The first quarter of the 2021 NFL season is a thing of the past. After a much-needed victory over the Atlanta Falcons last week, the Washington Football Team has produced a .500 record (2-2). As Week 5 kicks off, the team will have an October of tough next quarter of games on the schedule to prove whether they are a playoff-caliber club or a pretender.
Over the next four weeks, Washington will play two consecutive home games against the New Orleans Saints and Kansas City Chiefs. They then travel to Green Bay to take on the Packers and finish the month at Denver to face the Broncos.
Sunday’s home game against New Orleans is Washington’s first game at FedEx Field since they defeated the New York Giants back in Week 2.
For Washington to be victorious, their underperforming defense, which was expected to be the team’s strength entering the season, needs to play to their potential.
The unit has given up big plays in each of the first four games of the campaign.
Atlanta victimized the unit last week again on a 42-yard touchdown pass from Matt Ryan to Cordelle Patterson. The defense has given up a minimum of 29-points in each of their past three contest.
Quarterback Taylor Heinicke had a stellar performance in Atlanta that helped the offense move the ball efficiently and with purpose. Offensive Coordinator, Scot Turner’s offense is currently tied for sixth in the NFL in converting in the redzone at 72.73 percent.
While speaking to the media during his weekly Zoom conference call, coach Ron Rivera mentioned that he saw some things he liked in the win on Sunday in Atlanta while looking at game tape.
“Well, there were some really good things that we’re going to build on that’s for sure,” Rivera said. “I liked some of the things that we did in all three phases. I thought special teams had some big positives and we progressively got better and better with each return and coverage. Offensively, I thought, again, some of the things that we did especially upfront were very solid, very stout. A lot of kudos goes to our playmakers as well, starting with [QB] Taylor [Heinicke] and the running backs, the wide receivers and the tight ends. Defensively, we had some pretty promising moments. Unfortunately, we didn’t have as much success as we wanted on third downs. I thought the guys were working on it. We came close to a couple of things, but we also got to be better on first or second down. But the guys played hard, especially down in the fourth quarter when we had to get a stop and we got it so a lot of pluses that were going to come out of and get better with.”
The Saints (2-2) are coming off a tough 27-21 overtime loss to the New York Giants last week at MetLife Stadium.
In the team’s last contest in Week 5 of the 2018 season, in New Orleans, Washington was defeated by the Saints 43-19.
Sunday’s game marks the 18th time in franchise history the two teams will play each other. Washington leads the all-time series 17-10, having never met in the postseason. The series dates back to 9/24/1967.
What would a win over the Saints do for the Washington Football Team from a statistical and historical standpoint?
- A win would improve Washington’s all-time win total to 18 games over New Orleans. The two teams have never met in the postseason.
- A victory improves Washington’s record to 9-5 against the Saints at FedexField. Washington comes into the contest having won two of the last three games against the Saints at home.
- A win on Sunday would give Washington three victories in their last five meetings with the Saints dating back to 2012.
- A ‘W’ would give Washington its first win against the Saints since November 15, 2015.
- Finally, a victory would improve Washington’s record to 3-2 on the season and be the first time they have had a winning record during the first five weeks.