4 huge disappointments from Commanders loss vs. NY Giants in Week 11

Commanders lost the big play battle

Of the eight longest plays in the game, the New York Giants had seven of them. That's just the start.

The Washington Commanders had two passes of more than 20 yards. The Giants had six - two of which resulted in touchdowns. Eric Bieniemy took shots downfield, which I have been asking for. But they didn’t work.

They rolled Sam Howell out - something else I have been asking for - to buy him some time for those shots. But it still didn’t work.

It seems that week in and week out, there will be plays in which opposing wide receivers are running free deep in the Commanders' secondary. Even when the defensive backs are playing well, they seem to have the occasional breakdowns which invariably result in big plays.

But the Commanders - with more speed and talent at receiver than they have had in a decade - never seem to break one of those wideouts free. Whether it’s ineffective design by the coaches or a sign that Washington's pass-catchers just aren’t as good as advertised, this is becoming a bigger issue as time goes by.

When this kind of imbalance happens against a very talented offense like the Buffalo Bills or Philadelphia Eagles, it is understandable. But this was the Giants.

This is not an explosive offense even when everyone is healthy. With a third-string quarterback, with their best offensive lineman out, and with their top speed receiver going down midway through the contest, they still created more big plays than the Commanders.

This leads to a regular entry in the disappointments piece…