Daily Slop – 7 Oct 23: Many questions, few answers for Commanders defense after 5 games

A collection of articles, podcasts & tweets from around the web to keep you in touch with the Commanders, the NFC East and the NFL in general

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Commanders.com

Instant Analysis | Commanders drop third straight with 40-20 loss to Bears

Dyami Brown was wide open down the middle of the Chicago Bears’ defense and headed for the end zone.

It was exactly the kind of play Washington needed after going down 17-0 against the winless Bears. Sam Howell saw his former North Carolina teammate, reared back and fired the ball from the Bears’ 39-yard line. The ball was just out of reach, and it fell to the turf while Brown tumbled in an effort to snag it.

It summed up how the Commanders looked in the first half. They were just…off.

They came back a week later and took the Philadelphia Eagles into overtime in a 34-31 contest. It was a still a loss, but there was hope that Washington had started to find some momentum.

But the Commanders looked like they regressed again in the first half. The offense didn’t get going until the second quarter, and prior to that, the unit had just seven total yards and two three-and-outs.

Meanwhile, the Bears were moving down the field with ease, and explosive plays were once again to blame. Moore, who finished the night with 230 yards, connected with Fields on a 58-yard reception that set Chicago up at the Commanders’ 16-yard line. Three plays later, Moore was in the end zone on a 20-yard reception.

Fields wrapped up the day with 339 total yards and four touchdowns.

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Washington Post (paywall)

What’s wrong with the Commanders’ defense?

Let’s get the obvious out of the way: The Washington Commanders’ 40-20 loss to the Chicago Bears on Thursday night was one of the worst of the Ron Rivera era, and despite reasons for optimism — it’s still early, the NFL has unparalleled parity — the defeat was ugly enough that it prompted questions about the team’s preparation and prospects this season, including from limited partner Magic Johnson.

But let’s zoom in on the defense. The unit that was expected to lead this team got humiliated again, this time by a below-average offense at home on national television. Jack Del Rio has been a defensive coordinator for 119 career games, and only three times has one of his units allowed more points than Washington did Thursday.

The Commanders rank 31st in the league in average defensive points allowed per game (29.2), ahead of only the Denver Broncos (37.5), who earlier this year gave up a near-record 70 points in one contest.

The collapse is somewhat surprising. The unit has bright individual talents — including six first-round picks — and is in the fourth year of Del Rio’s system. Del Rio tweaked the scheme last season, which helped tighten coverage, and the secondary is full of veterans. Other than first-round cornerback Emmanuel Forbes Jr., who was benched Thursday, the defense uses no rookies.

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The Athletic (paywall)

Commanders not ready for prime time against Bears: ‘As bad as it gets’

“(It’s like there’s a) memo that we like to get punched in the mouth first and then respond,” defensive end Montez Sweat said. “We have to stop doing that.”

The Bears had last scored at least 40 points in 2020 and had reached 30 only four times since entering Thursday. You sure could have fooled anyone watching them blast a defense that ranked among the better units last season. Washington has allowed at least 30 points in its previous four games.

“We got to do better. The defense was completely horse(bleep) today,” two-time Pro Bowl tackle selection Jonathan Allen said.

Washington knows about games getting out of hand. It lost 37-3 to the Buffalo Bills in its previous home game. There is no way it could get worse this season, let alone two weeks later. Instead, this dubious first half meant being outscored 64-6 over six quarters [in those two home games].

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The Athletic (paywall)

Commanders’ first-round defense again stumbles and bumbles in embarrassing night

We’re back to the future with this defense. This underachieving, ineffective, overrated defense.

It’s one thing to give up points and yards in Philly, against one of the league’s best offenses. You could even explain away getting smoked at home by the Buffalo Bills. The Bills have explosive receivers, and Josh Allen is really good.

The Chicago Bears are not good. Not. Good.

Chicago 40, Washington 20, one ticked-off, high-profile minority owner.

The Bears had lost 14 games in a row before Thursday — almost a full season of awful. They’d given up at least 25 points in each of those 14 losses. They hadn’t scored 40 or more points in a game in nearly three years. Forget the Bears; a lot of Chicago fans had already written off the whole winter, ignoring the Bulls’ and Blackhawks’ upcoming seasons, too, dreaming of the Bears taking USC quarterback Caleb Williams in next spring’s NFL Draft.

