Commanders DE Chase Young's excitement
It was fantastic to see Chase Young back on the field and enjoying his football once again. The Washington Commanders got perhaps more than they bargained for during the defensive end's first game of the season, notching 1.5 sacks and proving to be a real handful working alongside fellow edge presence Montez Sweat.
Hopefully, this is the start of greater things for Young in 2023. When discussing the former Ohio State star's production, head coach Ron Rivera stated via USA Today Sports his excitement to get him back fit and firing after so much bad luck over the last two years.
"He was so excited to get back out on the field, we had to really kind of try to temp him the best we could. A couple of times, he popped out there when it wasn’t his time to rotate in. But we tried to maintain that with him as good as we can. Secondly, I thought he did show his explosiveness. There were some times where you saw him just flat-out win on his own, and the quarterback [Russell Wilson] just barely got the ball out on time, and then you saw his persistence in terms of countering, coming back underneath, and then getting his first sack. That was good to see. Then there were a couple of times, especially in the red zone when we needed him, and Montez came through together where they met at the quarterback; that was a lot of fun."Ron Rivera via USA Today Sports
Young will no doubt benefit greatly from a confidence standpoint after coming through Week 2 unscathed and with some pleasing numbers for good measure. A trend that the player and Rivera hope continue long into the future.