On the decisive play Sunday at Northwest Stadium, the Washington Commanders, in a remarkable feat of espionage, had a wiretap on the Los Angeles Rams’ communication systems, an undercover spy in a Rams uniform who had infiltrated their huddle and a burgundy-clad parapsychic on their own sideline reading the mind of Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford.
Okay, all of that is 100% made up. But it might as well have been true, for all the difference it would have made.
Because on a second-and-goal from Washington’s 7 yard line — fourth quarter, tie game — everyone in the building, including the 11 members of the Commanders’ defense, knew where the ball was going. And yet Washington was powerless to stop Puka Nacua from making the touchdown catch in the corner of the end zone that would stand as the difference in their deflating 20-13 loss to the Rams.
It is a particularly diabolical circle of hell for a defense to occupy: knowing what an opposing offense is going to do, yet having no means of stopping it. That was the fate of the snakebitten Commanders on Sunday, a day when Nacua, the Rams’ singularly brilliant and brilliantly singular All-Pro wideout, torched them for 150 yards on 14 catches, including the decisive fourth-quarter score.
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“They’re running the same play all day, feeding the same person the ball all day,” said Commanders linebacker K’Lavon Chaisson, in a distillation of the frustration expressed across the team’s locker room. “So as a defense we have to just figure out how to stop that. When you have a game plan that easy — they’re not hiding what they’re doing. They’re finding ways to get Puka the ball — what was it, 20-something targets? [Actually, 19.] … Days like this for the defense, it hurts a little bit more.”
The Commanders possess an embarrassment of riches when it comes to highly regarded defensive minds, with no fewer than five current or former defensive coordinators in their employ, including head coach Dan Quinn. (The others are current coordinator Daronte Jones, linebackers coaches Ken Norton Jr. and John Pagano and defensive advisor Steve Wilks.) But none of them could come up with an answer for Nacua, who confounded the Commanders all day on a well-disguised package of screens, dump-offs and intermediate routes.
No other Rams receiver had more than five targets or 20 receiving yards Sunday. Nacua even accounted for 20 of the Rams’ 124 rushing yards on a pair of end-arounds, one of which went for 15 yards and a critical first down deep in the fourth quarter as the Rams were trying to run out the clock. In other words, it is only a slight exaggeration to say he was the entirety of their offense.
“I give him credit. There will be some we will want back,” Quinn said of Nacua. Then, nodding to Nacua’s yardage total, Quinn added: “But 150 is still 150.”
Both Quinn and rookie linebacker Sonny Styles shifted some of the credit to Stafford for having the decisiveness and quick release to get the ball to Nacua, particularly in zone coverages, before the Commanders could get to him. Given Nacua’s legendary ability to accumulate additional yardage after the catch, that’s a tough way for a defense to live.
“It’s super frustrating, especially when you know that going into the game: Puka is the premium, they’re getting the ball to him,” Styles said. “They did exactly what they put on tape. We just have to do a better job as a whole at executing. [Stafford] does a really good job of getting the ball out on time. I think guys are aware of where Puka’s at sometimes, [but] you’re not quite where you need to be because the ball is coming out so fast.”
On the other side of the ball, the Commanders simply didn’t have an offensive weapon that could go play-for-play with Nacua, not that they are alone in that. (One can argue, in fact, they have never had someone like Nacua in their entire history. Not that they are alone in that either.) With two of their best receivers (Terry McLaurin and Treylon Burks) sidelined with injuries, their leading pass-catcher by yards Sunday, with 58, was veteran Van Jefferson, whom they elevated from their practice squad just two weeks ago.
It also didn’t help the Commanders that the Rams’ Myles Garrett, the most prolific pass-rusher in the game over the past decade, returned Sunday from a seven-game absence, and terrorized Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels with three sacks totalling 21 yards in losses.
It turns out that developing (in Nacua’s case) and acquiring (in Garrett’s case) transcendent, superstar players makes a difference in an NFL team’s win-loss total.
“We needed all 14 of those catches,” Rams coach Sean McVay said of Nacua’s output.
On Nacua’s decisive touchdown catch, Commanders cornerback Trey Amos actually played something approaching textbook defense in coverage, requiring Stafford to make a perfect throw in the corner of the end zone, and Nacua to make a perfect over-the-shoulder catch with Amos all over him, then get both feet down.
“He was going to have to earn it,” Amos said. “Great player, great catch.”
The sun was already dipping below the upper deck of Northwest Stadium as a dejected crowd filed out late Sunday afternoon, the shorter days of November heralding the approach of winter. The sun, too, is rapidly setting on the Commanders’ season.
For a while Sunday, with the Commanders leading the Rams and the NFC East-leading New York Giants trailing the Philadelphia Eagles, the possibility arose that Thursday night’s matchup in East Rutherford, New Jersey, between the Commanders and the Giants could be a battle for first place in the division. A month ago, the teams tied at Northwest Stadium in a moment that marked a low point for the Commanders, who inexplicably failed to get off a last-second field goal that would have won it in overtime, despite being well within range.
But then the Giants (5-2-1) came back to beat the Eagles in Philly, and the Commanders (2-5-1), in Landover, first lost their lead over the Rams, and then lost the game. And now the Commanders trail their rivals by three games, and a loss Thursday night in New Jersey would all but end the competitive portion of their season.
On the other hand, at least the Commanders can say they are done with Nacua until at least 2027. And they won’t face anyone else like him, either — because, thankfully for them, there is no one else on the planet who can do what Nacua does.
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