Washington Football Team vs. Buccaneers Wild Card playoff preview, score prediction
Washington Football Team defense vs. Buccaneers offense
The good news for Washington is that their defense actually stacks up pretty well against the Buccaneers. While the Bucs do have a lot of talent, Washington can disrupt their offense by doing one thing.
That thing is getting pressure. Tom Brady may be the greatest quarterback of all time, but when he is under relentless, four-man pressure, he has trouble. That’s how the Patriots’ offense faltered in their two Super Bowl losses to the Giants. Brady was under a lot of heat, particularly on the interior, and that disrupted the team’s rhythm (despite their historically good offense in 2008).
Washington is a team built to get pressure with four. Chase Young and Montez Sweat should continue to wreak havoc on the outside with their insane athleticism. Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne will generate push on the interior as well, and they may be even more important in this game.
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Because of Brady’s lacking mobility, he likes to escape pressure by climbing the pocket. That won’t be able to happen if Payne and Allen can get in his face. The team will need to make sure these two come ready to play while also moving Young and Sweat inside to create mismatches along the offensive line.
If the pass rush can succeed, that will make life easier on the secondary. They have a tough task at hand covering the Bucs’ top-three receivers. Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, and Antonio Brown are the most formidable three-man unit in the league, and while Kendall Fuller and Ronald Darby have played well this year, they could struggle to effectively contain all three of these playmakers.
Evans will be the one to watch in the lead-up to this contest, as he is dealing with a knee injury that could render him unavailable or less than 100 percent. If that’s the case, he’ll be more of a contested-catch threat while Godwin and Brown will provide speed. Washington has struggled with speed receivers in the past, so they’ll need to have a plan in place to limit these two and protect their corners from being burned.
Additionally, the team will need to guard against Rob Gronkowski. The future Hall of Fame tight end isn’t the player he once was, but he’s still a physical presence who is a big-time red-zone threat. Washington won’t be able to cover him with a linebacker, so it may be on Kam Curl to take him away in key scenarios. Or, the team could use Fabian Moreau as a big nickel as they did against the Eagles and their strong tight end group.
So, the passing game summed up: Washington has to get pressure on Brady to take pressure off their secondary. If they do that, they will be able to at least limit the Buccaneers’ offense.
As for the run game, Washington should be in better shape there. Ronald Jones has emerged as a solid starter, but Washington has allowed over 100 rushing yards to RBs just twice in their last eight games.
Jones should be productive, but if Washington can focus on slowing him down along with Leonard Fournette, they should be able to. This is Payne’s area of expertise, so he will just focus on gaining as much penetration as possible.
Washington should perform better against the Bucs offense than many are assuming. They have the personnel needed to make this competitive and keep it close given that they haven’t allowed a second-half point since Week 15.