In other sports, it’s often said that a playoff series doesn’t really begin until somebody loses a game at home.
That’s when you find out who you are: whether you’re a team that thrives on adversity or one that crumbles from it. You’ll figure out if a team is built to silence the doubters or to vindicate them.
With the entire NFL regular season consisting of only 17 games, it could be said that a team’s season doesn’t start until after it takes its first bad loss of any kind.
For the Washington Commanders, the season begins this weekend.
Commanders must show the right resolve to get campaign back on track
The Commanders enter their matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders in a position that’s far from ideal. They were thoroughly manhandled by the Green Bay Packers on the road in Week 2, despite the final margin ultimately being in the single digits.
Worse yet, the injuries have piled up, leaving running back Austin Ekeler and defensive end Deatrich Wise Jr. out for the season. Tight end John Bates and wide receiver Noah Brown won’t play in Week 3. Most costly of all, quarterback Jayden Daniels will not suit up due to a knee sprain.
Washington should still be the better team on paper. The Raiders looked nothing short of ugly last time out. They’re now playing on the road, on short rest with the Commanders having a whole week and a half to regroup. Even with Marcus Mariota under center, this should be a comfortable win.
Another setback here, or even an unconvincing victory, and the Commanders’ campaign could spiral out of control quickly.
There would still be plenty of time to right the ship, but you never want to dig yourself into a hole this early. Losses to teams you have no business losing to will always come back to hurt. Worse yet, the noise from the peanut gallery would be louder than ever.
Great teams don’t make life harder on themselves than it needs to be. Last season, the Commanders did everything right in this regard. They won the games they should’ve won, and even stole a few they probably shouldn’t have. Every time they met a harsh reality check, they responded exactly how they needed to.
Chalk that up to the leadership of head coach Dan Quinn, as well as Daniels’ transcendent poise on the field. But now Washington will be without its franchise signal-caller for this crucial litmus test. For the coaching staff, it’s much easier to have a team playing motivated when expectations are low.
Expectations are no longer low.
A loss to a team like the Packers is considered a missed opportunity. Another to the Raiders would be nothing short of brutal. That scenario should be avoided, but only if the proper adjustments have been made both physically and mentally in the past 10 days.
It’s time to find out who the Commanders are.