This story was updated at 11:15am Monday, Nov. 4th)
The Washington Commanders have developed a reputation over the last three decades for their performance in primetime.
The bigger the stage, the worse they perform.
Sunday night against the Seattle Seahawks, they outdid themselves.
On the night they debuted their Super Bowl era uniforms, the Commanders (3-6) defense was so inept, Seattle All-Pro wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba didn’t need to be a game wrecker. The less heralded Tory Horton, Elija Arroyo, and Cody White, who was just called up from the practice squad, each caught a first-half touchdown pass from quarterback Sam Darnold as Seattle raced to a 28-0 lead with 4:34 left in the second quarter.
And to put a fine point on it, Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels suffered his third injury of the year, this time to his left arm, possibly ending his season.
The Seahawks coasted to the finish line, beating Washington 38-10.
“You know, for us to have issues that allowed them to have that night are stunning. We couldn’t stop them (Seattle), and we completely stopped ourselvesA, Dan Quinn said in his post-game press conference. “And so, I’m furious, obviously…. But what I can say is I can speak for every coach and player and just an unacceptable performance by us tonight. And told the team, we’re the ones that dug the hole, we the ones that they get out, the solutions are from within. So, we missed it by mile. We missed the out by a mile.”
At least the blame couldn’t be laid solely at its feet. Special teams contributed as rookie wide receiver Jaylin Lane fumbled a kickoff after Seattle’s second touchdown (the Darnold to Arroyo scoring throw), and the offense, except for Daniels, struggled to move the ball, generating just 107 total yards until late in the second quarter. Washington’s passing game was without Terry McLaurin once again and it showed as the Commanders receivers could only muster 153 yards through the air.
Darnold went to work immediately. After the Seahawks defense forced a punt on Washington’s opening drive, he put together a 12-play, 90-yard drive culminating with his first scoring throw to Horton.
Then came score throw number two to Horton, which came after a Daniels interception thrown as he was trying to avoid a sack.
Seattle’s third touchdown pass was thrown to Arroyo, who ran right past Mike Sainristill to make it a 21-0 game.
Finally, Darold connected with Cody Wright, who turned a long gain into the fourth first-half touchdown by breaking a tackle attempt by safety Quan Martin to make the score 28-0 with just under six minutes left in the second quarter.
“They came out, props to them; they came out and played, you know what I mean? ” linebacker Franke Luvu said. “We just have to start fast. You know, get more turnovers on defense and getting the ball back to the offense.”
Washington finally got into the end zone with 4:24 left before halftime. Daniels accounted for 46 of the 69 yards in the Commanders only first-half scoring drive. He was often running for his life as Seattle’s pass rush was relentless. Only Daniel’s athleticism kept the drive alive. His one-yard touchdown run cut the lead to 28-7. Seattle kicker Jason Myers made a 42-yard field goal at the end of the half to make the score 31-7 at halftime.
A.J. Barner added a one yard touchdown run in the third quarter.
It got so bad, NBC’s Sunday Night announcing crew of Mike Tirico and Chris Collingsworth were showing highlights of Seattle defensive tackle Leonard Williams spear fishing this past off-season.
Daniels appeared to dislocate his left elbow late in the fourth quarter. On second and goal from the Seahawks two yard line, he was sacked by Drake Thomas. Daniels landed on his left elbow, grimacing in pain. His arm was put in an inflatable cast and the training staff helped him walk to the locker room.
There was a glimmer of good news on Monday morning as reports surfaced that the injury may not be as bad as it looked. Daniels will have an MRI Monday morning.
“You just want him to stay positive ,” linebacker Bobby Wagner, a close of friend of Daniels said. “You don’t know what the results is. Just speak about positivity. That’s kind of what I try to do and what we try to do. He’s a very positive person, so he’s praying for the best.”
Marcus Mariota replaced Daniels and running back Chris Rodriquez scored on a four yard run on the next play.
While the season still has eight games left, the season is essentially over for Washington. Next week, the Detroit Lions come to North West Stadium, looking for revenge over last year’s post season loss to Washington.
“Just keep going to work, man. Flush it, keep going to work. I mean, what is there to do, you know
what I mean?” Luvu said. “Like I said, man, we aren’t going out there and just automatically think we’re going to lose. That’s not the mindset, we put in the work, man, and you know, it’s frustrating, for sure, but the only thing we can do is look at ourselves in the mirror and correct ourselves first and then, you know, just be very critical of yourself on the field, and what you can do better.”
A year that started with such promise will end in bitter disappointment. It will also raise a lot of questions about Washington’s roster.
General Manager Adam Peters will have to overhaul this team, the oldest in the NFL, and quickly. Two months ago, the Commanders were considered Super Bowl contenders, now they face a rebuild with only a few pieces in place at the moment.
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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