The Good, the Bad and the Ugly from the Commanders’ Loss to Dallas

A botched two-point-conversion attempt seems tame compared to what happened to the Commanders in Dallas on Sunday. Quarterback Jayden Daniels dislocated his elbow for the second time in less than 10 months, throwing Washington’s season into disarray after just two games. On the other side of the ball, another porous performance by the retooled defense has the Commanders searching for answers ahead of their home opener against the defending champion Seahawks in Week 3.

Here’s a closer look at Sunday’s loss to the Cowboys, with some thoughts on the game tape and coach Dan Quinn’s Monday afternoon press conference:

Daniels’ injury happened on an option play.

Washington lined up in 13 personnel (one running back, three tight ends), and Daniels was supposed to have the option to either cut in toward the goal line or toss the ball out to running back Rachaad White.

On the right side of the formation, the offensive line was overleveraged — there were four Cowboys defenders against just two blockers. Cowboys defensive end Jonathan Bullard beelined toward Daniels, who would have had a toss to White had left guard Chris Paul not stepped on his foot. Daniels threw the ball away as he fell, dislocating his elbow when he hit the ground.

Andrew Wylie got to the outside shoulder of his assignment while John Bates pushed his man in the opposite direction, potentially giving White a path to the end zone.

To that point in the game, Daniels had punished the Cowboys’ defense on the ground. His 69 yards on six scrambles was a career high for one half, according to NFL Research.

“It was certainly a freakish one of getting stepped on,” Quinn said of the injury. “Sometimes hard to explain.”

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Marcus Mariota threw for 111 yards and a touchdown in the second half of Sunday’s loss. (Julio Cortez/AP)

Marcus Mariota looked like a starting quarterback.

For someone who had zero expectations of taking the field on Sunday, Mariota held up surprisingly well. In one half of work, he finished 11 of 16 passes for 111 yards and a touchdown, picking up many of those yards in impressive fashion.

Mariota was fighting for his life in the pocket for most of his drop-backs. He was pressured on seven of 17, but was able to make magic happen on a few.

Late in the third quarter, Mariota stepped up in the pocket as large men Quinnen Williams and LT Overton barreled towards him. He evaded a swipe by Overton, and while getting pushed to the ground by linebacker Malachi Lawrence, threw the ball to Dyami Brown inches away from the sideline for an 18-yard gain. In the fourth quarter, facing a third-and-4, Mariota Texas two-stepped out of Donovan Ezeiruaku’s way and found White in the flat for a first down.

While the Seahawks’ pass rush has pressured at an average rate through two games, they’ve allowed the fewest yards per play (3.8). Last season, Seattle totaled five sacks and an interception in a 38-14 rout of Washington.

Quinn said Mariota’s presence won’t change much of the playbook, though it can be assumed that designed runs, like the option play where Daniels got hurt, will be rare for the 12-year veteran.

“We’re fortunate in that way, that he’s put in all the same timelines and guidelines with the players,” Quinn said of Mariota. “So it won’t be exactly the same, but fortunately they’ll have a lot of similarities.”

CeeDee Lamb made mincemeat of the Commanders’ secondary.

Coming into the week, there was no doubting that Lamb would be a threat. Aside from having the third-most receiving yards (7,416) from 2020 to 2025, Lamb torched the Vikings last year when Commanders defensive coordinator Daronte Jones was an assistant with Minnesota.

And on Sunday, Lamb chopped up Washington’s zone defense as well. He found plenty of space on a first-quarter catch that went for 23 yards. Later in that same drive, he caught a three-yard touchdown after a breakdown between cornerback Mike Sainristil and safety Nick Cross.

Lamb feasted on man coverage as well. He made corner Rasul Douglas bite on a cut to the inside before breaking back toward the sideline for a 38-yard gain, and burned Sainristil on a go route in single coverage for a 24-yard score.

“I didn’t love the communication, the attention out on the premiums with CeeDee and with George Pickens,” Quinn said Monday. “So we’ve got work to do on that spot.”

Lucky for the Commanders they don’t face the leading receiver in yards (277) and yards after catch (112) this week in their home opener.

Oh, wait.

Washington’s pass rush got to Dak Prescott, but it didn’t matter.

Believe it or not, but the Commanders’ pass rush fared well on Sunday. Of Prescott’s 36 drop-backs, he was pressured on 15 of them, according to NFL Research. That 41.7% rate was the 11th highest in the league in Week 2. Washington also had two sacks.

But on those 15 pressures, Prescott still completed nine of 13 pass attempts for 101 yards.

One example: On a play in the first quarter, edge rusher Odafe Oweh got in Prescott’s face just as the quarterback launched the ball to Lamb, who was standing alone 20 yards down the field. On a third-and-8 in the third quarter, linebacker Sonny Styles charged right at Prescott, who stepped out of the way and hit a wide-open Jake Ferguson for a 14-yard gain.

Prescott was even better when Washington gave him time to cook, completing 17 of 18 passes for 178 yards and four touchdowns when not under pressure.

“Collectively, defensively, we didn’t make life hard enough on Dak in those spots,” Quinn said. “So those are the things that kept me up for sure last night.”