Burgundy & Gold Reaction: Most Complete Defensive Game Yet

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October 9, 2024

by David Earl

Defense Showed Up

Before I dive into the defense, this chant by Frankie Luvu, which is similar to the Haka, is a traditional Siva Tau chant. He brought it with him from his time in Carolina, saying, “it’s designed to bring people together, to get them ready for whatever comes next.” The reaction in the above video seems to have done just that for the players in the locker room. Whether it has helped with the energy and play on the field, this defense played very well against the Cleveland Browns and was easily their best game of the season. Luvu led the defensive charge with 4 total tackles, 2.5 sacks, plus a fumble recovery, and was key to the defense’s ability to force the Browns into multiple negative plays.

In the first four weeks of the season, the Washington defense has allowed well over an average of 5 yards per play, but they held the Browns to an astounding 3.6 yards per play. They also held the Browns’ third down offense in check, only 1 third down conversion in 13 attempts, which was a 7.7% conversion rate, and held  them to a total of 212 offensive yards. They held Deshaun Watson to 15 of 28 passing, which was a 53.6% completion rate, one touchdown, and a 77.2 overall quarterback rating. Washington’s defense got home with the pressures this week to the tune of 7 sacks and 11 additional quarterback hits. The defensive front generated 7 total negative plays while the secondary had a total of 5 pass defenses. Watson was held to an average of 3 yards per pass play, but the defense still has work to do in the run game: they allowed 4.5 yards per carry. The run defense was an improvement over the last few weeks, during time which they allowed well over 5 yards per carry.

Aside from wide receiver Amari Cooper‘s 60 receiving yards, not another player went over 30 yards receiving. Rookie Mike Sainristil had his best game of the season, with 4 tackles and 1 pass defense, and was also disruptive in the backfield. Benjamin St-Juste stepped up his performance producing his most efficient game of this young season and one of the best games of his career. The entire secondary did an exceptional job containing a good pair of wide receivers in Amari Cooper and Jerry Jeudy while also limiting a good pass-catching tight end, David Njoku, to only 1 reception for 14 yards. There are still improvements left to be made but this defense is certainly trending in the right direction.

The Offense Wasn’t Perfect

While Jayden Daniels may be a very efficient quarterback, he came back down to earth against a good Browns defense, completing 56% of his passes. Yes, there were some bad drops by tight end Zach Ertz, who had 2, and a dropped touchdown pass by Terry McLaurin, and Daniels missed many throws as well. Overthrew a wide-open Ertz on a seam route when inside Cleveland’s 5 yard line and forced a pass to McLaurin with a wide-open Luke McCaffrey on the same side of the field. With that said, Daniels continues to come up with clutch plays as well. Early in the game, while scrambling from a rush, he drops a beautiful pass 65 yards downfield to McLaurin while on the run. The 41 yard touchdown pass to Dyami Brown was the result of what Daniels had noticed in the Browns’ coverage and called for a deep pass to Kliff Kingsbury‘s approval.

Daniels’ passing numbers were not what they were over the first 4 games, byt he continues to remain calm and collected while making plays with his legs. Rushing for 82 yards on 11 total attempts, he was able to elude many negative plays with his legs. The Browns’ defense effectively took away the quick passing game early forcing Kingsbury to call longer-developed passing plays. The offensive line, which ranks 26th in the league in time to throw in the pocket at 2.2 seconds entering this game, was exposed against this Browns’ defensive front. Daniels’ feel for the pass rush and his scrambling ability helped bail out this unit against the Browns. Daniels was sacked 3 times with 4 additional quarterback hits but it could have been far worse.

For another week, Kliff Kingsbury kept the focus on the running game by calling 34 run plays versus 28 passes. Washington’s run game had mixed results even though they totaled 215 yards rushing averaging 6.3 yards per carry. Jayden Daniels accounted for 82 of these yards averaging 7.5 yards per carry. The running backs totaled 23 carries for 133 yards, averaging 5.7 yards per carry which, on the service, was outstanding. It’s when you look past the 50 yard run by Austin Ekeler and the 28 yard run by Jeremy McNichols that you see the running backs had a less-than-desired performance. Beyond those two runs the running backs totaled 55 yards rushing on 21 carries averaging 2.6 yards per carry. While this perspective may be a bit of a shallow approach, you’d typically want your running game to be well over 4.0 yards per carry without the explosive running plays. The first 4 weeks of the season they have been so consider this game more of an aberration for now. Even with that said, Washington still dominated this game through all 4 quarters as the explosive plays have been this team’s staple all season long.

 

Quick Week 6 Outlook: Baltimore Ravens

I thought about this statement and there is certainly merit to this perspective. For me, the Baltimore Ravens are the most well-rounded offense Washington faces this season and their response to this team (if they fall behind early) is what I will look at this Sunday. I agree this shouldn’t be a validation game but more of a continued measuring stick game in growth and development. Here is why I believe this perspective may be more accurate than most might consider during this 4 game win streak.

The matchup in week 2 against the division rival New York Giants went as expected. As history shows between these 2 teams, the game was close and the result does not always reflect the “The Better Team Won” scenario. Yes, Washington struggled to win while Jayden Daniels and this offense were finding their footing; in addition, the defense just looked bad. This wasn’t a signature game for the offense, which went 0-6 in the red zone, with all points coming from kicker Austin Seibert. Where has this offense ranked thus far in the season?

During this improbable 4-1 stretch of the season, Washington’s offense has been very efficient. They are ranked 3rd in yards per play at 6.3, and ranked 5th in average time of possession with 32:19. A key contributor to this time of possession is the concentration on the running game. The team has averages 33.6 rushes per game and ranked 4th in the NFL with 5.3 yards per attempt. While they are ranked 12th in average yards per, completion, at 10.5, they are the top-ranked team in pass completions, at 76.12%, and ranked 4th in overall passer rating at 104.5.  Their quick passing game combined with their 4th ranked rushing attack has resulted in Washington being the second most productive offense in 3rd down conversions, at a rate of 51.67%. There is much to work on offensive such as the offensive line’s poor 1.8 seconds time in the pocket in pass protection, but overall Kliff Kingsbury‘s scheme has been working very well thus far through 5 weeks.

The defense they face this coming week, Baltimore, has not been the typical defense in recent years. They are ranked 25th in the league in yards per play allowed, at 5.6, but are the number 1 rush defense in the NFL. Baltimore’s strength, allowing only 3.1 yards per such attempt, will counter Washington’s strength which has helped set up their offense each week. If Kingsbury can manage to penetrate this strength of Baltimore, then the next step will be to take advantage of Baltimore’s surprisingly weak pass defense. Baltimore is ranked 25th in overall passer rating allowed, at 101, and giving up 7.5 yards per pass completion, which is ranked 27th.  They also have a 64.29% touchdown percentage allowed, which places them as the 24th worse in the league. Washington will need to establish the run early and effectively so the rest of the offense can come together as their defense will be facing a Baltimore offense that averages 29 points per game, which ranked 3rd. Although Washington’s defense is coming off a complete game performance, this Ravens offense is far better than what they just faced against the Browns, or all season for that matter.  The Ravens averages 447.6 total yards per game, which is ranked 1st. It’s an offense that is led by the best rushing team in the NFL, with an average of 211.2 yards per game against one of the worst run defenses in Washington, which has allowed 5.1 yards per attempt.