Washington Football Team: Studs and duds from Week 2 loss to Cardinals

Stud 4: Washington’s second-half adjustments

For the second consecutive week, the Washington Football Team came out of the halftime locker room with a new gameplan. They were able to execute that plan and limited their opponents to just 10 points in the second half.

Notably, the defense came out of the locker room with a plan to contain Kyler Murray and DeAndre Hopkins. The duo had been a thorn in the side of the Washington defense in the first half, but after halftime, they weren’t able to make nearly as many plays.

The only notable play that those two guys made in the second half was a touchdown scramble by Murray. On that play, Murray got into space in the red-zone and once he got into one-on-one battles, he was unstoppable. But save for that, the two players were mostly limited. And that’s key to having a winning plan moving forward.

On offense, things got better as well. Dwayne Haskins was able to push the ball down field a little more. The running game was certainly better too. And McLaurin showed the ability to move the chains as he was able to get into space more frequently.

Ron Rivera deserves credit for being able to achieve these second-half changes. Too often under Jay Gruden, Washington proved unable to change their strategy midgame and that often put them well behind the eight-ball in the second half.

If Washington can keep making adjustments at halftime, they will have a chance to win games. That is, of course, if they can avoid slow starts.