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The Washington Football Team is already in a tough situation after newly signed quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick went down with a hip injury. In his place will be the 28-year-old Taylor Heinicke, making just the second regular season start of his career.
This is a team that has hopes of winning the NFC East division for the second straight season, but that will be much harder now that their starting quarterback is unavailable. A Week 1 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers doesn't help either, so Week 2 is an important game for both Heinicke and the Washington Football Team.
With that said, here are our four bold predictions for Ron Rivera and Co. as they head to Week 2 against the New York Giants.
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Washington Football Team Week 2 Predictions
4. Taylor Heinicke impresses once again
The last time we saw Heinicke take over for an entire game was in the playoffs just last season against Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Washington ultimately lost that game to the soon-to-be Super Bowl champions, but Heinicke was thrown right into the playoff fire and actually played fairly well.
Expectations were low for Heinicke back then because he hadn't played at all during the season, but he was the best option for the Washington Football Team. He ended up throwing 44 passes and completed 26 of them for a completion percentage of 59.1% along with one touchdown and one interception. In the end, the Football Team lost 31-23 but Heinicke played as well as they could've hoped.
Now Washington is headed into a Thursday Night Football matchup with their division foes, the New York Giants. It's not exactly setting up to be a quarterback dual like Aaron Rodgers versus Tom Brady, with Daniel Jones leading New York and Heinicke taking over for Washington. However, it's the exact type of team Heinicke needs to face for his first start. He should have some pressure taken off due to the opponent, which is a good thing seeing as how this game is in primetime versus a division opponent.
Washington is going to need Heinicke to play like he did in the playoffs last season at the very least. That Buccaneers defense is certainly better than the one the Giants will be throwing out there, so expectations for Heinicke should be to match his playoff performance.
If Washington can get that out of them and play solid defense, then they'll be able to win this game. Heinicke will impress with how ready he is to play.
3. The Washington Football Team defense tallies at least four sacks
Chase Young and Montez Sweat were largely held in check in Week 1 by Rashawn Slater and the Chargers' offensive line, but that should change in Week 2. This pass rushing duo of Young and Sweat will be among the best in the league at the end of the season and that should certainly pick up against Daniel Jones and the Giants' offensive line.
Jones isn't exactly a master at escaping sacks, while the line isn't one of the most reliable in the league.
The Giants QB has been sacked 85 times in the first 28 games of his career. That is equal to just over three sacks per game, and so Washington should be able to get at least one more than that in their Week 2 matchup.
Andrew Thomas and Matt Peart, the offensive tackles for the Giants, will certainly have their hands full after dealing with the formidable Denver Broncos defense just one week ago. Things certainly aren't getting easier this week as Chase Young is one of the best pass rushers in the entire league.
2. Terry McLaurin has a big game
Week 1 was a pretty disappointing one for star wide receiver Terry McLaurin, as he brought in four catches for 62 yards. That was actually just his second half stat line after he went the entire first half of Week 1 without a single target. Taylor Heinicke was the quarterback who gave McLaurin every target in that game as he played the entire second half, so maybe that's a sign of things to come.
Some might say the replacement of Fitzpatrick to Heinicke might hurt McLaurin, but he's been through this all before.
Believe it or not, McLaurin has averaged a new quarterback throwing to him every three games in his NFL career. Despite that, he's still been among the best wide receivers since getting to the league and there's no reason that will stop now with Heinicke under center.
Heinicke and Fitzpatrick are both willing and able to throw the ball deep quite often, and we have seen McLaurin excel with the big plays in the past. There's no reason to think that won't continue in Week 2.
The Washington Football Team is going to need players to step up in the coming weeks with Fitzpatrick out, and there's no one better suited to do that than McLaurin. He has emerged as a true star receiver no matter who is throwing him the ball. This Washington offense just needs to score enough points for the defense to do their job and carry them to the win. Don't panic, Washington fans.
1. Washington Football Team wins by more than the 3.5 point spread
The Washington Football Team enters this Week 2 matchup against the New York Giants favored by 3.5 points. This is coming after a close loss to the Chargers, but despite that, fans should expect more than 3.5 points between these two teams.
Washington is the better team, but losing your starting quarterback can really derail things quickly. Even without their main starting quarterback, the Rivera's men should be able to beat the Giants by a touchdown.
Maybe the Giants are being underrated here, but they certainly weren't impressive in Week 1 against a Denver team similar to this team in Washington. Both are very defense heavy teams with an offense that is good enough to help them reach nine or 10 wins on the season. The Giants have a pretty average defense and an offense that isn't good enough to get to nine or 10 wins.
On paper, this game looks like a win for the Football Team and after a Week 1 loss, they should come out hungry to beat their divisional opponent.
If the Giants want to win, then Daniel Jones will have to step up and be the main guy against a defense that should be ready for him. Until Jones proves he's improved a lot throughout the offseason, the safe bet is to ride with the Washington defense.
