Hogs Haven
Jayden Daniels finishes 24-36, 227 passing yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT and 127 rushing yards
This Week 17 prime time Sunday Night Football game was a key matchup for the ‘24 Commanders with significant playoff implications. With a win, Washington could lock up — at least — the 7th seed in the NFC playoffs. Combine a win with the loss by the Packers against the Vikings and the Commander would move into the 6th seed.
A loss to Atlanta would not eliminate the Commanders from playoff contention, but would create a lot of pressure for the team to win its final game in Dallas.
Atlanta was, at the time, leading the NFC South where they were locked in a battle for the division title with the Buccaneers — one that the Bucs would eventually win.
The Falcons changed starting quarterbacks the week before, benching struggling veteran Kirk Cousins in favor of rookie Michael Penix, who notched a win over the Giants in his first-ever NFL start in Week 16.
The Commanders 4th-ranked scoring offense (28.8 ppg) would be up against the Falcons 19th ranked scoring defense (23.3 ppg allowed). Washington’s defense ranked 18th in points allowed, just ahead of Atlanta.
Like their defense, the Falcons offense also ranked 19th, scoring 21.8 ppg, but the offensive effectiveness was likely to be quite different with the QB change. The Falcons put up 34 points against the Giants seven days earlier, but that total included two defensive touchdowns; the offense accounted for 20 points, scoring 2 touchdowns and 2 field goals on 8 full offensive drives.
The Falcons appeared to be relatively healthy for a late-season game, though speedy WR Rondale Moore was on IR. More importantly, they had recently put their talented kicker Younghoe Koo on IR, replacing him with Riley Patterson, who had a cup of coffee with the Commanders prior to the ‘24 regular season. Patterson missed his first field goal attempt of the season (43 yards) against the Giants, though he made two other field goals in the game (37 yards, 52 yards).
The Commanders were not really healthy. In addition to players like Austin Ekeler and Noah Brown on IR, Washington ruled out 5 other players, including 3 starters — CB Marshon Lattimore, WR Dyami Brown, and RT Andrew Wylie.
Of the three, the injury to Lattimore was expected to be most impactful. His injury meant that either Michael Davis or Benjamin St-Juste, who was sent to the bench when Lattimore played his first game as a Commander against the Saints in Week 15, would return to the starting lineup.
At RT, the Commanders were in good shape. Cornelius Lucas and Trent Scott both ended up playing significant snaps in the game.
The receiver position had been in flux all season. Near the end of training camp, the offseason presumptive #2 receiver, Jahan Dotson had been traded away to the Eagles. Soon after, Noah Brown was signed following his release from the Texans. Brown played well, but struggled...
