The Takeaways, Week 5: Washington dominates the Chargers
October 7, 2025
by Steve Thomas
What a great game! I can’t honestly say that, after last week’s terrible game against the Falcons, I was expecting Washington to go travel all the way to Los Angeles to dominate the Chargers for roughly 3 of 4 quarters, ultimately winning 27 – 10. If this season ends up resulting in another playoff run, this week 5 game against the Chargers might end up being the turning point of a season that was frankly starting to head in the wrong direction. This was the first game of 2025 in which Washington looked like the effective and motivated group that unexpectedly got to the NFC Championship game last year. Whether this can continue for the rest of the season in anyone’s guess, but this game was certainly the first step towards fulfilling Washington’s true offensive and defensive potential. The Takeaways for week 5 are below.
Don’t look now, but that crazy end of the first half might have just reinvigorated this team
The end of the first half in this game was one of the more insane final minutes of a half that you’ll ever see. Washington went from failing miserably in a possession that began at around the 5 yard line with 1:35 left in the half. At first, they both failed to get a first down and failed to run the clock out for the Chargers’ offense, then allowed a punt out of the end zone to be returned by the Chargers for a touchdown. They were only saved by a pointless roughing the punter penalty, and everything after that point in the game just seemed like a different team. The somewhat lifeless performance on both offense and defense was gone. This sequence was key to Washington’s win, and I think that might end up proving to be one of the defining moments of the season.
Jacory Croskey-Merritt is the undisputed starting, #1 running back
Croskey-Merritt had 14 carries for 111 yards, which is 7.9 yards per carry, and 2 touchdowns. He deserves the game ball. At this point, he’s clearly Washington’s best running back, and the team was wise to feature him in this game. I’m not going to go into details again here, but I published a series of posts on X (my monthly contribution to The Hog Sty’s social media) showing why Croskey-Merritt has been much more effective than Chris Rodriguez even though the both featured similar yards per carry averages heading into this game. I shouldn’t have been so skeptical about his abilities this offseason, as he’s proving that he can be a starter in this league every week. No, his fumble wasn’t good, but ultimately it didn’t matter to the final result. His contributions against the Chargers were invaluable and exactly what Washington has needed all season. Croskey-Merritt was probably the biggest reason why Washington was able to get a quality victory. Let’s hope he can keep up this level of performance for the rest of the year. There should be no more running back by committee for this team.
The defensive front 7 finally performed
One of the problems this season is that the defensive front has at times this season looked old, slow, and like a group that couldn’t have much impact on a passing game. That wasn’t true for most of the game against the Chargers. The were able to sack quarterback Justin Herbert 4 times for 24 yards, and generally made life tough for him. Admittedly, the Chargers were dealing with multiple injuries to their offensive line, which presumably had a big impact on the game, but still: Washington’s defensive line finally looked like what everyone hoped, which is to say shut-down when it comes to the run and disruptive to the passing game. This probably won’t happen every week, but this is definitely a major step in the right direction for a group that was starting to create doubt amongst the fans.
Luke McCaffrey is getting better
McCaffrey had 1 reception for 50 yards against the Chargers, which was his key deep ball in Washington’s crazy final drive of the first half. That play was one of the one of the most important moments of the game. The big picture here is that McCaffrey is starting to have an impact on Washington’s offense, which is something that was completely missing last season. Everyone should be aware of the fact that he was a quarterback for most of his college career – receiver is fairly new to him, and it was probably inevitable that it was going to take him awhile to find his groove, so to speak. Washington’s spate of injuries in the receiver group allowed McCaffrey to have more of an opportunity than he otherwise probably would have, and he responded.
Jayden Daniels still isn’t all the way back
I’m not trying to be negative here, so everyone just calm down. I have to be honest, though. Daniels looked a little better than he did in weeks 1 and 2, in that he looked a little more like his 2024 self in terms of play-making abilities. Still, he went 15 for 26 for 231 yards, a 57.7% completion percentage, and 1 touchdown, for a 100.0 quarterback rating, plus 8 carries for 39 rushing yards. Those numbers aren’t quite up to what he produced as a rookie. I’m willing to give him a few more weeks to get back into the swing of things before thinking there’s something wrong, particularly when Washington got an important win this week, but still: this still isn’t quite the Jayden Daniels we’re looking for. He’ll need ultimately need to look more like the Rookie of the Year / MVP candidate that he was in 2024 if the team is going to be in competition for playoff success in January.
That’s it for this week. I’ll be back next week after Washington’s Monday Night Football battle with the Chicago Bears.