All of a sudden, the Washington Commanders defense looks like it can hold its own entering Week 6 of the 2024 season.
Over the first three games, Dan Quinn's and Joe Whitt Jr.'s unit gave up 37, 18, and 33 points, along with 300+ yards in each contest. There was basically no pass rush, no run defense, and the secondary couldn't really stop anyone.
That's certainly changed over the last two weeks: The Commanders defense hasn't given up more than 14 points in a single contest and neither the Arizona Cardinals or Cleveland Browns were able to amass more than 300 yards of total offense.
It's totally fair to say the defense shut down both offenses and there's been a major spike in sacks, with 11.0 combined in Weeks 4-5, compared to just 4.0 in Weeks 1-3
There's one area, however, that has improved so much it's caught Quinn's eye and while it's basic, it's something that's always been a crucial component to successful defenses and it's vital in today's game against offenses that space out defenses and match defenders up one-on-one against guys in the open field.
"Tackling, I would say, would be the biggest one for me," Dan Quinn told reporters Monday after he was asked his perspective on the defense's biggest improvement over the last couple of weeks. "I think on the day, we might have been at four [missed tackles] and we had been in double digits in previous games. So that part, when you have a game where you can tackle, it means our tracking is getting better [and so is] the technique to go through that. I love the energy that our special teams groups are bringing in terms of the coverage aspect. And you know, on those ones, those are tackling opportunities, too.
"So I think the more that we're doing this, the better the tackling is becoming."
Per Pro Football Focus, Washington's defense missed nine tackles against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 14 against the New York Giants, and nine against the Cincinnati Bengals. It's not like it was one guy missing the majority of the opportunities, either: Eight guys were responsible for the misses in each of the Bucs and Giants games and seven guys were charted for the nine misses against the Bengals. That's an average of nearly 11 missed tackles per game, which is obviously not good, at all.
That quickly changed against the Cardinals, however, as the Commanders defense missed just three tackles in that game, and all three misses belonged to embattled cornerback Emmanuel Forbes Jr. PFF has the Commanders with 10 missed tackles among nine different players against the Browns, but we'll go with Quinn's four missed tackles as he mentioned above, because he's obviously the head coach of the team and their evaluation matters more than PFF's. Even then, if we were to count it as 10 misses, that's 6.5 misses per game over the last two weeks, which is nearly cut in half from the prior near-11 misses per game.
Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry will be the ultimate test for Commanders' improved tackling
PFF has the Baltimore Ravens with a league-leading 40 forced missed tackles (the second-highest total belongs to the Commanders, ironically) and Jackson and Henry have combined for 34 of the 40 missed tackles.
That makes complete sense, too, as Jackson is as elusive a runner as anyone in the league and Henry is not only a bruiser, but he can outrun an entire defense when he gets to full speed. Both players, especially when considering the Ravens' offensive scheme, are going to provide a huge test for the Commanders defense.
The front seven will be key, here, and the good news for Washington is that group has been playing very well over the last couple of weeks. Linebacker Frankie Luvu was a menace against the Browns and he looks like he's really starting to take off and find his footing when it comes to his new role. Dorance Armstrong has 3.0 sacks over the course of as many weeks and plenty of others have chipped in.
If the Commanders can continue the upward swing on defense, then they certainly have a shot at beating Jackson and co. on Sunday. Especially when considering the Ravens' recent deficiencies on defense, as well.
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