Washington fans should embrace beauty in ugly NFC East race originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
The chase for the NFC East may be a joke, but I can't fight it anymore -- I'm all in. It's time to embrace the ugly.
After the Washington Football Team stomped the Cowboys on Thanksgiving, in a matchup that easily tops the list of recent games that were actually fun to watch from this team, the conversation, as stupid as it felt to have, was about "the first place Washington Football Team".
Sure they're 4-7 and yes that sole possession of first is already gone because they got swept by the Giants, but given the years of meaningless football in November it just feels good to care about games every week again.
(It also helped to see Sad Jerry Jones make an appearance, too, after his team's division chances only shrunk more if we're being honest.)
I've been adamant that this team should be focused on a full rebuild this year, figuring out what young guys should be a part of this organization moving forward. That usually involves some level of sugar-coated tanking, though, and big picture thinking versus short-term, in-the-moment coaching.
Now, if you look at two straight wins for Washington along with the Jets and Jaguars making it clear they're allergic to winning any football games, Washington would be wasting its time eyeing those first two draft slots.
Not to mention, we are starting to see some young talent rise to the top, especially Antonio Gibson, who clearly is a major part of this offense moving forward and a potential rookie of the year candidate now.
They obviously need a quarterback, even with Alex Smith now likely back in front as their short-term solution. Sadly Dwayne Haskins was a wasted pick, and Ron Rivera and co. will be using wherever they land in the 2021 NFL Draft to find their future at the position.
That mindset shouldn't change.
It won't be in the first few slots now, though, and that's okay because even if Washington wins six games and doesn't win the NFC East, we'll have seen the most promising trait yet for this group of players heading into 2021 -- momentum and growth.
The evaluation part of this year is starting to look like a success. We're seeing certain names consistently step up, and we're watching an entire organization slowly evolve right in front of us.
It doesn't mean there won't be ugly moments on the horizon, but we're clearly seeing the shift in culture we've been begging for.
Let the rest of the country make fun of the ugly division. Let them have their NFC East jokes. We can embrace it. It's a whole lot more fun than what we're used to.
