The Commanders leave Week 1 with the same problem that can ruin a good defensive day in a hurry: the back end gave up too many explosives. Philadelphia didn’t pile up a massive yardage total, but it didn’t need to. The Eagles got 202 of their 318 yards on just five plays, and that was enough to spoil a lot of the good work Washington did elsewhere.
Now comes a tougher test. Washington heads to Dallas, where CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens are waiting, and both receivers bring exactly the kind of stress that has already shown up on film.
Head coach Dan Quinn didn’t dance around it when asked what worries him most. "The explosive plays, that's the thing that keeps you up at night when you see a team like that that has especially two premier receivers outside."
The Eagles’ chunk gains told the story in ugly fashion. Dontayvion Wicks hit for 64 yards, Saquon Barkley ripped off a 42-yard run, DeVonta Smith grabbed a 31-yard catch, Jalen Hurts scrambled for 22 yards on third-and-18, and Dallas Goedert capped the drive with a 43-yard touchdown. That sequence accounted for almost 64 percent of Philadelphia’s offense, which is exactly the kind of damage Washington cannot afford to keep allowing.
Mike Sainristil ended up at the center of some of those breakdowns. He was on the field for 54 of Washington’s 55 defensive snaps, but the coverage results were rough, with a 29.3 PFF coverage grade after he surrendered some of the day’s biggest plays.
Quinn made clear the issue was about execution, not some larger indictment of the player. "The touchdown play definitely felt like, as the motion got over, man, like, you have to go get set.
And those are things that we have to get corrected. We've definitely identified a few things that, ‘Hey, man, these are the things that we have to get corrected.’
Mike's a very good competitor," Quinn said. "I'm certain that we will, but to have that type of play and just not have the right focus at the right time, completely not acceptable.
On the second play, the deep pass play, I think you're referring to kinda the same thing as you lost track of the ball, like, ‘Finish it out, man.’ And so, I think that's the lesson in the game.
It wasn't schematically related to him or something that. Communication error or some normal things that go into a big play to go.
So, that's definitely the things we've identified with him, and I'm certain that he'll work on that. We definitely need to."
Sainristil, for his part, pushed back on any idea that he’s dwelling on it. "I'm not somebody that is going to sit there and sulk in it. for the people that think that is what I'm doing.
That's the complete opposite. I'm not that type of person."
There’s also the question of how Washington is deploying its secondary. In Daronte Jones’ first game as defensive coordinator, the Commanders leaned hard on the same four defensive backs.
Amik Robertson and Jeremy Reaves played every defensive snap, while Sainristil and Nick Cross missed only one apiece. Quan Martin was on the field for 21 snaps and Rasul Douglas for just 17, so despite the offseason chatter about mixing and matching, Jones mostly rode with a tight group.
That matters this week because Dallas can attack in different ways. Lamb can work inside or outside and create problems both underneath and down the field.
Pickens gives Dak Prescott a vertical threat who can turn a contested throw into a game-changer. Prescott only threw for 175 yards in the Giants game, but that doesn’t change the threat level here.
Washington has already shown where it can be stressed, and Dallas has the personnel to keep pressing those spots.
Quinn pointed to coverage choices and technique as the place to start. "Yeah, I think it's the coverage style.
What are you playing? How are you playing it?
When it's just purely isolation and some of them run different types of routes. Playing through the hands, using your techniques... hopefully not too many times where, hey, you are by yourself, and everybody knows it, and here you go.
So that would be certainly one way to help onto that, but also playing your technique going through it."
The fix, at least in the short term, is not some wholesale overhaul. Washington has to communicate cleaner, execute the calls better, and avoid turning one mistake into a back-breaking gain. If Jones starts feeling the same stress again, the question becomes whether Rasul Douglas and Quan Martin get more involved.
Week 1 showed Washington can affect the quarterback up front. Week 2 will say a lot more about whether the Commanders can finish those defensive snaps without giving it all back on the perimeter. If Lamb and Pickens get loose repeatedly, Washington’s issue is bigger than one bad afternoon in Philadelphia.
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