10 quick thoughts from Week 10 as Washington upsets Tampa Bay

UPSET IN LANDOVER.

The Washington Football Team came into Sunday’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as nearly double-digit underdogs and walked out as double-digit winners, knocking off the reigning champs 29-19 at FedEx Field.

It was the type of performance fans had been clamoring for all year.

Tom Brady was terrified of attempting a pass beyond five yards. Taylor Heinicke played like a franchise quarterback. Jonathan Allen delivered an All-Pro-level performance. All en route to Washington pulling off maybe the upset of the year in the NFL, which says a lot given how much chaos ensued in Week 9.

We know one win doesn’t mean Washington has saved their season, but fans deserve to celebrate this victory. There was a lot to take away from the W, but here are some thoughts we jotted down as the game went on.

Washington Football Team: 10 quick thoughts from Week 10

Gutted for Chase Young: FedEx Field was absolutely rocking on Sunday … until the face of the franchise was writhing in pain after suffering a knee injury on a pass-rushing snap. Young refused to get carted off, but could barely put any weight on the knee as he was assisted to the locker room.

The former No. 2 overall pick was quickly ruled out and there’s growing concern he suffered a season-ending ACL injury. Just devastating. Young had been taking some heat from fans for his slow start and we were eager to see how he was going to respond over the course of the remaining schedule.

We might not get that chance now.

Jonathan Allen is inevitable: What more can be said about Jonathan Allen that hasn’t been said already? How about this — if you took Allen’s current stats and he didn’t play another snap in 2021, he’d STILL make the Pro Bowl.

Allen made his presence felt early and often on Sunday, registering a QB hit on Tom Brady before taking out a run in the backfield. He was particularly dominant against the run, which is significant given it’s his supposed area of weakness.

Simply put, the four year, $72 million extension Allen inked in the offseason is looking like a bargain and he deserves to be mentioned alongside the best defensive linemen, not just tackles, in the game.

Give Antonio Gibson some respect: No, Antonio Gibson wasn’t efficient in the game. 24 carries for 64 yards is an abhorrent stat line. However, the Bucs have the best run defense in the league and Gibson showed up in the red zone.

The second-year RB notched two second half touchdowns, the first of which gave Washington a 10-point cushion and the second of which put the game on ice in the final minute. It’d be nice to see Gibson be more effective earlier in games, but let’s remember he’s playing through a stress fracture in his shin.

Put some respect on his name.

Chase Roullier was missed: Chase Roullier getting hurt in Week 8 kind of got swept under the rug, as it happened in the latter stages of the loss to Denver right before the bye. The 28-year-old fractured his fibula and is out for the year, and to say Washington missed his sturdy presence would be an understatement.

We’re not going to overreact to one game, but this rep from Tyler Larsen is one of the worst we’ve seen from an OL. The sixth-year pro was no match for Vita Vea, who went untouched (!) before making a stop against the run.

DeAndre Carter is here to stay: We’ve been calling for DeAndre Carter to get more snaps at receiver, and those wishes have been granted in recent weeks.

After notching three catches for 51 yards and a TD against the Broncos, Carter found the end zone on Sunday for the fourth time this season. Not bad for a player who had zero career touchdowns entering the year.

Carter is far from a polished receiver, but he seems to always come up with a big play when the offense needs it most. We know the value the 28-year-old provides in the return game, but the fact he’s made THIS many strides as a pass-catcher tells us that Washington must re-sign him in the offseason.

Boneheaded penalty to end first half: This is a quick one, but it deserves a write up. On what should’ve been the final play of the first half, William Jackson brought Mike Evans down by the face mask and gifted Tampa Bay the opportunity to run another play, a 30-yard field goal that was converted.

That’s about as inexcusable as it gets. Jackson came up with a big interception in the first half, but he undid all that good work with this penalty, which luckily didn’t come back to haunt Washington later on.

Can somebody stop Devin White?: This has been a Washington-dominated article thus far, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t acknowledge Devin White’s performance. The Bucs’ budding young linebacker sniffed out a number of plays in the backfield and seemingly made every open field tackle he stumbled upon.

We generally don’t like waxing poetic about an opposing team’s player, but we had to make an exception for White, who finished the game with 18 tackles (13 solo), three tackles for loss and two sacks.

Take a bow, young fella.

Washington has a kicker: Ron Rivera probably should’ve waited for a kicker like Joey Slye to become available before he impulsively released Dustin Hopkins, but we’re able to forgive him after Slye’s mistake-free debut.

It’s crazy what can happen when you’re able to lift the ball over your offensive line and past the line of scrimmage, right? The big-legged kicker was perfect on the afternoon, converting all three of his field goals, including a long of 46 yards on the offense’s opening drive, and both of his extra-points.

Ladies and gentlemen, Washington has a kicker.

Terry McLaurin doesn’t need a big game to make an impact: McLaurin gave us a scare in the first half when he left with a collarbone injury, but he emerged from the locker room in short order and was cleared to return.

This wasn’t your typical dominant performance from McLaurin, as Tampa Bay clearly game-planned to limit his impact. However, the star WR came up when it mattered most, hauling in a host of passes on Washington’s game-ending drive, which spanned 19 plays and took nearly 11 minutes off the clock.

The biggest of them all came on a 3rd and five in the red zone where he got absolutely lit up by a Bucs defensive back. Being the contested-catch savant he is, McLaurin reeled it in and celebrated by flexing in front of the FedEx Field faithful.

McLaurin is more than capable of going off for 100-plus yards any given week, but Sunday proved he doesn’t need to dominate to be a difference maker. The last time we checked, that’s the tell-tale indicator of a superstar.

Taylor Heinicke has Tampa’s number: For all of his inconsistencies this year, Heinicke once again showed up against the Buccaneers. The fan favorite quarterback lucked out on a couple of wonky throws, but he showed poise in the pocket, which is something we haven’t seen nearly enough of this season.

Heinicke finished 26-of-32 (81.2%) for 256 yards and one touchdown, equating to a robust 110.4 passer rating.

He might not be the long-term answer under center, but he quieted any talk of a potential switch to Kyle Allen for the foreseeable future. There’s something to be said for that. Without him, there’s no way Washington wins this game.