Why Monday night's win has Washington back in the Chase
Chase Young is set to make his 2022 season debut for the Washington Commanders this Sunday, per ESPN's Adam Schefter.
The announcement comes a day after Washington (5-5) secured its biggest regular season win of the year, 32-21 over the previously undefeated Philadelphia Eagles (8-1).
The Commanders were 11-point underdogs entering the game. Not only were the Commanders going against the best team in football, but they were also battling distractions from within the organization following a misguided statement released by a team spokesperson using running back Brian Robinson Jr.'s shooting attack as political deflection. D.C. A.G. Karl Racine announced the following day the Commanders, the NFL, and Roger Goodell are being sued for "colluding to deceive and mislead customers" in regard to a 2020 investigation into misconduct within the workplace led by Beth Wilkinson.
In July 2021, the investigation led to a $10 million fine for the franchise from the NFL. (h/t The Athletic)
Those troubles -- people around the league hope -- will lead to the ouster of owner Dan Snyder.
That situation will unfold at its own pace outside of the players' and coaches' control. On the field, head coach Ron Rivera has his team playing inspired football. The team executed its game plan to perfection in handing Philadelphia its first loss of the season.
Robinson Jr. was a force, the type of hard runner team's dream of leaning on in the colder months.
He scored this touchdown on a play when he simply could not be stopped. He continued driving his legs toward the goal line and extended the football into the endzone when he knew it was secured.
Young (ACL) is returning after suffering his injury on Nov. 14, 2021. The defense was strong in Monday night's win. Young will make that unit even stronger.
In 24 career games, Young has 70 tackles, 16 QB hits, 13 tackles for loss, nine sacks, six forced fumbles, three fumble recovers and a touchdown. In 2020, he won Associated Press Defensive Rookie of the Year honors.
The Commanders are last in the NFC East. The New York Giants (7-2) and Dallas Cowboys (6-3) are ahead of them -- as are the Eagles. The Commanders inspired play gives the division a chance to have all four of its teams qualify for the playoffs. In the expanded playoff field, it's possible three teams from one division could claim the three wild card spots.
The NFC is the weakest it's been in years; there currently stand just eight teams that can be called playoff contenders. The Eagles, Giants, Cowboys, Minnesota Vikings (8-1), Seattle Seahawks (7-3), San Francisco 49ers (5-4) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5-5) emerged as the likeliest playoff teams in the NFC, so Washington will need a division rival or team from the west to slip to finish the regular season in the top seven.
The team will also need to figure out what it wants to do with the quarterback position. The team rallied around backup Taylor Heinicke and looked better with him in a starting role. Carson Wentz began the season as the starter and Rivera staunchly defended the QB earlier this season when questioned about his play. The choice would seem to be to keep riding the Heinicke wave; with an incentive to keep Wentz on the bench, the decision could already be made.
Washington woke up to good news for the first time in a long time Monday morning. If it can continue to drown out the noise from the outside courtesy of its beleaguered owner, Young could be the spark to propel the Commanders into the playoff chase.
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