Landover, MD — Before Jayden Daniels was providing big plays and hope for the Washington Commanders, before coach Dan Quinn and general manager Adam Peters were making all the right calls, offensive lineman Sam Cosmi was around for plenty of losing and dysfunction.
So, after Washington’s 28-27 loss to Russell Wilson and the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, which ended the Commanders’ unbeaten run at home and prevented them from getting to 8-2, Cosmi delivered a speech in the locker room to his teammates.
The gist? To avoid what Cosmi called “the snowball effect” on a week of short rest, with a game at the NFC East rival Philadelphia Eagles looming on Thursday night.
His club went a combined 19-31-1 over Cosmi’s first three NFL seasons, all under coach Ron Rivera, including one third-place finish in the division and a pair of last-place finishes. With Washington currently in first, Cosmi senses a different vibe.
“What Dan Quinn has done, what Adam Peters has done, is change the culture,” Cosmi told reporters. “We don’t have the most talented team, but we have a hard-working team.”
Hearing his starting right guard address the squad following the defeat that dropped the Commanders to 7-3 told Daniels this about the other players on the roster: “These guys care about winning.”
“Everybody’s mad. It matters to them,” said Daniels, who was 17 for 34 for 202 yards without a touchdown or interception and just 5 yards gained on the ground. “I don’t like losing. I don’t want to feel this feeling.”
He hadn’t needed to much as an NFL rookie until now.
But a Commanders club that’s been doing nearly everything right so far, had more mistakes than it could overcome this time.
“This one stings badly,” Quinn said. “The locker room was hurting.”
Washington entered the game with a grand total of three turnovers all season — the fewest by a team after nine games since 1933, when the stat started being tracked — but punt returner Olamide Zaccheaus muffed a kick in the first half that the Steelers turned into a touchdown (he also muffed a punt earlier that was recovered by a teammate).
The secondary couldn’t prevent Wilson from completing his favorite sort of jump balls, with a 16-yarder to George Pickens in the first half and a 32-yarder to trade-deadline pickup Mike Williams with 1 1/2 minutes left in the game accounting for two of the veteran QB’s three TD passes.
And with the outcome still in doubt, and Pittsburgh facing a fourth-and-1 near midfield with just more than a minute to go, rookie defensive lineman Johnny Newton fell for Wilson’s hard count and jumped offside, a penalty that decided the outcome — even if Daniels said, “It’s not all on him.”
“Everybody came up to me, supported me, had my back,” Newton said. “Just told me don’t let that play get to me, put it behind me and get ready for Philly.”
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