Mike Sainristil is already benefitting from Marshon Lattimore and that is huge for the Commanders' future
The Washington Commanders are a scrappy team and they have talent in certain areas of the roster, but Adam Peters and Dan Quinn still have work to do when it comes to rounding things out.It's exactly why Peters traded for Marshon Lattimore back in November. The Commanders have an exciting young player in Mike Sainristil, […]
The Washington Commanders are a scrappy team and they have talent in certain areas of the roster, but Adam Peters and Dan Quinn still have work to do when it comes to rounding things out.
It's exactly why Peters traded for Marshon Lattimore back in November. The Commanders have an exciting young player in Mike Sainristil, but they needed a true No. 1 lockdown guy like Lattimore.
The four-time Pro Bowler made his debut, ironically enough, against the New Orleans Saints in Week 15. As expected, he made a big impact on the game to the point where he wasn't even targeted. Per Next Gen Stats, he played 35 coverage snaps, but Jake Haener/Spencer Rattler didn't test him once.
"I thought Marshon played really, really well," Commanders defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. told reporters Thursday. "I mean, he wasn't targeted. That shows the respect they have for him, because they saw him every day. They knew what he was. I think the quarterback actually looked his way twice and and the ball never left his hand. I don't foresee that being the the case moving forward, because, you know, people at some point are going to have to throw the ball at him."
That's obviously huge for the Commanders defense and the team as a whole, but it gets even better when considering the trickle-down effect it's already having on Sainristil in particular.
If teams aren't throwing at Lattimore, that means they're throwing at Sainristil. They can't just throw to running backs and tight ends all the time. The rookie cornerback is already showing he can match up with some of the best wideouts in the NFL, so more opportunities means more chances to make plays and that's exactly what he did via his interception against the Saints.
"A product of having [Lattimore] on one side, that means Mikey on the other side [is] going to get a lot more throws at him," said Whitt Jr. "And he had an interception [and] he had opportunity at another interception. He's a ball guy, so he should relish that opportunity."
Per Next Gen Stats, Sainristil allowed a 0.0 QB rating in Week 15, which is both the lowest of his career and the first time he's accomplished the feat. He was just one of 21 defensive backs to pull that off and there were 158 qualifying players. Conveniently enough, Lattimore obviously allowed a 0.0 rating, himself.
Sainristil's -34.5% catch rate over expected ranked 14th out of the aforementioned players and is easily his best mark of the season. In all, he gave up just two catches for 20-yards on seven targets and he also snagged the interception.
Granted, the Saints offense is one of the NFL's worst and it's missing its top playmakers. At the same time however, wouldn't you want your players to dominate a bad unit like Sainristil and Lattimore did? It'd be very worrisome if Haener/Rattler came out and threw for 400-yards and four touchdowns or something of that nature.
And sure enough, the duo will get a very hard test when AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith come to town. Even with the Eagles' recent struggles in the pass game, those two are going to be a tough matchup for any defense.
Either way, Sunday's results bode very well for the future of the Commanders defense. You can already see Quinn's and Whitt Jr.'s vision for what they want it to become and if they have two corners like Lattimore and what Sainristil can become then all of a sudden, the unit has the potential to be top-10 as soon as next year.
"I think when you when you have Marshon and Mikey on the outside, two guys that are ball guys that are ball-centric, the quarterback becomes hesitant to put the ball in harm's way," said Whitt Jr. "… But when you have guys that have history of turning the ball over, and hopefully Mikey will start to become that guy, the ball doesn't go vertically and up towards those guys. Because why? You know there's a chance that that it can go the other way."
