After Week 1 of the NFL season, Ron Rivera became the only coach to win his debut game with his new team, pulling off a major upset.
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Just one of the five head coaches making a debut with a new team this season got a Week 1 win: Ron Rivera, who guided Washington to a 17-point comeback win over Philly.
Washington enters Week 2 as the only NFC East team with a win.
Not only did the Washington Football Team take an early lead in the NFC East with a win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday afternoon, but new head coach Ron Rivera also became the only first-year head coach with a new team in the NFL to win his debut game this season.
The game that sealed the deal was early on Monday night when the New York Giants lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Coincidentally, it was also this game that gave Washington the early No. 1 spot in the division, with all three other teams starting the 2020 season 0-1.
Here are the teams with new coaches this year, and the results that they had in Week 1.
Ron Rivera: Washington Football Team | W 27-17
Joe Judge: New York Giants | L 26-16
Matt Rhule: Carolina Panthers | L 34-30
Kevin Stefanski: Cleveland Browns | L 38-6
Mike McCarthy: Dallas Cowboys | L 20-17
You can blame the early losses on a wild offseason where new coaching staffs were unable to work with their teams as much as in years past, but that only makes what Rivera and Washington did more impressive. No matter what any team claims took place for them in the offseason, Washington had it worse, and they still were able to take the field in Week 1 and pull off an upset win over a division rival.
The Washington Football Team is not resting on its laurels after a big-time win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday. According to the NFL transaction wire, Washington brought in seven players to work out for the team on Monday, potentially leading to them signing someone to the practice squad or active roster. Here are the guys they worked out, including five wide receivers, one tight end, and one quarterback:
WR Jeff Badet
WR Hakeem Butler
WR Quartney Davis
WR Codey McElroy
WR Dillon Mitchell
TE Temarrick Hemingway
QB J’Mar Smith
It’s obvious from this that Washington is in the business of adding some depth to their wide receiver corps, as well as at the tight end position. One of the more interesting names on that list is Butler, who was released by the Arizona Cardinals earlier this year, and wh Washington was said to have interests in coming out of the NFL Draft.
There were some massive expectations for Washington’s rookie DE Chase Young entering his first career NFL game, and he definitely lived up to the hype.
While going up against a banged-up Philadelphia Eagles’ offensive line, Young was able to routinely make his presence felt, finishing the game with four tackles, 1.5 sacks, 1 QB hit, and one forced fumble. He also played the most snaps of anyone of the defensive line and came up with some big plays down the stretch that helped turn the tide in Washington’s favor.
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It’s fair to wonder if this breakout performance was more in part due to the Eagles missing three of their starting five linemen, or if Chase Young is as advertised. While it’s likely a little bit of both, watching him try and get home against QB Kyler Murray and the Arizona Cardinals next week is going to be fun. With a healthy OL and a quarterback who’s proven he can get out of nearly any pressure, we’ll get a great sense for how good Young really is a week from now.
It’s easy to overreact to Washington’s upset victory over the Eagles on Sunday, but Touchdown Wire has them ranked inside the top 15.
When we’ve been starved of something for so long, it’s easy to get too entrenched in what you just saw. That’s true in life, but also in sports. As humans, we are reactionary creatures who have little ability to expand our attention spans and think further out then a few days, or a few weeks.
This is something that many fans of the Washington Football Team are now going to have to deal with. After an impressive comeback victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, the team is feeling confident — rightfully so after putting QB Carson Wentz in the ground 8 times — and a new energy can be felt among the fan base. Why can’t this be a team that wins 8-10 games and makes a run at the NFC East?
In times like these, it’s important to try and take a step back, cool yourself off, and think about things logically. That is, of course, until you see that USA TODAY’s Touchdown Wire recently ranked Washington as the No. 13 team in the NFL via their Week 1 Way-Too-Early Power Rankings.
Few teams in recent sports history have had worse offseasons than this team has, and they weren’t even able to get rid of owner Dan Snyder. But in their 27-17 opening win over the Eagles, a defensive line with five first-round draft picks sacked Carson Wentz eight times and added 14 quarterback hits, and Dwayne Haskins kept himself out of trouble for the most part. What the win means against an injury-riddled division opponent remains to be seen, but it’s a balm for a whole lot of self-inflicted wounds.
