Burgundy & Gold Reaction: Enough is Enough!!!

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November 21, 2023

by David Earl

Time To Move On

So here we are, Washington fans: just when the Thursday night disaster against the Chicago Bears seemed to be the lowest point of the season, in comes Tommy DeVito looking like Tom Brady this past week. The undrafted rookie completed 69% of his passes for 246 yards and 3 touchdowns to finish with a 137.7 quarterback rating. This should have been a game to get Washington and Sam Howell into some momentum after last week’s performance; instead, the team came out sluggish and mostly unprepared. There was no rhythm offensively or defensively for the majority of this game against a bad team. This season, the New York Giants averaged 11.8 points per game while allowing 26.6 points per game having a point differential of -148 points, which are worst in the NFL. Washington was unable to do much offense in the air while the Giants’ offense took advantage of a terrible defense by Washington. Much like the Giants, Washington’s defense has one of the worst point differentials (-57) in the NFL while allowing an average of 27.4 points per game. The Giants teed off for 31 points this week.

The defensive front did apply plenty of pressure, finishing with 9 sacks and an additional 11 quarterback hits, but they once again could not avoid the big plays. Washington’s defense allowed an average of 8.9 depth yards per target this season (ranked 30th), but the undrafted third-string quarterback averaged 13.6 yards per completion in this game. They gave up five 20-plus yard plays, two of which being in the 4th quarter, including a 40 yard completion to Darius Slayton and a 36 yard run by Barkley. This has been a chronic issue all season with no significant adjustments to address these issues.

There are more negative numbers, such as Washington’s 6 turnovers, but this has now gotten way beyond the players properly executing on the field. There have been no significant improvements over the last 4 years, as evidenced by the aforementioned point differential. The team ranked top 20th in points differential one time, the 2020 season, while the defense has been one of the worst in yards after completions every year under Ron Rivera. Plus, they have allowed an average passer rating of 98.1 (ranked 25th) while allowing the most passing touchdowns against in the league, at 21.

While the criticisms extend to the offense and the inconsistencies in Eric Bieniemy‘s scheme, Rivera is a defensive-minded coach, so Washington should not be this bad defensively. As I’ve mentioned before, the first couple of seasons can be focused more on player execution and doing their jobs, but in year 4 the accountability must shift. Neglecting the linebacker core and creating an extreme liability at the second level in the passing game are poor decisions by Rivera. Also, reaching on a cornerback in the raft, Emmanuel Forbes, while passing on a more polished coverage guy in Christian Gonzalez was the Jamin Davis pick all over again. I mention these two players specifically because they have directly affected this pass defense in a negative manner. I am not even going to spin anything positive like “They may become nice players” because they are first-round picks. The team just isn’t getting the impact from Davis and Forbes that you want from high-level picks.

I can go on here, but the conclusion here is simple and that is Ron Rivera must be let go. It is highly unlikely that Josh Harris will pull the trigger coming up on a short week heading into the Thanksgiving game. There may be a slight possibility Jack Del Rio is let go this week but the clock is surely ticking down on Rivera’s time here as head coach. He simply looks checked out on the field and during press conferences. His tired statement of “We will study the tape and get better” response just falls on deaf ears these days. There has been zero accountability from the coaches and it shows on the field every week with one rock-bottom performance after another, it seems. It has just become painfully frustrating seeing this team unprepared and out-coached more times than not…#FireRonRivera!

 

Poor Roster Construction

It’s been no secret that Ron Rivera the general manager has not even been average over these 4 seasons. The offensive line and linebacker investment was mediocre at the very best. The quarterback position has been a complete disaster, especially with the handling of Dwayne Haskins (RIP), the acquisition of Carson Wentz, and waiting until the fourth year to draft a quarterback in the 5th round. Before anyone claims Rivera nailed the Sam Howell pick, understand how that unfolded. While Howell fell to them in the 5th round, he was there at pick 120 before trading back to pick 144 where they drafted. If he was such a slam dunk of a pick in the 5th round, a wise general manager would not risk trading back 24 spots. Rivera not only got lucky by Howell being there still at pick 144 but potentially found a guy this team could build around. It was not the result of his navigation of the draft board with precision.

We are currently watching teams like the Detroit Lions and Houston Texans quickly turn around under the new front office structure. Notice how this has been achieved. Good draft evaluations and aggressive maneuvering up and down the draft board have these teams building a strong youthful foundation. Through free agency, these teams find key role players and fill the necessary holes which is something Rivera has failed every year at doing so. Just how bad has it been for Washington? Let us take a trip down memory lane:

  • 2020 Draft: The #2 overall pick (Chase Young) traded for a compensatory 3rd round pick, a 7th round gem in Kamren Curl, a rotational player James Smith-Williams, a running back who lacks ball security in Antonio Gibson, and others no longer in the NFL. Only 1 truly impactful player out of 8 selections.
  • 2021 Draft: Jamin Davis has been a bust considering the role he was drafted to be an MLB; Samuel Cosmi struggled as a right tackle but the move to guard seems to have worked decently; Benjamin St-Juste has been a solid corner thus far,, but Darrick Forrest has flamed out after an impactful 2022 season. Out of 10 selections in this draft, Washington may have gotten one solid player in Cosmi but no real impact players.
  • 2022 Draft: After a promising rookie season, Jahan Dotson has struggled with consistency and drops but he is a talented player. Brian Robinson Jr. has become a solid running back while showing more with his hands as most did not classify him as a receiving back. Chris Paul looks to be another good 7th round find and, despite Ron Rivera, they hit on Sam Howell as a 5th round pick. This draft class is still developing and could end up being his best draft.  However, only drafting one offensive lineman in 8 selections is gross negligence.

The 2023 draft class is premature to even evaluate but passing on Christian Gonzelez for Forbes and following up the second round with another defensive back is not looking great. While making those selections, Ron passed on many offensive linemen early only to draft a 3rd round center in Ricky Stromberg after signing center Nick Gates to a significant contract. Gates now leads me to free agency, which has been underwhelming every year. Answering the loss of Trent Williams and Brandon Scherff with players like Trai Turner and Andrew Norwell, past their prime linemen, were beyond head-scratchers. Charles Leno was a solid addition to the left tackle position, but the addition of Andrew Wylie was atrocious. Also, let’s not forget the former NFL linebacker now head coach signing Cody Barton believing he was a good fit for the needs we had at the linebacker core. Except for a few solid signings like Curtis Samuel, Ron Rivera‘s free agency shopping may actually be worse than his drafting.

 

Time To Look Forward?

This season seems over and Ron Rivera has only himself to blame. The future is now and Josh Harris will soon need to make that next crucial move, which I hope is not Bill Belichick. The one common position among the fans and us here at The Hog Sty is that the team needs to find a general manager to move Washington forward into the 2024 season. Hire a general manager with the innovative thinking of today’s NFL while emulating the calculated maneuvering that teams like Philadelphia do on draft day to build a strong young foundation. Then, we hope that this hypothetical general manager not only puts together a scouting department to execute his vision but hires a head coach that will fit his philosophy as well.

Harris is praised and championed for relieving us fans of that tyrant of an owner Dan Snyder but the honeymoon is over and time to get to work. The fans deserve to have an organization that is run commensurate to the current NFL model like the Kansas City Chiefs, the Philadelphia Eagles, and, yes, the Detroit Lions, who have been perennial doormats for decades. Get Washington back into the glory days of having a reputable franchise that is continuously in the conversation of contenders again, as this fan base so sorely deserves. Oh and maybe get us a real name too!