The wheels seem to have fallen off for the Washington Commanders' season. They started out the year 2-0 and were competitive for much of the season, but have been blown out the past two weeks and given up 45 points in each of those contests. The first of those losses, against the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving, resulted in the firing of former defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio.
After the firing, coach Ron Rivera explained what led to the decision, even if he liked Del Rio's defensive scheme.
“First of all, what we did schematically, I had no issue with it. It was good. It was good stuff,” Ron Rivera said.This was just one of those things when the snowball effect, and [the sequence in the Dallas game] before the halftime … that was a tough pill to swallow,” via ESPN's Jeremy Fowler and John Keim.
However, Rivera's response differed from defensive tackle Jonathan Allen's opinion on their defensive scheme.
“The thing that's frustrating, it's not one thing,” Allen said days before Del Rio was fired. “One game, we were out-efforted. One game, we might be outschemed. Another game, they just, little things, like a great stretch and three plays where we exhaled and lost it. The great defenses don't give up for a second or a play. And that's what we have to get to.”
It's not an understatement to say the Commanders defense has turned into a disaster. The Commanders are now last in the NFL in passing yards and points given up per game. Even with the firing of Jack Del Rio, it likely won't be enough to save Rivera from the hot seat either.
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