Humble pie for holidays

BRIGHT SPOTS In a losing year, a few rare gems have emerged, including receiver Isaiah Wright.

- RICK SNIDER

That the NFC East stinks provided brief hope that maybe Washington could win the division and sneak into the playoffs at 7-9 or so.

That’s not happening.

Washington is midway through a four-game stretch against awful teams. They needed at least 3-1 to make a move for the postseason. So far, they’re 0-2. Two field goal losses that should have been victories. Still, they’re losses.

Washington is 2-7 and on its third quarterback this season. Stop me if you’ve seen that before. Like, practically each of the last few years.

But the good news is the best of the three passers is now playing. Alex Smith looks mostly like the old Alex Smith before injured in 2018. He’s a little slow on dropbacks that makes him vulnerable to blitzes. And, smart teams will start doing it more. But, Smith is a counterpuncher and can dink and dunk opponents all the way down the field. So, it’s a chess game.

Smith started his first game in 728 days against the Detroit Lions on Nov. 15. Everyone gasped the first few times he was hit, then things started feeling normal again. By the second half, Smith led three scoring drives and it looked like overtime was coming. After all, Detroit gained the ball with 16 seconds left. Sure enough, they made a 59-yard field goal to win.