The Commanders pulled off a shocking upset of the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday Night Football to improve to 2-1 on the young season, but they lost one of their offensive weapons in the process. Running back Austin Ekeler left the game in the third quarter and did not return for the rest of the night.
After further testing, Ekeler suffered a concussion and a lacerated ear, according to Cameron Wolfe of NFL Network. He did not travel with the team to Arizona after the game.
“Commanders RB Austin Ekeler suffered a concussion and laceration on his ear,” Wolfe reported on X, formerly Twitter. “He flew back to Ashburn, Va. after the game instead of traveling overnight with team to Arizona ahead of Sunday’s game vs. Cardinals, per HC Dan Quinn.”
Ekeler hadn’t had a huge role in the offense before exiting last night, touching the ball just five times while playing behind starting running back Brian Robinson Jr. However, Ekeler did break off a 24-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. If he is forced to miss time, the Commanders will miss his experience and his reliability as a pass catcher out of the backfield.
Commanders offense on historic run during win streak
The Commanders were an afterthought coming into the season, but they have raced out of the gates to a 2-1 start after an ugly Week 1 loss. Their two game win streak has seen the offense, led by Jayden Daniels and Kliff Kingsbury, go without punting for the entirety of the two games. The Commanders have scored points on 14 consecutive drives dating back to the end of their Week 1 loss to the Buccaneers, excluding kneel downs at the end of halves.
Daniels’ two starts where his team scores on every drive matches the combined total of Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Patrick Mahomes in their 1,094 career starts, so it’s safe to say he has this offense humming. In Week 3, there were even more reasons to be encouraged than before.
The Commanders finally started converting red-zone trips into touchdowns and generating some explosive plays against the Bengals. After settling for six red zone field goals against the Giants in Week 2, Washington found the end zone all three times they made it inside the 20 on Monday night. Daniels also hooked up with Terry McLaurin on a pair of deep balls, including the dagger late in the fourth quarter, which was a nice contrast from the quick game-heavy script of previous weeks.
They will eventually play against tougher defenses, but it might be understating things to say that the Jayden Daniels era is off to a great start in Washington.
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