The Washington Commanders are doing a lot of things well this season, but playing defense really hasn’t been one of them.
The Commanders were near the bottom of the NFL in most defensive categories through four weeks: 25th in points allowed, 26th in yards allowed, 30th in defensive DVOA, 31st in yards per play allowed and 32nd in EPA allowed per play.
And Deshaun Watson couldn’t do anything against that defense. When the Commanders took a 24-3 lead late in the second quarter, Watson’s line against one of the worst defenses in the NFL was 6 of 14 for 37 yards. And it actually looked even worse than that.
You’d think that at some point the Cleveland Browns would give up the idea that it’s smarter to cater to the feelings of a quarterback that has sunk their franchise than actually trying to win games, but it hasn’t happened yet. The Browns fell to 1-4 with an uncompetitive 34-13 loss to the Commanders. It’s worth wondering how bad Watson would have to be for the Browns to finally consider a quarterback change. Watson, who was taken out very late with the game completely out of reach, finished with 125 yards against one of the NFL’s worst defenses.
Watson is one of the NFL’s worst starting quarterbacks and has been for a while. It’s almost unheard of for a quarterback to be as good as Watson was with the Houston Texans and then become one of the NFL’s worst by the age of 30, but it has happened. And Browns coach Kevin Stefanski refuses to acknowledge it. The Browns have become an assembly line of excuses for Watson, trying to protect the quarterback from any criticism. And yes, the Browns have issues like offensive line injuries. But when a quarterback makes $230 million he has to overcome some obstacles. You can’t play like one of the worst starting quarterbacks in the NFL week after week and expect to keep your job, unless you play for the Browns it seems. Don’t worry, they’ll have an excuse for his poor play this week too. Watson hasn’t been held accountable for his play up to this point, so why start now?
Stefanski said after the game that Watson is still his quarterback. That shouldn’t be a surprise based on how they’ve coddled Watson, but it still has to be disheartening for Browns fans and probably Browns players too.
The Browns’ only hope to make Sunday’s game competitive came early in the third quarter. They recovered a fumble deep in Washington territory. Then Watson was sacked, threw incomplete on second down, threw it away on third down, the Browns took a delay of game after that and send on the field-goal team for a mostly useless three points. The old saying is quarterbacks make their money near the goal line and on third downs, and Watson did neither. Cleveland was 0 for 12 on third downs when he was in the game. Apparently $230 million doesn’t get you what it used to.
After the failure near the goal line the Commanders took a 31-6 lead and the Browns still refused to try another quarterback. Then Watson held the ball too long, was hit from behind and a loose ball was intercepted out of the air by the Commanders. And still there was no quarterback change. Watson might be one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL but he might be among the league leaders in job security.
It’s long past time for the Browns to throw in the towel and admit defeat on Watson. They made arguably the worst trade in NFL history and compounded that by giving Watson arguably the worst contract in NFL history. It’s hard to feel sympathetic for the team, since they were aware of Watson’s off-field issues and just figured it would blow over after a little bit of criticism. They turned themselves into the most unlikeable team in the NFL and continue to dig a deeper hole by acting like Watson is still a viable option and the offense’s issues are everyone else’s fault.
Here are the rest of the winners and losers from Week 5 of the NFL season:
WINNERS
Game of the year?: It’s barely October, but the Baltimore Ravens’ game against the Cincinnati Bengals will be tough to top this season.
Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson were both incredible, combining for more than 700 yards passing and nine touchdowns, and a key AFC North game went to overtime on Justin Tucker’s late field goal. In overtime, the Ravens seemingly gave the game away on a fumbled shotgun snap that was recovered by Cincinnati. But a bad hold on Evan McPherson’s game-winning field goal try led to a miss. Derrick Henry, who is having a huge impact for the Ravens in his first season with the team, had a long run downfield and Tucker won it with a field goal. The Ravens had a 41-38 win.
The Bengals needed a win badly after a 1-3 start. But they blew a fourth quarter lead and a field goal snap and are down to 1-4. The Ravens are 3-2 after an exhilarating win. There won’t be many more games this season as exciting as that Ravens’ win.
Jaguars offense, finally: When the Indianapolis Colts, who didn’t have Anthony Richardson, Jonathan Taylor or DeForest Buckner on Sunday, took a 7-0 lead, it seemed like the Jacksonville Jaguars might not make it to London next week with their coaching staff intact.
