This is the toughest part of WFT's schedule, per analytics originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
Washington Football coach Ron Rivera has previously said that he likes to break Washington's schedule down into quarters and focus on those morsels as opposed to the entire thing. Going off of that, he better be ready for the second quarter of his team's 2021 slate.
Cynthia Frelund, who is an analytics expert at NFL.com, recently detailed the toughest four-game stretch for each NFC East team in a video on the site. According to her model, the Burgundy and Gold's toughest run begins in Week 5.
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On Oct. 10, Washington will welcome the Saints to FedEx Field.
Next, Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs will pay Rivera's charges a visit.
Then, the defending division champs will head to Lambeau Field to face the Packers (the difficulty of this schedule is obviously contingent on Aaron Rodgers' status in Green Bay).
And lastly, the team will make the "always difficult trip to Mile High," as Frelund puts it, to battle with the Broncos in Week 8.
Frelund's data tells her that Washington's win probability for those four respective tilts is 52.1 percent, 47.1 percent, 48.3 percent and 51.9 percent. In other words, they're essentially all coin flips.
Fortunately for the franchise, the bye week follows that part of the schedule, so if it really proves to be especially difficult, the players can then regroup before venturing into the back half of 2021.
Unfortunately for the WFT, though, Tom Brady and the Bucs will be looming when they return.
When Washington's schedule first came out, most fixated on the wild finish, which features five-straight matchups with fellow NFC East foes. That's not a typo, by the way.
While that conclusion is very likely to decide who emerges from the bunch with a playoff berth, fans shouldn't overlook the importance of Weeks 5-8, either. Frelund certainly isn't. If Washington doesn't hold their own across that portion, their postseason chances could be impacted quite a bit.
