The Takeaways, Week 17: Eagles at Redskins
January 1, 2019
by Steve Thomas
The Washington Redskins embarrassed themselves Sunday, and to make it worse, they propelled their hated rival into the playoffs. Absolutely no redeeming value whatsoever came out of this game; as in, not one single thing positive emerged. Usually, there’s at least one single, small thing good, but with the exception of punter Tress Way, Sunday was utterly without anything that could even remotely be considered less than terrible. Pick your negative adjective – this contest was the single worst thing that could’ve happened to the team and fanbase alike as we head into the offseason. Based on Monday’s news, or lack thereof, it appears as though the football side of the front office and coaching structure is going to remain largely the same, which isn’t necessarily a great thing, but it’s the situation we face. Without further ado, here’s the last Takeaways column of the year.
The Redskins offense looked like a bad high school team
I don’t think it’s hyperbolic to say that Sunday’s game was the worst display of Redskins offensive football that I’ve ever seen. Washington had trouble getting any sort of momentum going at all, against a Philadelphia defense that was vulnerable and not as successful as the 2017 edition. What’s left of the interior offensive line is not NFL-worthy, period. Luke Bowanko, Tony Bergstrom, and Kyle Fuller provided essentially no resistance against the Eagles pass rush and were unable to do even the minimum necessary to allow even a basic running game. The wide receivers who are left and not on injured reserve were unable to get separation, or split the zone. In the case of the interception by Josh Johnson (I’ll get to him below) on the first play of the game, Josh Doctson failed to make an effort to high-point the ball. Failing to fight for balls has been typical of his entire Redskins career. It was a humiliating afternoon for the Redskins, and was the exact wrong was to go into the offseason. The team clearly hoped to do something good and give the fans something positive to chew on for the long wait until 2019, but what they got instead, in no small measure thanks to the offense, was the opposite.
Josh Johnson may have hurt his chances of returning to Washington next season
Look, I like this guy. Sue me. His attitude has been a breath of fresh air, and if you weren’t rooting for him to make the most of his chance in Washington, you clearly have no soul. But the simple fact of the matter is that Johnson had a miserable day against the Eagles. He continually overthrew targets, held the ball too long, was unable to fit the ball into the tight windows that were sometimes required, and missed some open reads. He actually had a quarterback rating of 0.0 at halftime, which is a tough thing to accomplish. Johnson’s numbers have regressed every week since he was first thrown into the game against the Giants a month ago. Today was on another level, though; while his only mistake was the interception on the first play of the game, and I frankly don’t entirely blame him on that play, but what happened in the rest of the was actually in many ways worse. Johnson’s play made him look like the guy that’s played on 13 different teams, not the revelation with a rating of over 100 discovered on a couch in Oakland who at one point looked like a potential starter. Sunday looked more like the Johnson of record, unfortunately. If Jay Gruden is back for 2019, which seems likely, perhaps Johnson has a shot at a camp invite, but I’m not sure that’s as much of a benefit to the team as it once seemed.
The interior guard situation is an emergency
Washington will have Brandon Scherff back from his injury next year, which…thank God…but all of the rest of these guys need to be shown the door. Not a single one of the mid to late-season emergency pickups showed much before this week, and the Eagles game was their worst effort yet. Eagles’ defensive tackle Fletcher Cox had a field day, particularly later in the game opposite Kyle Fuller. The total lack of effective guard play was in no small part responsible for the complete and utter lack of a run game and for Johnson repeatedly running for his life. Adrian Peterson was mercifully taken out of the game early, but in his short time in the game he was repeatedly harassed in the backfield and had essentially no room to run anywhere but straight into the arms of an Eagles defender. If this year, and this game in particular, has proved anything, it’s that the only guard that should remain from the 2018 Redskins is Brandon Scherff. Other than, that, all of them – including Shawn Lauvao – need to be replaced for next year.
The inside linebacker group utterly failed
Remember how many times you saw the Eagles running backs gaining significant yardage on the edges and how many flat passes and screens went for good yardage? You can thank the inside linebackers for a good bit of those plays. Mason Foster and company were repeatedly caught up inside and unable to seal the edge, allowed multiple big plays by Eagles ball handlers. Shaun Dion-Hamilton actually started this game over Zach Brown, and it wasn’t an accident that Dion-Hamilton seemed to be everywhere, but overall the Eagles used and abused this group Sunday night. The Redskins need a significant talent infusion into this position group if they expect the defense to continue to make strides next season. And, no, I’m not rooting for alleged domestic abuser to see the field.
Don’t count on this game changing anything
The vast bulk of our readers and listeners, and amongst the Redskins fanbase in general, are rooting for an upheaval in the Redskins front office and in the coaching staff. Don’t count on it. If you want Jay Gruden gone, the combination of the enormous number of injuries and Jay’s two years left on his contract will likely keep him in Washington for at least one more year. I could be wrong, but that’s most likely. The team definitely laid an egg on Sunday, but the fact is that the team was 6 – 3 with Alex Smith at the helm and the team at least somewhat healthy. One horrible game isn’t likely to change Gruden’s status, and if Gruden stays, he’s not going to blow up the roster heading into year six of his tenure in DC. With Bruce Allen once again winning his power struggle with a competitor in the front office, that’s probably not going to see huge changes either, at least not based on this one game. Expect changes on the fringes, assistant coaches, etc., perhaps, but a full-scale housecleaning isn’t likely, 24 – 0 shutout notwithstanding.
That’s it for The Takeaways for this season. The year went in like a lion and out like a lamb. We’ll bring back this column for next season, so expect the next edition in about 9 months. In the meantime, be on the lookout for our written playoff preview this week, our coverage of the playoffs on the show, and our typically great offseason coverage.