Washington Football Team: Week 2 reality checks, predictions vs. Cardinals
By Tim Payne
5. The Reality Is, the devil is in the details
Jack Del Rio needs to find a way to dial up the pressure on Kyler Murray while keeping him contained in the pocket. He also needs to get Troy Apke’s eyes checked so they can figure out why his depth perception is so off when taking an angle… or else DeAndre Hopkins is going to eat them for lunch.
Scott Turner needs to design a game plan to get Haskins some easy, rhythm throws early in order to slow down the pass rush. Ken Zampese needs to push Haskins to trust himself to slide in the pocket or climb it, as needed.
Dontrelle Inman and the rest of the receivers behind him on the depth chart need to find a way to make a play or two between them. Much more than any individual matchup or performance, cleaning up the mistakes and developing toward more consistency in these areas will translate to wins.
And while I have faith in this staff that, given the time, they will make these changes and the team will be increasingly “professional” in the quality of their play as well as their off-field demeanor, I expect that Rivera is right when he says that a full culture change will take a few years. But this Sunday, his in-process team is taking on the Cardinals.
My Prediction: The Washington Football Team will score relatively early, and then stagnate in the middle of the game. The defense will start cautious, prioritizing contain over playmaking, and will give up 1-2 really big plays in the first half.
Overall, this will be an encouraging performance, though. They will improve in some key areas over last week’s performance, and while there will be some regression in other areas, it won’t be severe.
dark. Next. Five players to watch for Washington in Week 2
Final Score: Arizona 22, Washington 20 with an Arizona field goal winning it with about 90 seconds left. Washington will fail to get Hopkins into position prior to time running out.