After the defense, which was the top reason why the Washington Commanders fell to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 37-20 in Week 1, the game plan from offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury left something to be desired.
"I'm gonna be a little critical of the offensive gameplan, in general," Kevin Sheehan said Monday. "One of my keys [before the game] was to protect the quarterback. Part of protecting the quarterback was a lot of quick game, more of an emphasis on running the football. I think they struggled to run it when they tried to run it early and maybe that got them off their plan. But overall, I didn't love what they did."
Sheehan called the offense the big "mystery" part of Wahington's team in 2024 and Kingsbury, in his first year as an NFL OC, "has a big responsibility – and if the defense is gonna struggle like it did [in Week 1] – he is gonna have to really be a dynamic offensive designer and play caller and game planner each week."
Washington Post Sports' Nicki Jhabvala noted that Daniels faced five or more rushers on 47.1 percent of his dropbacks, the second-highest rate in Week 1, according to Next Gen Stats. The rookie was pressured on 38.1 percent of his dropbacks, the seventh-highest rate for the week.
"The 'get of out' plan was 'get out of it, Jayden, go make a play for us,'" Sheehan said. "And he did, almost every single time and that may be part of the plan. But you'd like to see the plan account for the extra pass rusher and have the ability from the pocket to hurt the blitz via the forward pass. That's what you'd prefer to see."
Sheehan noted that Daniels had a couple passes – one to tight end Zach Ertz and one to running back Austin Ekeler – against the blitz but he doesn't know "if the plan of Jayden escaping it and making plays with his legs to avoid extra man pressure – and there was a lot of it –" is the best strategy.
On the offense, Daniels' top targets were Ekeler and fellow running back Robinson each with four (tied with Ertz). And of his 24 attempts, nine were at or behind the line of scrimmage accounting for seven of his 17 completions on the day.
Knowing the Bucs were gonna blitz and bring pressure, Sheehan says "You want to see them be able to burn that."
The Commanders have good enough receivers will be an open-ended question for the next few weeks.
"But I didn't come away from the game thinking that Kingsbury's offensive guru-ness that he's been labeled with really showed in game one," Sheehan said. "They weren't three-and-out they moved the ball, but they move the ball basically because of the quarterback's legs as much as anything else."
The WRs accounted for 11 targets and had seven receptions for 55 yards.
"Not blown away with what they did offensively," Sheehan said. "And I thought [a 65-35 called pass to run plays ratio], I'm not a 'gotta run the football,' 'gotta be balanced,' I'm not that way at all. I want you to do whatever it takes to move the football against the opponent you are playing. But it was a bit disjointed, the quarterback made things look good."