Commanders coach knows he has a potential problem on his hands heading into Eagles matchup
The Washington Commanders offense has dealt with some injuries over the last few weeks and a new one cropped up on Sunday against the New Orleans Saints.Starting tight end Zach Ertz left the game early when he suffered a concussion in the second quarter. He did not return and is currently going through the NFL's […]
The Washington Commanders offense has dealt with some injuries over the last few weeks and a new one cropped up on Sunday against the New Orleans Saints.
Starting tight end Zach Ertz left the game early when he suffered a concussion in the second quarter. He did not return and is currently going through the NFL's concussion protocol. Dan Quinn did not rule him out when he spoke with reporters on Friday, but it's still up in the air when it comes to whether or not he plays against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 16.
The Commanders scored on the next play to go up by 14 with 5:32 left in the first half, but the offense came to a halt and had trouble moving the ball and scoring points for the rest of the game. It nearly allowed the Saints to come back and win the game in the final seconds via two-point conversion.
Ertz's injury is one of the reasons why the offense stalled, especially in the red zone when the Commanders had to settle for a field goal after failing to punch it in on 3rd and goal from the Saints 1. He's a big part of the offense and Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury talked about how his absence affected things and even put blame on himself for not being able to find a way to overcome it.
"We did not do a great job of it, that's for sure," Kingsbury told reporters on Thursday. "You could see we weren't as effective, especially in the red zone, there, without him. He's just a guy that's a safety net for our quarterback at all times. He has a knack for getting open [and a] knack for making the big play, and so I didn't think we handled that great. As a coaching staff, we gotta have better answers if something like that happens, because he's such a vital part of what we've been doing this year."
Per Pro Football Reference, Ertz's 29.4% target rate in the red zone leads the team. It's well ahead of second-place Terry McLaurin's 23.5% rate and no other player on the offense has rate higher than 9.8%. His 15 targets inside the 20 also lead the team and his eight receptions, 53 receiving yards and four touchdowns are second only to McLaurin, who has 99 and nine, respectively.
Three of Ertz's eight receptions came from inside the 10 and all three of them have gone for touchdowns. Seven of the 15 targets are inside the 10, as well, which is tied with McLaurin for first.
It's easy to see how Ertz is such a big part of the team's red zone attack in particular and how it could create issues if he doesn't play against the Eagles. Especially when considering how little else everyone on the Commanders offense has contributed.
The nine other players that contributed to the team's red zone receiving totals have amassed a combined 16 receptions for 83-yards and two touchdowns. No one has more than five receptions and no one has more than 32-yards. Whether it's by design or skill, that needs to change if Ertz doesn't go.
This is why Kingsbury knows he's gotta get something figured out in a big way. The Commanders OC could be potentially missing a key weapon in the most crucial area of the field, which is already a big enough issue. But, when you tack on the fact that the Eagles have the fourth-best red zone defense (48.8%), it gets taken up a notch.
It's not all Kingsbury, though. Some players will have to step up. Fortunately, they have a guy like Jayden Daniels who already realizes this and is instilling that expectation in himself and his teammates.
"It's just going out there [and] doing my job [and] doing what the defense allows me to do," Daniels told reporters on Wednesday. "[I] go out there make plays when plays need to be made. But, you know, we got guys that, that can go out and make plays themselves. So [I'm] giving them opportunities to do that, no matter who's on the field…
"… We know [if] we get everybody on the same page [and] going the right direction, you know, we got a shot."
It remains to be seen what happens, but it'll be interesting to see what Kingsbury does to help avoid running into the same problem in the future.
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