Category: Latest Washington News

Terry McLaurin, Chase Young, Dwayne Haskins among players to wish Joe Burrow well

Joe Burrow was carted off the field with a leg injury, and former Ohio State teammates Terry McLaurin, Chase Young, and Dwayne Haskins showed support,

It was a terrible scene on Sunday afternoon in Washington, with Cincinnati Bengals QB Joe Burrow taking a shot to the left leg and crumpling to the ground, writhing in pain.

Burrow stayed on the ground for a while, and the cart was eventually brought out to take him into the locker room. While Burrow was being loaded onto the cart, players from both teams came out to wish him well, among them were Terry McLaurin, Chase Young, and Dwayne Haskins, all of whom were teammates with Burrow at Ohio State in college.

In Burrow’s place, Ryan Finley will be the QB for the Bengals.

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WATCH: Chase Young lays huge hit on Joe Burrow, saving TD and forcing fumble

A wild sequence of events ended with Washington’s defense keeping points off the board and Chase Young absolutely CRUSHING Joe Burrow.

That was a WILD sequence of events in Washington.

To sum everything up, the Cincinnati Bengals went for it on fourth and goal, and a broken play forced Joe Burrow to scramble to the right and make a run at the endzone. After safety Troy Apke came up and slowed him down a bit, DE Chase Young came out of nowhere and laid a major hit on Burrow, forcing a fumble into the endzone.

Kamren Curl picked up the fumble, advanced it out of the endzone, and them fumbled back into the endzone, where Ronald Darby recovered for a safety. However, it was later ruled that Curl never had possession of the ball, so it was a touchback for Washington, giving them the ball at the 20.

Results of the play aside, Young made his presence felt, with the No. 2 overall pick laying the hat on the No. 1 overall pick in a potentially huge play once all is said and done.

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Final score prediction: Expect Washington to get back on track vs. Bengals

Washington has been a few simple mistakes away from victory over the past couple of weeks, and we predict they find a way to get the job done vs. Cincinnati.

We’ve talked in depth this past week about the necessity for a win for the Burgundy & Gold this week, which is an extremely apt name when you consider the uniforms they are wearing for this matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals. If Washington is going to continue forward in their race for the NFC East, it absolutely has to start with a victory on Sunday; they simply can not lose another winnable game and hope to compete for a playoff spot with the stretch of tough games coming up.

So will they be able to pull out a W against Joe Burrow and the Bengals? In all reality, I think that they will. We’ve laid out the keys to the game and offered up what Washington needs to do in order to be successful, and this is a motivated team that is coming into a week facing another bad squad capable of making mistakes. It also acts as the first of two games in a span of five days, with a matchup against the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving.

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For Washington, the biggest key to this game is going to be getting after Burrow and making him uncomfortable in the pocket. If a defensive line that is headlined by Chase Young — mainly because of his draft proximity to Burrow — is able to blow up Cincinnati’s porous offensive front and stop the former Heisman-winner from picking apart this secondary that is banged up back deep. The Bengals have allowed the second-most sacks of any team in the NFL this season, and we’ve all seen what Washington can do against bad fronts. Expect somewhere in the range of 5-7 sacks, and hopefully a couple of turnovers as well.

On the offensive side of the ball, the name of the game is giving Alex Smith time to go to work. The O-line in Washington is banged up a bit, with Morgan Moses switching over to LT and David Sharpe stepping in at RT. However, that duo did pretty well in those positions last weekend, so there is some hope that they will be able to hold their own once again. For Smith, who is coming off of his first-ever back-to-back games with more than 300 yards passing, he needs to continue to spread the ball around and find a growing list of young receivers. If Washington can evenly spread their offensive production between short and intermediate passes, as well as giving a healthy share of touches to RB Antonio Gibson, then we could see a methodical approach get the job done.

However, one of the biggest keys to the game is for Washington’s offense to finish drives early and often, and avoid leaving points on the board, as we’ve seen routinely this season. If they can do all of this, I see a pretty easy win for Washington, in all honestly. It’s one thing to say it and see it on paper, but now they need to go out and get the job done.

