Initial thoughts and observations from Washington’s second preseason game
Some notes and observations from Washington’s preseason victory over the Bengals.
The Washington Football Team has its first preseason victory after defeating the Bengals on Friday night 17-13. Like last week, I’m planning to go in depth on plenty of players after watching the game back a few times over the weekend, so feel free to leave suggestions for players you want to see write ups on next week. But for now, here’s some initial notes and observations from Washington’s second preseason game:
- Where else can we start but with Jaret Patterson. The undrafted free agent running back starred for the second week in a row. He had 133 all purpose yards and a touchdown in what was clearly the performance of the preseason for Washington so far. As a runner, he picked up 71 yards on 16 carries and showed great ability to set up defenders and find small holes to burst through.
He added an additional 25 yards on three catches, proving again he can be a threat out of the backfield. Washington often had him in the backfield and motioned him outside to leave an empty backfield. He’s a solid checkdown target underneath but looks capable of being more than that too.
The third string to his bow was on kick off returns. Ron Rivera mentioned last week they might look to get Patterson some time as a kick off returner in practice and he clearly made the most of that time. He had one chance to return a kick off and took it for 37 yards, setting up Washington in great field position.
Being a capable kick returner as well as his ability as a running back might just give Patterson another pathway to making the final roster. He capped off the performance with a nice touchdown run down near the goal line. It was a short yardage situation, which was yet another thing to check off the long list of situations Patterson excelled in.
I’m looking forward to hopefully getting some All-22 footage again this week. If that happens, I’ll certainly look to write a more detailed look at Patterson’s performance early next week.
- Safety Landon Collins looks to be all the way back from his Achilles injury suffered midway through the season last year. It’s a remarkably quick recovery and gives Washington a lot of depth at safety. He started with Kam Curl last week, but was replaced by Bobby McCain for the first series this week. He did, however, rotate in on the second and third series with the starting defense. He had a really nice hit on a play-action bootleg too.
This is a play Collins didn’t make last year. For starters, he begins the snap as the single deep safety, which is not something he’s done often throughout his career, but Washington has asked him to do a fair few times already this preseason. From deep, he diagnoses the play-action fake and charges down to the line of scrimmage. Collins makes up a ton of ground and lands a big hit to keep the gain to a minimum.
The speed of the recovery from injury is remarkable, but Collins has come back in great shape too and looks faster and more agile. Last year he had trouble making tackles when working from deep, so that play is a very encouraging sign for him.
- Staying with the safeties, Bobby McCain picked up where he left off against the Patriots. He got the official start with Kam Curl, but as mentioned previously, the pair rotated with Landon Collins throughout the time the starters were on the field. McCain played more as the single deep safety when on the field, just like last week, and did well with his reads and breaks underneath. There was a play in the first quarter where the Bengals looked to hit a crossing route underneath. McCain clearly read the play early and was in position to land a big hit on the receiver and potentially break up the pass, but wisely pulled up as it’s only the preseason. Still he gave the receiver a strong tap to let him know he was there and did complete the tackle afterwards.
- Washington held both of its starting corners out of the game, giving rookie Benjamin St-Juste, Jimmy Moreland and Torry McTyer an opportunity to make a claim for more time. I thought St-Juste and Moreland would start in place of William Jackson and Kendall Fuller, but it was St-Juste and McTyer that started. The Bengals tested St-Juste often and went at him on back to back plays in the red zone. The first he had a nice jam and kept on top of a fade route that the quarterback ended up throwing out of bounds. On the second play, the Bengals went at St-Juste on third and five. He faced the fifth overall pick in Ja’Marr Chase.
St-Juste played press and got physical with Chase at the line of scrimmage. He did enough to knock Chase off his route, but Chase did end up getting inside afterwards. St-Juste showed off his length, which is a key part of his game. It allowed him to recover and reach in to get his hand into the catch point, ensuring the ball couldn’t be completed. It was a big test for St-Juste and he held up reasonably well, at least from the broadcast angle. I’ll try to go more in depth if I can get some All-22 footage this week.
- While Jimmy Moreland didn’t get the opportunity to start outside, he still made a few nice plays. One in particular stood out in the second quarter.
