Commanders WRs provide reminder of their explosive potential
Terry McLaurin, Curtis Samuel and Jahan Dotson provided a reminder against the Giants of their explosive play ability.
The Commanders revived their season after a 1-4 start via Taylor Heinicke taking over at quarterback and the running game becoming the foundation of the offense. The last few weeks have been all about how strong the run game is becoming with Brian Robinson emerging as the lead back and Antonio Gibson providing a nice change of pace. During the recent stretch of wins with the run game as the focal point of the offense, it’s been easy to forget the weapons that the Commanders have at wide receiver.
Against the Giants on Sunday, we got a reminder of the explosive potential of this receiving group. Terry McLaurin has thrived since Heinicke took over at quarterback and had eight catches for 105 yards and a touchdown, but Curtis Samuel and rookie Jahan Dotson came up with big plays in key moments too. Samuel had six catches for 63 yards and an additional three carries for 23 yards, while Dotson caugh five passes for 54 yards and a touchdown. In total, those three receivers accounted for 19 catches for 222 yards and two touchdowns at 11.7 yards per catch.
Terry McLaurin
Let’s start with McLaurin. Obviously he’s the leading receiver on the team and Heinicke clearly trusts him the most in key situations. But he continues to make the most of that trust.
McLaurin’s first big catch came on third and four in the red zone. On third and short, we know the Commanders will look to run some form of mesh concept by now, especially against teams that likes to blitz and play man coverage. Here they run a mesh-dagger combination. McLaurin aligns isolated to the left of the formation and runs a shallow cross as part of the mesh concept. He runs free from the corner trailing in coverage, but Heinicke’s throw is slightly off due to having to avoid some pressure. McLaurin makes an excellent adjustment, turning around completely to reach back for the ball with one hand to bring in the catch. Once the ball is secured, McLaurin still has plenty of work to do, being short of the first down marker, but he makes it look easy as he shrugs off the tackle attempt from the corner before jogging into the end zone for the touchdown.
His ability to adjust to inaccurate passes is fantastic and came in handy throughout the game as Heinicke’s ball placement wasn’t always on point.
This is just a simple slant route for McLaurin. He aligns to the left and Curtis Samuel in the slot motions across to the right of the formation, leaving McLaurin isolated. McLaurin runs a slant into the vacated space, but the outside corner reads the route well and drives down on it while the zone defender inside widens out towards the flat to try and close the throwing window. Heinicke’s throw isn’t great. He leaves it behind McLaurin again, perhaps worried about the inside zone defender sliding across but it then allows the outside corner a chance to undercut it. But McLaurin again makes a nice adjustment to the throw behind him and secures the catch in front of the defender before being brought down.
But it’s his explosive ability, both down the field and after the catch, that makes McLaurin such a big threat to opposing defenses, especially in key situations.
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