The Washington Commanders took care of business against an inferior Tennessee Titans team. They were certainly aided by an opponent who played about as bad a first half as possible and fell behind 28-0 before they recorded their second first down, but give head coach Dan Quinn and crew credit.
They had lost three straight and needed to regain their swagger before getting a much-needed bye week. The Commanders did exactly that.
That swagger came from a lot of places. Jayden Daniels completed better than 80 percent of his throws. And quite frankly, he wasn’t even all that accurate.
He threw some high balls and some that were a bit off target, but the rookie quarterback was helped out by fine play from his pass catchers, led by Terry McLaurin. Even more importantly than his distribution, Daniels looked better running than he has in over a month.
The offensive line blew some big tough defenders off the ball all day. During a lull in the early third quarter, they did surrender too much pressure to four-man fronts. With Daniels’ better movement, it barely mattered.
Washington's protection - especially an interior that had been bullied over the last few games - was money from the opening gun.
The defense performed well for the most part. However, some very poor play from an underpowered, mistake-prone Tennessee offense didn’t create much of a challenge.
Brian Robinson Jr.'s exceptional blitz pickups led Commanders to victory
But the most important single source of the swagger - slightly ahead of McLaurin and Daniels - was running back Brian Robinson Jr.
I am not referring to his 103 rushing yards on 16 carries. A 6.3 yards-per-carry for a back who generally pounds the rock right up the middle is exceptional. But we all saw fourth-string runner Chris Rodriguez Jr. do the same thing throughout the second half.
Nor am I referring to Robinson’s lightning-strike 40-yard sprint for the first score which gave Washington a lead three minutes into the game. They never looked back.
Robinson’s performance as a runner is what we have come to expect. When healthy, he makes great decisions in the hole and has both the speed and power to break through initial contact and gain extra yards.
That was great to see because Robinson has been slowed by injuries over the past month or so. But what was even better to see was the way the former third-round pick blocked.
On the Commanders’ second drive, when the game was still up for grabs, Tennessee’s defensive strategy became crystal clear. They were going to blitz Daniels.
That has been the league-wide strategy of late. Get pressure on Daniels. Force him into quick decisions. Since hasn’t been moving as well as he did early in the season, the thought is he will not be able to make defenses pay with his legs.
After a Robinson run on first down to start that second possession, the Commanders tried three consecutive passes. The Titans blitzed three straight plays. And on each, Robinson picked up the blitzer.
His blocking allowed Daniels to scramble for a short gain instead of taking a sack on one play. It allowed him to find McLaurin for a first down on another, and to hit Zach Ertz for a short gain on the third.
The three plays gained a total of 20 yards. Nothing special. But they kept the chains moving. They forced Tennessee into shifting its defensive strategy. And they helped the Commanders gain confidence - or, dare we say - regain swagger.
Soon, it was 14-0.
On the third series, another blitz pickup by Robinson gave Daniels time to find McLaurin for a touchdown to increase their advantage to 21.
And on the fourth series, with the Commanders facing a third and three, he did it yet again.
Robinson picked up the blitz. Daniels threw to deep to Dyami Brown. It was incomplete, but the play drew a defensive holding call, which kept the drive alive. A few plays later, after the Alabama product carried the ball down to the goal line, the signal-caller again found McLaurin to make it 28-0. The game was effectively over.
A lot of credit goes to the Commanders' offensive line, which opened big holes for the ground game to thrive. The interior linemen handled the Titans' talented Jeffery Simmons and T’Vondre Sweat all afternoon. And on Robinson's early touchdown run, fans saw exactly why rookie Brandon Coleman is going to be this team’s left tackle for years to come.
The Commanders let up a bit in the second half but then finished strong in the fourth quarter behind the running of Rodriguez. The backup looked a lot like Robinson, making smart reads in the hole, cutting back, finding daylight, and plowing over would-be tacklers in the back end of the defense.
Of course, by that point, with the game mostly out of reach, the man who had done so much to secure the lead was comfortably resting on the sidelines.
With the release of 2023 first-round draft pick Emanuel Forbes Jr., just six of the Commanders' 15 selections in 2022 and 2023 remain on the active roster. Only two of them are starters.
Fortunately, Robinson is one of them. His tough running and his even tougher blocking will be crucial to the team’s continued success.
