Commanders have two big problems despite playoff win over Buccaneers
The Washington Commanders' special will keep rolling thanks to Sunday night's win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but it's going to end this Saturday in Motown if the team doesn't fix two big problems that cropped up during the Wild Card win.Let's go ahead and dive right in. The Commanders are going to have to […]
The Washington Commanders' special will keep rolling thanks to Sunday night's win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but it's going to end this Saturday in Motown if the team doesn't fix two big problems that cropped up during the Wild Card win.
Let's go ahead and dive right in.
The Commanders are going to have to find a way to run the ball against the Lions
Jayden Daniels put the Commanders offense on his back and that's expected of a franchise quarterback, but he's going to need a lot more help against Brian Robinson Jr. and the running game.
Commanders running backs combined for a paltry 44-yards on 19 carries against the Bucs, which comes out to an average of 2.32 yards per carry. Daniels nearly totaled the yardage himself at 36-yards on 13 carries, but even that came out to an average of 2.8 yards per carry.
Robinson Jr. and Co. have to step it up against a Lions defense that has shown some cracks lately, but recently dismantled a high-powered Minnesota Vikings offense. Sam Darnold looked out of place in the season finale and he could only muster nine points – all of which were field goals – at Ford Field. There's little reason to think things will turn out differently for the Commanders if they can't get the ground game going.
In their five regular season losses, the Commanders averaged just a little over 52 rushing yards per game and 3.3 yards per carry. They also averaged 22.8 points per game in those games, which is a far cry from the 30.9 points per game they averaged in their 12 wins.
And sure enough, the Commanders put just 23 points on the board last night, which is obviously right in line with what they scored in the five losses.
That's also another big factor in all of this: keeping up with the Lions offense. If the Commanders can't run the ball, they're going to be very limited and the offense will have a ceiling. That's not a good formula when going up against Jared Goff, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jahmyr Gibbs, Jameson Williams, and Ben Johnson.
It's simple. Things have to be way better in the Divisional Round or else the Commanders' storybook season will come to a close.
Marshon Lattimore is not living up to the hype
The Commanders' big regular season acquisition has been a big disappointment, so far.
Sure, he wasn't even targeted against the New Orleans Saints, but let's also consider the fact that offense was led by Jake Haener Spencer Rattler at the time and its top wideouts were Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Cedrick Wilson Jr. That's not really the cream of the crop, or even close to it, when it comes to opposing competition.
Lattimore certainly had his share of struggles the following week against the Eagles. He allowed AJ Brown to rack up five catches for 68-yards and a touchdown on 10 targets and he also committed three defensive pass interference penalties (one was a very questionable call, however). Lattimore also broke up three passes, but Brown was certainly holding his own before the former went down with a hamstring injury and couldn't finish the game.
He then missed the last two games of the regular season before matching up with his old foe in Mike Evans. Historically, Lattimore has always played well against Evans, but that certainly wasn't the case on Sunday.
Evans shredded Lattimore to the tune of a perfect six receptions for 84-yards and a touchdown on six targets. Lattimore would've allowed a first down pass to rookie wide receiver Jalen McMillan as well, but he dropped an easy ball on the sideline. He also drew a DPI penalty in the end zone that allowed the Bucs to get a fresh set of downs at the Commanders 1.
Lattimore has helped a little bit since he was acquired, but he's been nothing close to the lockdown guy the Commanders envision. His injury, on top of his poor play, have really put things in question.
It won't get any easier this week against the Lions, either. If Lattimore can't stay healthy and/or continues his below-average play, then it's easy to see the Commanders' playoff run coming to an end on Saturday.
