Week 12 is in the books, and it had the Commanders on the road in Dallas for their 2nd divisional game in as many weeks. This was the Commanders 1st matchup vs the Cowboys with the 2nd coming in the final week of the season. The Commanders came into this game without a win in the division, sitting at 0-4 and 4-7 total on the season. They did not earn their first division win and fell to 0-5 within the NFC East and 4-8 on the season after losing embarrassingly to the Cowboys 45-10. With back-to-back embarrassing losses for the Commanders, many have already turned thier attention to the draft and Washington may have a shot to secure a top 5 pick. Despite the season being over, we’re still going to dive into these weekly performances, let’s get to it.
Sam Howell: C
Sam was just ok in his Thanksgiving debut; I would have liked to see a superstar type of performance on that stage, but it is what it is. He completed 28 of his 44 pass attempts for 300 yards, 0 touchdowns and an ugly pick 6. He was sacked 4 times and finished with a QBR of 56.9 and a rating of 74.1. Sam caught a few breaks in this game, that 1 INT could have looked more like 3. Back-to-back weeks Sam has struggled a bit, but the defenses propensity to allow quick and easy points scored puts a lot on his shoulders each drive. Sam is the ultimate competitor so being behind all the time I know he is always looking to score. What amazes me is that even in his bad games, he still has his moments and looks the part of a franchise QB. In his last 2 games, both bad losses and both some of his worst play of the season this is his stat line; 59/89 66%, 556 yards, TD/INT ratio of 1/4, but he also adds 2 rushing TDs. The INTs have been coming at a higher rate than you would like to see he’s thrown at least 1 in 8/12 games and 2/12 games he’s thrown 3 and 4 INTs. Samis still young and will learn what throws he can and cannot make. There have also been high level QBs in the past who throw a lot of INTs, it is also worth accounting for the fact that Sam and the Commanders have not yet had a bye week (week 14 is their bye), and Sam has 53 more attempts than the 2nd QB behind him in total attempts, Josh Allen. Now, I am a basketball guy as well, and people always fuss over certain players TOs per game. As a Knicks fan, I deal with this a lot over Julius Randle. My response is always the same, “google the list of NBA turnover leaders each season”, the list will be made up of nothing but MVP and all-nba candidates, why? Those players also tend to lead their teams in usage rate, higher usage rate will always = higher total turnovers. Why am I telling you this? It applies to Sam Howell, he has attempted 486 passes, that is an average of 40.5 attempts per game. Sam is tied for 1st in total INTs with Josh Allen at 13, but when you’re throwing the ball as much as he is, bad passes are going to happen. Sam is also 10th in passing TDs with 18, quite a few opportunities have been missed due to drops, and poor protection. Give this young man some more time and am improved o-line, I believe that he is a special talent.
O-line: D+
The o-line was not as bad as most expected to be facing a pass rush as talented as Dallas, but they still stunk. Sam was sacked 4 times and flow of both the pass and run game was inconsistent due to up and down line play. I will give them a bit of credit, while Micah Parsons did have 1.5 sacks, 3 tackles, 1 TFL, and 3 QB hits, it did not feel like he made much of an impact. I have yet to rewatch that nightmare, but I believe his sack, half a sack, or both came later in the play. Meaning the work was done and he just got walked into a sack. Parsons is phenomenal player, one of the best defensive players in the NFL, so make him feel like just a dude does count for something and likely is the only thing that prevented this group from getting an F.
Running Backs: C+
The backs were ok in today’s game. They probably deserve a higher grade but, on a day, where your offense scored 10 points in 20-10 game heading into the 4th quarter, it is hard to give anyone a good grade. Brain Robinson Jr. led the way with 15 totes for 53 yards, he also added 2 catches for 11 yards but no TDs this week. Chris Rodriguez Jr. got a little burn and finished 2nd on the team in rushing yards with 21 on 4 rushes. Antonio Gibson carried the ball 6 times for 21 yards while adding 3 catches for 16 yards. Lastly, Sam Howell pitched in 13 yards and the teams only TD on a 1-yard scamper. 108 total rushing yards and the team’s only rushing score is not a bad day at all from the group, but again it was an ugly day for the offense in general.