The Bears don’t have … well, let’s just say their receivers shouldn’t strike fear in you. And yet there went DJ Moore, whoosh, past every Washington Commanders cornerback, and there was Darnell Mooney, wide open too, and when they weren’t open, Khalil Herbert ran through Washington’s defense over and over. (My laptop autocorrected “Washington” to “Gashington” when I typed too fast, but, hey, you have a point, laptop.) The pass rush was ineffectual other than the occasional blitz, giving Justin Fields all the time in the world to find the next wide-open guy.

“We started off slow as (bleep),” Montez Sweat said. “We’ve just got to start faster. … We definitely need to get back in the lab, see what’s going on. And everybody needs to look in the mirror and move forward from there. … Everybody just needs to do their job.”

This was supposed to be the Commanders’ get-right week, a relatively easy night against one of the league’s worst teams, which, a month into the season, had already gone through the kind of off-field turmoil that has been Washington’s brand for a generation. But Thursday from minute one, the Bears looked like the more prepared, serious and focused team — four days after blowing a 28-7 lead at home against the Denver Broncos.

“We played completely terrible,” safety Darrick Forrest said.

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Bullock’s Film Room (subscription)

Commanders defense in shambles vs Bears

Breaking down the horrific performance from the Commanders defense against the Bears

So what exactly went wrong for the Commanders defense in this game? Let’s dive in and take a closer look.

Run Game Concerns

The Commanders game plan was clearly built around trying to stop the run. The Bears have been a run-first team so far this season with their top two running backs and quarterback Justin Fields all averaging about five yards a carry so far this season. In the passing game, they survive leaning heavily on wide receiver DJ Moore and tight end Cole Kmet. No other wide receiver or tight end has double digit catches so far this season, which gives you some perspective on just how heavily their passing game relies on them.

With that in mind, it made sense to load up the box and with an extra safety and try to stop the run, especially with the added threat of Justin Fields and read-option schemes. The problem was that when the Commanders loaded up the box, they didn’t always fit the run very well.

This run came on the Bears second drive of the game. The send a receiver in motion from right to left, which causes the defense to rotate in response. Emmanuel Forbes rotates deep to replace safety Kam Curl who starts deep and rotates across to match the receiver in motion. Fellow safety Darrick Forrest also steps up towards the box as the eighth man in the box. At the snap of the ball, the Commanders are relatively sound defensively in theory. They have eight defenders in the box against seven blockers.

Normally that would mean they can account for every single gap, but Fields adds one extra gap in the run game by being a threat to carry on read-option plays. To try and account for that threat of Fields keeping it, the Commanders use Forrest on the edge to account for Fields keeping outside and execute a stunt between Daron Payne and Montez Sweat to try and confuse the blocking scheme and steal back a gap in favor of the defense.

Unfortunately, this stunt doesn’t work. Sweat ends up getting shoved inside while Payne gets pushed out to the edge. Linebacker Cody Barton attempts to crash the gap inside but ends up in the same gap as Sweat while Forrest is already on the edge accounting for Fields keeping the ball on the read-option. That results in Washington effectively having four defenders covering two gaps, which leaves a huge lane open for the running back to cut into on his way to a 34-yard run.

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Commanders.com

Five takeaways from Washington’s loss to the Bears

2. The costly turnovers, and a struggle to create them.

As Washington’s deficit grew by the drive, its margin for error dwindled. The two turnovers they had weren’t the daggers that killed their comeback hopes, but they were certainly mortal wounds that made things even more difficult.

The first was one of the only blemishes on what was statistically a career day for Sam Howell, who completed 73% of his passes for 388 yards. The Bears had just taken a 20-3 lead, but with the Commanders’ history of putting together solid two-minute drives, plus the fact that they got the ball back to start the third quarter, there was a chance that Washington could pull itself out of an ugly start.

On the first play of the drive, Howell forced a pass to Curtis Samuel, and it was picked off by Greg Stroman at the Commanders’ 36-yard line. Chicago scored a touchdown six plays later.

