Washington Football Team: 4 depressing stats that defined WFT’s loss to Buffalo

Did anybody else think barely scraping past the 0-3 Giants in primetime was rock bottom for the Washington Football Team?

We hope not, because Ron Rivera’s side reached a new low point on Sunday in upstate New York, falling to Buffalo to the tune of a 43-21 shellacking.

At this point, there’s no reason to be optimistic about Washington. Despite flaunting first-round picks and elite talents all over the field, the defense is one of the worst in the league through three weeks.

The offense, on the other hand is still too dependent on Terry McLaurin and Antonio Gibson isn’t seeing nearly enough touches.

Bottom line? It’s tough to make sense out of a loss in which the team you were pulling for was competitive for all of five minutes. However, let’s push through and shed light on some stats that defined Sunday’s rout.

4 depressing stats that defined Washington’s Week 3 loss

4. Offensive Ineptitude

Washington has made a reckless habit of getting off to slow starts on the defensive side of the ball. Unfortunately, the offense –mostly due to a lack of execution — followed in their footsteps on Sunday afternoon.

In fact, Nicki Jhabvala of The Athletic pointed out on Twitter that Washington, as of the 10:42 mark in the second quarter, had more turnovers (two) than first downs (one). At that point, they trailed 21-0 and the game looked over.

If that’s not depressing, then we’re not sure what is.

Of course, the first turnover came in the form of a Logan Thomas fumble that derailed a promising drive for the offense. Tre’Davious White punched the ball loose near midfield after an 18-yard gain and Matt Milano recovered.

Buffalo responded by traveling 52 yards over eight plays before Josh Allen connected with Zack Moss to extend the lead to 14-0.

The second turnover came on a woeful decision by Taylor Heinicke, who floated a pass near the left sideline after he spent WAY too much time going through his progressions on the right side of the field.

Jordan Poyer was waiting for the throw and jumped the route. Less than a minute later, Allen found Dawson Knox in the end zone to make things 21-0.

3. Taylor Heinicke reception

Remember what we said about the offense being too dependent on Terry McLaurin? While the star receiver only accounted for seven targets — which he turned into four catches for 62 yards — the passing game didn’t have a pulse unless McLaurin got his hands on the football.

Heinicke finished the game with 212 passing yards, but 73 of those came on Antonio Gibson’s electrifying catch and run he took to the house. The next leading receiver was Thomas, who finished with 42 yards on four catches.

The rest of the WR corps might as well have taken the day off, because they combined for four receptions for 37 yards.

How non-existent were they? Well, at one point in the third quarter, Heinicke, who caught a batted pass, had as many catches as Dyami Brown (who had a bad drop), Adam Humphries and Cam Sims combined.

Hard not to be depressed after reading that stat. We know the Bills have an elite defense, but there’s no excuse that Brown, Humphries, Sims and even JD McKissic were as invisible as they were on Sunday.

Were they struggling to get open or was Heinicke so rattled after his interceptions that he didn’t trust himself to get them the football? The answers will come once Washington hits the film room, but man, this doesn’t look good.

Let’s hope Curtis Samuel is activated off injured reserve this week, because Heinicke isn’t going to have much success if he has tunnel vision for McLaurin and Thomas on every dropback.

3. Washington’s linebackers can’t cover

Did anybody else get the feeling that Buffalo made it a point of emphasis to target Washington’s linebackers in coverage? While the defensive line and secondary haven’t lived up to expectations thus far, LB is the clear weak spot of the WFT’s defense and to say the Bills exposed them would be an understatement.

We’ll start with Cole Holcomb, who allowed five receptions for 46 yards and two touchdowns in coverage, per Pro Football Focus. What looks even worse for Holcomb is that he was burned on both of Buffalo’s TDs in the second quarter and they were separated by 2:17 on the game clock.

Sure, both touchdowns came off turnovers by the offense, but that doesn’t change the fact that Holcomb didn’t come to play.

Bostic, meanwhile, looked totally lost at times in zone coverage. The Bills found great success targeting the middle of the field on Sunday, and Bostic failed to set the tone as the de facto veteran leader of the group.

All in all, Josh Allen completed 93.3% of his passes (14-of-15) on passes that targeted Holcomb, Bostic and Jamin Davis. Nothing more needs to be said, folks. If you read this stat and don’t weep, more power to you.

1. Career day for Josh Allen

Going up against Josh Allen and Buffalo’s high-powered offense, Washington’s floundering defense had a perfect opportunity to remind the world that they should still be mentioned amongst the best in the NFL.

By the time the fourth quarter game clock ran out, however, the Bills had 43 points on the scoreboard and Allen, who struggled mightily with accuracy and decision-making in Weeks 1 and 2, returned to MVP form.

Simply put, it was an embarrassing display by Jack Del Rio’s unit. Allen was dominant in every facet, including downfield throws, throwing on the run and with extended time in the pocket (four or more seconds).

Per Next Gen Stats, the former No. 7 overall pick was 12-of-17 for 218 yards and three touchdowns throwing the ball downfield, further encapsulating Washington’s inability to prevent chunk plays this campaign.

Allen was just as efficient on the run, going 5-for-8 for 76 yards and two touchdowns. When his pass protection held up, he was even more lethal, completing six of nine attempts for 99 yards (16.5 yards per completion) and two TDs.

What an absolute atrocity of a graphic that is. You know what? If Rivera wanted to send a message, he’d print this out and hang it around the locker room. Anything to remind the defense that Allen didn’t break a sweat facing them.

Allow us to further summarize Allen’s afternoon by comparing his stats in Weeks 1 and 2 to Sunday’s drubbing.

• Weeks 1 and 2: 56% completion percentage, 224.3 yards per game, three total TDs and a 77.9 passer rating
• Week 3: 74.4% completion percentage, 358 passing yards, five total TDs and a 129.8 passer rating.

To go from ranking second in the NFL in total defense a season ago into the get-right matchup for struggling QBs is a joke. We better start seeing different results, because heads will roll if this continues over the next few weeks.

Washington Football Team: Something is broken in Washington, and we’re not sure what it is

The Washington Football Team looks broken after their blowout loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday and we're not sure what the solution is.