End of the First Quarter, End of Haskins?

We wait a long time for the NFL to return each season. A regular season that lasts just 17 weeks.

And with the breaking news today, it seems the QB position is now up for grabs in the capitol and with the Dwayne Haskins 2020 tenure lasting just the four weeks. Life can come at you hard.

The single victory of the current 1-3 record came in Week 1 vs a beaten-up Philadelphia offensive line and a misfiring Carson Wentz.

The high of that divisional rival win has been extinguished with three straight losses and a familiar story to each defeat. Stand-out bad safety play from the less than deadly duo of Landon Collins (who looks every inch the overpaid “star” of many a past Redskins era) and Troy Apke (who looks every inch the training camp “star” of many a past Redskins era) plus inaccuracy and poor decision making from second-year QB Dwayne Haskins.

Ron Rivera, however, is here for the long haul and, in simple terms, it had seemed that winning would be a bonus this season.

It was the play of Haskins that was expected to dictate the direction of this franchise from Draft 2021 onwards and, unless his play was extremely bad, Haskins seemed assured to get the full 16 games to prove himself.

With the NFC East looking so poor, has this led to a rethink from Ron that perhaps Washington can stay competitive and that an even record might lead to a post-season for the first time since season 2015?

With the breaking news that Kyle Allen will start Week 5 vs the Rams, the coaches in Washington might have seen enough of Dwayne to determine, at the very least, that some of his mechanical issues are not going to be solved suiting up on a Sunday. Or perhaps they were less than impressed with the Haskins agent tweet which continued the trend of excuses regarding the poor play from #7.

Dwayne does not have great weapons in D.C. There is no comfort blanket Tight End or a WR2 opposite the truly talented Terry McLaurin.

But, to the eye, he has generated very little excitement or X-Factor.

Is that a case of not being patient or of judging a young inexperienced QB too soon? Or is it a gut feeling that this guy is not yet, or might not ever be, NFL ready?

Right now, in just one week he has gone from QB1 to QB3. This is wild even for Washington considering we are now one Kyle Allen injury away from Alex Smith taking snaps at centre.

On the opposite end of the scale is running back Antonio Gibson for example. Is he a complete back yet with all the nuances of the position? No because he is a rookie. But you get to witness actual moments that leave you feeling that for sure Washington has a real gem on their hands.

I’ve yet to feel that excitement inside of me inspired by Dwayne Haskins. In Week 4 vs Baltimore, Haskins had actually registered 300 yards for the first time this season. And the general consensus was there had been improvement from the dreadful showing in Cleveland.

It would seem that modest upturn was not enough to convince Rivera and his staff

On Sunday we shall get to see a QB who knows the Scott Turner system and will likely be better prepared.

I am not sure I have ever written a UKHTTW blog with so many questions and so little answers, but I have a hunch that the NFL unwritten rule will play out once again: coaching staff have a shorter rope for QBs that they did not draft.

Haskins was not their guy and the chances he is the future franchise QB are now slim.