2024 REWIND: The Washington Commanders Week 1 game at Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Dan Quinn era begins 0-1 with a road loss to Tampa Bay

One good thing about a 12-win season is that it offers a lot of good memories — even more when the team goes on to win a pair of playoff games to reach 14 wins for the regular season and postseason combined!

For most of the prior 30 years, most fans preferred to look forward instead of back, since there was seldom much to celebrate.

This past season, 2024, was different. Sure, there was a 3-game drought mid-season and the NFC Championship game ended the season with a blowout loss, but the Commanders found their GM, their coach, their quarterback, and a winning formula.

To help navigate the emptiness of this NFL desert that exists between the end of the draft and the start of training camp in late-July, we thought it might be a bit of fun to re-visit the first 19 of the 20 games that comprised the Commanders 2024 season.

The expectation with this 2024 REWIND series is to re-visit about two games per week between now and mid-July. That means opening up with a loss, but don’t worry! You may recall that the Commanders went on to win 4 games in a row from Week 2 to Week 5. That said, the first half of June will be a bit rough as we re-live the 3-game losing streak to the Steelers, Eagles and Cowboys.

Mostly, though, we hope you’ll enjoy the opportunity to journey back through the most successful season of Washington football since 1991!

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Precap

Not a lot was expected of either Washington or Tampa Bay in 2024. The Commanders had finished 2023 with just 4 wins. While Tampa Bay had reached the playoffs with a 9-8 record in a weak NFC South, there were expectations that the Bucs might struggle to keep up with a Falcons team that signed Kirk Cousins and drafted Michael Penix and the Saints, who, in 2023 had finished with an identical 9-8 record and had head coach Dennis Allen and QB Derek Carr returning for a 2nd season together.

The over/under on season win totals was 6.5 for Washington and just 7.5 for Tampa Bay.

The obvious story line in Week 1 was Jayden Daniels, the #2 overall pick in the 2024 draft. He’d looked good in the preseason — how would he look against an NFL defense when the game counted?

Tampa Bay, for its part, offered an interesting offensive attack led by Baker Mayfield at QB, with Mike Evans & Chris Godwin as the top receivers and rookie 4th round pick Bucky Irving offering a bit of an unknown challenge at RB. Defensively, the 2023 Bucs had given up a lot of passing yards and total yards, but ranked 7th in points allowed at a stingy 19.1 per game. There was every reason to expect this to be a challenging opening game for Dan Quinn’s Commanders.

First Quarter

Despite heavy rain forecast for Sunday, it was sunny and clear at kickoff.

The Commanders had traded a conditional 7th round pick to the Browns for kicker Cade York just days earlier. York kicked off to the home team, whose opening drive stalled at Washington’s 38-yard line, and Tampa Bay kicked a 56-yard field goal to take the early 3-0 lead.

Jayden Daniels took his first NFL regular season snap at the 30-yard line. The first-down play was a bad miss on a backwards pass intended for Brian Robinson, with a loss of 15 yards when the ball went out of bounds. The drive ended with an ugly 3 & out and a Washington punt from the Commanders 23 yard line.

On Tampa’s second drive, Mike Evans caught multiple passes to matriculate the ball downfield and move the chains, but following a penalty, Baker Mayfield scrambled on a 3rd & 13 play and was unable to reach the line to gain. Tampa Bay hit a 34-yard field goal to make the score 6-0.

Washington’s defense did a pretty good job to limit the Buccaneers to 78 yards and 6 points on the first two drives. The Washington offense, however, needed to get on track.

The Commanders took over again at the 30-yard line with about 5 minutes left in the first quarter following the game’s 4th touchback.

The Commanders got their initial first-down of the game on a Daniels scramble on a 2nd & 8 play, with the rookie avoiding any hit by sliding rather awkwardly at the end of the run. On 3rd & 4 at Washington’s 47 yard line, Daniels scrambled again, this time for 17 yards down the left sideline for another first-down at the TB 36-yard line.

On the drive, a 21-yard gain was wiped out by a bad penalty flag for a block in the back.

