Week 8 had the Commanders take on the divisional rival Phildelphia Eagles, their 2nd and final matchup of the season. The Eagles walk away with the season sweep and Washington falls to 3-5 just 2 days before the NFL trade deadline. Before the game rumors took off like a rocket that this game was going to be a season deciding game for the Commanders. Win, and the team would like stand firm and make a push for the playoffs in a tight NFC play-off race. Lose and the team could be big time sellers before the deadline which could include one of its star pass rushers; Montez Sweat or Chase Young. With a lot of questions on the horizon lets dive into this game.
Sam Howell: B+
Sam had a back breaking interception that led to more points for the Eagles and likely was the deciding factor in the game. The loss was far from his fault though, and overall, he played a phenomenal game. He dropped back to attempt 52 passes, he completed 39 of them for 397 yards and a completion percentage of 75%. The Commanders ran a ton of screens and quick hitting slants, which certainly contributed to the high completion percentage, but Sam was still balling. He tossed 4 touchdowns on the day finishing with a rating of 114 and a passer rating of 69.9. The biggest thing was the fact that he was sacked just once, although the one sack was a 4th downplay that was the Commanders final play of the game and ultimately their hope. The o-line was slightly better as they finally made two changes, but the low sack total was mostly on Sam getting the ball out quickly and making the correct pre-snap reads. If this is part of Sam developing and not just a one off, that is a huge win to take away from this loss. I have continued to say that I believe Sam can be an elite QB in this league, and part of that relies on him cleaning up these exact issues.
O-Line: C+
Fans see the 1 sack and think that the o-line had to be substantially better than usual but that really was not the case. The team decided to bench center Nick Gates in favor of Tyler Larson, and LG Saadiq Charles was injured and replaced by Chris Paul. The reality of the low sack total was that Sam Howell was that much better today at getting the ball out, recognizing the defense and navigating the pocket. The overall issue with the o-line was on full display at the end of the game when fan favorite Andrew Wylie got beat immediately casing a strip sack of Sam Howell, Wylie did at least fall on the ball, but it was game over. I called for this weeks ago, but I would like to see Wylie benched as well.
Running Backs: C+
The backs were pretty average today although part of that is once again lack of opportunity. Sam attempted 52 passes today, as a result the backs only saw a total of 16 carries. Brian Robinson Jr. led the way this time with 10 rushes for 59 yards. At 5.9 yards per carry, it would have been nice to see a little more BRob in a game that the Commanders actually led in heading into the half. That was about it for the backs, Antonio Gibson got just 2 rushing attempts and produced 14 yards with them, he did also catch 5 passes for 28 yards. Sam Howell rushed 3 times for 11 yards and Dyami Brown got the final carry, which turned into 0 yards.
Wide Receivers: A
3 weeks in a row that Terry McLaurin saw the most targets on the team, EB is officially on the Terry train and I’m loving it. Terry was targeted 12 times, he had 5 catches for 63 yards and this week he did find the endzone for 1 touchdown. We’ve talked about Jahan Dotson these last two weeks, and he finally had his breakout game. He hauled in 8 catches off 10 targets for 108 yards and a touchdown. Jamison Crowder also got some real reps this week and he showed the football world that he still has it at 30. He was targeted 7 times; he caught all 7 passes for 95 yards and a touchdown that kept the Commanders in the game late in the 4th quarter. Mr. Reliable aka Curtis Samuel had another quiet day but was involved as always. He saw just 4 targets but hauled in all 4 for 22 yards. Byron Pringle was also target, just one time but he beat his matchup badly and had a walk-in touchdown, but Sam just missed him. I mentioned this last week and I’ll say it again, I love Pringle’s big play ability whenever he steps onto the field.
Tight Ends: B
Logan Thomas saw a good bit of action, 8 targets which he caught 6 of for 44 yards and a touchdown. John Bates also had a big play catching a 17-yard pass from Sam Howell. Washington does not get game changing production from its tight end group, part of that is due to how good its trio of Terry/Jahan/Curtis is, but they are reliable.
D-Line: B
Another week and once again you want to see more from the d-line in terms of the pass rush. Tez and Chase both played ok games when factoring in the rush, but Hurts was sacked just 2 times and overall felt like he had a walk in the park type of day. The d-line is getting a higher grade today because they did absolutely shut down the Eagles run game. In total the Eagles running backs gained just 59 yards on 22 attempts, just 2.7 yards per carry. D’Andre Swift did mange to find the endzone once however. The Commanders were gashed in the passing game and while part of that stems from the d-line not getting enough pressure on Hurts it was still big plays due to blown assignments in the secondary that killed the Commanders today.
Linebackers: C
The linebacker were not the reason that the Commanders lost today, and that is probably the biggest compliment they’ve gotten all season outside of a few bright games from Jamin Davis. Cody Barton was placed on IR for now, which meant another healthy dose of David Mayo. Mayo once again led the team in tackles with 9, 6 being solo. Jamin Davis had a quiet game with just 4 tackles although 3 were solo. Khaleke Hudson saw some action, but overall the linebackers had just an average game.
DBs: F
I doubt anyone was surprised but the DBs got torched again. Aj Brown once again was the primary culprit vs the Commanders, he caught 8 passes for 130 yards and 2 touchdowns. He abused rookie Emmanuel Forbes once again on the few plays the rookie guarded. I did not mind Del Rio giving Forbes a shot to matchup against a premier WR again, he’s a 1st round pick, he should be a guy you can count on, he just isn’t there yet. DeVonte Smith also had a field day catching 7 passes for 90 yards and a touchdown, although one of his big catches was not a catch at all and Head Coach Ron Rivera not challenging the play cost Washington big time as the Eagles scored a touchdown soon after. This group of DBs are just not getting it done together, of course a more consistent pass rush would help any DB group, but they are getting torched. I just don’t see the Commanders being able to overcome how bad this group is.
Special Teams: A
Special Teams continues to be the only consistent positional group for the Commanders. Joey Slye showed off his leg cannon, he nailed a 56 yarder only for it to get wiped away and pushed back 5 yards. Slye responded by booting the 61 yarder like it was nothing, I like this dude. Tress Way only had to punt twice and one landed inside the 20. Gibby had a solid kick return for 27 yards and Jamison Crowder returned 1 punt for 11 yards