Without question, the much-hyped Washington defense has a problem, and it’s a big one. Kicker Dustin Hopkins also belongs to that category.
Only the heroics of quarterback Taylor Heinicke salvaged a 34-30 win Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons.
The Falcons offense, ranked near the bottom of the league in the first three weeks, produced 374 yards of total offense and was 10 of 16 on third-down conversions.
Last year’s NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Chase Young, again, was held sackless, although he made four tackles, including one for a loss. He also had a controversial late hit penalty on Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan that kept a drive alive and ended with an Atlanta touchdown.
“There are some things we have to correct,” head coach Ron Rivera said in his postgame press conference. “And they need to be worked on, to be perfectly honest. And we have to be honest with ourselves, or we will run into a wall very quickly.”
One area of concern is the oppositions opening drives. For the fourth straight week, the opposing offense scored in the game’s opening minutes. This time, Matt Ryan led the Falcons on a 15 play, eight-minute drive that ended with a field goal to give Atlanta a 3-0 first-quarter lead.
The Falcons stretched the lead to 10-0 in the second quarter, with Ryan finding Cordelle Patterson for the first of his three touchdowns early in the second quarter. The score came after the Falcons defense stopped Washington on a short fourth-down conversion attempt.
Washington’s offense finally got going midway through the second quarter as Heinicke (23 of 33, 290 yards, 3 touchdowns) hit Terry McLaurin on a 33-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 10-7. Antonio Gibson scored on a two-yard run with just over two minutes left in the first half. It made the score 13-10 after Hopkins missed the first of two extra points.
Once again, the defense couldn’t stop Ryan. He gave the Falcons the lead finding Patterson for touchdown number two and giving Atlanta a 17-13 lead at halftime.
Washington retook the lead on the insuing second-half kickoff as DeAndre Carter scored on a 101-yard return. It was the first kickoff return for a touchdown since 2019 against the Detroit Lions.
“We never really got down,” Rivera said after the game. “And that gave us a chance to compete and give Taylor a fair chance, and that’s really all he needs is a fair chance.”
Heinicke would get that chance in the fourth quarter. Trailing 30-22 with 4:02 left in the game, Heinicke took advantage of a defensive penalty giving Washington a free play. He threw a pass into the end zone that Terry McLaurin could come down with, cutting the lead to 30-28 after a two-point conversion failed.
“Dante Fowler got through. I think it was him,” Heinicke said after the game. “Luckily, I escaped from him, and I saw Terry in the back of the end zone. I kind of threw it up to him, let him do his thing, and luckily he came down with it.”
“Taylor is just one of those dynamic players that just knows how to make plays,” said Rivera. “Nothing is ever done with him; he’s just going to continue to work.”
After a rare defensive stop, Heinicke was able to find running back J.D. McKissic, who turned a broken play into a 30-yard run culminated by a dive into the endzone to make the score 34-30. That’s all the points Washington would need as their defense held on to secure the win.
“He (McKissic) broke that first tackle, and then he just kind of supermaned in the endzone, which is huge for us,” Heinicke said. “That made the Falcons have to score a touchdown.”
Despite the concerning defensive issues, Washington evens its record at 2-2.
The Burgundy and Gold are one game behind the division-leading Dallas Cowboys and host the New Orleans Saints (2-2) Sunday at Fed Ex Field.
After facing a scenario of the season spinning out of control, Washington has to be given a reprieve to see if coaches and players can figure out how to put a complete game together on both sides of the ball.