The Washington Commanders entered their Week Four contest with the Atlanta Falcons without two of their main offensive players, quarterback Jayden Daniels and wide receiver Terry McLaurin, due to injuries. While injuries have been a concern for Washington this season, it’s been their performance on the defensive side of the ball that’s been quite concerning. It’s been a recurring theme that opposing teams’ receivers are getting wide open against Washington and gaining chunks of yards downfield. The Commanders’ defensive struggles began in Week Two against the Green Bay Packers. Packers’ tight end Tucker Craft caught six passes for 127 yards and a touchdown in Green Bay’s 27-18 victory over Washington.
The Commanders rebounded in Week Three, defeating the Las Vegas Raiders 41-24. However, in that game, Raiders’ wide receiver Tre Tucker caught eight passes for 145 yards and a touchdown. Despite the victory, allowing opposing receivers to gain 100 receiving yards in consecutive games doesn’t inspire much confidence in Washington’s defensive ability. The Falcons’ game only supports this claim.
Falcons’ quarterback Michael Penix Jr. torched the Commanders’ defense for 313 passing yards and two touchdown passes in Atlanta’s 34-27 home victory over Washington in Week Four. The game’s final score doesn’t indicate how lopsided this game was. Falcons’ running back Bijan Robinson had a career day against Washington, gaining 181 total yards from scrimmage. Commanders’ defenders were constantly a step or two behind Robinson, wide receiver Drake London, and tight end Kyle Pitts as each recorded at least one touchdown against the Commanders’ defense. Washington’s pass rush was virtually non existent, recording only one sack of Penix Jr. At one point, Washington trailed 31-16 before closing the margin to 34-27 on a late field goal by Commanders’ placekicker Matt Gay.
Washington will remain on the road to face the Los Angeles Chargers next week. While Daniels is expected to return for this game, the Commanders can’t be expected to engage in an offensive shootout every week in order to win. Commanders’ defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. better come up with a plan to fix Washington’s defensive issues, or else the Commanders will be in for a long season.