The offseason is now here for the Washington Commanders; an ESPN panel discussed Tuesday, “What went wrong for the Commanders?”
Dan Orlovsky, who quarterbacked in the NFL for seven seasons with four different teams, replied, “They couldn’t cover.”
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“They tried to stop the run, and Saquon hit the big run early, so they said, ‘we have to figure out a way to get another person down to the football’ because Philadelphia had such control of the game early on, and they just could not cover.”
“Now, it is a taller task than I am making it out to be, because Philadelphia has plenty of people that you have to cover. You’ve got DeVonta Smith, A.J. Brown, Dallas Goedert. But in reality, they could not make Philadelphia one-dimensional, and on top of that, turnovers were a huge part. But they could not make Philadelphia one-dimensional.”
When asked whether the Commanders’ defense could fix this weakness next year, Orlovsky replied that it would take one or two humans. In other words, the former NFL quarterback is saying the Commanders need to find a couple of new starters through free agency or the draft.
Dan Graziano a longtime New York Giants and NFC East reporter offered, “At the trade deadline they brought in Marshon Lattimore. Obviously, that didn’t work out.”
He also discussed whether Jeremy Chinn would be re-signed and the fact that the front seven has not stopped the run well all year. He said Washington will spend resources looking to fix its defense.
Andrew Hawkins pointed out that the Commanders need to focus on wide receiver. He pointed to Tee Higgins leaving the Bengals and finding Jayden Daniels as the quarterback who can give Higgins the rock.
Hawkins said it would get more challenging for Daniels in year two, “I don’t care who you are. That second year gets really tough because defenses are keying in on you, your tendencies, and what you like to do.”
Hawkins was a receiver with the Bengals for three seasons (2011-13) and the Browns for three seasons (2014-16).