Instant analysis: Commanders lose another quarterback (and game)

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LONDON — The Washington Commanders started the week with an outside chance to return their starting quarterback Jayden Daniels.

They left London down to their third string.

For the second time in three weeks, the Commanders lost their quarterback mid-game due to an injury. This time, backup quarterback Marcus Mariota went down after taking a sack and never returned. It was only eight minutes into the game

Washington turned to seventh-round rookie Athan Kaliakmanis to win a game in London. But even against one of the NFL’s more underwhelming defenses, the Commanders couldn’t cobble together enough offense to make it work in a 30-13 loss. Washington fell to 1-3.

Here are three takeaways from the loss.

Mariota out, and Kaliakmansis pressured

The play that took Mariota down never should’ve happened. The Colts didn’t bring pressure. The Commanders were in the red zone and Indianapolis dropped back in zone. But Washington’s offensive line couldn’t hold up against a four-man pass rush.

Rookie Matt Gulbin was beat almost immediately inside and Josh Conerly was pushed back several yards behind the line. Mariota buckled under the hit and walked right to the medical tent.

But the pressure problem was only exacerbated with a rookie. Three of Kaliakmanis’ first five passes were under duress. It didn’t get much better from there. And the Colts barely called a blitz to get to him. That is hard enough to deal with for a veteran. For a rookie, playing overseas? Nearly impossible.

Kaliakmanis still made plays. That’s what enticed Washington so much this preseason — his ability to hang in the pocket and push the ball down field. He showed it on a 47-yard touchdown pass to Treylon Burks and a one-footed fling to Dyami Brown for 48.

Take a look at this play as an example:

But eventually the pressure was too much. At the start of the second half, Kaliamanis threw an interception facing pressure. It set up a Colts touchdown. Again, Indianapolis didn’t bring more than four on that play. Later on, another drive stalled in Colts’ territory thanks to an unblocked blitzer.

Kaliakmansis finished 15-for-32 for 186 yards.

A big player issue?

The numbers for Washington’s defense don’t look bad. They allowed 257 yards and the Commanders actually outgained the Colts.

But Washington still allowed Indianapolis’ best player to hurt them on the ground... twice.

Jonathan Taylor scored the Colts’ first two touchdowns and averaged over four yards a carry. He tallied 95 yards overall.

In a vacuum, maybe it’s not a concern. Taylor does this to plenty of defenses.

But Washington’s defense has consistently given up big games to the player at the top of the scouting report. Last week against Seattle, Jaxon Smith-Njigba had 128 yards and two touchdowns. Before that in Dallas, CeeDee Lamb had 153 yards and two scores.

The Lamb and Smith-Njigba performances were more understable. Both play on an offense with plenty of other playmakers to worry about. But the Colts?

Indapolis doesn’t have another running back on the roster with more than 10 carries. They don’t have a single receiver with more than 186 total yards on the season.

Out of their 921 total yards this year, Taylor has 325 of them.

Yet he still gave Washington fits.

Penalty problems... again

Offensive coordinator David Blough talked about the issues with Washington’s pre-snap operation earlier this week.

It was on the front of his mind after Jacory Croskey-Merritt’s 50-yard touchdwon was called back last week.

“Truthfully, man, it was not really up to our standard as an offense,” Blough said.

It happened again in London.

This time Antonio Williams’ 87-yard touchdown was called back thanks to an illegal shift by Brown. Washington had to punt and set up the Colts at midfield. It led to a Daniel Jones rushing touchdown.

And this time it wasn’t just the offense making life harder on themselves. In the first half, the defense had the Colts stopped on third down at the 30-yard line.

But after the play Amik Robertson had an unsportsmanlike penalty, extending the drive. Taylor scored a touchdown.

In a game Washington was playing with a third-string quarterback, that is a 14-point swing.