The Commanders Defense looks lost in Detroit
The Commanders lost 36-27 to the Lions. Washingtons defense started the game out strong forcing a 3 and out, which included a sack from Jamin Davis. After that the defense looked bad and couldn’t stop anything on the ground or in the air. The linebackers had trouble filling holes and allowed the Lions to have 7.9 yard per carry. In the secondary they left guys open all day thankfully Jared Goff missed guys a few times or receivers dropped the ball. Finally for the offense they did nothing in the 1st half of the game. They had a total of 56 yards and 2 first downs at halftime. They would improve in the 2nd half, which started with a 7 play 64 yard touchdown drive to open the 2nd half.
Defense
Washingtons defense is bad and I mean really bad like bottom of the league bad. They don’t have the linebackers to stop the run or play pass coverage. The middle of the field so far this season has been wide open and it won’t change. Jamin Davis is a bust he can’t cover or help in run support at all. Cole Holcomb has been okay, but he played terrible today. And they don’t have anyone better to come in and help.
The two biggest playmakers for the Lions were allowed to do whatever they wanted. D’Andre Swift had 53 rushing yards and 31 receiving yards, with a touchdown. Amon-Ra St. Brown had 68 rushing yards and 116 receiving yards with 2 touchdowns. I don’t understand why they didn’t try to take away one of the top players for the Lions. Instead they let them both have a great game and will need to figure out how to stop the Eagles Weapons next week.
Finally for the secondary they need to move some players around. Kendall Fuller needs to be playing the slot and Benjamin St-Juste needs to be on the outside. This change needs to be made because St-juste has more length and speed to play the outside. Also Fuller had his most success playing in the slot his rookie season. The final change that could be made on this defense is at defensive coordinator. I don’t think this will happen soon, but Jack Del Rio seat is getting very hot. And if the defense continues to play the way it did today he will be fired.
Offense
The offense look terrible in the first and it all started up front. The offensive line had trouble blocking and picking up blitz the entire first half. Charles Leno gave Wentz no time on the 3rd drive leading to a safety for the Lions. Trai Turner got beat so many times I lost count. And then on the last drive Chase Roullier got hurt and was on crutches leaving the stadium. The way this O-Line gets better is getting healthy and getting guys back. Hopefully Wes Schweitzer is back next week especially if Roullier is out for the game. If not it will be most likely Wes Martin or Saahdiq Charles at Center against the Eagles.
Carson Wentz played another solid game. He did have one interception on a throw high to Logan Thomas that went off his hands. Other than that one pick he didn’t make another bad throw. Wentz finished the game throwing for 337 yards and 3 touchdowns. The three touchdown catches came from Thomas, Samuel, and Dotson.
The run attack for Washington with Antonio Gibson was terrible today. Gibson only ran for 28 yards on 14 carries for an average of 2 yards per carry. I don’t know if this was an O-line problem or if Gibson wasn’t hitting the holes right. Whatever the problem was it needs to be addressed because the offense can’t be as one dimensional as it was today.
Looking ahead
The Commanders will be taking on the Eagles next Sunday at FedexField at 1 PM on fox. The Eagles play today at 8:30 PM on ABC against the Vikings. The good thing for Washington is they are getting to play the Eagles on a short week. The bad thing is if the defense played like it did against the Lions the Commanders will fall to 1-2.
