The Washington Football Team is right in the thick of it as they reach their NFC East stretch of games. They just got there in an unconventional way.
This has certainly been a wild and bumpy ride for the Washington Football Team. They came into the season with pretty high expectations. A slow start helped to quiet that excitement though.
By the time they were 2-3, it became a game of navigating. Washington’s last five games of the season were against the NFC East. Due to that, their seven games between then and now were important. I said they had to go 4-3 in that stretch. If they could be .500 for that NFC East stretch, they would be alive.
4-3 doesn’t sound like some impossible task. But Washington was struggling and they had games against the Kansas City Chiefs, Green Bay Packers, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Throw in a couple of other tough teams, and that’s a rough schedule. It got worse from there though, as Washington went 0-3 in their first three games.
Suddenly 2-6, Washington was staring down the barrel of a contest with the defending Super Bowl Champion Buccaneers. Now even my optimistic self was questioning things. The defense finally showed up, but it felt like it was too late. Kickers were being swapped in and out too, everything felt lost.
Then something crazy happened, the Washington Football Team walked into their game against Tampa Bay – and walked out winners. With a massive drive to end the game, Washington won 29-19 and looked really good in all aspects doing so. Then they beat the Carolina Panthers, then the Seattle Seahawks, and finally the Las Vegas Raiders thanks to a last-second kick from another new kicker in Brian Johnson.
There it is a 4-3 record in that stretch. Washington has managed to get to .500 at 6-6. They’re currently holding onto a wildcard spot and are just two games behind the 8-4 Dallas Cowboys. A Cowboys team that they still have two more games against.
Nothing about this journey was conventional. Washington lost the first three games of their seven-game stretch. Then they beat the defending Super Bowl champions and helped turn it all around. Washington’s defense has once again become a force. Their offense can put together big drives and quarterback Taylor Heinicke is starting to put it together when it’s needed most.
The Washington Football Team did what needed to be done. And thanks to that, they have reached their five-game stretch against the NFC East to end the season controlling their own destiny. They just so happened to take a very unconventional route to reach that destination.