Commanders CB Christian Holmes ruled out with a concussion

Christian Holmes suffered a concussion in the fourth quarter.

The Washington Commanders continue to lose bodies in their secondary. Entering Sunday’s game against the San Francisco 49ers, Washington was without starting cornerbacks Kendall Fuller and Benjamin St-Juste, and starting safety Percy Butler.

In the first half, cornerback Tariq Castro-Fields, seeing his first time on defense this season, injured his shoulder and was lost for the game. That created an opportunity for second-year cornerback Christian Holmes.

The special-teams stalwart immediately made an impact, breaking up a third-and-5 around midfield to force a punt. Washington would score a touchdown on the following possession.

As for Holmes, he remained in the game and, by all accounts, played well.

Unfortunately, in the fourth quarter, on what appeared to be a Deebo Samuel first-down run inside the five-yard line, Holmes seemed fine, chatting with Trent Williams before he suddenly fell to the ground.

Here’s the play.

Holmes was on the ground for several minutes before he was carted off. Washington immediately ruled him out with a concussion.

Holmes was a seventh-round draft pick from Oklahoma State in the 2022 NFL draft.

Commanders lose DBs Jeremy Reaves and Christian Holmes for the game vs. Bears

Washington loses Jeremy Reaves and Christian Holmes to injury.

The Washington Commanders couldn’t have had a worse start to Week 5. The Chicago Bears jumped out to a 27-3 lead against the Commanders on Thursday Night Football.

Chicago wide receiver D.J. Moore burned Washington’s secondary for five receptions, 137 yards, and two touchdowns early.

Now, the Commanders will be without two members of their struggling secondary. Safety Jeremy Reaves and cornerback Christian Holmes are both ruled out for the remainder of the game.

Both players are backups on defense but key special-teams performers. Reaves is a captain and was a first-team All-Pro selection last season.

Reaves has a knee injury, while Holmes is dealing with a hamstring injury.

The Commanders haven’t offered any updates on Reaves or Holmes since they were ruled out.

5 players on the roster bubble who helped themselves vs. Browns

Which players helped themselves the most in the preseason opener?

As every team enters training camp, they have a good idea of who will make the roster. While it varies from team to team, most teams know of at least 50 roster positions for the 53-man roster ahead of camp.

The Washington Commanders entered training camp with one of their strongest rosters in years. Washington’s biggest question is if Sam Howell is a legitimate NFL starting quarterback. If he is, the Commanders are a playoff team, and the rest of the roster will benefit from Howell being the guy.

When the Commanders started camp, some positions were still up for grabs, such as the last cornerback, the final two receivers, and which players will round out the reserve offensive line.

Washington defeated the Browns in the preseason opener last Friday. It was a good night for several young players on the roster. Which players helped themselves for one of those final roster spots?

We look at five bubble players who helped themselves in the preseason opener.

Stud and duds from Commanders’ tie with Giants in Week 13

We look at who played well — and who didn’t — in the Commanders’ Week 13 tie vs. the Giants.

The Washington Commanders had plenty of opportunities to win their fourth game in a row Sunday against the New York Giants but squandered multiple chances in regulation and overtime, leading to their first tie since 2016.

Washington’s offense got off to a fast start against the Giants, scoring the first 10 points of the game. The Giants finally got going behind the legs of quarterback Daniel Jones. The combination of Jones and running back Saquon Barkley powered a New York comeback, combining to rush for 116 first-half yards.

A Washington turnover early in the third quarter led to another New York touchdown, giving the Giants a 20-13 lead. The Commanders finally tied things with under two minutes remaining on a Jahan Dotson touchdown.

Washington had one more shot in regulation and in overtime but fell short.

Here is a look at the players who impressed Sunday and those who didn’t.

Ron Rivera praises rookie cornerback Christian Holmes ahead of Week 12

The rookie could be slated for his most significant playing time of the season in Week 12 vs. the Falcons.

The loss of cornerback Benjamin St-Juste for this weekend’s game against the Atlanta Falcons is a big one. St-Juste has become Washington’s best cornerback this season and is regularly lining up opposite of the opponent’s top receiver.

Unfortunately for St-Juste, he injured his ankle in the fourth quarter of last week’s win against the Texans while making a spectacular play. St-Juste was slow to get up but said after the game he was fine.

Long-term, St-Juste will be fine, but as anyone knows, ankle injuries can be a bit tough to predict, especially if it’s a high-ankle sprain.

St-Juste didn’t practice all week and was ruled out Friday.

Who’s up next for the Commanders?

“Well, we’ll have some moving parts, some guys that will be getting opportunities and we’ll see how that works out,” Rivera said. 

One of those guys could be rookie seventh-round pick Christian Holmes. The 6-foot-1, 205-pound Holmes possesses good length and is known as a physical corner. However, he has only played six defensive snaps this season. Holmes has played in every game on special teams.

Rivera praised Holmes’ improvement in practice recently.

