Washington Commanders: Trying to find positives through three weeks

The Washington Commanders are 1-2 through the first three weeks of the 2022 NFL season. With that record, comes very few positives. Even in their lone win, Washington was outplayed for a majority of the contest. However, there’s been a lot of negativity. So let’s try to find some positives from the first three games that Washington can build off, and fans can use as a beacon of hope.

Offensively, it doesn’t take long to find the standout. This would be the wide receivers. Terry McLaurin isn’t getting looked at enough if we’re being honest. He’s one of the best receivers in football, but it feels like they don’t start targeting him until later in games, which makes no sense. However, McLaurin’s still been productive. Leading the team with 235 receiving yards, reeling in 12 receptions and a touchdown as well.

Washington Commanders showing signs of life in first three weeks?

Meanwhile, Curtis Samuel is enjoying a “comeback player of the year” type of season. A lot of fans jumped off the Samuel hype train following his 2021 performance. Injuries led to him appearing in just five games, recording six catches for 27 yards. Through three games this season, Samuel’s already amassed 22 receptions for 181 yards and two touchdowns. The playmaker Washington thought they were getting last year has officially arrived.

Rookie Jahan Dotson has been a big addition as well. He leads the team with three receiving touchdowns and has shown off his combination of speed, route running, and good hands on several occasions.

This trio has the potential to be the best in the league.

Defensively, there are two answers here. They both happen to be second-year players as well.

First is defensive back Benjamin St-Juste. I said after last season that he was the best cornerback on the team. However, an injury limited him to just nine games last season. So there was always that chance it was a short sample size helping the optics.

Through three games this season though, it looks like St-Juste is the real deal. He was working inside but moved back to the outside corner for Week 3 due to William Jackson III missing action. This led to us seeing the best game by a Commanders’ cornerback all year.

Washington was getting torched by the Philadelphia Eagles in the passing game. If you only watched St-Juste you never would’ve known that though. The cornerback racked up three pass deflections and proved he belongs on the outside.

Finally, there’s Jamin Davis. Davis was Washington’s first-round pick last year and was labeled a bust after his rookie campaign.

Week 1 was nothing great for Davis. He did have a sack taken away by a penalty down the field on someone else. But outside of that, just three tackles. Oh, and defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio threw him under the bus after the game. That was weird.

Davis did respond though. He recorded a sack in Week 2, then picked up six tackles and his first ever two-sack game in Week 3. Davis is now in sole possession of the sack lead for Washington this season. That’s a positive to build off of.

It’s easy to be negative when a team looks lost. And for fans of the Washington Commanders, it’s even easier. They’ve seen it all before, so it just seems like the same ride. But there are always going to be some positives in a situation. Let’s try to focus on them a little bit more, for our health.