The Washington Commanders couldn’t have ended the preseason any worse. On Friday, the Baltimore Ravens blasted the Commanders 41-3. This came only two days after the two franchises held a joint practice, in which the Ravens also dominated, highlighting areas of concern regarding Washington’s depth, specifically along the offensive line.
While perspective is needed anytime you discuss the preseason, it’s still never a good feeling to head into cutdown day on a blowout loss. The Commanders have until 6:00 p.m. ET on Sunday to trim their roster from 90 players to 53.
Washington sat 41 players, most of whom are already guaranteed spots on the 53-man roster. However, Baltimore also sat its starters, too. That means you had the Ravens’ backups, roster hopefuls, third-stringers, whatever you choose to call them, against Washington’s. The Commanders had no excuses to play that badly.
As you might expect, Washington fans are already in midseason form. Some are ready to throw in the towel, while others are wisely preaching patience. After all, the Commanders haven’t even played a real game yet.
Speaking of Commanders’ fans, we surveyed social media after the game to see some of the best reactions from fans and media.
This is Jessie Minter's first offseason, and he has yet to coach a game as a head coach.
This is Dan Quinn's eighth season, and he has coached 138 games as HC.
Which team looks more prepared to you?
I think Riggo said the #Commanders were terrible a moment ago.
He's not wrong.
He also said he brought his sleeping bag. It wasn't stay over at M&T Bank.
Reminder that the Commanders consistently started dreadfully slow last season. They averaged an NFL worst 1.7 pts in the first quarter offensively while only forcing 7 punts on 39 1Q drives defensively
— Mitchell Tischler (@Mitch_Tischler) August 29, 2026Got spanked at the joint practice and spanked again during the game. What story does that tell? Lol
— Jamual (@LetMualTellit) August 29, 2026The truth is, a healthy/in-rhythm Jayden Daniels masks a lot of issues with this offense. Problem is Jayden can’t miss a beat, any bit of off with JD5…this team looks mediocre/terrible. Hopefully the defense is as advertised this year to close some of that gap
— Dre (@DCSportsDre) August 29, 2026I’m going to stress before I say this that Washington sat 41 players and the vast majority of the guys who played won’t get much run this season. This game is nearly irrelevant.
That said: this is as lopsided a preseason showing as I’ve seen. Hard to watch.
I know this preseason game doesn’t matter yadda yadda yadda. I will just never understand opting for a super long fg over being able to evaluate 11 players on a 4th and short. Just not how I’m wired. Anyway, back to this humid goat rodeo shabingus.
— Danny Rouhier (@funnydanny) August 28, 2026I’ve watched a lot of Washington football games in my life - preseason, regular season and playoffs.
I can honestly say there was nothing about this game, with the exception of a few plays by Tyler Owens, that I enjoyed watching.
This was incredibly painful to watch.
This Commanders team looks like a top 5 pick and new HC incoming. I know it’s preseason but this team has looked bad.
— Zac (@DCzWall) August 28, 2026No effort, motivation, or competitiveness tonight from Dan Quinn’s Commanders.
Missed tackles, penalties, turnovers, three and outs, no blocking. Just absolutely terrible.
There’s a trend here.
You can’t preach about how competitive you are and lose that bad. I don’t care if it’s backups, they have their backups in too.
The energy is just not there and that doesn’t feel like a talent issue, things like that run a little deeper.
It’s not there yet, but that seat will… pic.twitter.com/frLuzGMOdZ
I'll say this. Dan Quinn HAS to win the opener, or that seat will be blazin'. pic.twitter.com/eEiOXCHJLr
— Disco (@discoque92) August 28, 2026Commanders look as uninterested in playing this game as they did in practice against the Ravens Wednesday.
— Mike Preston (@MikePrestonSun) August 28, 2026Regardless of who's on the field, the Commanders are in midseason form.
— Commanders Wire (@Washington_Wire) August 28, 2026Ultimately this game won’t matter when the healthy players return, tonight’s effort just feels dirty.
— Marshall (@MarshW_7) August 29, 2026Not good vs Detroit last week
Not good in the joint practice with the Ravens on Wed.
Not good tonight in the preseason finale vs. Ravens
16 days away from opening the new season in Philadelphia.
Dan Quinn is really just Ron Rivera with his hat on backwards. #RaiseHail
— DRB 15 (@DaveBroadie) August 29, 2026Josh Harris attended the game for anyone interested.
— Ben Standig (@BenStandig) August 29, 2026Ever see a 300+ pound man pull and get ZERO movement on a defender?
I present to you Julian Good-Jones… pic.twitter.com/Akkt50Rir3
I'm going to judge AP and DQ fairly after year 5 because I understand what they were walking in to.
— ShawnG. (@shawnn75) August 29, 2026For the first time in three years, I feel that Dan Quinn's job is jeopardy.
I was admittedly stubborn.
Josh Harris is notoriously loyal. And I thought he would withstand a .500 season.
But if these types of performances trickle into the regular season, you can't hide from…
Dan Quinn dejectedly looking down at his play sheet after an opponent scores is the new Ron staring blankly into space with his arms folded… #Commanders#RaiseHail
— Earl Forcey (@EarlForcey) August 28, 2026Ravens are getting whatever they want and getting it easy. Majority of these dudes on the field arent gonna be on the team Monday but man this has been a bad week in Commanderland
— JP Finlay (@JPFinlayNBCS) August 29, 2026This article originally appeared on Commanders Wire: Fans, media react to Commanders' embarrassing preseason loss to Ravens
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