The next came after the Commanders had scored their first touchdown and gotten a two-point conversion to make things 27-11. Logan Thomas coughed up the ball while fighting for extra yardage, and the Bears were quick to pounce on it. On the surface, it didn’t look like the Commanders were hurt that badly from the fumble; after all, they were able to get the ball back after a three-and-out. But every second is precious when fighting back from a four-score deficit, and the Commanders could have used that extra 1:04 to continue building momentum.

Then there’s the issue of Washington failing to force turnovers themselves, which was supposed to be a priority this offseason. It wasn’t necessarily for a lack of effort; on Moore’s 56-yard touchdown, Kendall Fuller did try to intercept the pass from Justin Fields. The problem is that, for one reason or another, Washington simply didn’t execute.

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Riggo’s Rag

Key numbers from Commanders’ humiliating loss vs. the Bears in Week 5

Nobody expected this…

62: After giving up 307 yards of offense in the first half, the Washington Commanders’ defense allowed just 62 net yards of offense to the Chicago Bears in the third quarter, resulting in zero points.

91.6: Howell went 11-12 in the 3rd quarter, completing 91.6 percent of his passes and leading two scoring drives and one that had potential, if not for a Logan Thomas fumble. He had long completions of 24 and 41 yards and even showed his versatility, turning a would-be sack into a gain of 10 on third-and-12.

11: Howell completed passes to 11 different players in the game, showing the sheer level of offensive playmakers the Commanders have at their disposal.

199-12: The first quarter was an embarrassment as the Bears finished with 199 net yards of offense compared to 12 for the Commanders. Chicago had seven first downs and scored 10 points compared to Washington’s goose egg in both categories.

Justin Fields finished with 145 passing yards in the first quarter, the most for a Bears quarterback since 2011.

307: The Bears finished with 307 first-half yards, which is more than their 305.3 per-game average. It’s the first time they had 300-plus yards of offense in the first half since 2018.

Kendall Fuller, who came in as the top cornerback – allowing a passer rating of just 26.5 when targeted – was torched by D.J. Moore throughout the game.

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ESPN

Ron Rivera not making staff changes amid Commanders’ slide

Washington’s defense includes six No. 1 draft picks, including all four starters on the line and struggling rookie corner Emmanuel Forbes, who was benched in the second half Thursday.

After the game, Rivera said having extra time before their Oct. 15 game at Atlanta will give them a chance to reevaluate what they’re doing. He also said he would consider changes, whether schematically or in terms of personnel.

“But we’ve got to go through this and we’ll take our time and really look at it,” he said.

It’s also a key year for Rivera, in his fourth year with the Commanders but with a new owner in Josh Harris. But Harris has said he wants to give everyone the season so he can fully evaluate their futures.

Thursday represented Washington’s third consecutive sellout, having built momentum with the sale of the team to Harris and with two wins to open the season.

But Thursday’s loss has dulled a lot of the positive vibes surrounding the team.

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Washington Post (paywall)

After loss to Bears, Ron Rivera and Commanders won’t make coaching changes

Washington Commanders Coach Ron Rivera said the team will look to make necessary adjustments, but he doesn’t expect to make any changes to the coaching staff at this point.

“We’ve got 12 [games] left to play,” Rivera said on a Zoom call with reporters Friday. “There’s plenty of football left.”

To make a coaching change, Rivera would have to consider the rest of the staff and whether the change would lead to improvement or more problems. Fire defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio? The only other coaches with experience calling defensive plays are Rivera and running game coordinator Juan Castillo, who did it from 2011 to 2012 with the Philadelphia Eagles.

So what could change?

Rivera gave few specifics Thursday night, noting only the rotation of players and questioning whether the coaching staff was putting players “in position to be successful.” On Friday, Rivera cited the choices in defensive play calls. He mentioned the possibility of allowing some defensive players more liberties with their techniques — or even mandating that players adhere to certain techniques. He also said players need to be more disciplined.

“We’ve got to stop trying to do more than we need to and do our jobs,” he said.

