Playoffs?…PLAYOFFS???
Well, yesterday’s home loss the the Eagles, the Washington Football Team’s last home game ever at FedEx Field, officially eliminated us from playoff contention – not that we were deserving of a spot anyways.
Instead of belaboring the point, I’m going to save my diatribe, and just move on to the Studs and Duds; followed by some notes.
Studs:
Jaret Patterson – The rookie running back out of the University of Buffalo ran hard between the tackles, and contributed in the passing game as well (mainly on the last drive). He had 57 rushing yards on 12 carries and a touchdown. He also caught five passes for 41 yards.
Cole Holcomb – Holcomb was all over the field Sunday afternoon, collecting 11 total tackles, breaking up two passes, and getting what SHOULD have been a sack if he didn’t prematurely let Jalen Hurts out of his grasp in the second quarter.
Jonathan Allen – The Pro Bowler was his dominate self Sunday, collecting five total tackles, two stuffs, and multiple pressures on the afternoon.
Joey Slye – Now back to full health, Joey Slye connected on all three of his attempts, with a long of 55 yards!
Duds:
Cornelius Lucas – Lucas was yet again atrocious in Sunday’s game. I think we can all remember in the preseason when he got upset and went off on social media about people not putting respect on his name. Well over the past few games he’s played in, opposing defenses have been putting DISRESPECT on his name!
Keith Ismael – I know he’s technically the fourth center, but I’m going to call a spade a spade. Ismael is just not an NFL quality lineman right now, and I have my doubts he will become one. His anchor is almost non-existent, and he frequently looks like he’s playing on skates.
Daron Payne – It appeared Payne’s ego was still hurt after the sideline altercation last week with Jonathan Allen. His effort look blah, and I noticed at least three times when he stood straight up and was blow five yards off the line of scrimmage. A poor showing for someone who may have played his last game at FedEx Field.
Notes:
– I’m not going to rag on the secondary too much, as they were a beaten up unit playing with some third stringers. That being said, tight ends and number two receivers continue to pick us apart. Is it sad that I had to refer to the depth chart on-line because I didn’t know the numbers of some of the guys out there?
– I don’t know what is wrong with Jamin Davis. My guess is that he’s not playing his run-gap responsibilities correctly, but to have him standing on the sidelines, while David Mayo was running about looking like he was playing in quick sand, was atrocious. His only tackle of the game was a sack, which Holcomb actually created, but let the quarterback go too early in fear of a penalty.
– Taylor Heinicke came out of the gate on fire…then slowly cooled off. The biggest issue, is because the book is now out on him, defenses know how to defend against him – completely understanding that he can’t stretch the field deep against them. This severely limits what this offense can do. That being said, he kept us in the game until the late interception in the endzone.
– Although John Bates is no Travis Kelce in the open field, he’s becoming a reliable target for this offense. He has good hands and holds onto the football. The only issue I have, is as soon as he catches a ball, he’s constantly looking around to see who is about to hit him. Rookie moments I guess…
– Kam Curl had some good moments, and some not-so-good ones in coverage. He did do a beautiful job on the drag to Goedert, where he jammed him at the line, and rode him into the opposite flat, where Dallas complained that perfect coverage was interference. He showed mostly sound tackling on the day.
– Many of you are going to be, yet again, calling for Scott Turner’s head. But understand the situation. He was GIVEN a veteran journeyman signal caller who got injured in game one, and a guy who had one foot out of the NFL before we came calling last November because we needed an emergency COVID quarterback. He’s working with a second year running back who was a former collegiate wide receiver (and who has been fighting injury all season), and our versatile third down back is out on injured reserve. He’s had NO ONE step up opposite Terry McLaurin at wide receiver. To make matters worse, the quarterback he does have is limited to about half the playbook because he’s simply incapable of making many of the throws that Turner’s offense thrives on – oh, and he’s a walking turnover machine. THEN…if you think it couldn’t have gotten much worse, our top tight end goes down…and our second one has been bouncing in and out of the lineup. Oh, but wait…there’s more! We are on our fourth center (arguably our most important piece on the O-line), have seen our All-Pro guard miss six games, had our top reserve G/C out for weeks on injured reserve, have been flip-flopping between right tackles, and just recently, lost our top mauler in Ereck Flowers.
…so, before you go calling for his head, and wishing we had Joe Brady (who was fired in Carolina for many of the same reasons mentioned above), look at the ENTIRE piece of the pie here. My point is, with the situation as it is, it’s impossible to fairly judge a coordinator. Even in Carolina, he had the same issues. Get this man a real quarterback, get him some playmakers, and THEN, if this offense can’t produce, you can at least FAIRLY criticize him!
I break down game film (for hours) each week. Each week I point out to you mistakes I see from our quarterback on down. Each week I show you video of guys running wide open on certain concepts who are just simply missed, and our top receiver burning opposing defenders, just to have a ball under-thrown.
If you want to pin the blame on someone, pin it on Ron Rivera the GM for being so damn cocky to think we could compete for a division title with a guy like Ryan Fitzpatrick under center, and nothing behind him but The Little Sisters of the Poor!