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The Washington Football Team made a move in Week 4 that really shook things up. Quarterback Dwayne Haskins was benched in favor of backup Kyle Allen.
According to thesportsdaily.com though, head coach Ron Rivera has not given up on the second-year quarterback.
“By no means have I given up on him,” Rivera said, via ESPN.
“There are things Dwayne was still learning to do that Kyle knows in terms of communicating with the offensive line,” Rivera added. “It’s something as we go through this and progress, Dwayne will learn and see how these things are done.”
There were a lot of surprising factors that came with the benching. First of all, Haskins was coming off one of his better games.
He completed 71.1% of his passes for a career-high 314 yards. While he did not throw a touchdown, he did not have a turnover either. Oh, and the quarterback had his first career rushing touchdown in the game as well.
Sure, Washington lost but not many expected them to beat the Baltimore Ravens. The number of believers was next to zero.
Another surprising factor was the degree of benching. Haskins is currently not even the second string QB, Alex Smith is in that role now. Instead, Haskins is third string.
The fact that he was coming off a game where he showed improvements and he was benched all the way down to third string had many believing it was all over for Haskins. Rivera is clearly communicating otherwise, though.
In the NFC East, Washington somehow still has a very good chance to win. So putting in the quarterback that gives you the best chance is the right move.
As for the third stringing of Haskins. You could argue that it takes pressure off of him. He is not one play away from being in the game now. That means he can sit back and learn and absorb the information that he needs to absorb.
We'll see how this all plays out but despite what many believe Washington and Rivera may not be done with Dwayne Haskins just yet.
