Just before the Philadelphia Eagles scored their first touchdown against the Washington Commanders in Week 16, FOX Sports analyst Greg Olsen identified one of the most glaring deficiencies this season.
The Commanders have given up almost 1,000 yards after missed tackles in 2025.
The play that prompted Olsen’s comment was a microcosm of the issue. It was 2nd-and-10 from Washington's 18-yard line. Despite being in the red zone and having a compressed field, cornerback Jonathan Jones was playing a full 10 yards off wide receiver A.J. Brown.
Therefore, Brown had no problem running a short slant and catching the quick throw from quarterback Jalen Hurts.
Commanders tackling deficiencies are still causing untold problems on defense
There is a sound logic to playing this style of defense, especially against a big, talented receiver like Brown, who has four inches and 40 pounds on Jones. It prevents an easy fade in the end zone. But the strategy only works if the corner — or anyone else on the defense — closes immediately and gets the receiver on the ground as soon as he makes the catch.
That’s not what happened.
Indeed, missed tackles and yards after the catch have been plaguing head coach Dan Quinn’s defense all year. A few plays earlier on the same drive, Brown had found a soft spot between linebackers Bobby Wagner and Frankie Luvu and caught another short throw from Hurts. And again, neither linebacker was able to bring him down.
It resulted in a 15-yard gain and a first down.
If anything, this issue has gotten worse over time. Earlier in the season, when the Commanders had their two top corners healthy, they were able to mix coverages more effectively. But after both Marshon Lattimore and Trey Amos were lost to injuries, the Commanders have been almost entirely in zone.
Jones — 5-foot-9 and 185 pounds — and Mike Sainristil, who comes in at 5-foot-10 and 182 pounds, cannot consistently play man-to-man against much bigger receivers on the perimeter. But zone coverage only works if you tackle. And Washington does not tackle.
The missed tackle rates of the Commanders’ defensive backs have been atrocious this year. Of the nine corners and safeties who have logged at least 20 percent of the team’s defensive snaps, seven of them have double-digit missed tackle percentages.
That includes all the box safeties — Jeremy Reaves (11.8%), Will Harris (15.4%), and Darnell Savage Jr. (16.7%). If you add in Luvu's very poor tackling this year, it only exacerbates the problem.
Those safeties should be among the surest tackles on the team. For instance, Jeremy Chinn, who manned this position last year for Washington, had a missed tackle rate of just 5.7%. Reaves, Sainristil, and Quan Martin all have more misses than Chinn had in the previous season, even though the Southern Illinois product had at least 20 more tackles than any of them.
This weakness was on full display against the Eagles. Not only did Washington continue to miss tackles and give up big yards, but fans also saw a Philadelphia defense that does not make those mistakes.
Every team and every player will miss the occasional tackle. But whereas the Commanders have seven members of their secondary with double-digit missed tackles, Philadelphia has just three. One of them doesn’t play very much.
Their box safety, Reed Blankenship, is at 9.6% while the slot corner, Cooper DeJean, has an outstanding rate of just 3.7. The second-year pro has made 84 tackles this season while being credited with just three misses.
All of those missed tackles result in extra yards, first downs, and eventually, points.
On the season, Washington has given up almost 500 more yards after the catch than Philadelphia. They have given up the most first downs in the league, and the most via the pass. They have surrendered the seventh-most points this season, compared with 2024, when they were right at the league average.
The Commanders' pass defense has been battered by injuries and suffers from an anemic pass rush. But if they could get opposing receivers on the ground soon after the catch, they would go a long way toward fixing a significant problem.