Washington Football Team: 3 key matchups to watch in Week 2
By Jerry Trotta
The Washington Football Team failed to start the regular season off on a winning note, as a failure to get off the field on third down, poor offensive line play and a game-altering Antonio Gibson fumble proved to be their downfall.
There was obviously more that went into Sunday’s loss. Those three storylines just feel like the most significant in our eyes.
Luckily for the Football Team, however, they’ll get the chance to flush that loss and rebound on a short week vs the Giants on Thursday night.
Washington has had very little success against New York over the years, having lost their last five meetings dating back to December of 2018.
Though the Giants looked abysmal in their Week 1 clash against Denver, this won’t be an easy game for Ron Rivera’s side. With that in mind, let’s highlight three matchups that could determine the end result of this primetime showdown.
Washington Football Team: 3 matchups to watch vs Giants
3. Scott Turner vs Jason Garrett
Bet you weren’t expecting a battle of opposing offensive coordinators to kick this list off, huh? It seems outlandish, but it deserves a spot given how stagnant Washington’s and New York’s offenses looked in Week 1.
We’ll start with Garrett, who once again has fans calling for his job amid the Giants’ offensive struggles under his tutelage. The second-year OC is seemingly afraid of calling anything that requires Daniel Jones to throw the ball more than 10 yards down field…to say nothing of his conservativeness in high-leverage situations.
The #Giants offense needs a change. Obviously, they can't replace any starters right now but they need to change play-callers. You can't continue to let Jason Garrett call plays and tell me your priority is to win games.
— Giants Daily (@NYGDaily) September 12, 2021
This is inexcusable and is a continuation of last year.
If you can believe it, the Giants have scored less than 20 points in 10 (!) of Garrett’s 17 games as offensive coordinator.
Unfortunately for Washington fans, they have nothing to laugh at, as Turner didn’t cover himself in glory against the Chargers. To say the Football Team’s offense look ill-prepared for Sunday would be an understatement.
Terry McLaurin didn’t have a target in the first quarter and only managed four in the entire game. Not to mention that Ryan Fitzpatrick had 13 (THIRTEEN) passing yards before he left injured midway through the second quarter.
While this might not qualify as an on-field matchup, whomever wins the Turner vs Garrett matchup, well, their team should definitely have the upper hand in this NFC East clash on Thursday night.
For Washington’s sake, let’s hope Taylor Heinicke’s athleticism gives Turner the confidence to open up the playbook.