10 things to know before Commanders vs. Bills

After a rousing 35-33 comeback win against the Broncos last weekend, the 2-0 Commanders land as one of the surprise stories of the early NFL season.

Combine that success — Washington hasn’t started 2-0 in a dozen years — with the reawakening of a giant fan base thanks to the newly installed Josh Harris ownership and a young quarterback with an improving game in Sam Howell, and all of a sudden, there’s real hope in D.C. for the Burgundy and Gold faithful.

Well, that hope gets a real test this weekend when the Buffalo Bills come to town. Led by MVP-caliber quarterback Josh Allen and star wide receiver Stefan Diggs, the Bills are a consistent Super Bowl threat. Buffalo has made the playoffs each of the past four seasons and has averaged almost 12 wins in the regular season during that period.

So what will happen on Sunday? The Bills continued march to excellence? Washington announces to the NFL it's for real? Here’s what you need to know:

1) Should Washington win this week, it would be the organization’s first 3-0 start since 2005. That season is also the last time Washington won a playoff game. The coach? Joe Gibbs, in his second era with the team. The quarterback? Mark Brunell.

2) Montez Sweat leads Washington’s defense with three sacks through two games. Buffalo’s entire defense has three sacks through two games. Washington’s defense has 10 sacks through two games, including the 1.5 sack performance last week from Chase Young. That marked his first full sack in two years after dealing with knee and neck injuries.

3) After a Week 1 loss to the Jets marred by four turnovers (3 interceptions and a fumble), Bills quarterback Josh Allen rebounded in a major way in a Week 2 thrashing of the Las Vegas Raiders. Buffalo rolled Vegas 38-10 in that game, and Allen impressed, going 31 of 37 for 274 yards and three TDs with no turnovers. Allen’s performance landed him as the AFC Offensive Player of the Week. 

4) Beyond Allen, the Bills offense runs through three-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Stefon Diggs. A DMV native and former University of Maryland star, through two games Diggs has 17 catches for 168 yards and a touchdown. More remarkably, Diggs accounts for a stunning share of the Bills pass game.

How big of a deal is Stef Diggs to the Bills offense? Thru 2 weeks he accounts for 28 percent of all of Buffalo's receptions and 26 percent of all of the targets.

— JP Finlay (@JPFinlayNBCS) September 20, 2023

5) In both of their victories this season the Commanders have trailed after halftime only to come back and get the win. Washington is tied for fourth in the NFL with 31 second-half points and Howell has a 125.5 second-half passer rating so far this season, third best in the league.

6) The Commanders defense leads the NFL in creating negative plays. Of Washington’s 120 defensive snaps this year, 21 have resulted in a negative play. That means 17.5% of the Commanders defensive snaps result in the opposition going backwards. The Cowboys rank second in the NFL with a 15.3 negative play percentage.

7) Along with Philadelphia and Dallas, Washington is one of three NFC East teams with a 2-0 record. At 7-1 the NFC East has the best record of any NFL division, while the Bills' division, the AFC East, heads into Week 3 with a collective record of 4-4.

8) Defensive tackle Jonathan Allen is 1.5 sacks away from breaking Dave Butz’s franchise record for sacks by a defensive tackle.

9) A key component to Washington’s comeback win in Denver was second-year running back Brian Robinson. He delivered his best total yardage game of his career with 18 carries for 87 yards along with two catches for 42 yards. He scored two touchdowns and had a key 2-point conversion. If Robinson can start to deliver those types of totals consistently, watch out.

10) The Commanders announced Sunday’s game is sold out and the organization will also celebrate Alumni Weekend. More than 175 team alumni are expected to attend the game, and Pierre Garçon will be honored before the game. Perhaps most important: The team also announced stadium nachos will be half price for the Bills game.