Burgundy & Gold Reaction: Season Even Up After Beating Falcons

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October 18, 2023

by David Earl

Condolences To The Leno Family

First, my prayers and condolences to Charles Leno and his family for losing their newborn baby girl. As a parent, it is one of the most feared thoughts that run in our minds about our children and is a loss I could (hope to never) fully imagine. Just the idea that they were blessed with a wonderful child, only for their moments with her being ever cut short is gutwrenching, to say the least. As fans, we look at Sundays as a day away from everything that life throws at us and just enjoy cheering for or yelling at our team, but this is much bigger than the team, especially for the Leno family. While there were some heartless fans wanting to take their pop shots showing their true heartless nature, the majority of this fan base showed wonderful support in this tragic event. The healing process will be long and the entire Leno family, not just Charles Leno, will continue to need patience and support going forward. Despite the few wretched and soulless individuals that unfortunately exist in this fan base we all have sincere sympathy for your loss.

Eric Bieniemy, Sam Howell & The Offense

Except for this game, to say Eric Bieniemy has been unbalanced in his play calling this season would be an understatement. Washington is the 3rd most pass-heavy team, and they throw the ball 66.67% of the time. Sam Howell has averaged 35.7 pass attempts per game, is ranked 9th in completion percentage at 67.76% of his passes, and has 9 touchdowns to 7 interceptions. These numbers are encouraging for a 5th-round pick, but the number that stands out the most are the sacks and hits he has taken. As of this point in the season, Howell is averaging 5.7 sacks per game, which puts him on pace to finish the season with 96.7 sacks. Since these sacks are not all on the offensive line performance (discussed later), Eric Bieniemy may want to consider leaning a little more on the run going forward.

To add some perspective, the Philadelphia Eagles completely changed their philosophy from the 2020 season when entering the 2021 season. As I covered in the offseason, in the 2020 season, they were either middle of the road or bottom third in the league in most pass-blocking statistical categories. In that season, their offense was pass-heavy, at 62%, which resulted in a league-worst 9.80% sack rate and the 26th-ranked scoring offense. In the following season, the Eagles utilized their run-blocking strength and the versatility of Jalen Hurts to limit their run-pass ratio even more. Carrying this strategy into the 2022 season produced a league MVP runner-up award for Jalen Hurts and a trip to the Super Bowl. While Washington’s offensive line may not be the best run-blocking unit in the NFL, they have produced a league 13th-ranked 4.3 yards per carry attempt for the season. With the versatility Sam Howell does process, Washington could be effective enough to help Sam in the passing game and potentially limit the hits he takes every week. Speaking of the hits Sam Howell is taking, there is a developing theme here, so let’s talk about that next.

I think it is time to re-assess the offensive line, because the numbers (Pro Football Reference Stat Head) actually suggest they are not nearly as bad as we think – or rather, at least as bad as I think, anyway. Washington is the 9th-most pressured team in the league at 24.2%, yet the offensive line has allowed the 9th-most time in the pocket at 2.2 seconds. This number is taken from the time the ball is snapped to when Howell releases the ball or gets hit by the oncoming pressure. While the pressure rate is high, consider the fact Washington’s offensive line has faced 60 blitzes thus far, which is the 6th most to this point.

This suggests more than just the baseless opinion I’ve shared that the offensive was simply terrible. In comparison, the Eagles have one of the top offensive lines in the league and are the most blitzed team in the league, 72, while only allowing a pressure rate of 16.7%.  However, they allow less time in the pocket at 2.0 seconds. What this suggests is what we’ve been hearing the last couple of weeks, which is that Howell is simply not getting rid of the ball on a consistent basis. Whether he is sticking to following through his progressions before making a decision or he is not processing the field fast enough, Eric Bieniemy needs to work this out going forward. Part of this seems obvious in the offensive philosophy approach as the Eagles did a couple of years ago. Howell’s growth as a quarterback has been evident and positive.  He has some negative habits, but if the hits keep coming, I fear a stunt in his growth like David Carr for the Houston Texans could occur by the end of the season. The ball is now in Bieniemy’s court – hopefully the adjustments will be made in the coming weeks.

 

Mixed Game For Defense

 

The defense continued to give up yards, with 402 surrendered this week, but they were solid in their 3rd down defense, allowing a conversion rate of 33.3% (5-15). They also kept Atlanta’s running game in check at 3.7 yards per carry. The secondary still had its struggles in coverage, allowing 125 yards receiving to Drake London while allowing 307 total yards passing. Atlanta also had 3 receivers with eleven or more yards per catch with minimal effect of the linebackers in the passing game except with the game-winning interception by Jamin Davis.

What this defense lacked in prior weeks were the turnovers and passes deflected. The secondary generated 3 interceptions and 10 pass attempts defensed while holding Desmond Ridder to a quarterback rating of 66.5. The defense also answered the call in the 4th quarter after consecutive poor offensive sequences which resulted in 3 and outs. Casey Toohill registered 2 sacks and 3 additional quarterback hits, but Chase Young was rather silent most of this game. Yes, there were a couple of instances where blatant holds were never called against him but he had relatively bad edge discipline most of the game. It was not one of his strongest games, but Chase has been showing much more promise this season as well.

If this defense can start showing a more collective and consistent effort for 60 minutes each week, they have shown they can overcome the deficiencies of the linebacker group. They accomplished this goal when it mattered most this week against the Falcons. This was the first game all year we saw Jack Del Rio rush more than 4 or 5 at a time, as he started bringing the defensive backs like the rookie Martin off the edge. Granted, this was against an average quarterback in Desmond Ridder but the constant 4 man rush along with the occasional linebacker blitz was just not generating the kind of pressure to create turnovers. That is what happened against Atlanta – they forced Ridder into critical mistakes, such as his red zone interception to Benjamin St-Juste. It’s one thing to make a point this past offseason  to generate turnovers but if you do not apply the pressure on a quarterback the likelihood of a turnover is certainly decreased.

 

Conclusion

The win was obviously needed. Seeing pressures defensively turn into turnovers was certainly a good sign for a defense that has been just awful most of the year. The offense is still a work in progress, with highs and lows that Eric Bieniemy will need to balance out. This needs to start with a more run-oriented scheme. Put Howell into more play-action and run-pass-options to create more deception against the opposing defense. As Howell develops these coming weeks, the sacks and quarterback hits will need to be limited. Howell creates many of these unnecessary hits, so Bieniemy will need to become more creative in play calling.

As I’ve said before, this team certainly has talent but they just need to begin coaching more to their strengths in order to protect their weaknesses which they don’t always do very well. While this 3-3 start is the best start under the Ron Rivera coaching era in Washington, it becomes clear to me that coaching has been as much of, if not more of, the problem as the lack of execution by the players. This season is certainly still salvageable –  the Giants and Patriots, which are 2 of Washington’s next 3 games, have just been clearly worse than Washington thus far. With the Rams better than most thought they’d be and the Dolphins looking like a juggernaut, this coming stretch of games has become far more important. I don’t hold great confidence that Ron Rivera and Jack Del Rio will make the proper changes to their coaching styles going forward, so the hope now falls on Eric Bieniemy to adapt going forward. So Washington, let’s not allow the Giants to look like the Miami Dolphins this week and take care of business heading into the rematch against the Eagles in 2 weeks.