Commanders OL Sam Cosmi Discusses Offense 'Not Firing on All Cylinders'

The Washington Commanders have had an offensive stall in recent weeks, and it is hard to figure out why, even for the guys living it.

Oct 1, 2023; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Washington Commanders offensive tackle Sam Cosmi (76) leads his team in the tunnel against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images / Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

The Washington Commanders' offense started the season as the strength of the team.

While the Commanders' defense was struggling to get takeaways and allowing three opponents to score 30 or more points in three of the first six games, the offense was scoring no fewer than 20 and at 34 or more in four of the first seven.

The tables have turned recently and Washington is now struggling to put consistent offensive performances together while the defense is playing admirably while fighting late-game fatigue due to imbalances in the time-of-possession battle.

Oct 1, 2023; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Washington Commanders offensive tackle Sam Cosmi (76) leads his team in the tunnel against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images / Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

Commanders' offensive lineman Sam Cosmi has been around the team longer than any other in his group, and while he knows what the offense wants to do, he's having a hard time figuring out why it isn't working.

"We like to get defenses on their heels, (using) the tempo aspects of things and that's kind of the offense we run. So, we're not doing that right now. And I don't know, it's just like there's miscommunication or what - I can't put my finger on it, I really can't, but it's just not firing at all cylinders right now."

Specifically, in the running game, the Commanders have struggled to get back to form and dominate on the ground like they did in earlier wins.

While the team netted 145 yards on the ground in their Week 12 loss to the Dallas Cowboys, 74 of those yards came from quarterback Jayden Daniels.

The team's running backs combined for 17 carries producing just 57 yards on those touches. The fact that Washington has the sixth-ranked rushing attack when it comes to yards per play is now due largely to Daniels' abilities as a runner and scrambler and not nearly as much on the running backs. And that's a problem when facing defenses like the one the Philadelphia Eagles employed in their Week 11 win over the Commanders where they held Daniels to just a 2.6 yards per carry average and kept the rookie quarterback uncomfortable.

A large part of that decline appears to be attached to the health - or lack thereof - of running back Brian Robinson Jr.

Before suffering his first injury of the year, a right knee injury ahead of the team's Week 6 Baltimore Ravens matchup, Robinson was a focal point of the offense and helped establish a highly impactful rushing attack.

Since then, and on top of experiencing a right hamstring injury, the run game has suffered greatly. This Sunday against Dallas was the first game Robinson was expected to be as fully healthy as can be expected, and on his first carry, he sustained an injury to his right ankle that limited him in the first half and took him out of the second.

That ground attack appearing to be a single point of failure is an issue, but not one Cosmi isn't confident they can fix.

"I'm not worried about this team and where our trajectory is going," says Cosmi. "Obviously (it is) not the outcome we wanted, definitely not the outcome we wanted, but you can't underestimate any team in the NFL despite what their record is or who they had...'any given Sunday' is a true thing in this league, so we just didn't come to play the win today."

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