Four Washington Football Team players who struggled vs. Cardinals

There are no game balls to award this week after the Washington Football Team played poorly in the desert on Sunday against Arizona.

After a 30-15 loss against the Arizona Cardinals late on Sunday afternoon, the Washington Football Team evened its record at 1-1 and is now in a first place tie with the Dallas Cowboys two weeks into the season.

Just like the previous week, Washington trailed in the first half by a wide margin and it remained to be seen if there would be another spirited comeback.  The second half was definitely more competitive, but the Washington Football Team didn’t have the firepower to stage such a rally.

After awarding four game balls after last week’s victory over the Eagles, there is nothing to award this week.  The game balls will be mothballed for a while after Washington was overwhelmed by an Arizona haboob in the great Southwest.  However, we will mention four players who struggled in the Cardinals game and talk about what they need to work on for the rest of the season.

Strong safety Landon Collins came to the Washington via free agency last year and has not lived up to his lofty billing and massive contract.  On Sunday against Arizona, Collins struggled in coverage schemes and was badly exposed on an early touchdown.

As you can see, Collins simply blew his assignment and allowed the easy score.  The former Alabama product is a liability in coverage and the Washington Football Team needs to make adjustments in order to shield Collins from this weakness in his game.

Geron Christian has been given the monumental task of protecting the blind side of the quarterback.  He did a poor job of doing so against the Cardinals.  Pass rushers were constantly running through and around Christian for much of the game.  It’s the second straight contest that he has struggled.  If there are no improvements soon, pass rushers will post a record number of sacks against Washington in 2020.  Christian will need to elevate his game quickly or the offense will continue to sputter along.

Troy Apke is not a good free safety.  Not at all.  Fans were hopeful that the former Nittany Lion would finally show off his superior NFL Combine skillsets in an actual game.  Apke is a superb athlete, but he is not a talented football player at the professional level.  It’s safe to say that former Washington star Brian Mitchell is not a fan either.  A replacement is probably needed sooner and not later.

Steven Sims is a good player and his story is amazing.  He went undrafted in 2019, but worked hard to find a roster spot and succeeded.  Sims is a dynamic player and has the ability to score at any given moment.  He struggled on Sunday and he lost one fumble on a punt return.  Sims also struggled on kickoff returns and Washington was forced to start deep in their own territory several times.  It was an uncharacteristically poor game for Sims, but he should bounce back and learn from his mistakes.

Here is a list of players who also struggled on Sunday, but barely miss out on this dubious distinction:  Wes Martin, Logan Thomas, Dwayne Haskins, Jimmy Moreland, and Brandon Scherff.

Let us hope we can return to the business of awarding game balls after next week’s game against the Browns.