Notes on the Commanders offense after loss to Cowboys

Posting my notes on each play of each drive from the Commanders offense in their loss to the Cowboys

The Commanders suffered their first alarming loss of the season against the Cowboys on Sunday. Playing the Cowboys always throws up some wildcards as divisional games typically do, but even with that being the case, the Commanders should have been able to win this game comfortably. The Cowboys were without their starting quarterback, left guard, right guard, wide receiver, defensive end and cornerback, among other injuries. To not come out of this game with a win is the first real crisis of the Dan Quinn regime. 

Typically on a Monday, I would do a film breakdown of Jayden Daniels performance and that will come at some point this week, but I thought I’d try something different today. The Commanders offense really struggled to get going throughout this game. Having watched back the All-22 and taken a bunch of notes, I thought I would share my thoughts on each drive and break down what I believe went wrong. Once you’ve read through this post, let me know if you like this change in format or if I should just go back to the normal Monday quarterback review post next week. 

Drive 1 - 7 plays, 17 yards - Field goal

1st&10 - Wide zone with read-option. Biadasz driven back by nose tackle, Coleman failed to secure back side. Lost 2 yards.

2nd&12 - Play-action double post. Both posts covered, Ertz couldn’t get off press, nothing open. Daniels forced to scramble and throw it away.

3rd&12 - Speed option for 16 to convert. Good call vs double mug bluff, defense bailed out of fake blitz, gave OL chance to make blocks. Probably only works once..

1st&10 - Unbalanced GT Counter, Allegretti failed to kick out Parsons, Ekeler forced to bounce run, Cowboys rally to it well.

2nd&7 - Jet sweep touch pass to Ekeler, McLaurin failed to block CB on edge. 

3rd&7 - Daniels missed corner route to Ertz, was there. 

Summary: Poor execution. Run game struggled early, Biadasz, Coleman and Allegretti all had missed blocks that prevented runs from working. Both second down plays failed to get anything setting up two third and long plays. Good call to convert the first, Daniels missed Ertz on the second. 

Drive 2 - 7 plays, 36 yards - Missed field goal

1st&10 - Daniels read-option keeper for 7. Looks like his quickness is back. Positive.

2nd&3 - Biadasz and Wylie clear the lane inside for Robinson to get 7 and 1st down. 

1st&10 - End around to Dyami Brown for 14, Noah Brown pins defense inside, Bates great lead block.

1st&10 - Read-option hand off. Wylie and Cosmi create lane for Robinson to pick up 6.

2nd&4 - Run stunt causes confusion, Cosmi blocks nobody, Parsons left unblocked. Robinson does well to get 2

3rd&2 - Slant to Noah Brown as part of missile concept, dropped.

Summary: Drop killed the drive. Run game started to get going. Had a few hits with some read-option looks. Daniels' threat made the defensive ends hold their spots, creating some double teams inside for Robinson to run behind. Nice trick play with the end around too. Playing ahead of the chains well, just a shame Noah Brown dropped the pass on third and short.

Drive 3 - 3 plays, 3 yards - Punt

1st&10 - Started with the ball inside Cowboys half, so took a shot to McLaurin. Just missed it.

2nd&10 - RPO stick, low pass from Daniels means Ertz only gets 3 yards.

3rd&7 - Empty set. Cowboys blitz to try and get 5-on-5, Commanders keep two in to chip on either side, but Cowboys anticipated this and moved Parsons inside to avoid the chip. Let the edges get chipped and focused on attacking the interior. Cosmi loses to Parsons expecting help from Biadasz, who had to pick up blitzing LB. Daniels forced to scramble away from quads side and throws it away.

Summary: Got behind the chains. Like the aggression to take a shot on first down with the ball past midfield, but when it doesn’t hit it sets up second and long. They failed to get back on track with the second down RPO setting up third and long. This saw the first third and long trend in the first half. Washington went to an empty set, as they typically do, and had chips on both edges to help out the tackles. While that has helped out the tackles a lot this year, it can leave the interior vulnerable. 

The Cowboys looked to attack this vulnerability. Parsons moved inside to avoid the chips and wreak havoc as a quick stunter. Dallas then added on with extra rushers and stunts inside to really test the interior three. Typically you wouldn’t leave a guard one-on-one against Parsons, and Cosmi was expecting help from Biadasz, but Biadasz had to pick up the blitzing linebacker. Good scheme from Dallas, but only happens because Washington got behind the chains. 

Drive 4 - 5 plays, 12 yards - Punt

1st&10 - Bootleg well covered, Daniels did well to flip it inside to Noah Brown for 3 yards.

