Week 17 Reality Checks: Washington vs Eagles

5. The Reality Is, Jack Del Rio may be coaching for his job.

There have been zero indications of a rift between Rivera and Del Rio, but let’s be honest…this defense came in with extremely high expectations and has, with rare exception, been horrifyingly bad…like Joe Barry and the last few years of Jim Haslett bad.

Some have made and will continue to make the excuse that his best players didn’t follow his scheme. Others will argue that the offense didn’t hold up their end of the time-of-possession battle. But the bottom line is this: unmet expectations get coaches fired and players cut. If Haslett doesn’t preside over a meaningfully improved defensive performance against Philadelphia and New York, I would be surprised if Rivera doesn’t replace him in the offseason.

Coordinators are supposed to develop young players and get the most out of their stars. Del Rio has failed on both fronts this season. Outside of Jonathan Allen and Cole Holcomb, it would be hard to name another defender who meaningfully improved over last season, while many seemingly regressed (based on stats and the eye test)…that’s a problem.

In these final two weeks, I’ll be looking for Del Rio to get creative in using the quality pieces he has available to him. In particular, this week against the Eagles, I’d look for him to mix up his plan and actually instruct his ends to take Hurts on all zone-read plays, rather than the backs, and to bring safety blitzes to neutralize the play-action game a bit.