Daily Slop – 15 Oct 24 – Mark Bullock: “Jayden Daniels impresses again”; The Athletic: “A loss, not a setback”

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Jayden Daniels impresses again despite loss to Ravens

Breaking down Jayden Daniels impressive performance against the Ravens

With the offense on his shoulders, Daniels 24 of 35 passes for 269 yards and two touchdowns. He looked very comfortable in the pocket and delivered some excellent throws, particularly off play-action, to keep the Commanders in the game.

On their opening drive, the Commanders faced the early third and short situation. They line up in 12 personnel; consisting of one running back, two tight ends and two wide receivers. This forces the Ravens into a big nickel defense, with three safeties on the field to try to combat a potential short yardage run from Washington.

The Commanders use this against them, lining up in a run look but actually passing with a basic mesh concept. As the ball snapped, you can see that both tight ends break over the middle of the field creating a bunch of traffic. That traffic makes it easy for running back Autin Ekeler to run free on his wheel route down the sideline. Daniels immediately identifies Ekeler as the open target and fires down the sideline for a nice catch and run, picking up 24 yards in the process.

[O]n the fourth drive of the game, offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury decided to switch things up a bit and get Daniels moving.

The Commanders get creative with the formation on this play. Tight end Zach Ertz lines up outside to the left as the only receiver to that side of the field. This will typically be where receiver Terry McLaurin lines up, but you’ll notice that McLaurin aligns next to tight end John Bates, meaning that McLaurin and Ertz have [switched] positions on this play. This is all just misdirection to get McLauren lined up on the same side of the field as fellow receiver Noah Brown. Before the snap McLaurin motions out towards Brown, using the momentum to turn his motion into a wheel route. Meanwhile, Brown angles his route slightly inside towards the numbers. Once both receivers make it past the first down marker, they break off, with McLaren breaking outside and Brown breaking inside.

While all that’s happening, Daniels executes a play-action fake before rolling out to his right. From there he spots Brown breaking free over the middle and fires a dart on the run. Daniels takes a late hit from Kyle Hamilton, who caught him in the facemask and probably should have been penalized for it. But despite that pressure, he finds Brown for a nice 15-yard gain.

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The Athletic (paywall)

For Jayden Daniels’ Commanders, a loss in Baltimore, but not a setback

[T]he…accurate description for this matchup was: Recalibrating franchise vs. fine-tuned team. That’s how the Commanders’ 30-23 loss in Baltimore really played out.

To be clear, there are no moral victories in the NFL. There is no hiding that Baltimore kept Washington’s defense off-balance all game, or that the Commanders’ balanced attack disintegrated. Daniels kept the Commanders going with two touchdown passes to wide receiver Terry McLaurin, but the absence of injured running back Brian Robinson (knee) made the offense one-dimensional.

The rub is that a front office can only accomplish so much during the season, though the Week 8 trade deadline may offer potential help. The coaching staff has delivered some tactical wins to date. More are required because talent limitations remain.

“I believe (Daniels) deserves all the hype he’s getting,” said Jackson, Daniels’ fellow Heisman Trophy winner. “He played a tremendous game out there. They just came up short. He’s been proving it.”

That’s very true, and it’s why Sunday’s loss shouldn’t feel like a setback. Washington remains in first place in the standings following Dallas’s lopsided loss to Detroit. As for Baltimore, while the Ravens also entered this season 0-0, they were miles ahead in terms of talent and cohesion. Washington won’t match them this year, but they have 11 more games to narrow the gap.

“We did not fulfill what we wanted to get done because we wanted to come away with a win,” McLaurin said. “There are no moral victories in this, but this is definitely something that we are going to be able to learn from going forward.”

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Washington Post (paywall)

Commanders’ Jonathan Allen done for the season with torn pectoral muscle

The eighth-year Washington defensive lineman is seeking a second opinion, but could soon undergo surgery.

Defensive tackle Jonathan Allen tore his left pectoral muscle in the team’s 30-23 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, will miss the rest of the season and probably will undergo surgery, Coach Dan Quinn said Monday afternoon. Allen underwent an MRI exam earlier Monday and plans to seek a second opinion, a person with knowledge of the injury added.

The team is also awaiting more information on defensive ends Dorance Armstrong, who left the game early with a rib or oblique injury, and Javontae Jean-Baptiste, who suffered an ankle injury.

“We’ll have a better sense for where they are in the days ahead,” Quinn said of the two ends, “but definitely was a hard afternoon on the D-line on some injuries.”

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ESPN

Commanders’ defense showed cracks against Ravens

The Commanders’ defense remains a work in progress, highlighted by Sunday’s 30-23 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. Washington hung around because of its offense, but the defense allowed 484 total yards, and the Ravens controlled the clock for 36 minutes, eight seconds.

[F]or Washington to reach a higher level it’ll need more consistent play from its defense. The Commanders rank 29th in multiple categories: against the run, yards per carry, yards per play and third down.

Washington also has played three offenses — Tampa Bay, Baltimore and Cincinnati — ranked among the top seven in scoring. The Buccaneers and Ravens also are in the top 10 in yards per game. Eight of their final 11 games are against teams currently ranked 18th or worse in scoring, including Carolina (27th).

Against good offenses, the Commanders have struggled: The Bucs, Ravens and Bengals combined for 140 points vs. them. In their other three games — against Arizona, the New York Giants and Cleveland — they allowed a combined 45 points.

Washington overhauled the NFL’s worst-ranked defense in both yards and points after last season. Quinn hired Joe Whitt Jr. to be his new coordinator, and they have six starters who were not with the team in 2023.

