Commanders learn the hard way that nothing is guaranteed in the NFL after tough loss to Broncos
The Commanders found out that nothing in the NFL is guaranteed. Even if your process is on point.
The Washington Commanders were one play away from getting their first statement win of the season, and they saw it slip away.
No one gave the Commanders a chance, but they went toe-to-toe with a top AFC team and one of the best defenses in the league. Despite the awful calls by the referees at the end of the game, the Commanders fought through it and took the Denver Broncos to overtime.
The offense had to answer after the Broncos quickly scored, and after a handful of nail-biting plays, Terry McLaurin scored the trademark touchdown he’s known for. McLaurin caught a slant with Patrick Surtain II in coverage to put the Commanders in position to win the game, but only if they made the 2-point conversion.
Kliff Kingsbury probably wishes he could have the 2-point conversion call back
Kyle: They say that big-time players make big-time plays in big-time moments. That’s what the Commanders succumbed to in overtime against the Broncos on Sunday Night Football.
Kliff Kingsbury had the perfect call: Washington aligned in a 3×1 nub formation out of the shotgun, with running back Jeremy McNichols aligned to QB Marcus Mariota’s right. At the snap of the ball, Washington released all three wide receivers to the trips side on aggressive in-breaking releases, picking off defensive flow from Denver while McNichols streaked across the formation and into the left flat.
Washington had caught man coverage. And the defender responsible for McNichols was safety Talanoa Hufanga. Hufanga had to work with McNichols across the entire formation, but had a sea of Commanders receivers and Broncos defenders littering his course, with WR Treylon Burks actually getting a piece of Hufanga to knock him completely off course.
McNichols was uncontested to the flat and could have moonwalked into the end zone if he’d gotten the ball. But Broncos pass rusher Nik Bonnito, whom the Broncos paid handsomely this summer, elevated high into the night air to bat away Mariota’s throw as the Commanders quarterback faded away from the unblocked defender. Washington took a full slide in protection, which allowed Bonitto to collapse the angle and crowd the throw.
If the Commanders could have this one back, you do wonder if it would have been preferable to lock LT Laremy Tunsil onto Bonitto and risk the B-gap for an unblocked defender instead, where Mariota would still have been throwing quickly to the flat, and any arriving pressure would not have been directly in Mariota’s path to throwing in the left flat. But that’s a question Kingsbury and his unit will have to explore this morning while sitting at 3-9.
Josh: The call to go for two was definitely the right call for head coach Dan Quinn and a 3-8 Commanders team. They had nothing to lose, and tying is just as bad as losing for this team right now. This was easily the right call after playing their best four quarters of the season, and wanting to be aggressive to go for the win. Quinn revisited the call after the game to go for the knockout punch and had no regrets.
“Going into the overtime spot, I thought that would be the way that we would go,” Quinn said. “I kind of think of that as like a third possession in a way. . .Honestly, it was a play that we liked; we got batted down, but against the man-to-man, that’s one that we practiced a lot, and we liked it. And so, you know, I hate the outcome, but there was no hesitation. I knew before the drive started, like, ‘Hey, we’re going to score, and we’re going to go for two’. Then you’re in all four-down territory. So, it’s more strategic in that way.”
Kingsbury had it dialed up and called perfectly, but Bonitto wasn’t having it. It’s the perfect example that nothing is guaranteed in the NFL – even if your process is correct.
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