If the Washington Football Team isn’t careful, they could become the first team this century to go 0-for-16 on their opening drive of the game when it comes to putting points on the board. Week after week, we’ve seen them struggle to get off to a hot start, routinely punting the ball away and usually giving the opposing defense some success to build on, if not forcing their own defense to play from behind.
On Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles, that trend needs to break; it could be the difference between an ended season or continuing on into the playoffs.
Playing a team like the Eagles is special this time of year. Technically, they have very little to play for other than being a spoiler to Washington’s party, and truthfully, they’d be much better off losing the game in the long run than they would be winning it. If Philly were to lose, there’s a chance they could pick as high as No. 3 in the 2021 NFL Draft, where a win could potentially drop them down to No. 10. When you get a team like that, it’s best to not give them any hope early on, and make them realize that they’re better giving up the fight as soon as possible. For Washington, that needs to happen by getting on the board early, and let your defense do what it does.
According to these stats from NBC Sports Washington’s Pete Hailey, that’s a lot to ask.
Just got a crazy new stats tool for work so I will be inundating you all with numbers constantly, starting with nuggets about WFT's opening drives this year:
15 possessions, 15 first downs, 2/18 on third down (11%), 8.6 rush yards per, 8.8 net pass yards per, ZERO POINTS
— Pete Hailey (@PeteHaileyNBCS) December 31, 2020
We don’t know why Washington continually gets off to slow starts on offense, and the players are unsure of why either. If there’s any time for them to break the trend, though, it’s this week against the Eagles. If they can come out on fire early and show that they don’t intend to be pushed for their spot in the playoffs, the rest of the evening could be a lot more stress-free for everyone. Streaks are meant to be broken, and Washington’s streak of 15 games without an opening score seems to have been built for this moment. It’s time it came crashing down.
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