Instant reactions to the Commanders embarrassing Week 3 loss

Unfortunately, we have to unpack the Washington Commanders’ no-good, very bad day against their division rival, Philadelphia Eagles. Washington was completely outclassed and outmatched today in the blowout loss.

With the Cowboys on deck, some serious soul searching is needed to be had by everyone, including the coaching staff. If not, this season could get out of hand in a hurry.

The entirety of the operation was inexcusably incompetent today, they failed miserably at the keys to beating the Eagles. So usually, this is broken down into positives and negatives. Not today. I’ll go ahead and give you a few silver linings if you are into that kind of thing. No moral victories were had today, however.

Benjamin St-Juste was solid today, breaking up 3 passes. Jamin Davis looks more confident and poised, as nudges forward in his development, he had 2 sacks, and a tackle for loss. His speed was evident for the defense. Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne also generated some push but to no avail most of the time.

Other than that, and some meaningless yards from the always reliable Terry McLaurin in mop-up time, it was bad today for the Burgundy & Gold. Here are some instant reactions.

Instant Reactions to the Commanders Week 3 loss to the Eagles

Offense

• The offensive line is noticeably worse than it was last year, especially in pass protection. Andrew Norwell and Trai Turner have struggled to acclimate, Sam Cosmi is still a bit raw, Wes Schweitzer was rough at the center, and even Charles Leno isn’t as sharp. John Matsko is one of the best in the business, so I’d expect this to improve, but they were bad today. Not all 9 of the sacks were on them but they have to be better.
• The Commanders got onboard the downward slope of the Carson Wentz experience today. And the roller coaster never went back up. Wentz was inaccurate, poor at managing the pocket, his internal clock failed, and he looked flustered at all times. Up until today, Wentz has been an overall positive for the Burgundy & Gold. Not today. Wentz was completely outplayed by Jalen Hurts today, who was confident, poised, and accurate.

• The coaching staff’s inability to manufacture catches for Terry McLaurin and Jahan Dotson in the first half is perplexing. That makes it three straight weeks that neither are featured until the second half. And today the game was over at halftime. Scott Turner has to start featuring these two earlier in the game.
• Terry McLaurin and Jahan Dotson both had costly drops today. Things really are rough when those two show up in this category.
• This makes it the second week in a row that the offense came out of the gates looking utterly incompetent. This offense has far too much talent for that to have an excuse to become a trend.