Right now, the Washington Football Team's defense is indefensible.
After allowing the Chargers to convert 14 out of 19 third downs in Week 1 and making Daniel Jones look as dangerous as Daniel Jones has ever looked in Week 2, the Burgundy and Gold's task in Week 3 was to try and stop Josh Allen and the Bills.
Instead, Jack Del Rio's group got completely sauced in Buffalo.
Allen, who was uncharacteristically quiet in his first two outings of the season, instantly re-launched his MVP campaign on Sunday by going 32-for-43 for 358 yards and four touchdowns (he was eventually pulled so Mitch Trubisky could finish the contest).
Two Bills targets exceeded 90 receiving yards, while five of them registered at least 30. Grabs occurred on the sidelines, on the numbers, on the hashmarks, near the line of scrimmage, deep down the field and, obviously, in the end zone.
The 43-21 final score, which clearly isn't a close margin, wasn't even that close.
Let's not pretend Washington simply fell victim to an on-fire opponent, by the way. Yes, Allen and Co. were humming, but it's easy to do that when the 11 players on the other side are ineffective.
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The pass rush? You know, the one that was supposed to set records? It recorded zero sacks on Sunday.
The secondary? You know, the one that made a major offseason addition and was regarded as much deeper? It is performing as poorly as it ever has.
And the unit overall? You know, the one that had a full offseason of learning under Del Rio and Ron Rivera and should've been much more comfortable with one another? Forget being on the same page; they aren't in the same damn library.
When they struggled in the opener against Los Angeles, the reasoning was that the Chargers didn't use any of its major players in the preseason and therefore was able to catch Washington by surprise with what they ran.
When they struggled once more versus the Giants, the reasoning was that individual assignments weren't being executed and that guys were too eager to flash.
Well, the reasoning that emerges from the loss in Buffalo remains to be seen. However, the patience for the team's flaws will be non-existent, because nothing was corrected after the first two were produced. In fact, things have only gotten worse.
Coming into 2021, Washington's defense was expected to be its anchor, the thing that could always be depended on.
Turns out, the "anchor" descriptor was an apt one — as in, it might just be the thing that sinks the entire team.