Tears Of A Clown: Washington Boasts 1,000-Yard Pair in Season-Ending Win At Giants
'The Clown Show' - however one defines that phrase and whichever way one directs that phrase - is officially over.
Send Out the Clowns.
The Washington Football Team, utilizing that generic nickname one final time, closed NFL Week 18 on Sunday in New York by topping a Giants team, 22-7, coached by Joe Judge, who during this week's build-up to the finale attempted to defend his wobbly program (the Giants finish 4-13) by attacking a less-wobbly 7-10 program. ... suggesting Washington is "a clown-show organization.''
Judge, with zero room to criticize others given his two-year record of NOW 10-22 in New York, and with two years of problems on the field, in the locker room and in the organization (which is now guiding GM Dave Gettleman to the exit), must now walk back his comments - while wearing painted-on smiles and oversized red shoes, we assume.
WFT coach Ron Rivera fired back at Judge, chastising him for failing to realize the "real-life shit'' that this Washington team, which won the same number of games as 2020's 7-10 NFC East-winning club but in truth failed miserably in its attempt to defend that throne, has endured.
All of that is over now. Neither of these NFC East foes is going to the playoffs. Indeed, for Rivera and company, where they are going - hopefully without stumbling over their clowning accessories - is back to the drawing board.
Sunday's game at MetLife Stadium before a sparse and disinterested audience exposed folk-hero QB Taylor Heinicke as an exciting backup to whomever is hired to take over the role. (Houston's Deshaun Watson is a highly expensive trade option, and maybe he'd veto a deal to D.C. But the WFT would be wise to explore this, rather than dismiss it as it did a year ago.)
Washington has some offensive weaponry that was on display here, with Terry McLaurin (four catches, 93 yards) going over 1,000 yards and Antonio Gibson (146 rushing yards) doing the same, as always playing through injury to produce.
It would also help if the WFT defense would stay healthy, something that didn't happen in 2021. ... though here, Bobby McCain popped up for a pick-6 that at the moment gave Washington a 12-0 lead late in the third.
And then Gibson's 18-yard jaunt sealed the deal midway through the fourth.
But if the idea is to keep pace with the dynamic roster of the NFC East-winning Dallas Cowboys? WFT fans can hate the admission, but Washington has much more to do than to just pick a new mascot.
And in the end, Washington will be making a mistake if it tries to convince itself that 2021 was something less than a failure. Rivera this week said in regard to the customary length of a rebuild, ''I think this year is a bit more of what I expected. I didn't expect to win the division right away ... but we won (in 2020). Expectations here rose more than (they) should have.
"I think we're kind of heading the (right) direction.''
Good. Find that direction. And in the other direction? Send Out the Clowns.
