Washington Football Team: Broncos offense gets huge boost before Week 8 matchup

Remember back in Week 3 when Ron Rivera called the Washington Football Team’s matchup against Buffalo a “measuring stick game”?

It turns out, Rivera grossly overestimated Washington’s standing amongst the elite teams in the NFL, because Buffalo rolled to a 43-21 victory.

Given how Rivera’s side has performed since then, it might be more accurate to call Week 8 vs Denver a true measuring stick for Washington.

We’d argue that the Football Team is a better overall squad than the Broncos, who’ve lost four in a row after a 3-0 start. If Washington really wants to prove to fans that they don’t belong near the basement of the NFL standings, they need to go into Empower Field and dominate a dejected Denver team.

Unfortunately, that task just became a lot more challenging, because the Broncos offense will get a premier playmaker back from injury.

After missing the last six games with an ankle injury, Jerry Jeudy is set to make his long-awaited return for Sunday’s game.

The Washington Football Team will have another playmaker to account for vs Denver on Sunday.

Is anyone surprised? At this juncture, fans should expect Russell Wilson to be activated just in time for Week 12 vs Seattle.

Getting back to Jeudy, though, his return couldn’t come at a better time, because the Broncos offense has been a train wreck in recent weeks. Over the last four weeks (all losses), they’re scoring 16 points per game.

Teddy Bridgewater’s numbers look good during that stretch, but anybody with two functioning eyes can see he’s had trouble pushing the ball downfield. In fact, he’s averaged just 6.2 yards per pass attempt in the last two games.

Even against Washington’s defense, which admittedly showed some signs of improvement in Week 8, that’s not going to get it done.

Jeudy’s return could help open up the Broncos’ offense. The second-year wideout logged six catches for 72 yards in Week 1 before sustaining the injury, so he and Bridgewater clearly have a budding chemistry.

We’re not saying Denver’s going to light up Washington for 40 points, but it’s definitely noteworthy that Bridgewater will have his full complement of offensive weapons for Sunday’s game vs Washington.

With Jeudy, who racked up 52 catches for 856 yards and three touchdowns as a rookie, back in the mix, Washington will have to account for him, Courtland Sutton, Tim Patrick (both of whom are underrated), Noah Fant at tight end, and Melvin Gordon and promising rookie Javonte Williams at running back.

There are much worse skill-position personnels in the NFL. Just saying.

And for any Washington fans holding out hope that Jeudy will be limited in his return, he was almost activated for last week, but Denver played on Thursday. In other words, that ankle should be close to 100%.