Commanders links
Articles
A to Z Sports
‘We didn’t find the rhythm’ – Dan Quinn sent a clear message on the offensive struggles after a lackluster performance
The numbers showed that the team couldn’t get anything going, and conversions were a big part of that. The Commanders went 5-16 on third downs on Thursday, and you can’t expect to win anything with those numbers. We also saw a more conservative play calling from an aggressive Kliff Kingsbury, who only went for it on fourth down three times, with only one conversion. They elected to kick a field goal before the half, which was missed, when people thought they would go for it, but didn’t.
The Commanders never really tried to establish the run either, and the running backs only got 12 total carries on Thursday for 34 yards. Daniels added 17 on the ground, and the team as a collective only had 51 yards after rushing for 220 last week. This put a lot of pressure on the passing game, which struggled mainly due to the Packers’ defense, but they also just struggled as a unit, with one of Daniels’ worst games yet.
Last week, the passing game looked rusty, and we expected to see an improvement, but we saw the opposite. Daniels had one of his worst games of his career, but it wasn’t all his fault. The offensive line had absolutely no answers for the Packers’ pass rush. Daniels was pressured 26 times, hurried 18 times, and was sacked four times.
Washington Post (paywall)
Commanders lose Austin Ekeler and Deatrich Wise Jr. for the season
The running back has a torn Achilles, while the defensive end will be out with a quadriceps injury.
Tests confirmed that Ekeler, 30, tore the Achilles tendon in his right leg in a noncontact incident during the fourth quarter of Washington’s 27-18 loss at the Green Bay Packers on Thursday night, two people with knowledge of his condition confirmed to The Washington Post on Saturday. Wise, 31, will require season-ending surgery to repair his right quadriceps, a person familiar with the situation confirmed Friday, bringing his first season in Washington to a premature end.
Wise and Ekeler were among six Commanders starters who suffered injuries Thursday and among four who didn’t return to the game. Tight end John Bates and wide receiver Noah Brown bowed out early with groin injuries, and their status remains unclear. Cornerback Trey Amos and left guard Brandon Coleman also missed a chunk of Thursday’s game with shoulder issues, though both later returned. Reserve cornerback Jonathan Jones (hamstring) rounded out the injury list.
Riggo’s Rag
NFL analyst believes Commanders should consider trading Marshon Lattimore
Douglas Fritz from Clutch Points has seen enough. The analyst thought the Commanders should consider the possibility of trading Lattimore. It won’t be anything like the compensation they gave up to acquire him, but with his powers on the wane, he thought ripping off the band-aid now would be the best thing for Washington.
“He seems to have two consistencies right now: leave receivers open, or commit a penalty. Maybe it’s time to bring in a veteran free agent who can at least get into the “average” range. It’s hard to imagine the Commanders could get much for [Marshon] Lattimore in a trade. But they could try. Even getting a younger player with a little speed and lateral ability would help. Watching Lattimore trail Dontayvion Wicks across the field and being five to seven yards away from him while he easily caught the ball was a key play of frustration on Thursday.”Douglas Fritz
Lattimore’s performance in Week 2 wasn’t up to the required standard. But trading the player doesn’t seem likely.
Not yet, anyway.
He’s still a top-level performer when firing on all cylinders. Those moments have been few and far between in Washington, although his hamstring issue had a lot to do with that in 2024.
That’s not an excuse these days. Lattimore needs to brush off this bad outing and cement his importance to the Commanders. Otherwise, the prospect of shipping the defensive back elsewhere becomes much more realistic before the 2025 trade deadline.
Commanders Wire
Will Commanders grow from Packers’ loss?
The Commanders looked terrible on offense and defense in Thursday’s loss. Quarterback Jayden Daniels looked ordinary for an entire game for the first time in his short NFL career. Green Bay’s offense carved up a Washington defense that looked potentially excellent only four days earlier.
The sky is falling, right?
Not so fast, says Merril Hoge.
Hoge joined Friday’s edition of “The Chris Russell Show” on Team 980 in Washington, D.C., and broke down where he thinks the Commanders are after Thursday’s loss.
“I think it speaks more to where the Packers are and how good they are,” Hoge told Russell. “They’re a seasoned team. A lot of like the real critical components of the team, you know they add Micah (Parsons), and that’s obviously been instrumental in their defense, the impact he has made.”
