Burgundy & Gold Reaction: Week 3 – Completely Dominated

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September 26, 2023

by David Earl

Let’s Dive Into Your Reactions

It was never any secret entering this heading into this season just how bad the offensive line was the prior year. The hope was the addition of Andrew Wylie to the right tackle position, moving Sam Cosmi to right guard, a healthy Saahdiq Charles at left guard, and signing a healthy Nick Gates to anchor the unit at center would be enough. Well, that just does not seem to be the case as a unit statistically ranked in the bottom third in most categories last season seemed to have gotten worse. Through the first two weeks of the season, they ranked 31st in sack percentage at 12.50%, yet Sam Howell ranked 12th in passer rating at 95.  I’ll have more on Howell later. Even though the interior of the line seemed to show some potential the first two weeks, this week they were also simply outclassed. In a total of 29 pass attempts, Sam Howell was sacked 9 times (31% sack rate) while hit an additional 15 times. Taking away his 9 sacks, in the remaining 20 pass attempts he was pressured and hit 15 more times throughout this game. Granted, it was not entirely on the offensive line but there wasn’t much Howell was able to do most of the game even in the quick pass game.

With that said let’s not forget the architect of this atrocious unit, Ron Rivera, and his absolute gross negligence in addressing the offensive line. Since he was hired heading into the 2020 season, Washington has seen its long-time bookend tackles, Trent Williams and Morgan Moses, leave along with former first-round pick guard Brandon Scherff. What was Ron Rivera‘s plan to reload this unit? In the 2020 draft, after Chase Young was selected, he went 106 picks before drafting Saahdiq Charles, passing on 8 different options from pick 66 (Antonio Gibson) to pick 108 which was Charles. In the middle of those picks was a wide receiver Antonio Gandy Golden who is no longer in the league.

If that was not bad enough, in the following draft, 2021, Rivera drafted one offensive lineman prospect in 10 total draft picks in a loaded offensive line class. Following the 2021 season with an offensive line that allowed a 12.52% sack rate (ranked 23rd) and produced a pedestrian 4.2 yards per carry average, they finally made a huge splash. Washington waited until the 7th round to draft guard Chris Paul while using a second-round pick on defensive line depth instead of addressing this unit properly. The worst part of the 2022 offseason is that Rivera actually believed (I assume) that the signings of Andrew Norwell and Trea Turner would be enough. In last year’s draft, Washington finally made a few picks for the offensive line yet still managed to neglect the position going rounds one and two at the cornerback position when highly rated lineman like Cody Mauch was available in the second round. Regardless of who you grade out worse between the offensive line or Sam Howell, this situation we are witnessing today falls 100% on Ron’s gross mismanagement of this group. It does not get any easier in week 4, when Washington faces probably the best defensive front in football, the Philadelphia Eagles.

 

Give Sam Howell some time

I already covered the train wreck of an offensive line Howell has to work with, but his inconsistencies have not helped this situation either. There are times in which he looks poised and unbothered in the pocket, navigating the pass rush and then placing the ball in perfect spots for his wide receivers. A perfect example was the 37 yard pass to Curtis Samuel, during which he felt the pass rush, navigated the pocket, and had perfect ball placement to a well cover receiver. This is something we see often enough to warrant patience for the young quarterback but his bad moments can be backbreaking. In his first interception, he saw Dyami Brown open with a safety over the top and a linebacker underneath but just didn’t get enough air under the ball and was picked off by Bills linebacker Terrel Bernard. It is a pass Sam has certainly made before but the timing of this particular interception came early when Washington was driving into Bills territory.

Unlike last week when some of his sacks were on him, mostly because he took too long to go through his pass progressions, this week, the offensive line didn’t even afford Sam the opportunity to work through all his progressions. It was tough to just his release time in this game, but 4 interceptions in a game, especially in the opponent’s territory, just cannot happen. So, after his 4th career start, Sam Howell needs the time to learn from his failures and be given the opportunity to develop. We all know just how badly this organization has handled the quarterback position, most recently Ron Rivera with Dwayne Haskins (RIP), in patience and development. This needs to be the type of game where Howell corrects some of his decision-making while Eric Bieniemy figures out how to get the quarterback into the best position possible to succeed behind this awful offensive line.

 

What Else Went Wrong

It was clear this defensive performance against the Denver Broncos in week 2 was more fool’s good than actually being a championship-caliber unit.  The pressure on the quarterback was non-existent against Buffalo. In Josh Allen‘s 32 pass attempts, the defense had no sacks and just 4 quarterback hits while allowing him to run for 46 yards all from 3rd and long situations. The defense also allowed a 5.1 yards per carry average on the ground while giving up 6 first-downs on 10 third-down plays.  So, the offense was ineffective, but the defense was equally bad aside from a few early stops in the game.

Then there is Antonio Gibson, who had his second lost fumble of the season, in Bills territory. This is a running theme with him early in his career. While he seems to be a liability on offense, Brian Robinson Jr. was one of the few bright spots, as he had another good game. Averaging 7 yards per carry with 10 rushing attempts, he seems to be turning the corner as a feature running back.  Bieniemy may need to lean on him much more going forward. Even taking away his 23 yard run, Brian averaged 5.2 yards per carry, gaining 47 yards in 9 attempts. It is unfortunate that the championship hype around this defense early seems misplaced thus far and Gibson lacks reliability early in an offensive scheme that should showcase what he can do in the passing game.

 

Closing

Even despite the futile play of the offensive line and the defense lacking any big plays thus far, I do agree it is early. Hang in there, Washington fans. There is a different feeling around this team this year, and the future is bright in some aspects; however, that realization may come after Ron Rivera. He is a great person, but his coaching career has simply been average. There is a good foundation on this team and the defense is a few pieces away from being a legitimate top 5-7 unit but, again, this offensive line is an Achilles heel that it should not be this season. We all are novice evaluators, but I do trust the viewpoints of those like Mark Bullock and the numbers do support his claim too. This week, the offensive line allowed 2.82 seconds for the young quarterback to throw, which ranked 9th in the NFL. Therefore, Howell has been slow through his progressions at times (actually too much honestly) and indecisive as well. This was one of the key points from Bills LB Terrel Bernard when speaking on game planning for the Washington offense. While this is completely fair to state, we have also noticed how this offensive line has failed to maintain blocks at an alarming rate at times.  In addition, their struggles against athletic edge rushers is very apparent. Alhough I do respect and agree with the Howell assessments, this does not absolve the play of this line either. There is much to work on and the next opponent, the Philadelphia Eagles, is right on Washington’s doorstep with an elite-level defensive front that will attack in many different ways.

They may not be a contender this season but they are good enough to be in most games going forward. The week 4 matchup against the Eagles looks to potentially be another bad loss for Washington, although anything can happen.  However, Washington’s next three games will give them a good opportunity to gain some momentum. I’m not saying they will be easy wins, but they won’t be playing Super Bowl contenders either, as each of those teams have plenty of issues of their own. If Eric Bieniemy can figure out how to overcome this offensive line during this stretch heading into a rematch against the Eagles in week 8, they could be in a better position to steal a game from the Eagles.

Yes, that’s overly optimistic but no one thought Washington was going into Philly week 10 on Monday night last year and win. The week 8 game will be pivotal for Washington’s chance to have any hope to make a playoff run, as the second half of their schedule is just brutal. I am jumping way ahead of myself here so heading into week 4 against Philadelphia, my preseason pick will remain the same. I don’t see this game being very competitive. The Eagles at home will take this rather easily in my opinion with a 33-12 final. I truly hope I am wrong.