Washington Football Team: Studs and duds in Week 4 loss to Ravens

Washington Football Team Dud: Washington’s pass rush

The pass rush is far from Washington’s biggest problem. Through three games, they had been a big part of why the team was able to beat the Eagles and why they held a second-half lead against the Browns.

That said, the unit as a whole was lackluster against the Ravens and Lamar Jackson. On the day, they weren’t able to generate much pressure on Jackson and let him be far too comfortable in the pocket. As a result, he was able to move around at will, scramble, and gash the defense on various occasion.

Now, there’s clearly a reason for this. Both Chase Young (groin) and Matt Ioannidis (arm) were out for this game as they battle injuries. Without them, the rotation was a bit thinner and as a result, they were missing arguably their top interior rusher and top edge rusher for the contest.

Of course, it’s worth mentioning that Washington’s depth is still very good. And while there should be a drop-off with those two on the bench, it shouldn’t be a huge one. And at the very least, the team should be able to get more than one sack and a few quarterback hits on Jackson.

In particular, Montez Sweat was disappointing in this one. He had one nice stop, but for the most part, he was neutralized by a solid Ravens offensive line. He needed to be better during the game and so did the players on the interior.

Tim Settle deserves a tip of the cap for getting the lone sack on Jackson via a nice, solid ankle tackle. But aside from that, it was a lackluster day for the team’s best unit. Perhaps things will get better when Young returns but even if he needs to miss more time, the unit should do better than they did on Sunday.