Chunk plays keep taking a bite out of the Commanders

“If you get chunk plays, [if] you get yourself into scoring position, it changes everything,” he said, adding: “We tried to not give up, and we tried to create. If you can make chunk plays, you’re going to make it easier for yourself to score.”

Explosive plays define the modern NFL. Since the spread offense gained popularity in the mid-2010s, teams have chased the boom by passing more, and opposing defenses have tried to limit them by playing more top-down coverage with two high safeties. One study found that, without an explosive play, offenses score on about 10 percent of drives. With one big play, it’s about 30 percent; with two, more than 50.

In 2020, Washington’s defense was elite in large part because it allowed few explosive plays. Last year, part of its collapse was sliding to the lower side of league average. It’s possible to succeed with such a defense — Kansas City had the same explosive play differential as Washington in 2021, minus-1.4 percent — but Washington didn’t have the offense to keep pace. In the past two seasons, Washington ranked 29th and 22nd in explosive plays produced.

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While no one expects Carson Wentz to be Patrick Mahomes, this year the Commanders offense has shown an ability to generate chunk plays. Washington had seven in Week 1 and then eight in Week 2 — all in the second half — and is tied with Baltimore and Cincinnati for the eighth most in the NFL. But the defense under coordinator Jack Del Rio has left little margin for error.

In the first half Sunday, Detroit built a big lead with four explosive plays and four scoring drives, plus a safety and a 52-yard free kick return. To start the second half, Washington’s defense (no chunk plays allowed) and offense (five chunk plays, two touchdowns) finally started working together. The Commanders trailed 22-15, and a comeback was within reach.

Next possession: Detroit end-around for 58 yards, check-down for 22, touchdown. The Lions hit two more explosives on the possession after that — another touchdown drive — and it was enough to outrun Washington’s resurgent offense.

Why does Washington allow so many explosive plays? There are many reasons. Sometimes it’s poor communication, as on Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown’s 49-yard catch-and-run. Sometimes it’s a bad matchup, as when Jacksonville slot receiver Christian Kirk beat linebacker Jamin Davis for a 17-yard gain on second and 22 in Week 1. Sometimes it’s just simple mistakes or bad execution or some combination of the two.

Other times it’s schematic. In the first quarter Sunday, Detroit used big personnel with three tight ends to gain an advantage in size and numbers (eight blockers to Washington’s seven defenders in the box). Running back D’Andre Swift took the handoff, found the open lane and charged 50 yards.

In the first half, Commanders safety Darrick Forrest said the defense’s struggles were mostly schematic.

“I felt like they knew exactly what we were in,” he added. “It was great offensive play-calling.”

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Occasionally, it’s inexplicable. Late in the third quarter, on third and 15, Lions quarterback Jared Goff dumped a pass into the flat for Swift, who fell down. If a Washington defender had gotten a finger on Swift, Detroit probably would’ve kicked a field goal, leaving a manageable 25-15 deficit with more than 16 minutes to play. Instead, Swift got up and scampered, seemingly untouched, for a 22-yard touchdown to make it 29-15.

“I have to defer to the tape until I get a chance to see that,” Rivera said.

Rivera was asked whether the coaches put the players in position to succeed.

“In certain situations, we did,” he said. “Not all the time, okay? Don’t twist it. Don’t twist it. Hear what I’m saying. We’ve got to make sure we’re putting them in position to play. They have to play as well. This is a whole team effort. You want to blame everybody? Blame us all.”

After a frustrating loss, Rivera’s instincts are easy to understand. And it’s possible the struggles of the first two games are normal growing pains, that they’ll fade away at some point. In the offseason, Del Rio tweaked the scheme from a lot of top-down, soft zone coverage to more matchup zone, which is difficult to learn because it requires players to sense when to pick up and pass off assignments. And the defense is missing an important piece, safety Kam Curl.

But for now, the scoreboard and the spreadsheets point to a festering problem. If the defense is to improve, a good start would be to stop letting opponents go boom.