Growth seen, but Haskins just getting started

Second-year QB gets serious about having team success

Perhaps the most significant moment of the Washington Football Team’s seasonopening win against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday was a failed third-down attempt that capped a miserable start for the offense.

At thetwo-minutewarning late in the first half, with Washington already trailing 17-0, quarterback Dwayne Haskins threw a dart to wide receiver Dontrelle Inman that sank low and bobbled off Inman’s hands, ending another drive. Haskins, hyped throughout the offseason for showing more maturity and leadership, shook his head in disappointment as he walked straight for the bench, where he was met by quarterbacks coach Ken Zampese to review what happened and quicklymove on.

“I felt like it was on my shoulders to get the offense going, tolet these guysknowthey have something to believe in andwe’re going to make these plays in order for us to win,” Haskins said. “And we did. It felt great to knowthose guyswent out there andwent to war forme.”

Moments after the incompletion, Washington’s defense secured its first of three takeaways and Haskins trotted back on the field. He threw a few strikes to his top receivers, found tight end Logan Thomas in the back of the end zone for the team’s first score, then rallied his teammates with a halftime speech while their head coach, in the beginning stages of cancer treatment, received an IV.

Washington scored fourmore times in the second half to secure the victory, but it was those few seconds when he had to respond to his offense in peril that told themost about Haskins.

“The way he responded after the first quarter, taking what they gave, making plays when he had to really show his resilience and just the fact that he is starting to feel more and more comfortable as our starting quarterback,” coach Ron Rivera said postgame. “Iwas very proud of him.”

The bounce-back is what many coaches believe is the ultimate test of a young player, especially a quarterback: how does he respond when the plan is falling apart, his teammates are frustrated and everything thatworked in practice is suddenly failing in live action? How does he handle being the face of a multibillion-dollar franchise? How does he bring others along with him?

“I’ve been just trying to master that same edge that a Tom Brady or Drew Brees has,” Haskins said during training camp. “When he steps into a building, you know he’s there.”

After only one season as a college starter and a rookie year fraught with trials, Haskins’ biggest challenge is still on the table. His first fair shot at proving he can be The Guy might also be his only shot in Washington, as Rivera rebuilds the franchise inside and out.

After a promising offseason and victoriousWeek 1, Haskins’s push to prove himself has only just begun.

‘I challenged him daily’

Shortly after he was hired to fix all the wrongs withWashington’s NFL team, Rivera satdownwithHaskins to spell out his task ahead. He wouldn’t be named the starter outright; hewould have to earn it.

It wasn’t a new type of challenge for Haskins, who had been put to task before.

“I challenged him daily, not just about a throw but about running the team,” said UrbanMeyer, Haskins’ former coach at Ohio State. “Quarterback is the most unique position in all of sports. Whether you throw the ballwell or not is part of it, but the other part of it is can you push the other players that are counting on you?”

What was different this offseason from his rookie year, however, was the chance to prove it with a clean slate. Many of the difficultiesofHaskins’ debut season could be pinnedonfactors outside his control, such as Jay Gruden being fired after a 0-5 start, which was preceded by widespread discussion that the head coach hadn’t been in favor of drafting Haskins with the No. 15 pick in the first round.

“He was going to naturally need some time to kind of grow into his role and really have coaches and a football team that was willing to invest in his development and put their full weight behind him, which is something he didn’t always have in Washington,” said ESPN analyst Louis Riddick, a former Washington director of pro personnel. “I don’t think people really understand the effect that can have on a young player.”

Some of it was Haskins’ own doing. He drewthe mockery of pundits and ire of team legend JoeTheismann when he took a selfie with a fan during the last play of his first victory. And he was urged by veteran teammates to devote more time to learning the playbook.

“When Rivera called me and challenged me and said some things that I needed to hear, that’s just something I needed to push myself,” Haskins said recently.

Haskins wrote out a list of goals for the offseason and says he met every one of them. He lost weight and organized throwing sessions with his receivers at nearby schools while much of the country was shut down because of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

He crisscrossed the country to seek the advice of fellow quarterbacks Cam Newton and Deshaun Watson, and he continued to work with his quarterback coaches, Bryson Spinner and Quincy Avery. And for much of his eight months away from the team’s facility, Haskinshadapersonal videographer in towto document his journey.

“I was paying attention to it,” Rivera said.

“When I watched some of his tweets, some of the things were about leadership and about working out. Some of his tweets were about working with his guys and doing the things that you’re supposed to do as a leader.

“I thought that was good information for meto have.”

‘I’m done playing around’

Haskins had a year of stardom at Ohio State. He showed off a cannon arm and rare field vision, butMeyer saw deficiencies that couldn’t simply be corrected on a practice field with more reps.

WhileHaskins had the traits to be a great pro, he didn’t have the experience or the natural leadership ability.

In the middle of Haskins’ record-setting season at Ohio State, Meyer urged his quarterback to watch a clip of Kobe Bryant practicing with some of his former Los Angeles Lakers teammates. Meyer believed that Bryant’s approach might rub off on Haskins and that instead of sulking after a bad play, he would make a point to engage with and encourage his teammates. Or that in practice he would be more of a vocal leader and push his teammates to be better.

“I sawreally instantaneous change on the practice field,” Meyer said.

When asked if he believes Haskins has changed his ways for good, Meyer said he talked to Haskins recently and came away convinced.

But the biggest challenge in a “what have you done for me lately” league, as Rivera likes to put it, is proving he’s here to stay.

“Success for me is helping this team win more games than last year,” Haskins said. “Success for me is helping this team have a better overall demeanor on the field. Success for me is finding ways to lead and be a presence. That’s something I’m just looking forward to doing and being quite successful at because I know that I can do it and my guys can do it.”