The Takeaways, Week 1 Edition

September 13, 2023

by Steve Thomas

This series, The Takeaways, is something I each week during the season for many years. I skipped it last year because, with the franchise in turmoil thanks to the pending end of the reign of Whatshisname, it was just too depressing to have to tackle this column on a regular basis.  Now, though, it’s the dawning of a new era in Redskins Washington Football Team Commanders Washington football, so here we are: the return of The Takeaways, which will be my weekly unhinged, off-the-cuff thoughts on Washington’s last game.  For week 1, Washington defeated the Arizona Cardinals by a score of 20 – 16 at Fed Ex Field.  Let’s dive right in.

The home crowd was energized, again

At least from my seat at home in Texas in front of a laptop computer casting an illegal stream of this game to my TV from a website which I’ll keep to myself (DM us if you need it), it was clear from moment one that the home crowd was on a level the likes of which haven’t been seen in Raljon in a very long time.  Honestly, the energy the fans brought reminded me of the glory years.  The fact that everyone was excited that Washington’s new owner was in place wasn’t surprising, but I wasn’t expecting the level that they brought.  It was great to see, and it appeared to make a legitimate difference in the game, because the players fed off of it.  For those of you who are too young to remember the glory years, that was what a real home field advantage feels like.

The defensive front eventually found its footing

Granted, Arizona’s offense is something less than good, particularly with backup quarterback Joshua Dobbs at the helm, and Washington didn’t start off on a particularly stellar footing, but by the end of the game, the defensive front 4 were rolling.  The combination of Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne, in particular, wreaked havoc on the Cardinals and repeatedly shut them down when it counted.  Not to mention, James Smith-Williams played his part well in place of the oft-injured Chase Young.  It may be that Washington doesn’t need Young and his enormous salary to get the job done.  I didn’t think the linebackers showed much, which was expected, but the front four more than made up for it on the whole.  Hopefully this game was a sign of things to come in this regard.  Chase who?

Sam Howell wasn’t great, but did show some promise

You didn’t think Howell was going to keep up his preseason quarterback rating of 120+, did you?  Look, let’s be honest here: at 19 completions in 31 attempts, 202 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception, and a quarterback rating of 77.6, he wasn’t great.  It was more along the lines of a slightly below average day for an NFL starter.  However, he did show some good intangibles, intelligence, and athletic ability.  It was a good start for Howell, considering his experience level and the performance of his offensive line.  A rating of 77.6 isn’t going to cut it as the season progresses, but there’s still plenty of time left for him to continue to get better.  He won the game and looked fairly decent doing it.  Congrats, Sam.

Washington’s offensive line is what we thought it was . . . bad

Speaking of the offensive line, this unit seems to be exactly what every single living, breathing NFL football fan on Earth except Ron Rivera thought they’d be, which is, not good.  Keep things in perspective here: the Cardinals defense isn’t good either, yet they routinely put pressure on Howell and held Washington’s run game to an average of 3.3 yards per carry.  I’m not going to put all of that on the line, but they certainly didn’t help.  I’m sorry, but I just don’t see the redeeming value of this position group, and while they got away with a win against a sub-par team like Arizona, it’s going to be a far different story against some of the talented team on the schedule this season.  I’m no offensive line expert, but I saw some poor pass blocking and very little running room.  There’s nothing the team can do this season except hope this group of starters gets better, but offensive line simply must be a priority in the offseason.

Please put Jamison Crowder on the active roster

I realize that he didn’t do much as the punt returner in this game, but this is a legit NFL player with some talent and he needs to be a on the active roster, particularly with Dax Milne now on IR.  I view Crowder as a guy who, if given a chance, will make some plays and field some quality punt returns at some point this season.  More Crowder, please.

Overall, it wasn’t always pretty, but a win is a win.  A solid start for Washington.

That’s it for this week’s version of The Takeaways.  Next up are the Denver Broncos in Washington’s first away game of the season.  See you next week.