Dyami Brown has been Commanders' playoff X-factor and they need him to keep it rolling against Eagles in NFC Championship Game
If you had Dyami Brown as one of the Washington Commanders' most important players during the postseason on your bingo card – congratulations. You probably should look into becoming a psychic or something, too, because that's just impressive.Brown has been a stud through two playoff games, racking up 187 receiving yards and a touchdown on […]
If you had Dyami Brown as one of the Washington Commanders' most important players during the postseason on your bingo card – congratulations. You probably should look into becoming a psychic or something, too, because that's just impressive.
Brown has been a stud through two playoff games, racking up 187 receiving yards and a touchdown on 11 catches. He's the Commanders' leading receiver heading into the NFC Championship Game against the Philadelphia Eagles and his yardage and receptions rank third and first, respectively, among all wide receivers in the playoffs.
"I've seen how hard he's worked since he's gotten here and he's grown up so much as a player and a man," star wideout Terry McLaurin told reporters after the Commanders beat the Lions on Saturday. "[We] have gotten a lot closer over his career and to see him take advantage of the opportunity that's before him, I'm so proud of him. . .
". . . It didn't happen overnight, and it wasn't an easy journey for him, but at some point I knew going into the season, that he was going to step up. And when Noah [Brown] went down, that was really tough for our offense. But when he stepped up the way he's been stepping up, especially in the playoffs, I told him the sky's the limit for him."
Brown has been a spark plug when lined up either inside or out, which has been huge for the Commanders' passing attack. Per Pro Football Focus, he's logged four catches for 74-yards on five targets when coming out of the slot and the remaining seven catches for 113-yards and a touchdown have come from the "Z" position on the outside.
His improvement has taken the Commanders' passing attack up another notch by not only making big plays himself, but freeing things up for McLaurin on the other side, as well.
"Yards are yards, however you get them, but the ability to stretch the field adds a whole, nother element to what we do," Dan Quinn told reporters Monday. "We're all pumped to see him make these strides and improvement, and it makes everybody else better too, knowing that, you know if they're going to put a double on one side [then] every option is available."
Of all the receivers with at least 10 targets in the playoffs, Brown's 84.6% catch rate ranks second only to Khalil Shakir's mark of 92.3% and his 4.2 yards per route run are second to Ladd McConkey's outrageous clip of 5.5 yards per route run. Brown has not only been impactful – he's been efficient.
He faces a big test this week in the Eagles secondary. Not only is the Eagles defense a tough cookie to crack as a whole, but they have some really good players at just about every position. Darius Slay, Quinyon Mitchell, and Cooper DeJean are easily a top corner trio and then there's Reed Blakenship and C.J. Gardner-Johnson at the safety positions.
One way to help out is the quick passing game. Per Next Gen Stats, the Eagles are allowing 104 pass yards per game via the quick variety (under 2.5 seconds or less), which is fifth-most, and their allowed +0.18 EPA/attempt is mid-pack in the postseason.
Either way, the Commanders need Brown to keep rolling this week and if he does, then we could easily be talking about a Super Bowl appearance in a little more than two weeks.
Commanders receive news that could easily lead to a frustrating NFC Championship Game against Eagles
The Washington Commanders are preparing to take on the Philadelphia Eagles for the third time this season, except this time there's a trip to the Super Bowl on the line. The teams split the regular season series and the winner of the third meeting will officially punch its ticket to New Orleans to take on […]
