The Takeaways, week 17: Philadelphia at Washington

Posted on by

January 3, 2022

by Steve Thomas

I’m back with another edition of The Takeaways, which is our effort to address the big picture, “around the watercooler” topics from each week’s Redskins Washington football game.  After two straight weeks of having to watch embarrassing blowouts, this week’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles was at least a competitive game that came right down to the end, and was fun to watch.  It says quite a bit about the state of the franchise that I’m trying to talk myself into that being a positive.  We’ll discuss it all in this week’s Takeaways.

Washington looked like a real NFL team on both sides of the ball, and, sadly, that’s progress

No, Washington didn’t actually win this game, but they played well in the first half and generally looked like they belonged on the field with another NFL team, which is a significant departure from the absolute garbage to which we’ve been subjected recently.  As sad as it is to say, that’s progress.  This looked like a mediocre to bad team that wanted to change the narrative and play with some self-respect, which was good.  They couldn’t sustain that type of effort for a full 60 minutes, unfortunately, but . . . baby steps.  This was a competitive game that came down to execution in the second half.  The point is, Washington didn’t look terrible and did want to win, and in our world, that’s progress.

Jaret Patterson produces at a quality rate

Patterson gained 57 rushing yards on 12 carries, for an average of 4.8 yards per carry, and a touchdown.  Nobody should be ready to crown him as the next John Riggins, but after Sunday’s game, he’s averaging an even 4.0 yards per carry on the season (245 yards on 62 carries), which is better than what Washington’s starter, Antonio Gibson, has done, albeit in far more carries (3.8 yards per attempt in 237 carries over 15 games).  Perhaps this is a sign of better days for Washington’s running game, because for all of Gibson’s yards, 3.8 yards per attempt isn’t good enough.  This is one of many areas to which Washington’s leadership is going to have to pay attention in free agency and/or the draft.

Welcome back, Cam Sims

Cam Sims miraculously had 5 targets this week, which is the most he’s had all season, with 4 receptions for 48 yards.  Considering the state of Washington’s receiving corps other than Terry McLaurin, I simply don’t understand why he hasn’t (1) been on the field significantly more this season, and (2) had significantly more targets.  Sims is a big, athletic target with fairly good hands and could be much more of an asset than Washington’s coaching staff seems to believe.  Literally no other receiver beyond McLaurin is producing at a significant level.  Sims could and should be doing more for this team than the team has allowed him to do thusfar this season.  More Sims, please.

The defensive front does a decent job against the Eagles’ rushing attack

Philadelphia had the NFL’s top-ranked rushing attack heading into this game.  Fortunately for Washington, Miles Sanders did not play due to a hand injury, but regardless, the fact that the Eagles only averaged 3.5 yards per attempt is a testament to Washington’s defense, at least in this one particular area.  It could have been much, much worse, and the fact that Philadelphia never really got its run game going was a big reason why Washington was in this game until the end.

Fed Ex Field tried to murder Jalen Hurts and a bunch of Eagles fans

So far this season, we’ve had raw sewage dumped on fans (the team said it was rainwater; believe what you want), other miscellaneous water leaks, malfunctioning smoke machines, and now, railings falling apart and people falling as a result:

But don’t worry, the Fed Ex Field staff threw on some zip ties to solve the problem:

Good lord.  What a dump.  To be fair, this stadium is in year 25, but still, not spewing sewage or having fans fall 10 feet thanks to a busted railing ought to not be too much to ask.  A new stadium can’t come too soon.  The problem is that the stadium lease still has a number of years left and the team has made essentially no progress in finding either a location or funding for a new facility.  Expect more sewage dumps and busted railings in the next few years.

Bonus Takeaway: Dustin Hopkins Chris Blewitt Joey Slye Brian Johnson Lirim Harullahu Brian Johnson Joey Slye watch

Johnson and Slye both still remain on the active roster, and are now joined by punter number two, Ryan Winslow, who was activated from the practice squad to replace Tress Way, who was sentenced to a term in coronavirus jail.  Slye was 3 for 3 in field goals and 1 for 1 in extra points. On the season, Slye is now 20 for 22 on field goals and 17 for 21 in extra points.  Has any NFL team even carried more full-time kickers all at once?

That’s it for this week.  I’ll be back with the final edition of the 2021-22 season next Monday.