Skip to main content
Commander Country

Three-and-Out After a 31-17 WFT Loss to Ravens

The quick truth about the Washington Football Team loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
Chris Russell|
Three-and-Out After a 31-17 WFT Loss to Ravens
Three-and-Out After a 31-17 WFT Loss to Ravens

31-17 is ultimately not as bad as it could have been for the Washington Football Team but it certainly is not a moral victory. 

I was hoping they could keep Sunday's "Battle of the Beltways" (yeah, right!) to ten points or less, but they did not. 

They had chances but ultimately like the organization often does, they fell short. 

1. The final score was about right and in general the difference between the two teams and organizations over the last 15+ years. 

Many fans, pundits and others try and ask if this is a rivalry. The answer is hell no. In order for something to be a rivalry, the two teams have to be of relatively even strengths. 

We know that's not the case and it is not even close. 

Washington has a lot of talent on defense and in some cases (Landon Collins) they are very highly paid. They often disappear when you need them most or show up late. That was the case again on Sunday. 

The Ravens defense is far from dominant but they are good in all three phases of the game and explosive on offense. 

The Washington Football Team are bad on offense, far too often, and have been for much of the last 20 years. They're suspect on defense and have been that way no matter who the coordinator or talent is.  As for special teams - they are fine. Far from great. Fine is the nicest way I can put it. 

All three phases contributed to a Ravens runaway on Sunday. 

2. The Washington offense turned the ball over on a J.D. McKissic fumble that was stripped away by Marlon Humphrey. That mistake led to a two-play, 34 yards drive and score by Mark Ingram, moments after Marquise 'Hollywood' Brown beat Ronald Darby for a near touchdown. 

Lamar Jackson's 50-yard touchdown came on yet another quick drive of three plays off of a long missed field goal of 54 yards by Dustin Hopkins. 

I didn't love the decision by Ron Rivera there, if I'm being honest, and I didn't love it before or after. The result makes it worse but a 54-yard kick is a major gamble. Why? 

Because the opponent gets the ball at their 44-yard line if you miss, which Hopkins did. In my eyes, the potential of three points is not worth the bind that you put your defense in against Jackson and company. I think this was a poor decision by Rivera, who hasn't made that many. 

Sorry -- the timeout nonsense at the end of the Arizona and Cleveland games are just that. NONSENSE. Yet many want to make it a huge deal because it's easier to point to. 

Rivera made two larger mistakes on Sunday. The aforementioned very long field goal attempt and going for it on 4th/Goal/13 early in the fourth quarter of a 28-10 deficit. 

If Rivera kicks the field goal and Hopkins makes it, the score is 28-13 and you have a chance because there's still 11:35 left on the clock after the play. 

Instead, apparently Haskins was tested by Rivera and he failed miserably throwing underneath to Isaiah Wright for five yards on a play that never had a chance. 

Haskins failed. Honestly, Rivera failed too regardless of what he said post game which was that it was a quiz for Haskins. 

The Ravens turned that mistake into a ten-play, 6:19 drive that resulted in a long field goal and chewed up any remaining hope that Washington had. 

With the score out of reach, Baltimore pulled Jackson and inserted Robert Griffin III who played in a regular season game for the first time at FedExField since 2014. 

He immediately got belted by Daron Payne while throwing a long interception to Kendall Fuller and after the WFT connected on beautiful pass from Haskins to Terry McLaurin, they punched it in on a Haskins third-down rush. 

The problem was this: It was now 31-17 and you still needed two touchdowns to tie with 2:01 left. Not happening. 

If you had kicked and made the field goal earlier, the score is probably 31-13 at worse assuming Jackson doesn't stay in the game and kills you.

A touchdown for Washington would have made it 31-20 and an 11 point deficit which gives you theoretically a better chance. 

In my opinion -- 4th & 13 was not test time. 

Haskins had taken a horrible 18-yard sack on first down after a Chase Roullier false start derailed the momentum the WFT had built on their best drive of the game. Haskins was 6/9 at one point on the series including a fourth down conversion to Terry McLaurin on (4th/2), a smart play call and decision, even if it didn't work out. 

Haskins was 10/13 on the drive not including a first down throw to Wright on the Roullier penalty that was wiped out. 

Then the huge mistake on the sack. I was surprised Rivera did not hammer this home directly but he did indirectly with terms like "situational awareness." 

You can take a sack on a first down play. You can't take an 18-yard loss. 

This was Haskins most egregious decision/play of the day. Much more so than the underneath pass to Wright on fourth down. 

The reason they are in 4th/13 is because of that sack and awful decision. 

It was a bad decision compounded by another bad decision and then bad execution. 

Rick Snider's Report Card Grades after a Loss to Baltimore

It appeared that Terry McLaurin flashed open in the end zone as Haskins tried to go underneath.

3. The Washington defense simply has to be better. As Rick Snider wrote about after Sunday's game, the numbers are not pretty. 

A couple of problems exist. 

Obviously they are being put in very tough situations but it's completely acceptable and legal to force a field goal once in a while instead of constantly allowing touchdowns. 

Those numbers represent an absurd twist for Washington because they all come off of either pure turnovers or a missed field goal, which is essentially a turnover. 

It's almost double deflating to have a turnover because the last two weeks you know that it almost always equals a touchdown for the opponent and quickly . 

Washington misses way too many tackles and opportunities. On Sunday, it was Ryan Anderson and Landon Collins on the Jackson touchdown run. 

There are many more examples but we can sit here and pound away forever. The defense is good in spots and at times. They are nowhere close to being even good enough nevermind what the Washington Football Team needs.

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

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Loading recommendations... Please wait while we load personalized content recommendations

Published
Chris Russell
CHRIS RUSSELL

Share on XFollow russellmania621
Home/News