Then Hoge turns his attention to the Commanders.
“But you got to remember that your team is new. And what people forget is what happens in the offseason. You know, these coaches from say, the Giants and in the division, and the Packers, they don’t go the beach. The coaching staff doesn’t go to the beach and sip on margaritas until the season starts……….They are breaking down the Washington Commanders and how they play. Because, see, in a way, the Commanders caught everybody off guard. Did they know how Jayden Daniels was going to play? Did they know how the new system would be put together? How they would look? Well, you only have like 48 hours to get ready for an opponent during the season, whereas in the offseason, you have months to look at an opponent.”
Now that doesn’t mean the Commanders can’t grow from that. They’re gonna grow, too. But that’s what makes it a little different from last year to this year, is they’re seeing things now they probably didn’t see last year, and they’re going to have to adjust to that and grow from that. But I wouldn’t be completely down. You’re 1-1. If you’re playing great football now, to maintain that is not an easy thing to do because you want to be playing great football come the end of November, early December. So, they still have chances to do that. They didn’t look terrible, and they were on the road and on a short week. And the Packers are one of the most elite teams in football right now.”
Podcasts & videos
Bill Croskey-Merritt + Brian Mitchell on Packers, Hall of Fame and Legacy | Next Man Up | Commanders
Commanders’ Deebo Samuel “It’s never a hard catch if you get two hands on it” | The Player’s Club
NFC East links
Blogging the Boys
Cowboys vs Giants referee report: What to expect from officials in home opener
Vinovich has earned a reputation as an official who prefers to let teams play with minimal interruption.
Since returning as a head referee, Vinovich’s crew has finished in the top half of the league in penalties called just once. There have been six occasions where his crew has been in the bottom three of the league in penalties called, and has finished dead last three different times, most recently in 2022. Only one crew threw fewer flags than Vinovich’s in Week 1.
In short: don’t expect to see many flags thrown Sunday. Well, unless Dexter Lawrence decides to spit on a Cowboys player, or something like that.
Vinovich’s hands-off, let-them-play approach has historically benefitted the home team. Since coming back to the field, home teams are 109-103 when Vinovich is present. However, that record has gotten a lot closer in recent years. As homefield advantage has generally declined since 2017, home teams are just 63-73 in Vinovich-called games.
There’s a theory that officials like Vinovich bode well for the more physical team, rather than the home team, simply because it’s easier for that team to dominate and overpower their opponent when they don’t have to worry about being constantly penalized. That would seem to bode well for the Cowboys, as Brian Schottenheimer has emphasized physicality and trench warfare since taking over as head coach.
All in all, Vinovich has called 21 Cowboys games. They are 12-9 in those games, with a 6-3 record at home. Ironically, the winner of those home games has been the more penalized team in all but one contest: 10 years ago, opening up the season at home against the New York Football Giants.
As for Big Blue, Vinovich has called 11 Giants games over the course of his lengthy career. New York is 7-4 in those games, but 2-2 as the visiting team. This will be the first game (and possibly last) of the Brian Daboll era that is played on the road with Vinovich on the call.
There is “no sense of urgency” in the New York Giants organization to bench Russell Wilson and start rookie Jaxson Dart, sources told ESPN.
It doesn’t mean a change can’t come soon at the quarterback position, but the Giants would prefer that it not happen anytime soon, according to sources. New York would prefer to continue to be patient, let Wilson play well and give Dart the time he needs to develop, sources said.
The Athletic (paywall)
What I’m hearing on Tyreek Hill’s future, 49ers’ injury bug and Chiefs’ reset
Fresh legs, fresh outlook in K.C.
The Chiefs’ season opener in São Paulo came with a twist before the game even started: travel delays. Kansas City didn’t touch down until 12:30 a.m. Thursday, just a day and a half before kickoff. Not an excuse, but definitely a factor, from what I was told, in what turned into a sluggish showing on both sides of the ball.
Andy Reid, who always thinks long term, hit the reset button by giving his players an extended weekend off. The timing couldn’t be better, because their home opener is no ordinary Week 2 matchup; it’s against the defending champion Philadelphia Eagles.
Draft, develop, extend
If it feels like there’s been an explosion of contract extensions in 2025, you’re not imagining things. There have been more extensions signed through mid-September than at this point in any year over the last decade.
