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Joe Whitt Jr. Presser: The tackling wasn’t to the standard in Week 1

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Joe Whitt Jr and Kliff Kingsbury talk to the media

The Washington Commanders coordinators were behind the microphone before today’s practice. The team is preparing for their home opener against the New York Giants, but questions from Week 1’s blowout loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers remain. Defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. was up first, and talked about several things that went wrong in a very disappointing performance from his side of the ball. The team lost leverage, had communication issues, and failed to finish the QB. Washington also struggled on 3rd downs, and didn’t force any turnovers.

Another big issue was the poor tackling that Whitt Jr. said wasn’t up to his standard. There were more missed tackles than he anticipated, and that needs to get cleaned up by the coaches and the players. He said you don’t tackle to the ground in practice anymore, so they need to make sure they’re lined up and taking that extra step when they’re tackling in games.

Joe Whitt Jr.

Poor defensive performance:

Inability to get off the field:

Giants LT Andrew Thomas:

Communication breakdown:

Poor tackling:

Fixing mistakes:

Communication from the coach’s box:

Malik Nabers:

Kliff Kingsbury liked the effort from his players in Week 1, and mentioned the low number of penalties(2) on offense, and one of them was questionable(Olamide Zaccheaus’s illegal block above the waist). The production wasn’t there from the receiving corps, with the RBs and TE Zach Ertz being the leading receivers.

The Washington Commanders leading rusher is rookie QB Jayden Daniels, who just won Offensive Rookie of the Week, after rushing for 88 yards in his NFL debut. Kingsbury defended Daniels 16(14 actual) rushes during the game, and said it was a combination of fight or flight from a rookie in his first game, and getting the looks from the Buccaneers’ defense to give him the opportunity to run. Daniels also turned the “worst call Kingsbury ever called” into a touchdown run.

Kliff Kingsbury

Jayden Daniels:

Jayden Daniels’ rushing ability:

Noah Brown:

Austin Ekeler:

Giants DL Dexter Lawrence:

Terry McLaurin

Fast start:

Ben Sinnott

NFC East rivalries: