The Takeaways, Week 6: Washington at Baltimore
October 15, 2024
by Steve Thomas
Welcome to The Takeaways, week 6, which is my weekly, off the cuff, Sunday night analysis of Washington’s game. This week, Washington lost to the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium by a score of 30 – 23, snapping Washington’s 4 game winning streak. It was bound to happen at some point – Washington wasn’t ever going to win 16 in a row – and it’s no shame to lose to a Super Bowl contending teams that features a two-time league MVP. How’d they do overall in this matchup? Pretty good, mostly. The Takeaways begin below.
Kliff Kingsbury had a winning game plan
A very run-oriented offense wasn’t in the cards in this game, even if Brian Robinson had been available, considered the level of success the Ravens have had defending opposing teams’ ground game this year. Robinson wouldn’t have changed anything. Kingsbury clearly knew this already, though, and crafted a smart game plan instead of just blindly sticking to what he’d done in previous games. Before this game, Washington has been very balanced in its run-pass selection, even leaning more on the run in several games. Here, though, Washington had 35 pass attempts and just 18 rushing attempts, with a couple of those running plays coming via a Daniels scramble under pressure. Many of those passes were, smartly, short routes and flat passes. It didn’t work out, of course, considering that the Ravens won the game, but it was refreshing to see that Kingsbury was smart enough to do the only thing that could have possibly given Washington a chance at a victory.
Jayden Daniels looked like a veteran
Daniels wasn’t perfect in this game – he made mistakes, including a bad throw that should’ve been an easy interception, but was dropped – but he looked like he belong on the field with a prodigious talent like Lamar Jackson. That’s a testament to his talent, mental strength, and football intelligence. For the game, Daniels was 24 for 35 for 269 yards, a 68.6% completion percentage, 2 touchdowns, and no interceptions, for a 110.3 quarterback rating, plus 6 carries for 22 yards. Washington was never going to be able to run again the Ravens, which have the best run defense in the NFL, so the game plan had to depend on Daniels. For the most part, he played the role, leading the team on multiple drives down the field. Daniels continues to make strides as a passer and once again escaped from several pass rushes that would have resulted in sacks for less mobile quarterbacks. He wasn’t perfect, missing some passes beyond just the near-interception, but it’s beginning to look like Daniels is for real. He certainly has gotten the attention of the rest of the NFL, even in a loss.
Terry McLaurin looks like himself again
McLaurin didn’t really have a big game by his standards – he had 6 receptions in 7 targets for 58 yards and 2 touchdowns, which is good but not great. What fans should take form this performance, though, is that (1) it’s clear that he’s become Daniels’ #1 target, and (2) played like a #1 receiver in this game, making several impressive catches. McLaurin started the season a bit slow, but he’s looked more and more like the McLaurin we’re used to seeing in recent weeks. I still don’t think that McLaurin is on the level of the NFL’s elite, but he’s definitely in the next tier down. I thought he had an impressive game considering the circumstances.
Washington’s secondary continues to be insufficient
The same cannot be said for Washington’s secondary, which is second-rate and, put simply, not good enough. This group cannot hang with the better passing teams, and it showed against the Ravens on Sunday. Zay Flowers was unstoppable in the first half, burning Washington at every opportunity and finishing the day with 9 receptions in 9 targets for 132 yards, all coming in the first half. Beyond Flowers, though, it’s obvious that Washington’s corner group, in particular, lacks the talent necessary to adequately defend against talented opposing receivers. Also, he damage would have been bigger if the Ravens had been forced to go away from the run game in the second half, which didn’t happen. The corner group needs to be Washington’s top priority in the offseason.
Washington’s run defense doesn’t get the job done
The Ravens collectively had 37 rushes for 176 yards, including 24 for 132 yards, 5.5 yards per carry, for Derrick Henry, and 11 carries for 40 yards for Lamar Jackson. That’s not a huge day from a statistical perspective, but Washington was utterly unable to stop Henry, particularly late in the second half. The interior of the defensive line, supposedly the strength of Washington’s defense, failed to reign Henry in, especially late in the game when Baltimore was trying to run out the clock. The team has the right to expect more from the very highly paid duo of Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne than they’ve gotten this year, particularly this week against the Ravens. To top it off, Allen suffered a pectoral injury in this game and apparently will have an MRI to determine the extent of the damage. This is another area that will need improvement in the offseason.
That’s it for this week. I’ll be back next week after Washington faces the struggling Carolina Panthers in Raljon in a 4:00 p.m. matchup.