The Takeaways, Week 6: Redskins at Dolphins
October 15, 2019
by Steve Thomas
Allow me to celebrate just a little bit, will you? Without you immediately getting negative and whining about 2020 draft position, or that the victory wasn’t a good enough win to meet your expectations, please? Okay, here we go: “Hail to the Redskins, Hail Victor-ee . . . .” Okay, that’s enough. I can’t sing. Look, the point is that some of you just can’t be happy, and I feel bad for you. I realize this game wasn’t the 1992 Super Bowl, but come on – a win is a win, particularly when they are as rare as they’ve been recently. So I’ve chosen to be happy and not worry about silly things like what a win does to the team’s chances of getting the #1 overall pick six months from now. I’ll care about that in February. I’m not saying that this game represents a huge turnaround in the Redskins’ fortunes or that they will all of a sudden go on a winning streak. But for the love of god, let us non-negative Nancys enjoy a win for once? Please. Thanks. Rant over – on with the Takeaways.
Callahan stuck with the run just like he said he would
Brand new interim head coach Bill Callahan told the world in his first 10 minutes on the job that he was going to turn this team into a running team, and he lived up to his word, calling 33 running plays to 25 passes, but more importantly getting Adrian Peterson rolling by handing him 23 carries, the bulk of which coming with Peterson lined up deep behind the quarterback rather than on the wing. Yes, the offense at times resembled something from 1988, but it got the job done and finally, for the first time this season, got the Redskins into a modest offensive rhythm. It was no accident that Peterson had his first 100 yard game of the season. Granted, this was the Dolphins, whose run defense is, shall we say . . . lacking, but still: it worked. Kudos to Callahan for playing to what was supposed to be Washington’s offensive strength and at least doing enough to finally get a win.
Terry McLaurin should be in the discussion for Rookie of the Year honors
How good is this guy? We all knew that he was a burner at Ohio St. and was one of Dwayne Haskins’ favorite collegiate targets, but I don’t think even the Redskins coaching staff could have anticipated just what a quality route runner he is. McLaurin demonstrates on a weekly basis that he knows how to get open against quality veteran corners, and it isn’t just because of his speed. This guy seriously might be in the lead right now for Rookie of the Year, and he’s already established as Washington’s #1 receiver. He and Peterson are clearly the two most important non-lineman on the offense. It’s literally been an entire generation, going all the way back to Art Monk and Gary Clark since the Redskins have hit on a top-notch receiving prospect in the draft, and McLaurin seems to have finally broken that particular streak of negativity. If he continues on this path, we’ll soon start hearing things like “true #1” and “Pro Bowl” about him from the national media . It’s a real pleasure watching McLaurin play, and he’s only going to get better.
Case Keenum looked marginal at best
Case, Case, Case. You didn’t play well today, despite the victory. You should’ve been better. You missed reads, had a number of bad throws, and held onto the ball too long at times. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very happy that the Redskins won, and you certainly deserve credit for that, but the most important players on the field with you were Terry McLaurin and Adrian Peterson, not you.
In all seriousness, this wasn’t Keenum’s best effort, and against a better team, it probably wouldn’t have been enough to win. 17 points doesn’t beat very many NFL teams. He needs to be sharper and make better throws going forward. If Bill Callahan is able to manufacture a consistent run game going forward, all the better, as that will make things easier. All the same, though: this was not a game that’s going to be featured on his career highlight reel. The Redskins were lucky that he didn’t cost them the game.
The defensive front 7 played its best game of the year, but . . . Dolphins
The Redskins defensive front 7 was dominant for about 45 minutes of this game, putting massive amounts of pressure on poor Josh Rosen, who looked shellshocked, battered, and bruised by the time he left the game at the start of the fourth quarter. They blitzed Rosen and put merciless-levels of pressure on him, particularly in the first quarter, and utterly shut down any semblance of a running game, at least by Redskins standards. Their effectiveness seemed to wane as the game went on, particularly once Ryan Fitzpatrick entered the game, but nevertheless, this was the type of effort we expected to see all season. Yes, the Dolphins offensive line was horrible, but Jonathan Allen and company still could’ve put up an entirely different game. They deserve praise. Hopefully they can build on this effort and continue improving throughout the rest of the season.
Sorry, but Jay Gruden would’ve lost this game
What I mean by this is that Jay most likely would’ve given up on the run game sometime late in the first quarter and instead relied on his short passing game, and who knows what would’ve happened then. Gruden definitely wouldn’t have given Peterson 23 carries and the carries he got certainly wouldn’t have been in formations that Peterson prefers. I don’t really mean to bash the guy now that he’s gone, and I also am not implying that Bill Callahan is some sort of panacea to the Redskins’ offensive woes, but one can’t just ignore that the running game was dramatically different in this game, and it was a significant contributor in the win. I don’t think Jay would’ve got this done. My point is that today, the Redskins offense did what they had to do against a bad team, as I said above, Callahan deserves credit. The game plan was solid and it worked, with an assist from a blown 2 point conversion, and it was different than anything we’ve seen from the Redskins this year.
That’s it for The Takeaways for this week. Try and be positive, people. I’ll be back next week with another edition after the 49ers game.