Behind Enemy Lines with Chris Russell of Washington Football
Each and every single week, we will take a full dive into the Panthers' opponent by getting insight from many talented beat writers and publishers around the Sports Illustrated network. This week, we bring on Chris Russell of Washington Football to help us breakdown the Washington Football Team. Enjoy!
Strengths/weaknesses of the offense:
The strength of the Washington offense is the short to intermediate passing game when they're able to distribute the rock to four or five guys, as they did last Sunday in the second half against Seattle. Terry McLaurin, Logan Thomas, J.D. McKissic, Cam Sims and whoever else steps up (Sims Jr., Foster, etc).
It's not the quarterback (any of them) and it could be/was rookie Antonio Gibson, but he's missed the last almost three full games and is questionable heading into Sunday. The WFT offense seems to change from bad to successful as they open it up and test a team intermediate to deep, which for some reason Scott Turner seems hesitant to do very early in games.
The overall weakness is inconsistency.
Strengths/weaknesses of the defense:
The strength is clearly the defensive line with five first-round picks (Chase Young, Daron Payne, Jonathan Allen, Montez Sweat, Ryan Kerrigan) and then Tim Settle and rookie James Smith-Williams. The problem is they are not consistently good at stopping the run, which was a problem in Carolina late in Ron Rivera's tenure.
The linebackers have been inconsistent and are really banged up right now. They could be without two starters again (Kevin Pierre-Louis & Cole Holcomb) and are missing reserve Shaun Dion Hamilton as well. It's so bad that they had to sign Mychal Kendricks off Seattle's practice squad and he might start. He's also due to be sentenced to prison for insider trading in mid-January. The safeties are also young, inexperienced, and raw.
3 players folks should know about but don't:
1. Tress Way - A Pro Bowl punter (last year) and still one of the best in the NFL this year. A weapon for an inconsistent offense.
2. Logan Thomas: Still emerging as a tight end after starting his NFL career as a QB. In the last three games he's been over or near 100+ yards twice.
3. Morgan Moses: Veteran right tackle who's normally very solid but a bit banged up and yielded a big sack last week. An opportunity to get home for Panthers.
Keys to the game for WFT:
1. Show up for the first half. They're being outscored 204-112 cumulatively in the first half of games and haven't scored on any opening drive this year, the only team in NFL that hasn't done so.
2. Establish the run (hopefully with Gibson) and maybe with newly signed Lamar Miller to take the pressure off QB and offensive line.
3. Get home on defense against Bridgewater and banged-up offensive line. No sacks vs. Wilson/Seattle.
4. Stop the run. When they do, they're dominant. When they don't, they're an average defense.
5. No missed field goals and extra points from Dustin Hopkins. Been an issue all year including last week.
Prediction:
"I think the WFT will win a very tight ballgame....I'm thinking 17-14 or 20-17 and look very average doing it."
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