In the final moments of yet another Washington Commanders loss, the burgundy-and-gold No. 90 jersey that belonged to defensive end Montez Sweat was somewhere on the field. Just not on Sweat’s body.
As the Commanders fade, the losing feels familiar — and inevitable
Six seconds still remained, a brief but unexpected amount of time officials placed back on the clock after they concluded Tennessee Titans linebacker David Long Jr. had been down at the 1-yard line following his game-sealing interception against Carson Wentz. And when the players were called back to the field, Washington’s most dangerous defensive end stood on the sideline in his undershirt.
What an apropos scene for a strange yet familiar Sunday afternoon at FedEx Field. The Commanders’ 21-17 loss to the Titans had not yet gone final, but it sure felt over.
For those loyal enough to have stuck with the franchise through its many controversies, the rotating door of starting quarterbacks, the name changes and rebranding, Sunday’s result should have awakened that October ache of dread. The 2022 Commanders haven’t even reached Week 6, so technically the season’s not over. But it sure feels like it.
Here they go again. All the leaves haven’t fallen from the trees, and you can still walk inside one or two coffee shops these days and not be bombarded with pumpkin spice propaganda. And yet here in early October, hope for even a broadly vanilla season is fading — just as it does every autumn for professional football fans in the greater Washington area.
“We just lost. I’m hurt,” guard Saahdiq Charles said.
“Tough, tough, very frustrating,” Wentz said, who repeated the word “frustrating” throughout his postgame comments.
But running back J.D. McKissic, a veteran of these autumns in Washington, offered something different. He has been in this locker room before when early seasons have appeared to be lost, but he says this year feels different.
“Actually, in the past, I would be in a slump,” he said. “But right now, I just know how good we are, and I know we can put it together.”
Whatever tonic of positivity McKissic must be sipping on, he should bottle it and sell it around Washington. Because at this point, a 9-8 record would might be considered a job well done by Coach Ron Rivera and his mismatched roster.
After their fourth straight loss, the Commanders are tied with three other teams (the Carolina Panthers, Detroit Lions and Pittsburgh Steelers) for the worst record in the NFL. It took just five weeks for Washington to sink to the bottom. And because he is three years into coaching this franchise and falling into bottomless pits, Rivera knows just what to say.
“Up,” Rivera offered quickly for his first answer in the postgame news conference. “The only way to go is up.”
If only the Commanders could look up and see blue skies waiting for them. Instead, in the cellar they occupy, there’s an inconsistent offense, a unit that can arouse the home crowd with just one play — such as the 10 seconds it took for that beautiful 75-yard connection from Wentz to Dyami Brown— but also frustrate the fans the rest of the game because it could convert only one third down.
And Washington has the perfect quarterback for its inconsistent offense.
Wentz is not a metronome, and by now we all realize what he can do. He can be very, very good and launch bombs, as he did to Brown and Curtis Samuel. On the other hand, he can be very, very frustrating, such as when he fumbled a snap on third and eight because he and the center weren’t on the same page. Later, on another third-down play, after Wentz’s pass was tipped at the line, a faint chant of “Hein-ick-e! Hein-ick-e!” greeted the Commanders’ punt team.
Backup Taylor Heinicke never took the field, because as Wentz tends to do, he bounced back and marched the offense 87 yards in the closing seconds. But at the Tennessee 2, with no timeouts, that potential game-winning — and season-resuscitating — drive ended when Wentz threw three passes off the mark. His final one landed in the hands of a linebacker, instead of one of his receivers, and Wentz ended his day in the role of tackler.
Thinking the game was over — and really, it was — Wentz displayed the look of defeat. He tossed his helmet, then bent over and held his knees, remaining there even as center Nick Martin came over to pat his side. By that time, other Commanders had already begun the friendly exchange of jerseys.
When the game restarted, Washington had to send Casey Toohill onto the field. Sweat thought he didn’t need his jersey anymore and had given it away to Titans defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons. The time remaining, it turned out, was only a formality.
There’s still time remaining in the season. But that, too, seems like a mere formality to the inevitable.
Source: WP
