The Washington Commanders Season Is Over
The Commanders lost to the Browns 24-10, which ended their chances at the playoffs. The Commanders team as a whole played terrible Sunday. Carson Wentz threw three interceptions and looked bad all game. For the defense they once again gave up multiple big plays again Sunday. For some reason when Kam Curl is out this defense forgets how to cover and stop the run. The Commanders lost to a team that only completed nine pass attempts.
Carson Wentz
Wentz’s time in Washington should be over after this game. After three drives to open the game Wentz had two completions and two interceptions. This can not happen from a starting quarterback in the NFL and a move at quarterback should have happened. Unfortunately for Commanders fans a change was not made. Wentz would have one good drive to end the first half and gave the Commanders a 7-3 on a one yard QB sneak.
Then in the second half Wentz and the play calling were bad. Wentz would get sacked two times in the second half and score zero touchdowns. He would also throw another interception, which brought his total up to three for the game. Next week Sam Howell should start since the Commanders have been eliminated.
Defense
The defense played well in the first half. The only points they allowed in the first half was a field goal, which came after an interception thrown by Wentz. Then in the second half it got sloppy. Players were missing tackles and blowing coverages all second half. Having David Mayo on the field was a constant problem because he is terrible in coverage and slow. Then in the secondary Amari Cooper got wide a couple of times and scored two touchdowns.
Now to the defensive line. They were good against the pass Sunday getting pressure on Watson and recording five sacks. But when it came to run defense they were bad. Nick Chubb went for 104 yards and averaged 7.4 yards per carry. The lost of Jonathan Allen in the second quarter seemed like a big blow to this defensive line.
O-Line
The offensive line played terrible against the browns. Against a bad brows run defense the O-line could not get any push up front. To start the second half the Commanders gain zero yards on back to back run plays. After that the run game was pretty much done for the day. In the offseason the Commanders will need to make some serious changes on this O-line.
Coaching
The decision to start Carson Wentz was obviously a terrible one. Then to stay with him the entire game was even worse. Wentz started the game very inaccurate and threw two picks in three drives. At that point I would have put in Heinicke to provide an actual spark that Rivera hoped Wentz would give. Then on a fourth and one to call a toss with Jonathan Williams instead of a QB sneak or a run up the middle with Robinson is crazy. Then to wrap it all up Ron Rivera had no idea that the Commanders could be eliminated with a loss.
Wrap Up
This was one of the worst second half performance from a Washington team in a must win game. If the team was not going through an ownership change Ron Rivera would be fired. But since that is going on I think he will keep his job and the Commanders will have the same outcome next season. For next week the Commanders play the Cowboys to finish the regular season. I expect Sam Howell, so they can evaluate where he is at and if he can be a starter next year in the NFL.