LOVERRO: Atlanta collapse shows how much the Commanders need their missing stars

OPINION:

When the Washington Commanders were looking at other NFL stadiums in their research for their new District home, they were impressed with the Atlanta Falcons’ home — Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

They were impressed with how often the facility is used for events other than Falcons games — particularly the kitchen, which they said was open all year, save for six days.

It certainly was open Sunday and cooking, frying the Commanders’ carcass 34-27. It wasn’t a full helping, though. The meat on the bones — quarterback Jayden Daniels and receivers Terry McLaurin and Noah Brown — didn’t even make the trip, nursing their injuries in the comfort of home cooking.

It certainly wasn’t the full menu of Commanders excellence everyone expected this season, coming off last year’s 12-5 regular season mark and trip to the NFC title game.

Before the season began, if anyone told you Washington (2-2) would be relying on their backup quarterback, a fourth-round draft pick at receiver and a seventh-round draft choice at running back for their offense traveling to Atlanta, it would have been marked down as a defeat.

I know, no one in football actually plays that game. But reasonable people can have reasonable expectations, and a reasonable expectation for a starting offense against the Falcons without Daniels, McLaurin or Brown would have been a loss. A fulfilled expectation.

Mariota completed 16 of 27 passes for 156 yards, two touchdowns and one interception, plus two carries for 20 yards. Lane had two catches for 18 yards, McCaffrey two catches for 21 yards against an angry Atlanta defense smarting from a 30-0 loss to Carolina the week before. Reasonable expectations.

What was not reasonable was a weak defensive effort from a unit also hurting (their best pass rusher, Deatrich Wise, is out for the season, as well as safety Will Harris) but believed to be deep enough to withstand those losses — certainly against a suspect Atlanta (2-2) team that had its share of big plays against the Washington defense.

“We were able to exploit some things down the field today,” Falcons coach Raheem Morris. “We were able to get open. We were able to throw the ball out there and put it up there and give them a chance at some things … these things aren’t open a lot in the NFL.”

Falcons quarterback Michael Penix, in just his ninth NFL start and coming off being benched in last week’s loss to the Panthers in favor of Kirk Cousins, had a career game, completing 20 of 26 yards for 313 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Running back Bijan Robinson had a career-high 181 yards from scrimmage — 75 yards rushing on 17 carries and four catches for 106 yards including a 69-yard reception. The Falcons accumulated 435 yards of offense.

“We’re digging on everything, making sure we can eliminate those because that’s not when we’re at our best – the big plays to live in that space,” Washington coach Dan Quinn said. “Give them credit. Some of the ones – whether it be design or what have you — but we’ll dig into those hard to make sure matchups, scheme, all of is in the right spot. Like I said, give them credit, Atlanta, but that’s something we need to get our football — all three phases — really aligned like we like.”

The most important phase Washington needs to get aligned on both sides of the ball is a healthy Daniels. 

Mariota was excellent in the 41-24 win over the Las Vegas Raiders, and he certainly wasn’t the reason they lost Sunday to the Falcons, but to lift his team to victory? That’s the burden carried by Daniels.

There is no version of Daniels on defense, though. They managed to get their first turnover of the season, an interception by cornerback Mike Sainristil, who had some disturbing words after the game. “I think it’s very easy to beat a defense that you know isn’t out there focused and communicating the right way,” he said.

That’s not what you want to hear from a defense about to travel across the country to Los Angeles to face quarterback Justin Herbert and a 3-1 Chargers team that, like the Falcons, will be angry coming off a 21-18 loss to the New York Giants.

“This one stinks, and we’ve got to grow from it,” Quinn said after the loss to Atlanta. “That’s the message. We’ll get better, I’m certain of it. And it starts right away. We’ve got to practice, we have to do all of that, but I’m certain that we’ll play better.”

The Chargers probably will as well. Who will keep the Commanders from becoming toast?