The Redskins may be eliminated from the playoffs, but they can still be big players in who the postseason representative is.
The Washington Redskins have been officially eliminated from playoff contention for the 2019 season, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t still play a big role in deciding who comes out of the NFC East this season.
With all three of their final games this year coming against divisional opponents, the Redskins have a chance to derail the postseason hopes for both the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys before the regular season is over, and that alone may be enough to provide an extra spark of inspiration in an otherwise meaningless stretch of games.
Here’s how to current NFC East playoff picture currently breaks down:
Dallas Cowboys | (6-7)
vs. Los Angeles Rams
at Philadelphia Eagles
vs. Washington Redskins
The Cowboys are on a three-game losing streak, and a few of their most important games are coming up on the schedule. While a win against the Rams this week would go a long way, the two must-win games are in Week 16 and 17. Next week’s game against the Eagles is do-or-die, as the Cowboys need another victory over their divisional foe to seal the deal. If Dallas wins out, or at least wins two of their final three, as long as one of those wins is over Philly, they’re in the playoffs.
Philadelphia Eagles | (6-7)
at Washington Redskins
vs. Dallas Cowboys
at New York Giants
The Eagles have the same record as Dallas, but a 37-10 defeat earlier in the year has them behind them playing from behind due to tie-breaker scenarios. It all comes down to the Week 16 game at home against the Cowboys, which will virtually be a play-in game for the NFC playoffs. With the other two games against the Redskins and Giants, both of whom the Eagles should be able to take care of on paper, all of the weight rests in Week 16. If the Eagles can beat Dallas and take care of business in other games, they’re into the postseason.
Washington Redskins (3-10) and New York Giants (2-11)
Both the Redskins and Giants have little to play for other than ruining the party for their fellow NFC East teams, which is a pretty nice incentive, depending on how petty you feel. If either team is able to upset the Cowboys or Eagles in the final three weeks, it will go a long way in spoiling the post-season planning, and the other team at the top will surely thank you.
The Redskins are in danger of matching their lowest win total in over 50 years, but they have three familiar foes left on the schedule.
Any way you look at it, the Washington Redskins have had a tough season in 2019. With a 3-10 record through Week 14, the Redskins have been eliminated from the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season, and they currently have to worry about hiring a new coach, and quite possibly a new general manager.
To make matters worse, if Washington were to lose their final three games of the season, it will tie their lowest win-total since 1961, 58 years ago. In 2013, 1994, and 1963, the Redskins finished with a 3-13 record. So will Washington match their franchise low again this season? With three games remaining against three divisional teams, there’s definitely a chance. Let’s break it down, game by game.
Week 15 | vs. Philadelphia Eagles (6-7)
Sep 8, 2019; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Washington Redskins cornerback Jimmy Moreland (32) reacts as the Philadelphia Eagles celebrate after scoring a touchdown during the third quarter at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
The Redskins were able to play the Eagles close the first time they met this year in Week 1 of the season, and they almost upset the hopeful Super Bowl contenders after a nice outing from Case Keenum. This time around though, things look much different.
The Redskins are on a new quarterback and a new head coach, and the Eagles are without many of their star players on offense, and their receiving core has been decimated by injuries. It would seem appropriate to say that both teams are holding on for the end of the season, but the Eagles actually still have a chance to make the playoffs thanks to a putrid NFC East division. If they wish to stay in the hunt, a win against the Redskins would go a long way.
The Eagles should be able to come away victorious if they can keep a clean pocket for QB Carson Wentz to work from, allowing him to pick apart the Redskins secondary that could be without star cornerback Quinton Dunbar, who is currently a game-time decision. On the other hand, Washington would do well to take advantage of a porous secondary in Philly that has been the Achilles heel for the Eagles all year long.
Prediction | Eagles 24, Redskins 13
Week 16 | vs. New York Giants (2-11)
EAST RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY – SEPTEMBER 29: Landon Collins #20 of the Washington Redskins defends against Bennie Fowler #18 of the New York Giants during their game at MetLife Stadium on September 29, 2019 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
The Redskins’ last home game of the season will also act as the last highly-winnable game of the season, as the struggling Giants will come to town, quite possibly with veteran QB Eli Manning under center.