2nd&7 - Ertz false start backs them up.

2nd&12 - Chains concept, good timing to Noah Brown, converted.

1st&10 - Biadasz snapped the ball while Daniels was trying to adjust play, nobody was ready and resulted in a sack.

2nd&11 - Motion to empty, run a WR screen. McLaurin failed to block on the edge, Coleman couldn’t get out to linebacker either. Only got 2 yards.

3rd&9 - Empty again. Chip help on both edges but no RB to insert inside, Dallas attacks interior with blitz again. Shot to Noah Brown wasn’t there, bad ball inside, lucky it wasn’t picked. Ertz crosser was open. 

Summary: Mental errors. False start from Ertz got them backed up. Overcame that and then had Biadasz snap the ball when the rest of the team weren’t ready and Daniels was sacked, backing them up again. Set them up for another third and long and we saw the Cowboys use the same tactic to attack the interior protection from empty that we saw on the previous drive. Daniels was pressured into taking a shot to Brown that wasn’t there. If he didn’t have to rush, he might have found Ertz open over the middle. 

Drive 5 - 3 plays, 11 yards - INT

1st&10 - Read-option run, DE charged Daniels, easy give read. Coleman failed to pick up DT from Allegretti, nowhere for Robinson to go. 

2nd&10 - Play-action shot was well covered down the field by Dallas, Robinson left wide open on checkdown underneath for 11. 

1st&10 - INT on screen. Dallas blitzed off the left side. Allegretti slipped out immediately, which meant Coleman had to squeeze inside and leave edge rusher unblocked. Biadasz and Cosmi failed to get out, Daniels hurried up from free rusher, but Robinson got caught in traffic and was late to turn for the ball. As a result, he bobbled it straight to the trailing defender.

Summary: The screen game to the running backs has been horrendous for a few weeks now. They hit some nice screens earlier this season but they’ve not been able to get anything set up to the running backs for about a month, if not longer. Was a slightly odd design of screen where Allegretti was the lead man out in front while the more athletic guys in Biadasz and Cosmi were trapped inside, but that is more down to the front the Cowboys used. Robinson was late to locate the ball because he was caught in traffic and because the throw was hurried as Daniels had a free rusher off the edge. If there is a part of Kingsbury’s offense that has fallen off a cliff, it’s the screen game to the running backs. 

Drive 6 - 7 plays, 29 yards - Punt

1st&10 - Read-option run, Ekeler cut his run back too early, needed to press it more, only got 3 yards. 

2nd&7 - Tunnel screen to Noah brown, Ertz good block, Noah made a DB miss, picked up 11.

1st&10 - Quick hitch to Terry for 6 yards.

2nd&4 - Pick a side stick concept, hit Zaccheaus on time for 8 and conversion.

1st&10 - Empty hank concept on 1st and 10, immediately took off running, knew it was man and had space, but defense peeled off to keep it to 2 yards.

2nd&8 - Cowboys drop to quarter-quarter-half coverage, missed Ertz breaking open to his right on an out route. Felt pressure, scrambled and chased out of bounds for a 1 yard loss.

3rd&9 - Empty set with four receivers to the left. Cowboys blitz off quads side, attack interior with a stunt again. Forces Daniels to scramble away from the quads side. Nothing available on the other side, runs out of bounds for a “sack”.

Summary: Started to get a little bit of something going in the two minute drill before the half, but Daniels missed an open pass to Ertz that would have been a first down and instead had to scramble and lost a yard to set up another third and long. They went to the empty set again and Cowboys once again used the same tactic to attack the empty protection plan. 

HALF TIME

Drive 7 - 10 plays, 60 yards - Touchdown

1st&10 - 13 personnel Duo to start, Allegretti nice pick up of Mike, Ekeler bounced it for 3. 

2nd&7 - Fake swing screen to isolate McLaurin slant, hit it for 6 yards.

3rd&1 - 13 personnel read-option, Ekeler just got it, could have pressed more to the right side for bigger gain but converted.

1st&10 - Sinnott holding wipes out nice duo run, sets up 1st and 20

1st&20 - Incredibly lucky. Called a draw, but Allegretti beat instantly. DT zooms past him but is surprised by hand off and can’t make the play. Even avoiding that potential negative play, they still only got 3 yards.

2nd&17 - 12 personnel play-action curls. Hit Noah Brown for 14, set up 3rd and short.

3rd&3 - Read-option keeper on 3rd&3, unblocked DE sunk back into coverage, good pull and convert. 

