Category: Latest Washington News

Division Round-Up: Will any NFC East teams find a win in Week 3?

Judging by what we’ve seen so far this year, it’s easy to believe that the NFC East will be held winless this weekend.

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Once again, the NFC East has been the laughing stock of the NFL through two weeks of the season, with the Washington Football Team tied with the Dallas Cowboys for first place in the division at 1-1. Even that doesn’t quite give the whole story, as the Cowboys are lucky to even have a win on the calendar after an incredible comeback win over the Atlanta Falcons, who conveniently forgot how to play special teams late in the game.

Through just two weeks of the 2020 season, the NFC East boasts a total record of 2-6, and the Week 3 slate doesn’t look to be much easier.

Washington (1-1) vs. Cleveland Browns (1-1)

Philadelphia Eagles (0-2) vs. Cincinnati Bengals (0-2)

Dallas Cowboys (1-1) vs. Seattle Seahawks (2-0)

New York Giants (0-2) vs. San Francisco 49ers (1-1)

It may not be the toughest schedule we’ve ever seen, but how many wins can you find in that group? As much as we hate to admit it, Washington is facing an uphill battle against the Browns. Dallas will partake in the game of the week against Russell Wilson and the Seahawks, who look unstoppable through two weeks. Both the Giants and Eagles have the two easiest matchups here, but neither team has given us any reason to believe that they can put together a win. The 49ers are playing without half of their starters due to injury, and Cincinnatti’s only redeeming quality is that Joe Burrow looks like the real deal, playing with a below-average roster around him. Despite this, I still wouldn’t be surprised to see both teams fall to 0-3 on Sunday.

What does this mean? Well, it could very well be Washington and Dallas again tied for the NFC East lead with 1-2 records, and the division as a whole will continue to be the butt of the joke around the league.

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Division Round-Up: Will any NFC East teams find a win in Week 3?

Judging by what we’ve seen so far this year, it’s easy to believe that the NFC East will be held winless this weekend.

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Once again, the NFC East has been the laughing stock of the NFL through two weeks of the season, with the Washington Football Team tied with the Dallas Cowboys for first place in the division at 1-1. Even that doesn’t quite give the whole story, as the Cowboys are lucky to even have a win on the calendar after an incredible comeback win over the Atlanta Falcons, who conveniently forgot how to play special teams late in the game.

Through just two weeks of the 2020 season, the NFC East boasts a total record of 2-6, and the Week 3 slate doesn’t look to be much easier.

Washington (1-1) vs. Cleveland Browns (1-1)

Philadelphia Eagles (0-2) vs. Cincinnati Bengals (0-2)

Dallas Cowboys (1-1) vs. Seattle Seahawks (2-0)

New York Giants (0-2) vs. San Francisco 49ers (1-1)

It may not be the toughest schedule we’ve ever seen, but how many wins can you find in that group? As much as we hate to admit it, Washington is facing an uphill battle against the Browns. Dallas will partake in the game of the week against Russell Wilson and the Seahawks, who look unstoppable through two weeks. Both the Giants and Eagles have the two easiest matchups here, but neither team has given us any reason to believe that they can put together a win. The 49ers are playing without half of their starters due to injury, and Cincinnatti’s only redeeming quality is that Joe Burrow looks like the real deal, playing with a below-average roster around him. Despite this, I still wouldn’t be surprised to see both teams fall to 0-3 on Sunday.

What does this mean? Well, it could very well be Washington and Dallas again tied for the NFC East lead with 1-2 records, and the division as a whole will continue to be the butt of the joke around the league.

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Injury Report: Steven Sims and Morgan Moses questionable, Cole Holcomb out vs. Browns

Cole Holcomb will be held out of the game against Cleveland on Sunday, while Steven Sims and Morgan Moses are both questionable.

The final injury report for the Washington Football Team has been released ahead of their Week 3 matchup with the Cleveland Browns, and it looks quite a bit better than it did earlier in the week, with only Saahdiq Charles and Cole Holcomb being ruled out for Sunday’s game.

WR Steven Sims Jr. and RT Morgan Moses have been listed as questionable to play. Both were on the field at practice going through full work on Friday, but they are a couple of players who will be game-time decisions in Cleveland.

Yet again, we were graced with the fact that Kendall Fuller’s name was not listed on the final injury report, which will likely lead to him starting his first game back in Washington on Sunday. The secondary could really use it with a matchup against Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry.

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Report: Dan Snyder’s refusal to pay dividends to shareholders led to change in team name

A report from the New York Times shows that Dan Snyders refusal to pay dividends to shareholders led to a change in the team name.