The first meeting between these two teams acted as quite possibly the biggest nail in the coffin for former Redskins coach Jay Gruden, as it resulted in a 24-3 loss for Washington, and rookie QB Dwayne Haskins saw his first NFL action, throwing three interceptions and zero touchdowns.
This time around, both teams would be better off losing the game, as it would help boost the already high draft stock that both franchises possess. Though the Giants may be without their rookie QB Daniel Jones, the Redskins will have Haskins, who will hopefully start to show his experience on the stat sheet. An increased comfortability with Terry McLaurin and Kelvin Harmon has started to blossom in recent weeks, and the Giants rank near the bottom of the league in pass defense.
On the flip side, the Redskins’ run defense has been less than stellar this season, and the Giants will have RB Saquon Barkley ready to go this time after he was sidelined during the first meeting between these two teams.
Prediction | Redskins 24, Giants 20
Week 17 | at Dallas Cowboys (6-7)
LANDOVER, MD – SEPTEMBER 15: Dak Prescott #4 of the Dallas Cowboys runs in front of Josh Norman #24 of the Washington Redskins during the first half at FedExField on September 15, 2019 in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by Will Newton/Getty Images)
Early in the season, this Week 17 trip to Dallas seemed like a surefire loss to end the season, but as the year has worn on, it’s grown into a more winnable game by the week.
While the Cowboys are currently in the lead to make the playoffs in the NFC East, they’ve looked like anything but a playoff team as of late, losing three straight games, and four of the last five. Still, Dallas’ offense is ripe with weapons, and they can be dangerous should things start to click again. Dak Prescott was at one point in the MVP conversation this season, and Ezekiel Elliott is still one of the better running backs in the league. As divisional foes, the Cowboys know exactly how they can take advantage of the Redskins struggling and depleted defense.
As for Washington. they will likely opt to attack the Cowboys’ defense on the ground, as they rank in the middle of the pack when it comes to stopping the ground game. With Derrius Guice on the IR, expect Adrian Peterson to receive a heavy workload and lead the Redskins into playing the possession game against a dangerous and explosive offense.
Burrow has a relationship with McLaurin and Haskins from his days at Ohio State, neither of whom say his success surprises them.
As the college football season winds to a close, many of the NFL teams who will see their years end short of the playoffs will start to tune their attention towards the Bowl Season.
The Washington Redskins have surely had their fingers on the pulse of what’s going on near the top of the draft, as they will likely have a top-5 pick when all is said and done. While Ohio State defensive end Chase Young — a former teammate of QB Dwayne Haskins and WR Terry McLaurin — has been on the radar for Washington, there’s another player near the top of almost every draft board who also has deep connections to the Redskins.
LSU QB Joe Burrow is familiar with Washington’s personnel, particularly with Haskins and McLaurin, as he spent time in the Ohio State locker room before transferring to LSU. Now, playing with the Tigers, he has had a career year, and he is undoubtedly the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy and be selected No. 1 overall in the 2020 NFL Draft. This comes as no surprise to McLaurin.
“I’m not surprised at all,” McLaurin said, via The Athletic. “Me and Joe are really close to this day. I believed in him way back at Ohio State.”
While McLaurin and Burrow didn’t share a connection on the field, they were definitely in each other’s orbits off of it. When it came to playing the game, though, another Redskins player kept Burrow from the field.
Haskins beat out Burrow for the starting job at Ohio State in 2018, which led to Burrow transferring to LSU.
“We made each other better,” Haskins said. “I’m not surprised at all (Joe is) doing well this year. He’s not going to make too many mistakes.”
It seems extremely unlikely that the Redskins would use their early-round pick to select Burrow, seeing as he will likely not still be on the board by the time they are on the clock, and they seem to believe in Haskins’ ability going forward. However, there technically is a chance that the old college teammates could be together once again, and another QB competition would commence.
With one solid outing, Peterson can move up on both the total rushing yards and total touchdowns list in NFL history.
