The Good, The Bad & The Ugly From a Washington Win
Every football game has many twists. Highs, lows and a bunch of blah.
You might say every game has 'The Good, The Bad & The Ugly" so let's get to it as we continue to clean up a 27-17 come from behind season opening win for the Washington Football Team.
They last won a season opener in 2018 on the road in Arizona. Ironically, that's where they head next.
It's only their second opening week win since 2012 (Griffin debut).
The Good:
1. The comeback: Down 17-0 and most snickering and laughing at what looked like another long Sunday at the empty office, the Washington Football Team got off the mat like "The Undertaker" and buried the Philadelphia Eagles.
2. Dwayne Haskins manages the game: He was far from great. Far, far from it. As a matter of fact, the first half was ugly and while the second half was better, the WFT are going to need a lot more than that.
However, Haskins did not make any major mistakes and Ron Rivera said "the way he responded after the first quarter, taking what they gave, making plays when he had to really show his resilience and just the fact that he is starting to feel more and more comfortable as our starting quarterback. I was very proud of him."
3. Didn't abandon the run: Down 17-0 midway through the 2nd quarter, it would have been very easy to completely give up on the run, which is what analytics would tell you to do. Analytics often have no idea what they're spewing and Scott Turner kept churning away, with a couple of runs to settle things down on that next drive. His patience led to an eventual chipping away at the Eagles defense and Washington wound up running the ball 36 times. They weren't super effective but Peyton Barber had two short touchdown runs and a huge fourth-down conversions.
4. The defense swarmed from the 2nd series forward: Because the Eagles were without half of their starting offensive line and running back, this was easy pickings. Still nobody expected eight sacks.
Even though they gave up a field goal on the second Philadelphia drive of the game and a couple of huge plays in the pass game, Jack Del Rio's defense buckled down and came up with three sacks on that second drive of the game. That set a tone for what was to come.
5. Tress Way: Way punted seven times which is more than you'd like but averaged 47.0 per kick (gross) with a net of 45.0, which is an absurd difference. He had two punts inside the 20, a long of 51 and allowed Rivera to be smart and conservative early in the game.
6. Resiliency: Down 17-0, Washington teams in the past would usually fold like a cheap suit. Nope. Not this time. Who knows if that fighting spirit will last or be there the next time, but it was good to see for at least one week.
The Bad
1. The Start: Ron Rivera said it Monday, he noted over and over again about a slow start. He wasn't kidding and he wasn't wrong. You can't dig yourselves that kind of hole every week or even now and then. Better teams are going to hammer you, especially because you don't have an offense that is built to be explosive and come back.
2. The first half offense and then some: In the first half, the Washington Football Team did get a score (finally) because of Fabian Moreau's interception and good field position gift, but that was about it.
Dwayne Haskins was (7-16, 77 yards) and Washington converted at just a 25% clip on third-down. They also ran the ball for just 59 net yards and had several negative runs. Strangely, Haskins was not sacked once in that half and three times overall after halftime.
3. Lack of explosive plays: Washington had only two offensive plays that resulted in a gain of 20 yards or more. A 21-yard dart to Terry McLaurin and a 20-yard Antonio Gibson run.
The Ugly
1. Defensive Penalties: Chase Young had a neutral zone infraction (NZI) on the first Eagles drive of the game, a third down, which gave Philadelphia a free first down and it led to a touchdown.
Montez Sweat had the same infraction on the second offensive series for the Birds, also on a third down, which helped Philadelphia convert instead of a possible punt.
Landon Collins had a terrible unnecessary roughness 15-yard penalty for a late hit out-of-bounds. Please stop that.
Troy Apke had a questionable personal foul go against him for leading with his helmet. In the spirit of player safety for ALL players, it was the correct call.
Later in the game, a defensive offsides wiped out a Chase Young hit of Carson Wentz that forced a interception by Daron Payne.
2. 3rd Down Offense: The Washington Football Team was (5-18) on the money down for a robust 28%. That is never going to cut it in normal circumstances and yet they won by ten. Lucky and ugly.
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Chris Russell is the Publisher of this site, a part of SI.com. He can be heard on 106.7 The FAN in the Washington D.C. area and world-wide on Radio.com. Chris also hosts the "Locked on Washington Football Team" Podcast and can be read via subscription to Warpath Magazine. You can e-mail Chris at russellmania09@Gmail.com or follow him on Twitter at @Russellmania621
