Washington's defensive line is in crisis as the Commanders head into a Rams game with three starters on IR
Daron Payne's season is over, Javon Kinlaw won't play for at least a month, and Jeremy McNichols is hurt, too. Washington just placed all three on injured reserve, and the Rams are coming to town Sunday.
In brief
Washington just lost three players to IR in one day. The Rams will notice.
The Commanders beat Philadelphia 27-10 Sunday night. By Tuesday afternoon, three of the players who suited up for that game, or were supposed to, were officially done for at least the next four weeks. The Washington Times confirmed that Daron Payne, Javon Kinlaw, and running back Jeremy McNichols were all placed on injured reserve Tuesday, November 3.
Three players to IR in one day is a rough Tuesday under any circumstances. For a Washington defense already running thin at defensive tackle, it is a genuine problem.
Payne has spent his entire nine-year career in Washington, and he was listed as a potential trade candidate before his injury. Any chance of a move ended when he suffered a season-ending Jones fracture during Friday's practice. Payne suffered the Jones fracture in his foot during Friday's practice and was expected to undergo season-ending surgery, with Tuesday's IR transaction formally removing him from the active roster.
Kinlaw's situation is less final but still punishing. Kinlaw suffered a knee injury in Week 6 against San Francisco, and he was ultimately forced to miss the team's Week 8 win over the Eagles. He will now be sidelined for at least four more contests before he'd be eligible to return as early as December 6 against the Titans.
McNichols adds a third layer to the damage. McNichols left Sunday night's win over Philadelphia early with a mid-foot injury, which coach Dan Quinn confirmed. Quinn said Monday that the team had "serious" concerns about McNichols' foot.
Washington scored 27 unanswered points Sunday night to beat Philadelphia 27-10, moving to 2-4-1 and giving the team its first win since Week 3 against Seattle. The wins matter. So does what comes next. The Los Angeles Rams are coming to town this Sunday, and coach Sean McVay will almost certainly try to run the ball at the Commanders' newest weakness: a run defense that has already surrendered the fifth-most rushing first downs in the NFL this season, at 60.
Running back Kyren Williams leads the NFL in rushing success rate at 62.5 percent, and there is little doubt McVay will load up on the run until the Commanders prove they can stop it. Williams leads Los Angeles with 548 rushing yards, averaging a steady 4.9 yards per carry.
So what does the inside of Washington's defensive line look like right now? Not much. That means more snaps and more fatigue for Shy Tuttle and Tim Settle inside, plus more from outside defensive linemen Charles Omenihu and Deatrich Wise, both of whom are recently coming off injuries themselves, with the extra workload potentially affecting their pitch count.
Washington will look to Jer'Zhan Newton, who was designated to return from injured reserve last week, to help absorb some of the losses. It's a thin reed. Newton hasn't played in weeks and would be stepping back into a lineup that just lost its top two interior tackles.
The team also moved Tuesday to address the running back room. After placing Payne, Kinlaw, and McNichols on IR, the Commanders claimed running back Robert Henry Jr. off waivers from the Seattle Seahawks. The Seahawks had signed Henry off Washington's practice squad when their own backs were injured, but they waived him Monday once Jadarian Price and Zach Charbonnet returned. With starter Jacory Croskey-Merritt and McNichols on IR, the Commanders now have Austin Ekeler, Rachaad White, and Henry on the 53-man roster at the position.
The bigger picture here: Washington is 2-4-1. The Rams game is winnable, but only if the defense holds up. McVay will target the Commanders' interior, and the men who would have stopped him are sitting in the training room. Tuttle and Settle will be on the field for every meaningful snap Sunday, and the linebackers behind them will be doing a lot of cleanup work they did not expect to handle.
Meanwhile, over at Capital One Arena Tuesday night, Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery broke from his usual pattern of staying with the starter, pulling Logan Thompson early as Washington fell 6-5 to the Dallas Stars. The game came just two days after a frustrated Thompson gave up five goals to the Minnesota Wild on Sunday. Robertson recorded his seventh NHL hat trick by scoring three goals in a span of 5:20 to help Dallas build a 4-0 lead. It was not a good night to be a D.C. sports fan.
The Capitals, at least, have goaltender depth and time to right the ship. The Commanders have six days and three linebackers who are about to find out just how hard it is to plug holes that Payne and Kinlaw used to fill.
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CAN I KICK IT? screens New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument, on Aug. 22. (Courtesy SHAOLIN JAZZ)
The live-cinema series CAN I KICK IT? returns to the National Mall this month with what its producers are calling the "Gangsters on the Mall" chapter of their free outdoor summer run. On Saturday, August 22, the SHAOLIN JAZZ production brings the 1991 crime classic New Jack City to the Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument for a night of film, music, and community under the DC summer sky.
What sets the event apart is the sound. As the film plays, DJ 2-Tone Jones builds an original score in real time, reimagining one of the most iconic crime movies of the ’90s through hip-hop, soul, funk, and more. It is less a movie screening than a live performance built around the film.
The details:
Film: New Jack City (1991), with a live soundtrack by DJ 2-Tone Jones
When: Saturday, August 22 — seating opens at 7:30 p.m. (bring lawn chairs and blankets); film begins at 8:30 p.m.
Where: Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument, Independence Ave SW & 15th St NW
A parking note from the organizers: expect road closures and restricted parking east of 14th Street NW due to a separate race event in the District. Roads west of 14th Street NW will be accessible and available for parking.
New Jack City is the second of three screenings in this year’s free CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series, which opened with Black Panther at Skyland Town Center and concludes with Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial on September 5. Produced by the Washington, DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, the series has presented more than 150 live cinematic experiences at venues across the country, from Lincoln Center to SXSW.
