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Croskey-Merritt didn’t exactly blow anyone away with his debut performance. He only played 16 snaps on offense and had seven carries for 24 yards, an average of 3.4 yards per carry. He also had one catch for eight yards, and another catch that was wiped out due to a holding penalty. So it’s a pretty small sample size to draw any real conclusions from, but we can evaluate what we saw. A couple of his early runs were doomed to fail due to missed blocks up front or the Patriots defense playing them well, but Croskey-Merritt did have a few nice hits.
This was Croskey-Merritt’s longest run of the game and it’s the one that has got many Commanders fans excited about what he could potentially become. The Commanders line up in the pistol with Croskey-Merritt behind quarterback Sam Hartman. Croskey-Merritt takes the hand off on an inside run and looks to work behind his offensive line, who all block to the left. As Croskey-Merritt secures the hand off, he’s quickly met in the backfield by a defensive end stunting inside of tight end Cole Turner. Croskey-Merritt is forced off his initial track to avoid the defender, slowing his run and making a small cut to give Turner a chance to wash the defender down the line.
Once he gets past Turner’s block, Croskey-Merritt spots a lane to his left and makes a cut to attack it. He shows his explosive burst, picking up speed off of his cut. He uses his momentum, combined with his contact balance, to run through an arm tackle from linebacker Christian Elliss. As he breaks through that tackle, safety Kyle Duggar comes down from deep to try and bring him down, but Croskey-Merritt has other ideas. He manages to use the arm tackle to slow him down and help him cut around Duggar’s tackle attempt, enabling him to break free of both tackles. Croskey-Merritt then bursts further forward to maximize the run before eventually being dragged down by multiple defenders for a nine-yard gain.
Washington Post (paywall)
Tuesday’s practice will feature an intrasquad “game” with bragging rights at stake. “Ain’t nothing friendly about it,” linebacker Frankie Luvu said.
Quinn divided players, coaches and staffers into two teams — Burgundy and Gold. “Think of a joint practice,” Quinn said. “But it’s just one team.” They would split for every portion of the next two days, from meetings to stretching lines. On Monday, they jogged through plays, a dress rehearsal for Tuesday’s “game,” which will simulate a second quarter and a fourth quarter to maximize end-of-half scenarios.
“The first thing I asked DQ was, ‘Are we live?’” Reaves said. “Because it’s only one button for me. All in — the whole way.”
Quinn’s response: “Take care of the team.”
That could be Quinn’s overriding mantra for his approach to...
