The bye week can’t arrive soon enough for the Washington Commanders, who dropped their fifth straight game Sunday to Detroit 44-22. That’s four losses in a row by 20-plus points, leading to a 3-7 record with a trip to Madrid pending.
Buckle up for a bumpy landing.
**First down:** Washington allowed points on Detroit’s first eight possessions, with more than a few plays looking like the Lions were practicing. It resembled a blowtorch through butter at times.
Entering Monday night’s game between the Eagles and Packers, Washington ranks 23rd in the NFL at stopping the run, 31st at stopping the pass and 30th overall. Can fiddling with the scheme or personnel make a difference? They’re already going to have to fiddle with their front as Daron Payne was suspended one game without pay by the league for punching Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown.
**Second down:** Thank goodness for the New York Giants. If they had held one of their three late leads against Dallas, Denver or this past Sunday against Chicago, they’d be tied with Washington for third place in the NFC East.
Now they’ve fired coach Brian Daboll and the Giants will enjoy the “fired coach bounce.” This week the G-men allowed two fourth quarter touchdowns against the Bears in a 24-20 defeat. The game of the day saw Houston, as a one-and-a-half-point favorite, rally from 19 points down in the fourth quarter to take a late 30-29 lead over Jacksonville.
Naturally, the Texans went for two and Davis Mills tripped while mishandling the snap. But as the Jaguars were attempting to get into field goal position, Trevor Lawrence fumbled into the hands of Texans defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins, who returned the miscue for a game-sealing touchdown.
Not only did we get a Scorigami (a final score that’s never happened before), but those who had Houston -1.5 went home happy, or at least relieved.
**Third down:** Washington converted 2 of 10 attempts, with Marcus Mariota completing 3 of 6 for one conversion while getting sacked once. Mariota also came up short on a third down run. Bill Croskey-Merritt also came up short on a third down run while Jeremy McNichols moved the chains on his run.
The top target? Treylon Burks caught both passes thrown his way while posting one conversion.
Yardage breakdown: 0 for 3 on short-yardage, 2 for 5 when needing four to six yards, 0 for 2 on third and long.
**Flag on the play:** The Commanders racked up eight penalties for 61 yards. Two were on offense (both false starts on Josh Conerly), two were on defense, three on special teams and one last whistle was on the two-point conversion defense.
Repeat offenders were Conerly and Javon Kinlaw (defensive offsides and unsportsmanlike conduct). Kinlaw’s seven penalties this season are tied for the team lead with the out-for-the-season Marshon Lattimore, and the 18 false starts are almost double everything else.
The most costly penalty? Daron Payne’s disqualification for punching another player robbed an already overmatched defense of one of its key cogs.
**Fourth down:** The recent slide has brought the Burgundy and Gold back to getting the second-tier booths from the network, as Kenny Albert and Jonathan Vilma called the game with Detroit. They’ll be on the call again for the game in Madrid against Miami. The deadline for learning if the Nov. 30 game with Denver will be flexed out of Sunday night is Nov. 19.
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