Saints’ Hail Mary TD a perfect example of what’s wrong with Washington’s defense

Washington was supposed to have one of the NFL’s best defenses. But it’s all fallen apart, and one play vs. the Saints proved it.

On paper, the Washington Football Team has one of the NFL’s best defenses. They have four first-round picks on their defensive line. They signed former Bengals cornerback William Jackson III in the off-season, and Jackson is one of the league’s best man-to-man cornerbacks. Safety Kamren Curl really showed up in 2020 as a seventh-round rookie when veteran Landon COllins got hurt. And the first-round selection this year of Kentucky linebacker Jamin Davis was supposed to cure the one issue that defense had from a positional perspective.

Of course, they play football on a field, not on paper. And on the field, Washington’s defense has been problematic at best, and hot garbage at worst. They came into their Week 5 game against the Saints ranked 28th in Defensive DVOA after finishing the 2020 season ranked third.

What’s the problem? One issue may be that Washington is playing a lot more man coverage this season than they did in 2020, and despite the addition of Jackson, they’re not very good at it. Another issue could very well be defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio and his staff. There are those in and around the league who believe that Washington’s coverage concepts and situational awareness come up short in ways that point the arrow right at Del Rio.

Washington’s defense allowed Saints quarterback Jameis Winston to throw four touchdown passes in Sunday’s 33-22 New Orleans win, and the most disconcerting touchdown came as time expired at the end of the first half. Winston threw up a prayer to the end zone from the Washington 49-yard line, and receiver Marquez Callaway took it in to put the Saints up, 20-13.

You may notice here that Callaway is the only player jumping up for the ball, while all Washington defenders are decidedly at ground level. Cue Tom Jackson yelling, “KNOCK IT DOWN!” on the old NFL Primetime shows. Next Gen Stats rubbed it in with the improbability of this touchdown.

So, what happened here? According to Collins, Washington was not expecting a Hail Mary… from Jameis Winston… as time expired at the end of the first half. No, really.

“We were just thinking field goal, not Hail Mary,” Collins said, via NBC Sports Washington. “When the ball went up in the air, we just [weren’t] prepared for that. “We were expecting them to try and get the ball to the outside and try and get a field goal before half.”

“We weren’t expecting them to go Hail Mary there,” Jackson added. “A regular football team would try and get yards and kick a field goal. They did the right play at the right time.”

Head coach Ron Rivera said that “We were supposed to have a man deep.”

Yes, one would imagine that would be a great idea. Especially since, as running back Alvin Kamara said after the game, this is a considerable part of practice efforts.

“We practice it. We literally practice that at the end of practice. From landmarks to where Jameis is throwing it, every single detail of that, so I wasn’t really surprised when Marquez caught it. But it almost goes unnoticed how much we practice it and practice it and practice it, so how many times [does] it come up in a year? It’s not like an every game thing so when you’re able to get that off it’s like a walk-off home run. It’s deflating.”

It’s especially deflating when nobody on the defense is prepared for it. And it’s even worse when such a play perfectly illustrates a defense in disarray, playing well below its talent level.