A View From the Stands – Commanders vs. Panthers

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August 18, 2022

by Paul Francis

The Francis family went out to FedEx Field on Saturday to check out the inaugural football event of the Washington Commanders.  Here is a fun recap from the fan perspective, as the new chapter for Washington football officially begins.

We’re putting aside grudges and resentments associated with Washington football, NFL politics, owners, name changes, and what-not.  It’s a beautiful August afternoon in the DMV, and the family is going to watch some live professional football.  The vibe is positive.

The tickets we have are for upper bowl section 411.  So, after entering the stadium we dutifully made the march up to the nosebleeds and baked in the sun for three and a half hours on seats that melt your thighs…BWAHAHAHA!  No, we didn’t.  It’s preseason.  Both the game on the field and the game in the stands is different.

If you don’t know how preseason at FedEx Field works, it’s like this – you pay $10 for the section 400’s. But then once you are in the stadium, you take your pick of any open rows in the lower bowl.  If the people with actual tickets show up, you just move over to the next closest empty seats and resume watching.  Guest Services plays along too.  The attendants are standing around, but they’re not really checking tickets.  So, we found a nicely shaded perch in section 207 with an angled view towards one of the end zones and strategic access down to the area above the players tunnel (more on that later).

There’s a hard cap on how much meaning a preseason game can hold.  But whatever that cap is, this game was close to it.  We want to see how our new franchise quarterback, Carson Wentz, can lead the offense in a year with expectations.  But more than that, this marks the inaugural football event for the new Commanders era – an official turning of the page.  The stadium is fully converted to the home of the Washington Commanders – from the signs on the walls, to the paint on the field, to the freebie fan towels.  Most of the fans have accepted the change, evidenced by the amount of Commanders gear folks are wearing.

The energy in the stands is admirable given the circumstances.  The turnout is sparse, of course.  The upper bowl lies deserted, and the lower bowl is not at capacity.  The Panthers have their share of fans too.  But the fans showing up for the Commanders, show up to support.  At this point, the winnowing has taken place.  The half-hearted fans are not coming anymore.  The ones who come are the die-hards.

I’ll quickly recap what I liked and didn’t like from a football perspective, but I’m not going to delve too deeply into game analysis.  The “view from the stands” is more about the qualitative experience, not the quantitative aspects of the game.  You get a better view of those from the TV at home.

What I liked on the field

*No big injures.  Always the first and most important priority of a preseason game.

*Carson Wentz.  For a first preseason game with a new team running vanilla offense, he did well.  Wentz has been criticized for his inaccuracy, and his penchant for trying to do too much leading to a negative play.  But on Saturday, he completed 77% of his throws with no turnovers or bone-headed “what the heck is he trying to do” stuff.  He moved and slid in the pocket and found a lot of checkdowns.  He tried to spread the ball around.  He gave Terry McLaurin, Curtis Samuel and Jahan Dotson a few looks.  Well done for now.  If he can keep playing within himself, grow into the passing game early on and let this offense build up an organic identity, then I think things are on the right track.

*Brian Robinson Jr.  In my opinion, one of the things you want to do in preseason is begin to form confidence in your team identity.  I think one of the things that helps this group feel good about themselves is smashing the run game.  On the Commanders first touchdown drive, the crowd got hyped with Brian Robinson and the offensive line getting momentum.  I love the way he walked in his touchdown, shrugging off arm tackles.  (And that play got run right towards where we were sitting as well).  The fans did their part, and the cheering was as loud as any regular season game I’ve been at in years.

What I didn’t like on the field

*The way the defense started.  Giving up a long scoring drive and failing to get off the field on multiple 3rd downs at home is not the way you want to open your account.  Not when the defense has been under scrutiny like ours.  This group needs to find positive mojo this preseason, and that didn’t seem to happen on Saturday.

*Antonio Gibson.  I feel for the kid, but he couldn’t have started out in worse fashion.  I like his skill set, and I think he’s the kind of character-guy you build your team with.  But if you cannot hold onto the ball, then you cannot be on the field.  Period.  And given the way that Brian Robinson stepped in and looked like the polished ready-to-go player that he was billed to be, Antonio Gibson is officially fighting for his starting job right now.

