Commanders' rookie RT had a nightmare game, but it wasn't all his fault

After the Washington Commanders' Week 2 loss to the Green Bay Packers, head coach Matt LaFleur told his winning squad that it was quite the team victory.

On the other side of things, in the visitor's locker room, we can imagine Commanders coach Dan Quinn's message was similar in theme, though vastly different in tone.

Washington lost in Week 2, was frankly embarrassed, and did it as a team in every sense of the word. While we dove into the defensive side earlier, on offense, one of the most glaring issues that stood out Thursday night was at right tackle, where rookie Josh Conerly Jr. struggled to keep up with the best competition he's seen so far.

A Rough Night at the Office

Conerly was credited with giving up 2.5 of the Packers' four sacks on Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels and grade out terribly by Pro Football Focus. On a critical 3rd-and-2 in the third quarter, the rookie was immediately overpowered by Green Bay edge Micah Parsons who sacked quarterback Jayden Daniels for a 10-yard loss, effectively killing the drive.

He was beaten so badly that his man got the sack despite Conerly Jr. being flagged for a holding penalty.

It isn't just that a much more experienced pass rusher exploited Conerly; that's going to happen to any rookie lineman, but the fact that he was beaten inside on several occasions Thursday night. Any tackle will tell you that getting beaten is bad enough; getting beaten inside is worse.

Packers defensive end Micah Parsons (1) celebrates after sacking Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels. | Tork Mason-USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images

A Systemic Breakdown

Adding to the problems was the fact that many of the chip blocks designed to help Conerly were ineffective as well, and at times it appeared the tackle was expecting help that failed to add to the success of the blocking scheme, and in fact set the rookie up for even more failure because his assistance just wasn't there.

Asked about Conerly specifically, Quinn didn't address the rookie specifically, but said, "I thought obviously when you're behind like that, we're just trying our ass off to get back into the game, there's some tough assignments to do." He added, "You chip, you help when you can."

With Green Bay smothering the routes that were available, keeping eligible receivers in to block or even chip only delayed others from getting out into routes, and further slowed the progression of Daniels during the game. The fact that so many were ineffective, only made things worse.

Conerly is going to get beaten, he is a rookie after all, and to expect perfection would be downright delusional. However, when help is designed, it has to be effective, and that can't be negotiated.

A Weakness Exposed?

A lot of eyes are on the right tackle himself, but the exposure went well beyond just one player. The question moving forward will be whether or not there was a weakness identified by the Packers, or a one night issue that will get fixed before it becomes systemic. That answer will come in Week 3 against the Las Vegas Raiders who happen to have another great pass rusher who will be looking to repeat and build off the success of his predecessors.

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