The Washington Redskins second preseason game of the year came on Thursday, against the Cincinnati Bengals at FedExField. Although they lost, it's not always about the final score in the preseason. In fact, it's rarely about the final score in the preseason.
The real value of the preseason comes in evaluating talent. For the Redskins, one of the most important talents to evaluate is at quarterback, in rookie Dwayne Haskins.
Haskins has definitely had his moments in the preseason so far. He's shown that he can be the future at the position, but also shown that he has some growing to do.
What did we learn from watching Dwayne Haskins in his second preseason game with the Washington Redskins, though? Here are three things to take away from his performance on Thursday night versus the Bengals.
He Can Handle Pressure
That throw. You know exactly the one I'm talking about. There were so many positives about that one play, it's almost ridiculous.
Best part of the Haskins TD throw for me though? Look at him point to the nickel corner blitz pre-snap, made sure his OL was aware of it and picked it up. Spotting blitzes was something he was very good at in college #Redskins pic.twitter.com/60ykv6QN65
— Mark Bullock (@MarkBullockNFL) August 16, 2019
As The Athletic's Mark Bullock points out, first he recognizes the blitz and makes sure someone picks him up.
Then, and perhaps most impressively, he notices the pressure almost immediately after receiving the snap but doesn't panic. Haskins stays calm and gets rid of the ball in time. Although the ball placement isn't 100 percent perfect, it's still an eye-popping throw that allows Robert Davis to catch in stride and keep running for the touchdown.
Not everything went right for Haskins and the Redskins on Thursday. This throw, though, is something that should have Washington fans excited. Clearly the raw talent is there with Haskins – just be patient. For now, Haskins will at least show flashes.
He Knows What He Has To Fix
Something I personally really liked to see from Haskins in his second preseason game was accountability. This shown through especially on that under throw of Kelvin Harmon – the one that caused an offensive pass interference call so absurd that it went viral.
What I loved about the play wasn't the bad pass, or the bad call – it was Haskins' response to the play. He didn't look at his offensive line confused or try to act like Harmon ran the wrong route. He didn't even complain about the call. What Haskins did instead was get mad at himself.
Haskins was seen talking to himself and making a throwing motion, clearly telling himself he needed to make a better throw and get it over the defender.
This made me all types of giddy. It's absolutely miserable to see players try to blame anything and everyone else for a bad play. You'll see wide receivers begging for flags after every drop and quarterbacks blaming receivers when the throw is off.
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure quite a few “bad throws” are because the receiver got crossed up, but it seems like there are a lot of quarterbacks out there not taking responsibility for bad throws in the moment. Haskins did that here and it tells me he's willing to learn and take criticism.
He Can Scramble
Dwayne Haskins isn't perfect, and no one's going to try and pretend like he is. However, he's much better at some facets of the game than a lot of people let on.
One of those is scrambling. I'm not necessarily talking about picking up big gains on the ground, but escaping pressure.
Due to a slow 40-time, people tend to assume Haskins won't move in the pocket. However, he's shown that he can get around just fine. He showed this ability a ton in Week 1 of the preseason and gave everyone a little more to talk about in Week 2.
No, Haskins isn't some elite running quarterback. However, he's shown effective escapability and has gotten away from a number of sacks by keeping plays alive with his feet. Although those extended plays don't always work out for the Redskins, it's great to see Haskins already showing that ability – one many didn't believe he had.
Through two games, Dwayne Haskins has proven to be a super talented prospect who needs experience. The positives heavily outweigh the negatives, and we learned a lot more of what he can do on Thursday.
Now we have to wait until next week to see what else we'll learn about Dwayne Haskins. Based on his first two exhibition games, the smart money is on it being something good.
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