Three weeks are in the books, and with the bye week on deck, it’s time to reflect on the first portion of the Redskins season.
After Week 3, it’s still a little too early to look back and reflect; thirteen games have yet to be played, and although the Washington Redskins would be in the playoffs if the season ended today, no one’s giving them any trophies for winning part of the season.
The traditional NFL season is 16 games for a reason. It’s a war of attrition, and a test of fortitude. Who can withstand the grueling stretch through autumn and winter? Who can defy luck, adversity, and parity to rise above, and compete for the title?
Sometimes, the circumstances only allow you to go so far. The Redskins learned this last year. But this year, it appears they’ve been dealt with a better hand. The injuries (knock on wood) have stayed at bay, and a few leaps of faith have proved their worth early on.
Adrian Peterson has excelled as the team’s stopgap running back. Quinton Dunbar has emerged as a potential lockdown cornerback. But those are far from the entirety of the pleasant surprises we’ve seen so far. Turn the page, and find out how the Redskins have exceeded expectations, and how the NFL, to our delight, is not what it once seemed to be.
No. 5 – Alex Smith is who we thought he is
I know what you’re thinking. Pleasant surprise? What?
In a sense, the revelation that Alex Smith is still Alex Smith doesn’t offer any excitement. He’s not a player who’s going to throw 13 touchdowns in three weeks (re: Patrick Mahomes), but he plays a winning brand of football.
In the offseason, there were two major, clashing themes in the Alex Smith debate. One stated that he plays a conservative style of football. The other contested that his style helps teams win, regardless of the perception.
The results speak for themselves. Smith is one of the winningest quarterbacks in the NFL over the past five years. But wouldn’t it just be so “Redskins” if Smith, the effortless regular season winner, came to Washington and fell on his face?
Yes, it would be. But to our pleasant surprise, he came to Washington, and he picked up right where he left off. Through three games, Smith is on pace for just over 4,000 yards, 22 touchdowns, and just five interceptions, and the Redskins are 2-1. It’s early, but it looks as if the Smith effect has the D.C. sports curse at bay, for now.
No. 4 – Adrian Peterson is 33, going on 23
There’s a recurring theme in these takeaways. It’s early. But through three games, Adrian Peterson has turned back the clock, and turned up the heat.
Many expected Peterson to fall short with the Redskins. At 33 years old, with the amount of wear and tear he’s sustained over his Hall of Fame career, to draw such a conclusion in the offseason was only logical.
That said, Peterson has defied logic in his first three games. He currently has 236 yards and three touchdowns on 56 carries, and he has 100 receiving yards on top of that. He’s averaging 4.2 yards per carry, the highest figure since his All-Pro 2015 campaign, and he’s on pace for 1,257 yards and 16 touchdowns.
It’s safe to say the re-emergence of Peterson, who was signed in the wake of Derrius Guice’s season-ending injury, has been a very pleasant surprise. The veteran is 33 going on 23, and perhaps, if he stays healthy, he can replicate one of his earlier years. One of the years that made him great.
No. 3 – The young secondary is playing at a high level
The Redskins young secondary was regarded, with some degree of unanimity, the team’s biggest question mark heading into the 2018 season. So far, it’s been one of the biggest successes.
Through three weeks, the Redskins’ secondary is allowing 187.3 yards per game, good for fifth best in the league. They’re also allowing a combined quarterback rating of 77.0, good for seventh.
Granted, the Redskins opponents haven’t been stellar. In Week 1, they faced the Arizona Cardinals’ offense, which is the worst offensive unit in the NFL, by a significant margin. In Week 2, they faced an understaffed Colts’ offense led by a good quarterback in Andrew Luck, and in Week 3, they lined up opposite an injured Aaron Rodgers.
