The good ship WFT is hard aground on the Mid-Season shoals. All up and down the Chesapeake Bay there are lighthouses to steer mariners away from rocks and shallows in illogical places. The lights were functioning. But, the rudder didn’t respond. Remember way back when in Pre-season? Terry McLaurin was doing the NFL’s oft seen “Get Paid Dance.” Without him the other Receivers could not get open. When the season arrived McLaurin got hurt. This happens with regularity to those guys doing the contract maneuver protocols. Then, guess what? The Receivers still could not get open. Remember way back when at the Draft? The clamor was for an Edge rusher. Washington went O-Line instead. It was hard to argue that protecting Jayden Daniels was a priority. The Edge guys the team had played well. Dorance Armstrong in particular was having a good year. But, three of them have been lost for the season.
So, what’s left is a team without a decent pass rush. That exposes the Secondary. It, naturally has been hurt. Without good Edge play teams are running wide and wild. Add that to an Offense that can’t throw effectively because no one is open. That causes the QB to hold the ball too long, run too often, and ultimately led to injury. For all the griping about the O-Line, if the ball could come out on time it wouldn’t be nearly as bad as the stats indicate. There were indications this was coming. The sheer magnitude and finality of the grounding are the shocking parts, however. Come the first weekend of January a Flood tide will raise the hull up allowing it to go back to home port with the intended destination long lost and forgotten over the horizon.
Playing out the String
At this juncture it’s time to pivot. The design for the year was to lean on the veterans. Jordan Magee could barely sniff the field until injuries opened the door for him. He’s played fairly well. Ditto for Safety Tyler Owens. With any hopes of post-season gone the pivot is to get what kids are still standing in for an extended evaluation. When Magee and Owens showed up a few weeks ago they brought much needed speed. “Old” implies “Slow.”
The Wide Receiver Room is really thin and really poor. Chris Moore, the 32-year-old Journeyman on his 8th team has been on the field for 295 snaps. That has resulted in 17-targets and 8-receptions. He gets a reception basically once per 36-snaps. Just checking a random team that also has had a poor season let’s look at Baltimore’s #3 WR. That would be DeAndre Hopkins. He’s been on the field for 138 snaps. He’s been targeted 15-times and has caught 10-balls. That’s a reception every 14 snaps. No one is going to pencil him in for All-Pro. But, the level of production is much higher than Moore. He doesn’t get targeted because he can’t get open.
Tyron Burks was brought in to help. The first game was not encouraging. He played 33-snaps; targeted 1-time with 1-reception. Signing guys off the street usually gets less than stellar results. But, Washington doesn’t have much choice. Keep metaphorically throwing guys at the wall and see who sticks…if anyone. And, play anyone who was drafted. Find out if they have it or not.
There’s no shame in missing on draft picks. Every GM has a batting average. None are perfect. The key is having enough volume that the whiffs aren’t as impactful. Look no farther than the Division leader Philadelphia. Washington has 6-picks in the coming draft. There are 3 of them are in the top-150. Philly has 10-picks with 6-picks in the top 150. If Adam Peters whiffs on one of those three the impact is significant. Philly could whiff on two of them with little damage resulting. Washington’s volume is low because the move was made to win now. It failed. Time to pivot.
Playing out the string will involve five stand-alone games. The schedule makers thought they’d see Jayden Daniels and the exciting WFT of last year. They chose poorly. If the cameras find JD5 he’ll be the one with his left arm in a sling. The silver lining is that Washington will get plenty of 1:00pm Sunday games next season. One thing is for certain; that roster will look much different than this one.
The Lions
As noted above the Lions are the only legacy team never to get to a Super Bowl. But, things turned around for them when Sheila Ford Hamp took over principal ownership in 2020. Dan Campbell suffered through a 3-13 season his first year. When his team was 1-5 the following year Ms. Hamp summonsed the media. They thought it was going to be an announcement that Campbell was being fired. Media folks be loving them someone getting fired. Do they ever! Instead she told them no one was getting fired. She was staying the course. The Journos were bummed. As were the back-benchers who love to scream, “Fire Everybody!” at the top of their lungs at the first hint of opportunity when a team struggles. But, it was a definitive moment for the franchise. Since then Campbell’s Lions have gone 40-13.
By the end of his third season the only players left on the roster that Dan Campbell inherited were the Punter and one other. This team skyrocketed to a 13-3 record and a trip to the NFC Championship Game. A failed fourth-down opened the door for them to lose a tough one to San Francisco. Surely they would be back the following year. Washington has had one horrific season for injuries this year. But, it was worse in Detroit last year on the Defense. The WFT came in and knocked them off. Jayden Daniels played brilliantly. But, the Lions turned the ball over 5-times. Part of that was due to Jared Goff getting rocked on a Mike Sainristil interception return by the bogeyman of this week; Frankie Luvu. Goff wasn’t right after that hit which many Detroit fans argued was Helmet-to-Helmet. No flag. Season over.
This year the team lost last week at home to Minnesota. That goes with two other losses, both on the road and on grass at Green Bay and Kansas City. If you’re looking for a hope bead there it is: Detroit is a fast team that thrives on plastic grass. On real grass…not so much. That’s your hope bead for the week, such that it is.
Detroit has the #2 Offense and #13 Defense for points. Washington has the #20 Offense and #23 Defense for points. If you watched the Seattle Wide Receivers running pitch-and-catch drills last week it seems impossible that the Defense isn’t rated lower than that. (Was #11 wearing a cloak of invisibility or something?) The Lions are 7.5 point favorites. Frankly, it seems low.
Game Information
Detroit @ Washington
Sunday November 9, 2025; 4:25PM
Northwest Stadium
FOX Kenny Albert, Jonathan Vilma, Megan Olivi
D.C. Radio: Bram Weinstein (play-by-play), London Fletcher (analyst), Logan Paulsen (analyst) BIG 100 WBIG-FM