With Derrius Guice back on the Injured Reserve, veteran running back Adrian Peterson is set to assume the majority of the workload out of the Washington Redskins backfield as the team trudges through the final three games of the season.
Though the team may not have much to play for, there are still a few things that Peterson can check off of his illustrious list of career checkpoints in the last weeks of the season, all of which will further support his argument as one of the greatest running backs the NFL has ever seen.
Peterson may have a tough time getting much going on the ground this week against the Philadelphia Eagles, as they rank third in the league when it comes to stopping the run with an average of 89.6 yards per game. However, the final two weeks of the season pose a much easier opposition, with the New York Giants (20th, 114.5 ypg) and the Dallas Cowboys (19th, 109.8 ypg) on the docket.
Should the Redskins stay consistent with their run-heavy approach that has been implemented since interim coach Bill Callahan took over in Week 6, Peterson has a good chance at inking his name once again in the record books.
If you took all of Washington’s problems this year and boil them down to one thing, the inability to play up to expectations is the culprit.
While they sit with a 3-10 record and have been officially eliminated from the playoffs, the Washington Redskins are coming in danger of matching their lowest win total in 25 years. Looking back on the last year, where did it all go wrong?
Sure, a coach was fired after Week 5, and a rookie quarterback has been subjected to some bumps and bruises as he starts to gain his footing in the NFL landscape. Still, those two factors can’t be solely responsible for the incompetence that is the 2019 season for the Redskins. However, there is one reason that is currently the leader in the clubhouse for ‘Things That Went Wrong in 2019’ and it’s just so appalling that quite possibly zero NFL teams would be able to overcome it:
The players who are paid top-dollar on the team have looked like anything but top-dollar players.
Of the eight most expensive contracts on the team, six of those players have either been benched due to lack of production (Josh Norman — $75 million); been lost due to injury (Alex Smith — $94 million); or refused to play for the team (Trent Williams — $68 million). Check out this breakdown of the top eight contracts in Washington, and see if you can spot the two players who have arguable played up to their wages.
Alex Smith — $94 Million
Landon Collins — $84 Million
Josh Norman — $75 Million
Trent Williams — $68 Million
Ryan Kerrigan — $57.5 Million
Jordan Reed — $46.75 Million
Paul Richardson — $40 Million
Morgan Moses — $38.5 Million
Of those eight players, you can really only say that Collins has lived up to the billing, and even then it’s tough to say that his play has been worth every penny of that $84 million contract he signed this offseason. Kerrigan has also played decently this season, but it is nowhere near the level of production that Washington expected when making him one of the 15 highest-paid edge rushers in the NFL — he currently ranks as the 74th best edge-rusher in the league, according to PFF, and his recent move to the injured reserve adds injury to insult.
“The guys who you have big money invested in, those guys have got to be key contributors,” former Redskins salary cap analyst J.I. Halsell said, via The Washington Post. “And when they’re not and if there’s a bunch of them, there’s a threshold where it becomes insurmountable and you just can’t navigate it.”
Many Redskins fans are quick to blame the ineptitude in Washington on the front office and coaching, and there is a lot of truth in doing so. Dan Snyder and Bruce Allen put this team together, and they should be held responsible for the roster that takes the field each Sunday during the season. However, any roster decision can look good on paper, but it’s all for not if the player doesn’t pan out on the field.
So what do you get when a historically inept front office puts together a roster, and those players don’t live up to the billing? You get the Washington Redskins, and it’s not a pretty sight.
Kerrigan is being moved to the IR, ending his season after he suffered a calf injury last week against the Green Bay Packers.
The Redskins placed linebacker Ryan Kerrigan on injured reserve. He suffered a calf injury in last week's loss to Green Bay. He had a 139-consecutive games played streak snapped earlier this year because of a concussion. https://t.co/ZVbuayDGCp
The Washington Redskins have officially placed linebacker Ryan Kerrigan on the Injured Reserve, ending his season with three games left on the schedule.
Kerrigan went down early in the third quarter of last week’s game against the Green Bay Packers with a calf injury, and it looked to be bad from the start as he slowly was helped off of the field.