But the Jaguars snapped out of it, at least on offense. Trevor Lawrence had his best game of the season, first-round pick Brian Thomas Jr. and Tank Bigsby had long touchdowns and the Jaguars finally got their first win of the season, beating the Colts. The Colts tied it in the fourth quarter but the Jaguars responded with a long drive and a field goal with 17 seconds left. They won 37-34.
That win doesn’t mean the Jaguars are going to get on a winning streak. Indianapolis’ defense is bad and the biggest reason for the Jaguars’ offensive output. Jacksonville’s defense got shredded by an Indianapolis offense led by Joe Flacco and Trey Sermon. But a loss would have been inexcusable, and at least Jacksonville avoided that.
LOSERS
Sean McDermott: It’ll be a long, long week for the Buffalo Bills and their coach.
The Bills seemed to have send Sunday’s game to overtime, coming back from a 20-3 deficit and forcing a punt after a C.J. Stroud intentional grounding penalty. The Texans’ punt was downed at the Buffalo 3-yard line with 32 seconds left.
What happened next was inexplicable. Instead of running and likely taking the game to overtime, the Bills threw the ball incomplete three times. Buffalo had to punt. The Texans completed a short pass and because they had all their timeouts left — that was a reason Buffalo was passing, but not a good one — they called a timeout and Ka’imi Fairbairn hit a 59-yard field goal as time expired for a 23-20 Texans win.
The Texans probably shouldn’t have had that chance at the end of the game, but they did thanks to the Bills being aggressive from their own 3-yard line. After such a great comeback to tie it, that’s a deflating loss.
Viewers of Dolphins-Patriots: If you watched the Miami Dolphins-New England Patriots game in its entirety, you should be commended. That wasn’t easy to sit through.
The Patriots and Dolphins might be the two most unwatchable teams in the NFL. The Patriots were expected to be one of the NFL’s worst teams coming into the season. The Dolphins got there after Tua Tagovailoa’s concussion. It ended fittingly, with the Patriots completing a pass downfield but short of the end zone, and time ran out after Hunter Henry was tackled in bounds. The Dolphins won 15-10.
The Dolphins did just about everything to give Sunday’s game away. They had a punt blocked. They had a terrible snap on a field goal attempt and couldn’t get the kick off. They lost 22 yards on a bad shotgun snap, knocking them out of field-goal range. Every sloppy play you can imagine, the Dolphins pulled it off. But Miami just needed one touchdown in the fourth quarter, then a key stop late in the game that was aided by Patriots receiver Ja’Lynn Polk’s heel being just out of bounds on what looked like a touchdown catch.
The Dolphins won, but it wasn’t pretty.
Carolina Panthers: How bad were the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 3?
It looked that day like the Panthers might be a viable team after a quarterback switch as they beat the Raiders. It turns out, that was just the Raiders looking bad.
The Panthers continue to be one of the NFL’s worst teams no matter who their quarterback is. On Sunday they got blown out 36-10 by the Chicago Bears. Caleb Williams looked great, with 200 yards and two touchdowns in the first half, but that has more to do with the play of the Panthers defense than anything else. Williams finished with 304 yards.
The Panthers are a lost cause this season. The offense is better with Andy Dalton replacing Bryce Young, but it’s not good enough to overcome a terrible defense or win many games. At least they have that one win on the board.
Aaron Rodgers: Rodgers isn’t the first quarterback that Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores has confounded this season. He won’t be the last either.
But the New York Jets signed up for more than a 2-3 record with a Sunday of 4.5 yards per attempt and three interceptions in a 23-17 loss to the 5-0 Vikings. Rodgers attempted 54 passes and had just 244 yards, had an interception returned for a pick-6 early and in the final minute he threw a game-clinching interception to the Vikings with the Jets needing a touchdown to win. Rodgers still doesn’t look like he has much cohesion with his receivers and he has missed more throws than usual. He has also been hobbling around, including during the second half of Sunday’s game after his knee got twisted underneath him. He is 40 years old, and it has shown at times.
The schedule doesn’t clear up either. They host the Buffalo Bills on Monday night in Week 6, then play at the Pittsburgh Steelers. A 2-3 start could get a lot worse. There could be pressure to make major changes if the Jets go on a long losing streak. This was the Jets’ all-in season with Rodgers, and they were hoping for much better.
