The opinions expressed in this article do not reflect those of the team.

We’re back from another round of questions, although we are unfortunately coming off another loss for the Washington Commanders. After an exciting first half, the Kansas City Chiefs put up 21 unanswered points in the third and fourth quarters, dropping the Commanders to 3-5 near the halfway point of the season.

But there’s not much time to reflect on the loss with the Seattle Seahawks coming to Northwest Stadium for a matchup on Sunday Night Football. So, let’s dive into what Commanders fans want to know this week.

— @CityMayn23: Why does the offense run 100% of their plays exclusively out of shotgun? Makes zero sense.

I provided a shorter answer for this last week, but since fans are still perplexed by this, I’ll go into a little more detail here.

I think the first thing we need to understand is that it’s now common practice for quarterbacks to line up in the shotgun formation. Granted, the Commanders are on the far end of the spectrum — Jayden Daniels rarely takes snaps under center — but I believe you would find that teams line up with the quarterback in the shotgun formation more often than not.

It’s also worth pointing out that the shotgun formation should not be confused with the pistol formation, which features the quarterback lining up closer to the center, although still not directly under center, with a running back behind him and occasionally to his left or right. The Commanders have utilized this formation often this season, and there’s a reason for this that I’ll explain in a bit.

There are several benefits to the shotgun formation. In theory, it provides the quarterback with more time to survey his options in the passing game as opposed to starting a play under center, which involves the quarterback going through three-, five- or seven-step drops. It also allows the quarterback to more easily execute RPOs — a key part of the Commanders’ offense — and provides athletic quarterbacks, which Daniels and Marcus Mariota are, with more opportunities to escape the pocket.