Prediction: Washington 31, Bengals 20

Inactives List: Dustin Hopkins good to go, Cornelius Lucas ruled out

Cornelius Lucas has been ruled out, leaving Morgan Moses to start at LT, with David Sharpe getting the nod at RT vs. the Bengals.

Washington got the news that it was expecting on Sunday morning, with kicker Dustin Hopkins being ruled active for the game vs. the Cincinnati Bengals, while left tackle Cornelius Lucas was ruled out. This does not come as a major surprise on the offensive line front, since Lucas missed all of practice with week with an ankle injury.

In his place, right tackle Morgan Moses will move over to the LT spot, as he did last week, while David Sharpe will step in at RT. The duo did well at those positions against the Detroit Lions, and will be asked to tread water once again.

Elsewhere on the injury report, safety Deshazor Everett was expectedly ruled out, while WR Dontrelle Inman also continues to battle a hamstring injury.

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Keys to victory: 3 ways Washington can pick up a must-win game vs. Bengals

Washington can’t afford to lose to the Bengals and stay in the race for the NFC East, so they need to take care of these 3 aspects of the game on Sunday.

Since we haven’t heard anything different from the coaching staff in Washington this past week, we are still to be operating under the assumption that this team is doing everything they can to win week-in and week-out in order to try and scrape their way into the NFC East division lead and subsequent playoff spot that comes with it. As of now, Washington is 1.5 games out of first place in the division, trailing both the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants, while tied with the Dallas Cowboys for last place.

If Washington is going to make up any ground on the rest of the teams in their division, it is absolutely imperative that they find a win on Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals. So far during this stretch of ‘winnable games’ that started in Week 9 against the Giants, things haven’t gone great for Washington, who is now 0-2 with losses to both New York and the Detroit Lions. If they want any chance of meeting their lofty goal of making the post-season this year, it has to start with a win over the Bengals. If not, everything shifts to the NFL draft next year.

Here are some major things that Washington needs to focus on if they’re going to come out with a victory.

Kevin Pierre-Louis fined $15,000 for hit on Matthew Stafford in Week 10

Kevin Pierre-Louis is being fined $15,000 for a hit that he put on Lions’ QB Matthew Stafford in last week’s loss to Detroit.

The NFL announced a bunch of fines to players on Saturday afternoon, one of which came down for Washington’s linebacker Kevin Pierre-Louis for a hit he laid on Detroit Lions’ QB Matthew Stafford in the Week 10 loss. The hit drew a penalty for lowering his head.

The size of the fine, $15,000, is a bit odd, considering that Washington linebacker Jon Bostic was fined just $12,000 a few weeks ago for his hit on Dallas Cowboys QB Andy Dalton, which was a much more serious shot than the one that KPL laid on Stafford a week ago. Dalton ended up motionless on the ground and was later placed in the concussion protocol. He recently remarked that he was surprised by how little Bostic was fined for the hit.

So why was Pierre-Louis’ hit more costly than Bostic’s? That’s a question that we don’t have the answer to, but Washington’s linebacker will be walking around with some lighter pockets after this week.

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Washington promotes DB Cole Luke from practice squad; signed to 2-year deal

Washington promoted former Carolina Panthers DB Cole Luke to the active roster from the practice squad and adding depth to the secondary.

The Washington Football Team is making a roster move to start the weekend, promoting DB COle Luke from the practice squad and signing him to a two-year deal.

Luke spent two years with the Carolina Panthers after signing with the Ron Rivera-coached team in 2017 after going undrafted out of Notre Dame. In Carolina, Luke played in 8 games in 2019 where he amassed just three total tackles.

Luke is listed as a DB, but he primarily plays at the cornerback position. With the injuries that Washington has had at safety, losing Landon Collins for the season and now Deshazor Everett for an unknown amount of time with a high ankle sprain, it will be interesting to see how Washington deploys Luke and where he will fit in the secondary.

