Joe Whitt and Kliff Kingsbury talk about 3rd downs, injuries, and (in)consistency

Joe Whitt continues to talk about missed opportunities, lack of turnovers, and missed tackles. The defense didn’t get the job done last week, and couldn’t stop the final Bears drive after a Jayden Daniels fumble late in the 4th quarter. The team continues to have issues setting the edge, and allowing the running game to have success outside. Whitt said they will be doing different drills today, working on forcing more turnovers.

The Commanders are traveling to Texas this week to play the team Whitt and Dan Quinn used to coach for, the Dallas Cowboys. Dak Prescott is having a good season, and they will need to hit him to disrupt his game. Washington needs to pressure Dak, like any QB in the league, and and make him uncomfortable in the pocket. Prescott gets the ball out quickly, and the defense will need to be disciplined to avoid more explosive plays allowed.

Joe Whitt

Different takeaway drills in practice:

Lack of takeaways/defense after offense’s turnovers:

Dak Prescott:

Lip service unless you win:

Need to do a better job setting the edge:

Kliff Kingsbury has talked about injuries disrupting the offense training, learning, and cohesion since training camp, and the injury issues have continued into the season. Washington’s top 3 WRs are all dealing with injuries, with two of them missing almost a month or more, and Deebo Samuel playing through injury. It’s starting to wear on Kingsbury as teams continue to try to clamp down on the run due to lack of threats in the receiving game. Washington has young players, but missing their top guys has limited the offense. Jayden Daniels has played at a high level since returning from his own injury, and Kingsbury said he helps lift the rest of the team up.

Chris Paul has been one of the surprising success stories of this season, taking over the left guard position from Nick Allegretti, and doing an improving play at the position. The fourth-year player was looked at as a replaceable depth player by most people coming into this season, but Kingsbury said he worked on building strength and he’s one of the best communicators on the OL he’s ever been around. Sam Cosmi is working his way back from ACL surgery in January. Kingsbury isn’t sure if he’ll play this week, but is looking forward to getting another key OL piece back soon.