Commanders sputter in red zone in loss to Giants

LANDOVER — Opportunities. 

That was the word uttered over and over in the Washington Commanders’ locker room and at the podium after the team’s crushing 20-12 loss to the New York Giants Sunday night. 

“We had our opportunities,” coach Ron Rivera said.

“There were still a lot of missed opportunities,” said quarterback Taylor Heinicke. 

“We definitely had some opportunities in the red zone,” wide receiver Terry McLaurin said.

These “opportunities” the Commanders’ coach and players say they squandered mostly came in the fourth quarter, just yards away from the end zone. Washington, now 7-6-1 and occupant of the final wild-card spot in the NFC with a difficult schedule ahead, scored points on just one of its three red zone trips in the one-score loss. 

The Commanders have struggled inside the opponent’s 20-yard line for the majority of the season. Washington entered Week 15 tied for 18th in red zone percentage — a statistic that measures only touchdowns scored, not field goals — at 52.9%. It’s been even worse over the past month.

In the four games since its upset at Philadelphia, offensive coordinator Scott Turner’s unit has scored a touchdown on just 41.7% (5-for-12) of its red zone trips — a percentage that would be the second worst in the NFL this season. In those games, Heinicke & Co. have scored just 16.75 points per game and are 2-1-1, with the loss and the tie both coming to the Giants — a team that Washington could very well lose a playoff spot. 

“We missed opportunities, and we can’t do that,” Rivera said. “We talked about that when we were off last week, that the red zone was something we got to be better at. And we didn’t do that.”

Red zone efficiency, however, wasn’t an issue in the first half. That’s because the offense was clunky to open the contest and failed to get inside New York’s 20-yard line through the first 30 minutes. But then the fourth quarter started, and as the left hands of the rowdy Commanders fans went up, so did the flags from the referees and the mistakes from Washington’s offense. 

Down 17-12, Washington was in the red zone with about eight minutes remaining after a 61-yard deep shot to Dotson and a 19-yard run from running back Brian Robinson Jr. But with the ball at the 5-yard line, Heinicke was sacked for a 4-yard loss on third down.

What looked like a drive that would stall out and end in a Joey Slye field goal later ended without any points, as the booth review of the third down play showed that Heinicke wasn’t down when he fumbled. The turnover was Heinicke’s second of the day, with the first being a sack fumble that Giants star rookie Kayvon Thibodeaux recovered for a touchdown. 

“I tried to make something happen with my feet, and I got hit,” Heinicke said about his second fumble. “I just got to protect the ball better. That’s points we left on the board.”

After allowing a field goal to go down eight, Heinicke once again led the offense deep into Giants territory. He nearly scored on a scramble from the 10-yard line, but he was ruled down a yard short. On third down, Robinson plunged into the end zone, and the Commanders looked to be just a 2-point conversion away, but an illegal formation penalty on McLaurin negated the score. 

The officials ruled that McLaurin wasn’t on the line of scrimmage to cover up the tackle, but the star wideout said after the game that he believed he was lined up properly. 

“I feel like I was on the ball the entire time,” McLaurin said. “If you look through the game, I line up there pretty much every play. I checked to see if I was good the first time, and he [motioned] to move up a little bit. When I moved up, I checked to see if I was good, and he said I was good.”

Heinicke then threw two incompletions on third and fourth down to end Washington’s comeback attempt, including the final pass — a jump ball to wide receiver Curtis Samuel in the end zone. 

“Oh yeah,” Heinicke said when asked if he thought Samuel was interfered with on the Commanders’ final offensive play. “I saw a picture, and the dude had his arms around [Samuel’s] neck before he could catch the ball. Who knows?” 

However, despite the multiple calls that Heinicke believes were “questionable,” he said the Commanders’ mistakes in the red zone outweighed the flags by the referees. 

“You can’t blame the refs, but again there’s some calls there that are just questionable,” he said. “But again there’s other plays out there to be made, and we didn’t make them. Ultimately, it’s on us.”