Four Washington Football Team clunkers after Week 6 Giants loss

The Washington Football Team lost their fifth straight game on Sunday with a heartbreaking loss to the New York Giants, but the visiting team did play with a lot of heart and determination.

So close!  This game stings!  It hurts to the core!  While we are committed to handing out four more game clunkers for the fifth straight week, the Washington Football Team was one two-point conversion from securing a victory.

So close, but no chicken dinner for the Washington Football Team.  Yes, we’re going to keep the four game balls in the Riggo’s Rag vault for another week.  We were thinking the clunkers would be pushed aside for a few days.  It didn’t happen, but if there was a time to really hate the clunkers designation, it would be this game.  We may have the most positive clunkers list so far this season and it is a small consolation for a team that could use a win.  Yes, this game hurts.

This was a battle of two teams that are cellar-dwellers, but to leave that dreaded basement, the Washington Football Team must win against the lesser teams first and then progress to the better teams.  If anyone thinks Washington is not looking at a three-year rebuild, then they are not paying attention.

In any heartbreaking loss, the coaches and players need to focus on the positives and build on it.  Any positive.  Is this rock bottom?  Maybe, but all Washington can do is quickly put it behind them and move forward to the Cowboys game next week.  We’ve put it off long enough, so let’s get right to the clunkers for this week.

Kyle Allen had a good game, but only to a point.  His lone interception late in the first quarter resulted in a Giants touchdown three plays later.  Giving the home team a short field after a poor throw put Washington in an early hole that was difficult to escape from for the remainder of the game.  Asking the defense to bail out the offense each week takes a toll and untimely turnovers continue to destroy Washington.

Late in the game, Allen fumbled on a strip-sack at the Giants 45-yard line and Tae Crowder scooped it up for Big Blue and danced to the end zone.  That turnover hurt the most.  Washington was driving to win the game and Allen gave them a gift.  Yes, he marched Washington downfield again and the team was down one point.  Allen tossed a wounded duck into the ground on the two-point conversion attempt.  Game over.  Yes, Kyle Allen had the team in a position to win, but his turnovers on Sunday cost the team dearly.  He is our first clunker of the day.

Landon Collins didn’t have his worst game of the season on Sunday, but he did take some poor angles once again.  His coverage on screens and shorter passes is a testimony of what not to do on the field of play.  It feels like Collins is a seventh-round rookie who needs to learn the nuances of playing strong safety.  He didn’t play at this level for Alabama and he didn’t play this poorly for the Giants.  We’re not going to spend too much time with him this week as it feels like the same story game after game.  He is the recipient of this week’s second clunker.

Fabian Moreau played very little in this game, but he was beaten badly on the Giants’ first touchdown.  It was a 23-yard pass play to the left corner of the end zone and the receiver easily had two steps on Moreau.  That is clearly unacceptable.  Moreau got fooled by a routine head fake and it was an easy score from there.  When a team is that close to the end zone and a pass to the corner is called, the cornerback should be able to stay very close to the receiver.  Rarely do you see a defender give up so much room that close to the end zone.  Moreau, just for that play alone, is the third clunker of the week.

Peyton Barber is still on the roster?  Why?  He had four carries for six yards on Sunday and that includes a four-yard run.  Do the math.  Take away the four-yard run and you have three carries for two yards.  Are you impressed?  He now has 28 carries on the season for 47 yards.  Again, do the math.  This is an atrocity.  He needs to be released and the team needs to find a better option from one of the practice squads out there.  Barber is obviously our fourth clunker of the week.

This week, we will forgo listing players who came close to being a clunker.  The team left it all out there on the field, but it wasn’t enough.  There is no need to rub more salt in the wounds for now.

No one knows when game balls will be awarded again, but it sure would be nice to do just that after the Cowboys game next week.  Let’s hope it happens.