It seems like every week the Washington Commanders‘ defense reaches a new low. While things haven’t been as bad since head coach Dan Quinn took over defensive play-calling in Week 11, the Commanders still have one of the NFL’s worst defensive units.
During Washington’s 29-18 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Saturday, the Commanders actually led 10-7 at halftime. Washington made some stops in the first half, and the Eagles missed two field goals. The Commanders began the second half with the ball, but quarterback Marcus Mariota was injured and did not return. The game was essentially over. Suddenly, the Commanders couldn’t stop Saquon Barkley.
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How did Barkley dominate? Here’s a statistic from Next Gen Stats that puts things in perspective:
That’s remarkable. That was Barkley’s third game of over 100 yards rushing this season. Last season, he rushed for over 100 yards in all three games against the Commanders. Multiple Washington defenders missed tackles on one Barkley run, which had social media buzzing.
If that wasn’t bad enough, Washington applied hardly any pressure on Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts. While they sacked him twice, Hurts was pressured on only four of his 37 dropbacks, which was the lowest pressure rate (10.8%) in his six-year NFL career.
Von Miller leads the Commanders with seven sacks. Dorance Armstrong was off to the best start of his career with 5.5 sacks when he was injured in a Week 7 loss. Jacob Martin has been outstanding in his role as a pass rusher, but finding a game-changing edge rusher should be priority No. 1 for GM Adam Peters in the offseason. Much is made of Washington’s struggles in the secondary, but an improved pass rush would aid that.
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This article originally appeared on Commanders Wire: Washington Commanders: Two remarkable stats from loss to Eagles