Washington Football Team: Studs and duds from Week 17 win over Eagles
Dud: Defense against mobile quarterbacks
The Washington Football Team has a terrific defense, but they do have an Achilles’ heel. They do have issues against mobile quarterbacks.
This is one of the reasons that Hurts was expected to give Washington trouble heading into this game. He had averaged nearly 80 rushing yards per game in his first three starts, and Washington had issues defending the likes of Kyler Murray, Lamar Jackson, Russell Wilson, and Daniel Jones.
Once again, that proved to be an issue for Washington. Hurts was able to total 34 rushing yards on eight carries and scored twice. The yardage wasn’t the major problem in this one; it was their inability to contain Hurts in the red-zone.
Washington Commanders
Hurts was able to find openings in Washington’s defense on several occasions this year. Most of the time, he was able to do it when the pass rush got too far upfield, a sign that they were a bit overaggressive. On a couple of occasions, Hurts was able to outrun Montez Sweat and Daron Payne to find running room. The linemen did the best they could, but they needed more linebacker support to limit Hurts.
Even when the team tried to spy Hurts, they couldn’t do it effectively. The Eagles converted a critical third down with Jon Bostic serving as a spy. Bostic isn’t particularly quick moving laterally, so that was a poor coaching decision from Ron Rivera and Jack Del Rio to use him in that role.
Of course, it’s hard to trust Bostic in coverage on a running back either, so they were in an unenviable position, but that just underscores their need for another three-down linebacker. And nonetheless, what the team tried to slow Hurts simply didn’t work enough.
You could see the difference in how Washington’s defense operated when Nate Sudfeld entered the game. Sudfeld, not exactly noted for his mobility, was more of a sitting duck in the pocket and Washington had no problem generating pressure and keeping him contained in there. They’ll need to improve against mobile passers to truly be an elite defense moving forward.
Washington is lucky that the quarterback they’re facing in the Wild Card Round, Tom Brady, is one of the NFL’s least mobile quarterbacks. That will at least give them a chance to tee off with their pass rush and will give the Buccaneers one less thing to exploit with their strong offense.