One of the anomalies of last season was the Washington Football Team almost beating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first round of the playoffs with Taylor Heinicke and winning the NFC East with a quarterback who never should’ve played another snap in his career. Most would attribute the Football Team’s success to their defense and rightly so but there is much more to it than that. Ron Rivera is the piece that makes the gears turn here. They scored more points than the Chiefs, Packers, and Saints against the Bucs with Terry Mclaurin being their only notable player. To truly understand the power of this team, we must dissect the new look defense and offense up in the nation’s capital.
Offense
QB: Ryan Fitzpatrick
RB: Antonio Gibson RB:J.D. McKissic
WR: Terry Mclaurin WR: Cam Sims
WR: Curtis Samuel WR: Adam Humphries
WR: Dyami Brown
TE: Logan Thomas
LT: Samuel Cosmi
LG: Ereck Flowers
C: Chase Roullier
RG: Brandon Scherff
RT: Morgan Moses
Bolded above are all of the new additions to the offense. It is clear that Rivera and his staff put an emphasis on adding play makers for whoever it is distributing the passes. Terry McLaurin is as reliable as they come and is a very talented route runner. Curtis Samuel and Dyami Brown are very reminiscent of each other and can make something out of nothing. These are explosive players that will take a mile when given an inch. Adam Humphries is a veteran slot receiver with reliable hands and an expansive route tree. Humphries will act as a security blanket on early downs for the Washington Football Team. Antonio Gibson is a two way back who is only getting better from last year and thats saying something considering he impressed early and often in his rookie year. Logan Thomas is a top tight end in the league in this offense and makes all the difficult catches, especially in the end zone. The additions of Samuel Cosmi and Ereck Flowers are to ensure that whoever is throwing the ball is safe and sound in the pocket. So the culmination of how Rivera and crew built this offense makes it so that all you need is a smart and physically capable quarterback to run it and Ryan Fitzpatrick is just that. They may not hang fourty points every game but they can consistently put up 20+ and this monstrous defense can take care of the rest.
Defense
LDE: Chase Young
DT: Da’Ron Payne DT: Matt Ioannidis
DT: Jonathan Allen
RDE: Montez Sweat
WLB: Jamin Davis
MLB: Jon Bostic
SLB: Cole Holcomb
LCB: William Jackson
RCB: Benjamin St.Juste
SCB: Kendall Fuller
SS: Landon Collins SS: Kamren Curl
FS: DeShazor Everett
No one quite realizes just how good this defense is. Let’s start with this front four. The starters alone are good for 30+ sacks and 200+ tackles any given season. They are absolutely dominate, and every single one of them warrant a double team. All four starters on this defensive line can and will win every one on one consistently. I would argue this is the best front four in football. As for the linebackers, their first round pick Jamin Davis is going to transcend this defense. Davis will not only cover but will lockdown every running back and tight end thrown his way and will take away every offense’s security blanket which gives the front four a better chance of getting home. Jon Bostic patrolling the middle instead of playing the WILL is incredibly beneficial for the defense as a whole because he can focus on run stopping and can play a downhill through the trees style of football. Rivera did a whole face lift on his cornerback room and it looks like these guys are ready to cover the new weapons in the NFC East. William Jackson is a legit CB1 and is a very underrated signing. Landon Collins may be over paid but he is a veteran presence that brings consistent tackling and a high football IQ element to the Football Team’s defense. Everett is probably their best option for playing the deep middle but you don’t need a great free safety when your defense is built like this, similar to the Panthers situation.
Conclusion
When you have a defense that will keep each and every offense to 20 or less points a game, all you need to do is post three touchdowns in four quarters. Riverboat Ron built his offense with explosive play makers so that you don’t need a miracle maker at quarterback to win games. This offense is a threat to score on every play and can play the possession game at the same time. The WFT defense has potential to be the best in the league and the addition of Jamin Davis adds such an important element that this defense sorely lacked last season. Looks out world, Riverboat Ron and FitzMagic are coming for the gold.