After bye, Commanders hoping to avoid rust that doomed them against Dallas

Washington’s last two games were a tale of two halves – first halves. In the first half of their Week 12 loss to the Cowboys, the Commanders’ first six possessions were field goal, missed field goal, punt, punt, interception and punt. In the first half of their Week 13 win over the Titans, their initial five drives were touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown and missed FG.

Washington (8-5) had a 10-day break before playing the Cowboys. This week against the Saints (5-8) on Sunday (1 p.m. ET, FOX), the Commanders will kick off after 14 days of rest, hoping to avoid the early script that doomed them in the first half against Dallas.

“Because the end of that game was so chaotic, folks get caught up in it, but the beginning of that game was awful,” said beat writer JP Finlay Tuesday on WJFK’s BMitch & Finlay show. “Maybe this is overly simple but, if you think about it, that was coming off a mini-bye; they had some time off because they played Philly on a Thursday night. They got the weekend off. They’re coming off a weekend off. You cannot allow that to happen again.”

Head coach Dan Quinn is well aware. That’s why he’d love nothing more than to run the ball just as well and as often as he did before the bye when Washington gashed the Titans. The Commanders rushed for 267 yards and three touchdowns, including 103 on 16 carries from Brian Robinson. The running back took his team’s third snap against Tennessee and raced 40 yards for a touchdown.

Washington’s running game isn’t the only difference from prior teams. In the latest example of a changed landscape in Washington, Jayden Daniels leads NFC quarterbacks in fan voting for the Pro Bowl. Daniels returns to the site of his first LSU start, the Caesars Superdome, on Sunday. Former lineman and Audacy NFL insider Brian Baldinger told Finlay and Brian Mitchell on Tuesday that offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury has been the difference.

“Terry McLaurin’s never had a year like this before,” Baldinger said. “(Kingsbury) is getting the ball to his wide receivers, he’s getting the ball to Zach Ertz, he’s getting the ball out of Jayden’s hands.”

Under Kingsbury, Washington ranks fourth in the NFL in scoring offense (28.9 points per game), fifth in total yards (377.6), third in rushing (156.9) and 18^th in passing (220.7).

After New Orleans, the Commanders get a home rematch with the Eagles in Week 16, another home game with Atlanta and a trip to Dallas to end the regular season. The franchise has one playoff berth over the eight prior seasons.

For more information on the Commanders and Saints, visit the Washington and New Orleans team pages at ProFootballPost.com.