The Washington Commanders came within one Nik Bonitto fingertip of pulling off a huge Week 13 upset. As it was, the downward spiral continued as they fell to the Denver Broncos, leaving Dan Quinn’s club 3-9 for the season.
Despite the disappointing ending, there were many reasons for encouragement. The Commanders fought hard against a team that came in with the best record in the NFL. They repeatedly overcame an elite Broncos’ defense and several highly questionable officiating decisions to force overtime.
For the first time all season, Terry McLaurin was truly back to his 2024 form. Washington got heroic efforts from veterans like Marcus Mariota and Zach Ertz, and a catch of the year candidate from recently acquired Treylon Burks.
Commanders' bookend tackle tandem were exceptional against the Broncos
Most impressively, Kliff Kingsbury designed an offense that kept Denver’s fearsome pass rush off-balance with a steady diet of quick timing routes. To execute this plan, Washington needed — and received — stalwart play from its two offensive tackles, Laremy Tunsil and Josh Conerly Jr.
Denver has the best pass rush in the NFL. It isn’t close. Zach Allen’s six sacks would lead the team if he played for Washington. In Denver, it is good enough for third. Coming off the edge with a rare blend of speed and power, Bonitto and Jonathon Cooper have 18 sacks between them.
Coming into the contest, Vance Joseph’s defense had registered a league-best 49 sacks. That averages almost 4.5 per game and works out to a sack percentage of just under 12. The Commanders limited Bonitto and company to just two sacks on 52 dropbacks — less than a four percent sack rate.
Part of that is attributable to Kingsbury's design and Mariota’s execution. But a large part of the credit goes to Tunsil and Conerly.
Tunsil has performed as expected all season. The veteran was brought in to protect Jayden Daniels’ blindside in what was supposed to be a second straight playoff year. Though injury and underperformance have scuttled those plans, the 10-year pro has not been to blame.
Bonitto and Cooper are amongst the fastest, most athletic edge rushers in the NFL. Tunsil’s elite agility was on display most of the night.
On the other side, Conerly had his best game as a pro. The rookie, who turned 22 less than a month ago, is the only Commanders star to have played every one of his unit’s snaps this season, and he has shown steady growth. He looked smooth in pass protection and provided solid blocking on runs.
The quick passing game plan certainly helped, but the first time he was required to extend a block, Conerly easily matched Broncos' linebacker Que Robinson, which allowed Mariota time to get off a throw to McLaurin and resulted in an illegal contact call on Denver’s Patrick Surtain II. A few plays later, the rookie drove the 290-pound John Franklin-Myers off the line, setting up the signal-caller's run for a first down.
The night was not perfect. Denver did manage a couple of sacks and applied plenty of pressure. Tunsil, who has one of the fastest get-offs of any offensive tackle, was flagged once for a false start and flirted with other calls. Conerly had a crucial holding call late.
But like the rest of the team, the tackles continued to fight back. On the night, going up against the league’s best, they won more than they lost.
That was not necessarily new for Tunsil. But it was a very encouraging sign from Conerly. It's also one of several positives Commanders’ fans can take from the heartbreaking loss.