If there was any team in the league that Washington could play in order to gain some confidence and boost egos, the banged-up Eagles were it. Missing over half of their offensive line, Philadelphia was unable to stop the pass-rush, and Wentz faltered late in the game, allowing Washington to run away with the victory. We will get a better gauge for what the Burgundy & Gold can really do next week against an Arizona Cardinals team who just upset the defending NFC Champions on the road yesterday. With a healthy offense, a dynamic and mobile young QB, and a litany of weapons on the outside, Arizona will pose a serious test for Washington’s defense, and it won’t be as easy to force them into simple mistakes.
We’ll see where Washington clocks in on the power rankings a week from now, but for the time being, feel good that you can sit in the top-half of the league.
The snap counts from Washington’s Week 1 win over Philly show consistency and health up front, with rookies coming to play.
Now that we’ve had some time to come off of the high of a Week 1 upset victory over a division rival, it’s time to dive into the number a bit for the Washington Football Team, and try to figure out how exactly they were able to take down the Philadelphia Eagles and a big-time comeback victory.
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We saw the big plays take place in front of our eyes, but those highlights rarely tell the whole story. One of our favorite things to do the day after a game is delve into the snap counts in Washington, and look at who played where, and what type of impact they had. Let’s break down both sides of the ball, starting with the offense.
Washington Offensive Snap Counts
via NFL GSIS
With 70 total offensive snaps, it’s not a shock to see the starting O-line and quarterback receive 100% of the work, but in Washington, it’s always a delight to drive home the fact that the front-five went the entire game without suffering an injury.
Here are some major takeaways from those snap counts:
McLaurin led all WR’s by a large margin
The main pass-catchers — McLaurin, Steven Sims Jr., Logan Thomas, and Dontrell Inman — are clearly separated from the rest of the pack as far as playing time goes.
J.D. McKissic surprisingly led the way for running backs, though he seemingly had the lowest impact as far as the eye test goes.
Antonio Gibson was on the field for only 18 snaps in the entire game, yet he outpaced the rest of the backfield when it came to yards on the ground.
Washington Defensive Snap Counts
via NFL GSIS
Again, the numbers don’t paint an extremely different picture from what we saw on the field, but it’s clear that Washington has a group of players in the secondary who they plan to rely on, and there wasn’t much need to go away from them on Sunday.
Here are some major takeaways from the defensive snap counts:
5 total players saw 100% of the workload on defense, with four of them coming in the secondary. LB Jon Bostic was the only full-time player in the middle, with Kevin Pierre-Louis missing just one snap in the game.
Chase Young led all defensive lineman in snap counts, showing the coaching staff has no plans to give him time to get settled in the NFL game. He proved on Sunday that it’s not necessary.
Ryan Kerrigan was extremely efficient, coming up with 2 sacks in his 22 snaps. We knew he’d take more of a back-seat role with the depth upfront, but if he can make plays when he’s in the game, the sky is the limit.
After the NFC East standings were stood on their head in Week 1, is it possible that Washington is better than we think?
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Welcome to Overreaction Monday! After a weekend full of live NFL football, we plan to look into the latest happenings in Washington and try to find a major takeaway that could either be completely legitimate or a bit of an overreaction. Often, the sentiment is going to fall somewhere in between, but that’s for you to decide. Let’s get it started with our first Monday of the regular season.
Washington could compete for No. 2 spot in NFC East
Woah! We’re only a week into the 2020 season, and a single victory in Washington already has us penciling the team in for 7-9 wins?
Not quite. While Sunday’s upset victory over the Philadelphia Eagles was thrilling, we aren’t going to pretend like that first half full of mishaps didn’t happen. However, we are willing to raise the question of Washington’s place in the NFC East hierarchy, especially after seeing the showing that the Dallas Cowboys put on during their Sunday Night Football loss to the LA Rams. As always, there are some solid arguments for and against this claim; let’s get into it.
