3 things to pack and throw away from the Washington Commanders' Week 6 loss to the Ravens

The Washington Commanders' win-loss record is 4-2, following their 30-23 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, who now have an equal record with the win.

After every game, teams like the Commanders try to find every way to get better, but everyone would admit that it's much more fun to learn from wins than from losses.

On the other hand, even with losses, there are a lot of positives Washington will lean on this to show that the team is still on the right track and will continue to improve. Some call them “Sustains and Improves,” but here at CommanderGameday we call them our three “Stash and Trash” articles of the week.

Terry McLaurin and Noah Brown didn't play together for long at Ohio State University, but they both come from the same program and have made a strong impact on the team this season.

McLaurin is the mainstay, the true No. 1, and there is no doubt about that. Brown is the new guy, arriving shortly after training camp and carving out a role in which he appears to be the front-runner in a group of players who are No. 2 in command in the passing game.

Along with tight end Zach Ertz, good things seem to happen when Brown gets going as a contributor on offense. Combine that with McLaurin's personal production of late, and that's a recipe for sustained success in the future.

Including Ertz, the trio combined for 14 catches, 179 yards and two touchdowns. McLaurin led in catches and had the two touchdowns, but Ertz led in receiving yards and Brown had the longest catch of the day.

Brown was also able to get a key pass interference call on Ravens cornerback Nate Wiggins late in the fourth quarter, giving Washington 23 yards and an eventual field goal that reduced the score to a touchdown.

It's difficult to stick to the plan when you're facing an offense that scores a ton of points every time they have the ball. So it should come as no surprise that quarterback Jayden Daniels set a new career high with 35 pass attempts on Sunday.

However, even four of his runs were designed passes. So when you combine those with the three sacks that came on dropbacks, Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury caught 42 passes on 56 total plays.

That 75 percent pass-to-run ratio is a wide range, and it's why Baltimore's defense looked more comfortable than expected against a Washington offense that has given opposing units good chances so far this season.

No, we're not talking about the Dallas Cowboys getting blown out by the Detroit Lions on Sunday – although we're all in favor of maintaining those results too, and our prayers certainly go out to Lions star Aidan Hutchinson bouncing back from his result Injuries – but especially the contributions of former rivals like defensive end Dorance Armstrong Jr.

Due to his injury in the second quarter, Armstrong didn't have a chance to fully impact the game, but we don't think there's a connection between his departure and Baltimore running back Derrick Henry's explosive runs.

With Armstrong on the field, Henry had just one run of 10 yards or more on the Ravens' first four possessions. Without him, he had three goals in the next five.

That equates to an explosive run rate of 11 percent before Armstrong's departure and a rate of 20 percent after.

We don't yet know the severity of Armstrong's rib injury, but expect head coach Dan Quinn to be informed either Monday or Wednesday when the team faces the Carolina Panthers in Week 7.

On Sunday we saw firsthand the difference between established winners and up-and-coming teams.

Established winners know how to turn chances into points against very good teams. Upstart teams are still learning how to do this consistently.

Eight times in Week 6, the Commanders entered Ravens territory. Each time the team had at least one first down play on the positive side of the field. They only scored five points in those eight drives, three of which were field goals.

On the other hand, Baltimore converted seven possessions (not counting the final drive of the game, which ended with the Ravens' possession) and scored points on all but one.

In a one-score game, this makes all the difference and separates those who regularly win against good opponents from those who are still putting it all together.

The Commanders' rookie quarterback has played under bright lights twice this year. Once on Monday night against the Cincinnati Bengals and again last Sunday against the Ravens.

During those two games, with the eyes of NFL viewers on him, Daniels posted his two best pass numbers of the year so far, topping 100 in each.

In those two appearances combined, Daniels has thrown four touchdown passes, scored five total, passed for 523 yards and ran for another 61. He also posted two of the best 60 touchdown rates in a single game this season in those matchups.

Entering Week 6, Daniels was one of the least pressured quarterbacks in the league, ranking 20th after facing him a total of just 50 times through the first five games.

On Sunday, Daniels was pressured 17 times in just one game, nearly doubling his weekly average.

Part of that was certainly due to the sheer volume of passes — again, a career-high in attempts — and part was because Baltimore knew Daniels couldn't be comfortable in the pocket.

Whatever the reasons, Washington needs to go to the lab to figure out how to stop future teams from copying what the Ravens did this weekend to put more pressure on Daniels than ever before.

Most notably because it may already be happening, Baltimore pressured Daniels on 40 percent of its dropbacks, and that rate was only bettered by the Cleveland Browns, who pressured Daniels on 42.4 percent of its drops the week before.

Expect the Panthers to look for tips on how to adequately impact Daniels in both games, especially after both weeks the rookie's first two passing performances were below 70 percent.

Stay with CommanderGameday and the Locked On Commanders podcast for more FREE coverage of the Washington Commanders during the 2024 season.

• “Commanders' Jayden Daniels Gets Honest on Ravens' Defense”

• Commanders learn hard lessons in “Loss to Ravens.”

• Jayden Daniels of the Commanders after a competitive loss to the Ravens

• The Commanders' four-game winning streak ends as the Ravens win the Battle of the Beltway.