Veteran additions from Wagner to Ertz have the Commanders on track to make the playoffs

Before drafting Jayden Daniels and turning the keys to the Washington Commanders to him as their franchise quarterback, first-year general manager Adam Peters made clear in free agency this was not a long-term rebuild.

In came Bobby Wagner, Zach Ertz, Frankie Luvu, Jeremy Chinn, Dante Fowler, Austin Ekeler and several other veterans with decades of combined NFL experience. When a losing streak threatened to derail the season, Wagner spoke up in the locker room before practice last week to deliver a message about getting back to enjoying football.

“We just needed to have fun,” Wagner said. “As the expectations started to grow, we needed to get back to just having fun. That’s why we were playing so well.”

He and his teammates responded by routing Tennessee to end the skid at three and go into the bye week 8-5 and on track to make the playoffs.

New coach Dan Quinn calls the current state “base camp” with more of the mountain left to climb, and his team has doubled the win total from last season and gotten to this point thanks to Wagner, Ertz, Luvu, Chinn, Fowler, Ekeler and others forming a competitive identity that has turned things around in Washington.

“Those are what I would consider the lead sled dogs,” Quinn said Monday. “And when it comes time and you get into December and January football, you lean on players like that.”

The Commanders will continue to lean on them in the closing stretch with games at New Orleans on Dec. 15, at home against Philadelphia on Dec. 22 and Atlanta on Dec. 28 or 29 and then the season finale at Dallas on Jan. 4 or 5.

They've already been playing a big role on and off the field to get to this point. Wagner, Chinn and Luvu are the top three tacklers on the roster, Fowler leads the team with 8 1/2 sacks and Ertz is second in yards receiving and touchdown catches.

That would have mattered so little if the losing streak stretched to four and playoff hopes that looked solid in early November were fading. Except for Ekeler, on injured reserve because of a concussion, every other experienced newcomer played a key role in beating the Titans and getting a much-needed win.

“It’s really just to steady the ship, honestly,” said Ertz, whose TD pass from Daniels was his fourth of the season. “I’ve played in this league a long time, and three games don’t define you as a football team by any means. It’s really just making sure guys don’t overreact. Guys didn’t need to do anything they weren’t capable of doing. It really was to play within yourself, trust each other and believe in one another.”

The Commanders have drastically improved on defense from 2023, when they ranked last in the league, and even from the start of the season. That is not a huge surprise given the six new starters at 11 spots.

Wagner, a six-time All-Pro linebacker, leading the way at age 34 has been a major factor. His success has come in concert with Luvu, who has stood out as one of the best players on the field in recent weeks.

"I knew what the ballplayer would bring: blitzing, pass rushing, and that was on tape — I’d seen that," Quinn said of Luvu. “What I didn’t know was the energy and love he brought as a teammate. And so that has been almost as impactful, about the way that he cares for one another, the way he looks after his teammates, the way he goes so hard. They see that in him.”

That was the goal way back in the spring, when the external expectations were very low. Even before Week 1, BetMGM Sportsbook set the Commanders' over/under win total at 6 1/2, which is long back in the rearview mirror thanks to veteran leadership keeping things from snowballing out of control.

One more victory would clinch Washington's first winning season since 2016, and well within reach is just the organization's sixth playoff appearance this century. All that is left is to finish the job.

“There’s still a lot of things we can fix, but winning is always better than losing,” Wagner said. “I think it will be fun these last four games.”

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Stephen Whyno, The Associated Press