Washington Football Team's undercover ballers and bums from Week 2

Here are the undercover ballers and bums from the Washington Football Team’s loss to the Arizona Cardinals.

The Washington Football Team felt a lot like the team of old this Sunday. Sloppy turnovers, glaring defensive miscues, and a few coaching head-scratchers to go along with a lopsided loss. It felt like a re-run of most of my life as a ‘Skins fan.

And Dick Stockton consistently referring to them as their old name didn’t help either.

While Landon Collins’ first drive and Troy Apke’s meme-worthy missed tackles were obvious, and Terry McLaurin’s stellar performance caught everyone’s attention, let me point out a few under-the-radar “Ballers and Bums” from this Week 2 loss in Arizona.

Washington Football Team Bum: Jack Del Rio

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Ok, Coach Del Rio doesn’t maybe deserve this recognition, but this team clearly came in under-prepared for Kyler Murray’s rushing prowess. Specifically, the decision to attack the running backs and in-motion players on all RPOs was a fatally-flawed idea.

Murray is so far-and-away the most dangerous ball-carrier on the team that the plan should have been to knock the snot out of him at every mesh point and take your medicine with Drake and Edmonds.

Washington Football Team Baller: Kevin Pierre-Louis

KPL had 15 tackles in this game and a forced fumble. In addition, he received a 91.3 from PFF for his coverage. If Washington gets that kind of production from him consistently, this defense will become even more dangerous, and it will free up Ron Rivera and Jack Del Rio to get even more creative in blitzing and disguising coverages.

Washington Football Team Bum: Ron Rivera

Let me be clear. Ron Rivera is no bum. He’s a heck of a human being and a solid football coach… but everybody has bad days. And this was one for the coach.

The decision to go for a field goal from the 6-yard-line down 20-0 in the 3rd quarter was just bad. I heard his reasoning, and I hated it. He has to have a long-term vision in decision-making about the overall roster construction and coaching philosophy. In-game decisions not related to the health of individual players should be exclusively about winning.

And speaking of decisions related to health, the decision to not spend the timeouts on defense in the last three minutes of the game, down by only two scores was mind-boggling, too. Play to win! Injuries happen randomly. Taking timeouts to the locker-room and not maximizing reps for your young and struggling offense is a mistake.

Washington Football Team Baller: Geron Christian

Yes, that Geron Christian. Look, he’s no Trent Williams. But he was going up against the most consistently productive edge rusher in football the last three years, and he held his own. He wasn’t responsible for any of the four sacks of Haskins (one was on Scherff, the other three were because Haskins panicked instead of stepping up in the pocket), and he battled throughout the day.

Christian’s footwork was improved from last week, and he managed to avoid penalties for the second straight week. The young man had a solid outing.

Washington Football Team Bum: Logan Thomas

Thomas was close to having an excellent day. But his lack of separation forced some throws into tighter windows than necessary, and he just couldn’t manage to make a play on four different key balls that a better tight end would have hauled in. Vernon Davis, Jordan Reed, Chris Cooley…all three would have made at least half of those plays.

Haskins has to be better. But his supporting cast has to step up and make a play for him when things aren’t perfect. Thomas wasn’t able to do that this week.

Washington Football Team Baller: Daron Payne

Daron Payne was all over the place on Sunday. He flashed in the passing game. He held up in the run game. He pursued Kyler Murray on scrambles and designed runs. He forced a couple of penalties. He has grown-man strength and unique quickness for a man of his size, and both flashed Sunday. Baller.

Washington Football Team Bum: Montez Sweat

Sweat gets the final “Bum” award of the week for one single play – the 4th down from the Cardinals’ own 27 where they ran the tricked-up reverse. Sweat over-pursued, trying to make a hero play from the backside, and lost contain.

If he’d have just done his job on that play, it’s a 5-yard loss, setting up an opportunity for Washington to quickly get a score to get back in the game before halftime. He also had zero stand-out plays to offset this massive mistake.

Next. Good, bad, and ugly from Washington's Week 2 loss. dark

Let’s see if any of these Week 2 Ballers can build on this next week in Cleveland, and if any of these Week 2 Bums can get things turned around in Week 3. If they can, maybe Washington can manage to get back over .500 for the season.

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Washington Football Team’s undercover ballers and bums from Week 2

By Tim Payne | Sep 23, 2020