The Washington Commanders traveled to London this week to face the Indianapolis Colts.
This was an important game for the Commanders because a win would have put them at .500 through four games. The team picked up a nice Week 3 win that could have swung the season’s momentum, but instead, they got anotherugly Week 4 loss, falling 30-13 to the Colts.
It wasn’t just a result of poor play, though. The Commanders got unlucky when Marcus Mariota left early with a knee injury. The veteran never returned, and rookie Athan Kaliakmanis wasn’t put in an ideal position to succeed.
Now, let’s go over the studs and duds from the performance.
Stud: Treylon Burks
Treylon Burks didn’t get a ton of opportunities on Sunday, but he made the most of the ones he had. The receiver caught
a big pass from Kaliakmanis for a 47-yard score.
It was the Commanders’ only receiving score of the game.
Dud: Matt Gulbin
The Commanders’ offensive line has not been good enough this season. Granted, they have been killed by injuries, but the team decided to make another change ahead of Week 4. Matt Gulbin replaced Nick Allegretti as the starting right guard, and the results were not encouraging. Allegretti, Washington’s starting center for the first two weeks,
Gulbin let Bill Croskey-Merritt get blown up on a play early in the game, then missed a block when Marcus Mariota got injured. The rookie had a horrendous showing.
Dud: Running backs
Once again, the Commanders got almost nothing out of their running backs. Croskey-Merritt ended with 15 yards on nine carries, while Marcus Mariota led the team with just 35 yards.
Rachaad White didn’t play, but that’s no excuse. However, Austin Ekeler, in his first game after being signed last week and coming off Achilles’ surgery, carried the ball four times for 29 yards. Perhaps he should've gotten more opportunities?
Dud: Run defense
The run defense was bad against the Colts. That’s not THAT surprising given how talented Jonathan Taylor is, but this unit had been playing well until now. What makes it even worse is that the Commanders had no answer for Taylor in the second half when you knew he was going to run. Colts quarterback Daniel Jones was ineffective, making Indianapolis one-dimensional.
Coming into Week 4, the Commanders had not allowed a rushing score all year. This weekend, they allowed Taylor to find the end zone twice and accumulate 95 yards.
Stud: Amik Robertson and Rasul Douglas
We’ll end on a positive. The Commanders’ secondary had been horrible heading into this game, but they actually did a fine job in London. Daniel Jones was held to just 143 passing yards and no touchdowns.
Amik Robertson and Rasul Douglas combined for 15 tackles, two pass breakups, and one interception. On a day with few positives, it was nice to see the secondary play well.
Dud: NFL officials
The Commanders were called for 10 penalties for 84 yards. Several calls were egregiously bad, including one on Robertson in the first half that completely flipped the momentum. The Colts? One penalty for five yards, which came in the fourth quarter. Even the game’s announcing crew was stunned by some of the calls in this one.
This article originally appeared on Commanders Wire: Studs and duds from Commanders' Week 4 loss to Colts
