The Washington No-Names at the Halfway Mark, Part 2
November 3, 2020
by Steve Thomas
Welcome to part 2 of my midseason analysis of the Washington Redskins WFT thatisawful Washington Football Team Isureamtiredofthisnamenonsense Washington’s performance thusfar in the 2020 season. We covered the offense yesterday (click here to read), so today’s effort will cover the defense, special teams, and coaching. I realize that my offensive grades were very negative, but they earned those grades. My defensive grades will be better, for sure, but this group has had their problems as well, so I’m warning you now that it’s not all sunshine and roses today either. All I ask is that you read the entire column first before you judge. Let’s get started.
Defense
I understand that the Dallas game boosted the some the defense’s stats – prior to the week 8 games, the team was ranked 16th in total points surrendered with 165, 10th in total yards, 2nd in passing yards, and 22nd in rushing yards. However, this is a case where stats don’t tell the full tale: Washington gave up 30 or more points in 4 straight games, and they can’t run from those results. They looked bad against essentially every non-NFC East offense they faced. Certainly, this unit has significantly more talent than does the offense and have achieved better results, but I’m not yet up to the point at which I’m willing to call them “good”.
Overall grade: C
Defensive line
This group has looked dominate at times this season, but has also been fairly bad at times against the better teams. The second overall pick, Chase Young, has 19 tackles, including 15 solo tackles, 2.5 sacks, and 2 quarterback hits, which is decent but not great; however, his relative lack of stats don’t accurately reflect the extent of his contributions. Young hasn’t disappointed, but he hasn’t exceeded the already lofty expectations with which he arrived, either. I’d say that he’s more or less met expectations so far and has a bright future. His partner on the other edge, Montez Sweat, is the one who’s taken a big step forward in year two of his career, with 21 tackles, including 15 solo tackles, 6 sacks, and 11 quarterback hits. Daron Payne is having a good year, the best of his short career. However, this team has given up a ton of points and, prior to the Dallas game, a ton of rushing yards, and those two things matter, despite the talent level. The loss of Matt Ioannidis was a big hit. I’ve long held the view that this position group has underperformed its collective draft status and been too inconsistent, and I still think that’s true. Regardless, though, this is the strength of the team.
Grade: B-. I can’t ignore the talent in this position group, so they get the best grade of any group.
Linebackers
The linebacker group simply lacks talent and has been mostly ignored for years. The starting trio of Jonathan Bostic, Cole Holcomb, and Kevin Pierre-Louis have once again been bad in coverage, with plenty of mix-ups and missed tackles. They’ve all had their positive moments: Bostic leads the team in tackles with 52 combined and 29 solo and Holcomb came on strong in week 7 with his best game of the year. We’ll never know what could have been had Reuben Foster been healthy, 100% of what he used to be, and a starter, because he could’ve supplied the talent that is lacking in this group. I suspect that Washington will invest significant draft or free agent capital into linebackers in the next year or two.
Grade: C-. The linebackers do their best but aren’t a defensive strength.
Secondary
The secondary has been an abject disaster at times, but on the other hand Kendall Fuller looks to have been worth every penny of his $40M contract. Also, Ronald Darby has quietly had a decent year, and since he is playing on a one year “prove it” contract, don’t be surprised if Washington brings him back next year. Landon Collins hasn’t been worth his $84M contract, mainly because he misses tackles and often takes bad angles, and now he’s out for the year in what may actually end up being an unfortunately-caused addition by subtraction. In my humble opinion, Collins would be better in a dime linebacker role than as a safety. Many of the problems in the defensive backfield have been confusion and a lack of knowledge, not a lack of talent; plus, Washington has a number of promising young corners. It wouldn’t surprise me too much if the defensive backfield gets a little better in the second half of the season.
Grade: C-. Expect improvement by the end of the year.
Special Teams
Dustin Hopkins has underperformed this season, for sure, but he’s better than most fans seem to think. I’m not going to debate it further here, because I wrote a very long piece about him two weeks ago (click here to read). Washington has stunk at punt returns, kickoff returns, and kickoff return defense all year, but was ranked 5th in punt return defense heading into week 8. Tress Way, of course, is the team’s best player and one of the best punters in the NFL.
Grade: B-. Tress Way’s overall awesomeness brings this grade up from where it probably should be.
Coaching
Head coach Ron Rivera has been maddeningly inconsistent with his messaging, has made poor clock management decisions, blew the 2 point conversion / extra point decision against the Giants, and made a mistake in benching Dwayne Haskins when he did. On the other hand, he’s been a professional, which is a welcome change, his players seem to love him, and he’s somehow undergoing cancer treatments while keeping his day job, so it’s tough to fault him too much. Jack Del Rio’s defense has given up a truckload of points in 5 of 7 games, so I can’t heap too much praise on him, but on the other hand, the defense seems to be in a much better place than it was under Greg Manusky. Offensive coordinator Scott Turner definitely had a rough start to his coordinator career, but his offense suffers from a big lack of talent that clearly holds him back.
Grade: C. I’m mostly underwhelmed, and Washington is a bad team with a 2 – 5 record, so I can’t in good conscience give a high grade here.
First Half MVP
Tress Way. He’s the best player on the team and should’ve been a 1st Team All Pro last year. Washington is very lucky to have him locked up long-term.
That’s it for this year’s midseason grades, folks. Feel free to criticize away.