5 pivotal games that will define the Commanders' 2024 season
By Seth Jones
Commanders at Bengals - Week 3
The Washington Commanders will travel to Cincinnati to take on the Bengals in what promises to be a mouth-watering Monday Night Football clash in Week 3. This game will be a chance to prove to the world on national television that this is a different team from recent years and that they should be taken seriously, perhaps even with an upset win.
Jayden Daniels thrives with the spotlight glaring and should be able to make strides in this game. Fans shouldn't expect anything crazy, as he will need time to develop, but improvement is well within the signal-caller's capabilities.
This will be another huge “prove it” game for the defense against a star-studded offense led by Joe Burrow. It's also the first NFL battle between two Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks out of LSU, which only adds to the level of intrigue.
Commanders vs. Panthers - Week 7
You might be wondering why a Week 7 game against the Carolina Panthers would be one that could potentially define the Washington Commanders season. Hear me out on this one.
If the Commanders are going to prove that this team is different from recent years, they must put down the easy opponents with ease. After so much abject failure over the year - thanks in no small part to previous owner Dan Snyder's mismanagement of everything across the franchise - Washington's disillusioned fanbase is tired of this roster playing down to bad teams. This almost always leads to unnecessarily close games or defeats that should not have happened.
If Washington can handle Carolina easily, this is a sign that this team has moved up and is not in the lower tier of teams anymore. This also looks like one of the more winnable games on the 2024 schedule considering how woeful the Panthers performed last time around en route to just two victories.