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Washington still sees a future for Dwayne Haskins: ‘Few people can throw a ball like that’

We don’t know when we will see Dwayne Haskins on the field next, but it’s clear that there are chapters left to be written in his career.

At this point in time, it’s unclear when we are going to see Washington quarterback Dwayne Haskins on the field again. It could happen this week against the Cincinnati Bengals should he need to fill in for Alex Smith (*furiously knock on wood*) or it could be a few weeks down the road, should Washington be eliminated from playoff contention. Heck, it could be that the next time we see Haskins play football is in a different uniform for all we know.

What matters, though, is that the coaching staff in Washington, primarily QB coach Ken Zampese, is holding onto the notion that there is hope for Haskins, and he has a future as a quarterback in the NFL.

The main thing that Haskins has had going for him throughout his entire NFL career has been his arm strength, which many say is among the best in the league. However, his lack of experience in college mixed with the tumultuous situation he was thrown into in the NFL set him up for failure, and by the time that Ron Rivera got a good sample size from him, he made the decision that Haskins wasn’t ready. Yet.

There is still a lot of learning to be done and maturation to take place, but there is some hope that Haskins’ career hasn’t had the book closed before it’s really begun. We don’t know if the next chapters will take place in Washington or not, but it’s pretty apparent that there are more chapters to be written, at the very least.

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Washington Injury Report: Cornelius Lucas, Ryan Anderson out; Isaiah Wright, Dustin Hopkins questionable

It’s a loaded injury report for Washington this weekend, with Cornelius Lucas out, while Isaiah Wright and Dustin Hopkins are questionable.

The Washington Football Team will be hampered with injuries this weekend against the Cincinnati Bengals, with a number of players already designated as out for Sunday’s game before the weekend even starts.

Most notably, left tackle Cornelius Lucas will be forced to sit after missing the entire week of practice. Washington has been prepared for this, playing RT Morgan Moses at the LT position while plugging David Sharpe in at RT, and it looks like they’ll need to go ahead and implement that lineup for Sunday.

Another player who popped up on the report is rookie WR Isaiah Wright, who has been a revelation so far this season after going undrafted in April. Wright has been at practice all week, but carries a questionable designation for Sunday, as does kicker Dustin Hopkins, who has been dealing with a groin injury for the past couple of weeks.

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Washington’s success hinges on the ability to pressure Joe Burrow this weekend

Washington ranks 5th in the NFL in total sacks, while Joe Burrow has been sacked the second-most of any QB this year. That’s a recipe for success.

If we are still operating under the assumption that the Washington Football Team needs to win every game they can in order to inch closer to the division lead in the NFC East, then this weekend’s matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals is absolutely crucial for Ron Rivera.

More importantly, it becomes crucial for defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio and his defense, who will need to step up in a major way to help out the team, shutting down Bengals’ young star QB Joe Burrow and making life easy on the offense. In order for them to do this, the biggest key will be for the defensive line to get pressure on Burrow, and take away his comfortability in the pocket.

For Washington, rushing the passer has been a bit up and down so far this season. They rank 5th in the NFL with 28 sacks on the season, but a lot of their success has come against NFC East teams, with 19 of those sacks coming against the Eagles, Cowboys, and Giants in the span of three games. Outside of that, Washington has struggled to get a presence in the opposing backfield, though they are getting better as the season goes on.

“For us, it’s just to build on the start that we had to the season,” Del Rio said, via WashingtonFootball.com. “We’re looking to continually improve. We established high standards. Our expectations are very high. We’re going to keep pushing for that. …We’re seeking to be better, and we should be better as the year goes on.”

In order to make sure they can grab a win on Sunday and improve to 3-7, getting Burrow to the ground will be the number one goal. The Bengals have allowed the second-most sacks in the NFL this season, and watching Burrow try to evade pressure has become a Sunday afternoon ritual at this point.

It needs to stay that way this weekend, or Washington may need to pull the plug on this race to the playoffs ideology. Who knows, that could be a good thing as well.

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