The Washington Football Team needs to ignore the noise and ride the playoff high.
It all came down to Week 17. The Washington Football Team was 6-9 and a win would propel them to the NFC East title. A 7-9 record is not exactly good, but it was enough to win the division.
Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Eagles were depleted. To make matters worse, head coach Doug Pederson made a few moves during the game (like benching starting quarterback Jalen Hurts) that made some believe he was trying to lose. This has caused a lot of people to sort of mock the division win.
“It was a bad division!” “Philadelphia didn’t even try!” And whatever else they want to throw out there to delegitimize the accomplishment of the Washington Football Team.
Let me remind everyone of something though; Washington even supposed to be in this situation. There were experts predicting Washington to win 1 game. A lot of people thought they would be getting that first overall pick. The Trevor Lawrence sweepstakes was supposed to run through them.
That did not happen. Ron Rivera made sure it didn’t happen. Terry McLaurin made sure it didn’t happen. Logan Thomas made sure it didn’t happen. The offensive line made sure it didn’t happen. Antonio Gibson made sure it didn’t happen. Tress Way (ye,s the punter deserves a shout) made sure it didn’t happen. The entire defense made sure it didn’t happen (I’m not naming players specifically in that unit because it would take too long).
If Washington won two games this year, no one would have batted an eye. They had no weapons outside of McLaurin heading into the year. The quarterback situation was a mess and possibly got even messier as the year went on.
Sure, the defense was great but they were relying on a lot of young players. Then, when Landon Collins went out, suddenly seventh-round rookie Kamren Curl had to step up at safety. And if it wasn’t for teammate Chase Young, Curl likely would be the Defensive Rookie of the Year — that’s how good he has been.
The Washington Football Team has a tall-task with Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Saturday. Anything can happen at any time though. Tampa Bay is 11-5 but has shown cracks in the armor; they are not perfect.
Washington has a fantastic defense led by bookend pass rushers Young and Montez Sweat. They could absolutely terrorize Brady. Can the offense hold up though? We’ve seen them show flashes with Alex Smith at quarterback, can they do enough to win a playoff game?
It will be interesting to see and Washington will be going into this game with a ton of doubters. Not many seem to be impressed by the team that went a lot further than anyone expected at the start of the year.
The Washington Football Team just needs to block out all the noise and all the hate. Enjoy the moment as NFC East champions. It does not matter what the record is, and it does not matter who played quarterback for a non-playoff team in a Week 17 game — the Football Team won. Enjoy the moment and go into the playoffs feeling good. Now go see if you can shock the world.