Wide Receivers: C+
For the same reason mentioned above, the highest grade I am giving out to any offensive position group is the C+. The WRs did have a nice bounce back game after the previous 2 weeks of rough play from them. Curtis Samuel led the way in targets 12, receptions 9, and yards with 100. Jahan Dotson was 2nd on the team in receptions 5 and yards 52, he was targeted just 6 times. Terry McLaurin was 3rd in receptions 4, 3rd in yards with 50, and he was 2nd in targets seeing 11. Byron Pringle also got into the mix with 2 grabs for 27 yards. This was a well-balanced game from the WRs, one of their ‘big 3’ went for 100 yards while the other two both had 50 or more. Touchdowns would have been nice, but those are also affected by Sam Howell and the o-line, so we cannot just blame one group here. Add in a touchdown or 2 and this is the type of game Washington should be getting from its WRs every week.
Tight Ends: F
The tight ends failed to make an impact in Dallas. Cole Turner caught a pass for 29 yards and Logan Thomas caught 2 passes for 15 yards. We know John Bates is an excellent blocker, but his blocking alone cannot save this units grade each week. 3 total catches and 44 total yards from a position that should be a safety valve for a young QB is just dreadful.
D-line: F
After having a sack party vs, a beat-up Giants o-line last week, the Commanders d-line fell back down to reality. They are possibly the worst pass rush in the league at this point and it was on full display in Dallas as Dak Prescott had the easiest day of his career. Dak was never sacked, and he was only hit twice. The d-line was credited for 3 TFLs, 2 came from Payne and 1 came from Allen, so not your pass rushers. Cody Barton also had a TFL bringing the team total to 4 on the day. Daron Payne also had a tipped pass and I thought about giving them a D for the interior play, but there was not nearly enough impact in my opinion to do so.
Linebackers: F
Insert ‘what do these guys even do’ meme, zero impact from the LBs in Dallas, ZERO. Cody Barton had 6 tackles and 1 TFL, and Jamin Davis had 6 tackles, that is it. What needs to be said, they stink. I am still not out on Jamin though, feel the need to say this each wrap-up.
DBs: F
Booooooo tomato, tomato, tomato. You get an F, and you get an F, you all get an F! If anyone watched this game and thought any of the defensive units deserved anything more than an F, you are awfully generous. This unit got cooked up like a thanksgiving dinner on Thanksgiving Day. 10 different pass catchers had a blast vs this secondary and the lowest yardage total for them was 1 catch for 12 yards. 2 players went over 20 yards, 2 players went over 30 yards, 1 went over 40, 1 went over 50 and Brandin Cooks led the way with 72 yards. 4 different players caught TD passes as well. The DBs have been the teams ultimate down fall all season long, and they got to show the world this on one of the biggest prime time games of the year, lovely.
Special Teams: B
The only good grade on the day and that is because they did not have much of a chance to mess anything up. Despite the 45-point bonanza, Washington had 0 kick return attempts, a taste of their own medicine. Jamison Crowder only returned 2 punts for 9 yards due to the dog walking the Cowboys offense did of the Commanders defense. He did manage to get a 15-yard face mask penalty for us on one of them though. Joey Slye made his only FG attempt; a 43 yarder and his lone PAT was also good. Tress Way punted 3 times and all 3 landed inside the 20, good day for Way.
I am not upset anymore over this season, it has been a mess and I have seen the same team since week 1, no improvement outside of Sam Howell’s personal development. Guys who usually make plays just aren’t, the defense has no idea what a turnover is. They drafted Forbes, a guy who was a known ball hawk in college, yet they still cannot get an INT. The only thing this defense knows how to do for sure with excellent consistency is allow the opponent to score touchdowns. The offense has been streaky all year, when they’re clicking, they score with anyone, but when they aren’t. They look just as bad as they have the last few years, just a mess folks. I am still always going to pull for a win, but as I said last week, losing is unfortunately the best thing for the team looking at next season and beyond.