Washington Football Team: Week 6 reality checks, predictions vs. Giants

5. The Reality Is, the coaching staff needs to step up.

There is really no other way to describe the coaching matchup last week for the WFT against the Rams other than to say that Washington’s staff got punched by McVay and his staff.

Washington’s offense had zero answers (and didn’t appear to even by trying to solve) for Aaron Donald. They also made a star out of Troy Reeder. Part of the reason appeared to be a lack of creativity in play-calling with much too conservative an approach.

On the defensive side of the ball, it appeared the team hadn’t watched any tape on the Rams. They seemed flustered by wide receiver stacks, they were fooled by play action, and they were beaten badly in coverage as a result of poor communication.

And while the players bear some of the responsibility for how poorly they played, this was a game where it felt more like the coaches just got out-coached by a very talented coaching staff led by the football savant that is Sean McVay. The team looked confused and unprepared. The plan looked vanilla on both sides of the ball. And when your plan is vanilla, the execution has to be at a level this team is not yet capable of putting together for 60 minutes of football.

My Prediction: The defense will not be able to fix all of their issues this season, let alone in one week, but will still have a bounce-back performance against Jason Garrett’s antiquated offensive scheme. The offense will look dramatically better in Kyle Allen’s second start, facing a Giant’s defense that isn’t nearly as effective as the Rams’.

However, I expect New York to squeak out a win because this is the NFL, and typically, teams don’t lose all 16 games. The Giants are favored for their first (and likely only) time of the season on Sunday and will find a way to get off the schneid. Giants win and cover 23-19.