Commanders Vs. Buccaneers – Studs and Duds

Washington laid a massive egg against Tampa Bay on Sunday afternoon in head coach Dan Quinn’s Commanders debut. It was a complete failure in all three aspects of the game. The offense sputtered and couldn’t get the ball into the hands of their wide receivers downfield. The defense blew multiple coverages, missed tackles and couldn’t get off the field on third down. And special teams wasn’t very special. Overall, it was a nightmare start to the season.

Some of this, however, had to be expected. This was a 4-13 team who turned over half the roster in the offseason and was starting a rookie quarterback under center. Growing pains are part of the process and Washington surly experienced many of them Sunday. If there is a bright spot to this ugly loss, it’s that the team really has nowhere to go but up from here. And, oh yeah, we play the Giants next!

Below are my Studs and Duds of the game followed by some notes.

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Studs:

Jayden Daniels – Despite constant pressure all afternoon, Daniles showed his unique athletic ability in being able to avoid that pressure and turn scrambles into positive gains. He gained 88 yards on the ground and scored two touchdowns. He wasn’t torching the Bucs secondary through the air, but he made quick decisions and didn’t turn the ball over. There is a lot to be excited for here.

Brian Robinson – Robinson ran hard between the tackles and showed his receiving ability and run-after-catch prowess. He had 89 total yards and a touchdown on the afternoon.

Clelin Ferrell – Ferrell looked like one of the very few players on defense who didn’t give up when the going got tough. He was solid coming off the edge and had a pair of tackles with one for a loss, a sack and multiple pressures.

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Duds:

Cade York – I can’t believe we are doing this again with a kicker, yet here we are. York was 0/2 on field goal attempts and booted a kickoff out of bounds. I’ll be surprised if he has a job by the end of the week.

Emmanuel Forbes – I’m going to list the entire secondary as DUDS, but Forbes needs his own category. Although it was St-Juste who gave up two touchdowns to Mike Evans, it was Forbes who again looked like he didn’t belong on an NFL field. He continues to miss tackles and blow converges – while also committing costly penalties. This experiment may soon come to an end.

Andrew Wylie – He’s just not good! He’s a liability every single time the offense sets up to pass. He gets beaten in just about every way possible – around the edge with speed, inside with quickness and via the bull-rush when defenders get into his chest. He lacks foot quickness and contact balance and needs help on every play if we hope to keep Daniles upright throughout the season. He allowed multiple pressures and a sack in the contest.

Commanders Secondary – I have to call out the entire secondary here. The third down conversions they gave up to the Bucs were embarrassing. So was the tackling, miscommunications, coverages and penalties.

Coaches – I get this was the first game under this new coaching staff with a LOT of new pieces, but neither side of the ball, or special teams, looked very good at all. I think we all expected some bumps along the road, especially early on, but expected or not, gotta call a spade a spade here. Coaching gets and F from me.

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Notes:

• Despite leading the team in tackles with 10 total (five solo – three for a loss), Wagner looked as though he’s lost a step and genuinely seem uninterested at times.

• Austin Ekeler didn’t get a ton of carries (only 2 for 10 yards) but he did show off his run-after-catch ability when Jayden targeted him.

• Lots of fans were down on Payne and Allen after the game, however I don’t think Payne played poorly at all. He was disruptive and showed hustle to chase down ball carriers downfield. I’ll reserve comment on Allen…

• Jamin Davis needs to play more on the edge. He flashed when he was in the game, showing speed, quickness and good tackling. He had three tackles, one for a loss, and a pressure.

• I already called out the entire secondary as Duds for their performance, and some fans really got down on Mike Sainristil for his play. Now I admit the rookie didn’t have a good game, but I am not down on him at all. It’s quite the opposite for me actually. I saw him in place to make some plays, and I think he learns from this and comes out better for it.

• We had just one wide receiver on the field yesterday over 6’ tall. You may not think it matters that much – but it does! Noah Brown needs to play against the Giants.