Washington Isn’t To Be Slept On

It’s here, fellow BUCS fans. Saturday night, our BUCS return to the NFL Playoff scene against an NFC East opponent in Washington that will most likely be a big underdog.

The BUCS offense is taking on a Top 5 Defense for the fourth time this season. The first three didn’t turn out too good as they were all losses and two of them were to the same team. New Orleans, which is ranked 5th overall defense, embarrassed our squad in both games. There are plenty that will dismiss the Week 1 loss with mentions of no preseason and continuity issues. There may be some validity to that. However, the Week 9 fiasco in which our offense scored a total of 3 points after going 10 straight drives that ended with a punt or turnover can’t be excused.

The Week 11 matchup against the Rams defense that finished the season with the #1 overall defense did see our BUCS start off well enough scoring touchdowns on two of the first three drives. But it had another long lapse of productivity which added to the burden on our defense. Even though the BUCS last chance to win ended with an interception in the 4th quarter, the habitual “figure-it-out-period” ultimately led to doom in the 24-27 loss. Those instances when the BUCS offense just seems to not have an answer for anything the opposing defense does have been far too common when going up against good defenses.

Embed from Getty Images

Washington is ranked as the 4th best defense in the League. And you’ve probably heard or read by now that it’s predicated on the pass defense and, specifically, its young defensive line. Anyone or anything telling you those young cats aren’t a legit threat to any opposing offense is wrong. And yes, that includes our offense.

Man to man, every one of their front four could be a handful for everyone one of our linemen. That’s not to suggest our guys aren’t up to the challenge. It’s expected that they will be. It should also be expected to see them be imperfect and lose a few reps too. It’s a football game after all. And they’re up against 3 guys that legit Top 10-level draft picks and another that should’ve been Top 15. Overall, they’ve got a disruptive defensive line that can cause some discomfort.

Defense & Fumbles Table

				Games		Def Interceptions					Fumbles						Tackles
No.	Player	Age	Pos	G	GS	Int	Yds	TD	Lng	PD	FF	Fmb	FR	Yds	TD	Sk	Comb	Solo	Ast	TFL	QBHits	Sfty
93	Jonathan Allen	25	DT	16	16						0	0	1	0	0	2.0	63	36	27	3	14	1
99	Chase Young *	21	DE	15	15	0	0	0	0	4	4	0	3	57	1	7.5	44	32	12	10	12
94	Daron Payne	23	DT	16	16	1	0	0	0	4	3	0	1	0	0	3.0	54	27	27	7	8
90	Montez Sweat	24	DE	16	16	1	15	1	15	6	2	0	0	0	0	9.0	45	28	17	12	20
97	Tim Settle	23	dt	16	1											5.0	19	12	7	5	7
91	Ryan Kerrigan	32	de	16	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	6	0	5.5	17	9	8	5	6
96	James Smith-Williams	23		14	0											0.5	10	8	2	3	2
				Games		Def Interceptions					Fumbles						Tackles
No.	Player	Age	Pos	G	GS	Int	Yds	TD	Lng	PD	FF	Fmb	FR	Yds	TD	Sk	Comb	Solo	Ast	TFL	QBHits	Sfty
				Games		Def Interceptions					Fumbles						Tackles
No.	Player	Age	Pos	G	GS	Int	Yds	TD	Lng	PD	FF	Fmb	FR	Yds	TD	Sk	Comb	Solo	Ast	TFL	QBHits	Sfty
	Team Total	25.9		16		16	136	2	76	66	14	24	19	52	1	47		625	342	78	97	1
	Opp Total			16							17	21	23	43	2	50

Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 1/9/2021.

One thing that’s impressive about Washington is that they’ve accumulated the 5th most sacks in the League(47) while playing the 4th fewest passing downs(529). For reference, our BUCS saw the 4th most passing downs(617) and came away with the 4th most sacks(48). That’s not something that should be taken lightly.

Their young secondary isn’t something to sleep on either. They’ve got their version of Carlton Davis in Kendall Fuller. Kendall Fuller walked away with 4 INTs this year. He, like Davis, missed 4 games and that total could’ve been higher. And the CB2 situation there may be better than ours. Ronald Darby ended up with 16 passes defended as the CB2. That’s more than solid. Plus, the safeties are legit playmakers even though they’re not big names. We should be familiar with how that goes. Along with the talented secondary comes a veteran LB group that can also make things happen. But they’re more suited for stopping the run.

Defense & Fumbles Table

				Games		Def Interceptions					Fumbles						Tackles
No.	Player	Age	Pos	G	GS	Int	Yds	TD	Lng	PD	FF	Fmb	FR	Yds	TD	Sk	Comb	Solo	Ast	TFL	QBHits	Sfty
53	Jonathan Bostic	29	ILB	16	15	1	0	0	0	3						3.0	118	61	57	6	6
31	Kamren Curl	21	FS	16	11	3	88	1	76	4						2.0	88	63	25	4	5
55	Cole Holcomb	24	ILB	11	10	1	0	0	0	1						2.5	72	45	27	6	4
93	Jonathan Allen	25	DT	16	16						0	0	1	0	0	2.0	63	36	27	3	14	1
23	Ronald Darby	26	CB	16	16	0	0	0	0	16	0	0	1	0	0	0.0	55	43	12	1	0
54	Kevin Pierre-Louis	29	OLB	13	11	0	0	0	0	2	1	0	0	0	0	1.0	56	36	20	3	2
29	Kendall Fuller	25	CB	14	14	4	0	0	0	11						0.0	50	38	12	1	0
20	Jimmy Moreland	25	cb	16	5	1	32	0	32	1	1	0	0	0	0	0.5	44	33	11	1	2
26	Landon Collins	26	ss	7	7	1	1	0	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	2.0	41	24	17	3	1
30	Troy Apke	25	fs	16	7	0	0	0	0	2						0.0	35	25	10	0	0
22	Deshazor Everett	28	ss	11	6	0	0	0	0	4	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	31	23	8	0	0
39	Jeremy Reaves	24	fs	9	3	1	0	0	0	2						1.0	25	15	10	1	1
51	Shaun Dion Hamilton	25	olb	14	3											0.0	21	14	7	2	1
47	Khaleke Hudson	23	olb	16	2											0.0	14	8	6	2	1
				Games		Def Interceptions					Fumbles						Tackles
No.	Player	Age	Pos	G	GS	Int	Yds	TD	Lng	PD	FF	Fmb	FR	Yds	TD	Sk	Comb	Solo	Ast	TFL	QBHits	Sfty
25	Fabian Moreau	26	cb	16	1	2	0	0	0	3						0.0	9	7	2	0	0
				Games		Def Interceptions					Fumbles						Tackles
No.	Player	Age	Pos	G	GS	Int	Yds	TD	Lng	PD	FF	Fmb	FR	Yds	TD	Sk	Comb	Solo	Ast	TFL	QBHits	Sfty
	Team Total	25.9		16		16	136	2	76	66	14	24	19	52	1	47		625	342	78	97	1

Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 1/9/2021.

Basically, the Washington Football Team has defensive playmakers and guys that can disrupt what our offense does. And they shouldn’t be taken lightly. Like, not at all. Never mind the fair-weather cheerleaders and the people that look at W/L records and highlight videos without any regard for context. We, as much as anyone, should know how a team can be much better than their record. We, as much as anyone, should also know to not underestimate an opponent. Remember Week 5 ?

Go BUCS!!!!