Back when the NFL schedule was first released, I predicted this would be a bad team.\u00a0 I only gave them 6 wins on the season.\u00a0 I was wrong, this is a very bad team.\u00a0 Washington is not one of the better teams in the league.\u00a0 The Patriots made them look like contenders.\u00a0 I\u2019ll start by stating which players played well before I pounce on those that contributed to the loss.<\/p>\n
1) Ja\u2019Whuan Bentley led the team in tackles with 13 and had two sacks.\u00a0 However, Bentley\u2019s inability to cover a RB out of the backfield is a huge problem.\u00a0 Antonio Gibson had 5 receptions on 5 targets for 42 yards.<\/p>\n
2) Demario Douglas looked terrific today, the best receiver on the field.\u00a0 He was targeted 7 times and had 5 catches.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t hold on to a pass which ended up being overturned. \u00a0The Patriots were hurrying up to the line to run a play when Washington\u2019s DE James Smith-Williams suddenly dropped to the ground with a faked injury giving the Washington staff a chance to review the play and challenge.<\/p>\n
3) JuJu Smith-Schuster had a good game except for the final pass play which he should have caught.\u00a0 Smith-Schuster had 6 catches on 7 targets.\u00a0 His only drop ended up in the Commanders Safety Jartavious Martin.\u00a0 The ball went right through his hands.<\/p>\n
4) Connor McDermott played very well at Left Tackle.\u00a0 He was in for the injured Trent Brown and didn\u2019t allow a sack.\u00a0 The best way to describe his play was that his name wasn\u2019t mentioned at all by the announcers.<\/p>\n
5) Overall, the Offensive Line played well as a unit.\u00a0 This was the 7th<\/sup> different O-Line combination used this season.\u00a0 They kept Mac Jones upright all day, giving up no sacks.\u00a0 The Patriots had 107 yards rushing but that is skewed by the 64-yard TD run by Stevenson.\u00a0 They only ran 19 times.<\/p>\n 6) Stevenson\u2019s 64-yard run was a thing of beauty, especially the block by Jalen Reagor downfield that sprung him for the TD.\u00a0 \u00a0Stevenson also had 4 catches on 6 targets.\u00a0 He was wide open for a swing pass but Jones underthrew a lollipop pass that allowed the defender to get his hands between Stevenson\u2019s for a big breakup.\u00a0 I would have yanked Jones at that point for making the same mistake he did in last week\u2019s game.\u00a0 Can\u2019t do any worse with Zappe!<\/p>\n 7) The Defense made Sam Howell look like an All-Pro QB.\u00a0 I did say in my Preview that Howell is an up-and-coming QB.\u00a0 His performance last week vs. the Eagles where he threw for 397 yards and 4 TDs was followed up by a 325-yard game against the Patriots.\u00a0 He now leads the league in passing attempts.<\/p>\n 8) To make things worse they allowed 124 yards rushing including Antonio Jackson\u2019s 6 rushes for 34 yards for a 5.7 average.\u00a0 Washington dominated the Time of Possession 37:10 to 22:50. Part of this discrepancy was due to the Patriots using a no huddle offense.\u00a0 On the Patriots\u2019 1st<\/sup> 5 series, no Patriots series was more than a minute, and they still managed two TDs.<\/p>\n 9) The Defense was burned again for a long TD when they didn\u2019t have a Free Safety.\u00a0 Myles Bryant was beat by Jahan Dotson for a 33-yard TD.<\/p>\n 10) The Officiating was brutal.\u00a0 If you are two of the worst teams in the league. \u00a0I guess you are getting the lowest rated officiating crew.\u00a0 Coming into this game, this crew threw an average of only 8 penalties per game.\u00a0 The Commanders played to the level of this crew and got away with numerous fouls that weren\u2019t called.\u00a0 The 1st<\/sup> penalty of the game was called with 1:53 left in the 1st<\/sup> half.\u00a0 In the 3rd<\/sup> Quarter the Commanders KJ Henry was called for roughing the passer because all his weight came down on Jones.\u00a0 I\u2019ll admit that was a pretty marginal call.<\/p>\n In the 4th<\/sup> Quarter they called Brendan Schooler for a phantom 15-yard Facemask penalty.\u00a0 Later they missed a facemask on Washington.\u00a0 Demario Douglas head was snapped around and the official was standing right there.\u00a0 The best was the offsides called on Mack Wilson rushing the punter.\u00a0 Replay showed he was not offsides.\u00a0 What was not a penalty in the 1st<\/sup> half was a penalty at the end of the game.\u00a0 If anything, they met their quota by calling 8 penalties, 4 on both teams.<\/p>\n 11) JC Jackson and Jack Jones were benched to start the game.\u00a0 Shaun Wade started and was burned badly.\u00a0 Jackson was running behind receivers all game.\u00a0 Neither player spoke to the media after the game and the Patriots\u2019 Media Relations had to tell the reporters that Jack Jones had left the building.\u00a0 This needs to be watched.\u00a0 Has Belichick lost the team?\u00a0 I think these are some of the indications that he has.<\/p>\n 12) Bill Belichick said this week that Kayshon Boutte had his best week of practice.\u00a0 So he was inactive again this week.<\/p>\n 13) It was not Mac Jones’s fault on the final play that led to the interception.\u00a0 That was 100% on JuJu Smith-Schuster.\u00a0 The pass went right through his hands.<\/p>\n 14) Patriots\u2019 win the turnover battle and lose the game!\u00a0 Unbelievable.<\/p>\n 15) Where are the Bill Belichick prized Defensive draft picks DE Keion White (0 Tackles) and Marte Mapu (5 tackles \u2013 none that I remember)?<\/p>\n Too often this year I have criticized the coaches and their play calling and coaching on both sides of scrimmage and in the Special Teams.\u00a0 I put this game squarely on the players. \u00a0\u00a0They are undisciplined, which is not the hallmark of a Bill Belichick team.\u00a0 \u00a0This is a very bad team!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Back when the NFL schedule was first released, I predicted this would be a bad team.\u00a0 I only gave them 6 wins on the season.\u00a0 I was wrong, this is a very bad team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":49255,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-patriots-commentary"],"yoast_head":"\n