OWINGS MILLS, Md. — If a neutral observer only saw the tail end of the Washington Commanders' joint practice with the Baltimore Ravens, they would have said Washington more than held its own.
In the final drill, both teams got one possession, trailing by four with under a minute left. The Commanders' defense got a fourth-down stop when Mike Sainristil intercepted Lamar Jackson. The Commanders' offense followed that up with Jayden Daniels fading away from heavy pressure and lofting a beautiful pass to Antonio Williams for a touchdown. The Commanders' sideline erupted and stormed the end zone.
But if said observer had watched the entire two-hour session, they might have thought the two teams didn't even belong on the same field. Baltimore's thorough dominance was both eye-opening and telling of where both teams stand with the regular season two and a half weeks away.
Training camp and the preseason deliver us a lot of information at once. Some of it proves to be overreaction, but some of it proves prescient. As such, let's play a game of "fact or fiction" from Wednesday's developments.
By far the biggest mismatch was the Commanders' ragtag offense against Baltimore's defense, a unit already loaded with talent and poised to be one of the league's best under new head coach Jesse Minter.
Yes, Washington was without three starting offensive linemen — LT Laremy Tunsil (torn triceps) will miss extended time, if not the whole season; C Nick Allegretti (calf) continues to miss much of training camp; and RG Sam Cosmi (illness) was also out — and its top two running backs, Jacory Croskey-Merritt and Rachaad White.
But at a time when teams are supposed to be building and evaluating depth, Washington looked in disarray. As longtime Commanders beat writer Nicki Jhabvala of The Athletic posted …
This is the worst I’ve ever seen the Commanders’ offense in years. Inoperable offensive line.
There were multiple miscues on snaps, the most basic aspect of football at any level, as fifth-round rookie center Matt Gulbin got first-team reps. Julian Good-Jones, who had been working at center in Allegretti's absence, shifted to right guard with Cosmi out but hardly fared any better. Tanoa Togiai also worked in with the first team.
If the day could be summed up in one play, it was Daniels being forced to field a wayward snap, only to throw an interception to Kyle Hamilton on a play doomed from the start.
"I feel like we were just out of sync, a little bit, with our combos," RT Josh Conerly Jr. said. "There was a little bit of a mixup in the lineup as well, so there were some guys next to each other that haven't worked next to each other all camp."
Daniels found Terry McLaurin for one chunk gain but otherwise was limited mainly to underneath throws, scrambles and would-be sacks.
"Not the best day that I thought we could have had, all-around, from myself to everybody else, but these are the opportunities that you get to learn from," Daniels said. "Good thing about it, man, it's August."
He's right. It is August. But August is slowly slipping away, and not in the right direction. In preseason Week 2 — the only preseason action the starters got — Daniels was heavily pressured on his first play and sacked on his second. Washington ran a draw on third down to escape any further damage and punted. As such, this joint practice seemed to be a crucial one, and it did not go well.
The offensive line is, plainly, a mess. The Commanders were never anticipating Gulbin playing significant snaps (and he still might not). Good-Jones has played two NFL snaps, back in the 2023 season finale. Togiai is an undrafted rookie. They are back-of-roster or practice-squad players.
