Washington Football Team: Dwayne Haskins, it’s time to Put up your Dukes
Dwayne Haskins is once again the starting quarterback for the Washington Football Team.
It has been a long, tumultuous season for quarterback Dwayne Haskins. Benched in early October for sub-par performances and reportedly poor study habits, Haskins now finds himself at a crossroads early on in his career with the Washington Football Team.
With veteran Alex Smith set to miss Sunday’s game versus Seattle due to a calf strain, Haskins has an opportunity to show how much he’s matured as a quarterback within the past two months. Many pundits (myself included) thought that Haskins wouldn’t play another down in 2020. Now he’s the starter once again. The only difference: Washington is in the midst of a four-game win streak and is currently in first place in the NFC East with three games remaining.
Haskins’ first task as QB1? Keeping pace with Russell Wilson and the high-octane Seattle Seahawks offense, On paper, Washington doesn’t have the horses on offense to keep pace.
Despite that fact, the Seahawks can be beaten. The rival New York Giants provided the Washington Football Team with a blueprint on how to defeat Seattle with Colt McCoy at quarterback: Run the ball and play defense. In Week 13, the Giants ran for190 yards. New York also forced two turnovers and sacked Russell Wilson five times.
Washington will lean once again lean on running backs Peyton Barber and J.D. McKissic with Antonio Gibson out for the second straight week. McKissic led all rushers against San Francisco with 68 yards on 11 carries. Barber wasn’t spectacular but complimented McKissic with 12 carries and 37 yards.
Despite a lackluster performance from the rest of the skill positions, the duo was able to grind out tough runs in the second half. Scott Turner shouldn’t get too pass-happy with his play-calling with Haskins at the helm. Instead, the run should be used to set up the pass.
Seattle has the fourth-best (95.5 ypg) run defense in the NFL, but teams are taking advantage of their 32nd (294.8 ypg) ranked passing defense. Opposing quarterbacks are averaging a 93.7 passer rating in 2020. That number jumps to 96.0 in road contests. To put those numbers in perspective, the Las Vegas Raiders are allowing a 93.2 rating and just fired defensive coordinator Paul Gunther one week ago.
If Washington can establish the run on first and second down with McKissic and Barber, Haskins can take shots downfield to Terry McLaurin and Cam Sims. The rest of the receiving core needs to make plays for Dwayne Haskins so that it builds confidence in the young passer. Steven Sims Jr. dropped a third-down pass that would’ve resulted in a conversion last week. Logan Thomas has been solid for the past three weeks, but Washington will need Thomas to replicate his performance against the Steelers.
Last but not least, this game will ultimately come down to Washington being able to win the battle in the trenches on both sides of the ball. Protection for Dwayne Haskins has to be at a premium. Seahawks safety Jamal Adams sacked Haskins three times a year ago and currently leads Seattle with 8.5 sacks. Since Week 8, the Seahawks lead the NFL in sacks. Haskins must show better pocket presence when avoiding sacks.
Next. Three keys to victory for the WFT vs. the Seahawks. dark
It is a big if, but if Dwayne Haskins can play mistake-free football, the Washington Football Team has a solid chance to continue their winning streak. Ron Rivera and the rest of the team believe in Haskins. Haskins has said all the right things after practice this week and took all the first-team reps in practice. Now it’s time for the 2019 first-round draft pick to put up or shut up.