Washington Football Team riding top rookies into playoff picture
Washington Football Team riding top rookies into playoff picture.
Week 12 of the 2020 NFL season has given us one of the more bizarre storylines of the entire year so far in pro football. The Washington Football Team went into Dallas, on Thanksgiving, with its third option at the quarterback position, and took over the NFC East.
With a 4-7 record.
If that’s not peak 2020, I don’t know what is.
The Dallas Cowboys were not just beat at home against the Football Team, they were destroyed.
The Washington Football Team, in just the last couple of weeks, has gone from the odds-on favorite to earn the third-overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft to now being slotted 19th, the lowest-seeded playoff team.
How has Washington done this? With a 4-7 record, it’s not like we can sit back and look at all of the great things this team is doing. Every other team with seven or more losses right now is competing for a top 10 pick in the 2021 Draft.
With that being said, Washington has been opportunistic with two wins over Dallas in the past five games, as well as a victory over the Cincinnati Bengals last week.
Those three victories in five games total have given Washington new life, and a major reason for the spark they have going for them right now?
Their top two picks in the 2020 NFL Draft.
https://twitter.com/WashingtonNFL/status/1332096083657445376
Against the Cowboys, second overall pick Chase Young looked every bit the top-flight prospect he was supposed to be coming out of Ohio State. He racked up two tackles for loss, a sack, and a quarterback hit.
If Washington is going to make any legitimate noise with just five games left to play this season, they are going to need Young to continue playing at this kind of level.
Although Young certainly had the biggest pre-draft hype of any Washington rookie, it’s young running back Antonio Gibson who is stealing the show.
https://twitter.com/WashingtonNFL/status/1332120951048318976
Gibson has been unreal so far in the 2020 season coming out of Memphis. His three rushing touchdowns against the Cowboys put him up to 11 touchdowns this season total, and he has now torched the Cowboys twice so far in his rookie year.
Both of Gibson’s 100-yard games came against the Cowboys, and he’s racked up four touchdowns against America’s team.
Leading into the 2020 season, nobody could have foreseen the circumstances that would surround each NFC East team, but it’s not altogether surprising to see Washington putting together a decent string of games.
Ron Rivera is a very good head coach, this team has a really good defensive front, and all it took was a little spark from the offense.
As it turns out, that spark has been rookie of the year candidate Antonio Gibson, whose game against the Cowboys on Thanksgiving was one for the ages.