The Washington Commanders almost had a walk-off 29-28 as the clock left litte doubt that they would win after a key field goal with just seconds left in the game put a thriller win in the books for Washington last night. They stopped the Ravens 24-game pre-season win streak when Joey Slye booted the field goal that stunned everyone on the Ravens sideline.
That was no chip-shot field goal by Slye, he had to boot a 49 yarder, and it had enough distance to have made it by much longer as it clanged off of the back of the netting halfway up. But the big news was prized wide-out Terry McLaurin’s toe injury suffered in the second quarter of the game. It looked far more serious at first, and X-rays were clean. The Commanders might have dodged a bullet there.
Commanders’ starting quarterback, Sam Howell, was accurate with his passing yardage of 188 yards just in the first half on 19-of-28 and two key touchdown passes. Jake Fromm was 10-of-16 with 91 passing yards and a touchdown pass, and he moved the team down the field for the final score. Unfortunately, second-string QB, Jacoby Brissett struggled in his opportunity. Some thought he had a real shot to be the starting quarterback but earlier in the week, head coach Ron Rivera named Howell as QB1. It looks like that was the right move.
This game was not just about the struggles of Brissett, there were other players, mostly in the second and third string depth, or players just hoping to make the squad that had some poor plays. But with the Commanders win, all was good, and new owner Josh Harris was there on the sideline at the end of the game to celebrate this win.
Sure, this is only pre-season, play well, and progress, and stay healthy. If McLaurin is good to go, then mission accomplished.
