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Could Commanders Switch To ‘Air Raid’ Offense?
The Washington Commanders offense has been the definition of a complementary unit through the season’s first five weeks. This means that the offense, led by rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels and coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, has been on fire to start the year and is the NFL’s highest-scoring offense through five games (31.0/g). With Daniels’ improvement as a passer being noticeable over the last couple of games, Kingsbury isn’t about to let the passing attack take over at the expense of what Jayden does in the run game.
“Yeah I mean, you know my background, so we can drop back as much as we want and have fun doing it,” Kingsbury said with a smile. “But that’s not what’s best for us right now and who we are. He did it in college. He was in a shootout every week last year, but we’re trying to be efficient and maximize who we are, and the guys have done a good job executing plays, but if we had to do that, yeah, that’d be fun to watch.” So, while we won’t get to see Daniels have 50+ passing attempts for 500 yards any time soon, it is good to know that if the Commanders do get into shootouts, Kingsbury is confident enough in his young quarterback to let him air it out.
Of course, there are drawbacks to implying passing on every down, hence the reason for Washington’s run game to still be a focal point of the offense.
With Daniels, Brian Robinson Jr., and Austin Ekeler, the Commanders have a solid run game that has surpassed 100 yards in every game this season and has had over 200 yards three times in five weeks.
Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey (ankle) and wide receiver Rashod Bateman (groin) are practicing again Friday, a good sign that they’ll be able to play Sunday versus the Washington Commanders.
After missing Wednesday’s practice, both players were limited Thursday.
The only Ravens not on the field at the start of Friday’s practice were defensive lineman Broderick Washington (knee) and linebacker Malik Harrison (groin). Neither have practice all week.
Washington has played 39% of the Ravens’ defensive snaps this season and made four tackles through the first five games. If he doesn’t play, Baltimore could just roll with four defensive linemen (Nnamdi Madubuike, Michael Pierce, Travis Jones and Brent Urban), or they could activate veteran Chris Wormley from the practice squad.
Harrison has played 16% of the snaps and made 10 tackles. The Ravens inside linebackers behind Roquan Smith and Trenton Simpson are Chris Board and Josh Ross.
