EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. | It was a game that promised little, and still managed to underdeliver.
It was a show Commanders defensive tackle Jonathan Allen has seen before.
“I’m f——— tired of this s—-,” Allen announced in the locker room. “It’s been seven f———- years of the same s—-.”
Washington lost 14-7 to the New York Giants despite being gifted opportunity after opportunity to win the football game in the second half, none bigger than when Giants defender Kayvon Thibodeaux dropped a pass that Sam Howell floated into his chest.
Entering the game 3-3, the Commanders had an opportunity to shut down the beat-up Giants (now 2-5) and announce themselves as legitimate playoff contenders. Instead, they played the same way they have for the last decade when presented with opportunity — they pushed it away.
The Giants basically shouted their defensive game plan from the top of the Empire State Building, and the Commanders were still caught off guard. Sunday marked the low point of Eric Bieniemy’s seven-game stretch as offensive coordinator.
PHOTOS: Howell sacked six times, Commanders fall to Giants, 14-7
Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martindale loves to blitz, and he brought pressure on 57% of the snaps on Sunday.
It’s something the Commanders had talked about preparing for all week, and there was very little new or unique in what the Giants had to offer.
Howell: “There weren’t any looks that we don’t know the answer to. It was just more a matter of executing.”
Offensive lineman Nick Gates: “We just didn’t do our jobs. We didn’t protect for Sam. Plain and simple. And a lot of that’s on me. I didn’t do my job.”
Coach Ron Rivera: “I think they did exactly a lot of the things we thought they would.”
And yet, the first-half game plan reeked of arrogance. Never mind the blitz, we’re going to run our normal offense, Bieniemy seemed to be saying.
The result? The Giants entered the game with five sacks this season. They sacked Howell six times.
It took until the third quarter for Washington to use the kinds of plays that can foil those blitzes — screen passes, rollouts, delayed draws, and anything other than dropping back and letting Howell take the punishment.
“We knew they were gonna bring the house,” receiver Jahan Dotson said. “We knew they were going to play zero (safeties), been saying it all week. Knew they were going to test us man-to-man.
“It was about getting our playmakers the ball on the sideline, and that’s what we did in the second half, and we had some success.”
That success led to Terry McLaurin finally getting on the board in the second half, and indeed, McLaurin delivered the types of big catches he’s become known for — once he was allowed to attempt them.
Dotson failed to bring in a fourth-down pass with the game on the line late. He was slow to leave the field afterward, clearly struggling with what had just transpired. Howell said it was a bad throw, and it was well behind Dotson, but it was also clear the miss will linger.
“It’s a ball I catch 9 out of 10 times,” Dotson said. “I’m gonna let it hurt. I’m gonna feel this one, obviously, But I’m going to learn from it and I’m not going to make that mistake again.”
Dotson’s one miss paled in comparison with Bieniemy’s bad half, though. Against a subpar opponent with several weeks of tape on how to beat them, the Commanders coordinator insisted on doing things his way, to the detriment of the team overall.
Rivera wasn’t much better. He watched the final 26 seconds of the first half run out, instead of calling a timeout that would have forced the Giants to punt the ball. Given the way both teams played on Sunday, it’s not unthinkable that something crazy would have happened.
“At that point, enough was enough,” the coach said. “We were going to go in, we were going to talk about the things we needed to get done. The drive beforehand was not a very good situation. I just felt it would be better for us to get in, talk about those things, and we were going to get the ball to start the second half.”
Late October is supposed to be when Rivera’s teams get rolling after slow starts that have plagued him his whole career.
Instead, that lethargy carried over into the game planning for Sunday, and left Washington at 3-4, with Philadelphia coming to town next Sunday.
There’s still plenty of time to salvage a wild-card playoff spot, but games like this will undoubtedly be in the back of new owner Josh Harris’ mind when he’s making big decisions about the team’s future this offseason.
“Going down to 0-2 in the division is tough,” McLaurin said. “To make the playoffs, to get the goals you want to get to, you’ve got to be successful in the division.”
Instead, a botched challenge in the second half cost Washington the opportunity to get one more shot with the ball late, and the game ended unceremoniously when Daron Payne was injured on a kneel-down play. (“The guy rolled up on me,” Payne said in the locker room, though even if a penalty was called it wouldn’t have changed the timing.)
There are bright spots on Washington’s roster, and the next rebuild won’t start from zero. Chase Young had two sacks, and rookie running back Chris Rodriguez Jr. was stout in extended action.
But all that skill couldn’t overcome a lack of planning that left casual observers wondering just what happens in Ashburn all week, because it didn’t look like it involved watching Giants tape.
Allen was blunt, and correct, in his assessment.
“They whooped our a–, plain and simple,” he said. “Gotta be better.”
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