{"id":260,"date":"2026-05-15T07:05:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T07:05:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=260"},"modified":"2026-05-15T07:05:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T07:05:17","slug":"the-commanders-want-a-fast-start-their-schedule-wont-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=260","title":{"rendered":"The Commanders want a fast start. Their schedule won\u2019t help."},"content":{"rendered":"

A challenging first six weeks, including another overseas game, will test Washington in the season\u2019s first half.<\/strong><\/p>

Read more Premier League winger Mitoma out of World Cup for Japan as 26-player squad named<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
Jayden Daniels and the Commanders will start the 2026 season the way they ended their magical 2024 season: On the road in Philadelphia. (John McDonnell\/For The Washington Post)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

The Washington Commanders had hoped that a healthy Jayden Daniels and a younger, faster team rebuilt through free agency and the draft would quickly propel them back into Super Bowl contention. But this season\u2019s schedule, released Thursday night, could make it difficult to get off to a good start.<\/p>\n

The Commanders open their season Sept. 13 at NFC East rival Philadelphia, the beginning of a challenging six-week stretch that includes a second week game at Dallas; a Week 3 home game against the Super Bowl champions Seattle Seahawks; a Week 4 game in London; and a home game with another division rival, the New York Giants. It culminates with a Week 6 Monday Night Football game at San Francisco.<\/p>\n

The most challenging part of the schedule, however, might come at the start of November, when Washington will play three games in 12 days: home against the Eagles on Sunday night Nov. 1; home the next Sunday against <\/b>the Los Angeles Rams; and a Thursday night game at the Giants.<\/p>\n

The Commanders will play their second Monday night game of the season on Nov. 23 when they face the Cincinnati Bengals in what should be a matchup of Heisman Trophy winning quarterbacks Daniels (2023) and the Bengals\u2019 Joe Burrow (2019).<\/p>\n

For the second straight year, Washington will play an international game, facing the Indianapolis Colts on Oct. 4 in London\u2019s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Last year, the Commanders didn\u2019t make the overseas trip until late in November and were given a bye week to rest up from the travel. This time, they don\u2019t get a break, having to face the Giants the following Sunday.<\/p>\n

Their bye isn\u2019t until Week 7 in late October.<\/p>\n

Last season\u2019s third-place finish gives Washington a slightly easier schedule. But since the NFC East plays the NFC West (which had three playoff teams last season), much of that advantage will be eliminated. Seven of the Commanders\u2019 games this year will be against 2025 playoff teams.<\/p>

Read more Marner, Dorofeyev propel Golden Knights past Ducks 5-1 in Game 6 clincher, into conference finals<\/a><\/p>\n

Based on last year\u2019s records, the Commanders have the league\u2019s 16th<\/sup> hardest schedule, with their opponents having finished with a combined .502 winning percentage in 2025. That number, though, doesn\u2019t take into consideration that many of those opponents will have either improved or gotten worse since the end of last season. It also doesn\u2019t account for Washington losing its advantage of nine home games in 2026 by moving the game with the Colts to London.<\/p>\n

The Commanders will have to play only three times outside of the Eastern or Central time zones, saving them from having to make too many long trips that wear teams down.<\/p>\n

Washington\u2019s schedule gets easier in the season\u2019s last seven weeks, with only two games against playoff teams from last year. But it does include back-to-back road games at Arizona and Tennessee in Weeks 12 and 13. The Commanders also have a December home game with the Houston Texans, who went 12-5 last year, and on the first weekend in January at Jacksonville, which won the AFC South with a 13-4 record last season.<\/p>\n

For the third straight year, the Commanders won\u2019t play at Dallas on Thanksgiving Day. They had been the Cowboys\u2019 Thanksgiving opponent at least once every three seasons dating back to 2015. But they will finish the season against Dallas on the weekend of Jan. 10.<\/p>\n

The NFL did not assign times or exact dates for the last three games, waiting to see how those teams and the Commanders are playing at the time to determine whether any of the games will be moved to prime time.<\/p>\n

Washington also will play a home preseason game against Miami, followed by road games at Detroit and Baltimore. Times and dates for the preseason games have not been announced.<\/p>

Read more Brewers beat Padres 7-1 behind Luis Rengifo\u2019s 3 RBIs and Kyle Harrison\u2019s 7 Ks<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The NFL schedule has been released, and the Commanders have a brutal first two months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":258,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Commanders want a fast start. Their schedule won\u2019t help. - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=260\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Commanders want a fast start. Their schedule won\u2019t help. - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The NFL schedule has been released, and the Commanders have a brutal first two months.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=260\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-15T07:05:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/4080acae40ac1f28123653028622420a-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1722\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=260#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=260\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"The Commanders want a fast start. Their schedule won\u2019t help.\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-15T07:05:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=260\"},\"wordCount\":719,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=260#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/4080acae40ac1f28123653028622420a-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=260#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=260\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=260\",\"name\":\"The Commanders want a fast start. Their schedule won\u2019t help. - Moving Insider USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=260#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=260#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/4080acae40ac1f28123653028622420a-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-15T07:05:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=260#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=260\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=260#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/4080acae40ac1f28123653028622420a-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/4080acae40ac1f28123653028622420a-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1722},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=260#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Commanders want a fast start. Their schedule won\u2019t help.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Moving Insider USA\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Commanders want a fast start. Their schedule won\u2019t help. - Moving Insider USA","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=260","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Commanders want a fast start. Their schedule won\u2019t help. - Moving Insider USA","og_description":"The NFL schedule has been released, and the Commanders have a brutal first two months.","og_url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=260","og_site_name":"Moving Insider USA","article_published_time":"2026-05-15T07:05:17+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1722,"url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/4080acae40ac1f28123653028622420a-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=260#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=260"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#\/schema\/person\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03"},"headline":"The Commanders want a fast start. Their schedule won\u2019t help.","datePublished":"2026-05-15T07:05:17+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=260"},"wordCount":719,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=260#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/4080acae40ac1f28123653028622420a-scaled.jpg","articleSection":["Interesting"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=260#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=260","url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=260","name":"The Commanders want a fast start. Their schedule won\u2019t help. - Moving Insider USA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=260#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=260#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/4080acae40ac1f28123653028622420a-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2026-05-15T07:05:17+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#\/schema\/person\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=260#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=260"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=260#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/4080acae40ac1f28123653028622420a-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/4080acae40ac1f28123653028622420a-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1722},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=260#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Commanders want a fast start. Their schedule won\u2019t help."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/","name":"Moving Insider USA","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#\/schema\/person\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com"],"url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}