If There Is One Game Dwayne Haskins *Should* Start, It's After The Bye Against The Jets...So Naturally, Bill Callahan Won't Name A Starter
Bill Callahan is being quite a ding dong brains with the Skins. I don’t really understand what he’s doing at all. Most of all, running the ball with Adrian Peterson 25 times a game is pointless. If you’re 1-8, you should be finding out who you want to keep and who you want to get rid of. Finding out who from the practice squad can make the jump and who you’ll move on from. Giving the rock to a 34 year old running back does nothing to help the team. It’s moving backwards. It’s not letting young guys get touches and opportunities. It makes zero sense at all.
Which leads us to the Haskins situation. I was on the record I wanted them to keep Haskins off the field for as long as they could. No reason to rush him in. No reason to put him behind a shoddy offensive line. Let him sit, learn, and them maybe very late in the season start him at home vs the Giants or something. I am a firm believer it’s ok to sit rookie QBs and pushing them into action too early can often hurt more than help.
But alas, Haskins had his first start last week in Buffalo and it went…fine. Which isn’t a bad thing. It was fine. Haskins was extremely protected- he wasn’t asked to make big throws or big plays, he showed some flashes, and showed how raw he is. It’s tough when you’re a rookie QB and you don’t have a pass-catching TE or RB to help you. When the best WR threat is also a rookie, and Trey Quinn, as much as I love him, hasn’t been the check down option they’ve needed. So Haskins wasn’t expected to win the game for the Skins at all. In fact, it looked like the game plan was never to even win the game. It was a 1 possession game in the 4th quarter and it went run-run-run-punt. A tank job like you read about.
Which is why it’s CRAZY not to start him at home, coming off the bye, against the Jets. If there was ever a game for Haskins to start, it’d be that one. The extra preparation time, at home, vs the Jets who just lost to the Dolphins. The perfect game for a rookie to start. And Callahan is saying maybe he won’t. So dumb. Don’t start him vs the Bills on the road if you aren’t going to start him at home vs the Jets. If you can get some momentum going with him, get that confidence up, that’s what you want. But sitting him after a start vs a good defense on the road when you have a bad defense at home is a terrible coaching decision. Either sit him for the season or give him an opportunity to get reps. None of this inbetween stuff. It never, ever works.
I don’t think Callahan is the man for the job long-term. He’s a run-first guy, which doesn’t work in the NFL. The Skins haven’t scored in 3 games. He won’t name a QB. It’s bedlam in DC. And only getting worse.
