The Commanders traveled to Green Bay for a Thursday night primetime clash that had fans and the national media talking all week. The game, however, didn’t live up to the hype, as Washington looked flat in all three phases, and fell to the much better team 27-18.
A young Packers team took a page out of your mom’s old playbook, but reversed it, taking a switch to the butt of the MUCH OLDER Commanders. The youngest team in the league showed that youth can indeed trump experience in today’s NFL.
The Commander now have a mini-bye before they face the Raiders at home next Sunday, where they will look to get back on track and in the win column.
Below are my Studs and Duds of the game, followed by some notes.
* **Deebo Samuel:** Samuel was the lone Washington starting receiver who was “available” throughout preseason and it has shown in his first two games with his new team. He led all receivers with seven catches and scored another touchdown. He also had a huge 50 yard kickoff return to start the second half to give Washington great field position -which they squandered.
* **Zach Ertz:** Old reliable ended up with a nice stat line and yet another score where he showed some speed and elusiveness in route to a 20-yard touchdown. He had six catches for 64 yards and the score on the evening.
* **Bobby Wagner:** Although he struggles in coverage, Wagner looked like one of the few Washington defenders out there who was actually giving effort all game long. He led the team with 11 total tackles and recorded a pressure.
* **Dorance Armstrong:** Although no one on the defensive line played that well, Armstrong was active and notched six total tackles, one for a loss, a sack, three pressures and a quarterback hit.
* **Tress Way:** Way, who was questionable for the game with an injury suffered against the Giants, gutted it out and averaged 47 yards on his four punts, with three being downed inside the 20.
* **Jayden Daniels:** It was a poor showing for the reigning offensive Rookie of the Year against a very good Packers team on the road in prime time. He looked confused, inaccurate and was holding onto the football too long in the pocket (that is when he had one). He also didn’t get much help from the right side of his line and looked flustered and out of rhythm because of this.
* **Noah Brown:** Brown had two drops in the game; one that hit him right in that hands for a would-be first down, and another back-shoulder pass that required a bit more degree of difficulty, but still should have been caught by an NFL receiver. He was injured again later in the game and his status moving forward is unclear.
* **Josh Conerly:** The rookie Conerly is in a class of his own when it comes to the poor play mentioned along Washington’s offensive line. The group as a whole played poorly, but Conerly stuck out like a sore thumb all game. He allowed two sacks and multiple pressures/QB hits.
* **Nick Allegretti:** Although not quite as bad as Conerly, Allegretti played very poorly and showed he was a liability against the Packers front. He didn’t get all the help he received last week from Biadasz, and it showed that he’s not very capable as blocker when asked to take on defenders one-on-one.
* **Marshon Lattimore:** The veteran struggled mightily in both coverage and penalties. He looked slow, grabby and overall lost in his main assignments.
* **Will Harris:** Will Harris struggled to cover any tight end that Green Bay trotted out on the field. He was also missing tackles and committing penalties. An overall night to forget for the veteran safety.
* **Mike Sainristil:** The second-year corner struggled with the physicality of the young Green Bay receivers and missed a few tackles in the open field. A poor overall night for the slot corner.
* **Matt Gay:** Gay missed two field goals of 52 and 58 yards on the evening. I know these are not what anyone would call chip-shots, however this is a carry-over from what we saw during the preseason and it’s VERY concerning.
* **Kliff Kingsbury:** I’m not quite sure, but Kingsbury may have missed his alarm and slept through the game. I think that was actually Ryan Gosling out there calling the plays.
* **Joe Whitt Jr.:** The defense was awful all evening, and Whitt seemed reluctant to switch things up. It’s a shame that after all these years, we still can’t find a player to cover a tight end.
* Jaylin Lane looked really good on punt returns, averaging almost 17 yards per return on his three attempts. He still needs a lot of work at wide receiver, where he wasn’t getting any separation against the Packers’ defensive backs.
* Trey Amos played well in coverage, despite the majority of the secondary being a complete mess. His diving pass break-up early in the game that prevented a touchdown was beautiful. What kept him off my studs list was getting absolutely trucked by quarterback Jordan Love.
* Jonathan Jones looked old and slow against the young Packers wide receivers and tight ends.
* Jordan Magee got some run, but did not record a stat. I saw him take some nice coverage drops where the ball went away from him, so maybe there is something to see here…
* Both Luke McCaffrey and Ben Sinnott made some plays.
* Terry started out slowly but is beginning to round into form. He caught five passes (mainly in garbage time though) for 48 yards.
* Quan Martin had an up-and-down game after a great performance against the Giants. He has the skills, but better communication must exist with him and his secondary mates.
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