The song says that you’ve been waiting all day for Sunday Night (football). The question is: Will it have been worth it?
This WFT team reminds of the kid who couldn’t get all the way engaged at school and is now staring down the barrel at mid-term exams. The equations get reduced to simple binary solutions: Win at least this game and one other of the two following before the bye, or kiss any thought of playoffs goodbye. This game and the Lions’ game are against rock solid teams albeit at home. But, this game is the lynch pin. Tuesday at 4:00pm EST (yes the clocks did roll back last night) is the trade deadline. This team has some assets that would be of interest to contenders. A win might convince General Manager Adam Peters to basically stand pat. A loss gives him every green light to sell off anything but the emerging young core. And, yes, there is one hiding among the basket full of aged veterans on one-year deals.
Playoffs?
We are at a point in time far past the rough edges of early September football. This is, to borrow a phrase, “Prime Time.” Teams should be firing on all cylinders. One should be seeing the best or nearly best version of teams. Washington hasn’t been anywhere near that for the entire season to date. And, without Terry McLaurin again it shouldn’t be in top tune tonight either. But, there is hope. Jayden Daniels, according to JP Finlay is Washington’s superpower. He’s back for this game. We will have to wait and see if he finds a phone booth on the way to the stadium and dons his cape or not.
Looking at where things stand right now the fork in the road is front and center. The Road to Ruin is in plain view. It takes no imagination at all to see the whole thing fall apart like a piñata under siege at a birthday party. The Road to the Playoffs is entirely different. That path is a covered in fog. Of the 9-games left 5 are against teams with winning records that when combined equal 28-10. The 4-games against squads with losing records have a combined record of 10-21-1. Say the WFT wins all four of those games. It still would need to win 3 out of 5-games against the good teams in order to get to 10-wins.
In most years 10-wins would essentially guarantee a playoff spot. Not always. This week’s opponent is Seattle. They won 10-games last year only to miss the dance. And, this looks like a year where it could happen again to some team. Aside from Division Leaders there are 3-teams with 5-win records and 2-others with 4-wins. Washington has to get hot, like, red-hot and right now. Win 7 out of 9 games, or else it’s time to cue up now 90-year-old Jim Mora’s quote about playoffs. “Playoffs?”
“Incoming”
Someone in the WFT’s Medical Staff must be reprising the role of Radar O’Reilly in MASH. He could hear the helicopters bringing in wounded and injured before anyone else. “Incoming” he’d shout prompting the team to scurry to their stations. The injury hits just keep on coming for this team. A new week brings new injuries. This week it’s Laremy Tunsil. He left the Kansas City game with a hamstring pull. He’s listed as “Questionable.” But, he won’t play in all likelihood. A hamstring injury is good for two weeks. When he went out young Brandon Coleman came in to the Left Tackle spot. He played fairly well. It was curious to see that move. The team tried to move him into the Left Guard spot earlier. The results were not good. Chris Paul took that slot and has been solid. Prior to the season the thinking was that Andrew Wylie would take that Swing Tackle slot. And, to top it off Coleman was considered a prime Trade Deadline candidate. Yet, there he was out on the field producing. Expect him out there again tonight.
Johnny Newton is also Questionable. He had the temerity to throw Patrick Mahomes onto his duff last week. That will get a flag every time. But, Newton has started to show his mettle. The whole Defensive Tackle Room has. It’s the Edge where things are bleak.
Three starting Defensive Ends are gone for the season. That includes Dorance Armstrong who was on his way to an Honors season. That forced the afterguard to put Frankie Luvu at Edge for a large portion of last week’s game. Frankie is a phenomenal Linebacker. At 235 lbs he is not an Edge. The lack of pass rush is what buried this team in the second half at Kansas City. Mahomes had time to scan and wait for Kelce to get lost in space. It’s their magic elixir. If you saw the Super Bowl last year Mahomes had zero time to do such mischief. That’s the formula to beat those guys. Washington did not have the ingredients.
John Bates is also “Questionable.” Colson Yankoff is already out. The Tight End Room is suddenly thin.
A popular notion is that this team is hurt so much because it is old. There may or may not be something to that. But, this is a sport that is rough on bodies from the start. Scheduling games on Thursday with three-days rest doesn’t help. Plastic grass doesn’t help. Eliminating focused tackling drills doesn’t help. And, the lack of practice in pads doesn’t help. Add all that up, throw in a little age for spice and you get this type of attrition. But, rest assured that the League is all about “Player Safety.” To that end they’ll fine Frankie Luvu $47,372 for this “Hip Drop” tackle last week. It’s performative theater. “Look over here.” (Just stay out of the Training Room.)
Hawks
This Seattle squad is good…really good. One quick comparison every week is to look at Offensive and Defensive rankings. Seattle is #5 in points scored and #7 in points allowed. Washington is #17 in points scored and #21 in points allowed. That is a textbook tough matchup.
Sam Darnold is another Quarterback that was run out of New York by the fans and media. After one season under Kevin O’Connell at Minnesota he has blossomed into an upper-tier QB. Right now he enters this game with 12 TDs and only 4 Interceptions while completing 68.2% of his passes for 1754-yards. Take a guess who owns this stat line: 12 TDs, 4 Ints, 68% completion for 1560-yards. Those stats belong to last year’s League MVP Josh Allen. Yes, Darnold is having that kind of year in relative obscurity.
Seattle’s Defense has 8-interceptions. Washington has 4 of them. There is a long list of similar comparisons.
The team coming in here is just plain better than the current state of the WFT. That’s the distilled truth of the matter. And, they are coming off of their Bye Week. Teams coming off of the Bye are 6-2 so far this season. This will be Washington’s second go at a team coming off of the Bye. The first was that Bears’ game which is best forgotten. Vegas has this game as Seattle by 3-points. Now we just need a Tout to tell us how well “Home Dogs” do on Sunday Night Football in November and we’re all set.
This game is a stern test. Sonny Jurgensen while in college was famous for staying out late before exams. Then he’d cram study through the wee hours only to go Ace the test. This team could use some of Sonny’s magic right about now.
Game Information
Sunday, Nov. 2 (8 p.m. ET) Northwest Stadium
Seahawks @ Commanders—8:20 p.m. ET, NBC
TV: Mike Tirico (play-by-play), Cris Collinsworth (analyst), Melissa Stark (sideline)
D.C. Radio: Bram Weinstein (play-by-play), London Fletcher (analyst), Logan Paulsen (analyst) BIG 100 WBIG-FM
