Category: 2020 NFL Playoffs

Report: Alex Smith will not play vs. Buccaneers; QB Taylor Heinicke to start

Alex Smith will not be able to go against the Bucs in Washington’s playoff game on Saturday night, giving the start to backup Taylor Heinicke, who has looked good in limited action this season.

It will be the backup QB with a single quarter of action this season who gets the start for the Washington Football Team on Saturday night in a wild-card game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Alex Smith, who was hoping to get the start, has not progressed enough from his calf strain injury, and ultimately will be unable to play against Tom Brady and the Bucs in Washington’s first playoff game since 2015.

Coming into this weekend, we all knew this was a distinct possibility, with Smith being held out of practice all week while trying to nurse his calf back to health, which has been hobbling him for several weeks now. On Friday night, a report came out that Smith was still feeling a lot of soreness in his leg, but he would wait to see how it felt on Saturday morning before making a decision. On Saturday morning, there was still no word, which might have provided some more hope, but ultimately the decision was that Washington would be better off with a healthy Heinicke, rather than a hobbled Smith.

In his one-quarter of action this year against the Carolina Panthers, Heinicke earned a little bit of trust from his teammates, going 12-for-19 for 137 yards and a touchdown in relief of a benched Dwayne Haskins. The most notable reaction came from DE Chase Young, who appreciated the confidence that the backup QB played with.

With as strong as Washington’s defense is, and as stagnant as the offense has been even under Smith, putting Heinicke under center is not exactly a death sentence for the burgundy and gold. If they can stick to their gameplan and make life tough on Brady, even a handcuffed offense could be able to get the job done.

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Report: ‘Real chance’ Taylor Heinicke ends up starting for Washington on Saturday

The Washington Football Team will have more answers in the morning, but there is a real chance QB Taylor Heinicke ends up starting vs the #Bucs, sources say. Alex Smith’s calf is still sore and hasn’t loosened up. Heinicke took the majority of snaps …

We won’t know for sure until we see how Washington QB Alex Smith’s calf feels on Saturday morning, but as of Friday night, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport is saying that there is a real chance that backup QB Taylor Heinicke ends up getting the start.

We saw on Thursday that Smith was still feeling a lot of soreness in his calf, and that feeling is still there on Friday night. Coach Ron Rivera said on Thursday that they really wished they had an extra day to get Smith ready for this game, but they “would see.”

The vibe is not great for Smith at the moment, but we will wait and see how he is feeling on Saturday morning, potentially giving him a chance to play against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

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3 keys to victory for Washington in wild-card game vs. Buccaneers

It’s going to take a near-perfect game for Washington to get their first playoff victory since 2005, but if they can take care of these keys, they might have a chance.

The Washington Football Team is a sizeable underdog to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Saturday night’s NFL wild-card game, and it’s going to take quite the effort to upset Tom Brady on his bid for a 7th Super Bowl ring.

Not many people are giving them a chance, but Washington just might have the formula to complete the upset. It’s going to need to rely on a herculean defensive effort, and just enough production from the offense to get the job done. Considering what we’ve seen over the past few weeks, that may seem like a big ask, but it’s absolutely not out of the question.

As coach Ron Rivera has been saying all week: ‘Why not us?’

Here are our biggest keys to the game for Washington:

‘He’s the best guy we’ve got’; Ron Rivera tepidly sticks by Steven Sims as punt returner

Steven Sims leads the NFL in muffed punts this season, but Rivera says they’re sticking with him simply because he’s ‘the best guy’ they’ve got.

In a year when a lot of success has come to the Washington Football Team, one of the bigger disappointments has been second-year wide receiver Steven Sims Jr., who flashed as an undrafted rookie last season but has yet to grow into an expected role in his second year.

While Sims may not get many looks on the offense, one place where Washington has continually relied on him is on special teams, where he serves as punt returner. That, too, has been disappointing — Sims leads the NFL with three muffed punts so far this season and has the third-lowest return grade in the NFL, according to Pro Football Focus. 

These struggles have led to many fans and media members calling for him to be replaced at that position, but Ron Rivera was asked about it on Thursday, and he gave a very tepid response as to why Sims is still the returner.

“The best guy we’ve got” sure isn’t a ringing endorsement, but it explains why Sims is still back there week in and week out. There is some hope that he can continue to get better and learn to secure the ball, but his recent showings don’t give anyone much confidence that things will be different down the road.

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Injury Report: Alex Smith, Terry McLaurin, Antonio Gibson all questionable for wild-card game

The top three offensive stars for Washington are all listed as questionable for Saturday’s wild-card game, but there’s hope that they can play.

