One week ago, the Washington Commanders were riding high. The Commanders actually moved up a spot in the NFC playoff picture on their week off.
On Sunday night, the Commanders hosted the New York Giants with a chance to almost ensure their place in the playoffs with a win. Unfortunately for the Commanders, another slow start, combined with multiple missed opportunities, turnovers and questionable officiating doomed them.
Now, at 7-6-1, Washington still holds the NFC’s No. 7 seed but has a trip west to face one of the NFL’s better teams, the San Francisco 49ers.
As expected, a loss dropped the Commanders in the various NFL power rankings. How far did Washington fall?
We inspect this week’s power rankings.
USA TODAY
Last week: No. 15
They certainly weren’t helped by the officiating Sunday night … but Washington also didn’t take care of business and is very much in danger of falling into the clutches of Seattle or Detroit.
For the Win
Last week: No. 10
Did the officials cost the Commanders a chance to send Sunday night’s game to overtime? Most definitely.
But the Commanders probably shouldn’t have been in that position to begin with, as their inability to finish drives proved fatal. Washington had five drives cover at least 40 yards in Week 15 and gleaned only 10 points from them.
Touchdown Wire
Last week: No. 12
As tends to happen around Christmastime, the pixie dust on Taylor Heinicke starts to wear off. Nevertheless he was the starting quarterback when they spoiled Philadelphia’s perfect season. Is there still a little magic left to expose the 49ers at Levi’s Stadium in Week 16?
ESPN
Last week: No. 13
Pleasant surprise: S Darrick Forrest
The 2021 fifth-round pick missed most of his rookie season with a hamstring injury but opened coaches’ eyes with his special teams play late in the year. He has muscled his way into the starting lineup and forced Washington to use mostly three-safety sets — along with Kam Curl and Bobby McCain. It has created versatility in the secondary. Forrest plays smart and physical; he has intercepted three passes, forced two fumbles and recovered one, and is fourth on the team in solo tackles.
Pro Football Talk
NFL.com
Last week: No. 14
When it was over, the Commanders had every right to be frustrated. An illegal procedure penalty on Terry McLaurin wiped out a Brian Robinson TD in the final minute, and a subsequent fourth-down pass to Curtis Samuel was ruled incomplete despite compelling visual evidence that Samuel had been interfered with by Giants corner Darnay Holmes. Of course, the Giants could point to other moments in the game where the Commanders could have taken control and failed to do so, including the previous Washington possession that ended with a Taylor Heinicke fumble in the red zone. A confounding night all around for a Commanders team that just made its path to the playoffs a lot more difficult.
The Ringer
Last week: No. 14
Commanders fans need to stop complaining about the officiating at the end of the game against the Giants. Washington essentially had three weeks to prepare for the Giants—if you include their Week 13 matchup and their Week 14 bye—and yet they still managed to come out flat. Score 12 points at home in a must-win game with the edge in rest and preparation, and you deserve to miss the playoffs regardless of how many calls the officials miss.
Yahoo Sports
Last week: No. 15
Commanders fans can complain about the Terry McLaurin illegal formation penalty that was hard to explain and wiped out a touchdown, and pass interference should have been called on fourth down, but Washington also has itself to blame. The Commanders came out flat, played a terrible first half and lost a must-win game at home to the Giants.
Bleacher Report
Last week: No. 12
Most of the talk after the Washington Commanders’ loss centered on the officiating, whether it was the illegal formation penalty called at the 1-yard line on Terry McLaurin or perceived pass interference against Curtis Samuel in the end zone that wasn’t called. Both players tiptoed around the matter, though it wasn’t hard to read between the lines.
“When I moved up, I checked to see if I was good, and he said I was good,” McLaurin said. “I’m not trying to get fined. We had other opportunities; for it to come down like that is tough.”
Samuel said: “I can’t control that [the officiating]. All I can do is try to make the play when the ball is in the air. I’m not a ref; ain’t nothing I can do about that.”
Quarterback Taylor Heinicke, however, said those two calls didn’t decide the game—but a lack of execution by the Commanders did.
“You take those plays out, there’s still a lot of missed opportunities,” he said. “You can’t blame the refs. There are some calls there that are questionable. But again, there’s other plays out there to be made and we didn’t make them. Ultimately, it’s on us.”
Heinicke has the right attitude. The Commanders have no time for lamentations. Their playoff hopes are hanging by a thread, and with games against the 49ers and Cowboys to be played, there’s no room for mistakes.
The Athletic
Last week: No. 13
Despite holding the No. 7 seed in the NFC at the moment — keeping the dream of all four NFC East teams making it alive — the Commanders are down to a 38.7 percent chance of making it into the dance by Mock’s projections. The red-hot Lions are favored to grab the final spot. Much worse for the Commanders, they now face the humiliating question of whether they should hand the team back to Carson Wentz. After the debate over Terry McLaurin’s penalty and the pass interference no-call on the game’s final play, I appreciated this wisdom from Logan Thomas: “I guess it’s a hard job being a referee. But it’s a hard job playing too.”