"I wanted to be able to tell good stories with substance and remove the ‘ego’ out of the art," said Andrew Huang during a recent interview. Now, he’s building his career at the intersection of discipline, creativity and innovation.
Andrew Huang, founder of New Place Studios. (Courtesy photo)
As a Chinese American, Huang was reared with a deep respect for hard work, consistency and excellence. He describes his childhood as "not so affluent" and later attended college to hone his passion for videography. "In college I tried to do something I loved, which was video, but along the way I knew that I had to find a job. And so I thought, ‘what was the low hanging fruit to get to that stable 9 to 5 job?,’" he stated.
Later in life, Huang found himself working for corporations where his creativity was often limited, eventually leading to burnout. "I worked in a corporation for a long time and there were a lot of missing pieces. I wanted to fill in gaps missing in corporate video production," said Huang.
He later described how his upbringing and a mindset of "survival" led him toward a corporate career. However, his desire for balance and authentic storytelling ultimately pushed him to take the entrepreneurial leap.
"I founded a new place where you can create video and film with ‘substance and style,’" said Huang. His desire for work-life balance and passion for storytelling naturally evolved into a small business based in Virginia. With the launch of New Place Studios, the entrepreneur quickly found himself reconnecting with the values that would become the foundation of everything he creates behind the camera.
Huang said being a business owner has allowed him to first embrace himself. While others may see video as simply capturing moments, he sees it as a way to preserve stories that inspire, connect and leave a lasting imprint.
By combining cinematic visuals with cutting-edge production techniques and a keen understanding of branding, Huang helps organizations and individuals communicate their vision with purpose. He said understanding a client’s "why" serves as the compass for delivering the services they need.
One benefit of working with a small business, he said, is that clients get to see the production process unfold through a micro lens while working with the same faces throughout the entire project. "The work feels personal," said Huang.
Huang does not regret leaving behind the flash-over-substance mentality and corporate hustle culture. That does not mean the Asian American entrepreneur has been without challenges in the industry. "It’s relatively hard to find other Asian American creatives or people who would want to work with me in the DMV," said Huang.
He identifies the industry culture in which everyone is trying to blend in, creatives may fear displaying their Asian identity and some feel pressure to adopt an American corporate persona. He also points to what he describes as a level of gatekeeping within the industry. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2024 statistics, Asian American and Pacific Islander entrepreneurs own more than 3 million businesses and employ 5.2 million people in the United States.
After tapping into organizations such as SCORE, which offers free small business mentorship, New Place Studios has become a trusted creative partner throughout the DMV (Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia). The company produces a range of creative services, including commercials, corporate branding, documentaries, film, 2D animation, motion graphics and photography.
For Huang, entrepreneurship has become more than a departure from corporate life. It has given him the freedom to create with intention, build meaningful connections and tell stories that go beyond the surface.
The 2026 CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
For three Saturdays this summer, some of Washington’s most familiar public spaces will do something they rarely do after dark: fill up with blankets, lawn chairs, and the sound of a movie being scored live, in real time. CAN I KICK IT?, the traveling “live cinema” series produced by the DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, is bringing a free outdoor run to the city — pairing three era-defining films with an original soundtrack performed on the spot by DJ 2-Tone Jones.
The premise is what sets it apart from a normal screening in the park. Rather than simply pressing play, 2-Tone Jones builds a score as the film unfolds, pulling from hip-hop, soul, funk, jazz, rock, electronic music, and sounds from around the world. The result, the organizers say, is less a movie night than a one-time performance — the same film you know, wired to a soundtrack you have never heard and will not hear again. Guest DJs warm up the crowd starting at 7:30 PM before each 8:30 PM screening.
The 2026 outdoor schedule
All three events are free and open to the public.
Saturday, August 8 — Black Panther at Skyland Town Center. A pop-up marketplace and community activities kick off the evening; guest DJs at 7:30 PM, film at 8:30 PM. Marvel’s superhero epic gets a one-night-only live score in Southeast DC.
Saturday, August 22 — New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument. Seating begins at 7:30 PM; the film starts at 8:30 PM. The 1991 crime drama plays out at the foot of one of the country’s most recognizable landmarks.
Saturday, September 5 — Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial. Seating at 7:30 PM; film at 8:30 PM. The series closes with Brian De Palma’s crime saga against the backdrop of the Memorial, scored live from start to finish.
First up: Black Panther at Skyland Town Center on August 8. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
A DC company with a national footprint
SHAOLIN JAZZ describes itself as a Washington-based arts company working at the intersection of music, film, art, and culture, and CAN I KICK IT? is its signature production. According to the organizers, the series has staged more than 150 live cinematic experiences around the country — at performing arts centers, museums, festivals, and cultural institutions including Lincoln Center in New York, SXSW, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Republic Square in Austin, the Tacoma Armory, and The Cary Theater.
“CAN I KICK IT? has always been about creating a shared experience,” said Gerald Watson, co-founder of SHAOLIN JAZZ. “When you combine iconic films with live music in public spaces, something special happens. People aren’t just watching a movie — they’re experiencing it together. That’s what makes these nights so memorable.”
Cinema as a community event
The DC run lands as cities across the country look for new ways to activate public space through arts and culture — and this series is a straightforward pitch for how to do it: take a landmark everyone already knows, add a film everyone has an opinion about, and let a live soundtrack turn the evening into something neighbors experience shoulder to shoulder. Families, film buffs, and music fans are all invited, and admission won’t cost a thing.
The CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series runs August 8, August 22, and September 5. All events are free; check SHAOLIN JAZZ (shaolinjazz.com) for the latest details and any weather updates before heading out.