The Argument
It wasn’t for the full game, but at times on Washington, the team looked to have one of the best defenses in the entire NFL, while possessing an offense that can get the job done. Washington ended up totaling eight sacks on Carson Wentz, and they were also able to come down with two interceptions, picking up 14 points off of turnovers. The offensive stats are nothing special, but second-year QB Dwayne Haskins orchestrated a couple of solid drives in the second half, finding a way to put points on the board and eventually go out ahead of their division rivals. As it stands now, with both the Eagles and Cowboys losing on Sunday, Washington will at the very least be in a tie for first place in the division, depending on what the NY Giants do on Monday night. Again, there’s only been one game played, but you take what you can get when you root for the Burgundy & Gold.
Of course, Washington’s performance alone isn’t enough for us to bring this overreaction to the table. What also contributes to the notion is the fact that we saw a banged-up Eagles team look less than stellar on Sunday, and the Cowboys were lackluster in the night game, with a couple of brutal injuries coming their way as well. It was reported after the game that LB Leighton Vander Esch broke his collar bone during the game, while TE Blake Jarwin suffered a knee injury and is feared to have torn his ACL.
#Cowboys star LB Leighton Vander Esch suffered a fractured collarbone early in the game tonight, source said. He’ll land on Injured Reserve, a brutal blow. The nerve center of the defense and one of its top playmakers, Vander Esch’s loss stings. He’ll be back this season.
After evaluation, Cowboys fear that TE Blake Jarwin has suffered a torn ACL, source said. An MRI to reveal injury's full nature but the team's belief is Jarwin has been lost for season. Injured right knee in second quarter.
It’s not like Dak Prescott or Ezekiel Elliott went down with an injury, but those two pieces are massive parts of what the Cowboys do week in and week out, and every game without them on the field will be a big loss.
We’re doing what we can to not drink too much of the kool-aid in Washington after one victory, but watching the defense play up to their potential, and seeing the offense get the job done on a day when they seemed to play closer to their floor than their ceiling was encouraging. This isn’t an article calling for Washington to make the playoffs, but it may be time to stop predicting that they’ll hold onto the No. 1 or No. 2 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.
Devil’s Advocate
It’s Week 1. That’s pretty much all that needs to be said, in reality. After an offseason that went off-script in more ways than one, it’s not a shock to see a number of teams across the NFL come into their first game of the season and play outside of their expectations. It just so happens that two of those teams were in the NFC East, and Washington was able to take advantage of it. After falling behind 17-0 in the first half, you could have simulated the rest of that game 100 different times and the Eagles likely come out on top at least 95 percent of the time. On Sunday, Washington got some breaks, players made some big plays, and the Burgundy & Gold came out on top. It’s not going to happen that way every week.
The Verdict
This is a classic overreaction, but one that we’re okay bringing to the table. The truth is that Washington looked a bit better than expected, and the Eagles and Cowboys looked worse than expected on Sunday. We’ll see how the Giants look on Monday, but it likely won’t do much to detract from our sentiment. Washington is still going to have a long and tough road ahead of them, and wins could likely be hard to find. They’re trying to tell us that they aren’t one of the worst teams in the league, though. We might want to start listening to that.
The Washington Football Team is coming off of potentially their biggest win in half of a decade, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to be treated like a successful team going forward.
When Washington travels to Arizona to take on the Cardinals next weekend, they will reportedly be seven-point underdogs, at the very least, with a chance that the line could move quite a bit between now and then.
Washington turned a lot of heads on Sunday when they scored 27-unanswered points to come back and beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 27-17, in a Week 1 divisional matchup. Now they have the pleasure of facing a Cardinals team that is ripe with offensive weapons who also scored an upset win over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
With two young quarterbacks at the helm in Dwayne Haskins and Kyler Murray, we’re surely going to have a fun game to watch.
If you’re looking for reasons to keep that grin from ear to ear on this Sunday afternoon, look no further than the reaction from both Ryan Kerrigan and the entire Washington Football Team when coach Ron Rivera handed over the game ball after Sunday’s victory over the Eagles.
Kerrigan finished the day with two sacks passed Dexter Manley to become the franchise all-time sack leader, and was one of many players on the Washington defensive line to dominate, coming up with eight total sacks on the day and making life tough on Eagles QB Carson Wentz.
While one game ball went to Kerrigan, it was later reported that the team decided to give the other game ball to coach Ron Rivera, who won his first game in Washington after what can only be described as an up-hill battle.
Jimmy Moreland said the team gave coach Ron Rivera the game ball for his first win as the Washington Football Team coach.
