Do Commanders Have 'Secret Sauce' On Offense?

The Washington Commanders, through the first five weeks of the NFL season, have the highest-scoring offense in football. Yes, you read that right.

Offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, with rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels at the wheel, has been scoring points for fun, averaging 31 points per game.

After a slow first fortnight that saw Washington score just 20 and 21 points, respectively, the offense has been turbo-charged in the last three weeks. Daniels and Co. have swept through each challenge, scoring 38, 42, and 34 points.

And head coach Dan Quinn isn't too worried about how defenses will change things weekly to try to halt the offense's momentum.

“We're just kind of getting warmed up still on a lot of it, so each team, I think, will play to their own style," Quinn said of how defenses will change based on what to do against Daniels. "I think we've talked about the importance of having run and play [action] pass that goes with it because now you're not just relying on a dropback game. So having the ying to the yang and the run and the play [action] pass that goes with it, that's kind of the secret sauce to make a offense really hard to defend where you have both that."

So, playing complementary football is what Quinn and Co. are after, and looking at the stats, particularly in their last two games, they've got it.

In the 42-14 win over the Arizona Cardinals, the Commanders had 233 passing yards and 215 rushing yards. Against the Cleveland Browns in a 34-13 blowout, again, the offense surpassed 200 rushing yards (215) while having 219 passing yards.

Related: Commanders’ Defense vs. Ravens' Top-Ranked Offense

So both the run and pass game have complemented each other well in the opening part of the season and it is clear defenses don't know which element of Kingsbury's unit to try and stifle.

Daniels, as part of the run game, has been tough to stop (300 rushing yards in five games), and when we add in his improvement as a passer in recent weeks, the offense can slice and dice you through the air or on the ground.

And with the secret sauce flowing, that equals a tough offense to stop.