5 disappointments from the Commanders victory at Patriots in Week 9

Commanders lack of sacks*

There’s an asterisk here because the Washington Commanders did have a sack. A beautiful one by rookie K.J. Henry at a key moment in the game. It may have even led to a fumble. But it was overturned by an unfathomable roughing the passer call.

Henry hit Mac Jones in the upper back with his chest. No headhunting. No spearing. He did fall on the quarterback, but it was not a violent slam to the ground.

Unless you teach your pass rushers to defy the law of gravity, I don’t see how they can avoid falling on top of a man they are tackling.

The call seemed to inspire the Commanders' defense to play a very good stretch in the immediate aftermath. They responded exactly how you would like. But for most of the game, they didn’t put Jones under pressure.

They had no sacks (sorry, K.J.). But they also only had one quarterback pressure.

The New England Patriots have a decent offensive line, but they are not the Hogs. Jones isn’t especially mobile, and he was missing a couple of his top wide receivers. Jack Del Rio chose not to blitz a lot, which was reasonable given how anemic the home team's offense was, but it would be nice to see more pressure.

However, James Smith-Williams - who was the most effective pass rusher of the game - does get credit for his injury in the fourth quarter which prevented a second potential Ron Rivera non-challenge on an incomplete pass. This turn of events have the head coach plenty of time to get his red flag out after Demario Douglas' non-catch just before the aforementioned underthrow to Stevenson.