{"id":500238,"date":"2026-10-18T15:44:24","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T15:44:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/500238\/"},"modified":"2026-10-18T15:44:24","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T15:44:24","slug":"five-washington-commanders-players-key-to-beating-san-francisco-49ers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/500238\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Washington Commanders players key to beating San Francisco 49ers"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Commanders have emerged from the New York Giants mess intact. The fallout from the end-of-game blunder that allowed the clock to run out within field-goal range and result in a shocking 27-27 tie<\/a> was massive on a local and national level.<\/p>\n

Washington was the league-wide talking point for all the wrong reasons, as headlines about clock management and Dan Quinn\u2019s job status poured in from every corner. Then came the steady stream of accountability pressers, from Quinn to quarterback Jayden Daniels to offensive coordinator David Blough.<\/p>\n

Through all that time, the important indicators came from the locker room and Commanders practices. Washington\u2019s roster had not lost faith despite being 1-3-1.<\/p>\n

Consider the fallout handled well by involved. A triumphant rebound may be another matter. It\u2019s not want-to that\u2019s the problem. It\u2019s the opponent.<\/p>\n

The Commanders traveled across the country to play the undefeated San Francisco 49ers on Monday night. They\u2019re 7.5-point underdogs, and appropriately so. There\u2019s a talent disparity at play here that will be difficult to overcome but not impossible.<\/p>\n

Washington needs a signature game from Jayden Daniels and vital, positive contributions from these five Commanders:<\/p>\n

This is a game where Washington\u2019s stars must play like them. That\u2019s why you\u2019ll see so many big names in a list normally reserved for role players needing to step up and diamonds in the rough. If Stefon Diggs (questionable \u2013 hamstring) plays, the Commanders will have all the top pass catchers in a game for the first time since Week 1.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a huge asset to Daniels, who likes to spread the ball around. In big moments, though, he\u2019ll turn to McLaurin. Terry\u2019s got to be clutch and steadily productive in this game, showing doubters he can still produce at an elite level<\/a> and in big moments. That\u2019ll be important as the Commanders trying to match the 49ers and eventually beat them down the stretch.<\/p>\n

The Commanders will play Monday\u2019s game without Bill Croskey-Merritt (groin) and his 57% running-back carry share<\/a>. That leaves a committee including Austin Ekeler, Jeremy McNichols\u2019 presumptive activation off injured reserve and Rachaad White. The former feature back<\/a> has split time the past few seasons, but he\u2019s capable of ramping up activity as a rusher on early downs, and the Commanders need efficient from the veteran in those instances. He\u2019s also a capable receiver out of the backfield. Washington must put all of that to bear against San Francisco to get into third-and-managable situations that have largely eluded them to this point.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re taking a small leap here assuming that safety Nick Cross is going to play, considering he\u2019s questionable on the Washington injury report. And it\u2019s been previously said he needs medical clearance to play again after a Week 2 injury that required hospitalization<\/a>. He hasn\u2019t received it before, but that news came with the injury report<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t in this case, and he traveled across the country. We\u2019re placing a (safe) bet he\u2019s available. That would be massive. No exaggeration. Cross is a dynamic playmaker in the box and, at times, playing deep. In my opinion, he allows Daronte Jones\u2019 defense run as it should, bringing the intensity level up with a chess piece capable of moving anywhere on the board.<\/p>\n

We haven\u2019t seen much of Cross to this point, with him out since Week 2. That glimpse offered a belief that he can be a game changer, and his presence will make this defense way better in all facets and help a secondary that\u2019s (finally) starting to get healthy.<\/p>\n

K\u2019Lavon Chassion is Washington\u2019s top pass rusher this season by every metric<\/a>. Odafe Oweh was paid to be that guy. While he\u2019s off to a solid start<\/a>, we\u2019re at a point where Washington needs him to be special. 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy is hard to bring down and San Francisco\u2019s rushing scheme is excellent, but Oweh\u2019s a freak athlete and driven competitor who needs to make plays.<\/p>\n

While sacks and force-fumbled and tackles for loss aren\u2019t the only measure of a good edge rusher, Washington needs Oweh to stack those stats while fighting uphill battle to beat the 49ers.<\/p>\n

Sonny Styles was nearly the selection here, to cap a theme that Washington needs its top talent going strong, especially a coverage eraser like Styles who\u2019s also a thumper in the run game.<\/p>\n

Josh Conerly\u2019s importance can\u2019t be ignored, however, especially with his play on the ascent. While his pressure rate\u2019s higher than you\u2019d like, he hasn\u2019t allowed a sack<\/a> to this point. He has also stood out in the run game at times, and that must be galvanized in this game.<\/p>\n

We know guard Sam Cosmi\u2019s a next-level and having a productive partnership with Conerly provides stability on one side at least, and allows OC David Blough to help Brandon Coleman more on the left.<\/p>\n

Protection and space in the run game is key. Having Conerly as an assertive piece of that puzzle is vital to consistent offensive success.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Commanders have emerged from the New York Giants mess intact. The fallout from the end-of-game blunder that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":500239,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[101,103,102,104,106,105,155913],"class_list":["post-500238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news","tag-washington-commanders-analysis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=500238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/500239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}