Burgundy & Gold Reaction: Week 16 Takeaways – The QB Swap

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December 27, 2022

by David Earl

Legendary Hogs Make Statement

It isn’t game related but it is relevant news that will be discussed more in detail throughout multiple media sources. So why mention now? This team is 7-7-1, still in the 7th spot for the playoffs, and controls its own destiny even after a disappointing lose to the 49ers. What has been a normal weekly black cloud hovering over this team all season continues this week as they enter a huge matchup against Cleveland with major playoff implications. As the team prepares for Sunday’s matchup, the locker room will surely be flooded with non-football questions around this recent development started by O-Line Entertainment LLC. It’s been amazing how well Ron Rivera has been able to keep this team together this season – one could say his behind the scenes leadership has been far greater than his coaching on the field. Just how big of a gut punch is it that one of the storied parts of Redskins history has not only wanted to maintain distance from Dan Snyder and this new rebrand but has publicly stated they want absolutely nothing to do with the Washington Commanders. We all remember when John Riggins stated earlier this year that, “I can’t understand how anybody who played under the old franchise name, the original franchise name, could want to be a part of anything Washington Commanders,” Riggins said. “Like I said, I feel completely disenfranchised. All of a sudden, you’ve entered oblivion.”

This is just yet another reason on a list longer than a child’s Christmas list why Dan Snyder and his cancerous ownership that ruined this once proud franchise must sell and go away into the sunset. The fans, players, coaches and even the alumni cannot enjoy a single week of actual important late season football while Dan is the owner. Some can ignore the noise and show faith in Dan Snyder (don’t ask me how) while others have found ways to compartmentalize this franchise in such a way as to separate the coaches and players from Dan Snyder himself in conversations. Regardless of the approach, the state of this franchise and the continued outside reports against Dan Snyder only seems to push Washington further into the abyss all the while overshadowing aspects of this team that are certainly very positive on and off the field. A new owner cannot come soon enough and the mess being left for that owner is not one you wish upon even your greatest enemy. I know the fans have had enough!

Carson Wentz To Finish The Season?

Yes, Al Galdi, this has been the topic of many Hog Sty shows and the common theme in the Taylor Heinicke and Carson Wentz debates has always circled back to this offensive line. Ron Rivera won’t openly admit the failings of the reconstruction of this offensive line but the proof is in the results. Washington’s rushing game ranks 27th in yard before contact average (2.5) and is ranked 6th in most allowed pressure percentage on the quarterback per drop back (24.6%) thus far in the season. While some point to the fact they are around league average for time in the pocket at 2.3 seconds and the difference between them (2.3 seconds) and the league worst Arizona Cardinals (2.0 seconds) is .3 seconds which obviously makes a big difference for quarterbacks. What do these numbers mean? When teams are not applying pressure the offensive line holds up fairly well allowing time in the pocket but trouble ensues when they bring an extra defender in a designed blitz. Washington is the 5th most pressured team in the league at 141 pressures applied resulting in their quarterbacks being hit 62 times on the season (ranked 4th worse). In all this unit is one of the worst teams in the league in yards per first contact in the running game and cannot maintain a clean pocket when pressure is applied to the quarterback. How does this correlate to Carson Wentz vs Taylor Heinickie?

For starters, earlier in the year we saw the clear play design by Scott Turner calling for long developing drop backs which the offensive line could not handle. Wentz and his tendency to hold the ball taking some bad sacks combined with the offensive play calling was quickly found to be a bad recipe. While the team did well under Wentz in the red zone, there were far too many crucial back breaking plays that thwarted any possible success. Add the early poor play on defense and we now see just how everything snowballed.  Taylor Heinicke and a new found run game the offense began to be somewhat more successful. The run game’s average per attempt was well below league average but they were winning on short yardage scenarios for much of the season. With this style of run game controlling the clock and the defense beginning to come into form, Washington went on a 5-1 tear as Heinicke running the offense. By no means was the offense at a prolific level – the defense bailed this team out time and time again, and Heinicke somehow escaped one potential disaster after another. Even against San Francisco he was not terrible; he had a 114 passer rating, but it was a poorly thrown pass down field to Jahan Dotson that spun him around and the tipped passes at the line of scrimmage that continue to haunt Taylor’s production. He is a roller coaster who produces below league average points per game at 19 and 17.3 points per game the last 3 weeks.

Heading in the playoffs, this offense does not simply produce enough, and Carson Wentz’s ability to stretch the field gives the team a potentially higher offensive output. Yes, the team averaged just 18 points per game under Wentz at the start of the year, but that was with minimal emphasis to the run, running limited 12 personnel sets, and a scheme that called far too many long developing plays behind an offensive line we see now that was just terrible. The difference is that now Wentz will be orchestrating an offense much different than earlier in the season.  We got a sample of this against the 49ers. With the game still in reach, Carson ran this quick passing game with precision, moving the ball relatively easy against this 49ers defense and finishing the game with a 117.4 passer rating. If he can continue to play within this system, and if the team remains dedicated to the run, this offense could be much more affective down the stretch. This hinges on Wentz not holding onto the ball too long taking the bad sack and Scott Turner resisting the urge to open up the offense up down field like he did early in the season. It’s going to be interesting but, within some mixed comments among the fans, the apparent choice of the fans going forward is Wentz.