profusion

Playing up or down to the opponent's level is a consistent feature of the Rivera regime, so I'm not going to predict upcoming games based on this disaster. However, the larger trends that have emerged this season are really bad. The defense has really surprised me by how bad they've been, apart from a few isolated instances where they were getting pressure. I only got to watch the second half, but I thought Howell was the lone bright spot. He was making things happen when nothing else was working. Injury is obviously the biggest concern for him right now. I suppose I'm being captain obvious with these comments, but I'm finding it hard to generate interesting comments about this dog of a team.

Jones looked shellshocked on the sideline. He's got wheels. How can they not do rollouts or something besides just having him stand there like a statue behind that line?

I tuned in just in time for that beautiful pick-six. Sweet!

WAS - 31 CHI - 10 Both teams are coming off tough losses, but I think the Commanders are a far more resilient bunch than that disaster unfolding in Chi-Town.

They've over-invested in the DL and underinvested in the rest of the D. Once the play gets past the line, the Commanders look weak. That's a big reason why they can't get off the field on third down. This was a frustrating loss all around. However, it does fit with the Commanders being in the mushy middle of the league.

That was bad. Nice defense, there...

Two different facemasks they could have called. Geez.

Pam Oliver: "Welcome to BEAUTIFUL Philadelphia." Oh really?

I'm more worried about Howell getting injured from scrambling than from him being sacked. The main risk is probably from him developing bad habits before his internal clock speeds up.

Mike Shanahan's monstrous ego made him think he could "control the situation" in Washington despite all evidence to the contrary. It was a disaster from day one, even beyond all the problems of letting him be in charge of personnel.

Commanders 20 Eagles 17 Shock the world!

Didn't know if this was posted yet. Excellent article today from ESPN. It feels like we got the right guy for the job. https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/38491279/why-washington-commanders-6-billion-bidding-war-was-one-josh-harris-had-win

It might be a good comparison. Both coaches seem to favor the "tough slog" team that can always get to 7-9 (or 8-9) but can't get beyond it. That's probably the '85 Bears connection. They won through brute force, but that was a long time ago. I dunno. Ron's heart hasn't seemed in it after the first season.

My impression of the Andy Reid offense is that it relies heavily on short, quick passes and then puts the onus on the receivers/backs to get YAC. Essentially, short passes are a functional equivalent of the running game and don't require the best OL of all time to make it happen. It's also historically relied heavily on mobile QBs. In that kind of offense, Gibson should be a deadly weapon and Howell's accuracy and mobility should be able to make it work. What the Commanders are doing looks different. They don't use Howell's mobility as much, and the whole thing just seems slower and more predictable. It could be that the lack of a great pass-catching TE is hampering them more than the OL is if the goal is to use that offense.

It'll be interesting to see whether they can bounce back next week and adapt and play better against the Eagles, even if they still lose to a better team. This week was bad all around.

The Commanders moved the ball well at times, but they couldn't sustain anything and made killer errors. Looks more like a 6-win team, to me.

"He's been very good in these situations." Nice jinx.

It looks opposition takeovers of Fed Ex aren't a thing of the past, yet.

Looks like we're in for a long day unless those halftime adjustments are pretty amazing.

I'm having a hard time picking this one, so I'll just go full homer. WAS - 24 BUF - 20

MNF hasn't been the same since it moved to ESPN and the Sunday night games started. So often now it's lower-level teams, which actually makes it weird the Jags haven't been on there.

I don't have much to add beyond what's already here. The Commanders can't keep starting poorly each week and expect to get very far. This team is flashing potential, but we're up to two very ugly first halves now.

That ending was ridiculous. Plenty for them to work on in practice this week, but they still came out with the win.

An epically ugly slog that has us all questioning our Sunday afternoon choices by halftime. WAS - 17 DEN - 13

I wouldn't be shocked if there's been a phone call. He ain't doing it, though.