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Washington commanders @ Miami Dolphins
Chris Rodriguez Jr. makes second start in a row: Rodriguez was the Commanders’ primary running back for the first two drives, totaling eight carries before other Commanders running backs ran the ball.
The Commanders started the season with Austin Ekeler as their starting running back and used him for two drives before turning primarily to Jacory Croskey-Merritt. After Ekeler’s season-ending injury, Rodriguez took over as starter for two weeks. Croskey-Merritt played well enough through the first four weeks to earn the starting job in Week 5, leading to a game of 14 carries, 111 yards and two touchdowns. However, he has been held to 3.6 yards per carry or less in each of the last five games.
This led to the team returning to Rodriguez for the first two stages last week. Instead of Croskey-Merritt taking over for the rest of the game, as he did in the first four weeks of the season, the two running backs split the snaps for the second and third quarters. Rodriguez suffered a shoulder injury, which forced him to miss the rest of the match. Fortunately, Rodriguez was a full participant in training this week.
Rodriguez started the first two drives, which took up most of the first half. Croskey-Merritt didn’t play his first snap until less than six minutes remained in the half. The Commanders also turned to Rodriguez to start the second half. The Commanders did a good job of avoiding long third downs, so getting running back Jeremy McNichols didn’t play as much as usual. This resulted in Rodriguez having season highs in playing time and touches.
Rodriguez should be a top priority in every league where he is available. The Commanders have their bye week next week, but Rodriguez has an excellent schedule during the fantasy playoffs. Washington faces its three-division rivals. The New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys are both among the top three teams in allowing fantasy points to running backs, while the Eagles have also been a favorable fit for running backs. Croskey-Merritt should no longer be in a fantasy starting lineup, but he is one of the top handcuffs for the rest of the season due to the Commanders’ late-season schedule.
Commanders continue to adjust to wide receiver injuries: The Commanders have used 11 different wide receivers through the first eleven weeks of the season.
The Commanders have seven wide receivers who have played at least 50 snaps through the first ten weeks, and for this game they didn’t have four. Noah Brown and Luke McCaffrey are on injured reserve, while Terry McLaurin (quadricep) and Treylon Burks (finger) were ruled out early in the week. This left the team with Deebo Samuel, Chris Moore, and Jaylin Lane as the top three receivers to start this game. Robbie Chosen and Jacoby Jones were both named to the 53-man practice squad roster. The practice squad was elevated in Weeks 7 and 10, with Jones making his NFL debut in this game.
Moore remained the Commanders’ primary X receiver, as he was in every game McLaurin appeared in, while Samuel continued to play a mix of Z and in the slot. Samuel had a strong start to the season, a quiet middle part of the season, but put in his best game in weeks. This included scoring the game’s first touchdown.
Lane began rotating the play with Chosen, who ran 14 plays in the first half, while Lane ran 10. Both wide receivers ran seven routes on 20 pass plays. Ideally, Lane would play more because of the injuries at wide receiver. Lane suffered a hip injury, which cost him the second half of the match. Lane was the team’s primary punt returner. His injury made Mike Sainristil the Commanders’ punt returner, and his muff contributed to the Dolphins’ comeback. The injury caused Jones to rotate with Chosen at the third spot, instead of Chosen seeing an increase in snaps.
The Commanders have their bye week next week, followed by games against the Denver Broncos and Minnesota Vikings, so you won’t want to have a Commanders wide receiver in your fantasy starting lineup in the coming weeks. This will hopefully give at least some of the Commanders’ wide receivers a chance to get healthy and possibly return in Week 13. The Commanders have a top-five schedule for wide receivers during the fantasy playoffs, so it makes sense to keep McLaurin and Samuel because they could have big games in December.
Dolphins adjust their wide receiver depth chart: Cedrick Wilson Jr. appears to have surpassed Nick Westbrook-Ikhine on the depth chart.
Miami started the season with Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle and Malik Washington as its top three wide receivers. When Hill suffered his season-ending injury, Westbrook-Ikhine stepped up as the Dolphins’ second wide receiver in terms of playing time. Miami didn’t want its 6-foot-1, 195-pound receiver playing high speed in sets with one or two receivers. This has led to Washington playing 93% of snaps in three-receiver sets and 23% in two-receiver sets this season, and those percentages were similar in this game.
Westbrook-Ikhine has put up minimal production in Miami, finishing with no games over 25 receiving yards and no touchdowns despite scoring nine times last season with the Tennessee Titans. Wilson was with the Dolphins in 2022 and 2023, but played for the New Orleans Saints in 2024. He started the season on the Saints’ practice squad. The Dolphins added Wilson after Hill landed on injured reserve. Wilson caught two passes for nine yards over the past three weeks, but Miami has opted to use Wilson more than Westbrook-Ikhine.
The Dolphins have also started using noticeably more single-receiver sets in recent weeks. Guard Daniel Brunskill has been used as the sixth offensive lineman for double-digit plays over the past four weeks. Fullback Alec Ingold continues to play a high percentage of snaps, and Miami uses more formations with both running backs on the field than most teams. All of this contributes to the lack of Miami wide receivers emerging outside of Waddle. Miami will likely prioritize finding another wide receiver to join Waddle and Washington this season.
Miscellaneous notes
- Washington quarterback Jayden Daniels hasn’t practiced all week and has missed back-to-back games due to a left elbow injury.
- The Commanders activated running back Chase Edmonds from the practice squad for this game on Saturday. He served as the team’s primary kick returner, rather than disrupting the running back rotation.
- Commanders’ tight end Ben Sinnott was unable to play due to an ankle injury. He appeared on the injury report on Thursday and was unable to practice on Friday. This left Colson Yankoff active as the third tight end. This also gave Zach Ertz and John Bates more playing time than usual.
- De’Von Achane suffered a back injury with less than two minutes to go. He was able to return to the game, which is a good sign for his long-term health. It’s worth checking out the Week 13 injury report to see if the back injury still affects him for his next game.
- Dolphins running back Ollie Gordon II was limited in practice Wednesday and Thursday due to an ankle injury.
- Wide receiver Dee Eskridge was limited in practice all week and missed his second straight game due to a shoulder injury. He was listed as doubtful on Friday but did not play. Rookie Tahj Washington was Miami’s fifth wide receiver for the game.
- Miami tight end Julian Hill was back in the lineup after missing his third straight game due to an ankle injury. On Wednesday and Thursday he was able to train to a limited extent and on Friday he was able to train fully. He was the Dolphins’ primary blocking tight end all season, including this game.
Carolina Panthers @ Atlanta Falcons
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Table notes
- Snaps include plays called back due to penalties, including offensive holding or defensive pass interference. These plays have been removed from the other three statistics.
- Objectives may differ from official NFL sources. The most likely discrepancy would be due to an obviously thrown pass, where the NFL could give the target to the nearest receiver, while this data does not.
- Carries are only possible on designed plays. Quarterback scrambles do not count toward the total number of carries in the game.
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