The Washington Commanders are coming off an ugly 34-27 loss to the Atlanta Falcons in Week 4. Just by looking at the score, it doesn’t look too bad, especially when you consider the Commanders were without quarterback Jayden Daniels, wide receiver Terry McLaurin and other starters.
However, the offense wasn’t the problem. Washington’s defense allowed the Falcons, who had been beaten by the Carolina Panthers 30-0 just one week earlier, to do anything they wanted offensively. Michael Penix Jr., who had yet to have a good performance this season, looked like a different player facing Washington’s defense. Whatever Atlanta wanted to do, it was easy. Late in the game, Marcus Mariota led the Commanders to a touchdown, and it was a one-possession game. All Washington’s defense needed was one stop.
The Falcons proceeded to go on a 14-play, 69-yard drive that took up almost seven minutes of the clock before eventually kicking a field goal to make it a 10-point game with under two minutes remaining. Atlanta converted on three third downs to keep the drive alive.
While everyone has been trying to diagnose why Washington’s defense played so poorly, former head coach Jay Gruden joined “Grant and Danny” of 106.7 The Fan in Washington, D.C., on Monday for his weekly spot and noticed one thing that stood out.
“A lot, a lot of missed tackles,” Gruden said. “A lot of not getting off blocks and taking bad angles in the running game. The last touchdown, you know, Von Miller was unblocked, but you know, the safety’s right there, all he has to do is shut a receiver and make the tackle for a five-yard gain, or four-yard gain, some bad angles.”
Then Gruden discussed the touchdown run by Bijan Robinson, where seemingly every Washington defender touched him on his way to the end zone.
“The other touchdown to Bijan, guys are trying to punch the ball out instead of wrapping him up and tackling them. So, just some poor tackling by the safeties. Poor coverage. They dropped the coverage on Kyle Pitts for the touchdown on the flat route. That was a safety responsibility. He got nosy, looked in the backfield, and all of a sudden, Kyle Pitts runs a flat route for a walk-in touchdown. You’ve got to make Michael Penix earn his completions. You’ve got to make them earn their yards. And I think there’s too many gimmes because of the safety play. Then the pass coverage, they’re just getting too deep and they’re a non-factor in the pass game.”
As usual, this was excellent analysis from Gruden. The missed tackles were a massive problem on Sunday. Washington was credited with at least 12, which is ridiculous. The Commanders were also starting a new safety combination. Jeremy Reaves, who has been with Washington since Gruden was the head coach, joined Quan Martin in the lineup, replacing the injured Will Harris. Let’s be clear, Gruden was not singling out just Reaves, but also Martin. You could make the case that was Martin’s worst NFL game in three seasons.
The good news here is that Washington’s issues, at least the ones Gruden mentioned, are fixable. Does that mean they will get fixed? We will see about that. In addition to Harris being out, Percy Butler, who is often the third safety, also missed the game.
The Commanders face the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday, who have one of the NFL’s most prolific passing offenses.