LANDOVER, Md. — William Jackson III was asked about the defensive breakdowns in the secondary. The smile he usually has when talking to the media returned. The Washington Football Team’s issues with blown coverages, Jackson said with his slow, Houston drawl, were an easy fix.
That was three days before Washington’s 33-22 loss to the Saints at FedEx Field, a game in which four blown coverages spoiled an otherwise better defensive effort — especially on third down, by creating turnovers and by taking the quarterback down.
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The issue reared its head early in the first quarter — on New Orleans’ second possession — when quarterback Jameis Winston found wide receiver Deonte Harris for a 72-yard touchdown catch. There was plenty of distance between Harris and Landon Collins, the closest defender, as the safety started near the line of scrimmage then dropped deep, but not deep enough, to get close to Harris.
Coach Ron Rivera said the defense was supposed to have somebody back deep on that play, and Collins and Jackson said the Saints used a quick snap to catch them off guard and take advantage of them being out of position.
“I’m very frustrated, because we have too many good football players to not be better than what we are right now,” Rivera said.
Marquez Callaway got in on the action, too. With eight seconds left in the half and the Saints at the Washington 49-yard line, the wide receiver ran unencumbered toward the end zone and caught a Hail Mary pass. He didn’t even need his extra effort because no defender appeared to challenge the catch.
The defense was anticipating the Saints settling for a field goal, Jackson and Collins said. They saw running back Alvin Kamara in the backfield and thought the Saints would have him run out late and then upfield to get New Orleans into field goal range.
“We wasn’t expecting them to go Hail Mary there,” Jackson said. “A regular football team will try to get a couple yards and kick a field goal.”
Said Collins: “We was thinking field goal, not Hail Mary. And when the ball went up in the air, we just wasn’t prepared for that one. That just wasn’t what we was expecting. We was expecting them to try to get the ball to the outside and try to get a field goal before half.”
Payton told a story about something singer Jennifer Nettles once said after her band had to follow a Hail Mary by the Saints.
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“Back then, Sugarland was just getting a regular-season halftime song,” Payton said. “That was in the old Atlanta stadium. … Years later, she said, ‘You want to talk about a tough crowd? Now, when you come out after someone completes a Hail Mary against your team, and then, ‘Please welcome, Sugarland.’ So, I thought about that. If there was any halftime entertainment, that’s a tough spot to be in.”
But those are just the long missed assignments. Following quarterback Taylor Heinicke’s second interception, which set New Orleans up at the opponent’s 26 in the fourth quarter, Washington was beaten by a pick play. Callaway snuck under his teammates on a double pick, and with Jackson unable to work around the bodies and convey his need for help, Callaway went untouched on a 12-yard touchdown catch, his second scoring play of the day.
The defense was afforded another chance to make a stop, though, after Heinicke marched the offense down for a touchdown. The only issue? Washington lost track of Kamara — who was the offensive rookie of the year in 2017 and has been to four Pro Bowls. He walked in untouched on a 19-yard reception for a touchdown that provided the game’s final points.
“We got to stop giving people gifts,” said defensive tackle Daron Payne, who had one of Washington’s two sacks. “People need to keep playing hard, play assignment football and stick to the assignments they’re given.”
For as good as Washington’s defense was last season, this isn’t a new issue. It allowed seven touchdown catches of at least 50 yards, the most of any team, and was second in plays that went for 40 yards or more.
Washington survived blown coverages in games against the Giants and Bills that should’ve ended in touchdowns by Darius Slayton and Stefon Diggs. Slayton dropped the pass while quarterback Josh Allen put too much on his throw to Diggs.
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The Falcons capitalized on that issue with a 42-yard touchdown reception by Cordarrelle Patterson, who was so open that he had to slow down to catch the ball and was still able to get under it with no one close to him.
New Orleans further exposed the range and depth of the problem and did so a week before known big-play hunter Kansas City comes to town.
“It’s frustrating,” defensive tackle Matt Ioannidis said. “I can’t speak on the entire defense because there is a whole lot of stuff going on in the back end, which I just don’t understand, you know, coverage-wise, so I can really only speak from my point of view. … This is a talented defensive line, and we just have to play better. There’s a lot of hype around this defensive line, and we’re tremendously talented, and when it doesn’t go our way, we need to look at ourselves and say, ‘Hey, people put their trust in us. We need to live up to that.’ …
“I think we beat ourselves in a lot of ways.”
Why has the big play been such an Achilles’ heel? Rivera thinks his team lacks confidence.
It was unfortunate, Rivera and several players said, because Washington finally had the kind of defensive performance it has been expecting for weeks. For the first time, Washington had the lead first after linebacker Cole Holcomb intercepted a lame-duck pass by Winston over the middle. Dustin Hopkins put the team ahead with a field goal on the ensuing drive.
Defensive end Chase Young not only got his first sack, but he also punched the poorly protected ball out of Winston’s hands as he tangoed with an offensive lineman. Heinicke led the offense down the field and Antonio Gibson did the honors, scoring from 5 yards out to help put Washington back up, 13-7.
Winston, who completed 15 of 30 passes for 279 yards, four touchdowns and an interception, was hit nine times — a season high for Washington. Sunday was also Washington’s second-best day on third downs as the Saints converted only four of 11 chances, including each of its first two.
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“We had a little bit of confidence, we made some things happen, and then we made a couple mistakes, and we lost a little bit of confidence,” Rivera said. “We’ve got to keep our confidence level up if we expect to give ourselves a chance to win football games. … (I see the lack of confidence) sometimes not making the plays when we need to. ‘Cause we made plays, we had things rolling, and then something bad happened, and we just gotta handle that and deal with that a little bit better.”
(Photo of Landon Collins and Deonte Harris: Patrick Smith / Getty Images)
