The Washington Commanders lost their fifth consecutive Sunday, falling 28-20 to the Los Angeles Rams. It’s also Washington’s seventh loss in its last eight games and 10 of its last 12.
Everyone knows head coach Ron Rivera will be fired at the end of the season. Rivera himself is reportedly at peace with his future. Sunday’s loss dropped his record as Washington’s coach to 26-37-1.
New owner Josh Harris has made it clear Rivera will remain Washington’s coach until the season of the season. But when you are performing as poorly as Washington is, continued losses with a coaching staff that will be gone make it difficult to evaluate the current roster. The current staff wants to win games, while management wants to evaluate young players.
That’s the case again after Sunday’s loss to the Rams. Some players stood out, others struggled. Which ones?
We do our best to find some positives from Sunday’s loss to the Rams. Here are the studs and duds from Week 15. We could do a longer list of duds, but we’ll keep it shorter.
Stud: QB Jacoby Brissett
Brissett came in midway through the fourth quarter and immediately went to work. On his first drive, he completed all four passes with a touchdown to McLaurin. On his first pass of his second series, he found McLaurin for what looked like a 50-yard touchdown, but he was ruled down at the one-yard line. Unfortunately, Washington’s playcalling got weird, and it took over three minutes for the Commanders to score, essentially ending any chance of a comeback.
No one doubted that Brissett could play. He finished Sunday’s game completing eight of 10 passes for 124 yards and two touchdowns. He gave the Commanders a spark. But Ron Rivera made the right call after the game to stick with Howell for the remainder of the season. Brissett is a veteran on an expiring contract. His future isn’t in Washington. Howell needs to continue playing for multiple reasons.
Dud: QB Sam Howell
Speaking of Howell, it was another rough day for the second-year signal caller. He completed 11 of 26 passes for 102 yards. On his interception, he had two easier reads but instead attempted to force the ball to Terry McLaurin and made an inaccurate throw. In Howell’s defense, he was under constant duress, but you almost wonder if the whole “get rid of the ball quick” mindset has taken away some of Howell’s effectiveness. Howell did hold the ball too long, and while the sacks have come down, so has Washington’s effectiveness in the passing game.
Howell has three weeks to continue showing ownership he belongs in the mix to be Washington’s 2024 starter. However, his play in recent weeks absolutely has a quarterback in the discussion for the Commanders with their top-five pick in 2024.
Stud: WR Terry McLaurin
Welcome back, Terry. It was good to see you again. McLaurin caught six passes for a career-high 141 yards and a touchdown. He barely missed another touchdown when he was ruled down at the one-yard line. There was also the big play in the second half in which he made a tremendous catch, but it was ruled incomplete. There was pass interference on the play, but it was not called.
McLaurin had three catches for 48 yards with Howell under center, and three receptions for 93 yards, and a score with Brissett. McLaurin has been understandably frustrated in recent weeks. On Sunday, he proved to everyone nothing had changed from his side; he just needed the opportunities. In their final three games, the Commanders should do everything possible to force the ball to McLaurin.
Dud: Secondary
“Let’s just leave Cooper Kupp wide open” “It’s a bold strategy Cotton. Let’s see if it pays off them.” pic.twitter.com/aDOLK06X0P
— Matthew Berry (@MatthewBerryTMR) December 17, 2023
How does this always seem to happen to Washington? Other teams have coverage breakdowns, but not every week. In Ron Rivera’s four years as head coach, this has happened a lot. Rivera fired defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio and secondary coach Brent Vieselmeyer after the Week 12 loss at Dallas. Things haven’t improved. They’re not going to under this staff. You can blame the players, which is fair. But clearly, the message is not getting across. These issues happened less frequently last season under former DBs coach Chris Harris. No secondary in the NFL allows big plays at a higher rate than the Commanders.
Stud: LB Khaleke Hudson
With Jamin Davis’ injury, Khaleke Hudson is finally getting to play every down. He was all over the place in Sunday’s loss to the Rams. No, Hudson wasn’t perfect, allowing a couple of completions in the passing game. But he was always around the football, including making plays at or behind the line of scrimmage. He led all players with 14 tackles on Sunday. Hudson should play every snap for the Commanders over the final three games.
Dud: HC Ron Rivera
Another tough day at the office for Rivera. This team has been finished for weeks. Rivera’s future is decided, and the Commanders are just playing out the string. We could put Rivera on this list as a coach and/or GM. There are so many missteps from Rivera’s time in charge of personnel that we can’t name them all.
In seeing long snapper Camaron Cheeseman’s performance on Sunday, all you could think about was that Washington traded up in the 2021 NFL draft for him. He struggled in training camp and early in the season, yet Rivera blew it off. He was terrible on Sunday. He cost the Commanders points on Sunday. No, he didn’t cost them the game because the game wasn’t as close as the final score. But Cheeseman still being on the roster is another Rivera blunder.
Dud: LS Camaron Cheeseman
What a disastrous day for Cheeseman. He’s been bad all year. On Sunday, he delivered at least three bad snaps, one of which almost got punter Tress Way seriously injured. Way saved Cheeseman on another bad snap, allowing kicker Joey Slye to make the extra point. However, on Washington’s final touchdown, another errant snap led to the Rams blocking Slye’s PAT. Way has saved Cheeseman multiple times all season.
After the game, Cheeseman was asked if he was worried about his job. Cheeseman’s reply was eye-opening, acknowledging most teams would have already moved on from him due to his struggles this season.
