ASHBURN, Va. -- The Washington Commanders have already endured a rough stretch. They're about to enter a dangerous one that could alter their season.
They must face a dangerous Dallas Cowboys offense with a defense that has been inconsistent and an offense potentially missing all three of its top receivers. After that, they play at the Kansas City Chiefs before hosting the Seattle Seahawks and Detroit Lions -- teams that represent four of the top eight scoring offenses.
It doesn't look good for the Commanders, who are dealing with more key injuries through six games than they had all of last season.
"The sky is not falling," Washington safety Jeremy Reaves said.
Still, at 3-3, the Commanders have put themselves in a perilous spot -- something they rarely did during their surprising 2024 season, when they won four of their first five and seven of their first nine last season.
When they hit a bad stretch -- losing three in a row -- they were still 7-5. Then they won five consecutive games to close the regular season. It's a track record that had coach Dan Quinn encouraged this week.
"I absolutely love how we fight back. I love it," Quinn said Tuesday. "There's nothing, no fight that we think we're out of."
Lessons learned last year will need to be applied if Washington wants to regain its footing in 2025.
"Everything's not going to fall your way so you have to find a way to get through the things that don't go your way," said Reaves. "That's resilience, that's persistence. Some of the plays that haven't gone our way will start to come. You can't look at the negative because it's not going your way right now. Perspective is everything."
The difficult part for Washington is that it must navigate this stretch with a defense that has been inconsistent. The Commanders rank 13th in scoring and 11th on third down. However, they also rank 26th in yards allowed and yards per play, 28th in plays gaining 15 yards or more, and 29th in takeaways.
In their wins over the New York Giants, Las Vegas Raiders and Los Angeles Chargers, Washington's defense has allowed a combined 40 points and an average of 307 yards; none of those offenses rank above 19th in scoring. In their losses to the Green Bay Packers, Atlanta Falcons and Chicago Bears, they've allowed an average of 28.7 points and 406.7 yards. Green Bay and Chicago both rank top 11 in scoring.
"We're trying to get off this rollercoaster," said defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr.
The problem defensively has been when one area seemingly improves, there's a breakdown in another. Washington (mostly) fixed communication issues in the secondary. After surrendering 10 plays of 15 yards or more to receivers in Weeks 3 and 4, they've allowed half that number the past two games combined. However, Chicago still had six plays that gained at least 15 yards, including a 55-yard touchdown to running back D'Andre Swift in which safety Quan Martin failed to tackle him, or push him out of bounds at the Commanders' 39-yard line. There's a reason they rank 30th in yards allowed per reception.
But a run defense that entered having allowed just 3.6 yards per carry to running backs and a total of 399 yards overall surrendered a season-worst 133 yards and 6.7 yards per carry vs. the Chicago backs.
Part of the issue is injuries. One starting defensive end, Deatrich Wise Jr., is on injured reserve as is key backup Javontae Jean-Baptiste. Making matters worse, another starting end, Dorance Armstrong, was in and out of Monday's game with a hamstring injury that could prevent him from playing at Dallas.
One hole plugged; another leaks.
"It's hard but we'll get it done," Whitt said. "All this lip service and talking that I'm doing, if we don't win it doesn't matter."
But the reason why Washington remains optimistic stems from multiple factors: The Commanders' proved a tough, resilient team in 2024. Offensively, the Commanders have produced despite key injuries to quarterback Jayden Daniels, who missed two games with a knee injury, and top receiver Terry McLaurin has played in only three games because of a right quad injury and remains uncertain for Sunday. Another wideout, Noah Brown, missed four games with a groin injury and, after practicing two days last week, was placed on injured reserve earlier this week. Third-down back Austin Ekeler was placed on injured reserve after tearing his Achilles in Week 2.
Despite all that, Washington ranks ninth in scoring and 13th in yards.
"Everybody goes through it in this league," offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury said, "but we haven't consistently been able to practice as a unit since training camp started. And I think that's where maybe some of the inconsistency is showing up."
The encouraging aspect for Washington is that -- at some point -- McLaurin will return. Sam Cosmi, their top lineman last season who's recovering from a torn ACL, is close to returning as well. The Commanders' run game ranks tied for second, so adding McLaurin should provide a downfield threat that will help wideout Deebo Samuel and tight end Zach Ertz on underneath routes. Add to that the steady improvement of second-year wideout Luke McCaffrey and rookie Jaylin Lane.
But most importantly: They still have Daniels, last year's NFL offensive rookie of the year. In four games he's thrown for 875 yards, seven touchdowns and one pick while rushing for another 176 yards.
"Jayden's done a tremendous job of lifting the group up," Kingsbury said, "and has the guys playing at a high level."
It all adds up to a division of concern (can the defense fix its issues?) and hope (when injured players return what kind of boost will they get?).
On Wednesday, Ertz said players were still "pissed off" about the loss to Chicago. Another veteran, defensive end Von Miller, said there's only one way to respond.
"Just get back to work," he said. "Still got a lot of football to play."