It’s been a mostly positive week of practice for the Washington Football Team as they prepare for a wild-card playoff game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Saturday night, but the final injury report has some designations that might cause a little uneasiness among the fanbase.

The top three offensive weapons — QB Alex Smith, WR Terry McLaurin, and RB Antonio Gibson — are all listed as questionable for this weekend’s game, which has the chance to throw a serious wrench in Washington’s chances to beat the Buccaneers and advance to the next round.

Of course, there is still a chance that all three end up playing, and judging by their participation at practice this week, one might lean towards the group giving it a go. The most concerning of the three is Smith, who was extremely limited all week, only going through some light work and letting backup QB Taylor Heinicke take the bulk of first-team reps. This is not a death sentence for Smith’s chances to play, but rather a good opportunity for Heinicke to get a load of reps before the game, as Ron Rivera has said that there’s a chance the two QBs could potentially rotate throughout the four quarters.

Elsewhere, both McLaurin and Gibson went through a lot of individual work this week, which is more than we’ve seen from them in weeks past when they ended up playing. Both are dealing with leg injuries — McLaurin an ankle sprain, and Gibson a turf-toe — but there is a feeling that they will be able to give it a go in Washington’s first playoff game since 2015.

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Practice Report: Taylor Heinicke takes 1st-team reps; Terry McLaurin, Antonio Gibson work on side-field

It was Taylor Heinicke who got the first-team reps in Washington on Wednesday, but that’s no reason to sound the alarm bells for Alex Smith.

It was backup QB Taylor Heinicke who was taking the first-team reps in Washington’s practice on Wednesday, while Alex Smith was off to the side with a stocking cap on and not participating in team drills. This may not be ideal, but it is not a reason to sound the alarm bells, as it goes along with what we saw from Washington last week when Smith did end up starting.

Earlier in the week, coach Ron Rivera stated that there was a possibility that he would rotate both quarterbacks in the game, so it makes complete sense to give Heinicke a lot of practice time so he can feel more comfortable. We know that with Smith being a veteran, and also based on comments from Rivera in the past, there is complete comfort that he could play on the weekend even without getting reps in practice leading up to the game. We will learn more about Smith’s availability for Saturday’s game later in the week, but at this point, there is nothing out of the ordinary.

Elsewhere on the practice field, both WR Terry McLaurin and RB Antonio Gibson were present, though they remained off to the side working with trainers. McLaurin was seen doing some hurdling drills, which sounds positive when you consider the high-ankle sprain he has been dealing with, and Gibson looked good in action last week against the Eagles. At this point, there is little reason anyone should doubt their availability this weekend against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

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‘We’re not playing Dwayne Haskins:’ Bruce Arians says Bucs won’t overlook WFT with Alex Smith at QB

Bruce Arians delivered a shot at former Washington QB Dwayne Haskins, noting that his team won’t overlook a matchup against Alex Smith.

A lot has been made this past week of the history of underdogs in the first round of the playoffs, especially when they enter the postseason with a losing record. We’ve talked about it a lot on this site, making note that one of the more memorable upsets from a below-.500 team in the wild-card round came the last time Ron Rivera and Bruce Arians met in the playoffs.

One of the main reasons that these upsets happen is because the better team is often caught looking into the future, undervaluing their opponent, and not giving the round 1 game the attention it deserves. According to Arians, that won’t happen this week, simply because of who is playing QB in Washington, and more specifically, who is not playing QB.

Washington may be 7-9 on the season, but considering the fact that they went 5-2 over their last seven games with only one loss coming with Alex Smith under center causes that overall record to be thrown out the window. With Dwayne Haskins at the helm, Washington started the season with a 1-3 record, and then things didn’t get much better with Kyle Allen taking snaps either. However, the dust started to settle once Smith took the reigns, and the average offensive performances, mixed with a dominant defense, made Washington a viable threat.

Who knows if they will be good enough to stop the red-hot Bucs on Saturday, but we know at least that Tom Brady and his team won’t be looking to the divisional round quite yet.

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An inability to air the ball out could be fatal flaw for Washington heading into the playoffs

Washington made it to the playoffs on the back of the defense, but a lack of air-yards in the passing game could potentially doom them vs. the Buccaneers.

Heading into their first postseason game since 2015, the Washington defense is riding high and feeling that they may have what it takes to slow down Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Saturday night, giving their team a chance to win and advance into the next round of the playoffs.

However, will their offense be good enough to make good on what the defense gives them?

