2024 REWIND: Week 7 – Marcus Mariota steps in and dominates the Carolina Panthers

Washington moves to 5-2 with home win, kicking off a 3-game winning streak

With the Cowboys on a bye and the 3-2 Eagles beating the 2-4 New York Giants at 1:00 to get to 4-2, this late-afternoon game represented the culmination of Week 7 for the NFC East. To stay in control of the division, Washington would need to shake off the prior week’s loss to the Ravens and earn a win to move to 5-2 on the season.

Fortunately, the visiting 1-5 Carolina Panthers represented the closest an NFL team usually gets to a comfortable ‘get well’ opponent.

The Panthers offense ranked 25th in the league in yards gained and 28th in points scored, while the defensive ranks for yards and points were 29th & 31st. With Washington boasting the top-scoring offense in the NFL, this appeared to be the ideal matchup for Kliff Kingsbury’s offense, and an opportunity for Joe Whitt’s defense.

Commanders fans will remember this game for the “Oh yeah…Oh shit” moment that occurred on a Jaden Daniels 46-yard run on Washington’s first offensive snap of the game. Daniels was tackled from behind by two defenders and went down awkwardly, injuring his ribs.

Daniels finished the drive, but Marcus Mariota finished the game. It would be 6 or 7 games before JD5 really looked 100% again.

This was the first of two games in the 2024 season where Mariota played a key role on the field. He finished with 34 yards on the ground and 205 passing yards, with a pair of touchdown throws.

Panthers QB Andy Dalton was held to 93 passing yards, 3 rushing yards, 0 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. This was one of the three most dominant wins of the Commanders season, and if it hadn’t been for the Daniels injury, would probably have been a truly stress-free day for fans.

First Quarter

Dante Fowler opens up the game with a huge defensive play
Carolina got the ball first. Two quick first downs on 3 plays moved the ball into Washington territory at the 49-yard line.

Four plays later, it was 3rd & 9 at the 25 yard line. Washington’s defense came up huge with a pick six. It was a terrible play by Panthers QB Andy Dalton. Under backside pressure from Clelin Ferrell, Dalton missed the checkdown to his RB and put the ball right into Dante Fowler’s hands. Fowler had nothing but green grass between himself and the end zone at the far end of the field. It went in the books as a 67-yard return on Washington’s 2nd interception of the season.

It was Washington’s first defensive score of the season, and a shellshocked Panthers team, who had been moving the ball easily on the opening drive, went to the sideline to find themselves down 7-0 after the PAT.

Panthers extend futility with 3 & out
After a run & a short pass completion, it was 3rd & 4 at the 41 yard line. Dalton’s pass on third down skipped off the receiver’s hands under tremendous pressure from CB Mikey Sainristil to force the 3 & out.

Commanders add a field goal after Daniels’ injury
Olamide Zaccheaus made the fair catch at his own 10-yard line, and Jayden Daniels came out onto the field for the first time in the game with a 7-point lead.

On the first offensive play of the game for Washington, Jayden Daniels kept the ball on a zone read and ran right, exploding for 46 yards to the Carolina 44-yard line.

The Commanders marched down the field on 7 straight runs. Two plays later, it was 3rd & goal from the 9. Daniels completed a pass to Ekeler, but he was tackled right away at the 5-yard line. Austin Seibert came on and hit the chip shot 23-yard field goal to open up a 10-0 lead.

Daniels had attempted (and completed) only two passes on the drive for just 6 yards. Washington had 84 rushing yards on the opening drive, with Jayden Daniels leading all rushers with 50 yards, but he was clearly feeling some discomfort in his rib area on the sideline. He would not return to the game, and he would not look like the same player again for about two months.

Dalton throws his 2nd interception
On the second play of the drive, Andy Dalton threw another interception. There was a flag on the play, but it was against the offense, and the Commanders were able to celebrate the interception by 2nd year cornerback Emmanuel Forbes. There was a blocking foul called on the return, so the Commanders ended up with the ball on the Carolina 35-yard line, ready to put their foot on the Panthers necks with 02:27 remaining in the first quarter.

Marcus Mariota takes the field
Jayden Daniels did not come on to the field for the play, heading instead to the locker room to get x-rays on his ribs.

On the third down play, Mariota targeted Dyami Brown deep right, but overthrew him by a yard or two, ending an uneventful offensive series.

Panthers go 3 & out again
The quarter ended after the Panthers handed the ball to Chuba Hubbard for a 4-yard gain. The Commanders were off to a good start, but with Jayden Daniels in the locker room instead of on the field, the energy level seemed to have fallen off a bit.

