What Week 1 can reveal about the Washington Commanders' 2024 NFL season
Game will offer some crucial insights for the team. Here's what to watch for beyond the final score.
Winning is the objective in any NFL game, including this weekend’s season opener between the Washington Commanders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
For the Commanders, however, there’s more on the line than the top priority notch in the win column.
Because of all the changes that have happened since we last witnessed Washington play football, there’s also the all-important need to establish an identity and come away with some confidence all the roster and coaching moves are moving the franchise in the right direction.
Of course, the first week alone won’t determine that outcome, but there are at least three areas of the game we can watch to get a sense of how well things may go this season.
New Beginnings
Jayden Daniels knows one thing as he steps in as the starting quarterback of the Commanders: he hasn’t done a thing in the NFL yet.
“I ain’t a star quarterback yet. I got a long way to go. I’m a rookie,” Daniels said when questioned about adjusting to the attention his arrival was garnering.
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Well, that rookie is one of 32 starting quarterbacks in the NFL and whether he embraces the tag or not he’s got the future of Washington football in his hands every time the offense snaps the ball.
A good performance by Daniels may or may not be enough to earn a win against a Bucs team that made it to the second round of last year’s playoffs, but it will be a step in the right direction toward building confidence for what is to come.
Bottom Line Up Front
If Daniels is going to have any amount of success in 2024, or any other season, he’s going to need protecting. For that, he’s going to need a capable offensive line.
The next time we see the starting five offensive line on the playing field together will be the first time, and that’s a point of anxiety for many.
Inside the building, the Commanders don’t seem all too worried about it with head coach Dan Quinn even saying during training camp that while he’d like to see injured left tackle Brandon Coleman take game reps, he didn’t need to in order to have confidence in his ability to start once healthy.
On the other side of this weekend’s matchup is a blitz-heavy highly aggressive defense led by Tampa Bay head coach Todd Bowles with key players like defensive tackle Vita Vea, defensive end Calijah Kancey, and outside linebacker YaYa Diaby leading the rush.
If they can create havoc against the inexperienced Washington front line it’ll create problems for Daniels, and will quickly stir up concerns about whether or not the unit is up to the task for 17 games.
From Worst To...
The Commanders' secondary was the worst in the NFL in 2023 allowing a league-high 262.2 yards per game.
That fact led many to believe the team would - if not should - address the secondary as extensively as it did several other areas of the roster.
In the end, three of the five starters from that unit - cornerbacks Benjamin St-Juste and Emmanuel Forbes, and safety Quan Martin - are returning starters this year.
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Beyond that, new starting strong safety Jeremy Chinn is expected to line up in more of a linebacker position this season with either Percy Butler or Darrick Forrest potentially replacing him alongside Martin when that happens. That means up to four members of the worst pass defense in the NFL last year could be on the field at one time this season.
Concerns about that fact could be silenced quickly if the unit can prevent future Hall of Fame Buccaneers receiver Mike Evans from running away with the weekend’s contest alongside fellow veteran receiver Chris Godwin and rookie Jalen McMillan.
Evans himself provides a challenge Washington defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. wants to see his players eager to take on.
"We talk about dog mentality. (Evans) has it. He's a dog, man, and it's been fun to compete against him as a coach over the years,” says Whitt. “You just have to go out there and understand that he's a vertical threat…if I was a corner, I would want to go against a guy like that because now it shows that 'Hey, I am this type of guy that I say I am'.”
If any of the Washington cornerbacks can prove they can run with the likes of Evans — who has recorded 10 straight 1,000-yard receiving seasons to start his career, an NFL record — then concerns about the health of the secondary should begin to fade. Even if only slightly.