The Dan Quinn era with the Washington Commanders got off to a bad start with a 37-20 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. There were several positives to take away from Jayden Daniels’ first game, but there were plenty of other reasons to worry.

The Commanders’ offense consisted of little more than Daniels running for much of the game. Washington hasn’t solved its kicker problem. But the most troubling thing is that the biggest bugbear of 2023 — its miserable third-down defense — still hasn’t been fixed.

The Commanders defense made a lot of big plays, but consistently failed when it mattered most, and the results showed it.

They gave up 37 points to an offense that averaged 20 points last year. In 2023, the Buccaneers average 313 total yards per game. In Week 1, they had nearly 400. Until a few knee benders at the end, Tampa Bay averaged 6.7 yards per play. Last year, it averaged 5.1.

All in all it was a sad day in terms of defense.

It was most evident on third down. Tampa Bay converted nine of 13 third downs. That’s an astonishing number. Nearly 70 percent. In 2023, the Commanders were the fifth-worst defense in the league on third down, allowing opponents to convert about 42 percent of their attempts. That was terrible. And if I remember my high school math correctly, 70 percent is a lot worse than 42 percent.

As it turned out, the very first third down set the tone. The Commanders got lucky when Baker Mayfield knocked over an open receiver, but a hands-to-the-face call on Clelin Ferrell gave Tampa Bay a first down anyway. Washington kept the quarterback on the field, and he responded with the game’s first field goal.

They gave up another third-down conversion on the second drive when another penalty took the Buccaneers out of a third-and-11 and gave them a third-and-six. Mike Evans beat Jeremy Chinn and Quan Martin on the ensuing play for another easy first.

It kept happening all game long. Mayfield scrambled away from a blitz to cover a third-and-7 with a throw to Chris Godwin on the ensuing drive. The prolific pass-catchers also converted three third downs, beating Emmanuel Forbes Jr. and Mike Sainsristil with relative ease.

Forbes would commit not one, but two penalties on the ensuing third down, setting up another Tampa Bay touchdown. He was benched immediately afterward.

The Commanders eventually stopped a third-down attempt with an all-out blitz that created their first sack of the game midway through the third quarter, which also led to Tampa Bay’s first and only point of the clash.

Jalen McMillan burned Chinn and Sainristil for a 32-yard touchdown catch on a third-and-7 that effectively ended the game. And then, on Tampa Bay’s last real drive, things got downright laughable.

Washington continued to make good plays on early downs and terrible plays on third down. They gave up three more conversions, the last of which was a touchdown to Evans. The first, however, was the most egregious. On third-and-18, Godwin took a little screen pass and flew past almost everyone on the Washington defense, including both linebackers, for a gain of 24 yards.

Giving up a third down is demoralizing. It’s tiring. It keeps your offense on the sidelines. It’s the hallmark of bad defenses. Bad coverage. Bad tackling. Washington exhibited all of those tendencies last season, and it cost defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio his job.

What was especially frustrating about this performance was that many of the new players—the ones brought in to solve this problem—were the main culprits. Bobby Wagner is still great in the trenches against the run, but he’s a liability in pass coverage. Frankie Luvu looked much the same. Chinn and Sainristil, back-end players tasked with cleaning up jams on third and long, failed repeatedly.

Add to that returning cornerbacks Forbes and Benjamin St-Juste, who were consistently beaten at the most important moments by Tampa Bay’s (admittedly) excellent receivers, and it was a recipe for disaster.

It’s just one game. Quinn and Joe Whitt Jr. will certainly make adjustments to address this issue. But if they can’t fix it, it’s going to be a very long season.

The Commanders made a lot of average offenses look like world class players last year. They made Mayfield look like an All-Pro to start the 2024 campaign — largely because they just couldn’t get him off the field on third downs.

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