Rivera, Washington changes at 2-6. in the future evaluation mode

Another narrow loss was enough to push Washington’s season over the edge.

At 6-2 with reigning Super Bowl champions Tampa Bay Buccaneers next and the Dallas Cowboys in control of NFC East, Washington’s hopes for a sweeping playoff bid seem unreachable. It’s all about the future now, and the only excitement for the next few months beyond what the team drafted in the first round is the new name of the franchise.

“The truth is it gets darkest before it gets lightest,” said coach Ron Rivera. “We’re going to have to go through this. … We can do our best. We’ll play as hard as possible and see what happens. We’ll show up every Sunday and try to do our best and hopefully win some soccer games. “

Rivera still wants to win but the focus has shifted. He said after losing in Denver on Sunday that he and the staff will now reassess any position on a team that is “still trying to seek and find ourselves.”

Washington is last in the division and it’s going to be harder to track down than it was last season. A soft schedule helped Washington get from 2-7 to 7-9 and the playoffs – and now a schedule with first place with Tom Brady’s Buccaneers, Russell Wilson’s Seattle Seahawks and Dak Prescott’s Cowboys is doing pretty uphill.

“Last year is the last year,” said JD McKissic, looking back. “We have to focus on this year. Now we just have to finish. “

Not finishing is what Washington is in this mess. With Taylor Heinicke as quarterback, the team has the worst red zone offensive in the NFL at 45.5%, and the defense, which should be among the best in the league, ranks 27th.

Injuries certainly played a role. Starting QB Ryan Fitzpatrick injured himself in the season opener six right hip (thigh) passes have missed the last four and linebacker Jon Bostic is likely through with a ruptured chest muscle for the season.

Rivera is optimistic about bringing some players back after the bye week and is excited to see what the team will look like after that.

“Some of the things we’ve been doing lately have really shown that we have the potential to get it going again,” he said. “But figuring out who we are has a lot to do with the guys we didn’t use and who we couldn’t play with, so I think we’ll see how we react to that.”

The answers have so far remained empty. They beat the Giants with only a buzzing field goal after New York’s Dexter Lawrence sidelined on the first try, who missed, and took two touchdowns in the final four minutes to come back and win in Atlanta.

Rivera asked himself aloud on Sunday: “Where are we?” And his players made it clear that this is still an open question.

“It is still looking for an identity for our offensive,” said Charles Leno. “Bye Week came at the perfect time. Let’s just go ahead and do a little self-scouting, figure out what we’re good at, figure out what we need to get better at, and eliminate the things we’re bad at, and then move on. “

Security veteran Landon Collins – who was used primarily as a linebacker this season – said he was “not letting the frustration set in”. That’s easier said than done, and how the players deal with it will go a long way in determining who’s in for the next season when Washington has a name and bigger expectations.

“We are a young team that is learning to mature and that is exactly what we are,” said Rivera. “We’ll do our best to train them and we’ll see what happens.”

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