Washington Autopsy: The Final Drive in Detroit

The Washington Football Team lost a back-breaking-type game Sunday afternoon in Detroit, final score 30-27 ... with a final minute deserving of an in-depth autopsy.

Along the way? There was the awful first half before the great second-half comeback from down 24-3. But mostly? There was the late field goal to tie it ... and the ensuing mistakes that led to making this a second straight defeat and a seventh in their last eight games.

The final drive was very Washington Football-like. Let's rewind, because this will be all the buzz of a week in review.

Chase Young's 15-yard roughing penalty on Detroit's desperation drive is obviously the killer blow. It will be the play and ruling that everyone will talk about for a while.

Young repeatedly called it a "rookie mistake" and said "it was a close call."

Was told Chase Young wanted to talk because he wanted to own his mistake... If in locker room, guys almost always have to talk. Harder to get them to do so sometimes in zoom season.
Young: "It was a split decision whether to go or stop & I just went. Rookie mistake. It happens."
— John Keim (@john_keim) November 15, 2020

It was a dumb decision in every way for Young. But while it is ultimately the difference in the game - because Prater would obviously not have attempted a 74-yard field goal - let's check ourselves if we think Young stands alone here.

The play on which the foul happened was more problematic than many realize.

A deep bomb by Lions QB Matthew Stafford to unheralded receiver Quintez Cephus was wide open and there for Detroit. Cephus got behind the Washington secondary and it looked like Troy Apke was most responsible for that.

A perfect throw or location of the ball by Cephus may have spelled "game over'' right then and there, but the ball was incomplete.

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The next play - a nine-yard dump off to Marvin Jones - was the final offensive play from scrimmage, and the play right after the long bomb attempt and penalty on Young.

Washington appeared to be playing way off in coverage, trying to take away the intermediate area of the field and certainly anything deep. But with :06 left on the clock, Stafford had two choices.

Fling one deep again, or go quick underneath so that they could use the final timeout to give Prater a chance.

That latter choice is exactly what they did, spending :03 to do so and perfectly executing a key gain of nine yards that ultimately helped to make the difference for Prater.

READ MORE: The Miracle Man + 10 Takes

So why were coordinator Jack Del Rio's guys playing so far off, thus allowing Jones and Stafford to easily execute a short nine-yard gain?

They didn't know if Stafford was going to sling it deep, which he just did and is obviously more than capable of doing again. And there was reason to fear that.

Washington also got torched earlier in the game on a pump-fake bomb as Kendall Fuller got shredded. So in total, the thought process can be, "Keep everything in front of you,'' and if the Lions make a 55-yard field goal, tip your cap.

There is sense to that ... but there is a problem with that: Prater has a booming leg.

Per NFL Communications: "Prater has 11 career game-winning field goals with no time remaining in the fourth quarter or overtime, tied with STEVE CHRISTIE (11) and PHIL DAWSON (11) for the fourth-most such field goals since 1970. Only JASON ELAM (14), ADAM VINATIERI (13) and Pro Football Hall of Famer MORTEN ANDERSEN (12) have more.

"Prater, who also converted a 53-yard field goal on Sunday, has seven career games with multiple 50-yard field goals, the most in NFL history."

The autopsy: The last three plays were a knock-out blow to an already softened defense. One was a bad choice by a rookie. Two was a pick-your-poison choice by the WFT. And three was a blast-off of a field goal that left Washington, as a patient, dead in Detroit.

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