One NFC GM explained it like this: “It has never been more important to draft well. Teams are doubling down on developing and locking up their own talent, and the quick fix on the free-agent market? It’s disappearing fast.”
Big Blue View
Ready or not, the Jaxson Dart era might start soon for the New York Giants
If the Giants continue to struggle to score points, it might be impossible for Brian Daboll to leave Dart on the bench.
I have said this before, but I believe the best-case scenario is for the Giants to provide as long a runway as possible for Dart before handing him the reigns.
A full redshirt season is not going to happen. I have said again and again, though, that no young quarterback has ever been ruined by having to wait his turn. Sure, that will test the youngster’s patience, and that of the fan base. Plenty of young quarterbacks have been ruined, or had their developments severely damaged, by being thrust into less than idea circumstances too soon and being asked to be the savior of a floundering franchise or head coach.
The Giants would like to wait. They would love it if Wilson would connect on enough moon balls and be good enough to run a middle of the pack offense that would keep them in games, and if the ballyhooed defense would create enough game-changing plays to make the Giants a surprise playoff contender.
Reporting from ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Saturday confirms as much. Schefter wrote:
There is “no sense of urgency” in the New York Giants organization to bench Russell Wilson and start rookie Jaxson Dart, sources told ESPN.
It doesn’t mean a change can’t come soon at the quarterback position, but the Giants would prefer that it not happen anytime soon, according to sources. New York would prefer to continue to be patient, let Wilson play well and give Dart the time he needs to develop, sources said.
That, though, might not be their reality.
The Giants scored six points in their season-opening game. They could not generate a touchdown with a first-and-goal at the 1-yard line. The running game was non-existent. The receivers, including Malik Nabers, didn’t make enough plays. The pass protection was leaky.
What was around Wilson wasn’t good. The 14-year veteran, though, wasn’t good, either. He completed just 17 of 37 passes. He was off target sometimes. Hesitant other times. Occasionally was looking at the rush rather his receivers. There was no magic. No life. No spark in the Giants’ offense.
The Giants were 9-25 combined in the 2023 and 2024 seasons. Daboll’s future as Giants head coach hinges on two things:
- Winning enough games to provide tangible evidence that progress is being made after the last two disastrous seasons.
- Showing ownership that he was right to push for the drafting of Dart, and that no matter what the record turns out to be in 202t showing ownership that there could be a bright future if they allow the Dart-Daboll pairing time to flourish.
There is no way that Daboll, if he sees that the offense just isn’t going to function as hoped with Wilson and that winning games is going to be a difficult proposition, watches the season — and maybe his head-coaching career — go up in flames without getting Dart on the field to try and prove point No. 2.
Upcoming opponent
Silver and Black Pride
Raiders Week 1: What cornerback rotation?
Eric Stokes and Kyu Blu Kelly didn’t come off the field in the Las Vegas Raiders’ season-opening road win against the New England Patriots this past Sunday.
So much for the cornerback rotation head coach Pete Carroll hinted would happen, eh?
At least, for one game.
Stokes, who had locked down a starting outside spot from the onset, logged 71 defensive snaps in Week 1, as did Kelly, a surprise riser in the offseason. While Stokes (26 years old, in his fifth year, and finished with five total tackles and stop for loss in the opener) was a mainstay as a starting corner, it was the spot opposite him that was wide open.
For a good portion of camp, 2025 third-round pick Darien Porter was the tag team partner on the opposite boundary of Stokes. Instead, Kelly (24 years old, in his third year, and finished with nine total tackles and a pass deflection) got the starting nod while Porter didn’t play a lick on defense and instead notched 20 special teams snaps.
NFL league links
Articles
Pro Football Talk
Falcons replace K Younghoe Koo with K Parker Romo for Week 2
The Falcons have made their kicker switch for Week 2 official, as Koo was downgraded to out for the Week 2 matchup against the Vikings for non-injury related reasons — meaning he was benched. He did not travel to Minnesota with the club.
Romo has been elevated off the practice squad for Sunday night’s game.
Koo missed a game-tying, 44-yard attempt wide right at the end of last week’s loss to the Buccaneers. He was already coming off a career-low 73.5 percent success rate on his field goal attempts in 2024.
Romo, 28, hit 11-of-12 field goals and 7-of-8 extra points in four games for Minnesota last season.
