3 harsh lessons from Commanders Week 4 loss to the Cowboys

1. Having an elite WR trio doesn’t matter if you can’t get the ball to them.

The Commanders’ WR trio isn’t a secret anymore. While Terry McLaurin’s workload, or lack thereof, continues to be maddening, nobody can deny after four games that McLaurin, Curtis Samuel and Jahan Dotson form an elite receiver room.

We could wax poetic for hours about McLaurin, Samuel and Dotson, but it ultimately doesn’t matter if they can’t get the football. That’s been the case for the last couple of games as Washington’s pass-protection has been non-existent.

Are there plays where Wentz holds the ball too long and tries to make something out of nothing? You bet, but you can probably count on two hands how many times the quarterback has had a clean pocket to work with in the last two games.

It’s awesome the Commanders decided to get McLaurin some help, but what good is flaunting a scary WR trio if you can’t properly utilize them? These players are too good to be dormant until garbage time. The saddest part is they couldn’t even get going with Washington down multiple scores in the fourth.

Dotson finished with four catches for 43 yards and a touchdown, Samuel had four receptions for 43 yards and McLaurin had two catches for 15 yards … days after Scott Turner said he wanted to get McLaurin more involved early in games.

Like we said, though, it doesn’t matter if your receivers are open if the offensive line doesn’t give your quarterback enough time to throw to them.