Washington Football Team – Hitting the Panic Button or not?

In this latest UKHTTW blog, founder Christian Burt and regular contributor Tony Wheat of Full Press Coverage offer up thoughts on fandom and what next after the bad loss (43-21) against a strong Buffalo Bills team.

First up, Christian on the tribulations of WFT fandom.

To be a fan of the Washington Football Team is to perennially expect disaster beaming and peeping around a corner, ready to expose itself in Bad Free Agent, Bad Draft and Bad Coaching glory.

Fandom in the Dan Snyder era might as well come with the caveat of “expect three-four months of abject misery” each year.

The never-ending despair of “You have GOT TO GET THEM OFF” on yet another third down & long allowed completion, and the consistent absence of a stellar QB are soul-destroying week in, week out. Many a British WFT fan would have happily wired themselves to the electricity circuit post-Sunday (if the utilities cost wasn’t so extortionate in the UK).

And with this background of consistent underachievement, it is difficult to not overreact, whether that be on Twitter, podcasts or this little here old blog.

Fans of the WFT are tired, or to be more exact, exhausted, with being a poverty franchise. Leading into the 2020 season, WFT hired a guy, Head Coach Ron Rivera, with absolute resolute morals and an unflinching belief to stick to the process.

On paper, or rather in a presentation room, this sounds great, and it is hard to argue with that strong ethos on team, on process, and an unequivocal trust in your staff to improve the team. But this universally agreed solid hire was still made by the single most useless decision maker in the NFL – owner Dan Snyder.

To be one of the 32 Head Coaches in the NFL, single-mindedness and self-confidence is a given and that, in itself, is not enough to secure winning results.

That is not to say that Rivera and his staff should not have enough slack for at least a fair while yet. The overhaul in the front office was needed, but also likely resulted in the WFT starting a few metres behind more bedded-in competition going into the first Ron-led drafts and FA signings.

It is natural that even with trusted guys in the room, there is a settling in period for the trio of Rivera, Martin Mayhew, and Marty Hurney to get up to speed. In 2021, I am allowing both for that, and a brutal schedule of top-tier QB opposition, to be honest in my re-evaluation that 2021 might well be a five-win losing season ergo a Top Five pick in Draft 2022.

Trust in Ron is a nice tagline, but can you trust any level of decision making by Snyder – even that of a hard-working, humble and Superbowl appearance Head Coach. Time will soon tell, although, to end on a positive note, I have seen talent flashes from the higher end Draft 2021 picks LB Jamin Davis, RT Sam Cosmi and the CB Benjamin St-Juste (CB is such a sink or swim position for a rookie, so he gets a longer leash).

Next up, Tony Wheat offers some thoughts on the on-field woes and looks forward to the Falcons game

The actual performances are more of a concern than the record.

We are 1-2 as are the Chiefs, Seahawks and Steelers so there are some good teams in a similar position record-wise.

Realistically, however, we should be 0-3. Had NYG WR Darius Slayton caught the long potential TD pass in week 2 we’d almost certainly be winless.

The Defense is clearly underperforming.

The coaches have some responsibility as they've shown limited variety or disguise in our approach, and they’ve obviously been horrific on 3rd down.

Giving up a TD on each opening possession doesn’t help either. The players must also take some responsibility as there seems to be a lack of communication and some simple assignments are not being executed.

It should be remembered that there are actually a lot of new pieces in the back end of the Defense. Bobby McCain, William Jackson III, Benjamin St Juste, and for the most part Landon Collins, weren’t around last year and neither was Jamin Davis, when the Defense was playing well in the second half of the season.

The new combinations are taking time to bed in, which hopefully will improve.

The front 4 has under achieved and they need more variety in their rushes rather than just a straight 4-man rush with each guy trying to beat their guy. It’s not working, as a lot of quick opposing QB passes have negated the rush to a certain extent.

I’d like to see more aggressive fronts, bringing support to the front 4. Let’s bring a safety or a LB on a blitz rather than just the front 4. They need to be more aggressive as it seems they are quite passive and reactive on Defense at the moment.

Offensively it must be remembered that the 2 big name free agency signings, Ryan Fitzpatrick, and Curtis Samuel, have played a combined one quarter so far.

The offense as a result hasn’t looked that much different to last year, although Taylor Heinicke is taking a few chances down the field. DCs have more film on him now and will start to take away the things he is good at or likes. He had 4 interception worthy plays against the Bills which is a worry.

Samuel looks like he may be back this week which will help the offense. He’ll provide a versatile option that can be a downfield and potentially gadget/running type threat which should take some of the heat away from McLaurin.

Clearly things haven’t started well, but there is an opportunity to fix things this week against Atlanta. Another defeat sends us to 1-3 and into a run of games that includes the Saints, Chiefs, Packers and Bucs in the next 5 weeks.