Film Session: Notes from the Washington Commanders defense vs. the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Commanders defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. began his weekly presser by acknowledging three significant reasons his defense couldn’t get off the field on third down. Washington was able to get Tampa Bay into 13 third downs. However, Washington couldn’t get off the field due to losing leverage, being unable to sack the quarterback and overall communication issues in the secondary.

This can be viewed in a few different ways. One is that Washington did a lot of things right on first and second down while the game was still within reach, so there are fixable things from a coach's perspective that could quickly turn things around defensively. What’s concerning with Whitt’s players is that they…