(cache)Commanders through four games are difficult to evaluate - The Washington Post

ATLANTA — The first quarter or so of the season is over, and the Washington Commanders are the football equivalent of a playground seesaw. They have appeared dominant, then listless. A defensive juggernaut, then a sieve. Unimpeded by a slew of key injuries, then undone by them.

After their 34-27 loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday afternoon, the Commanders spoke with a twinge of disappointment and talked repeatedly about needing to watch the film. They were frustrated at allowing 435 yards to Michael Penix Jr. and company, frustrated at the offensive inefficiencies on third downs and the middling start to a second consecutive loss away from home.

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(George Wylesol/For The Washington Post)

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Yet when asked to take a step back and evaluate the first quarter of the season altogether, some players pointed to positives, too.

“I’m always optimistic about everything, right? As a competitor, you have to be,” safety Jeremy Reaves said.

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“Not exactly where we want to be,” said quarterback Marcus Mariota, “but at the same time, there’s a lot of good things.”

“[Expletive], we lost three in a row last year,” safety Quan Martin added. “We’re not worried.”

But … should they be? The answer might be in the eye of the beholder. Through four games, these Commanders have shown a bit of everything — giving their most optimistic fans plenty of evidence to expect for a midseason surge once quarterback Jayden Daniels and wide receiver Terry McLaurin return from injuries, while also leaving plenty of ammunition for their critics.

In two games at home against the New York Giants and Las Vegas Raiders, Washington put up at least 400 yards of total offense — including more than 200 yards on the ground — and manhandled opposing offensive lines. They pummeled New York, 21-6, with a mostly healthy roster, then cruised against Las Vegas, 41-24, without Daniels and a host of other key pieces.

Road losses against Green Bay and Atlanta, though, were wildly different — with slow starts, less effective line play and sloppy tackling on defense, particularly Sunday afternoon in Atlanta.

“We showed what we can do, when we do our best,” linebacker Frankie Luvu said. “And when we’re not doing our best, like today, that kind of shows a little bit.”

Asked about the defense’s split performances, and his confidence that the better version of the unit is closer to the truth, cornerback Marshon Lattimore pointed to the talent in the locker room.

“We’re good. Look at the players. We know we’re good. We’ve just got to execute the calls and execute our technique,” Lattimore said. “[We’re] not down or nothing like that, because we know what type of players we’ve got in the room. It just is what it is. We’ve got to fix what we’ve got to fix.”

Cornerback Marshon Lattimore tries to bring down running back Tyler Allgeier. (Brett Davis/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect)

Injuries, of course, have been a factor. The defense has already lost three key contributors to injured reserve, with safety Will Harris out with to a fractured fibula and Deatrich Wise Jr. already out for the season with a right quadriceps injury. (One of Wise’s replacements, Javontae Jean-Baptiste, left Sunday’s game with a pectoral injury and did not return. He had his arm in a sling after the game.)

On offense, the absences of Daniels (sprained left knee), McLaurin (quad), wide receiver Noah Brown (groin/knee) and tight end John Bates (calf/groin) have made it difficult to get a read on how strong the unit is — or can be. Running back Austin Ekeler, who tore his Achilles against Green Bay, is out for the rest of the season.

“You’d like to have the same guys so you could get an honest evaluation,” tight end Zach Ertz said. “But for us, 2-2, not good enough for our expectations, our standards.”

One could argue Sunday’s performance exposed a lack of offensive depth. Former practice squad receivers Chris Moore and Tay Martin, for example, both got substantial snaps Sunday and were targeted a combined four times.

Or one could argue that it was actually a promising showing, to score 27 points with so many key pieces out. While the Commanders’ offense was muzzled for much of the game, it still cut the Falcons’ lead to 31-24 with 6:36 remaining in the fourth quarter, as Mariota hit Deebo Samuel Sr. on a 24-yard fade, then found Ertz for the two-point conversion.

“I was not surprised that we battled back to give ourselves a chance to get back into the fight,” Coach Dan Quinn said. “… I know who they are and how they’ll fight for it. But as we’re sitting here 2-2, after a quarter, we’ve got a lot of our football to get aligned right like we want it to be, to be at our best.”

Quinn said he wanted to watch the tape to get a better sense of how they performed Sunday — a sentiment echoed by many of his players. The team has embraced “Tell The Truth Mondays,” where a clear-eyed autopsy of every win or loss is conducted. Wide receiver Luke McCaffrey talked about the importance of evaluating each play individually — and a desire to “treat victory and defeat as the impostors that they are.”

That tape from this loss might be ugly. But what does the result say about the rest of the season? Well, that’s still a question of perception. Daniels, the reigning offensive rookie of the year, has been ramping up in practice and could return as early as next weekend against the Los Angeles Chargers. The proverbial seesaw could flip back. Reaves said there is no reason to panic.

“Understand that we’ve got what we need in this group,” he said. “We all have the ability in this group, no matter who’s out there, to make the plays that need to be made. We just have to go do it, man. That’s all it comes down to.”