What huge disappointments emerged from yet another cataclysmic loss for the Washington Commanders against the New York Giants?
The Washington Commanders lost a home game against a division rival playing with their third-string quarterback. One they were expected to win comfortably according to sportsbooks.
They lost a game in which they outgained their opponents by more than 100 yards and held the ball for 10 minutes more. They lost a game in which they had one accepted penalty for five yards. They lost a game which it was almost impossible for them to lose.
Except they were playing the New York Giants.
Over the Ron Rivera years, the Commanders cannot seem to beat the G-Men, no matter how unlikely a loss may seem. To wit, during the last three and a half seasons, their NFC East adversaries have won 37 percent of their games.
But in the eight contests they have played against Rivera’s men, they are now 5-2-1, which works out to a winning percentage of 71 percent. If The Giants could play the Commanders every week, they’d be Super Bowl-bound.
Of course, the Giants won this game because Washington turned the ball over six times. Very few teams can overcome that level of self-destruction. These Commanders certainly cannot.
It was a wonder that even with a 5-0 turnover deficiency, the Commanders were still in position to win in the final minute. But Sam Howell’s third interception sealed the loss.
Turnovers are the biggest disappointment of the day, but you already know that. Let’s look at a few other ways in which the Commanders failed to meet expectations in this demoralizing loss.
In honor of Riggo’s Rag writer Hirdesh Matta, who is unable to do his Key Numbers piece this week, we’ll try to keep it as numerical as possible.
Commanders lost despite correcting problems
The Washington Commanders have struggled to run the ball in 2023. On Sunday, they pounded the New York Giants for 174 rushing yards on 28 carries, to the tune of 6.2 yards per carry.
They entered the game averaging 88 yards per game and 4.4 yards per carry. So this represented a huge step in the right direction despite the opposition boasting one of the league's worst records coming into the clash.
Linebackers Jamin Davis and David Mayo - who have struggled to stop opposing running backs all year - dominated the line of scrimmage through three quarters. This accounted for an impressive five tackles for loss.
It took the linebacking corps eight weeks to combine for that many tackles for loss at the start of the season. The Commanders blitzed early and often, sacking Giants’ quarterback Tommy DeVito nine times – a season-high - and the third-highest total in team history.
And despite all that, they still managed to lose. It seems as if this franchise is always coming up with new ways to disappoint, which is an indictment of Ron Rivera's head coaching tenure as the walls begin to close.
The Commanders cannot seem to put everything together in all three phases. That's become the story of yet another underwhelming season.
Commanders encountered new problems
Apart from the fumbles, the Washington Commanders lost because things that had been secure failed at key moments.
The pass protection has improved since Tyler Larsen and Chris Paul took over at center and guard several weeks ago. This was not because those two players are better than Nick Gates and Saahdiq Charles, but because the line simply seemed more cohesive.
Dexter Lawrence had his way in one-on-one matchups against both Larsen and Paul, which is nothing new. But the interior of the line seemed entirely incapable of handling the games the New York Giants ran up front.
Kayvon Thibodeaux had a monster game. Half the time, it was because he would run stunts and the Commanders were not organized enough to locate and block him.
The other half was because Washington’s left tackle Charles Leno Jr., who has been the Commanders' steadiest lineman for the past three years, seemed completely overmatched by Thibodeaux’s speed rush.
Finally, Sam Howell, who has come a long way this season, had his sloppiest game of the year.
He made several excellent throws, and his touchdown run would be legendary if it came in a big Commanders win. But his three interceptions were killers.
The first two came on deep shots. Howell overthrew the first one and was hit on the second, causing an underthrow. The third came at the very end, during desperation time.
Howell did something he has rarely done this season. He panicked and made both a bad decision and a bad throw which ended the game with a pick-six.
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…
Commanders let another opponent get healthy
New York Giants cornerback Nick McCloud picked off Sam Howell’s first pass. He has played in 25 NFL games. Do you know how many interceptions he had beforehand? Zero.
The Giants scored a touchdown in the first quarter. Do you know how many times that has happened this season? Zero.
And if you want to talk about disappointments, try this one on for size. Entering today’s game, undrafted free agent Tommy DeVito had played the equivalent of two full games. He had completed 57 percent of his passes. Against the Washington Commanders, he completed 69%.
His yards per attempt was an atrocious 4.8. Against Washington, it was an exceptional 9.5.
Before Sunday, DeVito had thrown three touchdown passes and three interceptions. Against the Commanders - three touchdowns and zero interceptions. His passer rating improved from 65.4 to 137.7.
In short, the Washington defense - despite nine sacks and stuffing the run for three quarters - had enough breakdowns to allow DeVito to look like an All-Pro quarterback.
There were a bunch of other recurring disappointments - linebackers’ failure in pass coverage, a Joey Slye miss, a Dyami Brown drop, and a lack of effective creativity in the red zone. But I’ve come to expect those things. This week offered a host of new miseries.
And it’s a short week before the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving.