Daily Norseman
We’re getting close to another Minnesota Vikings game day, and this week we’ve gotten an opportunity to sit down and get some intel on the opponent for this week.
This week, I’ve exchanged some questions with with Andrew York of Hogs Haven, SB Nation’s home for everything relating to Washington Commanders football. Once they post my answers to Andrew’s questions, I will get them linked up in this piece. For now, here are the questions that I sent Andrew’s way and his responses.
1) Much like the Vikings, the Commanders have had a truly awful 2025 season after a highly successful 2024 campaign. Aside from the injury to Jaylen Daniels, which we’ll get to momentarily, where has it gone wrong this season for the Commanders?
The biggest problem has been injuries. On defense, the Commanders have been without their starting QB, WR1, WR3, and RB1 for most of the season. On defense, they have been without their top three defensive ends, best safety, and have lost their top two cornerbacks to season-ending injuries. What’s more, the injuries have been perfectly placed to expose weaknesses on the rest of the roster. The duo of Jayden Daniels and Terry McLaurin were really the tent poles that held up the offense, so losing them has caused the entire offense to regress. The injuries at DE have exposed the poor tackling of the secondary and inability of the LBs to contain runs to the edge.
The second biggest reason has been a much harder schedule. The Commanders played a relatively easy schedule last year, but this year’s schedule has been an absolute gauntlet and we always seem to be playing teams right when they have something to prove or are getting a bunch of important players back from injury.
The third biggest reason seems to be poor coaching by Commanders DC Joe Whitt Jr. The defense has looked out of place and befuddled for most of the season, something that was true last season, but was hidden by the offense carrying the team. Dan Quinn finally demoted Whitt and took over as DC himself in week 11 against the Dolphins and it was like a completely different defense stepped on the field. Players seemed to know their assignments and acted without hesitation. That defensive improvement continued last week against the Broncos and we’re hoping it will continue for the rest of the season.
2) The rumor was that Daniels was close to returning last week against Denver, but he had not yet been cleared for contact. What do you think are the chances that he comes back against Minnesota this week?
Jayden Daniels dislocated his left (non-throwing) elbow in week 9 against Seattle. He returned to non-contact practice last week and had his first full practice Thursday of this week. Since he has been able to practice in full, I think it’s very likely he’s going to play.
**3) With things going the way they have in Minnesota,...
