Category: Latest Washington News

Dwayne Haskins demoted to third-string QB; Taylor Heinicke to start if Alex Smith can’t play

Dwayne Haskins has been demoted to QB3 for the second time this season, while Taylor Heinicke moves into the backup spot if Alex Smith can’t go.

For the second time this season, Washington quarterback Dwayne Haskins has been stripped of the starting job and demoted to the third-string spot on the roster, this time after being benched mid-game against the Carolina Panthers in favor of a practice squad player who was studying for his college finals earlier this month.

Going forward, Washington is going to be hoping and praying that QB Alex Smith will be healthy enough to play on Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles in a potential playoff-clenching game. There is some optimism that he will be ready, considering he was close to getting the nod this past week, but with an injury as complicated as No. 11’s, it’s always fair to be skeptical.

If Smith can’t go, it will be Taylor Heinicke who comes in, which might not be the worst thing in the world after his performance on Sunday in relief of Haskins, where he went 12-for-19 for 137 yards and 1 touchdown. There is some belief that with a full week of preparation, Heinicke might actually be able to play well, but the hope is still that Smith will be back under center and can get the offense where it needs to be when Washington needs a win the most.

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‘Nobody expected us to be here:’ Ron Rivera says Washington is playing with house money

Washington is on the precipice of a playoff berth in a season where nobody predicted success, which has Ron Rivera feeling calm and confident.

With a potential win in Week 17 against the Philadelphia Eagles, the Washington Football Team has a chance to secure a spot in the playoffs for the first time since 2015. If you follow this team even semi-closely, you already know this, but considering where this team has been, and where the 2020 season started, it’s pretty remarkable to realize where they are at now. After toting a 2-7 record at one point, Washington is one win away from the playoffs.

When you think about the giant turnaround that they’ve made, it’s pretty easy to be at least satisfied with the notion that Washington is on the right path towards success in the future. With that in mind, you can at least be comfortable with whatever happens this year, whether it means a playoff berth or not. Ron Rivera knows this, and he’s aware that no matter if they win or lose on Sunday against the Eagles, he can take the momentum that built this season and carry it into 2021, and start to build a successful program that can make their way into the postseason year after year.

When you consider it that way, you have nothing to lose on Sunday.

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Washington’s Week 17 game vs. Philadelphia Eagles flexed to Sunday Night Football

Washington vs. Philadelphia is now being flexed to Sunday Night Football and will decide the winner of the NFC East division.

The game between the Washington Football Team and Philadelphia Eagles is going to be worth all of the marbles for Ron Rivera and his squad, and with that weight on the outcome, the game is now being flexed to Sunday Night Football in a new schedule released by the NFL.

Washington was originally supposed to play the Eagles earlier in the day, but with the weight of the game, the league has decided to make it the primetime matchup of the weekend, with it ultimately deciding who wins the NFC East. Thanks to the outcomes on Sunday, Washington can win the division with a victory over the Eagles. If they happen to lose, the winner of New York Giants vs. Dallas Cowboys will decide the winner of the division earlier in the day.

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Top Quotes: Dwayne Haskins says past week was ‘hardest of my life’ after benching

After being unreachable at the stadium, Dwayne Haskins delivered a subdued and almost depressed interview with media members in Washington.

It was undoubtedly a tough week to be Dwayne Haskins, no matter if the hardships that were brought on were of his own making. After losing his first start in several weeks, Haskins was photographed breaking COVID-19 protocols and later had to publically apologize for his actions. He then was stripped of his team captaincy, fined $40,000, and then asked to start another game, one that would likely be his last in Washington, no matter the outcome.

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Haskins didn’t play well in that game, a 20-13 loss to the Carolina Panthers, eventually being benched for a practice squad QB after throwing 2 INTs and fumbling once. After the game, he seemingly jetted home without meeting with the media as he was supposed to. He later hopped on a Zoom call with media members and had some things to say, seemingly subdued and disappointed.

