The Washington Commanders lose season opener to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 37-20

The Dan Quinn era begins 0-1

First Quarter

Despite heavy rain forecast for Sunday, it was sunny and clear at kickoff. Cade York kicked off to the home team, putting the ball out of the back of the endzone, so the Buccaneers started the first drive on the 30 yard line. A defensive penalty on Clelin Ferrell on 3rd down gave the Bucs their initial first down of the game. The drive stalled at Washington’s 38-yard line, and Tampa Bay kicked a 56-yard field goal to take the early 3-0 lead.

Jayden Daniels took his first NFL regular season snap at the 30-yard line after the ensuing kickoff went through the end zone. The first-down play was a bad miss on a backwards pass intended for Brian Robinson, with a loss of 15 yards when the ball went out of bounds. The drive ended with an ugly 3 & out and a Washington punt from the Commanders 23 yard line.

Tress Way booted the ball 53 yards, but following a 14-yard return, TB set up shop with good field position at their own 38-yard line.

Tampa Bay picked up its 3rd first-down of the game on the first play of the home team’s second drive, a 13-yard completion to Mike Evans. Two plays later, Ben St-Juste jumped a route with a beautiful pass defense to bring up 3rd down. On 3rd & 6, Mike Evans caught another pass for 24 yards and another first down at Washington’s 21-yard line. Following a penalty, Baker Mayfield scrambled on a 3rd & 13 play, but was unable to reach the line to gain. Tampa Bay’s field goal kicker Chase McLaughlin hit a 34-yarder to make the score 6-0.

Washington’s defense did a pretty good job to limit the Buccaneers to 78 yards and 6 points on the first two drives. The Washington offense, however, needed to get on track.

The Commanders took over again at the 30-yard line with about 5 minutes left in the first quarter following the game’s 4th touchback. So far, the dynamic kickoff was not looking very dynamic.

The Commanders got their initial first-down of the game on a Daniels scramble on a 2nd & 8 play, with the rookie avoiding any hit by sliding rather awkwardly at the end of the run. On 3rd & 4 at Washington’s 47 yard line, Daniels scrambled again, this time for 17 yards down the left sideline for another first-down at the TB 36-yard line.

Luke McCaffrey’s first NFL touch on first down went for no gain, but a tough run by Brian Robinson brought up 3rd & 6. Jayden Daniels, under pressure, hit Brian Robinson on an outlet pass, but the 21-yard gain was wiped out by a bad penalty flag for a block in the back.

On 3rd & 3 from the 29 yard line, Daniels was unable to hit Olamide Zaccheaus on the right sideline. Cade York ended the 10-play, 41-yard drive with an attempted 47-yard field goal that missed to the left.

After the turnover on downs, the quarter came to a close following a short run by Bucs RB Bucky Irving.

Second Quarter

After back to back pre-snap penalties and a short gain on 2nd down, Tampa faced a 3rd & 7 from their own 40; Baker Mayfield hit Chris Godwin for 11 yards and another 1st down near midfield. On the next play, Jamin Davis broke through for a tackle for loss, but Mayfield responded with a 19-yard completion on the next play to set the Buccaneers up with a fresh set of downs at Washington’s 34 yard line.

The Commanders weren’t able to handle the Bucs passing attack. The drive ended with a 17-yard touchdown pass to Mike Evans over very tight and physical coverage by Benjamin St-Juste. The score moved to 13-0.

The Commanders began their third offensive drive of the game with just under 11 minutes remaining in the half.

The first return of the game saw Austin Ekeler bring the kickofff back to the 26-yard line. On 2nd & 8, Daniels scrambled yet again, and tumbled forward to avoid contact, gaining 16 yards and a 1st down at the Commanders 44 yard line. On 2nd down, Austin Ekeler caught a short pass just across the line of scrimmage in the middle of the field, turning it into a 22-yard gain.

With a 1st down on the Bucs 34-yard line, Daniels missed Terry McLaurin on a deep pass. On 2nd down — stop me if you’ve heard this before — Jayden Daniels scrambled for 12 yards and another 1st down. Daniels took a big helmet-to-helmet hit, drawing a penalty flag, and moving the ball to the the Tampa Bay 11-yard line.

