Commanders Vs. Giants – Studs and Duds

Washington finally ended their incredibly long home losing streak, and their losing streak to the New York Giants all at newly minted Northwest Stadium Sunday afternoon.

It wasn’t a pretty win with Kliff Kingsbury’s offense being kept out of the endzone, but at this point, fans will take whatever they can get from this team. There are still plenty of mistakes to clean up, but there is a slight hole in the gray cloud that has hung over this franchise for over two decades, and a ray of light may be close to popping through.

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

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Studs:

Austin Seibert – Seibert headlines this week’s Studs as he had ALL of Washington’s points in this contest. He went 7 for 7 with a long of 45 on the day. It’s so refreshing to see a kicker perform this way in D.C.

Benjamin St-Juste – St-Juste had 6 tackles (all solo), three passes defended and a forced fumble that was recovered by Jeremy Chinn. This was an outstanding game from him in a secondary that has really struggled to start the season.

Brian Robinson Jr – BRob had his best rushing day as a Commander, churning out 133 yards on 17 carries with a long of 40. He added one reception for three yards. He ran with great power, vision and toughness on the afternoon.

Noah Brown – Playing in his first game with Washington, Noah Brown came up big when the team needed him the most. He made a pretty catch on a slant earlier in the game, then had a huge 34-yard reception late in the fourth quarter that essentially got Washington the victory.

Zach Ertz – Ertz is making this list for his play in the second quarter on a third and four where he fought off the Giants defender to come down with a pass many thought was going to be intercepted. Aside from that play, Zach provided a great security blanket for Jayden Daniels, hauling in four catches for a team-high 62 yards.

Kliff Kingsbury – I thought Kingsbury called a heck of a game. he mixed the run and pass well, gave Daniels a lot of easy looks early on, and used the screen like an extension of the run game. Unfortunately, he can’t keep the offense from false starting. Washington had 425 yards of total offense, converted 20 first downs (two more came via penalties), and dominated time of possession 37:32 to 22:28.

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Duds:

Michael Davis – Davis was horrible in the secondary missing four tackles in the first half. He was eventually benched and all of a sudden, the tackling got a bit better.

Nick Bellore – He had two huge penalties on special teams; one that negated a beautiful Austin Ekeler kickoff return touchdown on the opening play.

Washington’s Defensive Line – For all the high draft picks currently on this D-line (some drafted by Washington, some signed as free agents), this unit performed very poorly against a Giants offensive line that is still very much a work in progress. Both Daron Payne and Jonathan Allen pulled a disappearing act and if it wasn’t for a sack from Clelin Ferrell, Washington would have come away with zero on the afternoon.

Washington’s Redzone Penalties – The Commanders offense showed terrible discipline inside the redzone committing FIVE false start penalties. Coaching can only be blamed for so much, as this falls heavily on the players themselves.

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Notes:

• Jayden Daniels played a pretty clean game. Sure, the rookie missed a few open guys and took a big shot to his ribs on a run, but he sure is fun to watch, and he gives Washington fans hope for the future. He went an efficient 23-29 for 226 yards with zero touchdowns or interceptions. He was sacked five times, but also used his legs to the tune of 44 yards rushing.

• Austin Ekeler has been great through two games for Washington. He carried the ball eight times for 38 yards and caught three passes for 47 yards.

• Bobby Wagner looked a bit more comfortable this week collecting nine tackles (5 solo), one tackle for a loss and a key pass defended.

• I debated putting Mike Sainristil on my Duds list as the rookie has not looked very good over the first two games, however I decided to cut him some slack and see how he progresses as we move forward.

• Terry McLaurin, on his birthday, led the Commanders in catches (six), including a beautiful toe-tap on the left sideline, however he netted just 22 yards on those six receptions.

• Rough game, in very limited action, from left tackle Brandon Coleman. I will certainly watch more of the offensive line when I go back to this game, but from what I saw live, it was pretty ugly before he exited the game after being dinged up.
• Frankie Luvu plays at one speed – FAST!