BMitch & Finlay try to diagnose the reasons for the Commanders' offensive swoon

Is it injuries? A rookie QB hitting the wall? Or is it the “Kliff Cliff” striking its ugly head again? Which of the three, or combo of the three, is behind the Commanders’ losing streak?

JP Finlay, at least, isn’t a believer in the notion that Kingsbury’s offenses regress in the second half of the season.

“Someone on X says it’s not the system, it is the injuries along the offensive line and their inability to execute when needed – I don’t know that he's setting me straight frankly, but I think we upset somebody straight,” JP said. “I’m not too worried about Arizona, because I think the quarterback was the primary driver of a lot of the second half swoons. He got hurt, so the numbers are going to look very different and bad.”

Another Twitter/X user thinks that Kingsbury can make an easy adjustment by moving Terry McLaurin around – something Jay Gruden also advocated for with both Grant & Danny and Chris Russell Monday – and not letting the defense get comfortable on one side, which JP also thinks might be worthwhile.

“I think that's oversimplification, but I do think it wouldn't hurt to move Terry around more,” JP said.

“The fact you just told me that in 27 routes on the right side, he’s caught seven of eight targets for over 150 yards…moving him around can help,” BMitch replied. “But on top of it, the main thing is if you move him to the right side, and Jayden gets the ball and somebody's in his face, he don't see Terry on the right side either. The offensive line is key – you look at my stats in college, my offensive line blocked their asses off to get me those opportunities, and I think too many times we just look at the specialty positions and think they do it all by themselves.”

Brian remembered how just about anyone who ran behind the Hogs looked good, and it helped the entire offense, so when ‘your offensive line is great, great things happen’ – but what about right now, when the Commanders’ current group is so worn down?

“The tricky part is these guys are beat up, but you don't necessarily want to bench anybody, so you have this limbo of just a banged-up offensive line,” JP said. “And specific to the slowdown in the run game, Brian Robinson missed three games already, and is probably gonna miss a fourth, because when he came back out there, it doesn't necessarily look like he was all the way back, and that’s a pretty big factor. He’s not Josh Jacobs or Saquon or Henry, but whatever that second tier of good back is, he lands there – but he doesn’t stay on the field enough, and that’s been a big problem for this offense too.”

“You gotta try to figure out some other things, because it's just not as simple as, ‘oh, it’s the person,’” BMitch replied. “I brag on Coach Gibbs that he's the best coach I've ever seen in my damn life, and he was so good to where he would practice what he knew he was gonna go to, because he knew people were gonna try to stop a certain way, and nine times out of 10, he was exactly right. They gotta start figuring out some of that stuff, because once you get in a game and stuff ain’t working, the hell with it.”

So maybe it’s a combination of things, but with five games left and four after a much-needed bye, both JP and Brian think the Commanders are still a playoff team – but it’s time for ‘leaders and coaches to step up and help them find their way,’ and Sunday’s game is ‘put up or shut up time.’