On 3rd & 3 from the 29 yard line, Daniels was unable to hit Olamide Zaccheaus on the right sideline. Cade York ended the 10-play, 41-yard drive with an attempted 47-yard field goal that missed to the left. York’s kicking career in Washington was off to a rocky start.

Second Quarter

On Tampa Bay’s answering drive, the Commanders weren’t able to handle the Bucs passing attack. The drive ended with a 17-yard touchdown pass to Mike Evans over very tight and physical coverage by Benjamin St-Juste. The score moved to 13-0.

The first return of the game saw Austin Ekeler bring the kickoff back to the 26-yard line. On 2nd & 8, Daniels scrambled yet again — something that fans would criticize after the game, saying he’d run the ball too much — and tumbled forward to avoid contact, gaining 16 yards and a 1st down at the Commanders 44 yard line. On 2nd down, Austin Ekeler caught a short pass just across the line of scrimmage in the middle of the field, turning it into a 22-yard gain.

With a 1st down on the Bucs 34-yard line, Daniels missed Terry McLaurin on a deep pass. On 2nd down — stop me if you’ve heard this before — Jayden Daniels scrambled for 12 yards and another 1st down. Daniels took a big helmet-to-helmet hit, drawing a penalty flag, and moving the ball to the the Tampa Bay 11-yard line.

Back to back runs by Austin Ekeler (4 yards) and Brian Robinson (7 yard touchdown) put the Commanders on the scoreboard 13-7. The scoring drive was 8 plays and covered 74 yards.

Cade York failed to impress on the kickoff, with the ball incredibly going out of bounds and being spotted at the 40-yard-line! This was, indeed, a very rocky start to the kicker’s Commanders tenure.

Following a 14-yard gain by Chris Godwin on Tampa Bay’s 10th third down of the game, Rachaad White tripped in the backfield on 1st down, and Mayfield faced heavy pressure from rookie Javontae Jean-Baptiste on 2nd down, but managed to complete a short pass to his running back.

The drive ultimately stalled, and Tampa Bay’s kicker split the uprights with a 29-yard kick to make the score 16-7 with 00:16 showing on the clock.

Jayden Daniels brought the half to an end by taking a knee.

Halftime Stats

Third Quarter

The Commanders got the ball on offense to start the second half at the 30-yard line.

Daniels tried to stretch the field with a deep pass to Scary Terry down the left sideline, but overshot him by 2 or 3 yards. A few plays later, Daniels picked up yet another first-down with yet another 11-yard scramble on 2nd & 5. To this point Daniels had 8 carries for 67 yards while completing 5 of 11 passes for 51 yards.

Following a pair of Brian Robinson runs, Washington faced 3rd & 1 at the Tampa Bay 40-yard line. Tampa Bay defender Bryce Hall was injured on the second-down play and was carted off the field.

After the time out, Brian Robinson carried the ball but was stopped inches short of the line to gain. On 4th down and inches, Daniels faked the handoff and sprinted to his left for a first down on a called QB run.

A few plays later, Jayden Daniels suffered his first career NFL sack, losing 9 yards and bringing up a 3rd & 18 at the Tampa Bay 46.

Kliff Kingsbury went deep in the playbook in Week 1.

Following an 8 yard gain on a busted play to Luke McCaffrey, Cade York ended the 12-play drive (and probably his Commanders career) by missing wide right on a 56-yard field goal — his 2nd miss of the day.

Ultimately, the Commanders cut York after this game, negating the conditional 7th-round pick that Washington had traded to the Browns for the kicker.

Tampa Bay took over at their own 49-yard line with a 9-point lead and 9:21 remaining in the 3rd quarter.

Four plays later, the Commanders had forced a 3rd & 10 at the Washington 30-yard-line, but gave up the first down by penalty with two flags on Emmanuel Forbes. The facemask penalty was enforced, giving the Bucs 1st & goal at the 4-yard-line. They scored easily on a pass to Mike Evans at the goal line to make the score 23-7 with just over 7 minutes left in the third quarter.

