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The Washington Commanders scored just once in a 14-7 loss to divisional rival New York on Sunday.
The only Commanders scoring drive came early in the second half after a muffed punt by New York’s Sterling Shepard, setting up Washington at the Giants 21 yard line.
Six plays later, running back Brian Robinson scored what would be the only Washington touchdown of the day, making it 14-7, which was the eventual final score.
“To me, it’s really about how you bounce back, more than anything else,” Commanders Head Coach Ron Rivera said after the game. “With ten games to go, you never know what’s going to happen. But you got to take them one at a time, you got to stay focused on it. We’ll correct these things, a lot of things that we can correct, a lot of things that we will get better at, and we’ll continue to work at it, and we’ll see what happens.”
Washington was held scoreless in the first half, converting just two first downs and putting up 26 yards of total offense.
They went into the locker room down 14-0.
Late in the game, the Commanders drove down the field before stalling inside the 10, leading to a 27 yard Joey Slye field goal, which was blocked.
On the next Washington possession, Quarterback Sam Howell drove the team down the field again, on a 17 play, 85-yard drive, only to be stopped inside the 10 once again and failing to convert a 4th and 5, which effectively ended the game.
The Commanders put up just 273 yards of offense and went 1-15 on third down (6.7%).
Sam Howell was sacked 6 times in the game to maintain his lead on the rest of the league as the most sacked QB in the NFL. He’s been taken down 40 times, 12 more than any other quarterback.
The Washington defense, which struggled through the opening five weeks, has now gone back-to-back games without allowing more than 16 points.
On Sunday, the defense sacked Tyrod Taylor 4 times and forced 2 turnovers, including a fumble late in the 4th quarter that kept the Commanders in the game.
Unfortunately, the story of the season through seven weeks has been an inability to consistently play well on both sides of the ball, leading to the current record of 3-4 and an 0-2 record in the NFC East.
Up next, the Commanders host the Eagles, a team they took to overtime just three weeks ago.
After that, it’s road trips to New England and Seattle before returning home to host the Giants.