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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Zachary Neel

‘House Money;’ Whatever Washington does from here is just gravy

The Washington Football Team is going to the 2020 NFL Playoffs.

If someone told you that a couple of months ago when they had fallen to 2-7 on the season, you would have laughed them out of the building, but with a veteran QB like Alex Smith taking the starting job and going 5-1 with the team, Ron Rivera’s squad capped off a nice late-season run and won the NFC East championship on Sunday night.

As Rivera said recently, everything they do now is just icing on the cake, as they are playing with house money going forward.

Nobody expected them to be here. Nobody expected their defense to be this good this soon. The offense needs a lot of work, but with a reliable quarterback under center, all things are going to look a lot better, I can tell you that much.

So would they like to win next Saturday against Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers? Absolutely. Will it be a disappointment if they lose? Somewhat, yes. But it definitely is not a failure if you lose in the wild-card round of the playoffs.

Simply because nobody expected them to get to the playoffs. They’re there now, and they’re playing with somebody else’s money at the black jack table. Everything from here is just a bonus to what will already go down as a successful season, no matter the end result.

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