Washington punted when the offense was stymied on the next drive.

Having scored on every possession of the game, Tampa Bay hoped to put the game away by adding to the 23-7 lead. Mayfield, however, was sacked by Clelin Ferrell on a 3rd-down drop-back, forcing Tampa to punt for the first time in the game.

The defensive stand resulted in good field position for Washington’s offense at their own 40-yard-line. With less than 20 minutes of game time remaining, the Commanders needed a successful scoring drive. To this point, the Bucs had outgained the Commanders 231 yards to 152 yards.

The Commanders responded with their best offensive drive to this point in the game.

Jayden Daniels started strong with a 9-yard completion to tight end Zach Ertz, his second reception of the day. A good run by Brian Robinson set up a fresh set of downs at the Tampa 46, after which Terry McLaurin tallied his first reception of the game on a short catch & run for 6 yards.

Robinson then picked up another first-down with another 6-yard run. On the next play (first down from the 33 yard line) Robinson caught a short pass and then ran it down to the 1-yard line.

Jayden Daniels completed the impressive 9-play, 60-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run in which Washington never faced a 3rd down.

Cade York hit his second PAT to make the score 23-14 with 01:52 remaining in the 3rd quarter.

That would be as close as the Commanders would get for the rest of the game.

Following a 23-yard kickoff return, the Buccaneers offense took over at their own 28-yard line. A few plays later, it was 3rd & 7 at the 32-yard line as the third quarter came to an end.

Fourth Quarter

The fourth quarter started with a 32-yard TD reception by rookie 3rd round receiver Jalen McMillan. The extra point made the score 30-14.

After moving the ball out near midfield, Daniels suffered his second career sack — a loss of 13 yards that forced 3rd & 20 at the Washington 35-yard line.

Tress Way punted on 4th down from near midfield. It was a good punt that pinned the TB offense at their own 9-yard line with about 11 minutes left in the game.

With a big lead, TB committed to the run, and was rewarded with yet another 32-yard gain when Bucky Irving broke loose on a run to the right side. Bobby Wagner stepped up with tackles for loss on back-to-back plays, but on 3rd & 18, a screen pass went for 24 yards to set the Bucs up in Washington territory.

The burgundy & gold defense was fighting a losing battle as the Buccaneers offense ground out a long drive that burned up most of the remaining clock. On 3rd & 6 at the Commanders 21, Mayfield, who was under intense pressure, scrambled for 11 yards to set up 1st & goal.

Two plays later, Mayfield topped off the 12-play, 91-yard drive with a touchdown pass to Mike Evans, who was again covered by St-Juste. The score stood at 37-14 with 03:29 left on the clock.

On the first play of the Commanders’ final offensive drive, Terry McLaurin caught a pass and took it 11 yards for a first-down. Jayden Daniels ran a hurry-up offense, adding another 1st down with a 15-yard pass to Zaccheaus. Two plays by Ekeler, another scramble by Daniels, and a pass to Zach Ertz added 3 more first-downs ahead of the 2-minute warning.

After the timeout, Washington had the ball 1st & 10 at Tampa Bay’s 11-yard line. Daniels hit Luke McCaffrey for a 10-yard gain, setting up 1st & goal at the 1-yard line. On the next snap, Jayden Daniels took the ball himself on a zone read, and got the ball across the goal line, but because his helmet was knocked off on the play, the ball was spotted inside the 1-yard line for 2nd & goal.

After Robinson failed to score on 2nd down, Daniels finally put the ball in the end zone on a called QB run to cap a 10-play, 70-yard drive. The 2-point conversion attempt failed; the score was 37-20 with 72 seconds left to play.

The Commanders declared that they would attempt an onside kick, as they are required to do under the rules for ‘dynamic’ kick offs. I’m not sure if this was the first onside attempt in the NFL under the new rules, but it was recovered easily by the Buccaneers, for all practical purposes bringing the game to an end with a final score of 37-20.

Full Game Stats

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