The Philadelphia Eagles were long viewed as a daunting matchup for the Washington Commanders, but I’m not sure anyone expected the scoreboard and overall performance by both teams to be as lopsided as it was Sunday.
The Commanders were shut out for the first 58 minutes before Antonio Gibson punched in a garbage time touchdown late in the fourth quarter. Their only points before that came in the form of a Daron Payne safety … that also came in garbage time with Washington trailing Philadelphia 24-0 on the scoreboard.
There’s no single coach or player you can point the finger at for a loss like this. Both sides should collectively shoulder the blame, but I can’t help but look at mistakes made by the front office this offseason that reared their ugly head on Sunday as huge reasons why the Commanders capitulated at home against the Eagles.
3 Commanders offseason mistakes that were apparent in Week 3 loss
3. Moving Benjamin St-Juste to the nickel
The Commanders moved St-Juste to the nickel position this offseason with the hope that his 6-foot-3, 200-pound frame would hold up against bigger targets like tight ends and create mismatches against smaller, shiftier pass-catchers.
St-Juste performed well in the slot in the first two games, but Week 3 showed his elite potential on the perimeter. While Kendall Fuller, Rachad Wildgoose and the rest of Washington’s secondary were busy getting cooked, St-Juste recorded three third-down pass breakups in the first half alone before blanketing DeVonta Smith, who finished with 8 catches for 169 yards and a score, on a deep shot in the third quarter.
Should St-Juste play ahead of William Jackson, who missed the game with a back injury and has underwhelmed opposite Fuller? I wouldn’t be opposed. Either way, St-Juste should play no less than 90% of the snaps moving forward. After this performance, I’d stick him on opposing team’s No. 1 receivers and see what happens.
Regardless, this game sparks questions about why St-Juste was even moved out of his familiar boundary position in the first place.
2. Waiting to address cornerback depth
With William Jackson ruled out due to a back injury, the Commanders’ available cornerbacks today were Kendall Fuller, Benjamin St-Juste, Rachad Wildgoose, Christian Holmes, and Tariq Castro-Fields. Holmes was drafted in the seventh round and Wildgoose and Castro-Fields were both signed after final cuts.
Besides Fuller, the Commanders’ cornerback room Sunday had five combined starts in their careers, all coming from St-Juste.
Fans and pundits questioned the management of the secondary all offseason. Nobody was begging for Washington to sign another marquee corner, but running it back with the same group as last year after the defense ranked 29th against the pass in 2021 was begging to blow up in the front office’s face.
All due respect to Wildgoose, but he should never have been starting this big of a game. Depth is paramount in today’s NFL and Washington insisted on cutting corners to fill out its depth chart this offseason instead of coughing up the necessary resources to make legitimate improvements across the board.
It sounds so simple in practice and yet, here we are.
This all isn’t to say Wildgoose was the reason Washington lost, but you can’t tell us the team’s cornerback depth was tested (and failed) today.
1. Releasing Ereck Flowers, Other OL Moves
Anyone else miss Ereck Flowers right about now? While Andrew Norwell was technically signed to replace Flowers at left guard, neither Norwell nor Trai Turner, signed to replace Brandon Scherff at right guard, have looked great to start 2022.
There was a brutal back-to-back sequence in the first quarter where Turner was steamrolled by Fletcher Cox for a sack and Javon Hargrave tossed Norwell aside to get to Wentz and record a sack. PFF recently dubbed Turner the weak link of Washington’s offensive line and Norwell’s 60.3 player grade entering Sunday’s game is a far cry from what fans expected after he signed.
At the time, the Norwell signing looked like a steal. The totality of his two-year contract amounted to what Flowers was due in 2022 alone. Through two games, we’d bet the majority of Commanders fans would prefer it if the underrated Flowers was still manning the left guard position over Norwell.
As for Turner, you can certainly question whether Washington did enough to replace the centerpiece of their offensive line. The 29-year-old vet missed most of training camp with a quad injury and has gotten beat for speed and power on an alarming number of occasions over the first three games.
Coaches and players have to be better, but it’s not reactionary to question the front office’s approach to the offseason after this loss.