10 quick thoughts from Week 13 as Brian Johnson’s late FG helps Washington sink Raiders

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, right? Not in this instance, because the Washington Football Team, behind the leg of newly-minted kicker Brian Johnson (!), walked out of Sin City with their fourth-straight win.

Other than the defense, there wasn’t much to like about Washington’s performance, but winning ugly counts just the same as winning in blowout fashion.

And you know what? It’s grind-it-out victories like this that show the true character of a team. Left for dead heading into the bye riding a four-game losing streak, Washington has proven over the last four weeks that they have zero quit.

I’m shaking just typing out this recap because that game was so exhilarating, so let’s avoid any potential typos and dive right into the Week 13 edition of “10 quick thoughts.”

Washington Football Team: 10 quick thoughts from Week 13

What an opening drive: We set high standards for the opening drive as soon as Antonio Gibson ripped off a 22-yard run on the first play of the game. Amazingly enough, that wasn’t even the highlight of the nine-play sequence.

From Gibson showing tremendous effort on a busted play to move the chains, Taylor Heinicke standing up in the face of pressure and delivering a strike to Terry McLaurin on third down, and Logan Thomas’ one-handed catch in the back of the end zone to open the scoring, the first drive was a thing of beauty.

Talk about setting the tone!

More two-WR sets in backfield, please: Scott Turner said we’d see DeAndre Carter and Curtis Samuel lined up in the backfield on Sunday and it only took a few plays for the second-year OC to dial it up. A beautiful fake to Carter set up a screen for Samuel, who would’ve scored on the play if he wasn’t tripped.

We need more of this in our lives. Carter and Samuel are as shifty as they come at the WR position and this formation could cause defense a lot of problems if Turner is willing to step out of his comfort zone more often.

Defense reaches milestone (sort of): Sound the alarms, folks, because Sunday marked the first time all season Washington prevented their opponents from scoring on their opening drive in back-to-back games.

In fact, they’ve now managed to do so in four of the last five weeks. Pretty impressive given they allowed points on opening drives six times in the first seven games, five of which resulted in touchdowns.

Antonio Gibson is running angry: It feels like ages ago that we were campaigning for Washington to put Gibson on IR. The stress fracture in his shin was affecting his mobility and overall ability to make defenders miss. Maybe all he needed was a week of rest, because he’s looked like a player reborn since the bye.

There’s no need to regurgitate his stat line. With running backs, all it takes is the eye test to determine if they’re playing well. When it comes to Gibson, he’s running like one of the best backs in the league of late.

Washington’s DL depth is legit: Remember after Chase Young tore his ACL and his sky was falling? No Young or Montez Sweat? How could Washington’s defensive line possibly cope without its two stars? Just fine, actually.

James Smith-Williams is establishing himself as a quality rotation player and it felt like Daniel Wise was around the ball on every play. Casey Toohill and Shaka Toney have also shown flashes in their increased roles.

The importance of DL depth in today’s NFL cannot be understated and Washington currently has an embarrassment of riches in that department, even though it’s not translating to huge sack numbers.

How did Washington cope without Collins?: You know the NFL doesn’t make sense when Landon Collins’ absence makes you worrisome. It sounds insane given how his season started, but Collins has feasted in his new Buffalo nickel role.

So, how did Washington cope? As expected, they threw a variety of looks at the Raiders, our favorite being Deshazor Everett and Bobby McCain as the deep safeties and Kam Curl, the most sound tackler in the secondary, in the BN role.

Anther quick note: Can Everett get more snaps at safety? We know the seventh-year pro is a menace on special teams, but he brings a physical edge to the safety position that is otherwise lacking when he’s not on the field.

Rough day for Jamin Davis: Anybody have a final count of how many missed tackles Davis finished with today? We counted at least three in the first half alone. To make matters worse, the No. 19 overall pick was exploited on underneath routes all game. It’s better than giving up a big play, but those yards adds up.

Did anyone else notice that Carr looked more fleet of foot than Davis on his scramble near the end of the first half? Maybe he was gassed since the Raiders were in hurry-up mode? Who knows, but he needs to be better. There’s a stark difference between learning on the job and being a complete liability.

Unfortunately, Davis personified the latter on Sunday.

Taylor Heinicke was off: More like Taylor HIGHnicke, am I right? All jokes aside, this was a forgettable performance from Heinicke, who was high on a number of passes. That included his touchdown to Thomas, who’ 6-foot-6 (!) and barely had a long enough wingspan to reel in the score.

Heinicke’s offensive line did him no favors, but he, up until the final drive, didn’t play with that same moxie we’re used to seeing. There’s nothing wrong with being a game manager, but starters in the NFL, even the below-average ones, are able to throw the ball beyond the numbers with accuracy.

And about that fourth quarter interception. Yes, his hand was hit as he released the football, but it was the type of careless throw — off his back foot into double (triple?) coverage — we hadn’t seen from Heinicke in a while.

Can’t be having that.

D-Jax held in check and hell freezes over: Anyone else think Desean Jackson was going to continue his run of luck against Washington?

The 35-year-old has absolutely terrorized his former team throughout his career, notching 47 catches for 839 yards and nine touchdowns, the latter two of which are the most amongst active players, in 14 games vs Washington.

Jackson was admittedly banged up coming into the game, but you kind of got the feeling he’d make an imprint on the game. Boy, were we wrong.

Somebody make sure hell hasn’t frozen over and it’s not raining cats and dogs outside, because Washington holding Jackson in check is not something we expected to happen in this lifetime.

Wild ending in Las Vegas: Waiting until the last minute to walk out a winner in Las Vegas typically ends in tragedy and Washington ALMOST learned that the hard way on Sunday.

A Heinicke interception breathed new life into a hapless Raiders offense, which responded by drilling a go-ahead field goal with 1:45 left. Being the ultimate competitor he is, though, Heinicke rebounded and marched the offense down the field for a go-ahead field goal attempt from Brian Johnson.

A new kicker with limited NFL experience (five games) attempting his first FG of the game with a chance to win the game?

Surely, this could only end in disaster for Washington, right? Wrong! Johnson fit the kick just inside the upright and thus, a legend was born. The Raiders’ attempt at a Hail Mary came up short and Washington responded by storming the field in celebration of their fourth consecutive win.

If you don’t believe by now, then what the heck are you waiting for?