In A Bad, Short-Sighted Move, Dwayne Haskins Has Been Benched For Kyle Allen
Shocking move this morning with Ron Rivera benching Dwayne Haskins after his best game as a pro in favor of backup Kyle Allen. Came out of nowhere after Haskins put up over 300 yards vs the Ravens, 0 INTs, and completed over 70% of his passes. Really did not expect to see a QB change after Haskins rose to the challenge last week. Through 4 games he has more TDs than INTs, only 1 fumble, and has showed signs of improvement. All what you want from a guy who has started fewer than a dozen NFL games. So what happened?
Well I think it's pretty easy to figure out- A previous regime drafted a QB, brought in a coach that doesn’t like him, gave him unrealistic expectations, didn’t care that he continually improved, and now benched him for a worse QB. So...Washington football team happened. We throw development right out the window, no matter what. A tale as old as time.
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As petty and ridiculous as it sounds, it seems Ron simply does not like Haskins. If you can't go 0 INTs, 70% completions, and over 300 yards vs the Ravens and save your job, what can you do??
And this is while playing behind a garbage Oline, with a starting TE whose career high in catches is 16, 1 WR, and a starting rookie RB who played WR in college. How is anyone supposed to succeed with that? And yet he still has 4 TDs to 3 INTs, and those 3 INTs came in 1 game.
I don't know what else he could have done. Ron wants his guy in the game, so Kyle Allen will now start. And sure I'll root for Kyle Allen, but come on, he's not the guy. So the WFT is throwing Dwayne out with the bathwater...and I don't know why. We aren't bad enough to get Trevor Lawrence. It's baffling.
Some people are saying Dwayne "didn't throw the ball downfield" which is a puzzling reason to bench a guy. For what, following the gameplan? The Ravens have 2 Pro Bowl corners, the gameplan was to get the ball quickly into the hands of the playmakers and let them pick up yards after the catch, and it worked pretty well. That's how you attack the Ravens defense. Saying "throwing the ball downfield" is such an internet thing to say without merit or reason behind it.
Only in DC....
Sigh. Sounds about right.
Not for nothing though, happy for Alex Smith, who is now the backup. Yes, Haskins has now gone from the starter to deactivated. Ron HATES him. Really sucks to see this happen and fuck up development, but it'll be cool if Alex gets in the game. So at least there's that.
But yeah, all in all, just another day as a Washington Football Team fan.