The prospect of Daniel Snyder not being the owner of the Washington Commanders when the 2023 NFL season kicks off has injected life into the team’s long-tormented fan base. One gets the sense that Ron Rivera and Co. could alternate games against the Cardinals and Bears for four months and it would do little to dampen the renewed enthusiasm for the burgundy and gold — so long as there’s a fresh face occupying the owner’s box.
While Josh Harris’s deal to purchase the Commanders awaits approval, the schedule for what figures to be the first season of the post-Snyder era was announced Thursday. Good news: The Cardinals and Bears only account for two games. My colleague Nicki Jhabvala has the full story of Washington’s 17-game slate, which features one prime-time matchup and a Thanksgiving showdown with Dallas, but in keeping with established D.C. Sports Bog tradition, here’s a week-by-week look at how excited I am for each game on a scale of one to five “pending sale” signs.
Week 1: Sunday, Sept. 10 vs. Arizona (1 p.m.)
Washington is 8-0 against Arizona at home since 1998, which is an impressive streak even when you consider that Blaine Gabbert was the Cardinals’ starting quarterback in the Commanders’ most recent win in 2017. If Kyler Murray isn’t recovered from the torn ACL he suffered in December, old friend Colt McCoy could start at QB for Arizona. This marks the fourth consecutive year that Washington opens the season at home, and the lackluster matchup gets a two-sign bump for the fresh start it signifies.
Week 2: Sunday, Sept. 17 at Denver (4:25 p.m.)
The Commanders have lost three straight in the Mile High City since Kent Graham replaced an injured Tony Banks and led a comeback win in 2001. They’ll look to snap that streak against Russell Wilson and new coach Sean Payton in their first road test of 2023. Washington will travel 17,498 miles this season, which is the 18th-most in the league.
Week 3: Sunday, Sept. 24 vs. Buffalo (1 p.m.)
Washington gets another shot at Bills quarterback Josh Allen, who is 2-0 with five touchdowns and zero interceptions against the Commanders. Buffalo is one of seven playoff teams on the Commanders’ schedule. Are the Bills still upset about running back J.D. McKissic accepting an offer from Buffalo before re-signing with Washington last offseason? As if Sean McDermott’s team needs an edge.
Week 4: Sunday, Oct. 1 at Philadelphia (1 p.m.)
Washington went into Lincoln Financial Field and handed the Super Bowl runner-up Eagles their first loss on “Monday Night Football” in Week 10 last season, improving its Monday night record under Snyder to 8-23. All but two of those wins came on the road, which is hardly surprising given the lack of a home-field advantage at FedEx Field for most of the last 24 years. Can the Commanders make it two straight in the series?
Week 5: Thursday, Oct. 5 vs. Chicago (8:15 p.m.)
The NFL’s schedule makers must not get Amazon’s Prime Video, because no one who watched Washington’s disgusting 12-7 win over the Bears on “Thursday Night Football” last season could in their right mind have decided it deserved a prime-time rematch. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post. If he also owned the Washington Commanders, maybe this game wouldn’t have a national audience.)
Week 6: Sunday, Oct. 15 at Atlanta (1 p.m.)
Desmond Ridder is the Falcons’ presumptive starter at quarterback, but Commanders legend Taylor Heinicke is waiting in the wings after signing a two-year, $14 million free agent deal in March. The Busch Light will be flowing on the short flight home if Heinicke beats his former team, and you can bet the burgundy and gold Nike Air Jordans will be waiting in his online shopping cart before kickoff.
Week 7: Sunday, Oct. 22 at N.Y. Giants (1 p.m.)
“It’s not a win-win, but it’s not a loss-loss,” Washington rookie defensive tackle John Ridgeway said after the Commanders tied the Giants, 20-20, in Week 13 last season. “It’s like I came here to say hi to a couple guys and left.” That about sums up my excitement level for this NFC East tilt, which is the first of two trips to MetLife Stadium on the schedule.
Week 8: Sunday, Oct. 29 vs. Philadelphia (1 p.m.)
Commanders quarterback Sam Howell better keep his head on a swivel when the Eagles come to town. Carson Wentz was sacked a career-high nine times in Philadelphia’s 24-8 win at FedEx Field last September. The Eagles, who had 15 more sacks than any other team in 2022, bolstered their harassing defense in the draft by selecting Georgia defensive lineman Jalen Carter and edge rusher Nolan Smith in the first round.
Week 9: Sunday, Nov. 5 at New England (1 p.m.)
