Washington Football Team defense struggling to carry offense vs. Seattle

The Washington Football Team came into this game needing more consistency from their offense. They haven’t gotten it.

Most onlookers expected this game to be familiar in its incongruity on offense. Today marks Dwayne Haskins‘ first start since Week 4, and while he’s shown some good things in spurts, the inconsistency remains, and it’s hampering the Washington Football Team as a whole.

At the half, Washington trails Seattle 13-3. There have been mistakes on both sides of the ball, but the story of the game is the dichotomy between the defense and the offense. Again, the Washington Football Team’s defense is being asked to carry an under-performing offense. And while Washington’s defense has managed to mount a few crucial stops, there’s only so much they can do against Russell Wilson. That’s becoming more and more clear as the game goes on.

Washington’s defense managed to hold the Seahawks’ offense to a mere six points up until the final two minutes, but Washington’s offense failed to capitalize on the opportunities given to them by the defense. Early on, Haskins and the offense struggled to put together drives, and when they finally started to gain rhythm and churn out yards, Haskins forced a throw on the run, which resulted in an interception.

It’s important not to simply bash Haskins endlessly. He has shown some good flashes. His pocket escapability looks better today. His mechanics look more fluid and more crisp. And he clearly throws with more pace than Alex Smith. But decision making is the tool that wraps all of those supplementary traits together, and today, Haskins’ decision making still has room for improvement. He tried to do too much on his interception, and he’ll have to avoid falling into that trap again in the second half. Otherwise, his latest chance could end sooner than expected.

Can the Washington Football Team’s offense build on its late momentum and close the gap in the second half? Whatever happens, this is clear: Washington won’t win if nothing changes. The offense has to bail out the defense and build off of their little victories at some point. Otherwise, Washington will leave 6-8, and risk letting the Giants back into the division race.