It’s a horror movie Washington Commanders fans have seen many times before.
A team with building momentum and a chance to show a national audience in prime time how far it has come.
And like so many seasons past, the Commanders (2-3) came in unprepared, unmotivated, and unresponsive falling behind 27-3 at halftime before a third straight sell-out at Fed Ex Field.
“We did not come out and slow them down,” head coach Ron Rivera said. “It’s something we got to take a long look at and kind of understand why, more so than anything else. We’re going to watch the tape, we’ll look at what we need to do better. It starts at the top.”
Empty platitudes from the man with whom the buck stops. A more accurate explanation came from minority owner Magic Johnson who posted on X just about the same time Rivera stepped to the podium.
Tonight the Commanders played with no intensity or fire. We didn’t compete in the first half and got down 27-3 heading into halftime. It was too big of a hole to climb out of and that is why we ended up losing 40-20.
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) October 6, 2023
Correct and indisputable.
The most egregious error occurred on the defensive side of the ball. After getting beaten multiple times on long pass plays against the Philadelphia Eagles, defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio made either no adjustments to his scheme, or ones so hideously wrong, that it borders on malpractice.
One week after watching talented but inexperienced Emmanuel Forbes Jr. get beaten badly by A.J. Brown, Del Rio gave Forbes and fellow cornerbacks Benjamin St- Juste and Kendall Fuller little to no help against top wideout D.J. Moore.
“They always got my back just like I have theirs,” Forbes said. “Just telling me to keep going to work every day and just keep getting better.”
Make no mistake, this roster has talent but the coaching staff, specifically the defensive staff seems unwilling or unable to use it correctly. Washington’s defense has now surrendered 40, 34, 37, and 33 points in its last four games.
“We just played like [expletive],” defensive tackle Jonathan Allen said. “We are not a good defense right now. We gotta own that. We gotta take that and we gotta be better. That’s what’s causing us to lose games right now. Defensively, we just were not executing. We gotta be better. “
Sam Howell was a semi-bright spot. The second-year quarterback struggled in the first half but led the offense to 20 second-half points finishing the night 32 of 45 for 347 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.
“Yeah, it’s tough. Definitely felt like it was a game we were capable of winning,” Howell said. “It didn’t come off to a good start, kind of put ourselves in a hole in the first half, tried to fight our way back in the second half, but we came up short. I think everyone needs to look in the mirror. I think everyone came out of the game knowing they can do something better, and I
think as long as we make the improvements we need to make, we’ll be fine.”
The last sentence is debatable. The Commander’s schedule is favorable in the near future with games against Atlanta, the New York Giants, Philadelphia, and New England in the next four weeks.
But can this coaching staff, a collective 28-30-1 in its time in the DC, fix what’s wrong?
Every member of the organization is on a one-year contract as new owner Josh Harris and his group try to figure out what to keep and what to discard. After Thursday night, the list is long.