The Washington Commanders scored to make it a one-point game with no time left on the clock in regulation on Sunday in Philadelphia. And after a Joey Slye extra point, were headed to overtime with the Eagles. But after getting the ball first in overtime, the defending NFC champions managed to come away with a three-point victory.
What was the Wahington locker room like after this, what some would call, 'moral victory?'
"Frustrated because I feel like we let one go," defensive tackle Jonathan Allen said of what allowed the Bills offense to be so successful during his weekly appearance on Monday with 106.7 The Fan's The Sports Junkies, which is presented exclusively by our partners at MainStreet Bank — Cheer Local. Bank Local. Put Our Team in Your Office.
"I felt like we played good enough, we shoulda won that game," he said on 106.7 The Fan. "Obviously they're an NFL team they made plays at the end of the game that we didn't make to win. We felt like we let them get away with one, to be honest with you.
"Obviously [our] offense did everything and more that they needed to do. Defense just has to be better. We're not playing bad, we're just messing up one thing here and there that leads to big plays. We'll be better this Thursday [against the Chicago Bears]. Good thing about this week is we'll get a quick turnaround put this game behind us, move forward. But, it's frustrating when you let them go."
Allen said the close loss "definitely keeps me up at night," but the veteran said the more important thing now is to not let the bad feelings from one game turn into an extended skid by letting it impact his play down the line.
The concern for Commanders fans coming out of Sunday was it marked the third-straight game the defense allowed over 30 points.
"It's definitely a legitimate concern," Allen told The Junkies. "But one thing I will say is, it's the NFL. Obviously, we're not gonna play to the best of our ability every single game, but you have a bunch of young guys who are gonna work their butts off to get it right. And we're gonna get this right.
"I promise you this game doesn't hurt worse for anybody other than the defense. This definitely was a, we pride ourselves on being a really good defense, for us to go out there and really have a three-game stretch where we're just not playing our standard. We're gonna get this fixed and we're working our you-know-whats off every day to get back to what we know, to be a good defense."
After talking about his impression of quarterback Sam Howell's bounce-back game in Philly, Allen said that heading into the Bears game on primetime it is a must-win game, but every single game is a must-win.
"We've got a tough stretch coming up and this is a trajectory game, it's either gonna traject us up or down. So we gotta win this game, I truly believe that," Allen told the Junkies.
The Pro Bowl defensive tackle previewed seeing Justin Fields on Thursday and how "happy" he is for Chase Young to perform well after coming back from injury and the challenges of missing an extended amount of time due to injury. Listen to the full conversation on the audio player above!