The Washington Commanders have Wednesday off as they travel to Miami on Thursday for a joint practice with the Dolphins before Saturday’s preseason game.
Before we turn to Week 2 of preseason play and the Dolphins, let’s look back at Washington’s Week 1 preseason game against the New York Jets. New York defeated Washington 20-17 on a late field goal.
The results of preseason games are less important than performances. Preseason gives coaches a chance to evaluate the depth of each position and see which young players can work their way into the team.
The most notable result of the Commanders’ game against the Jets was the performance of rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels. The No. 2 pick only played one series, but was phenomenal.
As for the rest of the game, there was good – and bad.
To wrap up the first week of preseason, CBS Sports’ Garrett Podell discussed the “good, bad and ugly” from each preseason game. Here’s what Podell said about the Commanders:
The good: Jayden Daniels, selected with the second pick, did a little of everything on his only drive of the preseason that ended in a three-yard touchdown. On third-and-6 from his own 34, Daniels had no problem running deep down the right sideline to throw a pass into tight coverage to Dyami Brown. The diving Brown had the football right in his arms for a 42-yard gain, and from there Washington made trouble for the Jets on the ground.
The bad: They allowed Jets rookie Braelon Allen to run through them for 54 yards on six carries. Washington had the worst defense in football by several metrics last year, so the little resistance on their end was hard to detect.
The ugly: The same goes for the Commanders’ secondary, which allowed Adrian Martinez (104 yards on 6 of 10 passing) and Andrew Peasley (73 yards and a touchdown on 8 of 11 passing) to pick apart their secondary. Yes, those were just backups, but none of those quarterbacks are likely to even be the Jets’ second quarterback, as Tyrod Taylor is also in the process of being rebuilt. The Commanders should aim to be much better in the secondary by the end of the preseason.
While much of the damage to New York can be attributed to Washington’s reserve and third-string players, the Commanders’ poor defensive performance last season is cause for concern.
Washington will be better defensively in 2024. The presence of head coach Dan Quinn will bring improvements. While there are still concerns, especially at cornerback and edge rusher, don’t expect the Commanders to rank last defensively in any respect this season.
