was better than Joe Whitt Jr.’s has been. Otherwise, the made the sorts of mistakes 鈥� Marcus Mariota’s overtime interception, , Mike Sainristil’s dropped punt and so on 鈥� that are contributing to a failure of a season.
鈥淚 guess we just found a way to lose,鈥� right guard Sam Cosmi said after the latest in a series of such results, a on Sunday in Spain.
A year after surprising everyone by going 12-5 and reaching the NFC title game, Washington is surprising folks again, just in a bad way, entering its bye week at 3-8 after six consecutive setbacks.
鈥淲e鈥檙e all mad over the month that鈥檚 been,鈥� said.
It’s actually been longer: came on Oct. 5, at the Los Angeles Chargers. That made Washington 3-2.
A week later came a one-point home loss to the Chicago Bears, and nothing’s been the same since.
With AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year sidelined by injury, top target Terry McLaurin out, too, and plenty of other problems, Washington has seen its play become as poor as its health.
After traveling overseas for the latest bad result, linebacker Bobby Wagner said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 a long way to travel to come up short.鈥�
What鈥檚 working
Quinn as defensive play-caller. It’s just one week, and it came against the mediocre Dolphins. Still, the head coach’s move to demote defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. appeared to pay off Sunday. It wasn’t perfect 鈥� each of Miami’s first three plays went for at least 10 yards; RB De鈥橵on Achane gained 120 yards on 21 carries and 45 yards on five catches 鈥� but the improvement was noticeable. That included two stops of the Dolphins on drives that reached goal-to-go situations; they had been 13 for 13 in scoring touchdowns on such opportunities. There also was a sack on a cornerback blitz by Jonathan Jones, the type of thing that didn’t happen under Whitt. Washington limited Miami to 13 points through four quarters and totals of 142 yards passing and 3 for 11 on third or fourth downs. 鈥淎s players, we鈥檝e got to go out and execute plays,鈥� Wagner said. 鈥淭oday we did a better job of that.鈥�
What needs help
The offense. It doesn’t help that Daniels (dislocated left elbow) missed his fifth game of the season and McLaurin missed his seventh. Or that RB Austin Ekeler was lost for the season in Week 2. Or that WR Noah Brown is on injured reserve. Long drives that ended with nothing to show for them was a big problem. 鈥淭his offense can score a lot of points,鈥� Mariota said, 鈥渂ut if we鈥檙e not converting our red zone opportunities, it鈥檚 tough.鈥�
Stock up
WR Deebo Samuel. He had a game-best seven catches for 74 yards and Washington’s lone TD. Samuel has team highs of 53 catches, 470 yards receiving and six total touchdowns this season.
Stock down
Gay, who is now out of a job after getting released Monday. The Commanders are adding Jake Moody 鈥� he of last month 鈥� from the Chicago Bears’ practice squad, a person told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the Commanders hadn’t announced the move. He missed a potential game-winning field-goal attempt from 56 yards in the closing seconds of regulation, sending it wide right. 鈥淵ou just feel like you let your team down,鈥� Gay said. 鈥淕ot to make it. Cannot miss that kick.鈥� He missed a 51-yarder earlier and finished 13 of 19 on field-goal tries this season, 68.4%. Only two kickers have been worse. Gay also was just 4 for 9 on attempts from 50 yards or more in a league where that sort of distance is nearly automatic for many kickers.
Injuries
Mariota returned after leaving briefly in the second half with what he called a stinger on his right side, causing his throwing arm to get 鈥渢ingly and numb.鈥� He said it was 鈥渘othing major; something that every football player goes through.鈥� WR-KR Jaylin Lane exited with an injured hip; that’s why Sainristil was on the field for the punt that he dropped.
Key number
7 鈥� The current slot for the Commanders in the first round of the 2026 draft.
Next steps
Things do not figure to get much easier when Washington returns to action on Nov. 30 against the visiting , who are on an eight-game winning streak and, at 9-2, are tied with the New England Patriots for the best record in the NFL. Like the Commanders, the Broncos are heading into their bye week.
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