Practice notes | Commanders emphasize fixing red zone issues

Guard Sam Cosmi brought up the idea of using more silent counts in the red zone to remove the need to hear Daniels at the line of scrimmage. As beneficial as a home crowd can be for the Commanders, the noise can make it difficult for players to hear the snap count.

It will be just as loud, if not more so, in Cincinnati, and this time, there will be far fewer fans cheering for the Commanders to score. Kingsbury knows they can’t afford to have the same mistakes as they did in Week 2.

“Just focus,” Kingsbury said. “It’s on all of us to make that a huge part of our week. It’s just focus when you’re on the field, treating it like a game. And I thought, like I said, the first week on the road, loud atmosphere, handled it really well, and for some reason at home we didn’t. So, we got to lock back in and get back on track there.”

Assuming the Commanders don’t get jumpy on Monday night, they do have some matchups they can exploit. The Bengals have not defended the run well to start the season, and the Commanders have been one of the best running teams in the NFL. The Bengals have the allowed the second-fewest passing yard per game so far, but Daniels’ accuracy provides some confidence that he can find open spots in their coverage.

As long as the Commanders can stay out of their own way, they should be able to give themselves a chance.

“Offensively, we’re just that close,” Cosmi said. “There’s lack of communication in certain aspects of the game, but if we fix those things, offensively, we can be really, really good.”