Washington Football Team Reality Checks for Week 4 vs Atlanta

1. The Reality Is, Washington faces a second must-win game in Week 4.

It’s almost impossible to imagine a scenario where Washington loses this game in Atlanta on Sunday and still goes on to have a season any reasonable Washington Football fan would call a success. With the brutal upcoming schedule and how (sadly) good Dallas looks this season, there’s little or no wiggle room for Washington to lose Sunday and remain “in the hunt” down the stretch.

So while there truly is no such thing as must-win week 4 game, since anything can happen over the following 13 weeks, Washington NEEDS to beat Atlanta, an imminently winnable game.

Predictions: Heinicke has a bounce-back game, passing for 265 and 2 TDs with no INTs. Gibson cracks 100+ yards rushing on 20+ carries. Curl out-snaps Collins. Davis out-snaps Bostic. Fuller sees his snap-count drop in favor of the buffalo nickel with 3 safeties on the field. The defense makes a decent-enough improvement to be enough to hold down Atlanta. Washington wins a high-scoring affair, 30-28.

Last season, Ron Rivera rallied the troops to get on the same page after they started slowly. He pushed the right buttons, benched the right players and fought the right battles to get his defense flying around with confidence and effectiveness which coincided, by no coincidence with a hot streak to finish the season with a division title and playoff berth. Can he do it again?

Washington Football Team: Don’t count on Curtis Samuel returning for Week 4

Washington Football Team wide receiver Curtis Samuel is eligible to be activated off injured reserve, but don't expect him to return for Week 4.