The Takeaways, Week 1: Redskins at Eagles
September 15, 2019
by Steve Thomas
Welcome to the start of the 2020 Redskins Washington Football Team WFT Football Team the Team YesImbitteraboutlosingagreatnicknamefornogoodreason Washington football season! For those of you who are new here, The Takeaways is a regular feature we started halfway through the 2017 season in order to cover some of the big-picture items that came of that week’s game – the things you’ll need to know when you’re talking about the most recent Washington game from your home office while on your workplace’s Zoom conference call in the coming week, whether they are good, bad, or otherwise. So, without further ado, let’s get into The Takeaways for this week.
Washington reversed its recent week one fate to set a positive tone for the season by pulling out its first victory in three years over the hated Eagles by a score of 27-17. To say this game started out in the worst possible way isn’t an exaggeration, and at one point near the end of the first half, it looked like it was headed towards an Eagles blowout. Fortunately, the tide turned, thanks largely to an impressive defensive effort in the second half, and Washington was able to take command towards the end of the game. What did we learn from this contest?
Washington looked like a real NFL team
We’ve all seen the types of effort and results Washington has posted in week one games in the past several years. Yes, this game started much the same, with the offense looking abysmal and the defense getting run over by a veteran Eagles team. The difference this Sunday, though, was that Washington actually finished strong, which is something they haven’t done in a very long time. No, the offense wasn’t dynamic, and the defense still has no shot of covering any opposing tight end whatsoever, but the point is that, for the first time in awhile, they looked like they belonged in professional football to start the season. Washington was able to create turnover opportunities and score touchdowns as a result, which they’ve been unable to do in years past. Ron Rivera and company actually got tough and used an opposing team’s weaknesses to their advantage. There’s reason to have hope for the future, and for that, I applaud.
The front 7 took advantage of a severely depleted Eagles offensive line
The big story of this game was the incredible performance of Washington’s front seven. They put an enormous amount of pressure on Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz, with 8 sacks and 14 quarterback hits, including 2 sacks by Ryan Kerrigan to reach the top of the team’s official career sack list (he’s still 5 sacks behind Dexter Manley for the unofficial record) and 1.5 by rookie and generational talent Chase Young. Thanks in no small part to the defensive line, the linebacker group as a whole, particularly Jonathan Bostic, was able to make a major impact on the game. More than that, though, the second-worst rushing defense in the NFL last year held Philadelphia to just 57 total rushing yards. This change seemed to be a combination of three things: (1) use of a base scheme, the 4 – 3, that best fits the players’ talents, (2) more aggressive defensive playcalling from coordinator Jack Del Rio, and (3) the Eagles’ severe injury problems. Philadelphia’s offense line was a disaster zone in terms of health and basically not starter-worthy, but unlike prior years, Washington was able to take full advantage of an obvious mismatch. It won’t always be this easy, and I’d suggest to you that this game perhaps wasn’t a representative sample of what Washington will face this season, but they got it done, showed tons of promise, and gave fans hope and a reason to cheer. I’ll take it.
Terry McLaurin continues to look like a top-quality receiver
McLaurin’s numbers weren’t spectacular – 5 receptions in 7 targets for 61 yards, but he was essentially the only ball-carrying player that the Eagles defense was concerned about. McLaurin had Darius Slay draped over him for a good bit of the game, with safety coverage shaded to him. Nothing I saw today gave me any reason to think that he won’t continue to develop this year and become what we hope he will, which is an elite, Pro Bowl-level player. Just imagine what he could do if he had another receiver worth a darn playing with him to take some heat off of him. No disrespect to Steven Sims and Dontrelle Inman, but no other receiver on this team is even close to McLaurin’s class or puts any sort of fear in opposing defenses.
Dwayne Haskins still has a ways to go
What I saw in Haskins this week was a guy whose leadership skills are getting better, but who didn’t look sharp or display on-field confidence for much of the game. His 54.8% completion percentage and 178 yards passing is along the lines of most of his 2019 performances and just flat-out isn’t going to be good enough. I recognize that he started off very poorly and got better as the day went along, but still: this game isn’t going to make the neutral observer believe that he’s progressing towards franchise QB status. Haskins wasn’t able to put together a long drive in this game and generally looked more like the early 2019 version of himself. Today was game number 10 and start number 8 for him, and at some point soon, he’s going to have to start producing at a consistently high level or the questions about his future are going to get louder. It’s still too early for that sort of talk, and the fact that the team had no preseason at all is important, but I’ve always been blunt and honest both here and on the air, so I have to say that I was expecting more from Haskins on Sunday. I wanted to see 2019 week 15 – 16 Haskins, not what he produced. To me, his long-term development remains an open question.
The running game needs alot of help
Somebody please explain to me again why Adrian Peterson is not on this team? Washington let him go apparently because of his fit in the type of offense Scott Turner was going to run and out of faith in Peyton Barber. Yes, using Peterson in a 12 personnel group with the quarterback in shotgun, as we saw from Washington this week, probably wouldn’t have been the best use of his talents. However, the running back group on Sunday produced a combined 63 yards on 29 carries. Barber had 17 carries for 29 yards. Regardless of his play style, Peterson could have done better than that and also given the Eagles somebody else to focus on. Unfortunately, Peterson is water under the bridge now. The bottom line is that the running game was essentially ineffective against the Eagles, and that’s going to have to change somehow for Washington to have a successful offense this season. Antonio Gibson is a talent with a big future, but he’s very inexperienced and not a traditional “between the tackles” downhill runner, and neither Barber nor J.D. McKissic did do anything today to make me believe that help is on the way any time soon.
That’s it for The Takeaways for week one. I’ll be back with another edition next week after Washington battles the Cardinals in Arizona.