A season that started with high hopes is quickly slipping away thanks to a flawed roster, injuries and bad luck. The 28-7 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday night saw Washington play inspired, yet imperfect, football, which led to a 7-7 tie at halftime.
Missed opportunities caught up with the team in the second half as the Chiefs adjusted and ran away with the game in the third quarter.
As always, there were some good moments and some true head scratchers.
Hot take. Marshon Lattimore might be the least of the secondary’s problems:
We’ve been saying this for a few weeks, and it’s becoming more noticeable. Lattimore played well in coverage against one of the most dangerous passing games in the league.
Lattimore played his best game of the season. His only target resulted in the one-handed highlight-worthy interceptions of Patrick Mahomes in the first quarter.
Rookie Trey Amos also had a solid game. He displayed his closing speed breaking up a pass to Xavier Worthy near the end of the first half.
Mike Sainristill was a different story.
A long first quarter completion to Worthy was yet another instance of the second-year pro letting a receiver run by him as he watched the backfield only to see that receiver catch a long pass for a big gain.
Last week, CeeDee Lamb was left wide open down the middle of the field resulting in a 77-yard touchdown that left Lattimore and Quan Martin on the ground after crashing into each other trying to make up for the coverage bust. This is becoming a recurring problem after a standout rookie year.
We need to talk about Bobby Wagner:
In reviewing the notes from the All-22 tape, the future first ballot hall of famer unfortunately shows up several times and not in a good way.
Simply put, Wagner once again appeared to be a step behind in pass coverage.
Among the lowlights: letting Noah Gray run by him for a long gain and getting caught in the wash at the goal line on Kareem Hunt’s short touchdown reception.
Wagner is still a sure tackler, ut teams have figured out that getting him in coverage is the way to pick up big yardage against this defense.
Wagner wasn’t the only problem:
The Commanders linebackers seemed to have problems all game staying with their man when pass protection broke down.
Granted, Mahomes is the best scrambler in the league and it’s a bit of pick-your-poison when he starts to run but too often Chiefs receivers, particularly Travis Kelce were able to slip away from linebackers and safeties.
Jordan McGee was also guilty of this on more than one occasion in the second half, leading to a big gain.
Kansas City had five pass plays over 15 yards; all five were given up by either a linebacker or safety.
Brandon Coleman’s triumphant return:
Last year’s starting left tackle was on the bench and inactive after moving to left guard and losing that job to Chris Paul.
He was pressed into service when Laremy Tunsill injured a hamstring. Coleman filled in well, doing his part to keep quarterback Marcus Mariota upright.
Coleman played the entire second half and was mostly in pass protection but didn’t give up a sack. He did have three pressures and three hurries but kept Mariota safe. With Tunsill’s status unknown as of this writing, Coleman may be in for an expanded role Sunday against Seattle.
Bob Matthews is a 33 year veteran broadcast journalist, spending the last 29 years of his career in Virginia. Bob has covered both news and sports stories and for the last three seasons, the Washington Commanders. He looks forward to continuing to provide coverage to Sportsjourney.com both on the website and through his podcast, The Bob Matthews Show.
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