It’s beyond time to worry about cornerback Marshon Lattimore if you’re the Washington Commanders. In Week 1, Lattimore appeared solid against the New York Giants, particularly when matched up against star wide receiver Malik Nabers. While he didn’t cover Nabers the entire game, his reps against Nabers were solid.
The same can’t be said for his Week 2 performance against the Green Bay Packers. Per Pro Football Focus, Green Bay quarterback Jordan Love targeted Lattimore six times in the Packers’ 27-18 win over the Commanders on Thursday. Five of those targets resulted in completions to different receivers for 84 yards. Lattimore was also called for two penalties.
During the game, Washington fans showed their frustration with Lattimore on social media. After the game, the nine-year veteran appeared to show no accountability for his performance.
“All they were doing was sending (receivers) in motion to get us off the spot,” Lattimore said via Ben Standig. “They didn’t really let us press. They knew we were going to play man (coverage), so they ran man-beaters. That’s all it was.”
Was Lattimore blaming his coaches here?
If so, he’s not wrong. Head coach Dan Quinn’s history against Matt LaFleur is not good, and that trend continued on Thursday. However, it’s a bad look for a player who continues to underwhelm since Washington gave up draft picks to acquire him last season.
What about those penalties? Lattimore believes the officials got them wrong, too.
“No, they were not,” Lattimore said if the calls against him were actual penalties.”
He wasn’t done.
“And they missed one on the deep ball when he pushed off. Go look at the film. There’s no way he read that much separation if I’m right there. They missed calls, they called calls that weren’t supposed to be calls. I don’t really think it was fair. It is what it is. Live to fight another day.”
Maybe Lattimore is correct. NFL officials miss calls all the time, sometimes egregiously. But what he should have said was, “I need to be better.” End of story.
Did you hear what quarterback Jayden Daniels said after the game? He took accountability. He’s in his second NFL season.
Every team on Washington’s schedule will review the film from Thursday and aim to target Lattimore each week. They will run similar concepts to the Packers to see if Lattimore can stop it.
All offseason, Washington coaches talked of how much better Lattimore looked since he was healthy. Perhaps it was one game, and he rebounds next week against the Raiders. What if he doesn’t?