Commanders' Sonny Styles gives blunt assessment of NFL debut
· Yahoo Sports
What did Washington Commanders rookie linebacker Sonny Styles think of his first career game against the Miami Dolphins last week? Styles played only one series against Miami, and it didn’t go well. No, Styles wasn’t bad, but the results were, as the Dolphins ran 14 plays and drove 93 yards for a touchdown.
The Commanders won 20-7. Miami’s last 11 drives ended without another score. Washington also forced four turnovers. Yet, Styles can’t get that one drive out of his mind.
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“Me and [LB] Leo [Chenal] were a little frustrated,” Styles said with a smile. “One drive, one touchdown, like 15 plays, so, not ideal, but go again next week.”
If you’re a Washington coach, that should make you happy. That’s how you wanted Styles to respond, even if the game meant nothing in the standings and Styles was playing with mostly backups.
Now that he’s had a few days to think on it, how would Styles assess his performance?
“First game, you know, I wasn’t a big fan of it,” Styles said this week. “But it’s your first game, one drive, you start slow. You’re always gonna have things you wanna be better at. I think I gotta work on keeping better footwork, hands, all those different things. But like I said, it’s the first game. Gonna keep getting better.”
That’s the right perspective. Styles has no reason to be down on his performance. He played around 15 snaps behind a backup defensive line. Still, the fact that he’s frustrated over his performance in a meaningless game shows he's wired correctly. He’s not satisfied.
Styles has another chance to get that bad taste out of his mouth on Saturday, as the Commanders face the Detroit Lions in Washington’s second preseason game.
This article originally appeared on Commanders Wire: Commanders' Sonny Styles gives blunt assessment of NFL debut