2024 Week 1: Commanders 20, Bucs 37
Washington played well in this game and played the Bucs tighter than the score lets on, so well in fact that they had multiple opportunities to be in a place to win this game. 2 missed field goals and a couple of near-miss offensive plays and this is a ball game. Washington is in a very good place right now and if they can beat the Giants on Sunday then they might contend for the NFC East, with the weak schedule they have.
Tampa Bay looked very good but a good amount of it was from sloppy defensive play by Washington. Baker lit up the defense as well despite the O-line struggling. Tampa Bay draws Detroit next week, good luck.
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QB Report:
- Jayden Daniels (17/24 for 184 yards, 16 rushes for 88-2 TDs) debut was really good and I’m most impressed by his passing game-work rather than his running… mostly because everyone knows he can run well. Daniels and Nix are toe-to-toe for best rookie debut, Caleb isn’t even in the same zip code when it comes to these guys.
Daniels looked calm and collected in the pocket, and didn’t rely on his rushing ability to make plays, especially earlier on. Daniels was just finding and hitting the open guy. All of this is really impressive for a rookie.
Coming out of the half Daniels just missed an open Terry McLaurin (2-17-0/4), overthrowing him by ~2 yards, had they connected Washington is right in this game. Daniels is going to be legit, and he’s well on his way to being there.
Unsurprisingly Daniels knows how to run better than any other QB in the league. Looking at you Lamar. Commanders coach Dan Quinn said after the game that he doesn’t want Daniels to run this much, but there weren’t any/many plays called that were designed for him to run, just Jayden doing what he does best… letting the play develop and if there’s an opening for him to take off, he’ll take it.
- Baker Mayfield (24/30 for 289 yards, 4 TDs, 3 rushes for 21 yards) single handedly won this game for Tampa. Baker was under pressure this entire game and was always rolling out and finding ways to make plays, plays I couldn’t believe/see until after Baker made them. This game made me happy for Baker, I’ve always believed in him but the media started calling him a bust years ago. Good things happen when you leave Cleveland. Baker was robbed of winning Comeback Player of the Year last season.
RB Report:
- Rachaad White (15-31-0, 6 catches for 75-0/6) is always the one taking the heat for his low rushing output but no one seems to consider the root of the problem, the obvious culprit for every team but Tampa… the O-line. On top of Baker being flushed out of the pocket every-other play, they also allowed 8 TFLs, and this was against a weaker Washington D-line. If Baker-White thought they were running for their lives in this one, wait until Week 2.
- Todd Bowles said something smart about the run game for the first time in 2 years, finally acknowledging that White wasn’t getting any open holes but Bucky Irving (9-62-0, 2 catches for 14-0/3) was later in the game when the Washington defense went into semi-prevent.
- The biggest receiving threat for the Commanders going forward may be the running backs. Brian Robinson (12-40-1, 3 catches for 49-0/4) and Austin Ekeler (2-10-0, 4 catches for 52-0/4) combined for 7 receptions and 50 yards of Daniels 17 completions and 184 yards. Just around 30% in each of those categories.
WR/TE Report:
- Terry McLaurin is supposed to be the #1 in this offense, since he is a good WR, but Luke McCaffrey (3-18-0/3) (yes, that McCaffrey family), will be the main look as they get more experience and comfortable with each other. McLaurin is the deep threat, McCaffrey is the pitch and catch option.
- Zach Ertz (3-28-0/4) is starting to show some age in his early-mid 30s.
- Mike Evans (5-61-2/6) and Baker were on the same page today and connected for 2 scores, both theatrical plays.
- Chris Godwin (8-83-1/8) had a big game and capped it off with a touchdown, I’ll need to wait until after the Lions game this week to know if this was a gameplanned event or just Washington being a lesser defense. Rachaad White is now finally getting some passing game work, which potentially takes away from Godwin.
D/ST Notes:
- Tampa lost some key defenders in the secondary, Antoine Winfield (7 tackles) and Calijah Kancey have both been ruled out for week 2.
- Second year LB SirVocea Dennis (7 tackles, 1 sack, 1 TFL) played in relief for Lavonte David (6 tackles), and had those numbers in just over 1/3rd of the snaps.
