5 first quarter plays that doomed Commanders in loss to Lions

4. First quarter (O:53), 2nd and 5 from the Washington 21

So far, we’ve just looked at the three big chunk plays given up by the defense and special teams. If you are a glass-half-full kind of fan, you can say these are anomalies. (REMINDER – if something keeps happening over and over, the term “anomaly” no longer applies.) This is a small, largely inconsequential offensive play, but it says something very important about this team right now.

After a decent Antonio Gibson run on first down, Washington ran Gibson again on a sweep right. The right side of the line, tackle Sam Cosmi and guard Trai Turner pulled on the play. Detroit played it well. They strung Gibson out, running him out of bounds with a one-yard loss.

Watch that play again and here’s what you’ll see. 320-pound Trai Turner getting knocked on his butt by 230-pound linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez. Even worse, the young, strong, athletic Cosmi utterly incapable of handling 206-pound cornerback Will Harris. Gibson was run out of bounds because two Lion defenders, each giving up about 100 pounds to the Commanders’ blockers, won their battles handily.

Remember earlier when I said even a journeyman backup like Dan Skipper could block a defensive back on a run play? Well, apparently the Washington Commanders’ starters cannot do that.

The Commanders line played very poorly in the entire first half. Both tackles, Cosmi and Charles Leno Jr, had arguably their worst games as Commanders. And we’re beginning to see why Trai Turner was so quickly jettisoned by Pittsburgh after one season. He is not the answer at right guard. If Wes Schweitzer is unavailable, it’s time to turn the spot over to Saahdiq Charles.

To be fair, the line blocked much better in the second half. But that is at least partially due to the fact that Detroit rookie Aiden Hutchinson was clearly hobbled in the second half. When he was healthy in the first half, Washington’s offensive line looked helpless.