The Commanders avoid the season sweep by the Cowboys, on a last play touchdown to Terry McLaurin. The catch put the Commanders up 23-19 and gave Terry Mclaurin the record for most touchdowns in a single season in franchise history.
We started the game with our starters in as if we lost and the packers won we would have dropped in seeding.
Even then, we took out Jayden Daniels for Marcus Mariota at the start of the first half. Jayden Daniels had a rough first half, as did the whole offense, but they were able to pull it together with the veteran Mariota in the second half. My theory is: the offensive line was getting beat pretty bad in the first half and Dan Quinn decided there was no reason risking Jayden Daniels health for seeding.
The Commanders were missing Tyler Biadasz, Marshon Lattimore, Quan Martin, and KJ Osborn, all assumed to be healing up for playoffs.
The game was mostly meaningless, as the Packers ended up losing at the same time the Commanders pulled off the win, but it was still a great boost of momentum as the Commanders pull off another win in the last minutes.
Takeaways:
Marcus Mariota is a great back up: He went in and the offense looked just as good as it would under Jayden Daniels. Great off-season signing.
Terry McLaurin looked to gain his confidence back: Terry was having a rough couple of weeks, as well as a rough first half. But in the second half he really got back to his stride and torched Daron Bland.
Offensive line is badddd without Tyler Biadasz: We really hope Biadasz can get back for the playoffs because the offensive line really looks rough without him at the helm.
In a typical year… 12-5 typically warrants more then the 6 seed. While the Commanders were definitely lucky with some of the breaks they got this year, they weren’t lucky with how the rest of the NFC standings went. The Eagles went 14-3 while splitting the series with the Commanders. The NFC North had a monstrous year which had the 14-3 Vikings getting knocked down to the 5 seed. In a lot of years the Commanders are looking to host a playoff game next weekend.
But also in a typical year the Commanders don’t win 12 games– the last time the Commanders won 12 games? 1991.
Washington Plays @ Tampa in the Wildcard
Today we also found out who the wildcard opponent will be, and with the Rams’ loss and the Bucs’ win, the Commanders go to Tampa Bay for the wild card. Will be a nice weekend trip for all the Commanders fans’ who plan on traveling away from this snow storm that is about to hit the DMV.
It’s a rematch of the Week 1 game where the Commanders’ played @ Tampa. The Commanders ended up losing that game 37-20, but it is also a completely different team and a completely different Jayden Daniels then during that week 1 matchup. Should be a fun one.
A Key Matchup: Marshon Lattimore vs Mike Evans. There is tons of history there and every time these two match up it gets chippy and rowdy. Lets hope the referees let Lattimore play more handsy this game then they did against AJ Brown in the Eagles.
The playoff game is @ 8pm on Sunday January 12th. The Commanders are back in the Offs. HAIL.
(image via x/commanders)
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