Likely the main reason for Washington’s decision to change its name to the Washington Football Team this past summer has finally come to light.

According to a post from The New York Times, team owner Dan Snyder deferred paying annual dividends to three shareholders who collectively hold 40 percent of the franchise, leading to a “bitter boardroom brawl” that prompted a legal firestorm, a fight over the club’s name and mudslinging among former friends.

At the center of the legal fight were Snyder, as well as minority owners Fred Smith, Dwight Schar, and Robert Rothmann.

Days after the N.F.L. arbitration was set into motion, the legal counsel for FedEx, where Smith is chairman, sent the team a letter saying the company would demand that its name be removed from the stadium, where it has been displayed since 1999, if the team’s name was not changed. FedEx pays about $8 million a year for the naming rights to the team’s stadium in Landover, Md. Less than two weeks later, Snyder announced that the name and logo would be replaced.

According to the report, the missed dividend payment might have had a direct influence on the team’s decision to change its name, which came after several minority owners publicly asked Snyder to sell the team.

The legal battle over financials is nowhere close to finished, and Snyder has made it known that he has no intention of selling his share of the team, which accounts for approximately 60 percent, which is held by either himself or his family.

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Injury Report: Fuller, Kerrigan are full participants; Steven Sims limited

Kendall Fuller seems primed to make his season debut this weekend, while WR Steven Sims is someone to keep an eye on in Washington.

Things are looking a bit better for Washington after Thursday’s injury report, with several players who were limited or out on Wednesday becoming full participants in practice once again. Among those players with hopes to play this weekend are Ryan Kerrigan, Ryan Anderson, and Thomas Davis.

For the second straight day, CB Kendall Fuller was not listed on the injury report, which is great news for Washington fans.

A small concern should be WR Steven Sims Jr., who was limited in practice once again. Sims was banged up a bit in the game against Arizona, though he eventually returned to the field and continued to play. We will keep an eye on him throughout the rest of the week.

Another thing to note is that rookie LT Saahdiq Charles is once again on the injury report, after being removed last week. Rivera stated to the media after practice on Thursday that Charles suffered a minor setback with his calf injury, something that held him out of the entire training camp period.

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Is the Washington coaching staff completely ignoring analytics?

With analytics-driven decisions sweeping the NFL landscape, it’s fair to ask if Washington’s refusal to hop on board is impacting success.

In a number-driven society where stats are starting to sway decisions more than they ever have, analytics are becoming increasingly important. Of course, many people read the word ‘analytics’ in the headline to this article and turned away completely, but if you’ve decided to read on, good for you, you’re adapting to the new world.

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Analytics is a nasty buzz word that has gotten a terrible wrap so far in the sporting world, mainly in the NBA. While older players are reluctant to accept the 3-point revolution that was swept the sport, numbers back up the fact that taking a slightly lower-percentage shot worth more points is going to benefit you in the long run. Analytics have made their way into football as well, with many coaching staffs looking to the numbers to help them decide when to go for it on fourth down, what percentage of pass vs. run plays to call, and even the type of players to draft, and when you should take them. If you look across the league, some of the best teams in the NFL are known for their stout analytic departments, with the Baltimore Ravens leading the way.

So can a reluctance to incorporate analytics directly correlate with a lack of success in the NFL? It’s possible, with the inconvenient truth being that the Washington Football Team was voted as the No. 1 team who is least analytically advanced, according to a poll for ESPN. 

Washington, which received the most votes, has one staffer listed in a hybrid analytics/scouting assistant role. The team ranked second worst behind the Packers in fourth-down decision-making in 2019, though that may change with new coach Ron Rivera, who is famous for his aggressive fourth-down choices. Carolina, his former team, had the third-best ratio of win probability gained to win probability lost on fourth downs last season.

While it’s fair to question if Rivera’s staff will lead a new analytically charged turnaround in Washington, it’s also fair to question how closely numbers are tied to wins. The Ravens were voted as the most analytically-advanced team, which makes sense, but the runners-up were listed as follows:

  • Cleveland Browns
  • Philadelphia Eagles
  • Houston Texans

Through two weeks this season, that’s a 1-5 record coming from those teams. Coincidentally, here are the teams who followed Washington as the least-analytically advanced:

  • Tennessee Titans
  • Cincinnati Bengals
  • New York Giants
  • Pittsburgh Steelers

Obviously, that’s more of a mixed bag, but considering that both the Titans and Steelers are among the top teams in the league, it’s fair to question the data.

