Through the first six weeks of the 2020 season, it was a pitiful sight in Washington, with the team sitting at 1-5 and having no real semblance of a plan going forward. The offense wasn’t clicking, the defense was giving up chunks of yards in back-breaking fashion, and talks of making a run at the NFC East division title seemingly baseless in reality.
Since then, however, Washington is 3-2, and their numbers have started to pick up. They are averaging more than 27 points per game in this stretch while giving up only 16.4 points per game, which is a marked improvement from early on this season. So why have they been able to find success so quickly?
Blame it on the subpar opponents and the third-down conversion rate.
The last five games for Washington have come against the Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Cincinnati Bengals, and Detroit Lions. Not exactly the class of the NFL. Still, though, to succeed in this league you have to beat the bad teams, and Washington has learned how to do that a bit, gaining their first win streak of the season with a 41-16 beat down over the Cowboys on Thanksgiving.
Another key stat in their success has come on third down for Washington. While they started the year with just a 34% conversion rate on third down, that number has jumped up to nearly 47% with Alex Smith under center. Additionally, the defense has gotten better in that aspect as well, allowing a team to convert on 3rd down just over 30% of the time, while they started the year allowing a 42% conversion rate.
These numbers may not seem like a lot, but it adds up when you consider the extra downs and increased time of possession it brings to the offense. Going forward, Washington will face a much tougher schedule, with games against the Pittsburgh Steelers and Seattle Seahawks coming up. However, it’s clear that this Burgundy & Gold team has improved greatly over the past several weeks, and they have a chance to take a step forward during this final stretch.
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