Rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels’ debut went fairly well, but one area needs attention . But the Washington Commanders still lost to the Buccaneers and here are the folks most to blame for the setback.
First and foremost, the blame sits at the doorstep of the front office, namely general manager Adam Peters.
Commanders GM Adam Peters put together weak receiver group
Washington Commanders general manager Adam Peters smiles during an introductory press conference for Commanders head coach Dan Quinn (not pictured) at Commanders Park. Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
Peters received a lot of credit early for his attempt to quickly rebuild the shambles of a franchise. Back in May, he received praise from nfl.com for his efforts, according to columnist Jeffri Chadiha.
“New GM Adam Peters is making a strong impression in his first year on the job,” Chadiha wrote. “He inherited a mess but has quickly bolstered a roster that could be better than people realize with new head coach Dan Quinn leading it.”
However, Peters did next to nothing to improve the receivers. It doesn’t make sense to have a rookie quarterback starting in Week 1 and give him leftovers, stale bread, and no depth.
Yes, the Commanders have Terry McLaurin. He’s one of the NFL’s best. But Peters’ job included the task of making sure McLaurin had enough help to stay among the NFL’s best. McLaurin had two catches for 17 yards. That’s only slightly better than taking the week off.
Sure, part of it belongs to Daniels for not getting him the ball. But the Commanders had 10 of 17 receptions go to running backs Austin Ekeler and Brian Robinson Jr., along with tight end Zach Ertz. The other receivers besides McLaurin caught five passes for 38 yards. That’s atrocious production.
Peters did what he had to do in sending Jahan Dotson to the Eagles. Dotson likely won’t do much of anything with the Eagles this year, except for the two games against the Commanders when they will scheme plays for him just to stick it to Peters and the Commanders and make them look bad.
If the idea of competing in 2024 held firm in the minds of Peters and the front office, the Commanders should have brought in a legitimate No. 2 receiver this year. Luke McCaffrey isn’t ready — or good enough — for that role. Olamide Zaccheaus? Please. Dyami Brown? Noah Brown? Jamison Crowder. That’s not an NFL receiver room. It looks more like a practice squad. Guys you only use because of crushing injuries at the position.
Inability to make plays on the edge proved to be one of the biggest reasons the Commanders weren’t competitive against the Buccaneers. Quinn said the Commanders need to grow, according to commanderswire.com.
“You need to struggle to see the identity develop,” Quinn said. “You don’t want it. But you do need it. That part is hard, and that struggle happened tonight. We’ll take these lessons and we will work on them.”
But the truth is, you can’t grow an apple tree by planting potatoes. The roster remains what it is, especially at the receiver position. Daniels said the offense is a work in progress, according to commanders.com.
“”I can’t really speak for the whole team,” Daniels said. “I don’t want to speak for the defensive guys, but on the offensive side, man, we can’t shoot ourselves in the foot. Once we get rolling, we get rolling.”
Fortunately, the Commanders’ receivers haven’t given up on the season this early. McLaurin said things will get better even though Daniels missed a home-run shot in the second half by overthrowing McLaurin.
“I’m not discouraged,” McLaurin said. “I have a lot of faith in him (Daniels) over there and I know I’m going to get more opportunities. So, I’ve just got to stay focused and be ready. Those are the type of plays that change games, so going down the stretch this season we want to try to connect as much as possible.”
Quinn said he liked what the running backs did in the passing game, according to commanders.com.
“I was very pleased with the running backs out of the backfield. I think if you know, saw Austin and Brian, and the catches and the big plays that came from them, it makes you defend the whole field. And if you’re gonna stay on top of a receiver to take somebody else away and you’re able to check it down to a running back, and in one instance with Austin, I believe there’s close to 30 yards. That’s how you attack the entire field. And so I would say the running backs in the passing game were two of the people that I thought stood out on on a tough day.”
Peters also gets a Week 1 dud assessment because of his failure to properly identify a quality NFL placekicker. More on that later.
Commanders defense turned in a dud performance
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see how the Commanders played on defense. Look at Baker Mayfield’s stats. He completed 24 of 30 for 289 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions. If one didn’t know better, one might think Mayfield is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. He is not.
The Buccaneers did what they wanted in the passing game. And while the Commanders bottled up starter Rachaad White on the group, they let backup Bucky Irving run wild for 62 yards on nine carries.
Bobby Wagner did his thing with 10 tackles, including three for loss. Quan Martin contributed nine tackles. But it’s hard to find things to be excited about because the Buccaneers aren’t expected to have a dynamic offense this year. Tampa Bay isn’t bad, but what will the Commanders do against the Eagles and Cowboys. Insert shudder here.
The defensive didn’t do a great job containing Mayfield, who can be elusive … but still. Quinn told commanders.com improvements are needed.
“I thought we were able to let (Mayfield) outside the pocket where he could extend plays to go, much like Jayden did on some,” Quinn said. “So, those are things that we have to do and get him down.”
Also, the secondary didn’t exactly shine against Mayfield.
“The thing that I would say I would certainly like to see better upon us, if you win a 50-50 contested ball and they go up and get it, that’s football,” Quinn said. “What I do wanna see better from us is our pre- and post-snap communication and there were a few instances where that wasn’t as strong as it needs to be. And so, as a defensive coach, a lot of times I said, ‘Okay, this is gonna come out, this is gonna come out’, and we’re gonna establish that we can do this type of communication all the time correctly.”
Special teams played a critical failure role
Cade York missed both of his field goal attempts against the Buccaneers. In what turned out essentially be a blowout loss, it’s hard to put too much blame on a couple of missed kicks. But everything adds up.
York’s first miss came in the first quarter from 47 yards out. He later missed from 56 yards on Washington’s first drive of the second half. The Commanders acquired York from the Browns during training camp for a seventh-round pick. But according to NFL insider Mike Garafolo, the deal had a clause where York needed to play two games to kick in a completed deal. By cutting York after one game, the deal is null and void and the Commanders get to keep that seventh-round pick.
Quinn said the Commanders won’t mess around with poor kicking, according to commanders.com.
“Yeah, and I think it just really goes to show we have really high standards,” Quinn said. “We’re still gonna keep competing to find that. (Peters) and his guys are kind of working through that.”
But the problem remains that the Commanders chose York as the best kicker available prior to the game against the Buccaneers. They even offered up a draft pick. And now they’re going to find another guy. And this one, journeyman Austin Seibert, is gonna really be a good kicker. Promise? Well, he’s played for the Browns, Benglas, Lions, and Jets. He’s missed nearly 20 percent of his attempted field goals.
What do the odds look like for Seibert being on the who’s-to-blame list sometime soon?
Quinn said it’s not good to be in a kicker search again.
“Yeah, it’s certainly not ideal,” Quinn said. “You’re right about that. But I think it does speak to, if it’s not right, you don’t sit pat. You keep attacking and you keep finding ways to go compete to do it, and we will get there, John. And yeah, I’m disappointed that it didn’t go like we had hoped it would, but at the same time, we owe it to everybody that’s part of the organization, man, to keep digging and keep finding the right answers and get to the truth that’s the best fit for us. And so that’s what we’ll do. But, yeah, there’s control the controllable and find the things you can and we’ll keep working from here.”