Let the (preseason) fun begin!

It was nice to be at a preseason game and see the starters play into the 2nd quarter.  Once you get past the starters and accept the parameters of preseason football, you can have fun watching.  None of the starters got injured so the stress levels go down.  When the 2nd and 3rd string guys enter a preseason game, you can count on two things: (1) sloppy football and (2) hearty competition from guys who are playing for their jobs.

After a clunky Taylor Heinicke appearance that ended in a tipped-ball interception, PJ Walker sliced up our backups for a while.  Things really picked up by the 4th quarter.  The game became “Sam Howell vs. Matt Corral” – two highly touted rookie quarterbacks gunning it out to prove their respective pro-chops.

The stadium settled into a fun and entertaining stretch of football.  The fans did their part, providing cheers and roars as robust as you could ask for from a scaled-down group in preseason watching backups play in the 4th quarter.  Sam Howell energized the stadium once he found a groove, leading the Commanders to a late lead.  But alas, it is still Washington, so the defense gifted the Panthers yards and downs with bone-headed penalties, allowing Zane Gonzalez to put the game winner through the uprights with little time to spare.

But hey, it’s preseason.  We were entertained.

Junior’s Highlight Moment

With about 10 minutes to go in the 4th quarter, my son (who has learned how to work the preseason-game-in-the-stands) floated down towards the seating area right above the player tunnel and managed to get a standing spot right at the barrier.  Kudos to him for going down there early enough to wait things out.  The newbs tend to wait too long and get crowded out from the prime real-estate.  He was duly rewarded for his efforts after the game when Kam Curl tossed his game gloves up toward the area, and Junior managed to box out a competitor and snatch one out of the air.  That made his day, and the trip to FedEx worthwhile regardless of whatever else happened.

OK, time for some superlatives.

Superlatives

Best New Thing – The new burgundy helmets.  I was pleasantly surprised at how slick they looked in person.  The burgundy on the helmets has a shiny glow that pops.  Not sure if it gets caught the same way on the TV camera, but live on the field it’s a nice look.

Worst New Thing – The new fight song lyrics.  I know they are in a lose-lose situation.  They are trying to rebrand, while holding onto elements of the Redskins heritage.  But this is just a hard “no”.  Some things you don’t mess with, and it might be better for them to just move on.

Best Old Thing – The band.  It’s back together, and it was nice hearing them in-house again.  This is a heritage point that you hold onto.

Worst Old Thing – Concessions.  Yes, they have tried to upgrade with more local boutique-food options and technology to make the lines go faster.  But along with that is an upgrade in prices.  The $13 “souvenir” soda cup is a particularly outstanding ripoff to me.  It’s not big.  And it’s going to disintegrate in your dishwasher.  And $13 is the most expensive soda I think I have ever seen anywhere – movie theatres, airports, swanky bars – anywhere.

Most Improved Thing – The Entertainment Team.  This has evolved well.  The stuff I saw from this group a year ago was hurting; it’s much, much better now.  They found a good balance of traditional cheerleading elements blended with some hip acrobatics and dance routines.  For my youngest daughter, those performances were the highlight of the afternoon.

Loudest Moment – The hit that Milo Eifler laid onto Panthers WR Keith Kirkwood late in the game was brutal, and the whole stadium acknowledged it with the loudest moment.  When about 30 thousand people all go “OOOOOOO!” at the same time, that’s memorable.

The Josh Doctson Award For Almost Making a Really Nice Catch – This award goes to Kelvin Harmon.  One play it seemed like he peeled away from tight coverage at the point of attack, bobbled the ball, but then reeled it in on the sideline for a big gain.  Great play!  Loud cheers!  Except…instead he ended up getting flagged for offensive pass interference while also stepping out of bounds before making the catch.  Oh well, it was almost a really nice catch.

The Marko Mitchell/Marcus Mason/Colt Brennan Preseason Legend Award – This award goes to Sam Howell for throwing, juking and scoring his way into the hearts of Commanders fans everywhere.  You know that anytime Wentz misses a throw, stalls a drive, or commits a turnover; we are all going to be wondering why the idiot-coach doesn’t play Sam Howell.