Before the advent of media devices, football coaches at all levels used simple whiteboards to outline plays, map out player positions and explain schemes in real time. Nowadays digital playbooks and tablets have taken over, but coaches still use whiteboards on occasion to impart information quickly and effectively. The following are some quick notes and observations from the Washington Commanders’
13-30 loss to the Indianapolis Colts in London.Personnel decisions are still a problem
After interior offensive lineman Nick Allegretti struggled
in the first two games, Sam Cosmi’s absence in Week 3 gave the Washington Commanders an opportunity to replace him at center and move the journeyman over to the guard position. Lucas Patrick played surprisingly well in his place, and in London it looked like the team would go with the same starting lineup. The team went a step further and benched Allegretti for sixth-round rookie Matt Gulbin. After playing all of four snaps the week prior, Gulbin lined up across All-Pro defensive tackle DeForest Buckner to start Sunday’s game. Predictably, things did not go well for the rookie and he was beaten badly on the play that resulted in Commanders quarterback Marcus Mariota’s injury. After repeatedly emphasizing their faith in Allegretti this summer, four weeks into the season, he was benched.
Unfortunately, Commanders general manager Adam Peters also chose not to sign a veteran quarterback following Jayden Daniels injury and the team gave backup Athan Kaliakmanis few repetitions in practice this week while getting Daniels work. The seventh-round selection performed admirablygiven the situation, but you have to wonder if the game would have gone differently with a veteran behind center.
Following the game, Dan Quinn justified the decision by indicating Allegretti was banged upand would have been limited to start, despite being listed as a full participant in Friday’s practice.
The Commanders running game is on life support
Running back Bill Croskey-Merritt received the bulk of the team’s carries on Sunday with nine attempts for fifteen yards and a 1.7-yard per carry average. Merritt has struggled so far this year and currently holds a 2.8-yard per carry average on the season, which ranks 82nd amongst all running backs in the league, according to SumerSports. In fact, Marcus Mariota’s 35-yard scramble produced more rushing yards than Croskey-Merritt’s, Craig Reynolds’ and Kaytron Allen’s 14 rushing attempts combined. If you remove the quarterback rushing completely, the Commanders had 18 rushes for just 49 yards on Sunday. Those kinds of results aren’t going to win many games.
So who is at fault?
Croskey-Merritt isn’t running with good vision so far and Ekeler and White both boast better yards per carry averages, coming in at 7.3 yards and 4.5 yards, respectively. However, their combined rushing attempts are half of Bill’s total, and they haven’t had a chance to experience the negative runs that happen running behind the current offensive line. Heading into the game, Washington’s running backs had been hit at or behind the line of scrimmage on 53% of their runs, which was the second highest rate in the league, according to Sharp Football Analysis. Things didn’t get much better in London, and the much-maligned fourth-and-1 call to Craig Reynolds was doomed to fail no matter which back was behind center, as Brandon Coleman missed a key block.
Overall, the current offensive line isn’t a fit to effectively run a zone scheme, with guys like Chris Paul, Nick Allegretti, and Matt Gulbin playing the majority of the snaps on the interior. In Week 2 of preseason, the Whiteboard focused on the need to establish the starting offensive line so the unit could develop familiarity with one another. Since then, Allegretti took his first game snaps in Week 1, Cosmi went out in Week 2, the center and right guard were both changed in Week 3, and the right guard was replaced on Sunday. While talent is a big factor, zone blocking also requires scheme fit and cohesion, and this offensive line doesn’t have it.
The defense is better but still isn’t preventing their opponents from scoring
After allowing Seattle to score over 30 points last week, the Commanders defense once again gave up another 30 points to the Daniel Jones and the Indianapolis Colts. The defense held strong through much of the first half but, after the failed fourth-down attempt in the second quarter, the Colts went on to score on their next drive and wouldn’t relinquish their lead for the remainder of the game. As the game wore on in the second half, the offense and special teams didn’t do them any favors, and Jonathan Taylor eventually wore the defense down for 95 rushing yards and two touchdowns.
While the details matter, the inability of the defense to stop opposing offenses from scoring has been a persistent problem for the Commanders. According to FoxSports, Washington’s defense now ranks 25th in passing defense, 30th in red zone defense, and 31st in scoring defense after Sunday’s game. While the run defense, turnovers, and pressures are all improvements, those rankings call to mind last year’s defense under Joe Whitt Jr.
The calls didn’t go the Commanders way…
Like many, I rarely point to the officials as the reason for a team losing a game, but, for this one, they deserve a mention. While some of the calls were legitimate, others were decidedly questionable or not called against the Indianapolis Colts. Both definitely impacted the game at several key moments, and while the officiating may not have definitively changed the outcome, there is no questioning the disparity we saw in Sunday’s game.
