Commanders are the true definition of a "whole team" and it's going to get them to the playoffs
For Dan Quinn and Adam Peters, the 2024 season was never going to be the rebuild most outside the Washington Commanders' facility thought it would be. It was always a "recalibration", as they called it.And eight games in, the Commanders are leading the NFC East and well on track to make the playoffs for the […]
For Dan Quinn and Adam Peters, the 2024 season was never going to be the rebuild most outside the Washington Commanders' facility thought it would be. It was always a "recalibration", as they called it.
And eight games in, the Commanders are leading the NFC East and well on track to make the playoffs for the first time since 2020 and just the fourth time since 2010.
Sure, Jayden Daniels is leading the way and there's a handful of others like Terry McLaurin, Brian Robinson, Sam Cosmi, Daron Payne, Frankie Luvu, and Bobby Wagner, but the Commanders' overall roster isn't among the league's best. It's more toward the middle of the pack, than anything.
Yet they're probably going to surpass the preseason win total of 6.5 that most sporting books projected when they play in the New York Giants in Week 9 – just past the halfway point of the season.
Daniels' effect on the team is what legends are made of, especially after the Hail Mary against the Chicago Bears. The kid is a miracle worker and the Commanders have a legit chance to win every single game he plays in. Somehow, some way, he just makes things happen.
Daniels is quickly on his way to elite and I'm honestly not going to argue with anyone who says he's already arrived at that point, because it's kind of hard to argue against it. The best counterpoint is the obviously small sample size, but we've seen really nothing but elite play, so, how good of a counter is that, really?
Regardless, as mentioned earlier, the Commanders don't have a ton of elite talent on the roster outside of Daniels and a couple others. Sure, plenty of other NFL rosters don't, but said rosters aren't 6-2, like Washington is. They aren't leading their respective division(s) and they don't currently own the No. 2 seed in their respective conference. Their coach isn't the top candidate (in this writer's opinion) for Coach of the Year and their 2024 first-round draft selection isn't the sure-fire pick for Rookie of the Year.
The Commanders' two losses are to a Super Bowl-contending Baltimore Ravens squad and a Tampa Bay Buccaneers squad that was almost completely healthy when the two teams met in Week 1 – not the bare bones Bucs roster we're accustomed to in Week 8.
Washington is winning games because despite the lack of talent in an NFL context, they play as a team. They are a group. And that all starts with Quinn and Peters' mindset of not only remaining competitive after completely tearing down the previous roster, but building a winning culture that can easily be exemplified by the Jahan Dotson trade back in August.
And they've done just that in what is a very short time, NFL-wise.
"I wanted to acknowledge in that locker room is a group of really tough people that genuinely care about one another and play and coach for one another, and that's a hard thing to assemble," Quinn told reporters after the win over the Bears. "It's not easy, and it takes work, and you got to go through tough nights like tonight, which at times was very frustrating. But to see this group stick together and know that like, man, we're never out of it, and that's a really big deal."
"We got a team full of fighters," Commanders wide receiver Noah Brown said after the game. "I'm not surprised at all by this happening, because I know we don't give up to the to the final whistle. It's just phenomenal effort on all sides."
This team believes and it's all because of the foundation Quinn and Peters built. Those factors, on top of the fact Washington has the 11th-easiest remaining strength of schedule, have the Commanders playoff-bound in 2024.
