Four Washington Football Team clunkers vs. Rams in Week 5

For the fourth week in a row, the Washington Football Team lost a game and there are no game balls to award.  However, there are four clunkers to talk about after a blowout loss at home to the Rams.

A month ago, we awarded game balls for the Washington Football Team and it was a happy day.  It has been nothing but clunkers since then and there seems to be no end in sight to this futility.  The game balls will spend another week in the Riggo’s Rag vault where they are now gathering a lot of dust.

The remnants of Hurricane Delta brought heavy rains to Sunday’s game, but the real damage was delivered by the visiting team.  The offense, defense, special teams, and coaches laid a rotten egg against the Rams on Sunday with a final score of 30-10, but it seemed much worse.  So now we come to a fourth straight week of recognizing the four clunkers, but it would really be nice if we can award some game balls very soon.

Both teams battled evenly through the first quarter and it was shaping up to be a close contest – the kind of football that keeps you glued to that large smart TV.  The Rams were then able to gain some separation and the Washington Football Team had no answers.

Washington never mounted a comeback and there was no inspiration to be had, even with the valiant return of quarterback Alex Smith.  The defense allowed 30 or more points for the fourth straight game, but each unit struggled on Sunday.  Let’s get right to the clunkers for this week.

Landon Collins returns once again to this list.  Are you tired of constantly seeing his name associated with negative headlines week after week?  Perhaps it is time for the Washington Football Team to move him to linebacker.  Or bench specialist.  Or locker room inspector.

The safeties struggled again on Sunday and made Jared Goff look like an all-time great.  Goff wears No. 16, but he is not the second coming of Joe Montana.  Or Hannah Montana.  Tight ends constantly feed on Washington’s defense, especially the safeties and linebackers, and Sunday’s game against the Rams was no exception.  Collins is a liability in any coverage scheme and he is our first clunker of the week.

That quickly brings us to another clunker – Troy Apke.  We told you the safeties struggled on Sunday, but Apke elevated his ineptness to a whole new level.  After the game, Apke headed to the team bus, but before stepping aboard, he took a poor angle and ended up in a former Hogette’s SUV.

All joking aside, Apke was actually caught on FOX Sports replays taking poor angles on several occasions against the Rams – in slow motion!  Collins and Apke were targeted often by the Rams and the un-dynamic duo were out of position for most of the game.  They allowed excessive amounts of yardage on pass plays and that includes a 56-yard touchdown where Apke and Collins were profoundly embarrassed.  There is no other way to put it.

Logan Thomas is still not a natural tight end and he is still far from being a TE1 type of player.  His blocking skills on Sunday were on display, but not in a good way.  Thomas had one catch on four targets and that is an exact match of the previous week.  The only difference is that his lone catch against the Ravens netted eight yards and Thomas’ catch against the Rams fetched four yards.

Four yards.  On four targets.  Sure, we can blame the offensive scheme, the offensive line, and the quarterback carousel.  The bottom line is that Logan Thomas lacks the talent to be an impactful tight end.  He simply can’t produce extra yards after a catch and can’t gain any separation from linebackers.  Thomas continues to be a clunker and Sunday was no exception.

Kyle Smith is a very good GM (that is not his official title, but it is obviously his role with Washington), but what in the world did he see in Wes Martin when selecting the Indiana guard in the fourth round of the 2019 draft?

The Rams defensive line enjoyed feasting on the Martin mincemeat buffet on Sunday.  Honestly, that is not an exaggeration.  Speaking of FOX Sports, they isolated some of his “blocking” on a few replays and it was simply horrific.  Martin was nearly as effective as a Grand Central Station turnstile during the height of rush hour.  Martin’s efforts on Sunday should earn him a ticket to the bench, pronto!  Washington needs to find a temporary solution at left guard quickly, because Martin is not the answer.  He was a definite clunker against the Rams.

Here is our weekly list of players who narrowly missed out on being named a clunker:  Jeremy Sprinkle, Thomas Davis, Dontrelle Inman, Morgan Moses, Jon Bostic, and Deshazor Everett.  Also, one notable clunker from last week did not play on Sunday – Peyton Barber.  That was a coach’s decision.  Could they be reading our weekly clunker articles?

Yes, this article is dripping with sarcasm and while it is difficult to watch these continuous struggles, perhaps laughing a little bit can help to ease the pain.  And let’s recognize the effort that Alex Smith put forth in this game.  He is an inspiration for all of us to admire and respect.

This may sound like a broken record, but it sure would be nice to hand out some game balls next week.  Losing is not fun.  Distributing clunker recognitions is depressing, but we’ll see if game balls can be awarded after the Washington Football Team’s game against the Giants.