Behind Enemy Lines: Washington Football Team
Sports Illustrated's Raider Maven continues to go behind enemy lines on the Las Vegas Raiders' NFC East opponents for the 2021 NFL season and gets the latest information on the team straight from the source covering them.
The Las Vegas Raiders host the Washington Football Team in Week 13. While both teams face one of the most demanding NFL schedules, both teams will look to overcome the demanding schedule and prevail with a win in Las Vegas.
"I think the biggest hurdle they're gonna have is probably two things, number one is their schedule. They are suffering now from their winning season last year," Timm Hamm said.
Timm Hamm covers the Washington Football Team for Sports Illustrated after covering the Dallas Cowboys on Cowboys Maven.
Hamm recently joined Raider Maven's Editor and Publisher Hondo Carpenter on the radio to inform Raider Nation what is going on in Washington. Carpenter was co-hosting with Clay Baker on the "Pritch & Clay" morning show on Raider Nation Radio (LINK TO LISTEN LIVE).
Secondly, there hasn't been a repeated NFC East division champion in over a decade, and it sure doesn't look like there will be one this season.
They can look forward to this year because the Washington Football team has solidified the starting quarterback position for now. Ryan Fitzpatrick left Miami and signed with Washington this offseason.
The future franchise quarterback probably will be selected in next year's draft class. For now, Washington will be expecting Fitzpatrick to take this young team to the next level.
Raider Nation would hate to see Fitzpatrick do his magic again as he did a year ago with the Dolphins. By this Week 13 matchup, the defense should be up to standards and stop Fitzpatrick and the young offensive unit.
The only central question on offense is how quickly will the offensive line develop, and they will be injury-free by the second half of the season.
The Washington defense returns one of the best defensive lines in the league, and head coach Ron Rivera will continue to implement his defensive knowledge to this team.
"They are the best defensive line front in the league. It's loaded with star power; the top two tackles would be starters for any other team in the league," Hamm said.
We believe any of their front seven can be starters for other teams, without a doubt.
Last year's Defensive Rookie of the Year, Chase Young, will continue to be Chase Young. He has solidified himself as a play-maker and a leader since the first day he arrived in Washington.
But according to Hamm, the floor for the Washington Football Team will be eight wins, and the ceiling will be 10, yet that will not be enough to win the division or earn a wildcard spot in the playoffs.
As for the Raiders, they will hold on tight, back off that defensive powerhouse, and take advantage of the offensive struggles.
The Raiders will pick up a sloppy win here, move on and prepare to go on a tough two-game trip to Kansas City and Cleveland.
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