Each Friday on the Hoffman Show ahead of a Commanders football Sunday, Craig Hoffman and producer Anthony Haynie select six Washington players that they are putting under the microscope. And so after the Commanders' 24-16 win over the Atlanta Falcons, it is time to look back at how each of those six 'Manders fared in the game.
Percy Butler was the No. 1 player on the list entering the Week 6 tilt in Atlanta. The safety played all 83 snaps on defense for Washington and tallied three tackles (one solo) and had "an interesting day because I didn't feel like he was super involved in the game, which is sometimes good for a safety," Hoffman said. "The PFF grade for him is not very good... He's a 49 grade for PFF... but against a team like Atlanta pretty good day."
Jonathan Allen, the Monday morning guest on The Sports Junkies, was the No. 2 player and the defensive tackle had six tackles (five solo) and one quarterback hit.
"I thought Jon was really good," Hoffman said, "maybe not great. Way better than he had been. He made some great plays. PFF doesn't grade him out great... he misses a tackle or two, but overall he helps slow things up... but he made impact plays. And that's what you're paying Jon Allen all that money for."
No. 3 was Kamren Curl, who made 11 tackles (eight solo) and had three passes defensed including "the huge fourth-and-3 PBU on Bijan... Kam was Kam yesterday, played all 83 snaps... there were no blown coverages."
Wide receiver Terry McLaurin was targeted 11 times on Sam Howell's 23 attempts and connected for 81 yards on six catches. Washington only ran 50 offensive plays, so the top receiver was the target on over 20 percent of those. "Played almost every snap," Hoffman said. "He was great [Sunday]."
It was "a mixed bag" for Sam Cosmi. He grades out "really well" on pass blocking for the interior offensive lineman. But the Commanders really struggled at getting any inside run game going.
The final Commander under the spotlight was punter Tress Way and the punt coverage team. Way launched six punts for 260 yards (43.3 average) with three dropping inside the 20 and the coverage team allowed just 11 total yards on three returns with a long of eight.