Back to back runs by Austin Ekeler (4 yards) and Brian Robinson (7 yard touchdown) put the Commanders on the scoreboard. Cade York put the PAT kick just inside the right upright to make the score 13-7. The scoring drive was 8 plays and covered 74 yards.

Cade York failed to impress on the kickoff, with the ball going out of bounds and being spotted at the 40-yard-line. Tampa Bay set up on offense again with just over 7 minutes left in the first half.

Good tackling by Bobby Wagner and Jonathan Allen on a pair of running plays brought up 3rd & 3 at the Washington 40. Once again, Baker Mayfield found Chris Godwin for a 14-yard gain and Tampa Bay’s 10 third down of the game.

Rachaad White tripped in the backfield on 1st down, and Mayfield faced heavy pressure from rookie Javontae Jean-Baptiste on 2nd down, but managed to complete a short pass to his running back.

At the 2-minutes warning, Tampa Bay faced a 3rd & 6 at Washington’s 22 yard line.

Chris Godwin converted a first down for the 3rd time on this drive. Two plays and a pre-snap penalty later, TB faced a 3rd & 8 from Washington’s 11-yard line. Mayfield was under heavy pressure and threw the ball out of the back of the end zone. Tampa Bay’s kicker split the uprights with a 29-yard kick to make the score 16-7 with 00:16 showing on the clock.

Austin Ekeler returned the kickoff to the 28-yard-line. Jayden Daniels brought the half to an end by taking a knee.

Halftime Stats

Third Quarter

The Commanders got the ball on offense to start the second half at the 30-yard line following a touchback.

Daniels tried to stretch the field with a deep pass to Scary Terry down the left sideline, but overshot him by 2 or 3 yards. After another incompletion, the Commanders faced 3rd & 10. A defensive holding call resulted in a fresh set of downs for Washington at the 35-yard line.

After a 5-yard catch & run by Jamison Crowder, Daniels picked up yet another first-down with yet another 11-yard scramble on 2nd & 5. To this point Daniels had 8 carries for 67 yards while completing 5 of 11 passes for 51 yards.

Following a pair of Brian Robinson runs, Washington faced 3rd & 1 at the Tampa Bay 40-yard line. Tampa Bay defender Bryce Hall was injured on the second-down play and was carted off the field.

After the time out, Brian Robinson carried the ball but was stopped inches short of the line to gain. On 4th down and inches, Daniels faked the handoff and sprinted to his left for a first down on a called QB run.

A few plays later, Jayden Daniels suffered his first career NFL sack, losing 9 yards and bringing up a 3rd & 18 at the Tampa Bay 46.

Following an 8 yard gain on a busted play to Luke McCaffrey, Cade York ended the 12-play drive by missing wide right on a 56-yard field goal — his 2nd miss of the day. We may not be giving up that conditional 7th-round pick after all.

Tampa Bay took over at their own 49-yard line with a 9-point lead and 9:21 remaining in the 3rd quarter.

Four plays later, the Commanders had forced a 3rd & 10 at the Washington 30-yard-line, but gave up the first down by penalty with two flags on Emmanuel Forbes. The facemask penalty was enforced, giving the Bucs 1st & goal at the 4-yard-line. They scored easily on a pass to Mike Evans at the goal line to make the score 23-7 with just over 7 minutes left in the third quarter.

Washington resumed on offense at the 30-yard line after the McLaughlin kickoff. Following a 3 & out, Washington punted from the 36-yard-line.

Tress Way’s 2nd punt of the day went 41 yards and was downed at the TB 24-yard-line.

Having scored on every possession of the game, Tampa Bay hoped to put the game away by adding to the 23-7 lead. Mayfield, however, was sacked by Clelin Ferrell on a 3rd-down drop-back, forcing Tampa to punt for the first time in the game.

The defensive stand resulted in good field position for Washington’s offense at their own 40-yard-line. With less than 20 minutes of game time remaining, the Commanders needed a successful scoring drive. To this point, the Bucs had outgained the Commanders 231 yards to 152 yards.

The Commanders responded with their best offensive drive to this point in the game.

