Four Downs with the Commanders: Back to the drawing board after a storybook season

Every dream season ends with one waking up. Even championship campaigns can’t put off planning for next year.

The Washington Commanders delivered one incredible ride that far exceeded expectations. But Sunday in the NFC championship game, the Burgundy and Gold were delivered the rude awakening of a 55-23 loss in Philadelphia.

Many deficiencies were glossed over during the team’s best regular season since 1991 as well as the playoff run. Not so at Lincoln Financial Field on a January afternoon that turned bitter cold.

First Down: During the regular season, Washington ranked 30th in the NFL in stopping the run, and they also coughed up 151 yards per game in their two playoff wins. On Sunday, the trend continued when Saquon Barkley took his first carry and ripped off a 60-yard touchdown run, setting the tone for a day where the Eagles tallied 229 yards on the ground at a rate of 6.4 per carry.

Three fumbles and an interception didn’t help either as Philadelphia answered every Washington giveaway with a touchdown. The offseason will bring plenty of challenges with 28 players hitting unrestricted free agency and this team being far from a finished product. Brace yourselves for a lot of comings and goings.

Second Down: Philadelphia makes its second Super Bowl appearance in three years and can win its second title in eight years after going 58 years without winning it all. The Eagles will face a Kansas City club that’s trying to become the first team to win three straight Super Bowls. Even if the Chiefs lose, they’ve still advanced further than any other back-to-back winner in a quest to pull off a three-peat. For the record, I did a deep dive in September on the company Kansas City keeps.

Third Down: Washington converted 7-17 third downs while converting 4-6 fourth downs (3-3 in the first half). Jayden Daniels completed 7-12 passes on the money down for five conversions while getting sacked once and running for one first down. Brian Robinson Jr. converted a third-and-1 while Austin Ekeler gained one yard on a third-and-4 after the game was out of reach.

The top option? Terry McLaurin caught two of his four targets with one reception moving the chains and the other resulting in a touchdown that pulled Washington to within a field goal. Yardage breakdown: 3-4 on short yardage, 3-6 when needing 4 to 6 yards, and 1-7 on long yardage. Defensively the Commanders held Philadelphia to 5-10 on third down.

Flag on the Play: Washington was whistled nine times for 47 yards, although four of those were in a short sequence during the fourth quarter that involved Frankie Luvu mistiming the snap count and diving over the Eagles offensive line into the backfield. The officials then threatened Washington with an automatic touchdown if they tried those shenanigans again. Unintentional comedy, for sure.

All nine flags were on the defense: three encroachments, two offsides, two pass interferences and two unnecessary roughness calls. Frankie Luvu was penalized three times (two encroachments and an offside) while Jonathan Allen was whistled for encroachment and an offsides call. Marshon Lattimore was whistled for pass interference and unnecessary roughness, and the pass interference call was perhaps the costliest as it turned what would have been a fourth-and-13 from the 17 into a first-and-goal from the Washington 1.

Philadelphia would score shortly thereafter and own at least a touchdown cushion for the rest of the day.

Fourth Down: Washington’s game Sunday, just like their previous playoff game, was called by the No. 1 team on FOX: Kevin Burkhardt and Tom Brady. While they didn’t announce a Commanders regular season game in 2024, expect to see those two, along with the top CBS pair of Jim Nantz and Tony Romo, multiple times next fall as Washington becomes must-see TV.

This past fall, Nantz and Romo called two Commanders games while the No. 2 crews (Ian Eagle/Charles Davis on CBS, Joe Davis-Jason Benetti/Greg Olsen on FOX) announced five games and three more aired in prime time (the Atlanta game was flexed to NBC). Expect a minimum of two games on the original NBC slate plus at least one of the matchups against Philadelphia in the 4:25 window as the national game (the other might be in prime time or on Saturday/Thanksgiving/Christmas).

Gone are the days of Kenny Albert-Jonathan Vilma and Chris Myers-Mark Schlereth. Enjoy the new world of Washington football.

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Dave Preston

Dave has been in the D.C. area for 10 years and in addition to working at WTOP since 2002 has also been on the air at Westwood One/CBS Radio as well as Red Zebra Broadcasting (Redskins Network).

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