Rivera’s WFT Does Little Talking on Field Against Dallas

December is the most critical month in football, with the intensity and agony intensifying.

Entering Week 14, the Washington Football Team and Dallas Cowboys were both undefeated in the month. But after Sunday's 27-20 win for the visiting team, bragging rights have already been activated for one side while pain is surely being felt by the other.

Our observations from Sunday's loss for the Washington Football Team.

1. Washington looked overmatched and unprepared for the emotional tone of the game early. At the end of the first quarter, Washington not only trailed by 18 points, but was out-gained by 100 yards.

2. During its four-game winning streak, WFT won with ball control. But at the half and trailing by 24, Washington had run just 26 offensive plays and held the ball for less than 12 minutes.

3. Of the 26 first-half plays run by quarterback Taylor Heinicke and his offense, only 12 of them produced positive yards.

4. Washington Football Team defensive tackle Jonathan Allen came into the game third in the NFL in quarterback hits with 23. Second in the NFL was Dallas defender Micah Parsons.

Parsons terrorized Heinicke early and often, getting a strip-sack on the Washington quarterback among other pressures, and finished the day with two sacks and three tackles total.

Allen also got another notch in the sack category, bringing down Prescott once, bringing him just half a sack from 25 in his young career and eight in the season.

5. If you were thinking this is the worst you’ve seen Washington look as a whole this season. You’d be correct.

That was the worst first half of the Ron Rivera era in Washington. Over the last two seasons, the team has never trailed by as many as 24 points or had as few as 29 net yards in the first two quarters of a game.
— Nicki Jhabvala (@NickiJhabvala) December 12, 2021

6. Heinicke had bad moments, and good ones.

Arguably, two of his worst came in this game.

First, Heinicke backpedaled and held onto the football as he was being closed on by Cowboys defenders. The result was a strip-sack fumble, returned for a touchdown by Dallas’ Dorance Armstrong.

Later on 3rd and 5, he bypassed three potential first-down options (pass to Curtis Samuel, pass to John Bates, quarterback run) and chose to throw deep to wide receiver Terry McLaurin.

Amazingly, McLaurin almost came down with the pass that hung in the air and forced him to jump above two Cowboys defenders. The fall suffered by the star receiver resulted in his being evaluated for a concussion, and forced Washington’s offense to punt, rather than living to play with a new set of downs.

If you can’t see the problem with your team’s quarterback choosing to hang your best receiver in the air against two defenders instead of taking one of three possible first down options, its because you don’t want to.#DALvsWAS #WashingtonFootball pic.twitter.com/uETHQzEdh2
— Locked On Commanders Podcast (@LOCommanders) December 12, 2021

7. WFT running back Antonio Gibson was a big contributor to the team’s winning streak as well, but still held a league lead in fumbles by a running back entering the game.

After Washington’s offense scored for the first time, Gibson fumbled again and was benched for the second time this year. Underrated rookie Jaret Patterson came in for Gibson after the benching.

8. Tempers flared late at FedEx Field in a pair of scuffles, resulting in a pair of personal foul exchanges.

Cowboys offensive lineman La’el Collins was ejected after one exchange, and the tension even drifted into the stands a bit, as fans of both sides were seen in conflict by media members covering the game.

Fan fight in front of the press box pic.twitter.com/3afSM7WKJO
— Nicki Jhabvala (@NickiJhabvala) December 12, 2021

9. This was the first loss for Washington since Halloween, and snaps a four-game winning streak during which it defeated two 2020 NFL Playoff teams (Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks).

10. With the loss, Washington will carry a heavy cloud over it working towards next week.

With four more divisional games remaining, including a rematch with Dallas in two weeks, WFT is still in contention for the seventh spot in the NFC Playoff race and has much more to play for.

It’ll be imperative the coaching staff gets their squad clear of the mental errors that torpedoed their chances of winning from the start.

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