Washington Football Team: Three takeaways from loss vs. Panthers
2. Washington needs to commit more to the run
Yes, I understand that Washington was trailing for most of this game, so running the ball was difficult. That said, having only 19 carries to 47 pass attempts is not a sustainable way to win games, especially when the run game is the better part of the offense.
In his first game back from a turf toe injury, Antonio Gibson looked very good on the field. He logged 61 yards on 10 carries and was responsible for most of the team’s offensive movement with Dwayne Haskins in the game. J.D. McKissic and Peyton Barber had 15 and 10 rushing yards respectively, too.
Had Washington stuck to the running game, they may have been able to consistently generate more yardage instead of relying on Haskins’ spotty ability to make plays with his arm. Instead, they put a lot on Haskins, especially in the lead-up to his benching in the second half.
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Take the fourth-and-two before Haskins was benched, for instance. The team could’ve tried to give Antonio Gibson against the Panthers’ poor run defense to at least run some sort of play-action pass… had they been running it more often. Instead, Haskins danced around in the pocket for a while before scrambling out, getting sacked, and squandering a scoring chance.
Washington’s most effective weapon on offense is their running game. They have to use it more against the Eagles to make their offense operate better. They have to use it to make their quarterback more comfortable, whoever that may be. And above all else, they need to run the ball to keep the defense off-balance.
This is Scott Turner’s biggest area for improvement going forward. If he can call a more balanced game and get (and keep) Gibson involved, Washington will have a chance to play better on offense.
And that could be the difference between heading home or heading to the playoffs.