Washington Football Team: Three takeaways from Week 10 loss to Lions

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Nov 15, 2020; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Washington Football Team defensive end Chase Young (99) jogs off the field during the fourth quarter against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field. Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports /

3. Chase Young’s penalty of the last drive was a rookie mistake

Chase Young has had a solid rookie season for the Washington Football Team. Despite seeing a lot of attention from opposing offensive lines, he has consistently generated pressure, forced incompletions, and stopped the run for Washington while making few mistakes.

However, late in Washington’s loss, Young made a crushing rookie mistake that was one of the costly plays in the defeat.

With 12 seconds left in the game, the Lions were trying to get close to midfield to either attempt a Hail Mary or get close enough to try a long field goal with Matt Prater. On the play, Stafford threw to Quintez Cephus but the pass fell incomplete with six seconds left on the clock.

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But there was a flag on the field, and it was against Young. He had roughed Matthew Stafford on the play and given the Lions new life. The 15-yard penalty put Detroit at midfield and after a 9-yard pass, Prater was set up to try a 59-yard field goal. He nailed it and that was that.

Now, the penalty wasn’t egregious and it can be argued that there was some inconsistency in the officiating, as a similar hit was made against Alex Smith on Washington’s tying drive but no flag was thrown. That said, Young still hit Stafford and put the officials in position to make the call. In that scenario, that just can’t happen. There were six seconds left in the game and the contest would’ve gone to overtime had he just pulled up.

Four Young, this was just a rookie mistake. It just happened at a terrible time for Washington. Young will certainly learn and grow from this. He already responded to it properly after the game, so this isn’t a massive concern.

Surely, the play will sting for Washington fans. But that play was far from the only reason that the team lost on Sunday afternoon. It was just the one that happened the latest in the game.

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