Washington Commanders Vs Buffalo Bills – Studs and Duds

If you thought this team was a true contender after two come-from-behind wins against winless teams, boy were you drinking the Burgundy Kool-Aid!

Buffalo showed Washington and its revived fanbase that the team still has a LONG way to go before they are considered a threat to the top teams in the league.

Buffalo dominated all three phases of the game, and handed the Commanders their first loss of the season at home in front of many distinguished alumni who were in attendance. It was one of the most embarrassing losses of the Ron Rivera era and it could have been worse if Buffalo hadn’t taken their foot off the gas in the fourth quarter.

Below are my Studs and Duds followed by some notes.

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Studs:

Kendall Fuller – Fuller was solid in coverage and came down with a nice interception, his first of the season. He also tackled very well on the afternoon.

Joey Sly – Sly’s late 51 yard field goal was one of the very few highlights on the afternoon.

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Duds:

Sam Howell – This was about as bad a day as Sam could have had. It got progressively worse as the game went on and the pressures kept coming. Bad decision after bad decision marred his performance and it looked like he was seeing ghosts out there. He finished with a stat-line of 19/29 for 170 yards and four interceptions, while being sacked nine times – some of which were on him for holding the ball too long.

Andrew Wylie and the Washington Offensive Line – Wylie was the main culprit who stood out for getting beaten like a Red-Headed Step Child, but when you give up nine sacks and pressure on 80% of your drop-backs, the entire unit deserves to land on the Duds list.

Antonio Gibson – Well, another fumble. I will say that it was an effort play to try and make something out of nothing, but this occurrence is getting way too frequent for everyone’s liking.

Darrick Forrest – Forrest’s coverage was suspect all afternoon, especially on the deep touchdown where he was just beat by Gabe Davis.

Commanders Third Down Defense – It was downright embarrassing. I’ll just leave it at that.

Washington Coaching Staff – I don’t know what was worse – going into the season with the offensive line we have, or thinking Andrew Wylie could be left alone on an island by himself against Buffalo’s EDGE rushers. Oh, and how about that feared Commanders defensive front…zero sacks, and really made life easy for Josh Allen and company.

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Notes:

-Brian Robinson ran hard on the afternoon. It’s a damn shame Bieniemy only gave him 10 carries…

-Although he did have a drop, Cole Turner needs to be featured more in the offense. He also showed pretty good blocking (a hell of a lot better than Logan Thomas).

-Jamin Davis is starting to flash. Overall, I thought he had a pretty good game.

-It took two games, but Cody Barton looked a bit more comfortable and wasn’t allowing offensive linemen to get into him as much as we saw during the first two games.

-I keep seeing Emmanuel Forbes making business decisions to not tackle ball carriers.

-Although Chase Young and Montez Sweat did get some pressures on Josh Allen, the interior allowed too many running lanes and Del Rio was not smart enough to put a spy out there until it was too late.

-Washington allowed pressure on 80% of their drop-backs through three quarters.

-Through three games, the Commanders are allowing 6.33 sacks per game. They are on pace for 107 sacks allowed on the season – which would be an NFL record.