Don’t look now, but the Washington Commanders are alive.
A sluggish start from the entire NFC East means the District’s squad woke up on Monday morning just two games out of first place, despite a 2-4-1 record.
The New York Giants, who had a bye this weekend, sit just ahead of the Commanders at 4-2-1. The Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles lost on Sunday to fall to 3-5 and 2-6, respectively.
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With a trade deadline approaching, the Commanders are looking toward building momentum for a playoff run, instead of stripping the roster for parts at the Nov. 10 trade deadline.
“This time of year, conversations — phone calls and such — happen,” Quinn said Monday, noting that the trade discussions are up to General Manager Adam Peters and the front office. “They do what’s always best for the club. That I know, I’ve seen firsthand.”
Trades are out of Quinn’s control. His job is to rally the players and string together consecutive wins for the first time since the 2024 playoff run.
But momentum has proven fickle for the Commanders throughout the campaign. They’ve yet to post a complete game with 60 strong minutes, let alone carrying any momentum into the following week. Even Sunday’s blowout win over the Eagles opened with a 10-0 first-quarter deficit after four penalties and an early turnover.
The early mistakes dissipated throughout the game, though. By the time Washington was celebrating its win in the post-game locker room, players were more focused on a repeat performance than cleaning up the penalties and miscommunications.
“It’s always good to enjoy a win,” quarterback Jayden Daniels said. “But you’re never satisfied. You have to keep going. You have another game next weekend. You don’t want to be a one-off. You want to keep stacking days and stacking wins. The process has never changed.”
Regardless of Daniels’ forward-looking mentality, getting a second tally in the win column matters for the Commanders. It took them seven weeks to find that second victory. They’d been close, with a two-point loss to the Eagles in the opener, a tie against the Giants in Week 5 and a one-possession defeat against the contending San Francisco 49ers in Week 6.
After a season riddled with not-quite wins, Sunday’s success could be a valuable building block.
“Winning brings momentum and momentum brings energy. It just keeps continuing to roll over,” said defensive lineman Charles Omenihu.
“We’ve got to know what this feels like. We’ve got to continue to know this feeling. What it feels like to win and what it feels like to play complementary football,” defensive tackle Tim Settle noted. “Trying to get this as contagious as we can, to get this feeling to feel as natural as we can.”
Any kind of sustained success would immediately launch the Commanders into postseason contention in a weak NFC East. The Eagles, now riding a six-game losing streak, seem to have removed themselves from the conversation. The Cowboys didn’t help their case with a blown 14-point lead during Sunday’s loss to the rebuilding Arizona Cardinals.
The Giants, despite holding the division’s lone winning record, haven’t inspired much confidence through seven games. New York is also on its third starting quarterback — Vikings cast-off J.J. McCarthy — after an early injury to starter Jaxson Dart.
“It’s crazy, right? The NFL can go up and down. You take it one week at a time and control what you can control,” Commanders running back Austin Ekeler said, noting that he was aware of the Cowboys’ recent defeat. “We’ve got to continue to look at it one week at a time. You can’t get too caught up, but we definitely look at our division.”
A win against the Rams in Week 9 could move the Commanders within a game of the division lead. A Thursday night showdown with the Giants awaits in Week 10. Despite two months of subpar play, the players in Washington’s locker room see themselves as potential division winners. They just need to build on Sunday’s win.
“Division’s wide open,” Omenihu said. “So, why not?”
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