We’ve said it time and again this season, but if you’re going to contribute any of Washington’s struggles this year on a single thing, it’s their inability to get off to a hot start, and a propensity to always be playing from behind.
Washington is the only team left in the NFL that is yet to score any points on their opening possession in the game, and they constantly are behind the 8-ball when it comes to the scoreboard. In 14 games this season, Washington has been trailing at halftime in 11 of them, and they’ve been down by 10 points or more at the break in 9 of those 11. That is not a recipe for success in the NFL.
Washington DT Daron Payne on what contributed to the team's slow start: "If I knew we wouldn't have started slow."
— Nicki Jhabvala (@NickiJhabvala) December 20, 2020
It happened again on Sunday, with the Seattle Seahawks building a 13-3 lead at the break, and stretching that lead to 17 points with a 50-yard touchdown run from Carlos Hyde early in the third quarter. Luckily, Washington has a defense that is good enough to make up for these mishaps, continually finding a groove in the final two quarters and allowing the offense to get back in the game. However, this is not a crutch that you want to get used to if you have any hopes of making a run in the postseason, and it’s not a habit that you want to create.
After the game on Sunday, on the Washington Talk Podcast, NBC Sports Washington’s Mitch Tischler had a theory as to what might be the reason for the slow starts, and the solution going forward…
Today, Seattle flew across country for a game on the east coast. At 11 o’clock, Russell Wilson was out there with Geno Smith and the entire receiving corps, throwing passes; you had the entire O-lines and D-lines out there warming up together in their shorts and T-shirts. Nary a Washington Football Team player to be seen, minus the guys who were testing out to see if they were going to be active or not. And just throughout the day, you saw Seattle warming up for the football game. Along the way — shirts, and then pads — they were out there 20 minutes before Washington was ever to warm up for the game with their pads on. It was just one of those things where I was watching warmups, and you could see the difference between the two football teams. I don’t know if that’s the difference between starting out ready to go and what we’ve seen from Washington, but, I don’t know, maybe they’ve got to change something in their warmups; maybe something in their arrival times. I don’t know what exactly it is that needs to change, but you can’t continue to be as inept as they are in the first half and try and win football games.
Whether it’s prep time or simply getting a feel for the rhythm of the game, it’s clear that Washington can’t continue with this trend and hope to be the successful team that they envision. Something’s got to give.
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