Week 12 Reality Checks: Washington vs Seattle

5. The Reality Is, Kamren Curl makes this defense click.

Jonathan Allen has been the best defender for Washington this season. End of discussion. But it’s no coincidence that the defense’s overall improvement has coincided with the coaching staff finally making the decision to prioritize Kamren Curl‘s utilization over Landon Collins’. Using Curl to his strengths as a strong safety and matching him up against opposing tight ends, slot receivers, and running backs has allowed this team to simplify their coverage schemes and has put the rest of the secondary in positions to win. It’s also allowed Curl to make some of the most impactful plays of the season. His 4th down stop on a quick out to Christian McCaffrey was the play of the game, hands down. Put every safety in the NFL one-on-one against CMac on 4th and 3, and there may not be two other safeties who get that stop.

If Washington is going to handle Seattle on Monday Night, it will need another strong performance from Curl, especially in coverage of Seattle’s versatile screen game, to free McCain up to play single high to protect against the deep passing attack between Russell Wilson and his deep threats, Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf.