Washington laid a huge egg against Tampa Bay on Sunday afternoon in head coach Dan Quinn’s debut with the Commanders. It was a complete failure in all three aspects of the game. The offense sputtered and couldn’t get the ball into the hands of its wide receivers downfield. The defense botched multiple coverages, missed tackles and couldn’t get off the field on third down. And special teams wasn’t all that special. Overall, it was a nightmare start to the season.

Some of this was to be expected, though. This was a 4-13 team that turned over half its roster in the offseason and started a rookie quarterback under center. Growing pains are part of the process, and Washington experienced a fair share of them on Sunday. If there’s a silver lining to this ugly loss, it’s that the team has nowhere to go but up from here. And, oh yeah, we’re playing the Giants!

Below are my Studs and Duds from the game, followed by some notes.

Studs:

Jayden Daniels – Despite the constant pressure all afternoon, Daniles showed his unique athleticism by avoiding that pressure and turning scrambles into positive gains. He gained 88 yards on the ground and scored two touchdowns. He didn’t burn the Bucs secondary through the air, but he made quick decisions and didn’t lose the ball. There’s a lot to be excited about here.

Brian Robinson – Robinson ran hard between the tackles and showed his receiving ability and run-after-catch prowess. He had 89 total yards and a touchdown on the afternoon.

Clelin Ferrell – Ferrell seemed to be one of the few players on defense who didn’t give up when the going got tough. He was solid coming off the edge, making a couple of tackles for loss, a sack, and multiple pressures.

Blind:

Cade York – I can’t believe we’re doing this again with a kicker, but here we are. York was 0-2 on field goal attempts and kicked a kickoff out of bounds. I’ll be surprised if he has a job by the end of the week.

Emmanuel Forbes – I’m going to label the entire secondary as DUDS, but Forbes deserves his own category. While it was St-Juste who gave up two touchdowns to Mike Evans, it was Forbes who once again looked like he didn’t belong on an NFL field. He continues to miss tackles and blow converges – while also committing costly penalties. This experiment may soon be coming to an end.

Andrew Wylie – He’s just not good! He’s a liability every time the offense lines up to pass. He gets beat in almost every way possible – on the perimeter with speed, inside with quickness, and on the bull rush when defenders get on his chest. He lacks foot speed and contact balance and needs help on every play if we hope to see Daniles survive the entire season. He allowed multiple pressures and a sack in the game.

Commanders Secondary – I have to bring up the entire secondary here. The third down conversions they gave the Bucs were embarrassing. So was the tackling, the miscommunications, the coverages, and the penalties.

Trainers – I understand this was the first game under this new coaching staff with a LOT of new pieces, but neither side of the ball, or special teams, looked very good. I think we all expected some bumps along the way, especially early on, but expected or not, you gotta call a spade a spade here. Coaching gets an F from me.

Notes:

• Despite leading the team in tackles with 10 total (five solo – three for loss), Wagner seemed to have slipped a bit and was at times genuinely disinterested.

• Austin Ekeler didn’t get many carries (just 2 of 10 yards), but he showed he could catch the ball well when Jayden targeted him.

• A lot of fans were negative about Payne and Allen after the game, but I don’t think Payne played bad. He was disruptive and showed that he worked hard to chase down the ball carriers. I’ll save my comments on Allen…

• Jamin Davis needs to play more on the edge. He shined when he was in the game, he showed speed, quickness and good tackling. He tackled three times, one for loss, and he had pressure.

• I’ve already labeled the entire secondary as Duds for their performance, and some fans were really negative towards Mike Sainristil for his play. Now I admit the rookie didn’t have a good game, but I’m not negative towards him at all. It’s the opposite for me. I saw him in his spot to make plays, and I think he’ll learn from it and come out better.

• Yesterday we only had one wide receiver on the field who was over 6′ tall. You might not think that matters much – but it does! Noah Brown is playing against the Giants.