BOX SCORE
The Commanders had to deal with some adversity trying to reach an even record during Sunday morning’s game against the Indianapolis Colts.
Jayden Daniels practiced some this week and then wasn’t able to go, as expected after a dislocated left elbow. Washington felt super comfortable with Marcus Mariota calling offensive signals and could hold a similar game plan with mobile quarterbacks capable of making all the pre-snaps checks required of David Blough’s offense.
Then the Commanders had to
handle another quarterback blow. Like, playing a seventh-round pick in Athan Kaliakmanis in a real-life NFL game.
So, yeah, Washington had to deal with some adversity.
They eventually succumbed to it.
It was easy to imagine a path to victory for the Commanders had the quarterback situation been normal, but it most certainly was not. That led to a 30-13 loss to the Colts on Sunday at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.
Here are some key takeaways from Washington’s contest with the Colts after watching it live:
Commanders refuse to quit
We learned a ton about the Commanders’ character in this game, where so much went wrong from an injury perspective.
We’ve talked a ton about the quarterback situation and will discuss it a lot more lower in this story, but Sunday’s game remained competitive due to some big plays on both sides of the ball.
The coaching staff (somehow) kept this group together and involved in a game where things could’ve fallen apart.
The Commanders were down two scores when Kaliakmanis found Treylon Burks deep for a touchdown.
The Commanders also looked confused at times offensively. That’ll happen with a quarterback who didn’t see many reps with Daniels working towards a return while Mariota was planning to start.
Kaliakmanis is a gunslinger type of guy, who connected with Dyami Brown on the play you’ll see below, but the operation wasn’t clean and the run game was stilted by the Colts’ emphasis on stopping it.
While Kaliakmanis was successful on the explosives he wasn’t great in a consistent operation of the offense, which ultimately cost the Commanders down the stretch.
That led to a deficit that couldn’t be overcome, as the Colts expanded their lead and eventually put the Commanders in a bind from which they couldn’t recover, considering all the injuries incurred in this game and before.
Quarterback adversity reaching insane heights
Jayden Daniels was ruled out of this game on Friday due to dislocated left elbow. Marcus Mariota looked like himself early in Sunday morning’s game, validating the decision to play it safe/smart to start the veteran backup.
Then the unthinkable happened. Mariota left Sunday’s game with a knee injury, leaving this game to seventh-round rookie Athan Kaliakmanis.
Here’s the play where Mariota got hurt:
Mariota did not return. That was obviously not part of the game plan.
The Commanders were humming with Mariota, even with just a pair of field goals as the end results. Adding Kaliakmanis slowed some things down, as you’d expect.
Then it all got worse in the second half, as the offense stalled at crucial times. This isn’t on the offensive line or the run game here. The Colts were able to make life hard on the rookie quarterback.
Even with Kaliakmanis showing some spark, you’d think a veteran needs to come in.
Most reports assume that Daniels will be able to return for a Week 5 contest against the New York Giants.
Whether that Daniels return happens is ultimately uncertain, but Washington will probably be in the quarterback market this week while trying to establish a better cadence of passers. Kaliakmanis had some good moments, but the Mariota injury provides some pause and reports suggest he could miss some time.
The Commanders can’t deal with what they handled on Sunday from a quarterback depth perspective, so it’s probably prudent to add another passer to the group.
Daronte Jones’ system taking shape
The Commanders defense started super hot. Need proof? Here are the results of the first five series: fumble recovered, punt, punt, punt, interception. The only reason why the sixth series ended in a touchdown was a bogus unnecessary roughness call on Amik Robertson.
Coordinator Daronte Jones had an excellent game plan dialed up that built on the excellent run defense established over the first few weeks. We saw much of the creative pressures and exotic look everyone should expect, but Colts quarterback Daniel Jones started to adjust.
While the quarterback situation didn’t directly impact what was done on defense, there was an influence. The lead-expanding touchdown scored by Jonathan Taylor in the third quarter came off a Kaliakmanis interception deep in Washington territory.
There’s only so much a defense can do without breakage, and it eventually gave way and lost an early lead and was eventually part of a double-digit, second-half deficit. Taylor was explosive at times, especially late, and the defense was far from perfect, but you can see this system taking shape.
No matter the result, you can see Jones’ scheme coming to life and being an effective path to sustainably quality defense. Washington’s defense had zero margin for error with the third-string quarterback playing and still allowed points in the 30s, but you can see what Jones is trying to do. And it’s encouraging.
Commanders injuries becoming cruel joke
The NFL Network broadcast showed a graphic of all the Commanders players out with injury, and it was most of those listed on our offseason top 10 ranking. Laremy Tunsil. Jayden Daniels. Nick Cross. Sam Cosmi. Terry McLaurin. Trey Amos.
And that doesn’t even count important depth pieces like Jaylin Lane or Leo Chenal or Charles Omenihu or Rachaad White or Tyler Owens.
And that’s not even an exhaustive list. The Commanders have been dealt some serious blows on the injury front. That’s not an excuse. It never is, but it’s a valid point of important context for why the Commanders find themselves in a difficult spot.
