When players are fighting for a roster spot, they usually play harder to prove to coaches across the league that they belong in the NFL. That wasn’t true of the Washington Commanders, who put up a downright awful performance in their 41-3 preseason finale loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
The game started out badly from the beginning. Baltimore seamlessly marched down the field on an eight-play, 69-yard drive that was capped off by a 25-yard touchdown. On Washington’s opening drive, rookie running back Kaytron Allen fumbled the ball, which was subsequently recovered by the Ravens and set up their second touchdown of the game.
Baltimore put up 31 unanswered points to start the game until Washington was finally able to force a turnover in the third
quarter. They got only three yards on the next series, but the turnover put them in field-goal range, and they scored their first and only points of the game with 6:04 left in the third quarter.
Everyone seemed to come out flat for the Commanders, from their receivers to their running backs and their defense. Running back Robert Henry Jr, who is currently on the roster bubble and may not be on the initial 53-man roster, said after the game that the Commanders came out “juiceless,” but they picked things up more later in the game.
“It’s very frustrating, you know, because we’re better than that for sure. But I mean, when you come out juiceless, it happens like that. So, we just got to come up with more juice next time and try to not make as many mistakes,” Henry said. “We came out, and it was a little bit slow, you know, but as the game picked up, you know, we kind of picked it up.”
Henry was among the many players who underperformed in this atrocious loss to the Ravens, putting up just 33 yards on 10 carries, although he did get more attempts than Kaytron Allen, with whom he was competing for a roster spot. With the deadline for the initial 53-man roster on Sunday, it seems like at least one of these running backs is getting cut soon.
This article originally appeared on Commanders Wire: Commanders rookie said Washington came out 'juiceless' against Ravens in preseason finale
