Falcons Back from the Grave

The Atlanta Falcons returned from the grave, at least for one game, vanquishing the Washington Commanders 34-27. ESPN Boxscore.

Michael Penix and Bijan Robinson led the Falcons. Robinson had 181 yards offense. He hurt the Commanders in the passing game, catching 4 for 106 yards, 69 of them on one play. Falcons are 2-2.

Washington was led by Chris Rodriguez (8.4 yards a carry) and Bill Croskey-Merritt (6.7 yards a carry). Deebo Samuel caught all his targets and went 6-72 and a Touchdown.  The Commanders fall to 2-2.  

Atlanta has the tie-breaker for the playoffs.

Next up for the Commanders are the LA Chargers. Immediately jumping to the forefront of Commander Concerns is the dynamic Charger Running Back Omarion Hampton who bowled over the Giants despite a Charger loss. Hampton's boxscore. Here's how another Pete Carroll coaching tree team dealt with the rookie phenom.

If Jim Harbaugh hears you might have trouble stopping the run, it is like Roy Scheider feeding chum to the Great Whites. You are asking for it.

Commanders Fan Vlogs were livid over the loss. Enter at your own risk.

Here's John Keim's take.  

Here's Kevin Sheehan's take. 

Summation: The fear of a lot of Commanders' fans is that Jayden Daniels is all there is to the Commanders. Like John Elway under Dan Reeves. 

The Media seems to consider reporting on Daniels to be the only thing they need do to cover Washington.

That leads to a "Hey, Jayden will bail us out!" attitude. He will at times. Like Elway and his drives. 

But championships? No. That takes a Team. 

Let's hope, the preseason now being officially over, the Commanders will continue to be a learning institution and progress over time.

Let's not fire anybody or try to get other team's coaches fired. Let's hire ourselves. Every swinging guy.

Exercising good football self-care. Good self-scouting. Best football practices.

And some genuflection before a higher power.  

They have 13 games left.