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Commanders OC David Blough taking ownership of critical issue
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- Commanders OC David Blough taking ownership of critical issue
Washington Commanders offensive coordinator David Blough understands it all starts with him.
"Yes, it is practice preparation," began Blough. "It's us hammering it home, not letting anything slip, calling it tighter here, feeling the urgency. And we have not been good enough."
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Leading the Seahawks 7-0, the Commanders had the ball at the Seattle 48, facing a second-and-8. Jacory Croskey-Merritt (Bill) took a handoff from Marcus Mariota. Left guard Chris Paul was pulling out wide left and made an effective block. Bill shot up in the gap between the outside linebacker and defensive end. By then, Brandon Coleman had a solid second-level block, and Terry McLaurin also had a block. So Croskey Merritt quickly slipped past those blocks and ran for a 48-yard touchdown down the left sideline.
However, the infraction occurred before the snap. Rookie Antonio Williams did not line up on the line of scrimmage. It would have helped if Mariota or right tackle Josh Conerly had noticed and told Williams to get back on the line. They didn't, and of course Williams is most responsible for not recognizing his mistake. The touchdown would have put Washington up 13-0, with a PAT attempt to take a 14-point lead.
"It starts with me, and then we got to (paused)... it's certainly been magnified because of the ones (touchdowns) it's pulled off the board for us. It stings a little more because of that. We have to get it corrected as we move forward.
Last Sunday, in the third quarter, QB Athan Kaliakmanis did not make sure receivers were set prior to the snap on a play where Kaliakmanis completed a short five-yard pass to Williams. Dyami Brown was called for an illegal shift, negating the play in which Williams caught the pass, got a nice block from Brown, and scored what appeared to be an 87-yard touchdown. The Commanders trailed 20-13 in the third quarter, and this score would have tied the game at 20-20.
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Blough is in his first year as offensive coordinator. He has likely missed some details in team preparation, and this may be one of the areas Blough said he needs to address more urgently.
The 3-1 New York Giants come to town to take on the Commanders on Sunday. Washington needs a win and cannot afford pre-snap errors like this against the Giants.
This article originally appeared on Commanders Wire: Commanders OC David Blough taking ownership of critical issue
