The Takeaways, Week 4: Washington at Arizona Cardinals
October 1, 2024
by Steve Thomas
Washington pounded the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday afternoon, and now, shockingly, not only has a three game winning streak but has scored 38 or more points in two straight games. Since this is The Takeaways, which is my weekly off the cuff column where I expound on the game I just watch, I didn’t look this up, but I have to believe that it’s been many seasons since we’ve seen a Washington team accomplish such a feat. The fact that Washington had such an amazing offensive explosion for the second week in a row, especially on the road, is nothing short of amazing considering all of the drama and heartache this fanbase has gone through for a very long time. This doesn’t mean that Washington is all of a sudden ready to compete for a Super Bowl or anything – it’s too early to think about that – but nevertheless, it’s time to reveal in what is hopefully a new era of football in the nation’s capitol. Here are my takeaways for this week.
Jayden Daniels continues to shine
Daniels went 26 for 30 for 233 yards, with 1 touchdown, and his first interception of his NFL career, for a quarterback rating of 96.3 For the math deficient, 26 for 30 is a completion percentage of 86.7%. The broadcast reported that Daniels’ overall completion percentage for the first four games of the season is the highest in NFL history for the first four games of a season. Not just for rookies: for any quarterback, ever. That’s unbelievable. Not only that, but Daniels looked great in the pocket – he routinely progressed through his reads, didn’t panic under pressure, and only scrambled when he had to do so, not when his first read wasn’t open. I had a very positive view of Daniels’ potential after my pre-draft analysis of his LSU film, but honestly, expecting this kind of performance from him back then wouldn’t have been reasonable. He has been humble, mature, and looks like a quality vet. Not only that, but Daniels’ demeanor doesn’t come across as selfish and self-centered, as did Robert Griffin III in 2011. The future seems very bright for a Washington quarterback for the first time time in a very long time.
Maybe I haven’t given Brian Robinson enough credit
Against the Cardinals, Brian Robinson had 21 carries for 101 yards, for 4.8 yards per carry, and one touchdown. That performance, of course, comes on the heels of a career-best game last week against the Bengals. Like all teams, Washington ideally needs a running back who can reliably average 4.5 yards per carry or more on a regular basis for 15 – 20 carries per game. In the past, I’ve been a bit down on Robinson because, while he’s had an occasional moment here and there, he hasn’t been close to being able to hit that 4.5 yards per carry mark with regularity. Robinson did it again this week against the Cardinals and, for the second week in a row, was a rock upon which Washington could rely. There’s a long way to go this season, so I’m not ready to crown him “the answer” to years of running game problems just yet, but it’s a step in the right direction. Let’s see if he can duplicate these results in the coming weeks.
Olamide Zaccheaus’ coming out party
Just to get this out in the open, the taunting penalty against Zaccheaus was a bad call by the refs. More to the point, though, I broke my own rule about research for this column in a very small way in order to look up Olamide Zaccheaus’ game logs, because I suspected that his 6 receptions for 85 yard performance was most likely one of his best NFL games. I wasn’t wrong – you have to go all the way back to November 8, 2020, when he was with the Falcons, in which he had 4 receptions for 103 yards, to find a more impactful performance by Zaccheaus. I didn’t expect much from him this season, mainly – and unfairly – because I didn’t know much about him, but this was the first game of the season in which he made a legitimate impact on the offense. Let’s hope we see more of this from him.
Washington held Kyler Murray in the pocket
Murray had just 1 run for 3 yards on Sunday. I listed keeping Murray in the pocket as one of the keys to the game in this week’s game preview, and that played out on Sunday. Murray is a talented runner and can at times become the X-factor for the Cardinals’ offense. Heading into this game, Murray had 15 carries for 161 yards over the first three games, which equates to a 10.7 yards per carry average. To limit him to just 1 carry for 3 yards was a major win for Washington, which has traditionally been burned by mobile quarterbacks in prior years. The fact that Washington kept that from happening in this game is a positive sign.
However, the run defense was . . . not good
I can’t let the entire Takeaways column be positive – I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t point out the negative as well, even on a day that went as well as this one did. Despite the defensive success against Murray, Washington was downright bad against Arizona’s run game. Taking Murry out of the equation, the Cardinals running backs had a combined 31 carries for 178 yards, which is an average of 5.7 yards per carry, and 1 touchdown. That level of success isn’t sustainable for an NFL defense and needs to change if Washington is going to hang with the better NFL teams. If Washington’s offense continues to be as good as they’ve been in the first quarter of the season, the defense doesn’t necessarily need to be outstanding. However, it needs to be much better than 5.7 yards per carry.
That’s it for The Takeaways for this week. I’ll be back after Washington’s week 5 meeting at home against the Cleveland Browns.