1st&10 - Read-option run, Wylie, Cosmi and Biadasz open big lane front side, McNichols hits it for 13

1st&10 - Another read-option run, McNichols cut it back early for 3

2nd&7 - Read-option keeper for 4, Daniels runs around Parsons to the edge.

3rd&3 - TD run - unbalanced read-option keeper. DE had no idea where the ball was, Sinnott outstanding block in open field, Daniels outran deep safety to the end zone. 

Summary: Easily their best drive of the game. Clearly made adjustments at the half, found what was working and stuck to it. Lots of read-option runs on this drive, Cowboys struggled to deal with that. Either they held position and let Washington get an extra blocker play side for a solid gain, or they crashed on the run and let Daniels keep it. Nearly had the drive blown up by Sinnott’s holding call, but they got back on track with a nice play-action pass to set up third and short. Sinnott made up for it the rest of the drive with some outstanding blocks, including on the touchdown run. 12 personnel has been their most effective group this year, moving Sinnott around from TE to FB was really effective on this drive. Might be something to use more going forward. Expecting some play-actions off of it next week. 

Drive 8 - 3 plays, 3 yards - Punt

1st&10 - Read-option zone run, hand off forced, run stunt blew up blocking scheme inside, Ekeler cut it back for 3.

2nd&7 - 13 personnel play-action sail concept. Couldn’t quite get the throw up and down to Ertz on sail.

3rd&7 - Chains concept. McLaurin not on the field. Wanted Noah Brown, was there but Trent Scott was driven back towards him, DE got hand up to swat pass down.

Summary: Frustrating one because they had the momentum after the previous drive. Went right back to the read-option stuff. Set up a play-action pass that should have been a nice gain but Daniels couldn’t quite get the ball up and down, which set up a third and seven. That was still manageable, Brown was open on the curl but Scott got driven back and the DE got his hand up to knock down the pass. This kind of drive can happen, especially with a back up right tackle in. So close to converting twice but these are the small margins for error in the NFL. Wouldn’t have been the end of the world had the offense been playing better overall.

Drive 9 - 3 plays, 3 yards - Punt

1st&10 - Same 13 personnel look we’ve seen a fair bit of in the second half. Nicely used to try and fake a run, but instead throw quick screen to McLaurin against off coverage. Quick 4 yards.

2nd&6 - RPO sweep, Bates and Scott fail to pin DT/LB inside. Loss of 1.

3rd&7 - looking for Noah Brown curl on outside again, really targeting that matchup. Ball out with good anticipation, Brown dropped it. Did have Ertz open over middle. Better protection adjustment from 1st half 3rd&long situations.

Summary: Execution again. Had a nice starter to McLaurin to get ahead of the chains but they lost it with the sweep on second down. Bates and Scott failing to pin the defense inside meant the sweep play got blown up and lost yards. Still had a good chance to convert on third down with another curl to Noah Brown, but he dropped his second pass of the day. 

Drive 10 - 3 play, 6 yards - Punt

1st&10 - 13 personnel duo again. Cosmi and Scott double DT but Cosmi falls over. Scott had to take over DT, but that left Mike free to make the tackle, keeping the gain to just 3 yards. 

2nd&7 - 13 personnel sweep. Sinnott couldn’t pin Parsons inside, Bates failed to pin LB, both chase down Ekeler to keep gain to 3 again

3rd&4 - Both McLaurin and Noah Brown broke open, but Allegretti was walked back into Daniels lap just before their cuts. He saw a lane inside and decided to scramble, Cowboys quickly closed the lane. Tried to dump it off to Ekeler last second but Ekeler wasn’t expecting it and couldn’t adjust.  Step up and reset to throw to either McLaurin or Brown might have worked.

Summary: Rare one where they got ahead of the chains, or at least stayed on track and set up third and manageable, just failed to execute on that third down. Think Daniels was ready to throw the corner route to McLaurin but McLaurin’s break was just after Allegretti had been walked back into Daniels. If he had been able to slide to his right and reset, he might still have had the throw to McLaurin or could have worked back to Noah Brown on the back side, but he saw a lane and decided to try and scramble. Unfortunately that lane closed quickly and Daniels was wrapped up. He nearly salvaged the play but Ekeler wasn’t expecting the ball to be tossed to him at the last second.  

Drive 11 - 1 play, 11 yards - Fumble

1st&10 - Fake toss run, nice ball to Bates over the middle. Bates fumbled…

Summary: Doesn’t need much explaining. Really nice scheme, defense bit pretty hard on the run fake. Bates was wide open and Daniels hit him over the middle. Should have been a nice gain and drive starter, but Bates fumbled and turned it over. 

