After the field goal sailed through the uprights, sealing another brutal loss, Washington Commanders defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio turned away from the field and hurled his headset. It slammed into a bench, inches from cornerback Benjamin St-Juste, but St-Juste didn’t flinch. He had allowed several critical plays late in the game and blamed himself for the 29-26 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Everyone ran off the sideline as St-Juste sat, alone and shocked, for nearly a minute.
The locker room was sullen. Three weeks ago, after a humiliating loss in New York, defensive tackle Jonathan Allen’s profane rant captured players’ exasperation that they weren’t, in fact, better than the terrible Giants.