By Joe Pohoryles
What a finish.
The Washington Football Team snuck past the New York Giants 30-29 on a last-second field goal on Thursday Night Football. Washington is now 1-1 on the season and looking to upset Buffalo next week.
A win is a win, and the finish was exciting, but that does not change the fact that this team is not who we thought they were.
After a lackluster performance against an admittedly stellar LA Chargers offense, allowing 14 of 19 third down conversions, and after making Giants quarterback Daniel Jones look like Lamar Jackson White – I mean, Lamar Jackson Lite – the Washington defense cannot be considered a top-tier unit.
It’s not all terrible; Jonathan Allen is a beast, and Benjamin St-Juste looks better than a typical rookie.
Still, the “vaunted” defensive line cannot produce enough pressure, and the secondary is leaving too many guys wide open. The Darius Slayton near-touchdown will be what everyone talks about (and rightly so, William Jackson III might show up on IR next week after getting burned like that), but all night Giants’ receivers had moments with no one within a 10-yard radius.
With the Slayton dagger averted, the offense had the opportunity to run the clock out with under three minutes to go. Just a couple first-down conversions, and the game ends 27-26, but Washington hurler Taylor Heinicke’s second-down dart to Terry McLaurin gets picked by James Bradberry to put the Giants within 30 yards of the end zone. Even with the questionable play call (passing on 2nd and 7 when trying to milk the clock?), you just can’t turn the ball over in that situation.
Credit the defense for holding the Giants to just a field goal. That doesn’t excuse the overall performance these past two weeks, but at least they got the stop where it mattered.
Now, Heinicke, after having the game in his hands, had two minutes and one timeout to drive down the field and take it back. And he did… sort of.
He drove the offense down to setup a 48-yard attempt for the inconsistent Dustin Hopkins, who of course missed and sealed a 29-27 loss.
But wait, the Giants were offsides! A gift from Dexter Lawrence. Hopkins has another shot, this time from 43 yards, and (barely) gets the ball inside the right goal post. After all the back-and-forth, Washington gets the victory.
A win is a win, but boy were there a lot of breaks.
Every positive about this performance has a qualifier:
Last night, Heinicke drives the offense down the field within field goal range on the final drive, and earlier in the fourth tossed a beautiful dime to Ricky Seals-Jones in the back corner of the end zone to take the lead. The moment was not too big for him.
But… he put too much air under a lot of his passes, was not as effective as he could have been when running the ball himself, and of course threw the inexcusable interception. That latter point has Kirk Cousins written all over it.
My biggest gripe about Heinicke is he hasn’t shown he can win games. I’ll give him a pass in last year’s Wild Card Game; he was electric and no way they beat Tom Brady and the eventual Super Bowl champions.
He can drive the offense better than any Washington quarterback since Cousins, but can he win games? Even with the limited sample size, I wasn’t sure. Last night’s performance was a mostly positive indicator, so hopefully experience brings out more of the good and less of the bad.
Another positive: Washington won the game on a last-second field goal.
But… without getting bailed out by opportune penalties a handful of times (the missed 48-yarder, the long Jones touchdown, etc.), this game easily would have been a loss. Washington dodged a bullet, but if this season is Russian Roulette, there are a lot more loaded up in the chamber.
Positive #3: The offensive line looked marginally better than last week
But… way too many penalties, especially from rookie Sam Cosmi. Call it growing pains, but man has got to stop holding. The line itself needs to play better in general, and the first step is limiting penalties.
Positive #4: Logan Thomas and McLaurin were reliable as always.
But… ok there’s not a qualifier for everything. Those two, and really most of the receiving corps, bailed out Heinicke multiple times on those high balls. Those guys are some dawgs. I just hope we see Curtis Samuel at 100 percent this season.
It’s only Week 2; there’s time for change. Regardless, we need to stop kidding ourselves with this defense. The hype entering this season is gone. It’s time to start delivering. The national media will be slow to catch up and will still call this group “elite.” I don’t want to hear any of it anymore.
Oh gee, how on Earth will Josh Allen respond to this terrifying defensive line, along with the rest of the defense? Did you know all four starters on this line were former first-round picks?
Shut up, play-by-play announcer yet to be determined. It took one of the Giants’ starting offensive linemen breaking his leg for the pass rush to look passable, pun not intended. (On a serious note, wishing a speedy recovery to Nick Gates. Hate to see that happen to anyone.)
Even after that, with the exception of a few breakthrough plays, the pressure was lackluster. The defense has to perform up to their standard, plain and simple. Until that happens, enough with the acclaims.
A win is a win, I’ll take that any day of the week. Especially over a division rival, and especially if it means breaking a five-game losing streak against this team. Still, it’s difficult to feel totally satisfied.
Cover Photo Credit: Patrick Semansky/AP Photo
The Wildcard 