Washington Commanders’ Last Tank Destroyer Isn’t the Only Big Game

LANDOVER, MD. — Teams always prefer to learn from wins rather than defeats, but for the third week in a row Washington Commanders They will not be able to benefit from this choice.

Instead, Commanders They will once again have to face the danger of losing the tape and pull all the training material they can out of it or be doomed to suffer the same fate in week four when the Tennessee Titans come to town after an upset win over the Houston Texans.

For washingtonThe answer to the question is not only simple but also obvious. When the offense clicked, the defense or special teams did not. While the defense and special teams were buzzing, the offense was stagnant. The result was the team’s second consecutive NFC East Division loss.

“We didn’t play free football, and when you play league games it’s going to come down to four quarters,” receiver Terry McLaurin said after the game. “We knew going into the game that we didn’t underestimate them at all, but it’s really unfortunate not being able to help each other out.”

For three quarters, the Commanders’ defense helped the offense. The defense led Dallas to a similar fate, as point guard Jayden Daniels and his team struggled to move the ball and scored only nine points, only scoring 10 points on an opposing field goal.

Heavily favored to win this game, there was growing unease as the Commanders failed to convert three drives starting in the Cowboys’ zone into more than three points.

That discomfort turned to frustration as Dallas wore down the Washington defense with time of possession and number of reps, establishing a lead in the fourth quarter and increasing the home team’s excitement.

“We have to find a way to start faster and sustain drives,” McLaurin said. And he allowed no one to escape responsibility for the failed part of the operation. “Everyone’s on it, our entire coaching staff and our offensive players. We’re just going out there and trying to find ways we can stay on the field and help the defense.”

The old saying is ‘back to the drawing board’. But commanders have done this before.

On the final score of the game for Washington, McLaurin lined up on the right side of the formation. It was one of the few times he did this all day.

The result was a well-executed and blocked 86-yard touchdown play that showcased Daniels’ ability to layer his passes and reminded everyone in attendance of McLaurin’s 4.3 40-yard dash time when he arrived from the NFL Scouting Combine.

“Honestly, you never know what can happen until the clock reaches zero, so when I got the ball in my mind I just tried to score goals and give us a chance.”

And that gave his team a chance. That game. However, McLaurin added that wins and losses are not limited to a single game.

Although this play was a relative anomaly given how heavily offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury lined up his No. 1 receiver to the left, it’s an example of how effective McLaurin can be all over the field.

Perhaps he has figured it out through the pain of three defeats and the mounting evidence from opposing defences, and with one game on his mind, that should be enough to see Kingsbury expand his attacking approach in the coming weeks.

Even if this doesn’t lead to a change in McLaurin’s ranks, perhaps new approaches to manipulating defenses may emerge. Something. Anything. To recapture the spark that the Commanders’ offense had in weeks 1 through 7.

Maybe then Washington can go back to learning from wins instead of growing through pain.

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