10 quick thoughts from Week 15 as Washington can’t overcome roster shortages

With nearly half their roster missing due to injury and COVID-19 protocols, the Washington Football Team was always going to need a perfect game to walk away from Lincoln Financial Field with a win.

For the first quarter, at least, it looked like Washington was going to ride luck and grit to an improbable upset. However, once they stopped getting all the breaks and the Eagles stopped shooting themselves in the foot, it became clear just how overmatched Ron Rivera’s group really was.

When the dust settled from Philly on Tuesday night, Washington lost by a final score of 27-17 to drop to the No. 9 seed in the NFC playoff hunt. The season is far from over, but it kind of feels like the club’s playoff hopes are beginning to slip away.

It’s tough to put any of the blame on the players or the coaching staff, which was down seven assistants. Sometimes you just have to chalk it up to luck, and that was never on Washington’s side amid their COVID-19 outbreak.

It was a rough night for Washington fans, but we have to recap wins and losses all the same. You know what that means.

Washington Football Team: 10 quick thoughts from Week 15

A dream start for Washington: When Dallas Goedert dropped a surefire first down conversion — and likely A LOT more — on the Eagles’ first drive, fans collectively breathed a sigh of relief.

Little did they know, however, that the play would result in a forced turnover by Washington, as replayed showed the ball never touched the ground. Rather, it ricocheted off Goedert’s heel and into the welcoming arms of Landon Collins.

https://twitter.com/FanSided/status/1473447776084234257

Run the offense through AG: After Washington took over deep in Philly territory, Scott Turner had one thing in mind: feed Antonio Gibson. That he did, as the 26-yard scoring drive was all Gibson from start to finish.

Here’s how the play sequence looked.

• Gibson two-yard rush
• Gibson six-yard rush
• Gibson six-yard rush
• Gibson two-yard rush
• Gibson five-yard reception
• Gibson four-yard rush
• Gibson TD

We agree with Turner. Feed Gibson until you can’t no more!

Welcome back, Montez!: With Washington’s offense as depleted as it is, the pressure was on the defense to step up.

Well, how does two first quarter takeaways sound? On the Eagles’ ensuing drive following Gibson’s touchdown, Montez Sweat, playing in his first game since Week 8, strip-sacked Jalen Hurts that was recovered by Collins.

That’s how you announce your return after missing the last five games.

Costly error from Humphries: On third and goal with a chance to go up two touchdowns, Gilbert threw a missile in the back corner of the end zone to Adam Humphries. The ball hit Humphries in the chest, but the sure-handed receiver didn’t even get a hand on it, and Washington settled for a field goal.

Humphries has come up with some clutch catches this season, but he surely wishes he could have that one back.

Tress Way is a stud: With a depleted roster, Washington was going to have to win the field position battle. Thanks to longtime punter Tress Way, they did exactly that for most of Tuesday night.

His highlight of the night came in the second quarter when he sent a 60-yard screamer to pin the Eagles inside their own 15. To put the punt into proper context, Way launched it from his own 28-yard line!

Just another day at the office for the 31-year-old.

Cheap shot from Goedert: You see, what we’re not about to do is lose another player to a season-ending knee injury because of a dirty block. It happened to Logan Thomas back at the hands of Yannick Ngakoue back in Week 13, and it happened again to Daniel Wise tonight at the hands of Goedert.

Check it out:

Yet an another entirely unnecessary low block. Wise was at least five yards away from Miles Sanders when Goedert lunged at his knee. The NFL needs to ban this play before more players around the league get hurt.

When it rains it pours: With well over 10 players on the COVID list, the last thing Washington could have transpire was more injuries. Since the football gods clearly don’t want good things for this team, both William Jackson (ankle) and Landon Collins (foot) left in the first half and didn’t return.

Already missing numerous key pieces in the secondary, these losses proved impossible to overcome for Washington.

Kam Curl was missed: Speaking of missing pieces in the secondary, boy, was Kamren Curl missed in this one. The second-year safety is widely perceived as the best pure tackler on the defense, but the work he does in coverage against opposing team’s tight ends was grossly missed, as Goedert ran rampant all game long.

Jeremy Reaves had a couple of nice moments — he almost came down with a ridiculous pass breakup on a deep ball to Goedert in the first half — but he proved to be no match for the newly-minted $57 million tight end, who finished the game with seven catches for 135 yards.

Ease up on Garrett Gilbert: No, we weren’t thrilled with Garrett Gilbert’s performance. The former Patriots practice squad quarterback was late on his reads, indecisive and panicky in the face of pressure and just lacked poise.

But what else did you expect? Regardless of his past experience with Rivera and Turner, he literally signed just days ago. If you want to knock the coaches for rolling with Gilbert instead of Kyle Shurmur, go ahead. We still feel like Gilbert was the right call over a QB who’s never attempted an NFL pass.

Give players and staff credit: We’re not generally in the business of handing out moral victories or participation trophies, but Washington deserves a pat on the back after tonight for keeping the game competitive for as long as they did.

The scoreboard and box score won’t look pretty, but the first 20-plus minutes were absolutely captivating. On a different night, with even just a handful’s worth of more players in the lineup, Washington wins this game.

Sure, it means nothing in the grand scheme of things, but the WFT had no business being in this game. It took the Eagles, whose fans should NOT be taking a victory lap right now, getting chewed out by their head coach at halftime to finally wake up and realize what they were about to choke away.

A win would’ve been great, but at least Washington lost with pride. In these types of circumstances, that’s all we could’ve asked for.