ASHBURN, Va. — The Washington Commanders have hit their first real speed bump in this new era of football.
Sure, the Commanders lost their season opener to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and even dropped a big game against the Baltimore Ravens, but whether it was due to outside expectations or the newness of the team still, those losses didn’t hit all that hard.
In fact, hype about Washington actually went up after the Ravens loss, due to the nature of that competitive game.
Now, after back-to-back losses to the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles - that last one coming inside the NFC East Division - confidence in the team has cooled a bit.
For head coach Dan Quinn, however, these are the types of speed bumps teams have to go through to become as good as they want to be.
“I have a sense we’re gonna come back on the other side of that a stronger team in a lot of ways,” Quinn said. “As we’re growing together, those things, they’re not fun to go through, but they’re necessary to learn, alright, this is what I got to do to win the game."
The Commanders will look to put some of those lessons to work when they host the Eagles in Week 16. Until then, they’ll turn their focus to the Dallas Cowboys who come to visit this weekend for their first matchup against each other.
This time Washington won’t have the disadvantage of playing on a short week. In fact, it’ll be the Cowboys at the disadvantage of having to play Monday night and then again on Sunday afternoon in Landover.
Quinn says Dallas having to play Monday night isn’t as big a disadvantage for them or an advantage for the Commanders, but rather simply having the full week to get back to a normal preparation mode is key for his team.
“That’s an important deal for us,” Quinn said. “The walkthroughs can help you get aligned and where to go, but you need those full speed reps to get your skills right, and we’ll work really hard at that.”
On top of getting their schedule back to normal, the Commanders should also be getting their quarterback on the same level. Quinn said rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels had to miss some reps and days of practice dealing with the punishment that comes with playing NFL football in recent weeks, but that he’s healthy enough now that it shouldn’t be an issue moving forward.
It looks like cornerback Marshon Lattimore, who the team traded for at the deadline, is inching closer to being ready for play, something that should boost the abilities of the defense to compete and win those tough games against teams they’ve previously lost to, like the Eagles, Washington will get their chance against their division rival again soon, but not before taking care of business against the Cowboys and a couple other opponents first.