The Takeaways, Week 14: Dallas at Washington
December 13, 2021
by Steve Thomas
Welcome to The Takeaways, week 14, which is our ongoing effort to provide you with the big picture, “around the watercooler” story lines from each week’s Washington football game. The Redskins Washington came back down to earth with a thud this week after its four game winning streak, losing to the hated Dallas Cowboys in a game that wasn’t nearly as close as the 27 – 20 score would suggest. Washington’s offense, in particular was abysmal, although the defense didn’t have a banner day either. This loss ends the team’s reasonable chances at winning the division absent a miracle, although they are still in the thick of the wild card race. I’ll cover it all here in this week’s Takeaways.
The injury to Terry McLaurin could end up being a serious problem
Terry McLaurin’s concussion likely means that its more probable than not that he misses the Philadelphia game next week as well. The NFL’s concussion protocol includes a multi-stage clearance process from an independent physician, so it’s difficult for any player to get cleared in just one week. The fact of the matter is that from a talent and production standpoint, Washington has McLaurin and then a multitude of average-at-best receivers. In my view, Cam Sims is the only other player who has above-average abilities and production when given a chance, but defenses don’t consider Sims as a threat, either. Without McLaurin, Washington’s receiver group is one of the least-talented in the league and will have the consequence of allowing teams to clamp down on Washington’s under-producing running game even more than they already do.
The offensive line was basically terrible
Washington’s makeshift offense line, which by the end of the game was featuring the fourth string center and a second string guard, had a game that was . . . sub-optimal. They allowed quarterbacks Taylor Heinicke and Kyle Allen to stay under significant pressure all day, and aside from some garbage time production from backup Jaret Patterson, didn’t allow the running game to produce much thanks to the existence very few rushing lanes. Antonio Gibson had just 36 yards on 10 carries, which is 3.6 yards per carry. This is the first time in several weeks that Washington faced a significantly above average defensive front seven, and it really showed. The offensive line’s poor showed essentially kept the team from producing at a level anywhere close to what would have been necessary to win this game. Washington isn’t going to do very much good if the offensive line can’t figure out how to be better than they were on Sunday.
Taylor Heinicke’s worst day
Both from a statistical and qualitative standpoint, this was Taylor Heinicke’s worst game since he’s been with this team. Before he went down with his second injury in the second half and was unable to return, he completed just 11 passes in 25 attempts for 122 yards, a 44% completion percentage, 1 touchdown, 1 interception, and a 55.8 quarterback rating. Prior to this game, some fans and media alike were contemplating the thought that Heinicke might be Washington’s long-term answer at quarterback. That shouldn’t necessarily end with just one substandard game, but it certainly doesn’t help his cause. Heinicke made multiple bad reads and poor throws, and generally looked like he was pressing way too much, without success, when the game seemed out of hand. He was also lucky that he didn’t have more turnovers, as at one point Dallas fortunately failed to come down with two easy interceptions in a row. For all of the positives we’ve seen from him this season, this game against the Cowboys was a step backwards, and it wasn’t just because of the poor offensive line. Heinicke needs to play better next week or whenever he is able to return from injury.
The turnover battle was the most decisive factor in the loss
We told you in our game preview materials that a major key to a Washington victory was going to be winning the turnover battle since that was big part of Dallas’ success this year? So what happened? We saw one of the most improbable interceptions you’ll ever witness from an opposing defensive lineman, two fumbles from the quarterbacks, and Antonio Gibson’s 6th lost fumble of the season, which leads the NFL for running backs. A running back with a 3.9 yards per carry average who is also the worst in the NFL at fumbling isn’t long for the starting job. That was the opposite of what Washington needed, and puts them at -7 on the season, which is 27th in the NFL. Washington needed to eliminate the fumbles and not contribute to Dallas’ league-best 19 interceptions. To put it simply, Washington wasn’t going to win this game without winning the turnover battle.
Don’t give too much credit to the defense
Yes, the defense performed better than Washington’s horrible offensive output, but this wasn’t exactly a Super Bowl winning performance from them, either. They still allowed Dallas to score on 5 of 13 possessions (with the 14th possession merely intended to kill the final time left on the clock). Yes, the numbers will look good when they are baked into the season stats, but the truth of the matter is that Dallas was in control from minute one and never had to do much to maintain their lead, and Cole Holcomb’s pick 6 was a pretty major, but singular, event. Dak Prescott and company didn’t exactly have to press of stress themselves out in order to win this game, and the absence of running back Tony Pollard was fairly significant. So, defense, congrats on being fairly good from a statistical perspective, with just 122 rushing yards and 201 passing yards, but still: don’t pat yourselves on the back too much.
Bonus: Dustin Hopkins Chris Blewitt Joey Slye Brian Johnson Lirim Harullahu watch
At this point, I just like listing all of these names. Former AC/DC lead singer and current Washington kicker Brian Johnson needs to look over his shoulder, as Washington just signed his potential future replacement to the practice squad in the form of a Yugoslavian soccer player who was somehow able to find his way to and stick around the CFL for six years. Johnson’s one kick this week was a blocked extra point. Including his four games with the Saints, Johnson remains 9 for 9 in field goals and dropped to a flat-out bad 7 for 11 on extra points.
That’s it for this week. I’ll be back with another edition of The Takeaways after Washington faces the Eagles next Sunday.