Four Downs with the Commanders: Bouncing back after getting knocked down

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Sometimes the metaphor meets the literal. Sunday afternoon the Washington Commanders had the task of bouncing back from a Thursday night loss in Green Bay, where they spun their wheels on offense and allowed big plays on defense.

And they’d have to do so minus starting quarterback Jayden Daniels for the first time in his career. Could they get back up after being knocked down? Late in the first half backup quarterback Marcus Mariota ran out of bounds and right into head coach Dan Quinn as they tumbled to the ground.

But the coach got back up and, after being treated for cuts on his face, was on the sidelines for the second half of a 41-24 win — just like the Burgundy & Gold got back up in the aftermath of their loss to the Packers.

They got knocked down, but they got up again, reminding us of the ’90s tune by the group Chumbawamba.

First Down: The understudy shined as Marcus Mariota threw for 207 yards and a touchdown while running for 40 more and a score. We also saw plenty of big plays, starting with Deebo Samuel’s 69-yard kickoff return that set up the first touchdown of the day to this trio: Luke McCaffery’s 43-yard TD catch, Jeremy McNichols 60-yard scoring run and Jaylin Lane’s 90-yard punt return for a touchdown.

Last year, the Commanders scored 40+ points four times including the playoffs and it was nice to see this team find its groove for the first time this season. The defense handcuffed the Raiders when it mattered, holding the visitors to 3-14 on third down.

Second Down: Philadelphia remains atop the NFC East and is one of six 3-0 teams in the league, as the Eagles rallied from 19 points down in the third quarter to take a late 27-26 lead over the Los Angeles Rams. But the Rams had one last shot to escape with a victory and lined up for a 44-yard field goal attempt. If one had played LA +3.5, what’s the worst thing that could happen? How about the Eagles blocking the attempt and returning it 60 yards for a touchdown that made the final 33-26.

Dallas is 1-2 after a 31-14 loss at Chicago that wasn’t that close, and the New York Giants are 0-3 with Russell Wilson getting booed after their 22-9 loss to Kansas City. There are five other winless teams in the NFL, and four of them play each other next week: Tennessee-Houston and New York Jets-Miami. But while Titans-Texans is buried in the CBS regional 1 p.m. world, Jets-Dolphins is the early game of a Monday Night Football doubleheader.

Third Down: Washington moved the chains on 5-10 attempts, with Marcus Mariota completing 4-5 passes for two conversions while also scrambling to secure a first down. Mariota was whistled for intentionally grounding as well and when he was sacked the Raiders got flagged for a facemask.

His top target? Jaylin Lane had two passes thrown his way (one catch for -2 yards). Washington ran three times on third down, with Jeremy McNichols and Bill Croskey-Merritt each moving the chains on third and short (we’ll discount McNichols’ three-yard gain on third and 21).

Yardage breakdown: 4-4 on short-yardage, 0-1 when needing four to six yards, 1-5 on third and long.

Flying Flags: Washington was whistled 10 times with three flags declined, partially because there were two plays where they made more than one penalty. The repeat offenders were a pair of linemen: Laremy Tunsil (illegal use of the hands and offensive holding) and Josh Conerly (two holds). Fortunately each had a penalty declined because the other committed an infraction on the same play. Of the seven accepted penalties, five were on offense and two were on special teams (hold on a kickoff and kickoff out of bounds).

The most costly penalty? Actually two of them in a short sequence as an Andrew Wylie hold turned what would have been a first and 10 from the Raiders’ 20 into a second and 16 from the Las Vegas 37 that put them behind the sticks, followed by a Terry McLaurin false start on third and 12 from the 33 that pushed them back to the 38 and an eventual punting situation.

Fourth Down: We were treated to Chris Myers and Mark Schlereth on FOX yesterday, and that wasn’t the only assignment that caught me by surprise. I thought Commanders-Raiders was more of a Kevin Kugler-Daryl Johnston or Kenny Albert-Jonathan Vilma game, but then again I also thought that Rams-Eagles should have been the 4:25 game of the week instead of Dallas-Chicago.

I was also surprised that Jim Nantz and Tony Romo were working Minnesota-Cincinnati instead of New England-Pittsburgh. But wasn’t it cool to have Brent Musburger guesting on “The NFL Today” for the show’s 50th anniversary? Even if they went overboard with the “’70s outfits,” it was cool to hear Brent come on at the beginning.

Week four’s Commanders game in Atlanta will be on CBS, who has the doubleheader (already pumped for Ravens-Chiefs), so I think the trio of Andrew Catalon-Charles Davis-Jason McCourty get this one.

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