Commanders most to blame for Week 6 loss to Ravens

It’s unfortunate when a player finds optimism after a thoroughly discouraging defensive performance. It’s not bad to reach for positive spins, but the truth needs to be weighed a little more carefully. St-Juste said the Commanders’ defense will be OK, according to espn.com.

“As long as the offense can put up some points, as long as they give us 21 points, after that the defense can go out there and do our thing,” St-Juste said. “I’m very optimistic we can fix all that stuff. Eliminate some of the plays from our end in terms of communication. We’ve just got to be better on the small details.”

The Commanders allowed 323 yards passing to Lamar Jackson, who completed 20 of 26 attempts and did pretty much what he wanted to do. St-Juste has been up and down this season, and this was a downer, as Ravens receivers Zay Flowers and Rashod Bateman combined for 13 catches and 203 yards. Plus, the Ravens managed to make Mark Andrews relevant again, something he hasn’t been all season. Andrews had three grabs for 66 yards, including a 38-yard TD reception.

The Commanders have tried to fix the NFL’s worst defense from 2023. Head coach Dan Quinn hired Joe Whitt Jr. to be his defensive coordinator, and they have six new starters on that side of the ball.

Commanders’ roster decisions coming back to haunt them

However, the Commanders made a huge mistake in thinking Emmanuel Forbes Jr. could be a contributor. He’s too thin and simply not an NFL cornerback. They should have cut him in the preseason and grabbed a veteran free agent to fill the tiny void. Forbes played only four snaps in Week 5 and didn’t make the active cut for the Ravens’ game.

Fixing small details won’t improve this defense enough to make a playoff push. Quinn blamed part of the problem on the opponent, and there’s justification for that.

“Some of (the big plays) were just in honestly a tough spot,” Quinn said. “You have to be vulnerable if you’re going to load up on the run and basically isolate things outside. So that’s part of doing business when you’re going to load the box against Derrick Henry and Lamar.”

But long hours in film study won’t make guys like St-Juste much better, no matter what he says.

“We see the areas we need to work at to get over that hump,” St-Juste said. “And start getting consistent wins against those big teams.”

OC Kliff Kingsbury leaned too much on passing game

Yes, the Commanders faced a tough defensive front and leading running back Brian Robinson Jr. missed the game with an injury. But it’s hard to imagine beating a good team with 18 carries for 52 yards.

Austin Ekeler gained 21 yards on nine attempts as the running game spun its wheels. But the Commanders entered the game as one of the NFL’s best rushing offenses. Even with the injury to Robinson, the Commanders needed to find way to possess the ball longer and keep the ball on the ground.

The things they’ve done running the football have helped Jayden Daniels shine at the quarterback position. Daniels did a nice job keeping his team in the game. But the Commanders have to be able to run the football against good teams. Or else they will lose most of those matchups.

Jeremy McNichols saw just two rushing attempts just a day after Kingsburg praised him, according to commanders.com.

“He’s a guy that I think all of us we trust in any scenario, any pass game, third and long, blitz pickup, short yardage, goal line,” Kingsbury said. “(And) he’s going to find a way to get it done. He just does it right and he does it right on special teams and it’s every day. It’s how he approaches the game. And, you can tell when he scores and has big plays, how guys appreciate him, celebrate him and that’s a credit to his work ethic and mental toughness and just kind of how he approaches the game of football.”

Commanders didn’t rely on offensive line

Plus Kingsbury recently talked about the success of the offensive line in the run game. But he relegated them to pass-rush-defense mode most of the game.

“Yeah, I think just like I said before, just the way they kind of can figure things out on the run together, the communication they have and their ability to,” Kingsbury said. “Even if we just walk something through and maybe don’t get a live rep at it, they’re able to go into the game. And if there’s an adjustment to be made, they can make it in real time and hit it and nail it. That’s been really impressive. So, I know it wasn’t a really hyped group coming into the season, but the way they’ve just worked and continue to work and continue to kind of support each other has been really cool to see.”