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ESPN

Magic Johnson critiques Commanders after loss: ‘No intensity’

Washington Commanders limited partner Magic Johnson delivered harsh criticism of his new team following a 20-point loss to the Chicago Bears on Thursday night.

After the Commanders lost 40-20 to the previously winless Bears, Johnson tweeted in part that “the Commanders played with no intensity or fire. We didn’t compete in the first half. … It was too big of a hole to climb out of and that is why we ended up losing.”

[T]his was his first critical tweet of his new team. And the players did not disagree with his assessment. After all, Washington fell behind 27-3 at halftime.

“I’d probably say that’s pretty fair,” Washington receiver Terry McLaurin said.

“Definitely,” defensive end Montez Sweat said. “We came out flat.”

“We got our ass kicked,” Washington defensive tackle Jonathan Allen said.

Washington coach Ron Rivera said he couldn’t repeat his postgame message to the players but that in short he told them, “That’s not good enough.”

That’s why no one in the locker room was about to reject what Johnson tweeted.

“I don’t know if we thought they was about to give us the game,” Sweat said. “But them guys was hungry. They came out with more fire than us.”

ESPN Talking heads

Pat McAfee thinks Rivera has ‘lost his fastball’

Magic Johnson fires a shot across the bow

Stephen A says Eric Bieniemy is ready to step up

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Riggo’s Rag

5 huge disappointments from the Commanders loss vs. Bears in Week 5

There was a lot to unpack from this embarrassment.

Tackling totals are tricky. Barton was credited with five solo tackles and three combined tackles. I actually had the number at four and four, but it doesn’t really matter.

Look at his solo tackles on runs. They came nine, 16, and 34 yards downfield. That’s an average of 20 yards per run. Had Khalil Herbert not gotten hurt, I expect we would have seen several more.

His one solo tackle on a pass play came 23 yards downfield. And we all saw how helpless he was on Cole Kmet’s touchdown catch just before half-time.

Barton simply can’t get off blocks well enough to be a factor in the run game and seems to have totally lost his confidence in pass coverage. He needs to be replaced – I will have more on that in another day or two.

As for Davis, he should be rushing the quarterback on virtually every passing down.

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Commanders Wire

An unreal passing stat from the Commanders’ loss to the Bears

The natural inclination is when you’re blown out; the quarterback’s play is a significant problem.

That wasn’t the case on Thursday. Howell wasn’t perfect. His interception proved costly, and he missed Dyami Brown for a wide-open touchdown, which cost the Commanders four points.

But Howell kept battling. He led the Commanders to a touchdown and two-point conversion to open the second half, and Washington was driving for another score when tight end Logan Thomas fumbled.

The Commanders had completely abandoned the running game at this point. Check out this statistic from Nathan Jahnke of Pro Football Focus.

That’s pretty alarming, but I’ll defend offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy here.

The Commanders finished the game with 29 rushing yards on 10 attempts. Howell had 19 of those yards while scrambling away from pressure. Brian Robinson Jr. had six carries for 10 yards. Robinson ran well through the first four games, but Washington could get nothing on the ground early.

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Sports Illustrated

Washington Commanders Taking ‘Long Look’ at Recent Struggles

Following the Washington Commanders’ third straight loss, coach Ron Rivera acknowledged that issues on the field start with coaching.

[N]umerous explosive opportunities – three on the first drive alone – are what the Bears got to go with their first win in nearly a year.

And those explosives have become a glaring feature of the Washington offense that just last season had only given up 30 points or more twice but has now done it in four straight games.

“I think some of it is just missed opportunities,” Rivera said about the explosive plays. “Sometimes it’s not about going after the ball as much as it is securing the tackle. These are all things we’re going to look at and talk about.”

Coming into the season the question mark was supposed to sit around quarterback Sam Howell, the second-year pro and first-year starter.

We can now argue that two of the team’s three losses reside mainly at the feet of the defense that was expected to be the leader of a playoff-caliber team.

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DC Sports King

Bears stun Commanders to snap 14-game losing streak on the back of WR DJ Moore

Thursday was sort of a homecoming for Chicago Bears wide receiver DJ Moore. He played collegiately at the University of Maryland which is located just 11 miles north of Commanders’ home stadium, FedEx Field. Also, Moore was drafted by Commanders head coach Ron Rivera when he led the Carolina Panthers in 2018.

