The Washington Commanders defense played with ruthless aggression in Sunday’s 34-13 rout of the Cleveland Browns. Fans have been waiting for that. The secret it seems is third down stops. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were 9-of-13 on third down against the Washington Commanders. The New York Giants were 4-of-8. The Cincinnati Bengals were 6-of-10. The Arizona Cardinals finished 4-of-11. On Sunday, the Browns were successful once on third down out of 13 attempts. How will the Washington Commanders defense fare on Sunday?
Washington Commanders Defense Needs To Tackle Better
Speaking to the media Monday, Head Coach Dan Quinn talked about how much better the Washington Commanders’ defense has become. “When you have a game where you can tackle that means our tracking is better, the technique to go through that. I love the energy our Special Teams groups are bringing in terms of the coverage aspect. The more we’re doing this, the better the tackling is becoming,” he said.
He also said the Week 4 42-14 win against the Arizona Cardinals is where he saw it all come together. “Arizona was a step in the right direction for us,” Quinn said. “We played better on third downs to create some longer third downs. I also felt the energy and the speed of the players. The tackling has increased over the past couple of weeks. We’re still not getting quite the takeaways that I hoped we would. I do feel like those shots are becoming more apparent…that’s the next step for us.”
Quinn is right. On Sunday the Washington Commanders defense had 72 total tackles. In Week 4 they had 71 total against the Cardinals, so the tackling isn’t off, the problem is not producing turnovers. The Browns had only one turnover Sunday, a fumble.
Commanders Defense Inspired By Luvu
One of Sunday’s defensive standouts that helped with those third down stops was Linebacker Frankie Luvu, who led the Washington Commanders defense in sacks with 2.5, seven tackles, three quarterback hits, and two tackles for loss. He also recovered a fumble. So when it came to giving out the game balls, Luvu was on the list. He told the Associate Press (via WTOP), “There’s still a lot of plays left out there that we could improve on…Always room for improvement, and us as a defense, we’re just getting started. The arrow’s pointed up, and that’s the direction we want to go.”
Week 6 Will Be a Stress Test For Defense
The Browns offense went into Sunday’s game with the worst offense in the league. That takes nothing away from the Washington Commanders excellent defensive performance. However, the Baltimore Ravens are a different beast. Coming off a 41-38 overtime win against the Bengals, the Ravens are leading the AFC North.
They are also led by Quarterback Lamar Jackson, who carried the ball 12 times for 55 yards Sunday. He’s not afraid to run, so the defense will have more than enough to handle upfront. “I think everybody knows how exceptional and remarkable Lamar is,” Quinn said when asked about the quarterback comparisons Monday. “I’ve always wanted Jayden to be the best version of him.”
USA Today’s Commanders Wire reported Sunday that after the win, Daniels said he’s excited to play against Jackson. “Me and Lamar we–we’re very good….We have a good relationship. Obviously we have similar things in common, both on the Heisman but just being there for each other and he’s a hell of a player so I’m excited to be able to go out there and compete against him next week.” Kickoff is at 1 p.m. on Sunday at Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium.
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