Second Quarter

The second quarter started like the first quarter ended, with a short run by Chuba Hubbard. On 3rd & 5, Commanders LB Frankie Luvu beat the Panthers right tackle for a sack to force another Panthers 3 & out.

Washington’s first offensive TD drive of the game
After a 62-yard punt and 15-yard return, Marcus Mariota came out to lead his second drive of the game with the ball on his own 41-yard line.

The Commanders went back to the run game with a pair of Brian Robinson runs, then, on 1st & 10 at the Carolina 44, Mariota went deep right again, this time for Noah Brown. In a scene that’s becoming familiar, Brown drew the PI penalty to set up the Commanders at the Carolina 15 yard line. Despite playing in only 11 games, Brown finished the 2024 season with the 2nd-highest number of yards gained by penalty in the NFL.

Marcus Mariota handed the ball to Brian Robinson two times — on his second carry, Robinson burst up the middle for an 8-yard touchdown run. Following the PAT, the score was 17-0 with 11:35 left in the half.

Washington had 118 rushing yards and 2 net passing yards; Brian Robinson was now tied with Jayden Daniels with 50 rushing yards. Andy Dalton was 4-8 passing with 2 interceptions and the Panthers had 43 rushing yards.

Panthers fail to score again
On 3rd & 2 at the Carolina 39-yard line, Washington’s defense stepped up and stuffed Miles Sanders for just a one-yard gain to force the 4th down. Panthers head coach Dave Canales elected to go for it. A handoff to Chuba Hubbard resulted in a 2-yard loss on a nice penetration and tackle by DE Dante Fowler.

With the turnover on downs, Washington had great field position at the Carolina 38-yard line.

Commanders add to the lead
With 07:32 on the clock, despite the situation (Daniels in the locker room) Mariota kept the ball on the first play, running for 9 yards up the middle and taking a pretty hard tackle.

Following an incomplete pass aimed at a well-covered Zach Ertz on 3rd down, with the ball in field goal range, Austin Seibert trotted back onto the field.

He nailed the 49-yard kick to expand the lead to 20-0 with 05:39 left in the first half.

Panthers can’t score on their final drive of the half
On the ensuing kickoff return, it appeared for a moment as if Washington had pulled free a fumble, but the officials called the runner down by contact at the 32-yard line; a decision that was challenged by Dan Quinn. He lost the challenge and the Panthers started their next drive.

Two negative plays brought up 3rd & 12 at the Carolina 46 yard line. A short completion earned just 2 yards following a good tackle by Noah Igbinoghene, forcing the third 3 & out of the game.

A very good special teams play by the Panthers downed the ball at the Washington 7-yard line.

Commanders drive 82 yards to score another TD before the half ends
Back-to-back defensive penalties and back-to-back passes to Ertz & McLaurin (the latter for 17 yards) put the ball near midfield. The next play was another completion — another 15 yards — to McLaurin.

Dan Quinn called time out with the ball at the Carolina 35-yard line with 39 seconds remaining in the half. The next two plays were an incomplete pass to Zaccheaus followed by a 23-yard completion to Dyami Brown at the 12 yard line.

The offense lined up without a huddle, and as the clock hit 10 seconds, Marcus Mariota rolled right to avoid pressure and threw a strike to Zach Ertz for another Washington touchdown.

Following the PAT, Washington was in possession of a 27-0 lead with ten ticks left on the clock ahead of halftime.

Panthers just want to get to the locker room
Andy Dalton kneeled down and both teams headed for the locker room. Aside from the injury to Daniels and rookie Brandon Coleman having to go to the locker room as well, it had been a great first half for Washington.

Halftime Stats

Statistics via ESPN

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Third Quarter

Commanders extend the lead to 34 points with a TD drive to open the second half
With the Commanders QBs combining for 7-11 and 77 yards, the passing game was going okay, but the 137 rushing yards in the first half and the two defensive interceptions (guaranteed to make defensive coordinator Joe Whitt happy) were really the difference in the game.

Marcus Mariota fumbled the first snap, but managed to get back to the line of scrimmage. He scrambled for 11 yards on the next play. At this point, the TV broadcast showed Jayden Daniels out of uniform, but with a broad smile and a wave to the crowd, having returned to the sideline, clearly out for the game, but also clearly in good spirits.

After a penalty and a play, on 2nd & 15, Mariota hit Terry McLaurin for 18 yards and another 1st down. AT this point McLaurin led all receivers with 4 catches for 55 yards.

Two more plays brought up 3rd & 5 at the Carolina 13 yard line. Mariota, from the pistol formation, passed to Zaccheaus about a yard short of the line to gain, but OZ spun inside and got 7 yards to set up 1st & goal at the 6-yard line.

