ASHBURN, Va. — The Commanders were back to work Thursday after their first win of the season over the weekend. A field goal by Austin Seibert, his 7th of the game, sealed the win over the Giants 21-18.
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Washington's offense went 0-6 in the red zone, something the team is putting an emphasis on this week at practice as they look to clean things up ahead of a tough Monday night matchup with the Bengals in Cincinnati.
Jayden Daniels is putting a majority of that responsibility on his shoulders.
"Everything is fixable. You’ve got to put attention to detail. It starts with communication and that starts with me," said Daniels. "It gets kind of loud in the end zone, so if I need to be extra loud so guys can hear me or just a focus thing, but all 11 of us all have to be on the same page, we all got to focus for six seconds play in and play out and move on to the next play."
"It got loud down there, so it was hard to hear," said offensive guard Sam Cosmi. "We’re a new offense, a lot of new guys. It was a learning experience for us, and it sucks it happened, but we learn from that and move on."
On deck for the Commanders, the 0-2 Cincinnati Bengals on Monday Night Football. The Bengals missed the playoffs in 2023 but played in back-to-back AFC Championship games in 2021 and 2022.
They dropped two close games to start this season, including a one-point loss to the defending Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs this past weekend.
Commanders head coach Dan Quinn knows Cincinnati will provide a tough early test for his team that's still finding its identity.
“Sometimes the really good teams, and here we are only two games in, would you have expected them to have two losses? Probably not, but that’s what it is," said Quinn. "Once eight o’clock or whatever comes, you’re not thinking about records. You’re thinking about how are we going to win? We’re really pumped to go battle with them. We’ve got respect for them, but we’ll be ready to fight as well.”
“You know when you have a quarterback like Joe Burrow and a receiver like Ja’Marr Chase and the players that they have is always going to be exciting to go against them. They’re a great team," said defensive lineman Jonathan Allen. "I don’t really look at the record, because the difference between winning and losing in this league usually comes down to about three or four plays a game. They could easily be 2-0, so we’re going to go out there and play some good football. I’m excited for it.”
The Commanders kick off in Cincinnati at 8:15 p.m. Monday.
