On Sunday afternoon, the Washington Commanders dropped their season opener to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium. After holding Tampa to a field goal on the opening drive, the new-look offense took the field for the first time. The first play of Jayden Daniels’ career was one to forget after Daniels threw behind Brian Robinson in the backfield, immediately causing a fumble and a huge loss.
Washington trailed 16-7 at the half after Robinson’s seven-yard scamper put them on the board. Daniels and Robinson led the second half's opening drive into Tampa territory, but a missed field goal wasted a chance to make it a one-possession game. Baker Mayfield and the Bucs offense took advantage of the miss and immediately scored. Daniels cut it back to a nine-point game, but the secondary was torched in the 4th quarter. Tampa constructed scoring drives of 72 and 91 yards to put the game away.
Jayden Daniels' Debut
Jayden Daniels started the day with growing pains but learned from his mistakes and bounced back very nicely. The rookie's main point of success was his ability to protect the ball and not turn it over through the air. After taking some sacks earlier in the game, his pocket awareness improved, and he stepped up in the pocket when he felt pressure.
Daniels had trouble finding open receivers, so he used his legs to find the holes in the Tampa defense. He finished the game with 16 carries for 88 yards and two touchdowns, which led all rushers for Washington. The one area of concern was his three fumbles on the day (one did come on a strip sack and the other on the first play throw that was ruled a backward pass), even though all three were recovered.
Through the air, we saw what was expected from a rookie quarterback and will likely see more of it moving forward. Daniels focused on getting the ball to his running backs on quick screens out of the backfield. Washington's leading receivers were Austin Eckler, who had four catches for 52 yards, and Brian Robinson, who had three catches of his own for 49 yards. It was also brought up in the season preview that Daniels would target tight end Zach Ertz as a safety valve, which he did, targeting Ertz four times.
Same Old Secondary
Coming into the 2024 season, the secondary was one of Washington's most significant areas for improvement. They had done little to address that need outside of drafting Mike Sainristil in the second round of this year's draft. Baker Mayfield exposed Emmanuel Forbes and Benjamin St-Juste all game long and seemed outmatched.
While Baker threw for 289 yards, the main issue is the number of completed passes he had during the game. Mayfield finished the day 24-30 with four touchdowns and a QBR 146.4, only being sacked once. Taking an even more in-depth look, four of his six incompletions were in the first half, meaning the Commander's pass defense worsened after the half.
Tampa's top two wideouts, Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, should have been the main focus of the defense heading into Sunday. They finished the game with a combined 13 receptions on 14 targets for 144 yards and three touchdowns. For this team to succeed in 2024, they need to make adjustments to the secondary heading into Week 2.
The Cade York Trade Did Not Work
Washington went through multiple kickers during the offseason, whether Brandon McManus, Ranuz Ahmed, Joey Slye, or Riley Paterson. Towards the very end of the offseason, Washington struck a trade with the Browns for Cade York, seemingly ending the search. York had one of the worst field goal percentages, with the Browns back in 2022, hitting only 71.4% of his kicks. The Commanders thought they could fix those problems and utilize York's strong leg.
The move proved costly, with York missing both field goal attempts wide in the game. The first attempt came with a chance to tie the game at three after Daniels and Robinson got the ball down to the Tampa 29-yard line. York's 47-yard attempt sailed wide right, taking any momentum away from Washington. The second missed field goal game on the opening drive of the third quarter with a chance to cut the Commanders' deficit to just six points. The offense couldn't get much going but grinded out a drive to set up a 56-yard field goal that York again sailed right.
The Commanders have since released the second-year kicker and have not officially signed a new one for next week.
Up Next: Home Opener vs. the Giants
The Left Hands will be out in full force this Sunday as the division rival New York Giants come to DC. The Giants are coming off a blowout loss, which will be a golden opportunity for the team to bounce back. The defense should be able to take advantage of a Giants team struggling to find their identity (and a quarterback). Malik Nabers will be the focus of the secondary, and we will get into that more later this week.
Final Score: Tampa Bay Buccaneers 37, Washington Commanders 20
Santoro's Three Stars
1st Star - Jayden Daniels (Passing: 17/24 for 184 Yards, Rushing: 16 Carries 88 Yards, 2 TDs)
2nd Star - Brian Robinson (12 CAR, 40 YDS, TD / 3 REC, 49 YDS)
3rd Star - Bobby Wagner (10 Tackles / 3 TFL)
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