WASHINGTON — When Washington Commanders Coach Dan Quinn held his weekly “Tell the Truth Monday” meeting with his team this week, his list of areas that need to improve included the running game. Or, more specifically, the running game not including the quarterback.

Over the past two weeks, Washington’s once-prolific rushers have been ineffective, leaving the Commanders’ rushing attack almost exclusively to quarterback Jayden Daniels.

For Washington to beat the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday night — and to make a deep postseason run thereafter — finding more balance will be paramount.

In the first nine weeks of the season, the team’s running backs averaged 108.7 yards on the ground for an average of 5 yards per carry. During the team’s three-game losing streak in November, their production dipped to 62.3 yards per game (and 3.3 per carry) before they rebounded with a 229-yard performance against the Tennessee Titans in Week 13. And that was without Austin Ekeler, who suffered a concussion near the end of the team’s loss the previous week to the Dallas Cowboys and was on injured reserve.

But since the bye following that Titans game, Washington’s running backs have struggled to produce at a similar level, totaling 103 rushing yards in the past two games for an average of 2.6 per carry.

“There’s always two sides to the pancake, and I think going in, we were certainly pleased against Tennessee,” Quinn said. “It would probably have been one of the better run fronts that we had played against. So to miss on some opportunities, yeah, we were bummed. No question about it, man.”

Washington’s running game lately has been its quarterback, who, after racking up 81 yards on scrambles and designed runs in Sunday’s comeback win against the Philadelphia Eagles, is the team’s leading rusher with 737 yards.

Daniels surpassed Cam Newton — 706 rushing yards for the Carolina Panthers in 2011 — for the second most by a rookie quarterback in NFL history. Only former Washington quarterback Robert Griffin III had more; he totaled 815 yards in 2012.

Five of the 15 total carries by Washington running backs Sunday were for zero or negative yards, and two others resulted in turnovers — when Brian Robinson Jr. fumbled twice in the first half.

In their 39 rushes over the past two games, Washington’s backs have averaged just 0.10 yards before contact, the lowest among NFL rushing corps in that span.

Fixing the problem may start with the details. Quinn had a broader discussion with players about it Tuesday, when the Commanders met before they take off Wednesday for Christmas. Instead of a typical Tuesday off, players had meetings, a walk-through and a brief “jog-through” on the field.

Quinn’s message about the running game was for the players not to “miss the aggressive part” of their play off the ball.