The Takeaways, week 3: Buffalo at Washington

September 27, 2023

by Steve Thomas

Ummm….yeah.  I predicted that Buffalo would win this game 30 – 20, but I didn’t contemplate a massive, soul-crushing blow out.  That wasn’t the thing to do if the Redskins Washington Football Team Commanders Washington wanted to establish itself as a team to be taken seriously this season, or – heaven forbid – a contender.  No instead Washington merely made the football world believe that it’s more of the same in DC, despite the ownership change.  For a team with Washington’s history, this level of loss is going to take a while to overcome and to cause non-fans to believe in them.   And . . . fair enough.  Washington got two wins playing half-games against teams with less talent.  This game against the Bills was their opportunity to prove that they belonged.  Mission failure.  Here are The Takeaways for week 3.

The offensive line can’t pass block to save their lives

Buffalo sacked Sam Howell 9 times in this game.  For those counting, that makes 19 so far this season, which equates to a projection of 108 for the season.  I don’t think that Howell will actually suffer that many sacks, of course, because (1) he’ll be on injured reserve long before that happens, and (2) that’s surely not possible.  Some of these sacks were on Howell for holding the ball too long and failing to properly read the defense; nevertheless, this line was terrible in pass protection in this game and has given us no indication that this position group is any better than what many people thought they were in the offseason.  To top it all off, at times, Buffalo was only rushing four and still regularly got to Howell.  This is the team’s biggest achilles heel, and it is entirely Ron Rivera’s fault that he has almost ignored the offensive line in the draft since the day he arrived in DC.

Sam Howell comes back down to earth

Even putting aside the atrocious performance of the offensive line, this was a really bad day for Howell.  In total, he went 19 for 29 for 170 yards, a 65.5% completion percentage, with no touchdowns, and 4 interceptions, for a quarterback rating of 41.5.  All of the interceptions were Howell’s fault, with most of them being caused by Howell either throwing a ball he shouldn’t have thrown or failing to read the field properly.  Howell can’t always efficiently and quickly process a defense and figure out what to do with the ball, and it’s a problem.  On the good side, he once again showed good mobility in his one scramble for 18 yards, but that wasn’t nearly enough to make up for all of the bad.  Games like this are going to happen to all young quarterbacks.  Washington’s coaches don’t need to panic and do something counterproductive like benching him on the basis of one bad performance.  The team definitely needs to see much more from him, but he has plenty of time.

Washington’s linebackers still suck

Did you notice Josh Allen cruising untouched into Washington’s secondary?  So did I.  I also noticed Stefon Diggs make Cody Barton look silly in the second half.  Of course, Diggs makes alot of people look silly, including some talented defensive backs, so that’s not a great sin, but it’s emblematic of a position group that is significantly below average in comparison to other NFL teams.  Buffalo’s James Cook averaged 6.5 yards per carry in 15 attempts, and some of that is on the linebackers.  Quick pop quiz: name a positive play made by a Washington linebacker in week 3.  I can’t, and I bet you can’t either.  Do better, Ron Rivera.  At least he drafted two corners in rounds 1 and 2 this year, though, right?

Brian Robinson may be for real

Robinson had 10 carries for 70 yards, for an average of 7.0 yards per carry.  If you discount his long run of 23 yards, that gives him 9 carries for 47 yards, which is still 5.2 yards per carry.  That’s a quality day by anyone’s standards, and it is the second straight game in which he produced more than 4.0 yards per carry.  Washington hasn’t had much luck with running backs in recent years, but Robinson is a refreshing change.  He’s hitting holes with strength and power, and breaking tackles.  At this point in the season, he’s the team’s clear and obvious number 1 running back.  If only the coaching staff would learn to use him more . . .

It’s time to talk about Eric Bieniemy

. . . which brings me neatly along to Mr. Bieniemy.  I understand that we’re all supposed to go gaga over this guy and his play calling, and that some fans think that he’s the one to lead the team into the promised land.  He’s certainly better than the last guy.  That having been said, exactly how many games need to go by before he realizes that Washington needs to run the ball more and pass less?  If we all can see the way the offensive line underperforms in pass protection, why can’t he?  Also, Howell is a young quarterback who needs a rushing attack.  In every game so far this season, Bieniemy has failed to properly utilize his running game in the first half, then comes out in the second half with a change in play calling.  I’ve been less than impressed with him in that regard.

That’s it for this week.  Washington has another very tough game coming up next week, as they will travel up north to the City of Hate to face the Eagles.  I’ll be back with another edition of The Takeaways after that contest.