What more can be said when a team lets a single player catch 14 passes for 150 yards and a score? Especially when that player, the Rams’ Puka Nacua, was the only viable option for his offense: In Sunday’s 20-13 loss, nearly half (44.2%) of quarterback Matthew Stafford’s 43 pass attempts went to Nacua.
What makes the stats so jarring is the fact that the Commanders went into the game knowing Nacua was a threat. In fact, defensive players said after the game that Los Angeles kept spamming the same plays.
“We knew that going into the game Puka is a premium, they’re getting the ball to him,” linebacker Sonny Styles said on Sunday.
After watching film from the game, many things are clear. Nacua and Stafford attacked holes in Washington’s zone defense. The offense was hamstrung by Aaron Donald, Myles Garrett and company. And if the Commanders want to keep their season on life support Thursday night against the Giants — a team they tied a month ago — they’ll have to prevent a repeat of these same mistakes.
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Puka was inevitable.
Whenever Washington goes into a game with a player of Nacua’s caliber, the coaches preach “premium awareness” to their players. Basically: Always be aware of where these guys are on the field. Clearly easier said than done, but that’s their philosophy.
The problem is that the Commanders’ zone defense has a clear weakness: holes that can be easily exploited.
On Nacua’s first reception of the game, he ran an intermediate in-breaker in front of Styles and Frankie Luvu for 9 yards. On his third catch, a short curl route for 5 yards in the space vacated by linebacker Joshua Josephs blitzing off the right edge. On his fifth catch, a deep curl route went for 21 yards because he found the sweet spot in between Styles, Josephs and defensive backs Amik Robertson and Quan Martin.
This happened over and over again.
Why couldn’t the Commanders stop it? Stafford, despite his drop in production this season, still gets the ball out faster than just about any other quarterback. So pass rushes aren’t as effective, illustrated by him being the fourth-least pressured (26.7%) yet second-most blitzed (48.9%) quarterback through Sunday, according to Next Gen Stats.
“One way to speed up against zone is to add a fifth or a sixth rusher into it if you’re not going to play just pure man-to-man,” Quinn said when asked about Nacua beating their zone coverage time and again.
The O-line couldn’t hold up.
Speaking of premium awareness, this is how Jayden Daniels described his fumble in the second quarter: “Myles Garrett happened.”
The All-Pro edge-rusher, playing in his first game since Week 1, left his imprint on the game with three sacks, six pressures and a forced fumble, according to Next Gen Stats. Garrett’s .68-second get-off speed, defined as the average time it takes to cross the line of scrimmage, was the fastest of any pass-rusher with at least two pressures in Week 9.
It was a bad day at the office for the Commanders’ offensive line, with a mixture of missed blocks and one-on-one failures. The group allowed four sacks and 13 pressures, and Washington running backs averaged just 3.2 yards per carry.
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“This game, I didn’t think, offensive line-wise, was up to our standard,” Quinn said.
Early in the first quarter, the Commanders ran a draw play with running back Austin Ekeler. Rams All-Pro defensive tackle Aaron Donald lined up in the “B” gap between left guard Chris Paul and left tackle Brandon Coleman. Donald normally would have been Paul’s responsibility, but the play called for Paul to pull right. This forced center Lucas Patrick (63) to shuffle quickly over to try and get in Donald’s path — a near-impossible task.
As expected, Donald quickly disrupted the Daniels-Ekeler exchange, leading to a 4-yard loss.
In pass protection, the Commanders failed to stop Garrett in any way. Aside from a few chip blocks by Washington tight ends, the star pass-rusher was mostly left in one-on-one matchups. And if you want a microcosm of what a solo matchup with Garrett (95) looks like, look no further than him introducing a basketball eurostep to professional football against rookie center Matt Gulbin.
Quinn said the offense tried to prevent Garrett and Donald from mucking things up by providing help blocks and getting into a quick passing game. But the lack of a run game forced Daniels into deep drops, and the pressure threw off the offense’s timing.
There has to be better production against the Giants, Quinn said, or Washington risks similar results.
“Those are the type of players — they can’t ruin the game,” he said. “What’s coming up here this week, we’ve got to get ready to go make sure that does not happen.”
Thursday is around the corner.
Bad news for Washington: Its next opponent can create similar issues. The Giants don’t have a Garrett, but they do have pass-rushers who can fly around the field. Rookie linebacker Arvell Reese had three sacks against the Eagles on Sunday, while Abdul Carter had a sack and three pressures when New York played the Commanders in Week 5. Like Washington, the Giants blitz a lot (40.2%) but fail to turn those rushes in pressure (34.7%), which should in theory give Daniels more time to throw.
On the other side, tight end Isaiah Likely (11 catches for 94 yards and two touchdowns) and receiver Malik Nabers (11 catches for 121 yards and one touchdown) torched the Commanders in Week 5, attacking the zone coverage as the Rams did.
If there’s a repeat of Sunday’s performance, the Commanders would drop to 2-6-1 (1-3-1 in NFC East), all but ending their season just 10 weeks in. But they’re still in contention headed into Tuesday’s trade deadline, meaning they’re unlikely to sell.
“This time of year, discussions and calls and those kinds of things are normal procedures,” Quinn said. “But no change from yesterday regarding anything like that.”
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