Washington Redskins Lose Big To the Carolina Panthers: Is It Time To Panic?

The Washington Redskins continue to epitomize the word inconsistent. One week after scoring 47 points against the New Orleans Saints, Washington received a Carolina beat-down, losing 44-16 on Sunday. It was a complete disaster and an unexpected outcome. Prior to Sunday’s game, Carolina wasn’t necessarily blowing the roof off teams so far this season. The Panthers’ biggest win came in Week 10 against the Titans when they won by 17 points. For the most part, Carolina was only beating teams by 11 to 14 points max.

Penalties played a huge part in this game; specifically the Culliver pick-six reversal and the bogus Jordan Reed holding call on Cousins’ near TD-run. We’ll never know if those plays would’ve been enough to spark the Redskins. But the bottom line is, they played extremely poor football. They were out-coached and man-handled in this game. If not for a blown coverage and a special teams touchdown, I doubt they would’ve scored points. That’s not the brand of football this team claims they possess.

Luckily for the Redskins, they play in a horrible division. Even with this loss, they pretty much can control their destiny with a win over the New York Giants Sunday. A win would put them in the drivers seat of the NFC East with a 5-6 record. Four of the team’s final six games are against NFC East teams. Therefore, the panic-mode that should ensue from this Panthers’ beat-down probably won’t emerge. But it’s building up, for sure.

The most alarming part about this loss to the Panthers is the Redskins were pretty much deflated early in the game. Judging by several player’s social media accounts, they saved all their anger for after the game. Here’s the thing, bogus penalty-calls should make a team that more heated. Instead, it dumped a bucket of ice-cold water on Washington’s miniature flame.

This game somewhat reminded me of the Panthers vs Redskins match in 2012. Although the score was a lot closer (21-13), the Redskins were completely dead in that game. It wasn’t until late in the fourth quarter when former starting QB Robert Griffin III scrambled for a key fourth down conversion. Griffin dived for his dear life  and that sparked the team. They went on to score a touchdown, which later proved to be a little-too-late. However, that play is what many have looked back and credited as the play that sparked Washington’s season. The team went on to win 7 straight games for the division lead and a playoff berth.

After those two crucial penalties in the first half, no one stepped up and sparked the team. It didn’t even matter, at that point, how much they were down. No one made a play. No one did anything. You’d be naive to overlook that and think it’s okay.

Washington couldn’t get anything going in this game. In a season that the team has experienced some highs, the lows continue to be extremely alarming. When you look at the overall picture and try to find areas of improvement — there aren’t many. The team ranks 28th in the league in total yards so far this season, after ranking 13th in 2015. Much of that could be attributed to the lack of Washington’s big-play threat in DeSean Jackson. But it wouldn’t be factual to say he’s the team’s only deep threat. Not to mention, the team’s 25th ranked rushing offense (yardage) doesn’t help that overall stat either. Washington’s rushing offense is down from their 19th overall ranking in 2015. Jay Gruden inherited a top-five rushing offense (2012/2013) and it’s been average to below average every since. That’s not a formula for success. That’s definitely not the brand Scot McCloughan wants to establish. The Redskins only had 14 rushing yards against the Carolina Panthers. That’s completely unacceptable no matter how you slice it.

Some of that blame could fall on Bill Callahan, who was supposed to be the guy to fix Washington’s rushing game. However, none of us know exactly how much voice he has in that regard. Callahan is a power-blocking system guy who throws in stretch zone plays. But he preaches power to his lineman. However, you can’t do that when you’re focusing on a plethora of concepts. The Redskins still haven’t identified an identity in that regard. You have to commit to a system. That commitment becomes a mentality, which in turn dictates your identity.

The Redskins had their struggles early on with Mike Shanahan’s rushing offense. But there was no question what his identity was in that regard. Everyone knows that Shanahan is a zone guy. But what is Jay Gruden? I’ve have yet to figure that out.

Not only is the Redskins rushing offense continuing to trend down, their rush defense is a lot worse. That’s the one thing Washington could hang their hat on with Jim Haslett as defensive coordinator — you would at least have an average run defense. So far this year, Washington ranks 30th in rush defense (yards), which is far worse than any Haslett-coached defense. That’s a huge drop-off from their 12th overall ranking last season.

So, is it time to panic about these 2015 Washington Redskins? Probably not. Yet, there’s signs that say you should. The truth is, these kind of games continue to make you question the direction this team is headed with this current staff. They’ve stumbled across some ups this season, but they definitely aren’t trending in that direction.

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