MIKE BURKE
Allegany Communications Sports
When the new sheriff came to town, namely the ownership group of Josh Harris, Washington Commanders fans expected improvement if for no other reason than no ownership group could be worse than what the franchise had been saddled with for the previous 24 years.
There is one thing Daniel Snyder could and can do, and that’s turn a massive profit, but he proved over the years he was incapable of putting the proper people in place to run a successful football organization.
After a 4-13 season in the first year of its ownership, that is precisely what the Harris group did a year ago this month in hiring general manager Adam Peters and head coach Dan Quinn, who immediately overhauled the team’s roster, headlined by selecting quarterback Jayden Daniels second overall in the draft.
The first game of the season didn’t go so well, a 37-20 loss in Tampa to the Buccaneers. Yet 18 weeks later, the Commanders will return to Tampa to take on the Bucs again, this time in the NFC wild-card round of the playoffs.
With an improvement of eight wins, the Commanders are 12-5 and have proven to be a resilient team with a good enough offense to win, but also a bad enough defense to lose. The team is far from being what Peters intends to make it, but the Commanders have been opportunistic and win games they’re supposed to win, as four of their five losses have been to playoff teams, with their 36-33 win over Philadelphia being their only win over a playoff team.
That win came in the middle of their current five-game winning streak, as they’ve come back to win the last four in the final moments.
Sunday night in Tampa, the Commanders will have nothing to lose, but can’t afford to play too loose because opportunities such as this one are few and far between. The Bucs are a three-point favorite at home, which means if this truly is the measuring-stick game Quinn said it was going to be, it is the Commanders who have improved the most since the first week of the season, which doesn’t amount to a hill of beans in the playoffs.
While the rookie Daniels has electrified the league with his measured daring, Tampa veteran quarterback Baker Mayfield is having the best season of his career with 41 touchdown passes, and in Mike Evans he has a Hall of Fame receiver to throw to.
The Commanders went for it at the trade deadline by acquiring All-Pro quarterback Marshon Lattimore for situations such as this one. Lattimore has missed the last two weeks with a hamstring injury, but, according to Quinn, “is trending up” to play Sunday night. Evans and Lattimore have quite the history against each other. In fact, they don’t seem to really like each other at all.
The Commanders will need Lattimore for this one.
They are also going to need better play from their running backs Brian Robinson Jr. and Austin
Ekeler as well as a big game from receiver Terry McLaurin, which he and Daniels are capable of producing.
More than anywhere, though, the Commanders are going to need improvement from the offensive and defensive lines, because, frankly, they’ve had to overcome the play of both units to win the last four games.
Back-up quarterback Marcus Mariota, for instance, won the Dallas game for Washington last Sunday, but he was put in the game in the second half to save Daniels from being mauled.
Daniels was sacked four times in the first half, while Mariota was sacked twice himself in the second half. On top of that Daniels has been sacked 16 times in the last three games, with Mariota’s two making 18.
Defensively, there has been no pass rush, which makes the shaky at-best Washington secondary even more vulnerable.
Since the Commanders found their momentum early in the season, they have proven themselves to be capable even in light of their shortcomings. From this point on, however, those shortcomings are going to be more difficult to overcome, particularly on defense.
If the Commanders offense can run the ball with quick-hitters, control the clock, be productive on first down and strike on the big plays, they’re more than capable of winning this game. After all, they’re just a three-point underdog on the road.
Thing is, while the Commanders front office and staff fully expect this team to be better in the future than it is now, this season might be the best opportunity Washington will have to make a dent in the playoffs.
So while Commanders fans have every right to be happy with this season, even should it end on Sunday night, there will be no better time than Sunday night to truly heed the preachings of a great, old thumb-licking Washington head coach, who always believed, “The future is now.”
Mike Burke writes about sports and other stuff for Allegany Communications. He began covering sports for the Prince George’s Sentinel in 1981 and joined the Cumberland Times-News sports staff in 1984, serving as sports editor for over 30 years. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on X @MikeBurkeMDT