Hogs Haven
The Commanders lost a very winnable game in Madrid because of a few bad plays. The Dolphins didn’t do much to beat them. While there were plenty of mistakes on offense, the Commanders’ fate was sealed by five critical mistakes, three on special teams and two on offense.
Just scroll down to the Biggest Plays for the Dolphins, and you can see them listed. That’s right, the five biggest plays for Miami, as judged by EPA, were all mistakes by the Commanders.
There were still a few bright patches between the clouds, including gutsy performances by Chris Rodriguez and Deebo Samuel, quality play by the OL, first NFL touches by two young players, outstanding run defense by Javon Kinlaw and Eddie Goldman, and good games by Jacob Martin, Jonathan Jones, Bobby Wagner and Jeremy Reaves.
But it was not enough to keep the game from staying close enough for their mistakes to catch up with them.
With that compelling introduction out of the way, here are stats and snaps from the Commanders’ 13-16 loss to the Miami Dolphins in Madrid.
Stats Sources
Stats were sourced from the NFL, Pro Football Reference (PFR), Pro Football Focus (PFF), or ESPN. NFL official stats were used whenever available. When the source is not indicated, it means either than NFL official stats were used or that there was agreement between stats service.. The source is indicated when there was disagreement between services or if the stat is only available from one source (eg. PFF: stops, run stops, Y/RR, QB hurries). QBR is proprietary to ESPN.
Expected Points Added (EPA) quantifies the contribution of individual plays to a team’s scoring potential on a drive. These are all the plays with EPA greater than 2.2 or less than -2.2.
Biggest Plays for the Commanders
Q4, 10:55, 3rd and 9 at WAS 41: Marcus Mariota scrambles right end for 44 yards. EPA 4.08
Q3, 11:32, 1st and 10 at MIA 20: Marcus Mariota pass complete short right to Deebo Samuel for 20 yards. EPA 2.76
Q4, 1:05, 3rd and 6 at WAS 35: Marcus Mariota pass complete short right to Jacoby Jones for 25 yards. EPA 2.62
Q1, 7:32, 4th and 1 at WAS 46: Marcus Mariota pass complete short right to Colson Yankoff for 4 yards. EPA 2.58
Q2, 6:26, 3rd and 5 at MIA 46: Tua Tagovailoa sacked by Jonathan Jones for 12 yards. EPA -2.2
Q2, 12:12, 3rd and 2 at WAS 10: Tua Tagovailoa sacked by Jacob Martin for 11 yards. EPA -2.45
Q3, 6:14, 4th and 2 at WAS 2: Tua Tagovailoa pass incomplete short middle intended for Jaylen Waddle (defended by Bobby Wagner). EPA -2.87
Q4, 1:44, 4th and 1 at WAS 1: Ollie Gordon up the middle for -2 yards (tackle by Eddie Goldman and Frankie Luvu). EPA -3.17
Biggest Plays for the Dolphins
Q4, 4:17, 4th and 19 at MIA 13: Jake Bailey punts 51 yards, Mike Sainristil fumbles catch, recovered by Ethan...
