The Washington Commanders defense hasn't been the same stout unit it was last season. Jack Del Rio's unit has been leaking like a sieve in perhaps one of the most surprising things throughout the first six weeks.
But for all the yards and touchdowns given up against the Atlanta Falcons, defensive end Casey Toohill made himself known.
And head coach Ron Rivera has taken notice of his efforts in Del Rio's defense on Sunday.
"Probably the one thing that, if you go back and look at the plays that Casey has made, first and foremost, they're all based off of him getting after the quarterback off of play action," Rivera said. "The two that I'm thinking of from yesterday, very disciplined player who's in the right spot. He works his technique. He's got a good little burst to him. He closes ground very quickly and he's got length. That's one of the things, he's stout."
Toohill has already surpassed his sack total from last year as his two sacks against the Falcons gave him three on the year and nearly has as many quarterback hits in six games as he did the whole season last year.
The Falcons game could be seen as Toohill's coming-out party. He grabbed two sacks, a tackle for loss, and three quarterback hits.
For Rivera, because of Toohill's ability to do what the coaching staff wanted, he got his chances, and my word, he didn't waste them.
"If there was one thing I was really pleased with that we did on defense, and I know Jack and [Defensive Line Coach Jeff] Zgonina and [Assistant Defensive Line Coach] Ryan [Kerrigan] preached to our D-Line was setting vertical edges," Rivera said.
"If you watch those guys, how disciplined they all were trying to keep that run play from getting outside, trying to keep it bottled up. Those guys did that. Casey was one of the guys that did that. And because of that, he got the opportunities, and he made the most of them.”
With Daron Payne, Chase Young, Jonathan Allen, and Montez Sweat capable of wrecking a game, maybe Toohill can work his way into the rotation by putting forth performances like he did against Atlanta.
More must-reads: