The Takeaways, Week 12: Seattle at Washington
November 30, 2021
by Steve Thomas
Welcome to The Takeaways, week 12, middle of the night edition, which is The Hog Sty’s effort to provide you with the big picture, “around the watercooler” story lines from each week’s Washington football game. This week, the Redskins Washington earned its fifth victory of the season over the visiting Seattle Seahawks. Washington certainly had its ups and downs throughout this game, but the bottom line is that they got a critical win on Monday Night Football. I’ll cover it all here in this week’s Takeaways.
It wasn’t pretty on offense, but we’ll take it
This game wasn’t anything that’s going to go on the offensive highlight reels, but at the end of the day, Washington scored more points than the other guy, and that’s what counts. Taylor Heinicke had a good but not great day from a statistical perspective, going 27 for 35 for 223 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception, and a 90.5 quarterback rating, but he continues to show that undefinable moxie and leadership ability that has been the driving force of the team for a big chunk of the year. There’s alot of football left to play this season, but he’s making his case to hang onto the starting job in the future. To be fair, the team simply didn’t get much done for large stretches of the game, but it was enough, barely.
Antonio Gibson’s big day, sort of
Gibson’s performance against Seattle was actually the most yards from scrimmage in a single game in his two year career, with 111 rushing yards and 35 receiving yards, for a total of 146 yards. He was able to play a significant role in controlling the game for Washington in the fourth quarter, which was invaluable. However, it would be dishonest not to point out that he averaged just 3.8 yards per carry, and was at just 3.0 yards per carry at halftime. That’s not good enough and will have to improve, but that’s a subject for another day. The bottom line for this game is that Gibson did significant damage in the fourth quarter and played a critical role in getting the win for the good guys.
The defensive front comes alive
- Washington’s vaunted defensive line – at least what’s left of it – really came through in this game, keeping Russell Wilson under significant pressure for most of the night and completely shutting down the Seahawks rushing attack. Seattle’s string of 6 straight punts between the second and fourth quarter, five of which being three and outs, were primarily due to the outstanding play of Jonathan Allen, Daron Payne, and Matthew Ioannidis. Even some of the younger pass rushers such as Shaka Toney and James Smith-Williams, who didn’t get much playing time before the injuries to Montez Sweat and Chase Young, were able to make an impact. Don’t look now, but the defensive front is getting their act together after a very slow start to the season.
Injury woes
This win over Seattle didn’t come without a price. Washington lost their third string center, Wes Schweitzer, to what appeared to be a serious ankle injury, and then lost running back J.D. McKissic and safety Landon Collins late in the game. At this late hour immediately after the game, I don’t have any information as to the severity of those injuries, but they could end up having a real impact on the rest of the season. Plus, if the injury to Washington’s third kicker of the season, Joey Slye, is serious, then the team may end up having to go with its fourth kicker of the year. We’ll see. Let’s all pray for good news on this front.
Washington now controls its own destiny
As odd as it seems for a team with a losing record, the fact that the team is 5 – 6 and about to face five straight division games starting in two weeks means that they control their own destiny. Washington could end up anywhere from division champions to out of the playoff race entirely. That probably wouldn’t have been the same at 4 – 7, so this win over Seattle was actually quite meaningful to the team’s season. We now have quite a bit to root for in the final six games of the year.
That’s it for this week. I’ll be back with another edition of The Takeaways after Washington faces the Raiders next Sunday.