There are No Good Losses, but Tyler Owens Won for All of Us

1. What defines a hiatus? It's been a few years since the last time I sat down to pen a Sixpack, and that period of time feels very hiatusy(hiatusey?) to me. I am beyond grateful to Metro Sports Page for helping me bring this back. Selfishly, it is a joy to deliver stream-of-conscious thoughts each week on whatever happens to be bouncing around my skull...very therapeutic. Considering I started writing this column almost 20 years ago (not today's column, but maybe kind of in a way today's column), and considering the rocky road that Redskins/Football Team/Commanders fans have traveled over that time, therapy has been incredibly valuable. There aren't many rules to Sixpacks--things powered by KI are seldom bound by rules. I'm ecstatic to be back...let's get on with it.

2. The feeling leading up to kickoff yesterday between the Commanders and Eagles that existed in my gut was not a normal "opening week" kind of thing. There were jitters to be sure, but it felt like the last month we were being fed a steady diet of "we have no idea who the Commanders are going to be but everyone seems sure the Eagles will thump us." Nothing felt better initially than that first first down. The drive stalled but Drew Stevens gave us a 3-0 lead with a 55-yarder and in that moment, a promising picture came into at least a little more focus. Better yet, when our defense got on the field, it was impossible not to see something that looked immediately better than the defense that last suited up for us a year ago. We don't believe in "good losses"--especially when victory was something we had a chance to reach out and grab for ourselves. The blocked extra point and the missed 54-yard field goal stand out as...ummm...important moments. Despite playing pretty tough around the line of scrimmage, the explosive plays allowed by the secondary will need to be addressed by Daronte Jones this week. If you're looking for a laundry list of complaints, it won't come in this space. Losing to Philly sucks no matter when it happens, but our week one performance--while uneven--gave us a glimpse of a much more optimistic potential for this team than many inside and outside the beltway were willing to put forward a few days ago.

3. Tyler Owens' name needs to be said...a lot. When you talk about changing the culture of a franchise, that has to happen in every nook and cranny of an organization. Whether fairly or unfairly, sometimes the status of that culture change gets summed up by one play. Today, even the most casual football fans have seen that one play of ours. Tyler Owens worked his way down the field with elite main character vibes, big-boying every player wearing green in his path before making an absolute exclamation point hit and tackle. There is simply no better way for me to remember yesterday's game than Owens putting on a special teams clinic. I'd prefer to recall a win over Philly, but football games are a series of one-on-one wins and losses. Tyler Owens took on way more than just one opponent...and won handily. It will serve as the kind of moment this young(er) Commanders team can build on.

4. Let's also talk about our first-round rookie Sonny Styles. We'll cover snap counts and stats a little deeper tomorrow, but passing the eye test is something recent first-round picks failed to do in September (won't mention specific names, but let's agree it's multiple names). Registering a sack and two tackles for a loss, Sonny also showed his chops in coverage on multiple plays, getting to receivers in space and bringing them down. Our linebacking corps is night-and-day better than what we have seen at that second level in years--with no offense intended to Hall of Famer Bobby Wagner. Leo Chenal and Odafe Oweh elevated our linebacking play, but getting Frankie Luvu back to a position he can naturally excel at is an absolute win for everyone. He was asked to put his hand down and fill in at edge rusher last year because we literally had nobody else. Watching him back at his spot (and he still floats a little) rounded out the new-look LB corps...hard to say we are anything but better there today.

5. A loss is a loss...and we know that despite any good feelings from individual performances we came away with, the Commanders didn't do enough to win. On offense, it was not always pretty, but some of that had to do with an Eagles defense that boasts a loaded roster. This is where I would suggest that there's a difference between a "bad offense" and a "week one offense." I feel like if we aren't experts at this point in identifying bad offense, we are pretty damn close. Jayden Daniels flashed the way a franchise quarterback can, and it mattered. Stefon Diggs getting nine targets was in line with my expectations, but he will have to come up with more than four receptions--his ability to get into the end zone is going to be a thing. The Philly defense made it incredibly difficult for Jayden to find Terry McLaurin, as we all watched him progress away from #17 all day. The offensive line--by far our biggest question mark heading into the season--played well enough to offer us some hope that all is not lost in the absence of Laremy Tunsil. While the Bears offense and their 59-point deluge suggests that not every offense has to look like a "week one offense," the Eagles and Commanders battled on both sides of the ball to a close finish. The benefit of the doubt for our guys stems from their ability to be in this game until the final minute. That earns them the right to call themselves "rusty" instead of "outmatched." That's of course a week-to-week ruling.

6. Feels like this is as good a spot as any to welcome you all to Metro Sports Page (again). We will get into a rhythm here with our Commanders content and our high school sports content. We are proud to fill the void that was left by the Washington Post earlier this year by providing weekly high school rankings (every Tuesday) and seasonal high school athletic honors (the All-Metro teams). Our MSP staff has been up close and deeply involved in high school sports for decades, making us uniquely positioned to pick up this yoke. We have developed strong relationships with both public and private school programs and we are beyond excited to get started and to prove that we will continue to be your daily stop for local sports coverage.