The book is far from written on this young secondary, but they’ve put the clamps on so far. Josh Norman may slowly be losing his edge, but Quinton Dunbar is rising as an excellent option opposite him. Through three weeks, Dunbar is Pro Football Focus’ fifth best cornerback in the league. Fabian Moreau has flashed in the slot, and Montae Nicholson and D.J. Swearinger have combined to form an effective safety duo; Swearinger has two interceptions already.
Make no mistake; the Redskins secondary is playing at a very high level. In two weeks, they’ll get their biggest test yet, in the form of a Saints’ passing offense that features Hall of Fame quarterback Drew Brees and the league leader in receptions and receiving yards, Michael Thomas. If the Redskins pass defense can limit them, then they will have earned their status as one of the best secondaries in the league.
No. 2 – The young defensive line is playing at an even higher level
A good secondary becomes a great secondary with an effective front seven, and we’d be brash to say the front seven hasn’t somewhat impacted the secondary’s quality of play.
Quarterbacks struggle under pressure. It’s an unavoidable truth of the NFL, and that’s why the Redskins have had so much success lately. Their interior pass rush could very well be one of the best units in the league.
Matt Ioannidis headlines the group; through three weeks, the electric defensive tackle has three sacks, and he isn’t even playing half of the Redskins’ defensive snaps. Per Pro Football Focus, on 54 pass rushing snaps, Ioannidis has 12 total pressures. That’s good for a 22.2 percent pass rush productivity rate, which safely eclipses players like Aaron Donald, Fletcher Cox, and Geno Atkins.
Ioannidis is producing pressure at an absolutely insane rate. And he’s not alone. Jonathan Allen, per Pro Football Focus, has 10 pressures on 95 pass rushing snaps, good for just over a 10 percent pass rush productivity rate. He notched two sacks in last week’s game against Green Bay, with help from Preston Smith.
It may seem like the Redskins’ edge rushers have been less successful. Yes, they haven’t been able to finish. But their impact has been felt on the end of the line. Ryan Kerrigan and Ryan Anderson have been more disruptive than Preston Smith, but all have helped contribute to a truly stellar Redskins front. If both the defensive line and the secondary continue to produce as the season moves along, Washington could have a playoff-caliber defense a year early.
No. 1 – The rest of the league looks strangely beatable
One of the biggest hang-ups toward predicting a final record for the Redskins this year was their schedule; Earlier in the offseason, the Redskins schedule looked like one of the toughest in the league.
Fast forward to September 28. The Saints’ pass defense is third to last in the league, allowing 336.7 yards per game. The Cowboys’ offense is anemic, and Sean Lee is hurt again. Pat Shurmur’s Giants lost to the aforementioned uninspiring Cowboys team. Last week, they squeaked by a Texans team that is falling apart under Bill O’Brien, with Deshaun Watson’s rookie magic having fizzled into oblivion.
The Falcons’ defense is already worn to the bone with injuries, having lost key standouts Keanu Neal and Deion Jones, and under Steve Sarkisian, the offense lacks a creative flare. The Jaguars still have Blake Bortles, and Mike Vrabel’s Titans are no different than the Titans of old, as Marcus Mariota has undergone no development under Matt LaFleur. Even the Eagles, though stout, have their flaws, and with Rodney McLeod out for the year, they’ll have some issues at safety that the Redskins can exploit.
The current state of the NFL can be compressed, condensed, and conveyed in the presentation of one man: Tampa Bay Buccaneers starting quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. The NFL, like 2018 Fitzpatrick, defies expectations. The NFL, like Fitzpatrick, makes you feel as if you know what the new normal is, until suddenly, in a flash, it all changes.
No one knows anything this season. But if there’s anything we can say about the league as a whole, confidently after three weeks, it’s this: Everyone appears strangely beatable.
The Redskins aren’t spared from inclusion in this category; they lost a very winnable game against the Colts in Week 2. But it simply serves as a reminder, to those who write the season off after one loss: Everything can change in an instant. And no team is immune to defeat’s cold sting.