Commanders reveal 1 thing that makes them 'hard to stop'

Commanders reveal 1 thing that makes them 'hard to stop' originally appeared on The Sporting News

The Washington Commanders defeated the Las Vegas Raiders 41-24 to move to 2-1 on the year as Marcus Mariota, who was filling in for Jayden Daniels, operated the offense efficiently en route to a routine win for the NFC East franchise.

We know how impactful the run game can be, and with a combined 201 rushing yards and three touchdowns with Jeremy McNichols (78 yards), Mariota (40), Chris Rodriguez (39), Jacory Croskey-Merritt (26), and Deebo Samuel (18) all having their way on the ground, that opened up passing lanes for Terry McLaurin and Co.

Mariota was efficient, only having six incompletions on the day (15 of 21 for 207 yards), and he has detailed the one element that makes this offense tough to stop.

"The more that we can kind of be versatile as an offense and create lanes in the run game as well as allow our guys to make some plays in the pass game, I think we'll be hard to stop," Mariota said.

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With the run game with McNichols picking up steam, that allowed McLaurin to get his big gain of the day, a 56-yard completion, and it is that complementary football that has Kliff Kingsbury's offense so tough to stop.

The big question is whether or not they can continue to produce in the manner they have, with the offense now having 200+ rushing yards in two of their first three games. That, in turn, sets up the passing attack, and it is clear that when Washington gets its run game rolling, it can produce big point totals as it did against the Raiders.

When the run game is firing, so too are the Commanders, and that might be key in making the NFC East franchise "hard to stop" going forward.