The Takeaways, Week 4: Washington at Atlanta

October 4, 2021

by Steve Thomas

Welcome to The Takeaways, week 4 edition, which is The Hog Sty’s effort to provide you with the big picture, “around the watercooler” stories from each’s week’s Washington football game.  This week, the Redskins Washington defeated Atlanta 34 – 30 on Sunday afternoon to bring them to .500 on the season at 2 wins and 2 losses and wrap up the first quarter of the season (sort of).  Both teams made plenty of mistakes and did their best to give away the game, but we’ll cover it all here.  The Takeaways begin below.

What happened here today?

I’m still not totally sure how Washington came away with a victory in this game.  This contest featured multiple crazy plays, highlighted by a hail mary touchdown pass to Terry McLaurin from a backwards-falling Taylor Heinicke, a tremendous effort by J.D. McKissic on a leaping, game-winning touchdown, a special teams touchdown (see below), multiple critical scrambles by Heinicke, several strange game-changing penalties, a failed hail mary by the Falcons with 1 second left, and more.  Objectively, this was a very entertaining game for viewers with no rooting interest.  I’m not sure that the fact that (1) the defense gave up 30 points, again, and (2) it took a series of crazy plays for Washington to beat a substandard Atlanta team is necessary totally a good thing, but the bottom line is that Washington came away with a victory, by hook or by crook.

Terry McLaurin’s big day

I told you in our game preview episode of The Hog Sty that McLaurin was poised to take advantage of the Falcons secondary and have a big day, and that’s exactly what he did, making 6 receptions in 13 targets for 123 yards and 2 touchdowns.  McLaurin has continued to show the world this season that he belongs in the pantheon of the NFL’s elite, with 107 yards against the Giants two weeks ago.  This week, McLaurin dominated, with multiple deep receptions both down the sidelines and over the middle.  He is the best player on this offense and proved it yet again this week.  Washington probably doesn’t with this game without him.

DeAndre Carter proves his worth

Carter scored Washington’s 29th touchdown on a kickoff return in franchise history – Carter’s first touchdown of his NFL career – going 101 yards on a play that he was in no small part responsible for creating.  The Redskins’ last touchdown on a kickoff return came on November 24, 2019, on a Steven Sims 91 yard effort.  For those of you wondering, 4 players are tied for the all-time franchise lead with 2 each: Andy Farkas in 1939 and 1942, Hall of Famer Bobby Mitchell in 1962 and 1963, 2021 Hall of Fame nominee Brian Mitchell in 1997 and 1998, and Eddie Saenz, who had 2 in 1947.  Carter’s touchdown was tied with Rashad Ross and Brian Mitchell for the second longest in team history behind Larry Jones’ 102 yard return in 1974.  Carter also continues to make the occasional contribution on offense, this week featuring an important 24 yard reception on Washington’s game-winning touchdown late in the fourth quarter.  Carter has stabilized Washington’s return game and is proving to be a free agent success story.

The offensive line created rushing lanes

The offensive line had a quality game, which was even more impressive considering that All Pro Brandon Scherff went down with a knee injury in the second half.  They mostly protected quarterback Taylor Heinicke, giving up only one sack, and opened up decent rushing lanes for most of the game, which allowed Antonio Gibson to average 4.5 yards per attempt on 14 carries.  Certainly, Atlanta’s defensive front 7 is not as talented as others Washington has already faced this season, but at the end of the day the offensive line got the job done and has continued to get stronger as this early portion of the season has progressed.

Huge secondary mistakes almost cost Washington the win

Washington’s secondary did not match the performance of the offensive line, with multiple poor plays and penalties that nearly cost Washington the game.  The most glaring, obvious error was the failure by free safety Bobby McCain to properly play his deep zone in cover 3 to leave Atlanta’s Cordarrelle Patterson wide open for the first of his three touchdown receptions.  McCain wasn’t the only one at fault, though, with William Jackson, Torry McTyer, and others also committing critical errors.  Washington was fairly lucky that the Falcons receivers dropped several easy and important receptions – without those drops, the Falcons might have escaped with a victory.  This was yet another poor effort by the secondary.

Body bag game

The injuries really mounted for Washington as the game progressed, with Logan Thomas going down with a hamstring injury and not returning, as well as other injuries of various other degrees to Cole Holcomb, Dyami Brown (knee – did not return), the aforementioned Scherff (knee – did not return), Jonathan Bostic (shoulder), Cam Sims (hamstring), Antonio Gibson, Terry McLaurin, Jonathan Allen, and Torry McTyer, who was carted off on the last play of the game.

Bonus Takeaway: Dustin Hopkins watch

Hopkins missed two extra points this week – one looked like a bad hold – and converted a 21 yard field goal.  He is now 7 for 8 on field goals for the year (not counting his do-over game winner against the Giants) and is 8 for 10 on extra points.  I’m sure the fans will bring the pitchforks this week, but let me know if anyone can identify someone better and more consistent over many years at this point in the season.

That’s it for this week.  I’ll be back for another edition of The Takeaways after next week’s visit by the New Orleans Saints.