But the Commanders weren’t able to fix every problem in the offseason. They hoped corner Emmanuel Forbes Jr., a first-round pick in 2023, would improve after a rough rookie season. But Forbes lost his starting job, missed two games with a broken thumb, played only four snaps in Week 5 and was inactive Sunday.

Jamin Davis, a first-round pick in 2021, was moved from linebacker to defensive end and has played only 69 snaps this season. He, too, was inactive Sunday.

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Commanders.com

Final thoughts on Sunday’s loss to the Ravens

Mike Sainristil offers versatility

Second-round pick Mike Sainristil was proclaimed as the best slot corner in the draft by Nick Saban, but the former Michigan Wolverine has spent much of his time on the outside.

The Commanders still view Sainristil as a slot corner, but he is one of the unique players who can do more than just one job.

“That [in the slot] is probably where Mikey can make the most impactful plays getting a hand on the football,” Quinn said. “But honestly, when you’re a good football player, there’s a lot of roles you can fulfill.”

Sainristil has been solid for the Commanders no matter where he’s been used in the secondary. He received the highest grade for a Commanders defender from Pro Football Focus and recorded the team’s first interception of the year. He allowed 33 yards on four receptions, but only 13 of that was after the catch.

The Commanders still have a vision of using Sainristil defending the slot, but they also want to create the best matchups for their players. And thanks to his versatility, Sainristil can be utilized to create positive matchups all over the field.

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Washington Post (paywall)

Hail or Fail: Washington’s defense no match for Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry

Baltimore scored on five consecutive possessions and finished with 484 yards of offense.

Zay Flowers getting overlooked

The second-year Ravens wide receiver took a screen pass 44 yards on Baltimore’s second play from scrimmage and finished the first half with nine catches on nine targets for a career-high 132 yards. Flowers, who took advantage of Washington’s determination to slow running back Derrick Henry by stacking the box, was held without a catch in the second half, when Baltimore found more success on the ground. Flowers did most of his damage against Commanders cornerback Benjamin St-Juste, who was penalized twice for pass interference.

Dante Fowler Jr.

The No. 3 draft pick by Jacksonville in 2015 had two sacks and three tackles for loss against the Ravens, who had allowed five sacks in their first five games. Fowler was one of the few bright spots for a Commanders defense that allowed Henry to rush for 132 yards and two touchdowns, the Ravens to average 7.4 yards per play and Baltimore to register a pair of 90-plus-yard touchdown drives. It didn’t help that defensive linemen Dorance Armstrong and Jonathan Allen left the game with injuries.

Terry McLaurin

Washington’s No. 1 wide receiver had six catches on seven targets for 53 yards and two touchdowns, giving him four touchdowns over the past four weeks and equaling his total from last season. After a slow start, McLaurin and Daniels have become a perfect match. McLaurin’s diving catch in the end zone on a fourth-down throw in the fourth quarter with Brandon Stephens in tight coverage gave him his first two-touchdown game since October 2021.

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Upcoming opponent

ESPN

NFL Week 6: Biggest questions, takeaways for every game

Panthers

Is RB Chuba Hubbard emerging as a valuable asset in a trade scenario? Hubbard is in a contract year, and second-round pick Jonathon Brooks’ 21-day window to return from an ACL injury might begin next week. Brooks is the future, and the Panthers have Miles Sanders under contact for the next two years. A playoff team could use a rising star like Hubbard, who had 92 rushing yards Sunday after having 315 yards in the previous three games.

Biggest hole in the game plan: Third-down defense. The Panthers entered Sunday allowing teams to successfully convert on third downs 47.4% of the time, the fourth-highest rate in the league. That got even worse against the Falcons, who converted on 6 of 12 third-down opportunities as Carolina was without leading pass rusher Jadeveon Clowney.

Early prediction for next week: The Panthers will struggle again at Washington despite another decent performance by Andy Dalton. Backup Bryce Young will get another chance to prove himself when it’s apparent the team is headed for a 1-4 record under Dalton. — David Newton

Next game: at Commanders (Sunday, 4:05 p.m. ET)

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Cat Scratch Reader

Monday Morning Optimist: Let’s try something new

We all know the score, but what do we want to see next?

We all know the score from yesterday’s loss to the Atlanta Falcons. We mostly knew it before the opening kickoff: a tattered Carolina Panthers defense was always going to allow the Falcons to score on almost every possession. A talented, but still gelling Panthers offense missing a sizeable portion of its starting offensive line was never going to keep up.

Yet keep up they almost did, in spite of too many penalties on faces old and new along the line, Andy Dalton, Chuba Hubbard, Dionate Johnson, and Xavier Legette had the Panthers within striking distance of the Falcons until late in the fourth quarter. That was nice.

This team isn’t capable of closing out games like that, or coming back from even larger deficits, for a wide variety of reasons. Most of the team’s problems come back to on field talent. Poor drafting and injuries have combined to make one the team’s larger issue into its only real one. It’s no wonder, when asked how good the team is, a plurality (34%) of fans responded that the team was “too hurt to tell.”

This story is old at this point. After years of being just plain bad and unable to score points, the Panthers can now score points but still can’t win games. It is more fun this way, but it also stalls out a lot of the talk of hope that we used to quietly huff together after our losses. The road to improvement is obvious and there is no way to immediately traverse it. Progress is going to take time.

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Podcasts & videos

RECAP Week 6: Learning Lessons and Getting Better | Booth Review | Washington Commanders | NFL

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