OPINION:
Well, now we know that there’s a line in the sand that the Washington Commanders won’t allow you to cross.
You can beat them by more than four touchdowns in front of family, friends and the dwindling group of fans that suffer the indignity of being outnumbered by visitors in their home stadium.
You can bend and break their young savior quarterback, so much so that they are afraid to play him.
But go for a two-point conversion against them for a 29-10 lead with less than five minutes left in the game?
This aggression will not stand.
The highlight of the Commanders’ 29-18 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field South was a fight that got two Commanders kicked out and seemed to result in a post-game celebration of sorts about the brotherhood — the culture that Washington coach Dan Quinn supposedly has created within this team.
Before the fight, it was just one of now 11 Commanders losses this season, another one where despite the celebrated team spirit, they were outplayed in nearly every category, save for fumbles lost — Philadelphia returner Will Shipley coughed up the opening kickoff, which was recovered by Mike Sainristil and led to a 20-yard field goal and a 3-0 Washington lead.
That was one of the few Commanders highlights until 4:26 left in the game, when Eagles running back Tank Bigsby ran it in for a 22-yard touchdown run to give Philadelphia a 27-10 lead. When the Eagles ran Saquon Barkley for the two-point conversion, Commanders fans finally got a number to quantify the brotherhood that Quinn has spoken of: two. That’s two ejected players, — defensive tackle Javin Kinlaw and safety Quan Martin — compared to just one, guard Tyler Steen, for Philadelphia.
That was apparently the final insult. As the kids like to say, a melee ensued.
When Washington cornerback Mike Sainristil was asked by reporters after the game about the fight, he said, “I just know that I saw my brothers out there, so I am going to do everything to protect my brothers.”
The fight morphed into the rallying cry for the brotherhood.
Sainristil was asked what it says that the team is still battling for each other despite the way the season has gone. Sainristil said, “That’s what we are, that is our standard. It doesn’t matter if it is an up season or a down season, whatever that is. All you can do is take advantage of the opportunity in front of you, and we are going to make sure we do that every chance we get.”
Quarterback Josh Johnson echoed that sentiment. “It just goes back to what DQ (DQ means Dan Quinn, not Dairy Queen) wants here.” Johnson said. “He wants, we all want — everybody believes in one another, everybody fights for one another, and we’re not going to get pushed around by anybody. Unfortunately, that happened that way. You don’t want to see it happen that way, but at the same time, you’ve got to let some people know sometimes. That’s what our guys did today. They let them know. We’ll see them in two weeks.”
I don’t mean to diminish the work Quinn has done to build a culture where players, in a 4-11 season, haven’t turned on each other and created a toxic locker room. That has value, especially if Quinn is the coach you are banking the organization’s future on.
But Eagles players hate their quarterback. The coaches aren’t crazy about him either. Coach Nick Siriani hates the fans and the fans hate everybody.
Yet they are the defending Super Bowl champions and clinched the NFC East title with their victory Saturday.
Johnson was in the game because backup quarterback Marcus Mariota, getting the start after Daniels was shut down for the remainder of the season, was sidelined in the third quarter with an injury to his throwing hand.
He testified to the strength of the brotherhood. “Every day, you would not know that we have the record that we have, and that’s a credit to our leadership,” said Johnson, who, upon entering the game, threw an interception that drew cheers from the green wave that had swept through Northwest Stadium.
The brotherhood is not keeping Commanders fans together.
• Catch Thom Loverro on “The Kevin Sheehan Show” podcast.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.