Washington Commanders 2023-24 NFL Season Recap

Washington Commanders NFL Season Recap

The Ron Rivera era in the nation’s capital kicked off on shaky ground with the Washington Commanders going on to win the NFC East with a losing 7-9 record in the COVID season. That team went on to get handled with ease by Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who scored the 31-23 win in the wild card round. From there, the franchise amassed 7-10, 8-8-1, and most recently, 4-13 records and never once punched a ticket back to the playoffs finishing as high as third in the division standings. Because of it, “Riverboat Ron” was relieved of his duties the morning after the Commies dropped an ugly 38-10 decision to the Dallas Cowboys in the season finale. The front office was gracious enough to let the string play out, but the time has finally arrived for a major changing of the guard within the organization.

It’s high time something was done! Parts of the underperforming roster were shipped out during the regular season with Montez Sweat now inked to a multi-year deal in Chicago and Chase Young still proving his worth out in San Francisco. Once those two pass rush specialists were shown the door, the Commanders defensive execution fell off the map. From Week 10 forward, Washington served up an average of 34.1 points per game which was far and away the worst output in the league during that stretch. With that, does it come off the least bit surprising to discover the Commanders defense ranked out dead last both in yardage (388.9) and points (30.5) allowed?

The unit couldn’t defend the pass (No. 32) or the run (No. 27) which found linemakers taking cover from all the over money raining down upon their heads every passing week of the NFL betting season. In the end, the Commies cashed over tickets at a 9-7-1 clip with their matchups averaging 49.8 points per game. The record would’ve been much more impressive had the online sportsbook not inflated their imposts as the season progressed. No team in the NFL possessed higher totals on a weekly basis than that of the Commanders in a season that saw overall scoring down in a major way.

Most bothersome about the defenses level of play was the offense proving to be a formidable bunch at times in Sam Howell’s first go-round as a QB1 in the NFL. The North Carolina product played to a 78.9 QB rating by way of throwing for 3,946 yards and 21:21 TD/INT ratio. At one point, he was the league’s passing yards leader but his – as well as the offense’s – production jumped the rails at the tail end of the season. His favorite target proved to be Terry McLaurin who exceeded the 1,000 receiving yards plateau for the fourth consecutive season, but only saw four of his 79 overall receptions go for touchdowns.

Also making a mark this season was Brian Robinson who proved to be a dual-threat weapon by way of going for 1,101 scrimmage yards through 15 starts with 733 yards coming on the ground and another 368 through the air. In all, he scored nine touchdowns and proved to be the focal point of the offense whenever it excelled. There was room for a ton of improvement however which was made all the more possible by an offensive line that served up 65 sacks that equated to a 9.3 sack percentage (No. 28). Whether you bet against Washington a majority of the season or not, you could only come off as concerned for the way opposing defenses tossed Howell around like a rag doll. The punishment likely led to such a dramatic shift in production to close the year.

Washington Commanders 2024 Offseason

With a ton more questions than answers entering the offseason, the 2024-25 NFL betting season will serve as the foundation for this newly guided franchise. First and foremost, a new head coach and staff must be locked down. Futures odds currently have Detroit OC Ben Johnson and future Hall of Fame head coach Bill Belichick installed favorites at the online sportsbook to land the gig. As much of a lock I felt “The Hoodie” was to make his new home in Landover weeks back, it seemingly makes more sense to go with some young offensive-minded talent to turn the fortune of the franchise around considering Washington just went the way of the veteran coach route and it didn’t pan out too well.

Even more so considering the Commies are owners of the No. 2 pick in the NFL Draft and would be in a position to land either Caleb Williams or Drake Maye should the team want to part ways with Howell. Regardless of what Washington does with its first draft pick, the franchise has a ton of work ahead of it this offseason to get the franchise off life support and back to being a force in the NFC East. Might I also suggest the Commanders moniker be swept under the rug and we go back to the historic namesake!

Washington Commanders Schedule & Results

Founded in 1932 as the Boston Redskins, the franchise became the Washington Redskins in 1937. The Washington franchise has had great periods of glory and plenty of years of ineptitude.

Washington was a perennial contender and 2-time NFL champion from 1936 through 1945. Then, from 1946 through 1970, the Redskins never made the playoffs. But then head coach and general manager George Allen changed that with five playoff berths in six years from 1971 to 1976, including a 1972 NFC championship. The late Allen made the Pro Football Hall of Fame based largely on his work in Washington.

The man that made the Redskins into Super Bowl champions was another Hall of Fame coach, Joe Gibbs. From 1982 through 1991, the Redskins won three Super Bowl titles with one other Super Bowl appearance.

Since Danny Boy Snyder took ownership of the franchise in 1999, Washington has posted just six playoff appearances. Their last four postseason bids were wild card losses. Washington hasn’t been close to being a bona fide Super Bowl contender during his reign of error.

In 2020 Snyder dropped the team nickname “Redskins” in a desperate sacrifice on the altar of political correctness after allegations of sexual harassment being a systemic issue in his organization. Only a putrid NFC East Division allowed Washington to slip into the 2020 playoffs.

Subsequently, Snyder has been accused of cheating his fellow NFL owners out of their cut of FedEx Field gate receipts. With all of the trouble that Snyder has caused the league, one would think he would be a candidate for expulsion. Yet he is not, which leads to plenty of speculation about why that is.

The Redskins changed their name to the Commanders in 2022.

Washington Commanders Past Seasons (2000)

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