Being 26/40 with 320 yards and three touchdowns and one interception look like good numbers, but it was once again the tale of two halves for RGIII and Washington. All that has to be known about the first half is that Washington trailed 24-0. They couldn’t run, they couldn’t pass, and they couldn’t keep Green Bay from running or passing. In total Aaron Rodgers ended up with 480 yards passing and James Starks 132 yards rushing, and it is hard to win football games giving up that type of yardage, but the defense can almost be excused, almost. Green Bay ended up leading the time of position battle by 32:29 to 27:27 but it was much worse than that in the first half.
Washington cannot continue getting down big and trying to comeback. They have to put two good halves together in order to win. The biggest negative early in the season is that the running game can’t get going. That could be because they aren’t yet able to run the read option with a limited RGIII or it could be that teams have figured out Alfred Morris. It is probably the former. Last season defenses never knew who was going to have the ball and that helped Morris. This season they know when it is a run it is going to be Morris and Washington’s offensive line just isn’t good enough for a traditional running attack.
Again the stats look good for Morris who had 107 yards on 13 attempts, but 64 of those came on two rushes and that was the big problem. Washington needed Morris to be consistent, move the chains, chew up clock, and keep Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay offense on the sidelines. They weren’t able to do that, and while the end of game offensive stats look good it is because of two inconsistent halves.
The defense also has to be better. Allowing yards and points to Green Bay isn’t bad. It is going to happen. Green Bay has been the class of the NFC for a number of seasons and Aaron Rodgers its best quarterback, but this is the first time in history that Green Bay has had a 400 yard passer and a 100 yard rusher. Green Bay hasn’t been known for there running game and this is the first time since 2010 that they had a 100 yard rusher in a game.
This was altogether a forgettable performance by Washington, but it isn’t a season ending loss. It is only week two, after all. It is early but next week against the Lions is as close to a must win as a week three match-up can be. Washington is already in a hole, and falling further down isn’t going to help. A loss to Green Bay is a loss, but it was an expected loss. What was unexpected is just how non-competitive the game was. It was like Washington only realized they had to play football late in the third quarter. At 0-2 it is not the start to the defense of the division that Washington wanted, but it is the start they got, and in order to turn it around they have to start playing well in the first quarter instead of the third, and not let up.