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Clinching Scenarios: Washington, New York, Dallas all still alive for NFC East title in Week 17

The NFC East was unsurprisingly bad in Week 16, which leaves the door open for 3 teams to clinch a playoff berth with a win in Week 17.

When you take a division that is as dysfunctional as the NFC East, you’re bound to have some wacky outcomes. That’s exactly what we got on Sunday afternoon in Week 16, with the Dallas Cowboys being the only team to squeak out a victory and keep the No. 4 seed playoff spot open for one last week.

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The day started with the New York Giants losing to the Baltimore Ravens, which opened the door for Washington to clinch the division title with a win over the Carolina Panthers in the afternoon. Of course, Washington lost that game, which left the door open for every other team in the division, except for the Philadelphia Eagles, who lost to the Cowboys and were eliminated from playoff contention. Heading into Week 17, here is how things stand:

The good news for Washington is that they still control their destiny, and they are playing a team in Week 17 who is already eliminated from contention. If Ron Rivera and his squad can beat the Eagles on the road in Week 17, they will be crowned division champs and be heading to the playoffs for the first time since 2015. If not, then the winner of the Giants and Cowboys game will get the nod to extend their seasons.

Everything would have been much easier if Washington had just beat the 4-10 Panthers on Sunday, but in the NFC East, especially in 2020, nothing is ever easy.

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It’s official, Dwayne Haskins let the door hit him on his way out of Washington

There was a scenario where Haskins could have given Washington fans a gift on his way out of town, but he instead dropped a stink bomb and took the first bus out of D.C.

Coming into this game for the Washington Football Team, there was a pretty general feeling that, win or lose, it would be Dwayne Haskins’ last time starting in a Washington uniform. After the maskless party gaffe that stirred up headlines earlier this week, the former first-round pick had been gifted a third chance that he didn’t deserve, and no matter what he did with it, the writing was on the wall for this future with this team. Everyone knew he would be shown the door once the season came to an end, it was just a matter of how he made his exit.

On Sunday, Haskins tripped on his shoelace, fell on his face, and was dragged out of the door.

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It was arguably one of the worst performances he’s had in a Washington uniform, considering the circumstances, and he was benched for a practice squad QB in the 4th quarter after going 14-for-28 passing with 154 yards, 2 INTs, and 1 fumble. After the game, he made things worse by reportedly skipping his postgame press conference.

We’ll see where Haskins goes from here once the 2020 season comes to an end, whether that be next week or a few weeks down the road. It’s possible that he could find a backup spot on another team and work his way up the depth chart eventually, but it’s clear that he has no future in D.C.

We all knew this to be a foregone conclusion coming into the game, but many were hoping that No. 7 could hand fans one last parting gift on the way out — a solid performance in a winnable game that could give Washington its first division title since 2015. Instead, Haskins virtually filled a water balloon with something other than water and dropped it off of a two-story building, and then darted out of town.

The first scenario would have been nice, but what ended up happening feels like a much more appropriate end to the unbearable Dwayne Haskins era in Washington.

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Ron Rivera took the biggest L in Washington’s 20-13 loss to the Carolina Panthers

Ron Rivera went against his principles and played the wrong QB on Sunday, then compounded that mistake by waiting too long to bench said QB in a brutal loss for Washington.

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Sunday was setting up to be Ron Rivera’s best day yet as the head coach of the Washington Football team, matching up with his former team and playing in what could have been a game to clinch the NFC East division and seal a playoff berth in his first year with his new team.

Instead, it ended up being quite arguably Rivera’s worst day in Washington, where one mistake compounded into several, leaving him with an embarrassing loss to a bad team at home, and leaving all their hopes for the postseason resting on the last game of the season.

