The Takeaways, week 13: Washington over Tennessee Titans
December 2, 2024
by Steve Thomas
Feel better now? Washington’s season had been collapsing, to some extent, recently, with three losses in a row, including two games to legitimate playoff teams and one unexpected big loss to the hated Dallas Cowboys. I predicted an easy win in this home game against the Tennessee Titans, but I have to admit that I had my doubts. Could Washington really improve and look like the team that dominated early in the season? Well, as it turned out, the answer was yes. Washington was all over the Titans from the very first drive and easily walked away with a 42 – 19 victory. That’s the way to head into the bye week and the final quarter of the season. Certainly, plenty of questions remain, particularly given some of the injuries and subsequent roster moves, but just enjoy the break week knowing that the 2024 Washington team is back. At least for now. This week’s Takeaways are below.
Offensive line dominance leads to big-time rushing
Washington’s offensive line looked like an entirely new group Sunday against the Tennessee Titans, opening up huge running lanes and keeping Jayden Daniels from being under constant pressure, as was the case over the last three games. Daniels was sacked twice, but was generally under much less threats on passing plays than he’s been in recent games. The duo of Cornelius Lucas at right tackle in place of Andrew Wylie, who is in concussion protocol, and Brandon Coleman at left tackle probably should remain for the rest of the season. In terms of the running game, this group was able to open up huge rushing lanes, such as Brian Robinson’s 40 yard touchdown on his first carry of the game. That play was possible thanks to the big hole opened up on the right side of the line. Those sorts of plays happened with consistency in this game. Washington had a total of 267 yards rushing, which was apparently the most rushing yards the team has gained in one game since 2012. I didn’t research that stat since The Takeaways column is traditionally my off-the-cuff thoughts about the game, but that’s impressive. Congratulations to the offensive line for an outstanding performance.
Chris Rodriguez’s big day
I’ve always been impressed by Rodriguez’s abilities, even though he did go through a down period this season and actually got cut, only to return as a result of Austin Ekeler’s concussion. Rodriguez had a career day against the Titans, with 13 carries for 94 yards, which equates to 7.2 yards per carry, and a touchdown. That’s the most yardage he’s gained in one game in his two-year NFL career. Even removing his big 25 yard run from his stats still leaves him with 5.3 yards per carry. Certainly, Rodriguez and all of the other runners benefitted from the dominance of the offensive line, but it was great to see him perform at such a high level on the first game following Ekeler’s move to injured reserve. I think Rodriguez has a place in the NFL and I’m glad that, for this one game at least, we were able to see the true extent of his abilities.
Jayden Daniels returns to form
If you’ve been honest with yourself, you’re wiling to admit that Daniels has looked a little shaky recently, with performances that were pretty far removed from those his posted early in the year. Daniels returned to form against Tennessee, completing 25 of 30 attempts for 206 yards, with 3 touchdowns and 1 interception, for a 114.7 quarterback rating. He wasn’t perfect, of course, but he looked quite a bit better in this game in terms of the accuracy of his passes and his reads than in the past few weeks. As was the case for Washington’s rushing success, I suspect that the fact that Daniels was under significantly less regular pressure probably had quite a bit to do with his improvement. Aso, it shouldn’t be lost on anyone that he, or maybe Kliff Kingsbury through his play calling, made a concerted effort to get Terry McLaurin involved in the game early and often. That’s something we haven’t seen a ton of recently, either. Let’s hope that this Jayden Daniels – the Offensive Rookie of the Year candidate – is the version we see for the rest of the season. Hopefully the offensive line continues to come through.
Washington limited their mistakes and took advantage of the Titans’ mistakes
It’s much easier to win football games by comfortable margins when you aren’t doing things like allowing the opponent to run multiple kickoffs back for touchdowns, committing a series of silly penalties, or having bunches of turnovers. Washington did all of though things over the past few weeks, but had a dramatic turnaround against Tennessee. Furthermore, the Titans helped out by making a bunch of mistakes of their own, including both turnovers and penalties. Nobody can control whether an opponent is going to have a game like the one that happened this Sunday, but what Washington needed to do is play a clean game of their own. That thankfully happened against the Titans, and it was in no small part the cause of the 42 – 19 blowout. Let’s hope that Washington has now gotten all of the big mistakes out of their system.
Kicking woes continue
Remember earlier in the season when we all briefly, for 5 minutes, thought that Austin Seibert was the answer at kicker? Then, for about 1 minute, when it seemed possible that somebody named Zane Gonzalez could be the future? Yeah, that might be over now. Gonzalez missed two field goals today, going 0 for 2 for the game. Under normal circumstances, for a kicker in a normal, stable situation, that might not the end of the world. However, Gonzalez was essentially in tryout mode in this game. You see, he was elevated from the practice squad for the third and final time in this game, meaning that Washington can’t elevate him again this season. At this point, they’d have to sign him to the active roster for his to continue in his current role as the starting kicker. With the bye week now upon us, I suspect that the team will be conducting tryouts over the coming week. If they find someone better – which is no guarantee given how late it is in the season – it’s possible that Gonzalez either returns to the practice squad or gets cut outright. Watch for this issue over the next week. The placekicking position is one area that the new front office hasn’t managed very well so far.
That’s it for The Takeaways for week 13. I’ll be back after Washington’s week 15 battle against the Saints in New Orleans.