If you thought that after Josh Harris became the new owner of the DC Football Team that things would change, you would be mistaken. The Commanders embarrassed themselves once again on Sunday falling to an injury ridden, reeling, 1-5 New York Giants 14 to 7. At no point during this contest did Washington look like the better team, and despite a chance to tie the game late in the 4th quarter, fans were left shaking their heads at another terrible performance from every aspect of the team. Honestly, punter Tress Way was probably the only highlight for the team and that is all you need to know about how everyone else looked.
In what has become a consistent theme over the last four years, cameras panned over to the sidelines to see Ron Rivera staring off into the abyss after the team either: committed a penalty, gave up another sack, dropped a pass, or gave up an explosive play. The most animated he got all game, and maybe since he has been in DC, was when the refs called intentional grounding on Sam Howell after he quickly threw the ball out of bounds before getting blasted by the Giants defense. Rivera was right to be upset, a commanders running back was in the area of the throw, but the fact that you never saw that fired up coach speaking to his players or coaching staff is evidence of a coach who does not have what it takes to take this team to the next level.
There are so many fingers to point for why the Commanders lost Sunday. Point it at the offensive line, who gave up more sacks (6) to the Giants than they had all year (5.) Point it at Offensive Coordinator Eric Bieniemy, whose game plan involved dropping back to pass 42 times while only running the ball 19 times, allowing the Giants blitz heavy defense to get after the QB play after play after play. Point it at Jack Del Rio and the talent filled Commanders defense who allowed New York to score two first half touchdowns, something they hadn’t done all season long. You can pick more players, or position groups, or coaches, but the blame sits at the feet of one person, Ron Rivera.
Rivera was given the keys to the franchise four years ago, and what he has to show for it right now is an underperforming defense, an offensive line that is ten times worse than the one he inherited from Jay Gruden, and a 5th round pick QB who has played well, but is on pace to shatter the sacks record with 97!! (the record is 76 by David Carr and the expansion Houston Texans.) His 2023 first round pick Emmanuel Forbes was benched 5 games into his career and has played a total of 5 snaps in the last two weeks. His free agent signing of Andrew Wylie has been a disaster, and the fact that his top two picks in last years drafts aren’t even playing (Quan Martin was hurt in the first quarter yesterday but in the weeks earlier saw no real playing time.) when they knew they had a young QB behind a bad offensive line is grounds for firing by itself.
The fact of the matter is, everyone knew this regime was not going to be able to take this team to the level that fans have been hoping for for the last twenty years. The wins they have had this year were against bad teams and they didn’t win a single one convincingly. They have a massive game against the Eagles coming up on Sunday and all anyone is going to talk about leading up to the game is how the Commanders embarrassed themselves once again and no matter what happens moving forward, Josh Harris needs to clean house and start over.
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