Commanders Defense Has Played Well, Needs to Finish Better

The Washington Commanders' defense could say they've played well enough to win these past two weeks, but coach Joe Whitt Jr. would say they haven't finished games and that's the problem.

Nov 23, 2023; Arlington, Texas, USA; Washington Commanders safety Jartavius Martin (20) and defensive end KJ Henry (55) in action during the game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Washington Commanders at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

ASHBURN, Va. -- The Washington Commanders defense played well against the Philadelphia Eagles last week in a loss that played out closer than the scoreboard would suggest.

In fact, plenty of folks came out of that Thursday Night Football contest saying the Commanders' defensive unit played well enough to win.

Washington defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. and safety Quan Martin say that playing well enough isn't enough, especially when you don't do it for 60 minutes.

Nov 23, 2023; Arlington, Texas, USA; Washington Commanders safety Jartavius Martin (20) and defensive end KJ Henry (55) in action during the game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Washington Commanders at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

"Just from the emphasis on the finish - I think that's been our weak part of our defense these last couple of weeks," Martin said when asked about the point of emphasis on what the defense needs to do to get the Commanders back to winning. "Just being able to finish the game in the fourth quarter when it's in our hands."

Coach Whitt is on board with that take as well, and went into a bit more detail in his weekly press conference on Thursday.

"I know people want to say that we got tired. Well, that's why we rolled with a deep crew. I don't believe in excuses. We're here to win and we got to win," Whitt said about what happened against the Eagles last week. "So I thought the men did play hard though and they executed the plan the way that we wanted to go. They ran and hit and for 53 minutes it looked the way that it's supposed to look. And now I got to do a better job of getting us to play 60 minutes of football and hopefully with this next opportunity that we have with Dallas, we'll get that done."

How Whitt, Martin, and the rest of the Washington defense plans to get that done is still to be seen. It's a little piece of strategy that the coach is too smart to share publicly.

But the unwillingness to say, 'we did good enough,' is part of what has led to some important imporovements in pass defense, pass rush, and in takeaways. For what its worth, Whitt also acknowledged the need to get better against the run - another goal we'll have to wait and see how he plans to get that accomplished.

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