The Commanders Loss Revealed Some BIG Winners And Concerns

The Washington Commanders lost 17-13 to the Detroit Lions in Week 2 of the NFL preseason, but Sean Anderson came away from the game with several important positives, concerns and potentially significant roster developments. Athan Kaliakmanis was one of the biggest stories of the afternoon. The rookie quarterback completed 11 of 14 passes for 162 yards without throwing an interception or taking a sack. After another encouraging preseason performance, Kaliakmanis is giving Washington something to think about in its quarterback room. Is Sam Hartman still comfortably the Commanders' QB3, or has Kaliakmanis turned this into a legitimate competition? Jayden Daniels also saw his first preseason action, although Washington kept its franchise quarterback's workload extremely limited. Daniels played just one series before the Commanders wisely got him out of the game healthy. The running game was a much different story. After Washington's young backs impressed against Miami, the Commanders managed only 35 rushing yards against Detroit. Kaytron Allen carried 10 times for 30 yards, while Robert Henry Jr. couldn't recreate his breakout performance from the preseason opener. There were also plenty of questions about Washington's offensive line, particularly its depth. Sean explains why he's more comfortable with the starting offensive line than many Commanders fans appear to be while acknowledging that some of Washington's backup tackle options struggled badly against Detroit. At wide receiver, rookie Antonio Williams continues to look like a player who can immediately help the Commanders. Williams caught all three of his targets for 41 yards, including a big third-down conversion, and Sean named him his MVP of the game. Jaden Bradley also helped himself in Washington's crowded receiver competition with an impressive performance. Defensively, there was plenty to like. Amik Robertson created an explosive play early, Joshua Josephs made an important hustle play and Quan Martin recorded an interception for the second consecutive preseason game. Washington held Detroit to only 110 passing yards and Sean gave the defense roughly a B-minus grade. Sonny Styles also continued his NFL development, although Sean doesn't believe Washington is showing the league how it truly plans to deploy the first-round linebacker once the regular season begins. Overall, Sean gives the Commanders a C-plus/B-minus for their performance. The loss wasn't disastrous, but 11 penalties, 35 rushing yards and a losing time-of-possession battle give Washington plenty to clean up before the regular season. Who was YOUR biggest winner and biggest concern from the Commanders' loss to Detroit? Sean Anderson covers the Washington Commanders for A to Z Sports with analysis, opinions, roster breakdowns and the biggest storylines surrounding Washington throughout the NFL season. Subscribe for more Commanders coverage. 0:00 Commanders Fall To Lions 0:21 Jayden Daniels Gets Three Snaps 1:00 Athan Kaliakmanis Is Making QB3 Interesting 1:55 Commanders Running Game Comes Back To Earth 2:35 Should We Worry About The Offensive Line? 3:45 Antonio Williams Looks Like A DIFFERENCE MAKER 4:09 Jaden Bradley Makes His Roster Case 5:08 Commanders Offense Grade 6:13 Commanders Defense Grade 6:38 Washington's Defensive Standouts 7:18 Quan Martin Keeps Making Plays 7:42 What Washington Is Doing With Sonny Styles 8:30 Overall Commanders Grade #Commanders #WashingtonCommanders #NFL #CommandersNews #NFLPreseason Play A to Z Sports Daily Games: Subscribe to the channel if you enjoy the content, and hit that like button! Facebook: Instagram: TikTok: Twitter/X: