It was easy to get caught up in the excitement of the Commanders making so many offseason moves, because most of them were objectively good decisions for the team. The linebacker position was an issue in 2023, so they signed future Hall of Famer Bobby Wagner; after realizing they needed a new quarterback, they drafted Jayden Daniels with the No. 2 overall pick; and while the secondary clearly needed time to improve, they at least signed and drafted new players who could help the defense.

There were some positive signs in training camp that Washington was on the right path long-term, but Sunday’s game was the first real chance to show it was headed in a new direction. And while Tampa Bay looked like a playoff contender, the Commander played like a group that was… well, in the first year of a rebuild.

“I can’t really speak for the whole team,” Daniels said. “I don’t want to speak for the defensive guys, but on the offensive side, man, we can’t shoot ourselves in the foot. Once we get going, we’re going.”

Daniels certainly played a role in some of the self-inflicted wounds, throwing his first pass of the game backwards for a loss and missing an open Terry McLaurin on what could have been a touchdown to start the second half. Daniels was mostly fine in his rookie debut, though, completing 17 of 24 passes for 184 yards.

But Washington never found a way to execute consistently against a Buccaneers defense that lost several key players throughout the afternoon. Part of that was due to an inability to finish drives with points, thanks to Cade York’s missed field goal attempts, but it also had to do with the fact that they simply weren’t getting enough from their skill players earlier in the game. When Washington entered the locker room for halftime, only one receiver had registered a catch.

As McLaurin put it in the locker room: “We just didn’t execute it quite the way we wanted to.

“But I’m not discouraged,” McLaurin added. “I have a lot of confidence in him (Daniels) out there and I know I’m going to get more opportunities. So I just have to stay focused and be ready. Those are the types of plays that change games, so in the latter part of this season we want to try to score as much as we can.”