Observations on Preseason Week 1: Washington at Cleveland

August 14, 2023

by Steve Thomas

Washington’s 2023 season officially got underway this past Friday with the first preseason game taking place against the Cleveland Browns, in Cleveland.  The Redskins The Washington Football Team The Commanders Washington won 17 – 15, but that’s not what’s really important.  More critically, we were able to learn a little bit about where the 2023 version of this team currently stands.  I came away with a number of big-picture items that stuck out to me as a result of this game, mostly good, but a couple that were not so good.  Let’s review.

Sam Howell

Howell went 9 for 12 for 77 yards and 1 touchdown, for a 119.2 quarterback rating, in 22 plays over a little more than one quarter of work.  He got lucky when the refs deprived the Browns of a pick 6 courtesy of a blown call in Howell’s final series early in the second quarter, but the ball Howell threw on that play was a quality pass.  He was hurt by some poor pass blocking, but overall, Howell looked calm and collected, and made good decisions and passes.  Yes, it was only one quarter of the first preseason game, against an opponent which hadn’t game planned for him, but still: I view this as about as positive of a first start of the new season as we had a right to expect.  As an added bonus, Howell also demonstrated some athleticism on a scramble.  It’s still very early, but if this is a sign of things to come, then Washington has reason for optimism this season in the quarterback room.

Running game

In contrast to Howell’s performance, the running game’s overall results were a bit more more tempered, but still mostly a net positive.  The unquestioned star of the show was rookie sixth round draft pick Chris Rodriguez, who had 5 carries for 39 yards, for an average of 7.8 yards per carry, beginning in the second quarter.  His long carry was 12 yards, so subtracting that carry out of his stats leaves 4 carries for 27 yards, which is still an outstanding 6.8 yards per carry.  For his part, Brian Robinson only had 3 carries, which isn’t much of a sample size, but he gained 16 yards.  One of those carries went for 11 yards, thereby showing the remaining two carries to be essentially ineffective, but it wasn’t enough of a work load to take too much from.  Antonio Gibson’s 2 carries for 7 yards was about what everyone should have expected.  The main running game-related takeaway from this game is that Rodriguez did well and set himself up for a bigger role in the future.  He appears to be mostly a hard-nosed, downhill runner, which is exactly what Washington needs.

Offensive Line

The offensive line left something to be desired in this contest and didn’t do much to alleviate the concern that this group is the primary weakness of Washington’s offense.  The starters let quarterback Sam Howell feel pressure on multiple occasions, didn’t open too many running lanes, and committed a holding penalty in the end zone that resulted in a safety.  Frankly, I didn’t expect too much more than that given the state of position group.  The line performed about up to expectations, which is to say, it looked like a group that needs work.  At this point, there’s not much that Washington can do to improve the line.  We didn’t see too much damage in this  particular game, but Cleveland’s starters also didn’t play very long, some for less time than Washington left in their starters.  This is going to be an ongoing source of concern for Washington, and while it wasn’t a disaster, nothing that happened last Friday in Cleveland alleviated any concerns.

Linebackers

Cleveland quarterback and resident creepy pervert, Deshaun Watson, was only 3 for 3 for 12 yards passing, but also had 3 scrambles for 20 yards in just a single series.  It should be noted that while Washington’s defense ultimately held at the goal line on a fourth and goal on a play that likely would’ve been a field goal attempt in a regular season game, they actually let the Watson march the Browns straight down the field.  Watson’s three scrambles were an important part of that drive  .  In my view, those three scrambles each ended up being worse than necessary as a result of Washington’s weak linebacker group.  A better group of linebackers could’ve been in a better position to stop Watson once he broke through to the second level.  Again, this is just one quarter of the first preseason game, but it did nothing to alleviate the concerns about Washington’s linebackers, and in fact highlighted their weaknesses.

Kazmeir Allen

Unsigned rookie free agency Kazmeir Allen got a good shot at the kick and punt return duties in this game, and while he didn’t do anything spectacular, he generally looked fairly good in these two roles, with 2 kickoff returns for 41 yards, for an average of a little over 20 yards per return, and 2 punt returns for 24 yards, for an average of 12 yards per return.  I care far more about his punt return abilities than I do about kickoffs, as the NFL’s recently changes to kickoffs have mostly neutered this play.  Also, Dax Milne was mediocre to below average at best at punt returns last year, as have been the majority of Washington’s punt returners for quite a while, some just about anything will be an improvement.  Allen may not be a Pro Bowler in the making, but he’s dynamic, has good speed, and appears to possess decent vision.  That’s a good sign, and not surprising since these two roles appear to be the reason that Allen was signed in the first place.  Certainly, many others will get a shot at these jobs in the next two preseason games, but right now, I think Allen may have vaulted himself into the leading contender position.

Overall, Washington’s matchup with Cleveland was a solid first step aside from the starting defense’s performance in Cleveland’s first drive.  Howell showed promise, as did both Chris Rodriguez and Kazmeir Allen.  It’s too early to say that the tide has definitely turned, but it was a good sign.  Next week brings the Baltimore Ravens to Raljon, Maryland, in a nationally-televised Monday Night Football matchup on ESPN, so we’ll all learn quite a bit more at that time.