As far as Christian [Holmes] is concerned, he’s a young man that just continually progresses,” Rivera said. “What’s been kind of interesting is if you listen to it, people talk about guys that perform and produce on special teams, they have a knack for taking themselves to another level. This is a guy that’s been practicing at another level lately, and we’ve noticed.” 

Atlanta doesn’t have a standout group of wide receivers, but there is rookie Drake London, who Washington loved in the pre-draft process. London is already Atlanta’s top wide receiver. His size and ball skills present quite the challenge for the Commanders, and he could see plenty of veteran Kendall Fuller.

Is Rivera talking up Holmes as a way to give the rookie some confidence, or is he ready for a big-time role?

We shall see on Sunday.

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Commanders rule out St-Juste and Milne vs. Falcons

Losing Benjamin St-Juste and Dax Milne for Sunday creates two big openings for the Commanders. How will they replace them?

Friday was a not a good news day for the Washington Commanders.

The team ruled out both Benjamin St-Juste and Dax Milne for Sunday’s game against the Falcons.

Naturally, the first thought that comes to mind is the size of Falcons receiver Drake London. St-Juste certainly has the most size and best range of any of the Commanders defensive backs. The loss of St-Juste against the Falcons should not be minimized.

Of note, the team elevated corner Danny Johnson from the practice squad on Oct. 24 and Johnson has seen action in each game from Weeks 8-11. Johnson only played two defensive snaps against the Colts and none against the Eagles. However, he was in on 50 defensive snaps against the Vikings and 11 last week in Houston. So, Johnson is the likely candidate to see more action against the Falcons.

Corner Rachad Wildgoose has not seen action on defense since the Colts game and rookie corner Christian Holmes has seen only special teams action this year, with the lone exception being six snaps on defense against the Eagles in Week 3.

Washington does have three other defensive backs on their practice squad, were they to determine to elevate one up to the roster this week. Corn Elder has seen regular season action with the Panthers (2018-20) and last season with Washington. Texas Tech rookie Damarcus Fields saw action for the Saints on special teams in two games earlier this season and was signed to the Commanders’ practice squad on Oct. 26.

Troy Apke was released from the practice squad, but brought back to the squad this season and has the most regular-season game experience of those available to be elevated to the roster.

With Milne being out Sunday, possibly rookie Jahan Dotson will be called upon to return punts. Dotson started out quite well, with four receiving touchdowns in the first four games, but pulled a hamstring and missed the next five consecutive games.

The Commanders did receive some good news Friday. Defensive end James Smith-Williams who is producing his finest year thus far in 2022, had been out of practice with an illness, but he returned Friday and is expected to play against the Falcons.

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Nate Kaczor pleased with Commanders special teams development

Washington special teams coach Nate Kaczor met with the media on Friday.

Commanders special teams coach Nate Kaczor met with the press Friday, expressing he likes Antonio Gibson returning kicks.

“He does a nice job of getting where the seam is and has a good feel for that. His size and quickness to put his foot in the ground and get there before it closes up allows him to get productive yardage. And I know that when you get to the 30 or 31 yard line to the naked eye might not seem like a lot, but if you statistically look at the amount of returns in the NFL to the 30 or passed, there are just not a lot of them.”

Jeremy Reaves has pleased Kaczor with his punt coverage this season.

“There’s a lot of times where they’re bringing eight people and all of our interiors are occupied blocking a rush so [P] Tress [Way] can even punt the ball. So in that event, the gunners are singled up and they need to win for us. So when you see Jeremy Reaves down the field, he’s already blocked somebody and left. Or there’s times when they may double a gunner and Jeremy’s not blocking and he can get out fast.”

On CB Christian Holmes as a gunner:

He has “improved from potentially having a big play in Detroit to executing and getting the play done. He’s the one that actually downed this one at home against the Packers. But where he has improved is just his situational awareness. Obviously, when we drafted him, he is a big muscled up and a really linear fast player and he’s just gotten better and better.“

K Joey Slye has missed a field goal in each of the last two games.

“I think as long as the kicker knows they’re striking the ball well, the alignment stuff is something you can work on. As long as their mind is right, as I’ve said to you all before, then you’re not as concerned. And when you win a game and it’s not as at the forefront, it just makes the work environment more conducive to getting things fixed. He’s really hitting the ball well.”

Muff punts are a time when “any little indecision that can cause mechanical problems on a returner, those can happen. The bottom line is when they don’t catch the ball, if you’re not there to do something about it, you’re not gonna get ’em.”

Often special teams are simply not being a heavily recognized part of the game.

“You have to recognize that people might not notice this or notice that, but once in a while when everyone recognizes it, there’s a play to be made to help win the game…Those are the things in our special teams meetings that we have to prop up and give them a lot of credit in front of their teammates. Like, man, that’s really good.”

Commanders ugly on offense, but get the win

It was a bad night for offense.

It was mostly an ugly night for the offenses Thursday night in Chicago.

The Bears defense limited the Commanders offense to only 214 yards, 12 points and a discouraging 2 for 11 third-down conversion success rate.

