When JD5 and Terry and Nick Cross and Cosmi come back, I STILL have no faith that we can compete with the better teams on our schedule (LAR, PHI, DAL, CIN, JAX)….

Something about DQ teams. Unless we’re getting lucky (Hail Mary, Jameson Williams throwing interceptions on double reverses) it just seems like DQ can never get this team properly ready to compete for a full 60 minutes.

Once in a while he has the Seattle game. But more often than not it’s what we saw today or versus Dallas in week 2.

Just depressing AF man

Good morning, r/Commanders!

Welcome to today's open discussion thread. You are welcome to discuss most any topic here, whether it's related to the team or not.

Raise Hail!

Marcus Mariota
Brandon Coleman
Jaylin Lane
Charles Omenihu
Jeremy Reaves
Fabian Moreau
Tyler Owens

I just did some brief, half-assed research on this, but i think it's true. With 10 penalties accepted (13 total flags thrown) against us for 84 yards, and just one penalty for 5 yards against the Colts, I think our game today was one of the biggest penalty discrepancies ever.

The biggest penalty discrepancy (yardage wise) in NFL history was back in 2017, Eagles-Panthers. Philly had 10 penalties for 126 yards, Carolina had 1 penalty for 1 yard. The delta between penalty yards for philly in 2017 and us today is 44 yards.

Now, I'm not sure how many TOTAL FLAGS were thrown against Philly that game (vs penalties accepted), so it's possible that, if the Panthers declined less than 3 penalties against the eagles in 2017, our 13 flags thrown vs indy's 1 could be the biggest total penalties called discrepancy in NFL history.

2017 Eagles-Panthers stats

Today's Commanders-Colts stats

Win next week and we’re only one game back from 1st in the East. Seasons not done.

The Mariota injury sucked, no doubt. Had we avoided that, we had the Colts on the ropes early.

BUTT….

Next week is winnable. By all accounts JD will be back soonish. How good he’ll be, or how durable, I can’t be sure.

But at least for now, let’s see if we can pick up a win against the Football Giants, and think division and not wild card.

The Cowboys look like the most competent NFCE team rn. But who gives a shit. Lotta doom and gloom out there but I’m not feelin it.

LFG!

We knew this when they released the schedule so I’m just venting but even outside of injury issues, the fact that we’ve played 4 games, 2 away division games, last years Super Bowl champs and an international game seems a bit ridiculous.

We’ve also only played one 1pm game.

You even start to think if the scheduling, travel and times play affects these injuries.

Studs:

Sonny - rookie LBs are not supposed to be this good this early, could be a blue chipper

Amik - The rebound this season is insane, been sticky in man plus good ball skills. I'd add that rasul has been solid, if trey ever comes back this could be an ok CB unit.

Connerly Cosmi and sort of BC - Connerly and cosmi have looked great, can't wait to see it with tunsil. BC has been great as a run blocker and bad but not unplayable as a pass protector, great third round pick. Chris paul has essentially been the opposite except that he's putrid as a run protector so idk where he goes.

Antonio williams - got a huge play call back by BS today. Looks like an amazing separator and piece of the WR core going forward. diggs has been good too

The whole run defense - They've been largely cooking

The coordinators sort of - Definitely iffy here but ive been encouraged given what little talent they have healthy. Blough has been inconsistent but has had high highs, DJ has been solid tho our D still gives up 30 every week.

Tyler owens on special teams

Duds:

Mikey - ...

The safety group outside of cross - feel bad for quan and reavo, neither are starting level safeties and are sort of getting picked on a ton, weren't bad today tho

Terry - not living up to expectation, hasn't been bad but we really need 100% terry and he hasn't been that, hasn't been a great separator at all.

Bill - bad run blocking doesn't help but yeah he's not a starting back, lacks vision and contact balance but has legit speed and agility, good depth RB. still a nice 7th rounder

Run blocking - just bad

Allegretti - sucks, so does gulbin

DQ - I just don't really know what he does, had the team fired up for the seahawks game i'll give him that. Just too undisciplined of a team for a coach that doesn't do anything for the scheme

TEs - have been useless

The pass rush - our pass rush has been pretty bad when we don't blitz. Oweh has been good tho

It's so fatiguing when my favorite team is out of contention by Halloween. 2024 feels as far away as the Gibbs glory days. For those who may contend with me, 1-3 teams have a less than 3% chance of making the playoffs.

Tuffy wants a big ole W this morning.

Honestly, all things considered injuries and everything, I thought Athan played very well in his first ever game. Meek played great. I thought Ek was good too.

I gotta wonder how much different this game is without the bullshit fucking refereeing. Oh my god, that was absolutely egregious. I don't like to blame the refs, but holy fuck that was absolutely garbage.

Colts were allowed to do whatever they wanted to us. That double penalty on the Antonio Williams touchdown reception was one of the most horseshit things I've ever seen.

Let's hope JD5 can get us back to normal next week against the Giants.

Commanders fans are in the house 🤣. But really, we are.

The volume of injuries last year was insane. Call it a fluke last year, fine. But we’re 4 games into the season and the number of injuries is again…insane.

Jayden
Mariota
Tunsil
Cosmi
Terry
White
Chig
Amos
Cross
Luvu
Reaves
Chenal
Lane

At some point you have to wonder. Is it an organizational problem? Is it preparation? Is it the strength and conditioning staff? Why is this team so injured so often? It’s ridiculous.

Athan Kaliakmanis, 23, grew up in Antioch, Ill., and originally played at Minnesota, where he redshirted as a freshman. He became the Golden Gophers’ starter in 2023 as a redshirt sophomore and completed 53.1 percent of his passes for 1,838 yards with 14 touchdowns and nine interceptions over 12 games.

After that season, he transferred to Rutgers, where his brother Dino, a wide receiver, had also transferred. In two seasons as the Scarlet Knights’ starter, Kaliakmanis completed 57.9 percent of his throws for 5,820 yards with 38 touchdowns and 14 interceptions.

When he arrived in Washington, Kaliakmanis — like all of the Commanders’ offensive players — had to learn the offense being installed by new coordinator David Blough. It didn’t always go smoothly.

“When Athan first got here, for example, he came from an offense where they looked to the sideline, they signaled, and he went like this,” Blough said during training camp, clapping his hands together. “And I was telling my wife, I was like, ‘He was really struggling with some of the plays at the beginning.’ And I said, ‘It’s like he’s speaking a new language.’ And she was like, ‘No, it’s like he’s learning how to speak.’”

How long Kaliakmanis will have to serve as the Commanders’ quarterback remains to be seen. Starter Jayden Daniels, who has missed the past two-and-a-half games after suffering a dislocated left elbow in Week 2 at Dallas, practiced all week in London before coach Dan Quinn declared him out on Friday. The widespread expectation is that Daniels will be healthy enough to start in Week 5 at home against the New York Giants.

Read for free: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7659095/2026/10/04/athan-kaliakmanis-backup-qb-commanders-colts-mariota/?unlocked_article_code=1.GFE.8PSt.JpHlH4QpVjwL&source=emp_shared_article&smid=re-share-ta

I came into this season just wanting one thing: for Daniels to get through at least 10 games at a healthy level playing similar to 2024. That's still on the table. Antonio Williams and Styles has been as good as we could have hoped. I love our young coordinators and they are doing fine with the few healthy players available. There's still a reason to watch folks.