Now, as the Redskins prepare to face the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, head coach Bill Callahan has announced that it would be in the best interest for Kerrigan to sit out the remainder of the year, as the injury seems to be more serious than they expected. He called the veteran a “consummate professional.”
Callahan also said that Kerrigan’s move to the IR has nothing to do with their 3-10 record and that the injury was serious enough to warrant such a move.
Both Peterson and Richardson have had Bieniemy as a head coach before, and they know that he has the traits to lead a team to success.
While the Washington Redskins look to begin their coaching search as the season winds to a close, with just three games left on the schedule, a name that keeps coming up is Eric Bieniemy, the offensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs.
Not only has Bieniemy surged to the top of the list of candidates for any open head coaching job in the NFL, but he also has a number of ties to the Redskins and their current personnel. Once upon a time, he acted as the OC for wide receiver Paul Richardson Jr. at the University of Colorado, but he was also the running backs coach for Adrian Peterson with the Minnesota Vikings, and he held the position of OC for Alex Smith with the Kansas City Chiefs. It’s safe to say that if he has questions about the Washington organization, there are a few people he can ask.
On the flip side, these players in Washington can also reach out to him and potentially sway him in the direction of taking over the Redskins job. Both Richardson and Peterson were asked about Bieniemy earlier this week, and while they didn’t publically lobby for him to come to Washington, they did make sure to point out how deserving he is of a top job in the NFL.
“I think he’s a great coach,” said Richardson, via The Athletic.“I think he’s a great leader. He’s really intense. He prides himself on details and execution. He’s old-school, man. He played running back, back in the day. So, of course, he’s one of those guys that is all for the run-first mentality, but he definitely one of those people that wants to get the most out of his players. I felt that a lot when I was in Colorado.”
For Peterson, he recalls the times in Minnesota where Bieniemy would constantly require the RBs to take diligent notes during film sessions, and he often wouldn’t let a detail slip by.
“He was big on taking notes,” Peterson said, via The Athletic.“You have your pen out and writing notes down, and we didn’t have an excuse. He had everything we need for that week written on the board, on both sides, and we used to go over it, and you were able to see it in intensive detail. It’s like, man; he is really like making sure that we are dialed in, and we know exactly what’s going on. So the running back group, and the fullback group we are in sync. We have no excuse to eff up.”
So while they may not have publically endorsed him for the Redskins job, both Richardson and Peterson will be the first people to tell you that Bieniemy is a sure-fire head coach that deserves a chance somewhere in the league. If it happens to be in Washington, you’d surely hear no complaints from them.
Washington kicked off the 2019 season with a quick score, but since then, the offense has been stuck in the mud and unable to do much early.
For the majority of the 2019 season, the Washington Redskins’ offense has been largely the reason why they’re unable to find much success.
Of course, there were a few weeks at the beginning of the season where Case Keenum and the Redskins were averaging over 20 points per game, and it was their defense that was worthy of the blame, as they gave up an average of 30.2 points per game through the first five weeks. Still, since then, the offense has been the reason for failure.
Since Week 3, when Washington scored 15 points against the Bears, they have been held under 20 points in 9 straight games, averaging just over 10 points per game. The offense has been stuck in the mud all season, and there’s largely one reason for it.
According to a piece from NBC Sports Washington, much of that ineptitude can be pinpointed to an inability to score points on the opening drive of a game.
In Week 1 against the Philadelphia Eagles, Washington drove down the field and scored on the very first drive of the season. Since then, they’ve gone every game this year without scoring a touchdown or even a field goal on the opening possession. If there’s one thing that the Redskins can do in order to put themselves in the best position to win, it’s moving the ball early in the game, and rookie quarterback Dwayne Haskins knows that.
“Just trying to figure out a way we can move the ball early, not getting behind the chains, finding lanes and getting the ball out fast,” Haskins said, via NBC Sports Washington. “It helps our defense when we come off fast and move the ball down the field and not put them in a tough scenario with having a short field.”
There are obviously many problems that are in need of fixing in Washington, but one of the most pertinent should be getting off to a hot start when the plays are scripted and everyone should be on the same page. If the Redskins can find a way to get on the board early, it puts their defense in a better position to gain some momentum, and it will help to get Haskins and the offense into a rhythm.
