Three keys to a Washington Football Team victory vs. Eagles
1. Early offensive success
The Washington Football Team, in genera,l has been horrible at generating success early in the season. They have a -108 point differential in the first half.
Washington is still the only team in the NFL to not score a single point on their opening drive. On top of that, they usually have very short drives that not only do not generate points but also fail to at least flip field position. The defense is constantly on the field and also constantly in poor situations.
To make matters worse, in the past two games on their two-game skid, Washington has five first-half turnovers. Simply put, the team plays a style of play in the first half that is reliant on an almost superhero-like defense.
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In a win or go home game the Washington Football Team has to generate early offensive success. If not, they could very well see themselves have another big first-half deficit.
Not only will the early offensive success benefit their offense, but it will also benefit the defense. A defense that has either a lead or an offense that helps win the field position battle typically performs better.
Scott Turner has to have a better gameplan and a better script of plays, to begin with. He also has to adapt his gameplan to what is working for the offense better. For example, against the Panthers, it was clear early that Dwayne Haskins was not going to generate the offense much success. On top of that, Antonio Gibson was getting chunk yards on nearly every carry.
Despite that, Turner still attempted to maintain balance. The only problem with that was Dwayne Haskins made mistake after mistake until balance was no longer achievable and the offense had no choice but to go pass-heavy.
The offense needs to generate early success. To do that, a gameplan around the strengths of its players needs to be cultivated. Generating early offensive success will be key in beating the Eagles on Sunday. Washington cannot continue to rely on its defense to be its best offense.