LANDOVER — Ten days after allowing just seven points in an ugly win over the Bears, Washington’s defense led the Commanders to a second straight victory.
“The defense is really coming to life,” coach Ron Rivera said after his team improved to 3-4. “There’s been a lot of energy that we’ve been able to feed off of.”
The defense allowed just two touchdowns and 232 total yards in the 23-21 win over the visiting Packers. The other Green Bay score came on an interception return for a touchdown that put Aaron Rodgers & Co. up 14-3 in the second quarter. Over its last three contests, the Commanders defense is giving up just 14 points per game.
The success of defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio’s unit is a near 180-degree turn from the start of the season. Washington allowed more than 21 points in each of its first four games to average 26.25 per contest, including the debacle that was the 36-27 loss to the Detroit Lions in Week 2.
“We know what we can do. At the beginning of the season, we weren’t sure,” said cornerback Benjamin St-Juste, who played well in coverage once again. St-Juste has stepped in to be an every-down player after William Jackson III was benched against the Titans and has been out the last two games with a back injury.
“Now we’re comfortable,” St-Juste continued. “We know how to play off each other, and you can see it on the field how comfortable and how poised we are.”
Oftentimes a good defensive performance includes sacking the quarterback and causing turnovers. But Rodgers, having arguably the worst season of his distinguished career, was jittery and quick to get the ball out.
As a result, Washington’s defensive line — undoubtedly the strength of the unit, led by Jonathan Allen, Daron Payne and Montez Sweat — recorded only one quarterback hit on Rodgers and zero sacks. And the only turnover for Washington was caused by the special teams on a muffed punt by the Packers in the first quarter.
Unlike earlier this season — when Detroit’s D’Andre Swift caught a pass in the flat, fell to his butt, got up and then evaded three Washington defenders on his way to the end zone — the second and third levels of the Commanders’ defense were in position and made tackles on Sunday.
“We knew they were going to try to nickel and dime us down the field, little screens and run the ball,” St-Juste said. “We shut that down pretty well.”
After allowing a touchdown on Green Bay’s second drive — a possession that began at Washington’s 42-yard line — the Commanders forced a Packers punt on each of their next four drives.
Then came the biggest stop of the game: a turnover on downs early in the fourth quarter. With a six-point lead, the Commanders forced an incompletion on fourth-and-1 on their own 38-yard line. Green Bay didn’t convert on any of its seven attempts on third and fourth down. The last time the Packers had gone without a third-down conversion was Oct. 17, 1999.
“Third downs is the key to a big defense,” St-Juste said. “You make them third down and long … it’s pretty hard to convert, and it’s just down to a defense making a play. We were very effective at that this week.”
The Packers’ second touchdown came on a long drive that was aided by 27 penalty yards by Washington. But Heinicke and the offense got multiple first downs to chew clock, and the Packers’ backyard football attempt to find the end zone as time expired was unsuccessful.
It’s important to note, of course, that Washington hasn’t been going up against the 2013 Broncos or the 2007 Patriots. The Titans, Bears and Packers all rank as some of the least-efficient offenses in football.
The Packers’ offense has sputtered this season despite still being led by a future Hall of Famer in Rodgers. An answer to a lack of outside weapons has been to lean on the running game of Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon, but even that didn’t work Sunday. Green Bay totaled just 38 yards on 12 carries, as linebackers Cole Holcomb (team-high nine tackles) and Jamin Davis (two tackles for loss) stuffed the run game.
“They’re a terrific running football team, and to be able to slow that down says a lot about what we did on defense,” Rivera said.
But good defenses — whether this is a good defense or not is to be seen — take care of business against bad offenses. And there’s another bad one coming up on the Commanders’ schedule, as the team travels to Indianapolis next week with a chance to get back to .500. The team that jettisoned Carson Wentz to the District is scoring just 16.1 points per game, and quarterback Matt Ryan leads the NFL with nine interceptions.
• Jacob Calvin Meyer can be reached at jmeyer@washingtontimes.com.
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