Drive 12 - 9 plays, 69 yards - Touchdown

1st&10 - Curl to McLaurin, should have been 8 yards but McLaurin gave up ground trying to break tackle and ended up with 0 yards.

2nd&10 - Good anticipation on out route to Noah Brown for 11 and conversion. 

1st&10 - Empty sail concept, Cowboys default to interior pressure again but handled much better, Allegretti great job on Parsons. Daniels great job working to back side dig and hits Noah Brown for 19. 

1st&10 - Sack. Parsons beat Allegretti on the outside. Can’t happen. Biadasz is sliding his way to help, Allegretti has to take the outside shoulder and force Parsons to the help inside.

2nd&16 - Empty but Cowboys only rush 4 so picked up. Daniels ripped the dagger to Dyami Brown for 20 (McLaurin not on the field). 

1st&10 - Quick hitch to McCaffrey for 8.

2nd&2 - Quick stick to Ertz for 7.

1st&Goal from 10 - RPO stick into a great look, hand off to McNichols for 6. DT stunted inside, Allegretti/Biadasz picked it up, big hole, nice blocks on edge by Zaccheaus and McLaurin.

2nd&Goal from 4 - Ertz TD, quick seam concept with HB Texas added on. Could have hit either for a TD.

2-point attempt - 13 personnel fake duo play, Daniels keeper, out runs defense to the edge

Summary: Good job overcoming some adversity and setbacks on this drive. McLaurin not gaining any yards when he should have had 8 on the first play of the drive was rough. Allegretti getting beat for a sack when he had help was even rougher. But they overcame it twice thanks to some good throws from Daniels. Then they got into some quick game and punched the ball in for a big touchdown. 

Drive 13 - 6 plays, 37 yards - Field goal

1st&10 - Cowboys sink to deep Tampa-2. Took swing to Ekeler in flat, probably could have just taken the now slant to McLaurin or the shallow to Noah Brown for more. Ekeler fumbled, McLaurin nice job recovering it. 

2nd&9 - Empty set, Allegretti loses outside to Parsons again, Daniels looks lively as he takes off running for 23

1st&10 - Had cruise into Tampa-2, but hurried throw to flat. Probably could have had a bigger gain down the field but took quick checkdown for 5 and stopped the clock.

2nd&5 - great job working to back side curl to Dyami (where is McLaurin?). Had 24, wiped out by Coleman illegal formation penalty. 

2nd&10 - took Ertz middle hook for 13 to set up FG

1st&10 - spike ball to stop clock and kick FG.

Summary: Liked the decision on this drive to transition into a field goal after the illegal formation penalty. They hit a few plays and were moving the ball, but that penalty backed them up and they knew they didn’t have much time to waste this late on in the game. A field goal was going to be needed at some point regardless, so smart decision to hit Ertz over the middle and get back in field goal range after the penalty and then take the field goal to try and set up a late touchdown.

Drive 14 - 1 play, 86 yards - Touchdown

1st&10 - Outstanding throw to McLaurin for TD, terrible defense by Dallas.

Summary: Cannot believed the Cowboys allowed the catch, let alone the run after it. Great job by Daniels stepping up into the throw and giving McLaurin a chance to make a catch between two layers of the defense. Fantastic job by McLaurin making the catch and finding a lane to then turn the big catch into a touchdown. Incredible play, incredibly poor defense. 

Drive 15 - 2 plays, 6 yards - INT

1st&10 - quick out for shorter Hail Mary throw. 

2nd&4 - Hail Mary, Cowboys had 2 spies on Daniels, both added on to rush, pressure stopped Daniels getting enough on throw. Coverage better than Chicago. Intercepted. Game over. 

Summary: Not much to say about this one. Same script as the Bears game. Took a short quick hitter to make the Hail Mary attempt a bit easier. Cowboys played it way better. Delayed rushers that added on, preventing Daniels from buying too much extra time. Coverage down the field was better too. McCaffrey did his best to try and tip the ball backwards towards the end zone, but the defense was ready for it and intercepted it. 

Those are my notes on every play of this game from the Commanders offense. Let me know if you liked this format of post or if I should just stick to the normal breakdowns I do. Also let me know if you’d like me to elaborate on any themes from this post for other posts this week. I was thinking I could break down how the Cowboys attacked that empty protection in the first half and the adjustments that the Commanders made in the second half. Maybe there’s a particular drive or play or series of plays you’d want a deeper dive into. I will probably look to do a breakdown on Daniels for tomorrow, but I’m open to other ideas if you’d prefer to read something else. Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.