Jayden Daniels started strong with a 9-yard completion to tight end Zach Ertz, his second reception of the day. A good run by Brian Robinson set up a fresh set of downs at the Tampa 46, after which Terry McLaurin tallied his first reception of the game on a short catch & run for 6 yards.

Robinson then picked up another first-down with another 6-yard run. On the next play (first down from the 33 yard line) Robinson caught a short pass and then ran it down to the 1-yard line.

Jayden Daniels completed the impressive 9-play, 60-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run in which Washington never faced a 3rd down.

Cade York hit his second PAT to make the score 23-14 with 01:52 remaining in the 3rd quarter.

That would be as close as the Commanders would get for the rest of the game.

Following a 23-yard kickoff return, the Buccaneers offense took over at their own 28-yard line. On 2nd down, a 32-yard catch and run by Rachaad White on a screen pass set up Tampa Bay’s offense with a first down at the Commanders’ 35-yard-line.

Two plays later, it was 3rd & 7 at the 32-yard line as the third quarter came to an end.

Fourth Quarter

The fourth quarter started with a 32-yard TD reception by rookie 3rd round receiver Jalen McMillan. The extra point made the score 30-14.

With his team trailing by 16 points, Zach Ertz was penalized on the kickoff and the Commanders offense started their offensive drive at the 25-yard line. On the first play of the drive, Daniels checked down to Austin Ekeler for an 11-yard gain and a first down.

Two plays later, a defensive pass interference penalty gifted the Washington offense a first down at the Washington 45-yard-line.

Another two plays later, Daniels suffered his second career sack — a loss of 13 yards that forced 3rd & 20 at the Washington 35-yard line.

Tress Way punted on 4th down from near midfield. It was a good punt that pinned the TB offense at their own 9-yard line with about 11 minutes left in the game.

With a big lead, TB committed to the run, and was rewarded with yet another 32-yard gain when Bucky Irving broke loose on a run to the right side. Bobby Wagner stepped up with tackles for loss on back-to-back plays, but on 3rd & 18, a screen pass went for 24 yards to set the Bucs up in Washington territory.

The burgundy & gold defense was fighting a losing battle as the Buccaneers offense ground out a long drive that burned up most of the remaining clock. On 3rd & 6 at the Commanders 21, Mayfield, who was under intense pressure, scrambled for 11 yards to set up 1st & goal.

Two plays later, it was 3rd & goal from the 2-yard-line. Mayfield topped off the 12-play, 91-yard drive with a touchdown pass to Mike Evans, who was again covered by St-Juste. The score stood at 37-14 with 03:29 left on the clock.

Tampa Bay’s kicker put the ball through the end zone on the kickoff, and the Commanders offense took over at the 30-yard-line once again.

On the first play of the Commanders’ final offensive drive, Terry McLaurin caught a pass and took it 11 yards for a first-down. Jayden Daniels ran a hurry-up offense, adding another 1st down with a 15-yard pass to Zaccheaus. Two plays by Ekeler, another scramble by Daniels, and a pass to Zach Ertz added 3 more first-downs ahead of the 2-minute warning.

After the timeout, Washington had the ball 1st & 10 at Tampa Bay’s 11-yard line. Daniels hit Luke McCaffrey for a 10-yard gain, setting up 1st & goal at the 1-yard line. On the next snap, Jayden Daniels took the ball himself on a zone read, and got the ball across the goal line, but because his helmet was knocked off on the play, the ball was spotted inside the 1-yard line for 2nd & goal.

After Robinson failed to score on 2nd down, Daniels finally put the ball in the end zone on a called QB run to cap a 10-play, 70-yard drive. The 2-point conversion attempt failed; the score was 37-20 with 72 seconds left to play.

The Commanders declared that they would attempt an onside kick, as they are required to do under the new rules for ‘dynamic’ kick offs. I’m not sure if this was the first onside attempt in the NFL under the new rules, but it was recovered easily by the Buccaneers, for all practical purposes, bringing the game to an end with a final score of 37-20.

The Commanders will play at home next Sunday against the New York Giants.

Full Game Stats

---

Join our partner FanDuel for all your betting needs

---