Quarterback Woes in the London Sunshine
The afternoon began with the sun beating down on the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium turf, and as the game grew closer the atmosphere was building nicely with a sea of Commanders fans erupting as their team took the field in London. An early sack fumble from Daniel Jones, which was forced by Odafe Oweh and a huge 35-yard designed Marcus Mariota run gave Washington fans the right to feel even more excited for the day ahead. Then, disaster struck their quarterback room again. Mariota going down with a knee injury led to the first career appearance of rookie Athan Kaliakmanis – the Commanders were now down to their third-string signal caller.
The first drive of Kaliakmanis’ career did contain a first down run by Austin Ekeler, along with a first career completed pass. That was enough to earn a few daps on the sideline for the rookie, but one first down and a few smiles from teammates was not all the rookie had to offer as the game unfolded. To end the first half, Daniel Jones slowly started to shake off whatever ghosts were floating around in the back of his mind after his early fumble and an interception by Rasul Douglas. The Colts led 10-6 with Jonathan Taylor’s rushing score the only touchdown of the first half – an endzone visit that led to him becoming the leading rushing touchdown scorer in NFL international game history. When I asked Taylor if he was proud to hold this record, he said smiling that it was “a crazy stat” that was “the start of something” and that he hopes he “can continue to stack on today”.
The second half began with more woes for the Commanders’ offense as Kaliakmanis threw his first career interception to Jaylon Carlies. Off the back of this pick, Jonathan Taylor notched another rushing score to stretch his record further, but then fireworks ensued amongst Commanders fans once more as Kaliakmanis unfurled a missile down the left sideline to Treylon Burks for his first career touchdown pass. It was certainly a day of firsts for the young Washington quarterback. The arm strength of the rookie was on show in the first half when a deep pass to Antonio Williams was slightly overthrown, with Williams locked down by Charvarius Ward, but the six-point play to Burks was inch perfect.
Kaliakmanis was not done with big plays in the third quarter, as he nailed a deep ball behind the Colts’ coverage for 48 yards to Dyami Brown. This throw, rolling to his right, was a clear sign of the talent that the fifth-round pick out of Rutgers has to offer the NFL, but he still has a lot to learn in order to get up to the speed of professional defenses. Just a few plays later he was obliterated by a free-rusher for the second time in his maiden voyage in the big leagues. A huge YAC touchdown to Antonio Williams was chalked off after an illegal shift on the offense, and from there the Colts run game took over.
Jonathan Taylor gashed the Commanders defensive front multiple times on a drive that eventually saw Daniel Jones run it in on a keeper for Indianapolis, extending their lead to 27-13 early in the fourth quarter. Jones had a rather poor game through the air, failing to connect with any of his receivers consistently and not looking to Tyler Warren enough, considering every time the tight end touched the ball a big play seemed to be brewing. There were a number of times where the Indianapolis quarterback opted to throw the ball into the turf or out over the sideline when he didn’t like his options down field. This might be the early turnovers playing on his mind, or a deeper issue that we will have to assess later this season.
The game ended with more questions than answers across both rosters. The Colts did win comfortably, but the Commanders were far from their best selves and therein lies the question with them, when will they be their best selves again? For the Commanders, the quarterback situation represents the biggest question of all for either of these teams. With Jayden Daniels continuously putting himself in harm’s way, Marcus Mariota now nursing a knee injury and Athan Kaliakmanis being so raw, where do they go and will Dan Quinn survive long enough to bring them there?