Improbable primetime victory cements Commanders' impressive culture shift

Wow. Where to begin?

The Washington Commanders went on the road and pulled out an improbable win over the desperate Cincinnati Bengals. They never punted. Aside from kneel-downs at the end of both halves, they scored on every drive. They reversed their red zone struggles by scoring touchdowns. Jayden Daniels showed why he was the No. 2 pick in the draft. Terry McLaurin showed why he is the most underrated wide receiver in the league.

Veterans like Austin Ekeler and Zach Ertz made huge contributions. Youngsters like Daniels and Luke McCaffrey played like veterans. Washington threw deep. They went for it on fourth down. And almost every time they tried something, it worked.

The Commanders still have plenty of kinks to work out. As good as he was, Daniels didn’t see some available throws early on which resulted in him being forced to scramble. The middle of both lines became overpowered at times. The defense, especially, needs to be much more stout. The cornerbacks are still a major concern.

Those are issues that Dan Quinn and his coaches will continue to work on. But there is one thing they have already accomplished. They have done the thing that Commanders fans have been hearing about for years. The thing that always proved to be a meaningless phrase. A false promise.

Josh Harris, Adam Peters, Quinn, and Daniels - they have changed the culture of the Commanders.

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The Commanders played a few good games during Ron Rivera’s tenure. They didn’t do it nearly enough, but we should not forget that Washington had a couple of quality successes over the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys. However, they did not have a win like this.

This was the exact type of game that Washington would have lost under both Rivera and Jay Gruden. This was a cursed franchise under the previous owner. They did not have enough quality players who bought into what the team was doing. The best players - with the notable exception of McLaurin - wanted nothing more than to get out of town.

This team is different. They would have crumbled when the adversity began last year. They would have lost it when Ertz committed a false start - Washington’s first penalty of the game - at the beginning of a fourth-quarter drive after the Bengals had trimmed the lead to under a touchdown. They would have lost it when Dyami Brown committed the same penalty a few plays later.

They would have lost it when they allowed Trey Hendrickson - who had been controlled all night by Cornelius Lucas and Brandon Coleman - to sack Daniels on the very next play. This has not been a resilient team for more than a decade. They were facing a 2nd-and-21. And what happened?

The very players who had made the mistakes - Ertz and Brown - made big plays to help them dig out of the hole. Coleman and Nick Allegretti, combined to protect Daniels against a six-man blitz on the final touchdown to McLaurin.

There were a lot of heroes and a lot of big plays. But my vote for the biggest play of them all was not one of those extraordinary deep balls from Daniels to McLaurin. Not one of Ekeler’s gallops that helped set the tone at the beginning of both halves. Not even the quarterback's clutch runs for first downs when he couldn’t find a receiver.

Nick Allegretti's fumble recovery typified Commanders' attitude

My play of the game came with just under 10 minutes to go, with Washington holding onto a five-point lead and facing a 1st-and-15 from their 25-yard-line. It was made by Allegretti.

Daniels threw a center screen to Ertz, who had hesitated a beat and then drifted into the open middle of the field. He caught the ball and was immediately closed on by linebacker Germaine Pratt. He hit the tight end and he fumbled.

This was it. This was the exact play that doomed the Commanders over and over again. Not necessarily a fumble, but a mistake. A mistake in a close game that they simply could not overcome.

If the Bengals had recovered, they would have had the ball deep in Washington territory. The crowd would be roaring. You just know that Joe Burrow would have found one of his talented receivers for a score for their first lead since the first quarter. And you know the Commanders would have folded.

None of that happened because Allegretti was hustling downfield and fell on the ball. Sam Cosmi was also nearby. Center Tyler Biadasz, who timed his run perfectly, was already five yards further downfield to block for Ertz. This line hustled and the Commanders kept the ball. They would go on to score the touchdown that secured the win.

That effort by Allegretti would have meant nothing if not for the repeated heroics of Daniels and McLaurin. But there’s another reason why it was so important for this team.

Perhaps the greatest unsung play in franchise history came in Super Bowl XXII when Washington defeated the Denver Broncos for their second title. Denver got out to an early 10-0 lead. Ricky Sanders fumbled the ensuing kickoff and it looked to all the world as if the Broncos had recovered. Had they come up with the ball, they would have been deep in Washington territory with overwhelming momentum.

But Washington recovered. Linebacker Ravin Caldwell was credited with the recovery, although it might have been tight end Terry Orr. No one knows. The only thing that mattered was that when the game was on the line, players fought harder than their opponents, and that carried them to victory.

Allegretti’s recovery wasn’t nearly as dramatic or important. It didn’t result in a massive Super Bowl momentum swing. But it may have signaled a crucial step for this franchise.

Maybe they are no longer cursed, doomed, or bound by whatever dreadful karma they have been subject to under the previous ownership. Maybe this is the type of team that can overcome adversity. Maybe this is a team that doesn’t crumble, but triumphs.

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