Hail or Fail: Fast start, big finish help Commanders overcome three turnovers

September 12, 2022

A look at the good (Hail!) and bad (Fail!) from the Washington Commanders’ 28-22 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars in Sunday’s season opener.

Hail: Fast starts

Carson Wentz capped Washington’s first drive of the season with a three-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Curtis Samuel, who displayed some nifty footwork before diving inside the pylon. Washington’s second possession culminated with Wentz’s seven-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Jahan Dotson, who became the first Washington rookie receiver with two scores in his debut. It was an uncharacteristically fast start for an offense that didn’t find the end zone on its first drive until Week 13 last season. The last time the franchise scored touchdowns on its first two possessions? That would be 1991, when Washington built a 35-0 halftime lead en route to a 45-0 rout of the Detroit Lions. You know how that season ended.

Fail: Turnovers

According to Stathead, Washington had lost 34 consecutive games, including five under Ron Rivera, when it turned the ball over at least three times. Before Sunday, the last time the team overcame three turnovers to win was 2010, when DeAngelo Hall had four interceptions against the Chicago Bears. With Washington driving and looking to extend its 14-3 lead before halftime, Samuel lost a fumble on a run up the middle. In the fourth quarter, Wentz threw interceptions on consecutive pass attempts, and a two-point Commanders lead quickly became an eight-point deficit. Since the start of the 2000 season, Washington is 7-67 when it commits at least three turnovers. Teams better than the Jaguars will make the Commanders pay for being careless with the football.

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Hail: Darrick Forrest

Forrest started in place of injured safety Kam Curl and played the game of his life. The second-year pro out of Cincinnati delivered a vicious hit on running back Travis Etienne that forced a fumble out of bounds shortly before halftime and broke up a third-down pass intended for Zay Jones in the end zone on the next play. In the second half, Forrest broke up a pass on a two-point conversion attempt and all but iced the win with an interception of Trevor Lawrence on a desperation heave with a little more than a minute to play.

Fail: Penalties

Sunday’s opener wasn’t the cleanest of games. Flags flew on the first three snaps, and the Jaguars and Commanders combined for 19 penalties. A roughing-the-passer penalty on defensive end Dawuane Smoot, one of 13 accepted infractions against Jacksonville, set up Washington’s second touchdown. An unnecessary roughness penalty on Forrest — one of the safety’s only mistakes of the afternoon — led to a Jaguars field goal in the third quarter.

Hail: The Carson Wentz Experience

Wentz has a little Rex Grossman in him, from his cannon arm to his questionable decision-making at times. Wentz became the first Washington quarterback to throw at least four touchdowns in a game since 2015, when Kirk Cousins did it — without throwing an interception — in back-to-back wins over the Buffalo Bills and Philadelphia Eagles. Wentz is the first Washington QB to throw at least four touchdowns and at least two interceptions in a game since 2010, when good ol’ Sexy Rexy did it in a 33-30 loss to the Dallas Cowboys. The last Washington quarterback to win a game with such a passing line was Sonny Jurgensen, way back in 1964. Wentz pulled off the comeback with a pair of touchdowns in the final 10 minutes, including the go-ahead strike to Dotson.

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Fail: Washington’s rushing defense

The Commanders limited the Jaguars to three conversions on 12 third-down attempts and got pressure on Lawrence throughout the game, but Jacksonville averaged 6.8 yards per carry and ran for 123 yards. James Robinson rushed for 66 yards, including a 22-yard scamper on the Jaguars’ opening possession, and Etienne added 47 yards on four carries. Washington will have its hands full in Week 2 with Detroit Lions running back D’Andre Swift, who ran for 144 yards in a loss to the Eagles.

Hail: State-of-the-art team store

The Commanders unveiled their new “state-of-the-art” team store at FedEx Field, which included an entire section of graphic T-shirts. The beautiful collection includes a Doug “The Grambling Gun” Williams shirt, a “Scary Terry” McLaurin caricature print and a Chase Young design modeled after the “NFL Blitz” arcade game. (The “state-of-the-art” aspect of the store the team touted apparently refers to its encryption technology, so you can upgrade your fall wardrobe without worrying about your credit card and other personal information being stolen.) Many of the other cosmetic upgrades to FedEx Field, including painted murals along the concourse and outside the locker room, looked sharp.

Fail: Art of the state team mugs

Washington state, that is. NBC Sports Washington’s Pete Hailey tweeted a photo of coffee mugs featuring the Commanders ‘W’ logo inside a silhouette of the state of Washington. The mugs were available for sale at an officially licensed team truck located just outside the stadium before the game, until they were removed as Hailey’s tweet started to go viral. This isn’t the first time a sports collectibles manufacturer has mixed up its Washingtons. In 2017, NFL Shop sold state pride license plates with the logo of the Commanders’ former name inside an outline of the Evergreen State. The following year, Fanatics sold Wizards T-shirts with the team’s logo superimposed over an image of the state of Washington.