Here, Moreland aligns in the slot on third and short. The Bengals attempt to run a pick play, with the outside receiver spotting up inside to try and create traffic for Moreland to work around while his receiver breaks outside. Moreland does a terrific job working around the traffic and making up ground to get back in position and break up the pass.
- Chase Young and Montez Sweat both look ready to go. The pair made strong plays in the run game worth noting. On the Bengals first drive, they attempted to run a crash toss scheme to Young’s side. In that scheme, a wide receiver typically motions in tight to the formation and cracks down on the defensive end, allowing the offensive tackle to pull around him and block on the edge. Young, however, anticipated the crack block and went through the receiver to get back outside and blow up the run.
Funnily enough, on the Bengals second drive, they attempted a similar crack toss scheme, but to Sweat’s side of the line. Like Young, Sweat anticipated the crack block and showed off his athleticism, bursting up the field to go under the block and blow up the run that way.
Those two are developing nicely and not just as pass rushers. That’s extremely encouraging for Washington’s defense going forward.
- Dyami Brown played some Z receiver with the first team. Last week we saw him play the X with the second team as Terry McLaurin’s back up, but against the Bengals he rotated with Cam Sims at the Z with the starting group. This is where I thought we’d see Brown end up because he offers a deep threat on the outside and can allow Curtis Samuel to kick inside to the slot for a speedy and formidable trio along with Terry McLaurin.
Washington definitely looked to try and set up some shots to Brown with the starting offense. The team used a lot of run-heavy personnel groups early on to try and set up some play-action shots down the field. Logan Thomas and John Bates both saw the field a lot in two tight end sets, but Washington also used Saahdiq Charles as an extra offensive lineman at times to further sell the run fake.
Brown did have one big catch worth highlighting.
Brown explained after the game this play was essentially an RPO (run-pass option) where the offense has a run play called but quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick can pull the ball and throw it if the defense plays it a certain way. Fitzpatrick is a quarterback that loves to give his receivers chances to make big plays and when he sees a one-on-one match up, he’s going to take it. That’s precisely what he did he and Brown showed great ball tracking and body control to bring in the catch.
- It was interesting to see running back Antonio Gibson getting work in short yardage situations. Last season Payton Barber was the designated short yardage back and was mightily effective in that role. But against the Bengals, Washington gave Gibson the opportunity to see what he could do. On his first attempt, a 3rd and 1, Gibson managed to find a lane and convert. However, on his second attempt, a 4th and 1, Gibson was perhaps a little hesitant and got stuffed, resulting in a turnover on downs.
As much as Washington fans are done with Barber, the coaching staff clearly values him and I’d be surprised if he didn’t make the final 53. He was almost automatic in short yardage situations last season and that is mightily valuable. That being said, with the emergence of Jaret Patterson, Washington is smart to give Gibson some looks in those situations to see how he handles it.
I still think if Patterson makes the team, it will be as the fourth back on the roster, not third. But if Gibson proves he could take over the short yardage situations, then perhaps Barber’s role would be diminished and Washington could keep Patterson over him. Again, I think it’s highly likely Barber makes this time as the short yardage back, but it’s noteworthy that Gibson was given a shot to see what he could do and it certainly doesn’t hurt to find out if he can fill that role.
- My final note is on the starting left guard situation. Last week we saw Wes Schweitzer start at left guard, but Ereck Flowers came in for the second series with the first team unit. Reports suggested Flowers had most of the reps with the starting unit at left guard this past week and that played out in the game. Flowers came out with the starting unit for the first series and remained in that spot until the starters finished up their work for the night.
From memory and watching from the broadcast angle, Flowers held up pretty well, but I’ll certainly be interested to see how he performed in more detail if I can get some more All-22 this week. I’ve maintained throughout the offseason that Schweitzer played well at left guard down the stretch last year and formed a solid interior trio with Chase Roullier and Brandon Scherff. But it appears as though Flowers may have overtaken him, offering far more power and size compared to Schweitzer’s agility and quickness.
Patrick Bell
On one of Patterson's runs, to the right for about 15 or so yards, #83 through a tremendous block on the right side edge rusher of Cincinnati. It didn't have much to do with the play, but the block was beautiful.
Big Flowers is bigger and stronger than ALL the other OLineman, watch the tape in pass protection Flowers usually has his man stoned at the LOS while everyone else is3-4 yards in the backfield. He's also more powerful in the running game than Schweitzer.