Hogs Haven
ESPN
In a meltdown reminiscent of the Washington Commanders’ inglorious past, many of their fans took to social media this week to excoriate the team after its 44-22 blowout loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
As if the drubbing at the hands of their archrivals wasn’t enough, the Commanders have often appeared to be in disarray this season – one that began with so much promise after their surprising run to last season’s NFC Championship Game.
With a potentially brutal stretch ahead on their schedule, things only figure to get harder for the reeling Commanders (3-4). Losers of consecutive games and three of four, they next travel to face the resurgent Kansas City Chiefs (4-3) on Monday Night Football without star quarterback Jayden Daniels, who was ruled out Wednesday because of a hamstring injury.
Head coach Dan Quinn acknowledges the Commanders are lost.
“We’re off course,” Quinn told reporters on Monday. “We have to get back on.”
Most of Quinn’s focus will be on Washington’s defense – which has been awful.
Missed tackles, blown assignments, head-scratching penalties – game after game, the Commanders appear rudderless. Off their horrendous performance against Dallas alone, the Commanders could compile a long instructional video on the wrong way to play defense in the NFL. It’s really that bad.
And Quinn knows it.
“Our identity has not come together,” he said. “These next four games until our bye [week], we’ve got a lot of work to do to help create that [identity]. … Lots to work on.”
The Athletic (paywall)
The mental roller coaster of the last 10 months, however, was at times difficult, McLaurin admitted.
“I definitely had some tough days where you’re just kind of like, ‘Dang, this sucks,’” he said. “… I’ve had a lot of great talks with my teammates and coaches, and (Washington coach Dan Quinn) supported me a lot, my wife has supported me day in, day out, my friends. … I’m just looking forward to being back out there. I think I sometimes get ahead of myself and have these expectations or have this view of how I want things to go, and sometimes life doesn’t work out that way.”
The injuries have not only created a talent drain for the Commanders’ offense, but they’ve also prompted opposing defenses to attack Washington differently.
“Terry is such a big loss,” said former Washington and Kansas City quarterback Alex Smith, who is now an NFL analyst for ESPN. “… The guys (Daniels) has been playing with on the outside, I’ve actually been so impressed with what they’ve done, especially the last few weeks. But they’re really hamstrung, so defenses are really saying, ‘If we can load the box, we can play these guys one-on-one. We can really put an extra hat in the run game and we can put...
