ClutchPoints
There were special moments for the Washington Commanders on Sunday Night Football, including a milestone accomplishment. But here are the Commanders most to blame for the crushing overtime loss to the Broncos.
What matters most is that the Broncos earned the 27-26 win, thanks to a tremendous defensive play by Nik Bonitto. He swatted down a potential game-winning 2-point conversion pass by Marcus Mariota. The timing was perfect, according to ESPN.
“We call it a Kodak situation where you have a timeout, the game’s going to end, so call the timeout, regroup, collect your thoughts,” Denver head coach Sean Payton said. “The challenge is those plays are designed QB runs, which we were concerned with … we went from one pressure to another.
“But there’s going to be a free rusher if you pressure the way we did it. And you don’t know who’s going to be the free rusher because the protection … and so they left Nik free, and the timing and everything was great.”
Some may say that Washington rushed for 143 yards and think that’s pretty good. However, the Commanders got 58 yards on four sizable runs. That means the remaining 29 attempts went for just 95 yards and 3.3 yards a carry.
The Commanders often found themselves in negative down-and-distance situations because of short gains on first downs. In most games, this would have led to killed drives. That’s especially true with Mariota at quarterback.
However, the Commanders went 8 for 17 on third-down conversions against a Broncos defense that had been allowing a success rate of only 29%.
Still, the Commanders don’t have anything special in the backfield. All of that preseason and early season talk about Jacory Croskey-Merritt has faded. He can’t even get on the field now behind NFL retreads like Chris Rodriguez Jr. and Jeremy McNichols.
It makes Commanders fans lose faith in people like head coach Dan Quinn and GM Adam Peters for hyping a player who has proven to be a flop.
If all the Commanders needed to do to have a competitive defense was for Quinn to take over the play-calling duties, why did he wait until the season shattered into ruins to do it?
This points to Quinn either being aloof or not a strong enough leader to step up. His loyalty to DC Joe Whitt Jr. has been a detriment to the organization.
Despite a season falling apart, the Commanders have been admirable on defense for two straight weeks with Quinn calling the shots. It has been obvious, according to The Athletic.
“The Commanders’ improvement on defense since Quinn took over the play calling has been astounding,” Nicki Jhabvala wrote. “Virtually the same personnel couldn’t get off the field a few weeks ago, but it more than held its own in an overtime loss against the Miami Dolphins and came up with big play after big play against...
