Daily Slop - 5 Nov 24: Brandon Coleman, Jeremy Chinn & Dante Fowler excelled against Giants

Commanders linksBullock's Film Room (subscription) Brandon Coleman impresses in first full start Breaking down the rookie left tackles performance in his first full game.

Officially, Coleman gave up zero sacks and zero quarterback pressures, so on the face of it he did well. But stats can be misleading sometimes, so let's dive into the All-22 to see how he actually fared.

First it's important context to say that the Commanders had a gameplan to help Coleman on the edge. They've done this all year on both sides of the line to help out whichever player is playing tackle and it's been extremely effective in helping the offensive line protect rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels. Help for Coleman came in multiple forms.

In this clip we can see a few examples of how the Commanders looked to help Coleman out in pass protection against Brian Burns. On the first play of the clip, The Commanders use receiver Noah Brown to help chip Burns on the edge, while also using a play-action fake inside. Both left guard Nick Allegretti and tight end Ben Sinnott pull to the right side of the line, trying to give Burns a strong run key to read. Brown then initiates contact on the chip, forcing Burns inside to Coleman and protecting the edge.

On the second play of the clip, running back Jeremy McNichols aligns to Coleman's side of the field and chips Burns before releasing into his route. The Commanders again use some misdirection in the backfield with Austin Ekeler motioning from the slot to the backfield just before the snap, but that's all to try and distract the defense and slow them down. Burns is a little quicker to read pass this time without a strong play-action fake, so he starts to rush a little more directly up the field. However, McNichols meets him on the edge with a strong chip to force him inside towards Coleman. Coleman gets a little sloppy with his hands and nearly loses control of the block, but does enough to keep Burns in front of him with the help of the play design and the chip from McNichols.

The third play of the clip is another chip example, this time with receiver Luke McCaffrey. He takes a position not too dissimilar to a tight end and is aggressive with his chip, ensuring Burns can't rush straight up the field. Coleman only has to land a punch or two on Burns after that chip and the ball is thrown to the end zone for a touchdown.

I'm showing these clips not to say Coleman was bad, far from it. But it's important to contextualize his performance. The Commanders did a great job helping out their young left tackle throughout the game, as they have done all season really. They've used a variety of different chippers from backs to tight ends to receivers. They've used a lot of misdirection and play-action and they've varied the tempo a lot to help keep those edge rushers from focusing purely on rushing. It's smart coaching from Washington and it helps limit Coleman's exposure to a premier pass rusher like Burns.

there were still times where Coleman had to face Burns without help. So how did he do there? Let's start with the positives. I wrote after the Bengals game that Coleman has developed a nice hand flash technique to help him against good edge rushers. He used it a few times against Trey Hendrickson with good results.

This technique sees Coleman extend his outside hand towards the rusher early in the rep, faking that he's looking to engage early. This is just bait to try and get the rusher to adjust and engage in the block before they are ready to. By flashing the hand at the rusher, the defender instinctively moves to try and knock the hand down. Coleman then suddenly pulls his hand away, leaving the defender to swipe at air. This exposes the defenders chest, where Coleman can then place his hand and gain control of the block and in some cases, it can also lead to the defender losing balance as they were ready to lean into contact that wasn't there.

Washington Post (paywall) Hail or Fail: Offensive line helps pave the way to another Commanders win Washington held the Giants and their dominant pass rushers without a sack for the first time this season. Here are the highlights and big takeaways from Washington's win.

Commanders rookie Jayden Daniels gave kudos to the teammates responsible for protecting him after Washington's offensive line held the Giants, who entered the game with a league-best 35 sacks, without a quarterback takedown for the first time this season. The unit, which was one of the biggest question marks for the Commanders coming into the year, also helped Washington rush for 149 yards on 38 carries, despite starting running back Brian Robinson Jr. being inactive with a hamstring injury. Austin Ekeler and Chris Rodriguez Jr. picked up the slack in Robinson's absence, combining for 94 yards rushing on 11 carries apiece. Rookie left tackle Brandon Coleman returned to the lineup after missing last week's game with a concussion and overcame a dislocated finger to help limit the Giants to two quarterback hits.

Chinn enjoyed his best game as a Commander. The former Panthers safety stopped rookie tight end Theo Johnson short of the sticks to force a three-and-out on New York's opening possession and forced another punt later in the half with a pass breakup. Chinn finished with a season-high 13 tackles and two tackles for losses, including an open-field takedown of wide receiver Malik Nabers after a completion in the fourth quarter.

Commanders.com Final thoughts | Jeremy Chinn's confidence is growing "I really feel the confidence has been growing," Quinn said of Chinn. "I love seeing in-game the communication with he and with Quan [Martin], what they're seeing and how they're able to express that to one another."

Quinn noted that Chinn has worked to improve on his man coverage skills, both during and after practice. The best example of how that can pay off showed up against the Giants, when Chinn made an open-field tackle on Malik Nabers, who was trying to change direction on a screen play. Chinn ended up taking Nabers down for a five-yard loss.

"I thought yesterday's game was probably his best game so far," Quinn said.

Commanders.com Game Balls | Four standouts from Washington's win against New York Dante Fowler

Tack this performance on to Fowler's list of game-ball worthy days this season. The linebacker got going early against the Giants with a highlight reel play in the first quarter. Not even seven minutes into the game, Fowler juked out his man and sacked a flustered Daniel Jones who dumped the ball off. Bobby Wagner would end up recovering the loose ball, which was indeed ruled a fumble. The forced fumble was the 14th of Fowler's career while the sack was his 50th.

He wasn't one-and-done for sacks on Sunday. In the third quarter, Fowler busted through New York's offensive line again, bringing down Jones for a loss of four yards and giving him his tenth multi-sack game of his career. His trip to MetLife ended with two sacks, two quarterback hits and one forced fumble.

Washington's defense continues to make impressive strides, and Fowler, who has six sacks in his last five games as well as a pick-six, has been critical in that improvement.

Riggo's Rag Commanders key numbers, Week 9: Giants sweep keeps Washington on top The Commanders are off to their best start in 28 years...

$28,491,200: That is the combined cap number for Montez Sweat and Chase Young in 2024. Many were upset when both were traded. But Dante Fowler Jr., who is making a mere $3.25 million this season, has outplayed both.

Fowler Jr. added two sacks and a forced fumble to his season total on Sunday. He now has more sacks than Sweat and Young combined (6.5 vs. 5.5).

The Commanders remain automatic on fourth-down, moving to 11-for-11 on the season after converting two more at the Giants. This is the first time since at least 1980 (when the metric started being tracked), that Washington has started in this manner.

What a difference a consistent quarterback makes. Terry McLaurin had two receptions for two scores in this game and is from tying his career-high with eight contests left in the season. The former third-round pick became just the 10th player in franchise history to have 30 touchdowns. His connection with Daniels continues to grow. The throw before half-time to put the Commanders up 21-7 could not have been put into a better spot.

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