Washington Football Team: 4 takeaways from Week 3 against Buffalo

After a brutal 22-point loss to the Buffalo Bills, the Washington Football Team must learn from their lackluster performance.

In what was a disappointing performance that had a little positive to take from it, the Washington Football Team was thoroughly outplayed on Sunday afternoon.

From pillar to post, they were outmatched in just about every category on the field. Buffalo’s position groups in totality outworked Washington’s by a significant margin, even more, significant than what the 22 point loss showed.

The theme of this piece is really hard to not rely on the word disappointing, but Washington fans around the world recognize how bad of a performance that was. Surely, head coach Ron Rivera has bigger plans for this team than perennial 20-point losses, but as of today, the future outlook of this team is bleak.

There were a few positives, some stuff that we will touch on there, but there was much, much more negative to take away from this game. From the literal to take away is that the Buffalo Bills defense had, to Washington’s back seven regressing by the snap, there is a lot of bad to take from this game.

We have time to focus on that, but for now, let’s take a look at the few positives that came from Sunday’s abysmal performance by the Washington Football Team.

4. Offensive line improvement

Despite allowing five pressures on Sunday, the Washington front five offensively looked to improve from their lackluster performance in Week 1. Specifically, guys like rookie Samuel Cosmi and Charles Leno Jr. played their best game of the year in Week 3, posting exceptional advanced numbers that pop on the eye test.

For Cosmi, the second-round draft pick had a tough time against Joey Bosa in week one, but he’s looked to have turned over a new chapter after an 82.5 pass-blocking grade via PFF. In addition, he only allowed one pressure yesterday, while seeing AJ Epenesa and first-round pick Gregory Rousseau on the bulk of his snaps.

For Leno, facing the duo of Jerry Hughes and Mario Addison is no easy task. Leno allowed only one pressure, parlaying that into a pass-blocking grade of nearly 85.0 from Pro Football Focus. Guys like Ereck Flowers and Chase Roullier, meanwhile, also had solid games as pass blockers, allowing zero pressures on 54 snaps each. Both parlayed a strong performance in pass protection into grades from Pro Football Focus of 84 or higher. An encouraging sign for a group that has shown improvement week to week.

The man who had the worst game on Sunday, who battled from a freak injury mid-game, was star guard Brandon Scherff. Scherff allowed three pressures on 51 snaps, which graded him out just over 72 from PFF. While this is a below-average performance by his standards, considering your All-Pro member on your offensive line had the worst game yesterday, that says a lot. This group has performed significantly better as pass blockers from week to week. Whether you look at the eye test or you use advanced numbers from sites like Pro Football Focus, the evidence is there.

Facing one of the toughest defensive lines in all the football, Washington allowed only five pressures, which is an improvement from last week. In addition, their two “weakest” members along their OL in Cosmi and Leno have produced well since their Week 1 showings. An encouraging sign for an offense that needs consistency from the hogs upfront.

3. Daron Payne dominates

In case you missed it, the big man, number 94 on Washington’s defensive front had himself a day on Sunday afternoon. Proving that he is a force to be reckoned with, Daron Payne is here to make a name for himself.

The defensive piece showed off his unique pass-rushing ability on the interior by forcing nine hurries against a Bills front that had a relatively smooth day. Payne’s performance netted him a pass-rushing grade of 90.2 from PFF, something that matches the eye test. Coming into Sunday, n Payne ranked sixth in pass-rush win rate among defensive tackles while placing 10th in run stop win rate.

Bordering the line of elite, his performance vs Buffalo was outstanding. He’s been Washington’s most consistent player so far this season on the defensive side of the football. A menace against the pass, Washington should do all that they can to keep No. 94 in Burgundy and Gold long-term.

With a player who has continuously stacked good weeks on top of good weeks throughout his career, it’s no surprise that he’s emerging as one of Washington’s elite players on the roster. He’s proving that he is someone who must be kept as he continues to develop. Week 3 was a sneak peek of what Daron Payne’s future holds, Washington should make sure that his future revolves around FedEx Field for the long haul.

3. Taylor Heinicke disappoints

The most important position in football, something that we all talk about no matter who wins and loses. Quarterback, rightfully so, is everyone’s hot topic no matter the outcome of a game.

To put it simply, yesterday’s performance from the WFT signal-caller was at best, below average. And for Washington, they need significantly better quarterback play from Taylor Heinicke.

The performance from Heinicke was a tale that everyone has heard before. What makes him great, can also be his downfall, as he continuously tries to do too much and force the issue. Throwing two interceptions, both of which came against a four-man rush, both were pitch and catch throws to the DB, is inexcusable.

We understand that quarterbacks aren’t going to play the perfect game, but the interceptions Heinicke threw against Buffalo were terrible decisions followed by even worse execution. Whether it’s a lack of velocity, not trusting in his ability, or overcompensation for something that isn’t there, Heinicke looked all of what a backup QB should look like. Outside of scoring on a 78-yard screen pass on a drive that began deep inside Bills territory, the Washington offense was abysmal vs the Bills.

It wasn’t due to poor pass-blocking from the Washington offensive line. Heinicke struggled to make accurate and quick decisions, failed to trust in his legs, and forced the issue at the wrong times. He ended up completing only 58% of his throws, followed by three turnover-worthy plays. While Washington shouldn’t abort the mission with No. 4 under center, you now know what the worst of Heinicke looks like.

Essentially, it’s replacement level QB play. Luckily for him, there is plenty of time to bounce back and string together a few good weeks before Ryan Fitzpatrick comes back and Washington has to make a decision. But as for Sunday, Heinicke‘s performance was as bad as the numbers show.

3. Disaster all-around on defense

Heinicke wasn’t the only player who struggled yesterday. His performance was mediocre at best, but Washington’s coverage issues take the cake by a mile. No matter what Washington did yesterday, defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio was thoroughly outclassed.

The personnel was all over the place and failed routinely against whatever Buffalo decided to run. Scheme-wise, nothing seemed to work as this defensive group significantly underperforms week in and week out. Washington’s linebacker core has been the weak link by a country mile.

Whether it’s Jon Bostic or Cole Holcomb, both players have had poor showings in coverages and, unless Ron Rivera has confidence that Jamin Davis can play 75% of the snaps, Washington must undergo a significant scheme change going forward. The likeliest route they can go is opting to run a significant dose of press man, cover 1.

If you’re going to run a 5-1 or a 4-2-5, you want to rely on heavy man coverage like your personnel is suited to do. Running press man will help disrupt the timing of throws because offenses will tend to opt for a quick passing game to counteract the defensive front, but by doing so, Washington should live with the results.

Through three weeks, Washington’s back seven has struggled mightily in coverage, There’s an obvious lack of communication and lack of continuity on the backend. It seems more often than not, many players are out of position, many players are dropping too deep or too wide, nobody is on the same page in coverage.

At this point, the Washington defense as a pertains to pass coverage is flat out beating itself over the last three weeks and unless they have a quick fix for this, this will be a reoccurring theme for weeks to come.

It’s an issue that must be fixed immediately, as personnel changes and scheme changes should be imminent. Proper coaching adjustments should be made, but we’ll have to see what happens against an Atlanta team that is closer to a rebuild than it is to a playoff birth.

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

These four depressing stats defined the Washington Football Team's humiliating loss to the Buffalo Bills this past Sunday.