WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 22 , 2021. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ M2 D3
NFL WEEK 15
PHOTOS BY RICKY CARIOTI/THE WASHINGTON POST
Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert b eats Washington’s Jeremy Reaves to haul in a catch for 45 yards during the second quarter Tuesday in Philadelphia. The Washington defense was carved up for 519 total yards.
said, “and to put faces with
names.”
Garrett, this is Terry, our best
receiver. Terry, this is Garrett,
who was on New England’s
practice squad last night. Find
some chemistry — now!
Early review of Gilbert:
unflappable and stalwart, even if
put in an impossible situation.
Look at these numbers — 20 for
31 for 194 yards without an
interception or lost fumble — and
anyone would have signed up for
them Tuesday afternoon. He did
not lose the game, because he did
not cough up 519 yards to the
Eagles.
“You put this game on the
defensive line,” defensive tackle
Jonathan Allen said. “... We got
our ass kicked. What do you want
me to say?”
There’s so much else to say.
The omicron variant of the
coronavirus is in the process of
disrupting the holiday season and
beyond to a degree that we just
don’t know. School in 2022?
Return to our long-forgotten
offices? Impossible to say. What
we know it has disrupted:
Washington’s playoff drive.
“I hope everybody’s being very
careful,” said Coach Ron Rivera,
whose roster and coaching staff
were ravaged over a wild week. “I
really do mean that. From what
we’ve seen, it’s important that we
take this omicron very seriously.
It spreads like wildfire.”
Virus aside, here are some
relevant numbers that explain
how Philadelphia came back
from a somewhat stunning 10-0
first-quarter deficit to beat the
WFT going away: Philadelphia
ran 41 times for 238 yards.
Philadelphia held the ball for 35
minutes 17 seconds. Philadelphia
quarterback Jalen Hurts threw
for a score and ran for two more.
Philadelphia is back in the playoff
race because it did what it had to
do against an opponent that
couldn’t prevent any of it.
Gilbert played Tuesday
because of a specific set of
circumstances at a specific point
in our history — not as followers
of Washington football but as
human beings. Gilbert faced the
Eagles because of the new
variant. It’s that simple. Starter
Taylor Heinicke tested positive.
Backup Kyle Allen is in the
SVRLUGA FROM D1 teammate named — wait for it —
Ron Rivera.
Try to unwind that ball of yarn.
And so here was Gilbert on
Tuesday night, ballin’ out. Maybe
not Heinicke-in-the-playoff-
game-against-Tampa Bay-level
ballin’ out. But still. He couldn’t
deliver a win. But it didn’t feel
like a Sanchez-level disaster.
Gilbert made it through the
first half without a turnover — a
key if Washington was going to
have a chance — and slung a
4 6-yarder to star wideout Terry
McLaurin, an indication that the
WFT wouldn’t rely completely on
handoffs and check-downs. By
early in the fourth quarter,
Turner had enough confidence in
his new employee that on third
and one, he dialed up not a dive
into the line but a play-action
pass to tight end John Bates. The
result: a 29-yard gain to the 1 that
immediately preceded Jaret
Patterson’s touchdown run that
pulled Washington within 20-17.
Oh, and trailing by 10 and facing
third and 10 with under five
minutes remaining, Gilbert flat
drilled one to Adam Humphries
for a first down.
“I got nothing but respect for
Garrett,” McLaurin said. “For a
guy to come from another
practice squad to come to a team
where you don’t know anybody
... t o come here midweek and be
expected to not only start at
quarterback but to help us try
and get in the playoffs, there’s
nothing but respect for him.”
The record must show that the
WFT played this game not only
with a starting quarterback who
was hired Thursday but with the
following key losses to covid-19:
Heinicke and Allen, safety Kam
Curl, cornerback Kyle Fuller,
guard Brandon Scherff and tackle
Cornelius Lucas. That’s context.
The standings don’t care much
for context.
Garrett Gilbert has been a
member of the Washington
Football Team for less than a
week. He acquitted himself
admirably, maybe better than
that. But the position in
Washington is not stable. Not this
week heading into a Sunday night
date at Dallas. And not over the
course of history, either.
[email protected]
For more by Barry Svrluga, visit
washingtonpost.com/svrluga.protocols. Rivera and offensive
coordinator Scott Turner were
familiar with Gilbert because
they signed him in an emergency
situation when they were with
Carolina. That’s all the résumé he
needed.
And yet, the roster he tried to
lead was severely hampered
because some two dozen players
had been in and out of covid
protocols.
“We’re not going to do that,”
Jonathan Allen said. “We’re not
going to blame covid for what
happened today.”
Whatever the circumstances
and responsibilities, Gilbert
instantly became the latest
symbol of Washington’s inherent
instability at the sport’s most
important position. That’s not
necessarily fair, given the
pandemic. But the numbers are
undeniable. Since 2018,Washington has started 10
players at quarterback. Look
away and take a moment to tick
off as many names as you can
while considering what Gilbert
went through to be here.
“Obviously, a little bit of a
whirlwind,” Gilbert said. “Less
than ideal circumstances for all
the guys in there.”
Back to that list. Ready? Here
we go.
Alex Smith, Colt McCoy, Josh
Johnson, Mark Sanchez, Case
Keenum, Dwayne Haskins, Allen,
Heinicke, Ryan Fitzpatrick — and
now Gilbert.
“He gave a heck of an effort,”
Rivera said. “He made some good
decisions. He delivered some
good balls. His timing and
rhythm was off a little bit. It
showed when we got in a couple
of situations — he hadn’t had
enough reps.”What is it about these WFT
games at Philadelphia? Since
2017, here are the starting
quarterbacks there: Kirk Cousins,
McCoy, Keenum, Smith and
Gilbert. That’s almost every kind
of character who can man the
position: the franchise record
holder, the career backup, the
veteran drifter, the comeback
player of the year and the dude
whose first practice with the team
came five days before kickoff.
And it doesn’t even account for
the situation most analogous to
Gilbert’s: S anchez, employed by
the team less than a week,
relieving an injured McCoy in
2018.
So fitting that Sanchez was in
the booth for this one, calling the
game for Fox.
Because we’re at the point at
which six degrees of WFT
quarterbacks is a relevant game,how about this one? In January
2010, Gilbert was a freshman at
Texas when the Longhorns
played Alabama in what was then
known as the BCS national
championship game. When the
starter went down with an injury,
Gilbert was tossed into the
cauldron. That starter: McCoy.
The result: Gilbert threw four
interceptions and fumbled once.
The Crimson Tide won the
national title.
Oh, one more six-degrees bit
(and, really, at this point we could
go on forever): Late in the 2018
season, Heinicke was filling in for
injured starter Cam Newton with
the Carolina Panthers. He
suffered an elbow injury. To fill
his roster spot, the Panthers
signed — wait for it — Garrett
Gilbert. Who, by the way, has a
father who played quarterback at
Cal, where he had a linebacker“He gave a heck of an effort,” Coach Ron Rivera said of G arrett Gilbert, who completed 20 of 31 passes for 194 yards without a turnover.BARRY SVRLUGA
Washington’s playo≠ push hits another speed bump, but you can’t blame the QB