The Washington Commanders failed their chemistry exam. And, it’s head coach Dan Quinn’s fault.
A team with nearly 60 percent turnover needs a season to find its chemistry. The secondary unit must feel its shadow or get beaten by open receivers like what happened regularly in the 37-20 loss to Tampa Bay on Sunday. The offensive line must come together so the quarterback doesn’t run 16 times. A rookie quarterback needs to find receivers.
That chemistry should have begun not solely on the plains of Ashburn, but preseason games. That’s what the three games are for – chemistry. However, Quinn is guilty of a coaching mindset that fears blame for August injuries. Staying safe is the wrong stance.
Instead, Washington looked like a team playing its first game in new systems. All too often, defensive players looked lost. And all too often, quarterback Jayden Daniels ran rather than continue looking for a target. Maybe Tampa Bay took away downfield options, but with four options in most plays, maybe Daniels could have already learned where his Plan C was.
But no, most starters were given off the final preseason game after limited action in the first two. The Commanders went three weeks without hitting someone else and it showed against the Bucs. Quinn is 0-1 in Washington.
Now, Tampa Bay is a better team and would have probably won even if Washington’s starters played every preseason snap. But, the Commanders wouldn’t have looked like clowns and tarnished Quinn’s image before halftime.
It’s going to take at least one season for this roster to play comfortably together. But then, too many veterans are on one-year deals and gone next season, which forces new chemistry lessons. While that’s true every year for every team, it’s excessively so for Washington.
So talk of a new culture and system falls on deaf fans who have heard it repeatedly since Joe Gibbs left in 1993. Norv Turner tried to bring Super Bowl success from Dallas with limited achievement. Marty Schottenheimer pulled the crowd onto the field at his first practice for a bull-in-the-ring drill to show a new toughness. The next year, Steve Spurrier wanted to bring a new offense to the NFL.
And on and on until 33 years, 12 coaches and two names since its last Super Bowl, the Commanders are literally stuck in the one-step-forward, two-steps-backward route.
The bottom line is no more talking about learning new systems or patience. Fans have been patient enough. They’re willing to burn a season watching Daniels progress, but not watching the whole team go down in flames.
Washington faces a must-win against the New York Giants on Sunday. The loser is probably 2-15 this season. The Commanders better be ready because they’ve somehow lost three straight to the Giants and are 71-108–5 against Gotham City. Washington hasn’t won a decade series since the 1980s when 11-10 versus New York. If the Philadelphia series is the most unpredictable, New York losses are the most maddening annually.
No more chemistry exams. Try acing this one.
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