Carson Wentz passed for only 99 yards, completing 12 of 22 for a very unimpressive 4.5 yards per attempt. Wentz was also sacked three times losing 13 yards, and finishing with a mere 66.3 rating.

Yet, Wentz contributed a big play in Washington’s lone touchdown. Midway through the final quarter, Tress Way had punted 54 yards; his punt was mishandled and recovered by Christian Holmes for Washington at the Chicago 6 yard line.

Brian Robinson took a running play to the backside right. Wentz seeing him come his way stepped up and leveled the Bears’ Roquan Smith permitting Robinson to cut upfield and gain five yards to the Bears 1. Robinson then scored on the next play giving the Commanders a 12-7 lead.

The Commanders defense collected five sacks as five different players (Montez Sweat, Jonathan Allen, Kamren Curl, Efe Obada, Daron Payne) earned one sack each.

Washington pressured Fields, accumulating 12 QB hits. Sweat led the way with 4 QB hits and Obada contributed 3 and Payne 2.

At one point late in the first half, the Commanders had been outgained 133-16, yet because of the defense, the game was still scoreless. Twice inside the 10, the Bears had been stopped from scoring by the Commanders defense.

The Commanders came into the 6th game having forced only one turnover. They got two in this game, Holmes’ fumble recovery and a Jonathan Allen interception.

Following the game head coach Ron Rivera succinctly summed it up, “It’s never easy… especially when you do silly stuff.”

The Commanders started the night down a tight end with Logan Thomas being inactive. In addition, John Bates pulled a hamstring in warmups. Thus, Washington’s two tight ends were Cole Turner who played his first game just last week, and Armani Rogers who a year ago was a college quarterback.

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Commanders defense started so well and then …

The game started quite well for Washington’s defense until it all fell apart.

I know it is hard to believe, but Sunday’s game against the Lions actually started well, quite well.

The Commanders’ defense actually caused Detroit to punt with a “three and out” on the Lions’ first possession, but Washington was embarrassed trailing by 22 at the half before losing to the Lions 36-27.

The first time the defense was on the field, Jack Del Rio dialed up a 3rd down blitz that worked to perfection. Jamin Davis was lined up on the line  (standing up) inside of James Smith-Williams, the left defensive end. To his right, Daron Payne and Jonathan Allen both slanted to their left towards Davis, and Davis looped around, both untouched for an easy sack of Jared Goff. It was wonderful execution by players playing as a unit.

It was the exact opposite of what both Del Rio and Ron Rivera expressed frustration with last season when some Washington defensive lineman apparently repeatedly played their own game, trying to get their own stats. Del Rio this week even referred to them as “independent contractors,” meaning they were doing what they wanted to do.

Rivera during the 2021 season on more than a few occasions referenced immaturity, not doing their jobs, and not playing together as a unit. But on this play against the Lions, Allen and Payne clearly slanted away, causing chaos, so that Davis could have the opportunity to sack Goff.

Davis displayed patience as well. He did not simply begin his loop around at the snap of the ball. That would have signaled to the Lions linemen on their right side that something was up. No, Davis began vertically challenging the Lions’ right side and after three steps forward, began his loop-around to his right, and it looked as if the Red Sea had opened for him and he clobbered Goff for the 12-yard sack, forcing the Lions to punt.

It was a clear example of coaching and then players executing what they are coached to perform. However, the vast majority of the rest of the first half was unbearable for Commanders’ fans. The Lions gained 250 yards while Washington accumulated a mere 56 yards and an embarrassing two first downs. In fact, the Commanders’ initial first down did not come until 5:44 remaining in the half and the Lions roaring over Washington 22-0.

On the Commanders’ first offensive possession, Wentz dropped back on 3rd & 4 from the 38, was forced up into the pocket and did not pass the ball, looked a second time for a receiver, and was sacked by Aidan Hutchinson.

However, punter Tress Way hit a beautiful high punt that landed on the Lions 2-yard line, bounced up softly to be easily downed by the Commanders, forcing the Lions to start on their 1 or 2 yard line, but rookie Christian Holmes for some reason couldn’t complete the play.

The Commanders had blown a wonderful opportunity, setting the stage for the remainder of an embarrassing half of football for the Burgundy and Gold and their fan base.

 

 

6 Commanders players to watch in preseason Week 2 vs. Chiefs

Six Commanders to watch in Saturday’s preseason Week 2 game vs. Chiefs.

The Washington Commanders are on the road for Week 2 of the preseason with a trip to Kansas City to play the high-flying Chiefs. Kansas City head coach Andy Reid said the Chiefs could play the entire first half, meaning the Commanders’ defense will get a good look at Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce.

Meanwhile, Washington coach Ron Rivera said he’d “ideally” like to play his starters for a half; however, injuries could make that impossible. The Commanders have injuries to their top four tight ends and top three guards. Most of the injuries aren’t serious and are of the soft-tissue variety, but the injuries have created a lot of shuffling for Washington recently.

For several young players, the injuries create opportunities. Here are six Commanders to watch vs. Kansas City on Saturday.