Major Tuddy teased a potential trip to Germany to play the Patriots, but this showdown will take place at Gillette Stadium, where Washington has been outscored 79-17 in its last two trips. Lucky for the Commanders, Tom Brady won’t be on the opposing sideline this time.
Week 10: Sunday, Nov. 12 at Seattle (4:25 p.m.)
Washington is 4-0 in regular season games at Lumen Field, which opened in 2002, including a 17-14 triumph in 2017 that ranks among the most improbable wins of the Snyder era. Washington’s starting offensive line in that game: T.J. Clemmings, Arie Kouandjio, Chase Roullier, Tyler Catalina and Morgan Moses.
Week 11: Sunday, Nov. 19 vs. N.Y. Giants (1 p.m.)
A scheduling quirk saw the Commanders play the Giants in consecutive games — with a bye week in between — last year, marking only the third time since the AFL-NFL merger that a team faced the same opponent in consecutive games within a regular season. The referees didn’t do Washington any favors in the rematch, a 20-12 loss that dealt a serious blow to the team’s playoff hopes.
Week 12: Thursday, Nov. 23 at Dallas (4:30 p.m.)
Washington will spend Thanksgiving at AT&T Stadium for the first time since its 41-16 rout of Dallas in 2020. The outcome of that game notwithstanding, there might not be a person more disappointed about the Commanders’ sale than Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. Washington is 15-33 against Dallas since Snyder bought the team, including a 56-14 blowout loss at Jerry World in December 2021 that ranks as the most lopsided result in series history. (Time to break the news to my sister that the Thanksgiving dinner she’s hosting is going to be interrupted by football. Hence why this game only merits three signs.)
Week 13: Sunday, Dec. 3 vs. Miami Dolphins (1 p.m.)
It’s the first meeting between the Commanders and Dolphins since Washington’s 17-16 win at Miami in 2019 helped the Cincinnati Bengals land the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NFL draft, which they used to select Joe Burrow. (Washington settled for Chase Young at No. 2.) A bye in Week 14 for the second straight season follows.
Week 14: Bye
Week 15: Sunday, Dec. 17 at Los Angeles Rams (4:05 p.m.)
In the second of their two trips to the West Coast, the Commanders visit SoFi Stadium for the first time for a reunion with former Washington offensive coordinator Sean McVay. The Rams are rebuilding after mortgaging their future in 2021 for a Super Bowl title. Washington has done plenty of rebuilding and mortgaging since 1999, with nary a conference championship game appearance to show for it.
Week 16: Sunday, Dec. 24 at N.Y. Jets (1 p.m.)
Ah, Christmastime in East Rutherford, N.J. Will Santa and the Commanders put coal in Aaron Rodgers’s stocking? The Jets’ new — but actually rather old — quarterback is 3-4 in seven regular season starts against Washington, including a 23-21 loss in Landover last year. The Commanders have lost three straight to the Jets dating back to 2011, including an ugly 34-17 loss at FedEx Field in 2019 best remembered as the only 100-yard receiving game of backup tight end Ryan Griffin’s 10-year career.
Week 17: Sunday, Dec. 31 vs. San Francisco (1 p.m.)
San Francisco Coach Kyle Shanahan returns to Landover for the first time since the 49ers’ 9-0 shutout win in 2019, after which players slid across rain-soaked FedEx Field’s turf in celebration. “They’re looking like a bunch of fools out there,” former radio play-by-play man Larry Michael complained. Michael vowed that Washington was “going to remember that one day, you watch.” Four years later, revenge will surely be on the Commanders’ minds.
Week 18: TBD vs. Dallas (TBD)
Washington lost seven straight games against the Cowboys after Snyder bought the team in 1999. When the streak finally ended in the 2002 regular season finale, Steve Spurrier presented Snyder the game ball, just as he promised he would when he took the job. It was the highlight of the Head Ball Coach’s two years at the helm. Howell made his NFL debut against Dallas in last year’s season finale, a 26-6 Washington win in which he became the franchise’s first rookie QB to throw and run for a TD since Robert Griffin III in 2012.
(Washington Post illustration by Michael Domine; iStock)
To recap:
5 sale pending signs: vs. Buffalo, at Philadelphia, vs. Dallas
4: vs. Arizona, vs. Philadelphia, vs. San Francisco
3: at Denver, at New England, at Dallas, vs. Miami, at N.Y. Jets
2: at Atlanta, at Seattle, vs. N.Y. Giants, at L.A. Rams
1: vs. Chicago, at N.Y. Giants