Week 6 Reality Checks: Washington Football Team vs Kansas City
By Tim Payne
1. The Reality Is, Washington may get their doors blown off by Mahomes and company.
Patrick Mahomes is not the type of quarterback to have a bad year. He might dip from other-worldly to just incredible. But he’s not going to finish this season averaging more than 1 turnover per game. And the Chiefs, barring a catastrophic rash of injuries are not going to finish the season under .500.
Given the apparent lack of unity and accountability coming out of the locker room at WFT park, and given the stubborn reluctance to make meaningful rotational or scheme changes by the coaching staff, and given the success of an undermanned New Orleans offense against this Washington defense, it’s tough mental sledding to imagine anything other than a boat race this weekend by the Chiefs.
Washington has a secondary playing even more tentatively than they are playing badly. They have a defensive front that only managed to get Jameis Winston to the ground 2 times, even though the Saints didn’t employ much quick passing. They have a undermanned passing attack and a stubborn reticence to ride their dominant run-blocking offensive line and uber-talented running back tandem. If Washington doesn’t make some dramatic adjustments to rotations and strategies for this game Sunday, the Chiefs are going to embarrass them. And nothing about the rhetoric coming out of Ashburn this week is giving any indication of accurate self-assessment or open-mindedness to change.
So, maybe enjoy the Sean Taylor Jersey retirement at half-time, and keep your expectations low for the rest of the afternoon. And maybe, just maybe, this one will shock them out of some of these bad patterns. One can hope. It’s about all we have left. My expectation is Washington loses 38-20 to fall to 2-4, and the villagers get a bit more restless.
