Commanders reporter Ben Standig<\/a> that he had a full-body cramp.<\/p>\nSonny Styles, Antonio Williams see first NFL action <\/p>\n
The Commanders kept most of their starters in street clothes for Friday night\u2019s game. Not No. 7 overall NFL draft pick Sonny Styles. The Ohio State product started this game and wore the green dot calling defensive plays during his short time in the game.<\/p>\n
Styles played just one defensive series \u2013 Leo Chenal was his wingman \u2013 and had three total tackles against the first-team Miami offense. Here\u2019s what Styles had to say about his short stint in the game:<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t a great defensive series for the group, largely composed of backups, but Styles\u2019 experience was an important thing.<\/p>\n
He got his feet wet, helped the defense line up and didn\u2019t get hurt. That\u2019s a win for a rookie expected to be an every-down defender.<\/p>\n
Williams entered this game to start the fourth offensive series and caught his first pass in the third quarter. It was a 16-yard completion from Athan Kaliakmanis, executed with a nice throw and quality route.<\/p>\n
Robert Henry Jr. and the Fatman <\/p>\n
Bill Croskey-Merritt, Rachaad White and rookie sixth-rounder Kaytron Allen have received most training camp focus among running backs, which makes some sense. Bill and White are established. Allen is part of the 2026 draft class, and prefers to go by \u201cFatman\u201d for goodness sakes.<\/p>\n
Robert Henry Jr. is an undrafted free agent with less pedigree, even though he piled up stats at Texas-San Antonio last season. He was surely impressive in this one, with some explosive runs and solid pass protection. Henry also did a good job setting up his blocks before showing solid burst working in space.<\/p>\n
He brought all that to bear on this excellent 22-yard touchdown run:<\/p>\n
Overall, Henry had 12 carries for 75 yards and the touchdown (above), for a 6.3-yards-per-carry average. He was also active in the return game, as the Commanders try to find ways for him to contribute<\/p>\n
Allen saw plenty of action as well, and found the end zone in the first half with the type of tough run he was brought here to execute.<\/p>\n
Allen led the team with 85 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries and also has some moves.<\/p>\n
A few thoughts about Quan Martin <\/p>\n
Safety Quan Martin is battling for a starting safety spot, with competition from veteran Jeremy Reeves. And, on a day where most key players sat, Martin played and Reaves didn\u2019t. Is that a sign of who\u2019s in front of that camp battle, or did the coaches give a ninth-year vet a preseason game off and let a younger buck play?<\/p>\n
Per The Athletic, Quinn said that playing Martin and Will Harris together at safety was by design.<\/p>\n
Regardless, Martin tried to put his best foot forward in this one. While Dolphins quarterback Quinn Ewers clearly wasn\u2019t on the same page with his receiver, Martin capitalized with an interception that shifted momentum to the Commanders in the first half.<\/p>\n
You have to make plays when they\u2019re available and Martin did that. His position battle for who will play safety next to Nick Cross and be featured in three-safety sets will surely continue, possibly throughout the preseason.<\/p>\n
Sam Hartman, Athan Kaliakmanis and the No. 3 QB <\/p>\n
Mariota\u2019s injury left most of the game to young quarterbacks battling to be the team\u2019s No. 3 quarterback. Sam Hartman was the first man off the bench for Mariota. He had some good throws and more than a few he\u2019d like back while going 8-for-15 passing for 80 yards and an interception.<\/p>\n
Kaliakmanis was slightly more efficient in his time, which started with the second half\u2019s second offensive series. The Rutgers product flashed some serious arm talent while working the ball down the field.<\/p>\n
Kaliakmanis completed 6-of-10 passes for 87 yards.<\/p>\n
The No. 3 quarterback shouldn\u2019t see the field during the regular season. It\u2019s more of a developmental position, and the Commanders must choose the player to fill that spot. Both guys will see significant time this preseason, with opportunities to impress and prove worthy of sticking around during the fall, but it\u2019s still a pick \u2018em at this point.<\/p>\n
What were your quick takeaways? Give us your instant analysis in the article comments below: <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Washington Commanders took the field for the first time this preseason, with a Friday night showdown with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":973841,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7,6,58431,62927,50316],"class_list":["post-973840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-washington-commanders-game-information","tag-washington-commanders-game-summaries","tag-washington-commanders-preseason"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117099583478453066","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/973840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=973840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/973840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/973841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=973840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=973840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=973840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}