‘We didn’t find the rhythm’ – Dan Quinn sent a clear message on the offensive struggles after a lackluster performance
The offense has never looked this bad with Jayden Daniels.
The Washington Commanders got a true wake-up call on Thursday Night Football against the Green Bay Packers, who look to be the team to beat in the NFC this season.
This was a real test for the Commanders, and a loss like that brings adversity. The one glaring part of the team was the passing offense, which struggled once again this week.
Jayden Daniels had one of his worst games in his short career so far, and the passing offense was never a true threat to the Packers’ defense. Head coach Dan Quinn kept it simple, but correct when he addressed it after the game.
A stalling offense
Daniels and the rest of the offense couldn’t get anything going on a young and fast Packers defense. Quinn kept it short and sweet and admitted that they just couldn’t get anything going on offense.
“I just felt like we didn’t find the rhythm that we needed to,” Quinn said. “You know, really from jump street into, like, our third downs, our conversions, and that space were not at a spot that we need them to be.”
The numbers showed that the team couldn’t get anything going, and conversions were a big part of that. The Commanders went 5-16 on third downs on Thursday, and you can’t expect to win anything with those numbers. We also saw a more conservative play calling from an aggressive Kliff Kingsbury, who only went for it on fourth down three times, with only one conversion. They elected to kick a field goal before the half, which was missed, when people thought they would go for it, but didn’t.
The Commanders never really tried to establish the run either, and the running backs only got 12 total carries on Thursday for 34 yards. Daniels added 17 on the ground, and the team as a collective only had 51 yards after rushing for 220 last week. This put a lot of pressure on the passing game, which struggled mainly due to the Packers’ defense, but they also just struggled as a unit, with one of Daniels’ worst games yet.
Jayden Daniels struggles in primetime
Last week, the passing game looked rusty, and we expected to see an improvement, but we saw the opposite. Daniels had one of his worst games of his career, but it wasn’t all his fault. The offensive line had absolutely no answers for the Packers’ pass rush. Daniels was pressured 26 times, hurried 18 times, and was sacked four times.
The Packers blitzed Daniels 12 times during the game, and he was only 3-10 on those throws, which is a career low, and he was pressured on seven of the attempts and sacked twice. Daniels was excellent against the blitz last season, but he’s had his two worst performances against it to start the year. Teams will continue to bring the pressure, and wide receivers aren’t getting separation downfield enough to help.
All the credit goes to the Packers’ defense, who held the Commanders’ offense to only 230 yards, which is the lowest ever in a game since Daniels arrived. Their youth and speed were the biggest differences. They brought the pressure and had everything covered downfield all game.
The Commanders have a mini bye week now until they play the Las Vegas Raiders at home, and they need to get back to work on how to fix this offense, especially in the passing game, and even more with Austin Ekeler suffering an Achilles injury, and many more injuries around the team.