadium with blue and silver if this putrid play from the Commanders continues. This is going to get real ugly, folks.
Hat Tips:
1. Defensive Line - we have thought for a long time that this is arguably the best unit on our team with all those high draft picks, and they certainly came out to play yesterday vs. the Titans. Montez Sweat had his best and most inspired game of the year. Jon Allen was his typical self, and we saw some nice contributions from the unheralded James-Smith Williams as well. On the day, the line was in Tannehill's face all day and brought him down for a sack on five occasions.
2. Cole Holcomb - Cole Holcomb should not be your #1 linebacker on the roster (that's a discussion for another day), but he certainly had his most effective game of 2022 vs. the Titans. He was all over the field, sticking his nose in everything, and always seemed to be around the ball. On the day, #55 accumulated 11 tackles.
3. Dyami Brown - two years later, we finally got something out of Brown. Better late than never I suppose. It was really nice to see him step up in a big way in the absence of Jahan Dotson. He showed really good vertical speed, coming down with two touchdown receptions and 105 receiving yards on the day.
4. Joey Slye - Slye nailed a 50 yard field goal. While he is only 2 for 2 on the season, something which doesn't get talked about much is how Slye has never missed a FG attempt since being acquired last year for Washington. He has a nice little streak going and let's see if he can keep that alive on Thursday in the Windy City.
5. Terry McLaurin - 5 catches for 76 yards yesterday. More impressive was his ability to make something happen every time the ball got in his hands against Tennessee. As mentioned, he is ignored too often in this offense. He is too classy to do it, but if Terry were to throw a little fit demanding that he gets the ball more often, I for one would have zero problem with it.
That's it for this week. Do you agree/disagree? Who did we miss?
It's a short week and we head to Chicago on a Thursday night in what is going to be an ugly uniform battle with the Bears wearing their orange helmets and jerseys. Let's hope that the Commanders' play will be prettier to watch.
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