The Commanders’ next five games, starting Thursday, are Chicago, at Atlanta, at the Giants, Philadelphia, and at New England – four of which are, as Grant Paulsen posited Tuesday, “toss-up, pick-em type games, where they’re not going to really be heavy underdogs at any point.”
The lone exception is the Eagles game, but given what happened in Philly on Sunday, anything can happen – and as we know, the Commanders turn it on later in the season, so how feasible is it for the Commanders to have five, six, or even seven wins when they head to Seattle the second weekend in November?
“Starting right now, Danny, this is your window where, in the past you've gone 4-1 on the soft underbelly of the schedule,” Grant said. “This is that portion now. This is the put the hay in the barn, harvest the nuts or it's not going to happen kind of stretch for me, starting with the Bears on Thursday night, and a Falcons team that may be starting Taylor Heinecke over Desmond Ritter by then.”
So, Grant asks, of the next five, how many wins do you see?
“I like 3-2 out of here,” Danny said. “To your point, this is almost a year to the day where they started their 6-1-1 sretch after a dreadful start, but they didn’t have that this year; they kind of held serve at 2-2, which is where a lot of us thought they’d be. Granted, the Bills loss stands out, but you handled your business and played well against Philly, and this is usually where Rivera’s teams pick things up. This is the chance to kind of do it.”
Danny sees Atlanta as more improved and Philly as Philly, and he ‘doesn’t think the Commanders are good enough to just beat four teams they're quote-unquote better than, so somebody’s gonna get them, but I like 3-2.”
That makes sense to Grant, too.
“I like that, because you kind of say, ‘okay, you’re going to lose to the Eagles, and will they really go 4-0 in a bunch of toss-up games?’” GP said. “Especially at New England, going there against that defense is still a pain in the butt even without Tom Brady and some of the steam gone around Bill Belichick.”
And if the Commanders can’t come out of this and head to Seattle with a winning record after nine?
“Here’s what I know: they have to go 3-2 if they plan on being a 10-win team at the end of the year,” Grant said. “I really believe that, because you still play the Cowboys a couple of times, have the Dolphins and 49ers on the schedule, and assuming Stafford is still healthy in mid-December, that Rams game in L.A. looks a little more arduous than it did.”
Add in that Seahawks game in Seattle and a Jets team that might still be ‘a pain to deal with,’ and the final seven games are no picnic for the Commanders (even with the seventh being the Giants, who are still a division rival).
“There are some real tough games looming in the back half of your schedule,” Grant said, “so it'd be nice if you just handle your business right now, guys.”