With all the factors in tow, Moore put out a career game. He had eight receptions for 230 yards and three touchdowns. The yards and touchdowns were both career highs for the sixth-year pro.

Moore scorched the Commanders’ secondary for 137 yards and two touchdowns in the game’s first 16 minutes.

He scored both touchdowns over Commanders veteran cornerback Kendall Fuller. Moore ran a good route, and his quarterback, Justin Fields, delivered two beautiful passes on each touchdown.

What’s crazy is Moore could have, and probably should have, four touchdowns and more yards. He caught a pass over rookie cornerback Emmanuel Forbes in the third quarter and seemingly got loose down the sideline into what was going to be a score. Officials blew the whistle, ruling Moore stepped out of bounds at Washington’s 31-yard line for a 32-yard pickup.

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Commanders.com

Support from family has been a consistent source of motivation for Brian Robinson Jr.

Having Robinson on the east coast when he was shot during an armed robbery in D.C. was incredibly difficult for the family. Still, they did what they always do and made sure he knew they were supporting him and holding him close no matter what.

“They were with me through yet another stressful process, and we made it out the backend stronger once again,” Robinson said.

Their presence and encouragement helped propel Washington’s #8 in his comeback. His loved ones have shown him they will be by his side no matter the location or situation, and he is serious about always returning that love. Those ideals have made the Robinson family who they are.

“You’ve got to take care of your own. You’ve got to,” Mimi said. “If you know in the back of your mind that that you have that support from your family, I feel like it makes you go harder, to know that you have all these people supporting you, we’ve got your back right or wrong.”

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Podcasts & videos

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Photos

Commanders.com

PHOTOS | Commanders vs. Bears, Week 5

Check out the best photos of the Washington Commanders during their Week 5 primetime matchup against the Chicago Bears. (Photos by Emilee Fails and Kourtney Carroll/Washington Commanders)

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NFC East links

Big Blue View

Andrew Thomas out vs. Dolphins, Saquon Barkley a maybe

Giants’ offensive line will require more juggling

Star left tackle Andrew Thomas (hamstring) will miss a fourth consecutive game for the New York Giants on Sunday against the Miami Dolphins, one of offensive linemen the team ruled out on Friday. Running back Saquon Barkley is a possibility, upgraded to questionable after being doubtful on Monday. Barkley has missed two games with a high ankle sprain.

Head coach Brian Daboll said before Friday’s practice that Barkley had “made progress” in his recovery.

The Giants, scoring a league-worst 11.5 points per game, need all they help they can muster offensively.

Joining Thomas in not being available on the offensive line will be starting center Johnson Michael Schmitz (shoulder) and Shane Lemieux (groin). Lemieux might have been in line to start at left guard this week since the usual left guard, Ben Bredeson, will have to play center with Schmitz sidelined.

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NFL league links

Articles

Deadspin

Trade talk is the nadir of sports journalism

Chicago Bears fans can’t even celebrate the team’s first win in 15 tries before ESPN is trading Justin Fields

Imagine being a Chicago Bears fan — I know empathy is hard, but just try — and going through what they did Thursday only to open ESPN on Friday and see a bunch of misguided, braindead analysts talking about trading Justin Fields. Over his past two starts, the Chicago QB is 43-for-64 for 627 yards with 8 TDs to 1 INT, showing the kind of playmaking Bears faithful prayed was possible, and the best we (sports media) can do is talk about moving him?

In 2023, there is no bigger crutch in this industry other than trade talk, and I’m including slideshows. However, if you can mix trade talk with a slideshow, it’s the holy grail of mindless engagement, and essentially the same formula social media uses.

For a long time, it was said that “remember when” was the lowest form of conversation humans could engage in, and Tony Soprano was right — for a time. Little did David Chase know that the species would devolve further since 2007, because trade talk in the new No. 1.

If the countless words wasted on “Damian Lillard to the Heat” stories aren’t enough to convince you that there is no greater time suck, no subject more hollow, no conversation less interesting than trade talk, you need serious help.

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