The Washington Football Team won the Grudge Bowl on Sunday, sending franchise castoffs Kyle Shanahan, Trent Williams, Jordan Reed, and Tony Bergstrom back to California (from the neutral location of Arizona) with a big loss.
It was former San Fran quarterback Alex Smith who limps away with the win, reportedly suffering a calf strain on his problematic right leg, which knocked him out shortly before halftime. He was replaced by Dwayne Haskins, who showed little progression from the last time we saw him.
In fact, both quarterbacks combined for just 95 net passing yards (that’s the total minus sack yards), marking the first time Washington has won a game with fewer than 100 net passing yards since beating Dallas on the last game of the 2012 regular season.
The difference is Alfred Morris wasn’t around to take 33 carries for 200 yards. In fact, there was no dominant running performance on Sunday, as Washington’s rushing attack combined for just 98 yards.
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Washington won with a completely dominant defensive performance, including a highlight reel from Chase Young (one tackle for a loss, one sack, and a forced fumble recovered and returned for a touchdown). Combined with Kamren Curl’s pick-six, it was the first time that Washington scored two defensive touchdowns in the same game since the Clinton administration.
As that stat suggests, those types of games don’t happen very often. Washington clawed its way back into first place in the NFC East and still has a major question mark at quarterback.
Before Sunday, Smith showed improvement in every game since taking over for Kyle Allen as the starter. Despite returning from a catastrophic injury that nearly killed him and required 17 surgeries to fix, he had looked remarkably durable on the field.
Even if keeping him out of the second half on Sunday was purely precautionary, it underscored two things that most realistic fans already knew:
1. Alex Smith is just a temporary fix: That’s not meant to disparage someone who many people see as the obvious Comeback Player of the Year. We’re all temporary in one way or another, but Smith is a 36-year-old quarterback who is lucky to be walking, much less playing quarterback at the highest level. By the time he replaced Allen in November, Washington had a bad reputation for giving up sacks, and that didn’t change under Smith. He was sacked 19 times in parts of seven games this season, and the last one may have left a mark.
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2. Scott Turner’s offense isn’t getting it done: Washington has played great football since the bye week, but that performance is heavily skewed towards the defense. Without the defense scoring touchdowns on Sunday, Washington may not have won the game, going just three-for-15 on third downs, zero-for-two in the red zone, and gaining just 3.1 yards per play. The offense had six three-and-outs on the day, scored just three points in the second half, and did not register a single first down in the fourth quarter.
To quote Herm Edwards: “That’s not good.”
More importantly, that’s not how playoff teams win in December or January.
Next week, Washington hosts Seattle, which has the worst passing defense and second-worst overall defense in football. Regardless of who is under center for the burgundy and gold, it should be a banner day.
If it’s not, then it’s time for some changes.
Brian Tinsman has covered D.C. sports since 2011, both from the team marketing and skeptical fan perspectives. Tweet your criticisms @Brian_Tinsman.
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