Commanders Reacts Survey: Week 8 - OL and DB assessment

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NFL. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Washington Commanders fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in regular email surveys.

Once again, we have 4 questions in today’s survey. The first question, as is true every week, asks about your confidence in the direction of the team.

Offensive Line

The second question deals with changes to the offensive line.

C Tyler Larsen
Tyler Larsen, along with Chase Young, began training camp on the PUP list, and moved to IR once the season began. He was activated in Week 5, and took on the full-time starter role in Week 6, playing 57 offensive snaps against the Bears and 74 against the Packers.

Larsen’s presence in the middle seems to have helped pull the OL together. If nothing else, he seems to have solved the problem of knee-high snaps that the team had been experiencing in the couple of weeks before he rejoined the offense.

RG Saahdiq Charles
Saahdiq Charles stepped in when RG Trai Turner was benched early in the Week 4 game against the Cowboys. Since that time, Charles has played 247 offensive snaps.

OT Cornelius Lucas
2nd year RT Sam Cosmi started and played the first four games before being injured in Week 4 against the Cowboys. Cosmi earned good grades from PFF; however, his play didn’t pass the eye test to any Commanders fan who watched the games. Lucas seems to have stepped up as part of the 3-player re-tooling at C-RG-RT that has taken place over the past three weeks.

Today, we ask which of these three players has been most responsible for Washington’s seeming improved OL play in recent games.

Defensive secondary

CB William Jackson, who has the 2nd-highist cap hit on the roster, missed all of Week 3, and played only 15 snaps in Week 5.

In Weeks 1, 2 & 4, 2nd year CB Benjamin St-Juste played primarily in the slot, but with Jackson off the field, St-Juste moved to boudary corner, opposite Kendall Fuller, in Weeks 3, 5, 6 & 7. In those 4 games, St-Juste has displayed good athleticism and has had a number of important or impressive pass break ups, including the game-sealing final defensive play against Bears receiver Darnell Mooney at the goal line on Thursday Night Football.

When St-Juste moved to the boundary to replace Jackson, 2nd year player, Rachad Wildgoose, originally drafted in the 6th round by Buffalo, was claimed off waivers from another NY team — the Jets — at final cutdowns. Wildgoose has been the Commanders primary slot corner for the 4 games that William Jackson has been sidelined.

Somehow, it has felt like Washington’s pass defense has been better of late. The Commanders gave up an average of nearly 260 passing yards per game through the first 4 weeks. Against the Titans, Bears and Packers, the average passing yards surrendered has been just over 161 yards per game.

Today, in our final two questions, we ask you to grade St-Juste as a boundary corner, and Wildgoose as a slot corner.

Please take the time to answer the 4 questions below.

Results & discussion

We’ll publish results of the survey before Sunday’s away game in Indianapolis that will pit Taylor Heinicke against rookie Colts QB Sam Ehlinger, who will be making his first-ever NFL start. Heinicke has an 8-8 regular season record as a starter in Washington, and will be looking to move his personal ledger into the black with a win against the AFC South opponent this week.

Feel free to leave comments below, as I rely on them when I report the survey results.