The Takeaways, week 17: Dallas over Washington
December 29, 2025
by Steve Thomas
You didn’t think Washington would actually win this game, did you? Silly fan. Unlike the Eagles game last week, the truth is that Washington was never really in this game. I realize that the final score was pretty close, and that Dallas needed to control the ball in the final possession of the game in order to keep Washington from having a chance, but still . . . I never thought Washington was going to have a real chance to win. Things went way too poorly in the first half for this to be much of a real contest, to me at least. This season is surely one of the more disappointing on record in terms of failed expectations and the number of absolute blowouts that the team has suffered. Score-wise, this game wasn’t a blowout, per se, but it felt like one through the third quarter. I’ll discuss it all in this week’s Takeaways, which begin below.
Josh Johnson was . . . fairly good
Johnson had just his tenth start of his long career in this game, and while he wasn’t great, he acquitted himself fairly well considering the circumstances. He went 15 for 23, which is a 65% completion percentage, for 198 yards, and no interceptions, for a quarterback rating of 92.3. From the perspective of an emergency start due to injury by a third string quarterback who has barely played in the regular season in several years, that’s about a good as folks had the right to expect. Unlike the Eagles game, he didn’t have any terrible, bone-headed interceptions. At times, Johnson actually looked like a legitimate NFL quarterback, despite the fact that at one point, he missed a read for Terry McLaurin in the end zone. I’d place most of the blame for this particular loss on the defense and not on Johnson. The coaching staff needs to figure out who between Johnson, Jeff Driskel, and Sam Hartman gets the start next week, but certainly Johnson made his case. I’d say he did about what was expected from a third string quarterback. If Sam Hartman is not developing, as seems likely given that they didn’t elevate him to second string behind Johnson in this game, the team should probably consider bring Johnson back for another season.
Big days for Johnny Newton and Ricky Barber
Jer’Zhan Newton and Ricky Barber got 56 and 15 defensive snaps, respectively, in this game. Newton had 9 tackles, including 3 solo and 2 for loss, and 3 sacks, which is the most production in a game for his in his NFL career, by far. His 56 defensive snaps, which was 60.9% of the total, is also the most he’s gotten in a single game. Aside from this game, Newton has been given fewer snaps per game this season than last season, which presumably has been a reflection of his lack of performance while on the field. Prior to this game, the most snaps he’d received this season was 28 in week 10 against the Lions, and over 40% in just two games prior to this week whereas last season he had over 40 snaps in 4 different games and over 50% of the total defensive snaps in 10 games. Whether this game was a fluke or it is a sign of things to come remains to be seen. As for Barber, this was the first game of his career. In his 15 snaps, he made 5 total tackles, including 2 solo and 1 for loss, and 1 sack, which is a fine day for an undrafted free agent rookie. Hopefully, he’ll get more playing time as a result.
More secondary problems
Dallas’ 86 yard touchdown pass in the second quarter seemed to be primarily Quan Martin’s fault. A bust like this is precisely the kind of thing that has plagued Washington’s defense all season. This week it was Martin, but just about all of the corners and safeties have blown major plays throughout the season. I recognize that the corner group, in particular, has been plagued by injuries, but they will need an injection of talent this offseason, including at least one starting corner and one starting safety.
What does Washington have in Jacory Croskey-Merritt?
I’m conflicted when it comes to Croskey-Merritt. In this game, he had 11 carries for 105 yards, which is 9.5 yards per carry, and 2 touchdowns. Removing his long run of 72 yards leaves 10 carries for 33 yards, which is a much less impressive 3.3 yards per carry. Overall, this was his most productive game since the Chargers in early October. Croskey-Merritt certainly been productive at times, but he’s been very hit or miss almost the entire season. He’s had 7 games this year in which he’s averaged less than 4.0 yards per carry, and 9 in which he’s averaged less than 4.5. By seventh round pick standards, Croskey-Merritt has had an outstanding season, but I don’t think he’s shown nearly enough to prove that he should necessarily be handed the starting role next year. Washington needs to continue to hunt for running backs this offseason.
Jake Moody is better than expected
I wanted to give a quick shout out to Moody. He was 3 for 3 on field goals and 2 for 2 on extra points this week, which brings his totals for Washington up to 9 for 9 in field goals, including 2 over 40 yards and 1 over 50, and 7 for 8 in extra points, in 5 games. Frankly, that’s much better than I hoped considering he was a late-season pickup from a practice squad. At a minimum, he’s temporarily stabilized a trainwreck position for Washington and earned the right to compete for the job again next season.
That’s it for this week. I’ll be back with the final edition of The Takeaways for the 2025 season after Washington’s loss to game against the Eagles in Philadelphia next week.