Trailing by 10 at the half with little going right, Dwayne Haskins gave a speech at halftime that sparked the massive comeback in Washington.
Coach Ron Rivera said that while he was getting an IV, he understands that Dwayne Haskins stood up in the locker room and gave the speech to fire up the team at halftime.
Fabian Moreau on Haskins' halftime speech: "He just basically got everybody riled up and put everyone on his back. Like a leader, he stepped up and gave a speech and everyone felt it, it was strong and it helped us."
With the Washington Football Team down 17-7 at the half, and not many things going in their direction, quarterback Dwayne Haskins stepped up in front of his teammates in the locker room and reportedly gave an impassioned speech that sparked some emotions and got the team ready to get back on the field.
It apparently worked, as Washington came out of the half and completed their 17-point comeback, scoring 27-unanswered to defeat the Philadelphia Eagles, their division rivals.
One of the biggest questions about Haskins so far in his career is about his leadership ability, and that’s something that he has been working hard on this offseason, trying to take control of the team and lead them to success. If Week 1 is any indication of how that went, Washington is now in good hands with both Haskins and Ron Rivera.
Washington completed a massive comeback win over the Eagles, led by the defensive side of the ball and buoyed by Dwayne Haskins’ composure.
That’s a pretty fun way to start the 2020 NFL season, isn’t it?
Not many people gave Washington a chance to even stay competitive in this game, let alone win against their division rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles. So what do Ron Rivera and the Washington Football Team do? How about 27-unanswered points to come back from 17 down and win going away.
It wasn’t always pretty, but it was good enough to get the job done on opening day of the season. Here are our biggest takeaways from the wild comeback victory.
Defensive Line Better Than Expected
Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
We all had extremely high hopes for Washington’s defensive line coming into this season, but I don’t think any of us quite expected that to happen. 8 sacks on the game, with Chase Young, Montez Sweat, Jonathan Allen, Daron Payne, Matt Ioannidis, Ryan Kerrigan, and Jon Bostic all getting in on the action. Kerrigan is the obvious winner out of the group, as he made history by passing Washington legend Dexter Manley to become the franchise’s all-time sack leader with 92, but the game ball goes to the defensive line in general.
They did exactly what was asked of them, keeping Carson Wentz under pressure the entire game while neutralizing the run. Wentz finished the game with 270 yards on 24-for-42 passing, with two touchdowns and two interceptions. The Eagles ran for only 57 total yards, and weren’t much of a threat outside of the TE position, where Dallas Goedert leading the way with 101 yards receiving.
Everyone knows that if Washington is to be successful, they’ll need to lean on their defense in order to do so. Well, one week into the season, and it looks like that’s more possible than people might have thought.
Dwayne Haskins is Capable
Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports
Call it first-half jitters, or call it rust, but the first half was not much fun to watch if you’re a fan of Dwayne Haskins. After a couple of drives were under his belt, though, the second-year QB was able to get a rhythm going and start driving down the field.
In the end, Haskins finished with 178 yards and one touchdown on 17-for-31 passing. While those stats are not impressive in the slightest, it was the poise and confidence that he showed down the stretch that really stood out.
While attempting to complete the comeback, Haskins was able to orchestrate two drives late, notably a 13-play, 48-yard drive midway through the fourth quarter that was capped off with a touchdown that gave Washington the lead.
If you have questions about his viability to be a franchise QB in the future, they probably weren’t answered on Sunday. But he did enough to win when it mattered, and sometimes that’s all you can ask for.
Still A Lot to Improve
Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports
Though all is happy-go-lucky right now after a Week 1 victory, don’t let that detract you from the terrible first half that we saw from Washington. There’s time for celebration right now, but a number of things need to be cleaned up going forward if Washington is to have any hopes of stringing together some wins in the future.
One of the biggest holes came early on in the defensive secondary, where it seemed that the Philadelphia tight ends were running free and getting anything they wanted. There was also worry on third-down when on defense, with the Eagles converting a number of plays that kept the drive alive.
On the opposite side of the ball, Washington was unable to convert anything early on, going just 1-for-7 on 3rd in the first half. These are the types of things you can’t have happen and expect to win a game. Luckily, the defense in Washington is that good.
