Predicting the final five games of the Washington Football Team’s season
Predicting the remaining games on the Washington Football Team’s schedule.
As crazy as this sounds, the 4-7 Washington Football Team has a chance to make the playoffs. They’re currently in charge of the NFC East and will be in the running down the stretch to take home the divisional crown.
To do that, Washington will have to beat some tough opponents. Their stretch run includes an undefeated team, a divisional leader, two middle-of-the-pack teams with upside, and a divisional rival.
Here’s a look at how the final five games of the season could go for Washington as they look to go from worst in the division to first in just a single year.
Week 13 @ Steelers
This is very clearly the most difficult game remaining on Washington’s schedule. After all, the Steelers are undefeated, and though they have shown some weaknesses this year, they are a poor matchup for Washington.
The Steelers’ strength is their defense, as they are equipped to get pressure on opposing QBs and they shut down the run well. Pittsburgh does give up some yards in the passing game, but they don’t figure to be the type of defense that Alex Smith will take advantage of.
Smith likes to throw the ball in the short to intermediate range. The Steelers know this, and they will be able to guard the checkdowns are force Smith to try to go deep. Even without Devin Bush, the Steelers have good speed on defense and are an instinctive tackling bunch. They’ll be able to limit J.D. McKissic and Antonio Gibson in the passing game, unlike the Cowboys, and they’ll be able to get a lot of pressure on Smith behind a banged-up offensive line.
So, it’s safe to say the Steelers will win on that side of the ball.
Meanwhile, on defense, Washington should be able to slow down the Steelers’ middling running game. James Conner (if healthy) is merely solid, and Washington has the defensive line talent to contain him. Meanwhile, the team may be able to get some pressure on Ben Roethlisberger, but they’ll have to beat a quality O-Line to do it.
If Washington can’t pressure Big Ben, he will be able to make downfield plays to his receivers. Between JuJu Smith-Schuster, Chase Claypool, Diontae Johnson, and Eric Ebron, one of Roethlisberger’s options will be open downfield. Kendall Fuller could help contain one, and Ronald Darby could if he has a solid half as well. However, that still leaves the middle of the field susceptible to Johnson and Ebron and if Darby struggles, it could get ugly, quick.
Washington may find an unexpected advantage. They will have extra time to prepare for this game, as the Steelers and Ravens are slated to play Tuesday because of COVID-19 issues. And it’s unclear if the likes of Conner and Stephon Tuitt, currently on the COVID list, will be able to play at that time.
With there being a few cases with the Steelers, that could be a distraction, and so will their game against the Ravens, which has moved quite a bit. That said, Washington is still well below Pittsburgh’s caliber of talent, so this will likely be a loss for the team.