Hogs Haven
Commanders.com
It seemed like the Washington Commanders had a shot to hang with the Dallas Cowboys, despite being severely limited on offense. And then things turned on a dime.
There are a few moments to point to as a possible starting point for the downslide. Perhaps it was the Cowboys scoring in 35 seconds before the end of the first half, thanks in part to a 44-yard catch by George Picken and a 33-yard run by Javonte Williams. It’s also possible that it started on the Commanders’ opening drive of the third quarter, when Jayden Daniels was injured on a sack-fumble that was picked up by the Cowboys.
Regardless of when things started to turn ugly for the Commanders, the reality is that Washington quickly went from being competitive to finding themselves in a 26-point hole and an eventual 44-22 loss. Injuries, penalties and a humming Cowboys team all contributed to the loss, which dropped Washington to 3-4, and with three games against the league’s top teams up next, the Commanders head back to Virginia with uncertainty on multiple fronts.
Washington Post (paywall)
The Commanders have too much character to crater, but what happened at Dallas on Sunday sure looked like rock bottom.
As disasters go, it was a relic of a bygone time, when the Washington Commanders used to trample hope with kooky regularity. They lost to a mediocrity-burdened rival by a head-scratching 44-22 margin. They lost their best pass rusher to injury, lowering the condition of their defense from miserable to critical. They saw a Dallas Cowboys linebacker bend the right hamstring of their savior quarterback like a pool noodle.
“It’s embarrassing,” Commanders defensive tackle Daron Payne said. “We’re a way better team than what we showed.”
We tend to think these kinds of catastrophes don’t happen anymore because the organization is competent again, from the owner’s suite to the football operations department to the coaching staff to the players. The Commanders are still in a newlywed phase, but with a 3-4 record, an overwhelming amount of injuries and their warts becoming impossible to hide, the honeymoon period is over for this new era.
This is not the physical team that embraced all challenges last season. The Commanders look soft. They look old and slow, particularly on defense. They don’t exploit clear advantages, and they can’t cover up any of their weaknesses.
Washington Post (paywall)
Jayden Daniels arrived at AT&T Stadium on Sunday afternoon carrying the burdens of an offense without its top three wide receivers, of a team in desperate need of a division win, of a heralded season already beginning to fray.
He left the field with a limp in the third quarter, flanked by members of the training staff.
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