The Takeaways, Week 12 Edition: Lions at Redskins
November 26, 2019
by Steve Thomas
The Redskins finally got a win Sunday, besting the Detroit Lions by a score of 19 – 16 thanks to a late fourth quarter comeback brought about by a well-timed Quinton Dunbar interception and a big field goal from Dustin Hopkins with 20 seconds left on the clock. In the grand scheme of things, it’s only one game that didn’t have a real effect on the standings, but it was a big deal for a team that has spent the last three months not being able to get out of its own way on a march to 2019 irrelevance. Let’s all hope that this is a sign of things to come. This team has the bare beginnings of a good core of skill players, but they’re going to have ups and downs. Sunday was an up, regardless of how the game stats look. I like writing The Takeaways much better after games like this as opposed to the latest soul-crushing loss, so without further ado, let’s get into it.
Spare me from your draft position nonsense
The Redskins got a win today . . . be happy. Don’t worry about whether this means that they’ll pick fourth instead of second in the draft six months from now. Really. That might matter someday, like in April, but not today. If you can’t have positive thoughts about a young team finally getting out of their own way in the midst of what was clearly a chaotic week at Redskins Park, I honestly don’t know why you continue to be fans. Just go watch basketball instead. This game certainly wasn’t the Super Bowl, but on the other hand it clearly meant alot to these young players, all of whom were very excited afterwards. Young teams need to learn how to win, and this edition of the Redskins came back from the jaws of defeat for the first time all year. Honestly, I couldn’t care less about draft position right now, and for that matter I can assure you that I won’t care very much about dropping a spot or two later, either. Just enjoy a win, for goodness’ sakes. This is what sports are all about.
Haskins didn’t throw the ball well, but he showed something more important
Look, it’s true that Haskins didn’t throw the ball very well for about three and a half quarters of this game. He overthrew and underthrew his receivers, and was just flat-out inaccurate at times. I think it was probably his worst appearance this season in terms of the quality of his passes. For his part, Haskins claimed after the game in his presser in response to questions about his misses that his “wrist is pretty banged up”, implying that his wrist affected his throws. Callahan, in response to the same question, gave a pretty political answer, stating, “I believe it’s part of the growing experience of a young quarterback – whether he pulls the trigger too quick, too fast or puts too much on it or trusts too much and doesn’t calculate at times.” If the Redskins had lost this game, it would certainly be a bigger talking point. However, he showed leadership against the Lions by firing up his teammates and being able to drive the ball down to get the game winning score. To me, that’s more important than an off day from an arm standpoint. This is a very inexperienced quarterback leading a group of mostly young players, and he’s going to have days like this. Growth for a quarterback isn’t going to be a completely linear process on a game to game basis. Haskins is going to have good and bad days on his road to hopefully becoming this team’s franchise quarterback. The fact that the offense is following his lead is important and bodes well for the future. He showed leadership and the ability to mount a comeback in this game, and that matters.
The offensive gameplan got better
Did you notice that the Redskins did quite a bit more vertical passing against the Lions? It didn’t look like a team that still subscribed to a Jay Gruden-designed gameplan. The coaches trusted Haskins to go downfield significantly more than he ever has. Washington could’ve easily run a checkdown game today, but they didn’t do that, and Dwayne will benefit from this type of experience. In the big picture, that he missed a bunch of throws is far less important than the fact that for the first time all year, the Washington Redskins’ offense looked like it belonged in the 21st century. Washington also had a much more even run / pass balance, with 23 runs (including 3 Haskins scrambles) to 30 passes That’s progress, and that’s a good thing.
Steven Sims needs to have a bigger role
I really want someone to ask Bill Callahan why Steven Sims Jr. isn’t the primary punter returner, because I suspect he’d be light years better than Trey Quinn. More importantly, though, Sims needs to be the starting slot receiver. This guy is explosive and dangerous, as we’ve seen this year; the problem is that if the majority of the offensive plays he gets are some sort of gadget play – jet sweep reverse, a pass by Sims – then eventually opposing defenses will key on him when he’s on the field. In fact, that’s already happened. Sims needs more time on the field in “traditional” offensive situations in order to maximize his talents. Plus, Quinn hasn’t exactly set the world on fire in the starting role this season. Do it, Redskins, as soon as possible.
The secondary showed addition by subtraction
Josh Norman sat this week. Bill Callahan claimed in his postgame presser that it was due to injury and that it was Norman’s call. I’m not sure if I believe that, but the point is that the secondary didn’t have nearly as many obvious coverage busts this week, and I don’t think that’s a coincidence. Also, I’ve seen one too many plays this year with Norman loafing to advocate in good faith for him to continue to get playing time. Fabian Moreau has pretty much been hot garbage this season in his own right, worse than Norman, but it’s important to remember that Moreau was an outside corner in college, and he’s most likely better suited to that role than in the slot role. The fact of the matter is that Norman most likely isn’t going to be with this franchise next season, and the Redskins need to take this time to figure out if Moreau can be his replacement in the outside role or whether they will need to look to the draft next year.
Bonus Takeaway: The Redskins claimed attendance is . . . an exaggeration
The Redskins’ official gamebook that the team sends out to the media after each game listed the official paid attendance as 57,754. They might have sold that many tickets, but I’d be shocked if even 30,000 people were in the stands, and of that group, a significant number were Detroit fans. That’s the price to pay for decades of losing and mismanagement. But if you noticed, the few people who were left at the end of the game were actually cheering loudly and showing excitement in the wake of the big win. The Redskins could play in the parking lot of a Piggly Wiggly and still draw 70,000 if they were winning on a consistent basis. My advice to Dan Snyder would be to worry less about the stadium and the gameday experience and more about fielding teams that can win on a regular basis. If they can do that, I suspect the crowd and the stadium will work itself out.
That’s it for this week. I’ll be back one week from today after the Redskins face the Panthers in week 13.