Washington Commanders Whiteboard: Notes and observations from Week 4

After interior offensive lineman Nick Allegretti struggled in the first two games, Sam Cosmi's absence in Week 3 gave the Washington Commanders an opportunity to replace him at center and move the journeyman over to the guard position. Lucas Patrick played surprisingly well in his place, and in London it looked like the team would go with the same starting lineup. The team went a step further and benched Allegretti for sixth-round rookie Matt Gulbin . After playing all of four snaps the week prior, Gulbin lined up across All-Pro defensive tackle DeForest Buckner to start Sunday's game. Predictably, things did not go well for the rookie and he was beaten badly on the play that resulted in Commanders quarterback Marcus Mariota's injury. After repeatedly emphasizing their faith in Allegretti this summer, four weeks into the season, he was benched.

Unfortunately, Commanders general manager Adam Peters also chose not to sign a veteran quarterback following Jayden Daniels injury and the team gave backup Athan Kaliakmanis few repetitions in practice this week while getting Daniels work. The seventh-round selection performed admirably given the situation, but you have to wonder if the game would have gone differently with a veteran behind center.

Following the game, Dan Quinn justified the decision by indicating Allegretti was banged up and would have been limited to start, despite being listed as a full participant in Friday's practice.