The Takeaways, Week 9 – Redskins vs Seahawks
November 6, 2017
By Steve Thomas
The Washington Redskins went into one of the most hostile stadiums in the NFL and came away with a somewhat stunning victory over a quality Seahawks team on Sunday afternoon – one that quite possibly saved their chances for wild card playoff berth this year. This game featured lots of exciting moments on both sides of the ball, and stands as one of the Redskins best wins of the past few seasons. A game like this features many “watercooler” topics, too many to discuss here and have it remain of a reasonable length. Fortunately, I can take a stab at narrowing the list down to my version of the 5 biggest takeaways that came out of the week 9 contest. So, what are the biggest things that Redskins fans will take away from this game? Here are mine:
Josh Doctson Can Be a Hero, Just For One Day[1]
Josh Doctson has had two touchdown catches this season, but yesterday’s 38 yard catch at the 1 yard line in the game-winning drive was without a doubt the most impactful play of his young career. Doctson laid out, arms and hands outstretched, to make a fantastic and highly improbable catch showed the world why the Redskins drafted him in the first round and gave head coach Jay Gruden reason to maintain his faith in this player. Doctson is a guy who, thusfar, has shown brief glimpses of talent but has not been able to really prove his worth to his team. Yes, I readily acknowledge that this was just one play, but this type of play is what the Redskins have not gotten from their wide receivers all year. Fans have been pining for the return of Pierre Garcon and Desean Jackson precisely because of a lack of receptions like this. My hope is that this reception is a harbinger of good things to come for a quarterback and his young receiver.
Kirk Cousins Defies the Narrative
The well-known knock on Kirk Cousins is that he can’t come through in the clutch, and to be sure, he’s had a few fourth quarter comebacks in his career, and plenty of failed opportunities, including this season, in the playoffs, and perhaps most glaringly in the 2016 week 17 matchup against the Giants that kept the Redskins out of the playoffs. Yesterday, finally, Cousins defied this narrative and put together a game-winning drive featuring the aforementioned 38 yard strike to Josh Doctson, after a game-long lack of a running game and poor protect that resulted in 6 sacks and countless other hurries and pressures. No, this drive doesn’t erase what was otherwise a mediocre game for Cousins, but it was good to see him lead the team to a game-winning drive, for once. I am under no illusions that this will make all Redskins fans suddenly support him, or even like him, but these sorts of drives are why he makes $24 million this year and is something that we haven’t seen nearly enough of from him. It would have been very Redskins to have this drive go horribly wrong and to lose in depressing fashion. We’ve all seen that movie around these parts, many times. How wonderful was it to taste exciting, last minute victory, particularly in such a hostile stadium? This isn’t a career-defining moment, won’t end the controversy, and won’t sway those who have purchased luxury seats on the Kirk Cousins Hate Train, but it was a wonderful, exciting step in the right direction.
Running Game Continues to be Awful
Another week, another poor rushing day for the Redskins. We keep repeating ourselves, week after week, regarding the trials and tribulations of the Washington ground game. This week, gained just 51 yards rushing, which includes 20 yards by third down back Chris Thompson. Most clearly, the patchwork offensive line isn’t helping matters, but the fact remains that the Redskins were a below average rushing team before injuries started to mount. At some point, this major, glaring weakness is going to catch up with this team. I don’t know what else to say at this point except this: the 2017 Washington Redskins just can’t run the ball effectively, at all, at any sort of respectable level. The team was fortunate that they were able to overcome this problem and get the win. We’ll see what happens when the Redskins get a few starting offensive lineman back, but I’m not hopeful that this is all of a sudden going to turn this team into the 1983 version of this franchise. Step onboard to the slowest, most frustrating train you’ve ever encountered.
The Defensive Front 7 Saves the Day
Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson – who has been having an MVP-caliber season so far – was harassed, bullied, hurried, and hit all day long on Sunday by a patchwork Redskins defensive line ravaged by injuries. If you were not able to watch this game, the fact that Washington only recorded 2 sacks in no way reflects the tremendous job the defensive line and linebackers did in disrupting Wilson’s timing on his passes and forcing him to scramble. It was the best game of the season for this unit despite missing both Jonathan Allen, Matt Ioannidis, and Mason Foster. I don’t particularly care that Seattle has had offensive line problems all season: kudos to the true heroes of the day[2]. Whether or not this level of supreme awesomeness can continue against the Vikings is a question for another day; for now, revel in your abandon[3] in reliving the performance of this unit.
The Return of Deangelo Hall
Here’s a truism of the day: If you weren’t happy to see Deangelo Hall back on the field and being productive, then you aren’t a true Redskins fan and need to stop pretending that you are. In all seriousness, Hall came back just in time to rescue a bruised and battered safety corps after essentially not playing at all for the past two seasons due to injury. Deangelo acquitted himself well, playing tight coverage and getting the key pass breakup on Russell Wilson’s hail mary to the end zone on the final play of the game. Kudos, Mr. Hall. We hope to see you play out the remaining games of this season with health and happiness. You’re our pride and joy[4].
Well, that’s it for the Takeaways for this week. The Vikings storm in to Fed Ex Field next Sunday for a 1:00 p.m. contest against the Burgundy and Gold.
[1] My apologies to David Bowie (R.I.P.) for the ugly misappropriation of his lyrics. If you don’t get it, Google it.
[2] My apologies to Metallica for the unnecessary misappropriation of their lyrics. If you don’t get it, Google it.
[3] My apologies to Tom Petty (R.I.P.) for the inappropriate misappropriation of his lyrics. Again, if you don’t get it, Google it.
[4] My apologies to Stevie Ray Vaughan (R.I.P.) for the amateurish misappropriation of his lyrics. If you don’t get it, you know what to do.