Highlighting three key players to watch when the Washington Commanders face the Indianapolis Colts in London in week four
Last week saw the Commanders pull off what might be the upset of the season, with a 33-31 victory over the defending champion Seattle Seahawks. Washington prevented a 0-3 start with Marcus Mariota in place of Jayden Daniels at quarterback and never let the Seahawks take full control of the game. Now they are off to London to take on the 1-2 Indianapolis Colts, who are some players to keep an eye on for Indianapolis?
QB Daniel Jones
Washington is familiar with the Colts quarterback from his time on the division rival New York Giants. Jones tore his ACL in November of last year and hasn’t quite gotten back into the swing of things yet. In all three games, he has thrown one touchdown and one interception. While he has completed over 66% of his passes, the yards per attempt are low and he has a QBR below 50. Against Baltimore, he took a beating as the Ravens recorded nine quarterback hits along with two sacks. The Texans got to him four times last week. The Commanders will be counting on edge rushers Odafe Oweh and K’Lavon Chaisson to make things uncomfortable for Jones. While the team had no sacks against Seattle, they hit Sam Darnold six times, knocked down 10 passes, and intercepted two others. A similar result against Jones will put the Commanders in good shape to get out of London with a win.
DT DeForest Buckner
If there is one player that the Commanders have to keep in check on Indy’s defense, it’s defensive tackle DeForest Buckner. The two-time All-Pro has been one of the best defensive linemen since he was drafted back in 2016. At 32, he shows no signs of slowing down, leading the team with three sacks, tackles for loss, and quarterback hits, and tied for third in tackles. With guard Sam Cosmi not traveling with the team due to a concussion, it will be a challenge to keep him out of the backfield. Guards Chris Paul and Nick Allegretti, and center Lucas Patrick, need to be at their best.
RB Jonathan Taylor
While Buckner will be a problem for the Commanders’ offense, the defense needs to find ways to slow down running back Jonathan Taylor. One of the NFL’s best backs, Taylor has rushed for over 1,000 yards in four of his six seasons and is less than 200 yards from reaching 8,000 in his career. He’s coming off a rough performance against Houston, rushing for only 68 yards on 23 carries. But that doesn’t take away from the threat that Taylor possesses every week. It will be up to Daron Payne and the rest of the defensive line to limit the damage that Taylor can do on the ground.