You want to implement changes that have an immediate effect? You start there. The fans have more fun, the team has more fun, and it just might lead to a few victories as well.
The former Washington Redskins are among 10 former NFL players accused in a scheme to defraud the NFL health care program for personal gain.
Former Washington Redskins running back Clinton Portis is one of 10 former NFL players who face charges for allegedly defrauding the league’s health program and using it for personal gains, USA TODAY reports.
An indictment released Thursday says the former players are accused of filing more than $3.9 million in fraudulent claims, of which more than $3.4 million were paid from June 2017 to December 2018.
In addition to Portis, three other former Redskins are implicated in the scheme: Carlos Rogers, Robert McCune and John Eubanks.
A statement from Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski explains how the con allegedly worked.
“Ten former NFL players allegedly committed a brazen, multimillion-dollar fraud on a health care plan meant to help their former teammates and other retired players pay legitimate, out-of-pocket medical expenses,” Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski said. “Today’s indictments underscore that, whoever you are, if you loot health care programs to line your own pockets, you will be held accountable by the Department of Justice.”
When asked to comment on the situation, Portis told ESPN’s John Keim, “I don’t have any comment on that,” but his lawyer expressed that the former running back had no knowledge that he was involved in this scheme.
Clinton Portis attorney, Mark Dycio, says the former running back is innocent. Via @jjouvenal: “Clinton Portis had no knowledge that his participation in what he believed to be an NFL sanctioned medical reimbursement program was illegal.”
According to the indictment, some of the players involved would recruit other former players to join the scheme. It was often carried out by fabricating letters from health-care providers about the use of medical equipment and fabricated prescriptions that created fake invoices from companies in an effort to prove that the equipment was purchased.
After another disastrous season in Washington, some fans have decided that enough is enough, and they’re looking for a new rooting interest.
At what point is it time to say enough is enough?
At what point do you become so dejected that you start looking elsewhere to find happiness?
At what point do Washington Redskins fans look in the mirror and decide to literally throw in the towel, opting to brandish a new set of colors and cheer for a different team on Sundays?
For some, it was earlier this year when Team President Bruce Allen showed a glaring lack of awareness when he proclaimed that the culture in Washington was “actually damn good” in a press conference that announced the firing of head coach Jay Gruden. For others, it was several weeks later when the team once again added an ugly chapter to the Trent Williams Saga by going all year refusing to trade him and then subsequently putting him on the block less than 48 hours away from the NFL Trade Deadline.
In a new piece from the Washington Post’s Scott Allen, there are many fans in Washington that, after growing up deeply engrained in the #HTTR world, have found it impossible to continue their fandom beyond this point.
“It had been multiple things, from RG3 and the Scot McCloughan fiasco to the Kirk Cousins contract,” said Jason Simmons, a 33-year-old Washington D.C. native. “It was just like chipping away, chipping away, chipping away. That was it. I said ‘I can’t do it anymore.’”
These fans aren’t just quitting the Redskins, but many of them are finding solace in a new franchise; a better franchise; one that is close to home, and a heck of a lot closer to championship contention.
“I’ve had Ravens fans welcoming me,” said Andy Serwer, a 60-year-old editor in chief of Yahoo Finance, who announced in a column last month his decision to give up the Redskins. “I’ve had other people say they’re standing by the Redskins, but they can’t blame me and it’s hard. No one has accused me of being a rat jumping off a ship, although I suppose that would be apt.”
You may be reading this and whispering the word ‘traitor’ under your breath, and I suppose that’s accurate. You may still be waving your Burgundy & Gold flag every Sunday, holding out hope that at some point the team will be able to string together enough right decisions and find success at the end of this road of turmoil. You may be in it for the long haul, through thick and thin, never wavering.
But not all Redskins fans are like that; some are doubting the validity of their fandom, and deciding that the answer to that “when is it enough?” question is “right now.” Those people may be few and far between, but they are out there, and they’re growing by the week. That’s a major problem for Dan Snyder and the Washington Redskins, and unless ‘change’ is the answer, there doesn’t seem to be another solution in sight.
