Grading Washington’s Week 5 Performance
Going into week 5 of the NFL regular season, even the biggest Washington Redskins fans did not give the team much of a chance against the Seattle Seahawks. Sure enough, the defending Super Bowl champions took care of business on the road and won by 10 points. Despite falling to 1-4 on the season, their performance against Seattle was not a complete disaster. It is looking less and less likely that this is a franchise that will be in the playoffs this year, but the season is over just yet.
Kirk Cousins very well could have been the brightest start for Washington in week 5. He put up some very good numbers in fantasy football, and it looks like he is finally getting her comfortable with his receivers. It was an extremely impressive performance when you consider the fact that he had to go up against arguably the best defense in the NFL. With news that Robert Griffin III could be able to return in about 3 weeks, it was important for him to show that he can lead this team just fine.
Cousins was able to have some success, but a quarterback can only do so much with a below-average offensive line and running game. Seattle put tons of pressure on Washington, and they were unable to answer the bell. Washington is not going to be very successful at all this year if the line continues to lead defenses get through with such ease.
On defense, there is not really much to say that hasn’t already been said in the 1st 4 games of the regular season. They are still one of the worst teams on defense, and Russell Wilson was able to set a Monday night football record for most rushing yards by a quarterback. Seattle is not known for being super dangerous on offense, but they were able to score 27 points despite making some silly mental errors during the contest.
Through 5 weeks of the regular season, Washington looks like the worst team in their division. Things could obviously change in a hurry if they can pull off some wins against New York, Philadelphia or Dallas. The promising play of Cousins gives fans some hope, but this is still a pretty dreadful start to the 2014 season. Report submitted by Mark Jenkins.