Commanders' dominant Week 13 win gets even better after what Titans' Pro Bowler said after the game
Offensive struggles? What offensive struggles?In all seriousness, Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders offense rebounded in a major way against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday and it resulted in a 42-19 victory that matched the team's season-high in points and fell 19-yards short of setting a new season-high in total yardage.The offense did set a […]
Offensive struggles? What offensive struggles?
In all seriousness, Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders offense rebounded in a major way against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday and it resulted in a 42-19 victory that matched the team's season-high in points and fell 19-yards short of setting a new season-high in total yardage.
The offense did set a new season-best in rushing yardage, however, with a whopping 267-yards on the ground. From literally the first carry of the game, which was a 40-yard Brian Robinson Jr. touchdown run, the Commanders' ground game dictated both the pace and the outcome of the game.
The Titans couldn't do anything about it and their two-time Pro Bowl defensive lineman, Jeffery Simmons, even said as much after the game. In fact, the Titans knew and even prepped for the Commanders' rushing attack and still couldn't do anything to stop Robinson Jr. and co.
"They did a hell of a job at the type of run they were running. They did a lot of gap scheme runs. And we knew that coming in. And we didn't have an answer early-on," he told reporters. "We didn't have an answer for it and like I said, we could sit and blame just the front [but] that's on everybody on that defensive side. Like I said, it starts from top to bottom. You know the game was going, and we said on the sideline, they're running [a] gap scheme. The gap scheme runs where they're pulling guys. Gap changes, like I said, it's only left on the field. But at the end of day, when they're doubling [guys] and they start pulling guys, we have to be better. We have to fit it better.
"Some of the things that our position was in, I mean, they were just gassing us. Especially early-on in the game. From top to bottom, we had no answer in that first half for what they were doing."
Daniels, Robinson Jr., and Jeremy McNichols combined for 147 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 23 runs in the first half, good for 6.4 yards per carry. All three players had at least 30-yards and averaged at least 5.0 yards per carry, while Robinson Jr. led the way with 85-yards on 11 carries.
For the game, 62.2% of the Commanders' rushing attempts were gap runs, which is fourth-most out of the teams that have played in Week 13, per Next Gen Stats. Overall, the Commanders' ground game finished with the fourth-best success rate (55.6%), the fourth-highest rush yards over expected rate (+1.8), and tied for the second-highest EPA/rush attempt (+0.26). Their dominance is reflected even more by their third-best mark of 2.62 yards before contact, as well.
The wild part about the whole situation is the fact that the Titans have been stout on the inside for basically the entire year. It was actually something Commanders head coach Dan Quinn specifically talked about leading up to the game and something the team was going to have to seriously take into account.
Well, they certainly took it seriously and understood the assignment. The Commanders' inside rushing attack has been impressive since the preseason and it's something they're going to need as the days get colder and the playoffs draw closer.
