Washington Football Team Offense: 2018 vs. 2020

Quarterbacks

Quarterback play has an outsized impact on a team’s success, and Alex Smith was playing at a high level pre-injury.

With his relative inexperience, a new coaching staff, and limited practice time in 2020, I don’t think you can expect Dwayne Haskins to be as consistent as Smith was. But I am feeling good about Haskins and his prognosis. He will clearly be an upgrade over the parade of QBs who took snaps after Smith went down.

If we project that Smith could have carried the team to 10-6 had he stayed healthy, I think Haskins will be good enough this season to get into the 7-8 win range, provided the rest of the roster performs to expectations.

Behind Haskins, Smith and Kyle Allen provide better depth than McCoy did by himself in 2018. That may not matter, but it sure did in 2018. At the very least, the team is not as likely to fall off a cliff in 2020, with three QBs capable of playing major minutes.

Overall, given the complicated rating system I am employing I suspect this offense will be a step or two behind the pre-injury 2018 offense, and decidedly better than the post-injury version. There should be a step back in the interior positions (line and tight ends) and a step up in the skill positions.

At the very least, this offense should have a greater variety of playmakers. The explosiveness and versatility of the running backs should constitute the biggest improvement.

As always, much of the success will ride on the effectiveness of the starting quarterback, but this year, unlike in 2018, the season is not lost if injury or poor play sabotages the starter.