On 2nd & goal from the 3-yard line, fans got a gift they’ve been waiting for — rookie TE Ben Sinnott caught his first NFL pass for a touchdown to push the score to 34-0 with about nine minutes left in the 3rd quarter.

The outcome of the game was, at this point, academic. Washington had a 5-touchdown lead, and the Panthers had managed just 6 first downs (to 19 for Washington) and had converted just 1 of 6 third downs (and failed on their only 4th down attempt).

Total yards: 278 for Washington; 110 for Carolina.

Commanders force another Carolina punt
Good coverage yet again on the kickoff forced a fumble that was recovered by the Panthers, who set up on their own 23 yard line. The return man (Blackshear) was injured on the play.

Dante Fowler chased Andy Dalton out of the pocket, and caught him for a sack to bring up 2nd & 10. On 3rd down, Dalton was under tremendous pressure and simply threw the ball away. Another 3 & out. I’ve lost count of how many that is.

Carolina took a delay of game penalty on 4th down, then punted to Washington’s 32-yard line where it was fair caught by OZ.

Commanders score again
Not content to just sit on a lead the Commanders gained 2 first down on the next three plays — the third one being a beautiful strike to McLaurin for 18 yards on the right sideline.

John Bates was called for holding on the next play to force 1st & 20 a the Carolina 49 yard line. A short pass to Zaccheaus followed by a run by Ekeler brought up 3rd & 9 inside the Carolina 40-yard line that was converted with a 16-yard strike to Noah Brown in the middle of the field.

Eventually, Washington faced 4th & 1 at Carolina’s 13-yard line. With the crowd calling for the team to go for it, Dan Quinn sent out Austin Seibert, who once again put the ball through the uprights. The 31-yard field goal made it 37-0 with 01:33 left in the 3rd quarter.

Panthers FINALLY put together a scoring drive
Following the touchback, the Panthers set up for their 9th offensive drive at the 30-yard line, now simply hoping to avoid the shutout.

The Panthers earned one first down to end the quarter with the ball, facing 2nd & 8 from the Carolina 47-yard line.

Fourth Quarter

Carolina was able to push the ball down the field to open the quarter.

Facing 3rd & 4 at the 11-yard line, the Panthers converted it easily on a running play, and on the resulting 1st & goal play, Chuba Hubbard carried around the left end for a touchdown. The game would not be a shutout. The Panthers drive had taken 9 plays to cover 70 yards in 4:55.

Commanders put together a 12-play clock-eating scoring drive
With a 37-7 lead, the Commanders started their 8th offensive drive, having punted only once in the game.

After the touchback, the Commanders had 3 rushing plays (McNichols and 2 runs by Mariota) to pick up a first down and keep the clock running. The team was approaching 200 rushing yards and was averaging 6.5 yards per rush.

After an incomplete pass on 2nd down, on 3rd & 7, Marriota scrambled and then hit Terry McLaurin for a 25-yard gain to set up the offense at the Carolina 30 with the crowd chanting “Terry…Terry…Terry”.

Completions to Sinnott and Zaccheaus led to another first down at the Carolina 15 yard line, where McNichols carried the ball 6 yards to break the 200-yard mark for team rushing in the game. Despite the successful running game, Mariota at this point was 18-23 for 205 yards and 2 TDs. Not bad.

Facing 4th & 6, Austin Seibert kicked a 29-yarder to bring up the 40-burger with just under 5 minutes remaining in the game.

Panthers punt one last time
The score was 40-7 when the Panthers came on the field for what was likely to be their final offensive drive of the game. As has been true in multiple Commanders games this season, both teams really just wanted to run out the clock and avoid injuries at this point.

The Panthers, predictably, put Bryce Young on the field to mop up. He handed the ball to Chuba Hubbard and then completed a short 2-yard pass to bring up 3rd & 5 at the 35-yard line.

Washington’s defense was still playing. On a short checkdown pass to Sanders, Nick Bellore — usually only a special teams player — made a tackle for loss to force the punt, which was downed at Washington’s 24-yard line with just 02:34 left to play.

Two runs and two kneeldowns to close out the win
No one was likely to call a time out, but Washington needed a first down to run out the clock with possession of the ball. Jeremy McNichols gained 7 yards before the 2 minute warning.

McNichols got the first down with a 10-yard run, and all that was left was for Marcus Mariota to kneel down a couple of times to get the clock to 00:00.

It had been a dominating Washington win.

Carolina Panthers vs. Washington Commanders Game Highlights | NFL 2024 Season Week 7

Full Game Stats

Statistics via ESPN

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