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With a new way of thinking spreading throughout the NFL, there are always going to be doubters, and a lot of the doubts are going to be founded. What will be interesting to watch, though, is whether or not the coaching staff in Washington chooses to buy into the new wave, and if it will end up helping them in the future. No matter what they decide to do, it’s clear first and foremost that they can’t continue to rank near the bottom of the league in any category for much longer.

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What happened to Washington’s RB’s being involved in passing game?

Scott Turner’s offense was touted as a complicated beast that gets RBs out in the passing game, but we’ve seen very little of that so far.

Remember when Scott Turner’s offense was touted as a high-functioning and high-flying scheme that would move running backs in and out of the backfield, often using them as receivers, while using receivers like Steven Sims Jr. as a running back on sweeps? What happened to that?

Four catches for a total of six yards, on nine targets.

That’s not just the receiving stat line for Antonio Gibson, but rather for Gibson and J.D. McKissic combined. Through two games of the season, we’ve seen nowhere near the amount of workload in the passing game that we were expecting to see for the RBs in Washington, and it’s rightfully leading to some questions.

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The simple answer as to why we aren’t seeing this wrinkle of the offense just yet is because the first couple weeks of the season have virtually been an extension of the non-existent preseason. Without a chance to get players familiar with the new offense, Turner is undoubtedly still rolling out some new ideas and playsheets, hoping that Dwayne Haskins can get comfortable with the offense and grow confident in plays he’s running. The same can be said for Gibson, who is a rookie RB that didn’t have a huge workload in college at Memphis, where he only carried the ball a total of 33 times in his career, and often lined up in the slot or split out wide, rather than behind the QB in the backfield.

This is obviously not a time for panic, and if you have any trust in Washington’s offense, then you can trust that Turner will start to expand his play-calling sheet and look to get Gibson and McKissic involved in the passing game. Going forward, however, this is absolutely something to watch as we wait for the offense to start rolling.

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Terry McLaurin receives high praise from NFL legend Larry Fitzgerald on Instagram

After facing off against each other last weekend, Larry Fitzgerlad heaped praise on Terry McLaurin via his Instagram account.

What’s better than having a living legend praise you for your good work?

That’s something that you’ll have to ask Washington wide receiver Terry McLaurin, who received some high praise from Larry Fitzgerald, a future Hall-of-Famer who is arguably the most accomplished receiver still playing the game.

McLaurin and Fitzgerald finally got a chance to square off last weekend when the Cardinals hosted Washington, and while Larry Legend may have gotten the last laugh, it was the young star who is turning heads.

“The best is yet to come for this young man,” Fitzgerald wrote in his IG caption. “Keep grinding and perfecting your craft. You’re putting the league on notice.”

It would be hard to find someone in the NFL who’s words mean more than Fitzgeralds. In a career that will undoubtedly be filled with memorable moments, this has to rank up there with the best for McLaurin.

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Ron Rivera says Troy Apke ‘didn’t play as bad as people think he did’

One of the biggest takeaways from Washington’s loss on Sunday was the struggle of Troy Apke, but Rivera is defending him to the media.

One of the biggest disappointments from Sunday’s game against the Arizona Cardinals was the performance that Washington saw from safety Troy Apke. While he routinely seemed to miss out on plays and succumb to busted coverages, head coach Ron Rivera is now defending him when talking to the media, saying that he didn’t play nearly as bad as many people think he did.

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This could be true, as it’s often the case that a missed assignment by one player in the secondary can be blamed on the wrong person, but it seemed that Apke was consistently in the wrong place at the wrong time on Sunday, and it left a lot of fans calling for him to be benched.

What matters going forward is that the coaching staff seems to have a little bit of faith in him, so let’s hope that he can prove all of us wrong.

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Injury Report: Kendall Fuller is healthy; Ryan Kerrigan, Steven Sims DNP in practice

The latest injury report shows that Kendall Fuller may return Sunday, but there are a ton of other injuries to worry about in Washington.

One step forward, and two steps back.

Washington fans got some encouraging news on Wednesday when it was revealed that CB Kendall Fuller was not listed on the injury report, which would hopefully lead to his season debut on Sunday against the Cleveland Browns. However, a load of other names popped up on the report, including Ryan Kerrigan, Thomas Davis, Saahdiq Charles, Cole Holcomb, Steven Sims, Ryand Anderson, and Morgan Moses.

Of that group, Moses was the only one to play, though he was limited, while the others sat out the practice or did individual work on the sides.

Going into what is going to be a tough matchup for Washington’s defense, it’s important to have as many bodies as possible to try and slow down the Browns offense. It will be nice to potentially have Fuller back in the secondary, but fingers crossed that more people can get healthy between now and Sunday.

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