The Chicago Cardinals originated in 1898 making the franchise the League’s oldest.
Exorcising demons is a messy business. After witnessing systemic organizational failure for 25 years the inclination is to disregard any positive. As one fan put it, “Any bright spot was simply cover for the Dan Snyder rot that lay within.” An old song said that the first cut was the deepest. But, those heal with the faintest of scars. When sliced repeatedly the accumulation of scars leaves a mosaic of hardened, nearly impenetrable shielding. To come out from behind it and expose oneself again is a tall ask. So, if you look at Monday night’s startling performance against a high-caliber team with folded arms, a cocked head, and doubts aplenty that would be understandable. On the other hand, if you found yourself excited again after all these years, that would be equally understandable.
A Tale of Two Games
In a binary world of win or lose one option will become predominant. Both were on full display on overlapping games Monday night. The Bengals were predicted to be a power on the stage this year.Why not? They have a terrific Offense with stud receivers, talented Tight Ends, and a young gun Quarterback in Joe Burrow. Their Defense is coached by highly regarded Lou Anarumo. They were 7.5-point favorites over the young WFT. Inexplicably they mailed in the first game of the season to a very suspect New England team. Then they went toe-to-toe with the reigning World Champions. There was every reason to suspect that they would throttle the neophyte Washington squad. One old saw is that, “Fact is often stranger than fiction.” The fact was that the Burgundy and Gold crew would have none of the script presented to them.
There are always two equal and opposite views of football results. Washington’s Offense was spectacular: Or, the Bengals’ Defense was putrid. The truth lies somewhere between those gauge pegs. Young Daniels and his crew put up three touchdowns on three drives in the first half. In that half they faced third down only twice. In the first three quarters they faced only one third or fourth down over two yards. The object of disaffection last week was the Red Zone performance of 0 for 6. This week was the percentage polar opposite at 3 for 3. And, the same Defense that had three takeaways from the Chiefs the week before had none against the WFT.
Suddenly the Bengals were sitting at 0-3. It’s the Death Penalty for playoff hopes. The rest of the season is relegated to the Appeals process for them. If you want the grisly nunbers since 1990 teams with 0-3 records made the playoffs 2.6% of the time. Last year every single team that went 0-3 went on to have a losing record. Small wonder then that Joe Burrow sat at his post-game presser with glazed eyes while giving cropped answers. It wasn’t clinical shock. It was simply disbelief on display. The contrast to the other losing QB of the night was stark. Trevor Lawrence‘s team had just been boat-raced by the surging Buffalo Bills. It was Trevor’s eighth straight loss. Lawrence presented his dispassionate bromides with polished aplomb. When you’re used to losing you get good at it all the way through to the post-game pressers.
Washington beat Cincinnati with offense. The Defense was just good enough to force a few field goal attempts. One of those missed. The WFT only kicked one three-pointer. Every other drive was either a touchdown or kneel down. Tacking on to last week’s effort the team has scored on 13 drives, knelt down three times, and has punted zero times. This Offense has something cooking.
The “Three C’s”
National pundits were gobsmacked by young Jayden Daniels‘ performance. They treated it as if it were a complete surprise that emerged like a ship appearing silently from the fog. Not all of them, however. Jim Miller was an NFL QB for a decade. During training camp tours he left Washington singing Daniels’ praises to any and all that would listen. After the obligatory disclaimers about practice not being equivalent to games Miller said this: “That young man has the 3-C’s; Confidence, Calmness, and Command.” That list doesn’t have every ingredient required for the “It Factor.” But, it has three of the hardest to come by. Having the ability to heave a good Deep Ball is equally rare. By the way, Daniels can really heave the Deep Ball.
Dan Quinn, despite many claims to the contrary when he was hired, is no dummy. Tuesday he was asked about going for it on three different fourth downs. His answer was that the team needed to steal a possession or two, or three from the prolific Cincinnati Offense. Normally, one would expect a Defense to chip in an interception or two to do this. But, Washington’s Defense has yet to record a pick. Burrow was sacked twice, but was barely pressured. Nearly every time WAS went to single-high Safety the Cincinnati receivers ran loose. Burrow carved up the secondary like a Halloween pumpkin. A logical move would be to sit back in two-deep Safeties. It typically yields more running yards. While that’s not palatable neither is the alternative.
The Cardinals
Some are predicting a WFT letdown against Arizona. “Hungover” is how one pundit put it. We will see. Kyler Murray has been much better since returning from injury late last season. His team was betrayed by non-calls on two successive Pass Interferences by Buffalo. This team could easily be 2-1. The loss to Detroit was a matter of the Lion’s having a very good Defense. That is something the WFT does not possess.
More than likely a win will require Washington to repeat the formula of a week ago: Score so many points the opposition can’t catch up. Hurting the effort will be the loss of Austin Ekeler. While the team flew to Phoenix to practice, Ekeler flew back to Ashburn for concussion evaluation and treatment. He has been a wonderful, productive addition. Now, his absence will be felt. His replacement last week was Jeremy McNichols. He threw a de-cleating block that helped Daniels heave that dagger 27-yard touchdown to Terry McLaurin late in the fourth quarter. Some nice runs from him will be requested this week. A good ground game on the road is a young QB’s best friend.
Washington at Arizona: 4:05pm Eastern
Television: Fox Broadcasting
Announcers: Chris Myers, Mark Schlereth, Jennifer Hale.
