Biggest duds from Week 3 as Commanders get steamrolled by Eagles

Well, that wasn’t fun. A week after falling down 22-0 in the first half to Detroit, the Washington Commanders dug themselves a 24-0 halftime deficit against the Eagles in Week 3; one that extended well into the third quarter.

The stats won’t favor the Commanders’ defense, but they gave the offense a chance in the first half before Jalen Hurts and DeVonta smith caught fire and put the game out of reach late in the second quarter. Unfortunately, Carson Wentz had no time to throw and was absolutely rattled after a couple of early takedowns.

This wasn’t the performance you’d expect from a team that was just handed a humbling home defeat. Washington was back home against (arguably) its foremost rival and laid an egg. We’re so deflated that we don’t even feel like highlighting players who came to play Sunday. Strictly duds after this one, folks.

Biggest duds from Commanders demoralizing loss to the Eagles

Dud: New OL signings and entire OL

We feared the Commanders would have trouble weathering the storm of the Eagles’ interior defensive line and those fears were realized, as Fletcher Cox, Javon Hargrave and rookie Jordan Davis wreaked havoc against their counterparts.

More specifically, Andrew Norwell and Trai Turner, the guards Washington signed this offseason to replace Brandon Scherff and Ereck Flowers, were not up to the challenge, surrendering consecutive sacks on the Commanders’ second drive.

This rep from Turner was especially alarming, but the entire offensive line deserves criticism for giving Wentz zero time to throw in this one.

Dud: Ron Rivera (game management)

Look, Rivera and his staff deserve credit for their game plan. The D had Jalen Hurts and the Eagles offense out of sync early. Of course, there’s more that entails a head coach’s job than game-planning and Rivera has now made a puzzling game management decision in each of Washington’s first three games.

In Week 1, he burned a timeout with a challenge that had no chance. In Week 2, his decision to go for two in the fourth quarter backfired and saw the Commanders without a chance to tie the game late after Joey Slye missed a field goal.

On Sunday, Rivera didn’t get his challenge flag out fast enough after replayed showed DeVonta Smith failed to get both feet in bounds on a deep reception. The Eagles went hurry up and ran a play before Rivera’s flag came out. Rivera was incensed that the refs didn’t give him the challenge, but he’s got to be more decisive.