Week 11 Reality Checks: Washington at Carolina

1. The Reality Is, prosperity is a more difficult test than adversity.

One of my favorite measures of a football team is how well they handle success. Great teams don’t let their successes get to their heads, but do glean confidence from them. Bad teams relax (sometimes a lot, sometimes just a tiny bit) and lose their edge after getting an impressive win. Or, they take the wrong lessons from a win and miss out on the opportunity to stack wins.

In my 30 years of Burgundy and Gold fandom, there have been very few seasons where this team has consistently handled success well. In fact, they’ve normally absolutely choked on it. If Washington is able to gain confidence from their wire-to-wire win against Tampa Bay, but remain hungry and focused, not letting themselves crash against an opponent much less intimidating on paper, it will say a lot to me about the culture Ron Rivera is building in Ashburn.

Will they do it? Do they have the mental makeup to stack solid and complete performances? If so, they’ll make things at least lean toward interesting for the weeks to follow. I actually, possibly foolishly, think they will manage a solid outing in Carolina this week. If for no other reason than their desire to make sure Rivera comes out of there with a win. Look for a bit of an ugly slog with just enough dynamic offensive plays to get the win. Washington wins 20-18.