Along the way, Rivera was put in an extremely unenviable position as a head coach, and he took a bit of a risk in the way that he handled it. When being handed an opportunity where the easiest move, and arguably the right move, was to release Dwayne Haskins from the team after he violated COVID-19 protocols last weekend, Rivera stuck by him, stripping him of his captaincy and fining him $40,000, but keeping him as the QB1, assuming that Alex Smith couldn’t play. We argued that this was an undercut to Rivera’s ‘culture over everything’ mentality, while others argued that it was the only option that Rivera had, claiming that every other QB on the roster was bad, and Dwayne gave the team their best chance to win.

Well, on Sunday, Dwayne single-handedly lost Washington the game, digging them into a 20-6 hole, and when QB Taylor Heinicke came into the game in the fourth quarter, he looked great and almost gave Washington a chance to come back and win the game.

Not only did Rivera make the wrong call on who to start at QB, but he waited far too long in the game to make a change as well. With the way that Haskins was playing, it was clear at the half that something needed to change, but Rivera waited until into the 4th quarter to bench No. 7, virtually making it impossible for Heinicke to have any chance at making a comeback.

Now it’s unclear who will be the QB1 next week, and clear that Haskins’ time in Washington is all but over, with him being benched for the second time this year and having approximately zero fans or supporters left in the franchise. All the while, fans and media members alike are questioning the decision making of Rivera, and wondering how different this week could have been if Haskins was released on Tuesday, rather than given an undeserved third chance.

Despite this, if Washington can find a way to win next week and clinch a playoff spot, none of it will matter. Let us all hope that’s what happens.

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Washington vs. Carolina: Dwayne Haskins gets benched, and the playoffs stay at bay

Washington wasted their opportunity to clinch a playoff birth with a win over the Panthers, instead losing 20-6 and seeing the end of the Dwayne Haskins era.

This isn’t exactly the type of Sunday that fans of the Washington Football Team had in mind. With a chance to beat the Carolina Panthers and clinch the NFC East, the exact opposite happened, with former first-round QB Dwayne Haskins playing so badly that he was benched for a practice squad player in the fourth quarter, with Washington losing, 20-13, in the end.

Washington still has a chance to clinch a playoff spot next week with a win against the Philadelphia Eagles, so all hope is not lost, especially considering that Alex Smith will hopefully return as well. Here is everything we know directly after this game.

Washington benches QB Dwayne Haskins; Taylor Heinicke to play under center

Washington has pulled the plug on the Dwayne Haskins experience, benching him after a terrible start and playing Taylor Heinicke instead.

The Washington Football Team has seen enough, and so have all of the fans as well.

After a terrible showing in Sunday’s game against the Carolina Panthers, Ron Rivera has made the decision to pull the plug on the former first-round pick, and it could very likely be the last snaps he takes in a Washington uniform. In the first three quarters, Haskins went 14-for-28 for 154 yards with 2 interceptions and one fumble. His potential last play ever with the franchise was taking a sack on 4th and 2, trailing by 14 points in the fourth quarter.

In replacement, Washington will trot QB Taylor Heinicke out there and hope that he can give them some type of production. At this point, it can’t be any worse.

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Washington Inactives: Antonio Gibson in; Alex Smith, Terry McLaurin out

Both Alex Smith and Terry McLaurin are out for this game, but Antonio Gibson will make his return to the field for the first time in weeks.

The inactives list is a mixed bag for the Washington Football Team on Sunday as they get set to go against the Carolina Panthers, though we already knew much of the news. The headline is that QB Alex Smith and WR Terry McLaurin are deemed out for this game, which will like QB Dwayne Haskins to get the starting reps under center.

Additionally, RB Antonio Gibson will be making his return to the field for the first time in over two weeks, and if he can play well while battling his turf toe injury, he could bring a huge boost to an offense that will sorely need his production.

Elsewhere on the roster, it’s good to see rookie WR Antonio Gandy-Golden be activated from the IR and on the gameday roster, giving us a chance to see him once again and hope that he can provide a spark to the offense.

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