Talk Commanders

Last week’s game featured yet more injuries to an already poor Offensive Line. This is not a good idea when facing Aaron Donald. The Rams are surging towards an unforeseen playoff run. The WFT is limping towards the offseason. A losing result was expected and delivered. The good news is that this season is nearly over.

Ron Rivera‘s first assignment as full-time Defensive Coordinator was to contain the Dolphins. That didn’t go particularly well, did it? Ron tried to cover Tyreek Hill with a rookie Safety one-on-one on two occasions. Two touchdowns later the experiment failed. Ironically, one week later the Tennessee Titans, another team with a poor record showed the League exactly how to beat the Dolphins. If Tua Tagovaiola is on his feet with the ball coming out headed towards Hill or Jaylen Waddle, you’re in trouble. The Titans put heavy pressure on Tua sacking him five times. When he has been sacked four or more times his record is 1-9. Early on they also showed Man coverage only to drop into a single-high zone. The Fins took the bait and ran Waddle over the middle on a crosser… straight at a waiting Safety. Old-Timers call that a “Hospital Throw.” Waddle got whacked. He returned, but was not the same. They roughed up Hill also. Suddenly Miami looked very ordinary. Getting physical on the Fins is the key. The week before Washington did none of that.

Washington’s change of ownership signals a beacon of hope for a fanbase long devoid of any. The assumption with such a change is that it will bring improvement. Often the improvement is oversold and under-delivered. The explosive growth in the valuations of professional sports franchises is unlike nearly any other investment. As with most investments, those who bought in early have reaped the largest reward. Those who buy in now, with the market at astronomical levels pay the dearest. The pool of possible buyers is quite small. Recent buyers offer a glimpse of what the new owner might bring to the table. Hint; it’s not particularly reassuring.

The last chance for relevance has slipped quietly by the stern. This version of the Burgundy and Gold is in a familiar situation; playing out the string. As hard as it has been to watch at least the ending of any hope was mercifully short. Two losses in five days, both to Division foes did the job. The Thanksgiving Day game to Dallas was predictable. Dallas feasts on lesser teams at home. That’s especially true on Thanksgiving when the audience is huge. Some 40.1 million viewers watched as Dak Prescott and his posse jumped into the Salvation Army bucket and ate turkey legs. It was all such fun…unless you were a Washington fan. Now where is this going?

That high-pitched screaming sound you heard last Sunday was probably the football players taking cold showers after the game. If you are a Washington fan you are used to losing to the Giants. It is now 9 losses out of the last 11 games. How bad is that Giants team? Well, given six turnovers the game was still in doubt within the final minute. Try that against Dallas this week and the score would be a stunning rout. It may well be anyhow. But, that loss to the Giants was just unpardonable. If the hot water failure had been confined to the Washington locker room it would have been just deserts. As it was it’s doubtful that the New Yorkers were complaining. They were leaving town surprisingly victorious.

The key word for this team is, “Growth.” Last week there were a collection of lessons-learned on full display. Whether that translates into more wins than losses is another thing altogether. But, it was fun to see this team apply those learnings in a game they won that could have gone south.

First of all was young QB Sam Howell displaying a few skills that were not there earlier in the year. Starting in the second half of the Giants game Howell began recognizing blitzes and subsequently calling protections. Don “Wink” Martindale threw the kitchen sink at him. It worked well enough that Howell was completely ineffective in the first half. But, to borrow an old duck-hunting phrase, Wink “Dumped the gun” on him in that half. By the second half Howell and Eric Bieniemy had seen the gauntlet. Two weeks later Howell was in full command of recognition and protection against Bill Belichick‘s defense. Not an easy task for young QBs to complete. Facing a “Cover Zero” (Both Safeties coming on the blitz) Howell called for maximum protection. He then heaved a beauty of a ball to Jahan Dotson for a 33-yard touchdown.

The week was the tale of opportunities lost, and fully taken. Philadelphia’s Eagles, for whatever reason bring out the best in this WFT crew. A unit that could not convert a third down the week before against the Giants until late in the game converted 7 of 12 against a superior unit on route to a 472 yard performance. In two games against the birds Eric Bieniemy‘s offense averaged more yards than the Eagles have allowed in any single game against anyone else. Still, the home team lost. Football turns on a dime. Twice Ron Rivera and crew had the opportunity in front of them to take control of the game. Both times were whiffs.

If you were worried before last week’s game then once it started it you understood why. Twice in three games a team with a poor record had recorded a good showing the week before playing the WFT. Both times the underdog team came out and established a lead they would not relinquish. There’s blame to go around aplenty. But, the lion’s share ends up in the lap of the new Offensive Coordinator Eric Bieniemy. The Giants had shown little interest in blitzing the previous weeks, especially against Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills. With young Quarterback Sam Howell on the pitch the tactics changed drastically. Giants’ Defensive Coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale dialed up extra rushers an astounding 66% of the time. That included a “Cover Zero” blitz on first down, a true rarity. Washington’s Offensive Line simply could not block them on a straight drop back pass. Young Howell was sacked five times in the first half.

Conventional wisdom is to roll the QB out on boots and chili rolls to the weak side to negate the pressures. Washington did that in the second half. It helped the offense establish some success. It also stopped the sacks, although there were still plenty of pressures. If that adjustment had been made after one quarter instead of one half the outcome may well have been different. That slow response is on Bieniemy. Remember, this is his rookie year calling plays. Rookie Quarterback, Rookie Play Caller, and a bad O-Line is not a recipe for playoff football. This team now stands on the edge of the abyss titled, “Irrelevance.”

There are no style points in the NFL. Just like there are no moral victories. A win is a win, ugly or not. As unsatisfying in some respects as the game in Atlanta went, it still put a “W” on the ledger. The Defense responded well — led by some new blood. After losing Safeties the week before the replacements played nicely. Atlanta lives by the run. Washington’s vaunted Defensive front stuffed it repeatedly. The old mantra that winning the turnover battle usually results in a victory held serve. This is a Defense that must produce turnovers. For one week they did just that. The offense took good advantage of those turnovers by producing 17 points off of them. More importantly they did not cough up the ball all game. Despite being basically moribund in the second half, the offense was good enough…for that game. It didn’t hurt the cause that Special Teams had a solid afternoon.