Washington Football Team: Evaluating Dwayne Haskins’ play in Week 1
The Good
Leadership
Haskins showed why he was one of the five players with the “Captains” patch on his jersey. Late in the third quarter, he was shown talking to the defensive line, thanking them for keeping the team in the game while he wasn’t playing well. In the post-game press conference, Ron Rivera said he was getting an IV at halftime and Haskins stepped up and gave a speech, that the team clearly responded well to.
The team was down ten points at halftime, and for twenty-eight minutes of the half, got completely outplayed. Haskins hadn’t been playing particularly well, and the coach wasn’t fully available at halftime. Despite all this, Haskins stepped up and showed why everyone believes in him enough to make him a team captain. In just two years, Haskins has gained the respect of his entire locker room. He is one of the leaders of the Washington Football Team.
Quick Game
When the offense switched to quick passes and hurried to the line following the play, that was when Haskins played really well. The drive that sticks out in particular was the drive near the end of the first half. Haskins went 4 for 4 and capped it off with a touchdown pass to Logan Thomas.
Haskins didn’t do anything overly impressive. He was accurate and the game looked like it was coming a lot easier to him. As Haskins begins to become more familiar with Scott Turner’s new system, it seems the quick game will be his strong suit. It is something I believe Turner should start the game with, to get Haskins into a rhythm early.
Red Zone
Haskins was given a lot of short fields in the second half off of turnovers. Haskins took advantage of them. Washington scored every time they were in the red zone (four apparences) and scored touchdowns on three of them. Haskins had a completion to Steven Sims down to the two-yard line and a Peyton Barber touchdown later cut the lead to 17-14 Eagles.
The most impressive redone drive, however, was the drive to take the lead for Washington. On fourth-and-one near the goal line, Haskins helped execute a pitch play to Peyton Barber that would set up the eventual go-ahead touchdown. Haskins was efficient in the red zone, a trend he needs to continue in the weeks to come.
Mental Toughness
The game didn’t start off well at all for Washington. In fact, it couldn’t have started much worse. The offensive line was not blocking well and Eagle defenders were constantly in the backfield. The run game was non-existent and the receivers were struggling to get open, with McLaurin being doubled on almost every snap. To make matters worse, the defense, besides the defensive line, wasn’t playing up to standards early.
With no fans in the stands to give the players some juice, it would be easy for Haskins to quit. Yet, he didn’t. He started 3 for 13 and his body language never changed. He never looked phased. A trend that I noticed last year continued this year. Haskins is a gamer. No matter the score, he will continue to come back. Haskins has a lot of confidence in himself. The mental toughness of Haskins is something to build off of. No matter the score or the level of his play, Haskins never wavers. He never quit.