That’s the golden question in Washington and one that the team is far from answering. It’s been a problem all season; the defense routinely stands up strong when put in a tough position, forcing the opposing offense to punt, and then Washington’s offense is unable to do anything with it. It was a problem again last week, and the issue has been magnified with the nagging calf injury suffered by Alex Smith a few weeks ago.

So if the overall problem is a lack of offensive production, what needs to get better to fix it? That is something that we do have an idea about, and the answer is getting more yards through the air in the passing game.

According to USA TODAY’s Touchdown Wire, Washington’s (potentially) fatal flaw is that they are severely lacking when it comes to yards per pass attempt, and all of these little check-down throws and screen passes may elevate a completion percentage, but they don’t do much for the offense in the grand scheme of things.

Washington ranks dead last in the NFL in offensive DVOA and in passing DVOA. There are many reasons for this debacle. We can start with another former first-round pick — quarterback Dwayne Haskins, who never really got the hang of the NFL and was released on Dec. 28. It is exceedingly rare for a franchise to bail on a first-round quarterback no matter how badly he’s playing, so that gives you a clue as to how badly things were going.

However, Haskins’ departure doesn’t fix Washington’s primary offensive bugaboo — a lack of air yards that boggles the mind. Haskins was merely the worst deep thrower in the NFL this season. On passes of 20 or more air yards, he completed just two of 20 attempts for 69 yards, no touchdowns, three interceptions and a passer rating of 1.9. Alex Smith has been much better when healthy on deep passes, completing 10 of 24 attempts for 335 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception.

But in a season when so many of the NFL’s postseason quarterbacks had more than 10 touchdown passes on deep throws, and far more opportunities to do so, this leaves Washington with absolutely no margin for error against the league’s more explosive offenses — starting with the Buccaneers in the wild-card round. The WFT has the league’s third-fewest air yards overall (1,520), behind only the Patriots (1,444) and the Jets (1,476); the Bucs have the league’s second-highest air yards total (2,587), behind only the Falcons (2,814).

So, if Tom Brady is able to get his offense humming to the tune of an early lead, Smith will have to uncork it as he would rather not, just to stay in the game.

Ron Rivera floated the idea of potentially rotating QBs this weekend, which would bring backup Taylor Heinicke into the mix. We’ve only seen him play in one quarter this year when he came in against the Carolina Panthers in relief for Haskins, and his arm looked pretty good. There’s a chance that Smith could be used to the check-downs, and Heinicke could be used for the deep ball, but rotating guys in and out brings in a whole host of different questions and issues.

We’ll see what Washington ends up doing this weekend to try and shore up their offense, but it’s clear that a dink-and-dunk strategy is not likely to get the job done in round 1 of the playoffs.

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Ron Rivera to consider rotating QBs Alex Smith and Taylor Heinicke vs. Buccaneers

Ron Rivera said on Tuesday that he’s open to the idea of rotating both Alex Smith and Taylor Heinicke into Washington’s playoff game vs. Tampa Bay.

After what we all saw from Washington QB Alex Smith on Sunday night in a win against the Philadelphia Eagles, there seems to be a feeling that the team needs more going forward in order to keep the good times rolling and pick up a playoff win in wild-card weekend.

In order to do this, Washington coach Ron Rivera explained on Tuesday that he’s open to the idea of potentially rotating quarterbacks against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in order to give the offense different looks and avoid putting all of the pressure on Smith and his leg. This would mean that backup QB Taylor Heinicke gets a fair amount of work too, if the team decides to go that way.

This would be a bold strategy for Washington to take, especially in the NFL playoffs, and it’s one that will require a lot of extra attention from all the players involved, not only the QBs. Rotating quarterbacks has sometimes been frowned upon, seeing as it gives neither player a great opportunity to get into a rhythm. However, it would force the Bucs defense to stay on their toes, especially considering the fact that there is very little tape on Heinicke, so they know less about what he can really do.

We’ll see if Washington ends up doing this, and pay attention to some possible trends in practice this week, but for now, we at least know it’s an option.

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Washington announces no fans will be allowed at playoff game against Bucs

Washington announced on Monday that there won’t be any fans in attendance on Saturday at the team’s first playoff game since 2015.

It doesn’t come as much surprise, but the Washington Football Team announced on Monday night that they will not be able to allow any fans at Fed Ex Field for the playoff game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Saturday night due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Washington will be hosting a wild-card game, kicking off at 8:15 p.m. ET with a chance to continue their season, but there won’t be any fans in attendance, although it’s the first playoff game Washington will be involved in since 2015.

“Our entire team, especially our players, will miss having our passionate fans in the stadium as we take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers,” Washington said in a statement. “We are grateful for all of the support from our community and encourage everyone to stay safe.”

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