Injury-riddled Commanders look for something to salvage at 3-8 entering bye week

That Jayden Daniels might regress after his AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year breakout should surprise no one.

That the quarterback's Washington Commanders might take a step back, too, after going 12-5 and participating in their first NFC title game in more than 30 years isn't all that shocking, either.

What was harder to predict — yet has come to pass — is that Daniels would miss nearly half of Washington's games, that he would be just one of several starters lost to injuries and that a six-game losing streak would drop coach Dan Quinn's team to 3-8 heading into its bye week, likely rendering the rest of the schedule meaningless beyond draft positioning.

“These rough spots, they happen in our league. I hate it,” said Quinn, in his second season in charge of the Commanders with general manager Adam Peters. “How you navigate through it, on and off the field, oftentimes sets you up for things to come.”

Washington's next game, at home on Nov. 30, comes against Sean Payton's Denver Broncos, who are tied for the league's best record at 9-2, have won their last eight games and also will be coming off their bye.

“We have games left. We can go out and win those games,” said linebacker Bobby Wagner, who joined London Fletcher as the only NFL players since 2000 to register 14 consecutive seasons with at least 100 tackles. “That’s where our mind needs to be.”

Maybe so.

Quinn will endeavor to balance a desire to win games — even if more losses could be beneficial in the long run, by boosting the club's place in the draft order — with an attempt to evaluate what less-experienced players down the roster can do.

“I’m going to work like heck to try to fill both those buckets of winning now and also developing players for the future, because it’s important to win now, it is — these guys put absolutely everything you can into it — but it’s also important to bring players along,” Quinn said. “I recognize that.”

One issue this season has been a lack of depth as Washington tried to weather one injury after another.

Daniels has been sidelined for a total of five games so far, thanks to a sprained left knee, a bad right hamstring and, most recently, a dislocated left elbow that did not require surgery but has left his status a question mark coming out of the bye.

His No. 1 receiver, Terry McLaurin, missed seven of the past eight games. Another starter at that position, Noah Brown, is on injured reserve. Top running back Austin Ekeler was lost for the season in Week 2. Two starting cornerbacks, Marshon Lattimore and Trey Amos, and two starting defensive ends, Deatrich Wise Jr. and Dorance Armstrong, are on IR, as is safety Will Harris. On and on it goes.

There's a lot that's gone poorly aside from the health issues, leading to noncompetitive contests — four in a row lost by at least 21 points.

The defense has been abysmal, prompting Quinn to take over play-calling on that side of the ball from Joe Whitt Jr. before Week 11, which probably was too late to matter. The Commanders have forced six turnovers; only one team has fewer. They are allowing 387 yards per game; only one team gives up more. They rank 29th of 32 teams in passing yards allowed, 27th in rushing yards allowed.

The offense isn't as bad, but it's definitely below-average. Washington is scoring 21.5 points per game, tied for 23rd in the league, and gaining 191.6 yards through the air, is 24th.

Even special teams wasn't immune: Kicker Matt Gay was cut after too many misses.

Backup quarterback Marcus Mariota has thrown seven TD passes and five interceptions while the Commanders have gone 1-4 in his starts.

“All these trials and tribulations that we’re going through, ultimately, is going to build us better. We just have to kind of take it on the chin,” Mariota said. “It is what it is. We’re not where we want to be. But the only way we can dig ourselves out of it is learning from these mistakes and learning from these games.”