The Washington Commanders had plenty go wrong in London on Sunday, which is usually pretty obvious when you lose a football game by 17 points.
What makes this one a little harder to explain is that Washington actually outgained the Indianapolis Colts 317-257 and won the turnover battle 2-1. The Commanders had chances to make this a completely different game, especially early, but penalties, missed opportunities, and an offense that couldn't finish drives eventually caught up with them in a 30-13 loss
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There were still a few individual performances worth taking away from it.
Odafe Oweh
It didn't take long for Oweh to make his presence felt.
On Indianapolis' second offensive play, Oweh got to Daniel Jones for an eight-yard sack
, knocked the ball loose, and recovered it himself at the Colts' 21-yard line. That's about as much as you can ask one defensive player to do on a single snap.
Oweh finished with a sack, a tackle for loss, a quarterback hit, a forced fumble and a recovery. Washington only came away with three points after he handed the offense a short field, but that's certainly not on him.
Javon Kinlaw
Kinlaw's final stat line
isn't going to jump off the page, but this was another one of those games where watching him told you more than the three tackles did.
The big number here is two passes defended, which isn't something you normally see from an interior defensive lineman. Kinlaw got his hand on Jones' first pass of the afternoon and later broke up another throw intended for Josh Downs in the third quarter.
He was disruptive, and for a defensive front that spent a good portion of the afternoon making Jones uncomfortable, Kinlaw was a big part of it.
Amik Robertson
Robertson wasn't perfect
, and his unnecessary roughness penalty in the second quarter was costly, even if it was ticky-tacky and shouldn't have been called. Instead of Indianapolis facing a fourth down, the Colts got a fresh set of downs and eventually scored their first touchdown of the game.
Outside of that, though, Robertson was everywhere. He led Washington with nine tackles and added a pass breakup while once again playing with the type of fight we've seen from him since the season started. He even left briefly after getting banged up and returned to the game.
One thing is becoming pretty clear with Robertson: he's going to keep competing no matter what is happening around him.
Rasul Douglas
Douglas gave Washington its second takeaway of the afternoon when he intercepted Jones in the second quarter with the Commanders still leading 6-0.
He finished with six tackles and a pass breakup to go along with the interception, and once again put the offense in position to do something with an extra possession. Washington went four-and-out instead. Douglas did his part.
Treylon Burks
This one doesn't need much explaining.
Burks caught one pass all afternoon, but it went for 47 yards and Washington's only touchdown. The score came immediately after Indianapolis had stretched its lead to 17-6 and gave the Commanders some life again at 17-13. One catch. One big one.
Penalties
PENALTIES!!!
Washington finished with 10 of them for 84 yards. Indianapolis had one for five. That alone is ugly enough, but it was when some of Washington's penalties happened that really hurt.
Robertson's unnecessary roughness helped keep a Colts touchdown drive alive. An illegal shift penalty erased what would have been an 87-yard touchdown to Antonio Williams in the third quarter, and Stefon Diggs later had a 21-yard reception wiped away by offensive pass interference.
You won't beat many teams doing that to yourself. Of course, trying to explain to me that the Colts committed only one penalty in a sixty-minute game makes me curious how we got there
. Turning the film back on for a re-watch, I see several non-calls, and it's odd that the referees seem to have swallowed their whistles in certain situations.
Situational Offense
Washington moved the ball enough to make this game interesting. What it couldn't do was finish anything. The Commanders went 2-of-15 on third down, 1-of-4 on fourth down and didn't score a touchdown on either of their two trips into the red zone. Indianapolis, meanwhile, went 3-for-3 once it got inside Washington's 20. That's a pretty simple explanation for how one team can finish with more yards and still lose by 17.
Turning Takeaways Into Points
Washington's defense gave the offense two chances to put Indianapolis in a hole early.
Oweh's forced fumble and recovery gave the Commanders the ball at the Colts' 21. They got three points. Douglas' interception gave them another possession while leading 6-0, and it ended with Washington stuffed on fourth-and-one. Two takeaways. Three points.
Last week against Seattle, Washington showed exactly how much turnovers can change a game when you actually make the other team pay for them. This week was the opposite.
Running Game
Washington officially finished with 100 rushing yards, but that number needs some context. Marcus Mariota had 35 of them on one run before leaving the game, and Kaliakmanis added another 16. Washington's running backs combined for just 49 yards on 18 carries, with Jacory Croskey-Merritt held to 15 yards on nine attempts.
Austin Ekeler had 29 yards on four carries, but outside of him there just wasn't much happening on the ground.
Pass Protection
The Colts only finished with two sacks, which makes this look better on paper than it actually was.
Indianapolis was credited with 11 quarterback hits, and Kaliakmanis took his share of punishment after suddenly being thrown into his first NFL action. Mariota's knee injury also came on a sack in the first quarter. That's far too much heat on any quarterback, much less a rookie who wasn't expecting to play.
Injuries
As if Washington didn't already have enough of these. Mariota left with a knee injury and didn't return. Charles Omenihu was ruled out with a groin injury, and Jaylin Lane had to be carted off after suffering a lower-leg injury on a kickoff return. The Commanders entered the game already without Daniels, McLaurin, Rachaad White, Sam Cosmi, and Nick Cross.
Losing 30-13 was bad enough. What Washington's injury report looks like after returning from London could hurt even more.
Matt Gulbin
Gulbin got the start at right guard with Sam Cosmi out, and this wasn't the kind of opportunity he wanted to put on tape.
It's not fair to pin all of Washington's problems up front on one guy, but the Colts finished with 11 quarterback hits, while the Commanders' running backs managed just 49 yards on 18 carries. Gulbin was part of an offensive line that never let Washington get comfortable, especially after Athan Kaliakmanis
was forced into the game.
By the end of the afternoon, Washington still had plenty of questions about how well the offensive line can hold up without Cosmi.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/nfl/commanders/onsi as 5 Winners, 7 Losers From the Commanders' 30-13 Loss to the Colts .
