Week 11 had the Commanders back home after a 2-week road trip to face the New York Giants. The Commanders have now played both the Eagles and Giants twice, losing all 4 games as the Giants won today 31-19, making them 0-4 in the division. Going to be straight with you all, this is going to be a shorter wrap-up, not much to be said after this type of game.
Sam Howell: D
One of Sams worst games this season without a doubt, only the Bills game was worse in my opinion. He completed 31 of his 45 attempts for 256 yards 1 touch down and 3 interceptions. Giving him a QBR of 58.7 and a rating of 62.8 on the day, he was also sacked 4 times. Sam and the offense just failed to find any consistency throughout the day and with a terrible defense it was a recipe for disaster. I am not down on Sam in any way, all QBs have bad days, and this was one of Sams. He never gets too low on himself, and I love how short his memory is with bad plays, his chin is always up and ready for the next play. I expect a solid bounce back game next week in Dallas.
O-line: F
Once again, the o-line failed to help Sam Howell out in any meaningful way. They were not awful, but they also do not consistently give him time to make plays. There are plays to be made each week, many explosive, but Sam rarely has the time for them to develop and get a clean pass off. This week was no exception, and the Giants d-line dog walked this o-line all day long and I am not sure if they had to break a sweat to do it.
Running Backs: A
The backs and Sam Howell seemed to be the only guys who wanted to play today. Brain Robinson Jr. continues his stretch of strong play, this time doing it both in the run and pass game. He finished with 73 yards on 17 rushes while also hauling in 7 passes for 59 yards. Antonio Gibson was out this week with an illness so that means that rookie Chris Rodriguez Jr. got some burn. I am not sure why he is not used more because he is effective every time he plays. He rushed for 43 yards on just 6 attempts good for 7.2 yards per carry. Sam Howell chipped in per usual with 3 rushes for 35 yards which included one of the best touchdown runs from a QB that I have ever seen. Derrick Gore even got in on the action taking 2 totes for 23 yards. The team finished with 174 total yards and 1 touchdown while the backs added to the passing game again, thank you guys for showing up.
Wide Receivers: F
In a game where your running back and tight end led the way in receiving, it is not hard to understand the grade. This marks back-to-back duds for the WRs as they failed to make an impact last week in Seattle. Terry McLaurin caught 5 passes on just 7 targets for 43 yards. Jahan Dotson saw 4 targets, he caught 3 of them for 23 yards and nice touchdown grab as well. Byron Pringle caught 3 balls for 22 yards, Jamison Crowder grabbed 2 for 12 yards and both Dyami Brown and Curtis Samuel each caught 1 pass for 7 and 5 yards respectively. This group is too talented to produce such little results in back-to-back games, they need to find a way to make an impact regardless of the seasons outlook at this point.
Tight Ends: D
Logan Thomas was second on the team in both receptions and yards, he caught 5 passes for 58 yards. Being 2nd in both receptions and yards would normally be a grade booster for this unit, but it is not saying much considering the game this team just played and no one will be getting a curved grade today. John Bates caught 2 passes for 15 yards and we actually had a Cole Turner sighting as he caught a pass for 7 yards.
D-Line: B+
Arguably the weakest unit on the team has the second-best grade, go figure. Many have compared the lines lack of pass rushing production since the Chase/Tez trades, myself included. They dominated today, registering 9 total sacks, 4 of them were a combo of LBs and Benjamin St-Juste, but 5 sacks for any group is a good day. We talked about KJ Henry last week and he played a great game getting 1.5 of the teams sacks, 1 TFL and 2 QB hits. Daron Payne had a sack while Jonathan Allen had 1.5 sacks. Casey Toohill got the final sack for the unit. I was highly satisfied with the d-line today, it should be noted however that this Giants o-line is a patchwork group of street level guys due to injuries. You can only play who is on your schedule however, so they get a good grade today.
Linebackers: C
The LBs were a wash today. On one hand David Mayo played out of his mind rushing the passer, he had 1.5 sacks 6 total tackles, 3 TFLs, and 2 QB hits. Jamin Davis also got a sack, a team leading 7 tackles with being TFLs. So why a wash? Saquon Barkley, that’s why. Barkley was 2nd on the Giants in receiving grabbing 4 passes for 57 yards and 2 touchdowns. In a game where the Commanders only scored 19 points, Saquon’s abuse of the LBs almost wins the game for the Giants on his own. Jamin Davis keeps showing why he may be worth the time to keep developing, but that the only positive you can take from this group on a weekly basis.
DBs: F
Does this thing go any lower? I have to talk to the guy in charge because an F is not low enough for the DBs this week, or any week really. If this game alone did not show you that the poor defense was not on Tez and Chase ‘underperforming’ then I do not know what will. Even on a day where the d-line had a field a day undrafted rookie Tommy DeVito, yes TOMMY DEVITO, was slinging the rock like a top 15 starting QB. This group of DBs gets cooked so fast on almost every play that it does not matter what the d-line does or how fast they do it, someone is open somewhere. Once DeVito calmed down a touch, he picked this secondary apart and the Giants ran away with the game. This was the lowest of the lows for this team, pathetic.
Special Teams: D
Special Teams can thank Byron Pringle filling in for the sick Antonio Gibson for the D instead of an F. Pringle returned 2 kicks today for 77 yards with a monster 40-yard return. Jamison Crowder returned 4 punts on the day for 0 yards. Joey Slye went 2/2 on his FG attempts but missed 1 of his 2 PATs. Tress Way somehow only had to punt twice but neither landed inside the 20 and both were from deeper in his own territory.
This is the worst loss I have seen from the Commanders. The final score may not look all that bad, but anyone who watched this game and knows what team just walked all over us would likely agree. I am so angry that I am calm, and that is insane to me. This team is just cruel, in a game where they played like dog water their second-best group today was their 2nd weakest, the d-line. The 3rd best group today was their weakest group, the LBs, how does that happen? All I know is that I am ready for the overhaul and can take solace in the fact that this loss was the best thing for us in terms of the draft, this season is officially over folks.