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Over the last few weeks, we’ve repeatedly discussed the Washington Football Team’s inability to convert successful drives into points in the red zone. It’s the most apparent reason for Washington’s current four-game losing streak.
During this stretch, Washington’s oft-criticized defense has improved each week incrementally. No, this still isn’t the dominant unit many expected, but there are signs of hope.
The offense, well, that group has struggled with quarterback Taylor Heinicke. Not all of those struggles fall at the feet of Heinicke, though.
Washington’s wide receivers, not named Terry McLaurin, have failed to provide the necessary big plays. DeAndre Carter has proven to be a pleasant surprise, but with Curtis Samuel, Dyami Brown and Cam Sims sidelined for various amounts of time, the position as a whole has disappointed.
Perhaps the biggest excuse for Washington’s lack of success in the red zone is the absence of tight end, Logan Thomas. Thomas injured his hamstring early in a Week win over the Atlanta Falcons and went on injured reserve.
While Ricky Seals-Jones has played well in Thomas’ absence, Washington dearly misses the 6-foot-6, 250-pound former college quarterback.
Washington signed Thomas as a free agent in March 2020, and he went on to have a career season. Thomas caught 72 passes and six touchdowns.
Through four games this season, he caught 12 passes and two touchdowns.
Nicki Jhabvala of The Washington Post presented some eye-opening statistics to bring home how much Washington misses Thomas.
Despite missing more than 4 games this season, Logan Thomas still leads all TEs with 144 red zone rec. yards and is tied for 3rd with 8 RZ TDs since the start of 2020.
In wks 1-3 this yr, the WFT scored on every RZ drive.
Since wk 5, its RZ scoring eff. is a league-low 45.5% pic.twitter.com/HUPsoMJaPC
— Nicki Jhabvala (@NickiJhabvala) November 2, 2021
What stands out the most? Washington scored on every red-zone trip in the first three weeks. Over the last four weeks, Washington has had the worst red-zone percentage in the NFL.
Yes, Heinicke has faced his share of struggles, but, as always, context is required. Washington needs Thomas, and fortunately, he is expected to return to practice next week ahead of the Week 10 game against the Buccaneers.