Nine weeks into the season, rookie quarterback Dwayne Haskins got his first start for the Redskins.
It was hardly terrific and just the same it was hardly terrible.
Nonetheless, Redskins interim coach Bill Callahan isn't ready to name the No. 15 pick in the 2019 draft the starter going forward. At least not yet, anyway. He stated as much following Sunday's defeat and reiterated his stance on Monday.
"He and I haven't decided anything at this juncture yet, so I'm going to take my time on that and look at a lot of different things because we've got some time," Callahan said Monday via team transcript. "We've got time this bye week to go back and look at a lot of different things, so that's the posture this week."
Callahan was pressed thereafter with myriad questions on why he wouldn't name Haskins the team's No. 1, especially with the backdrop of a 1-8 campaign that's been lost already for all intents and purposes.
"I just want to be real clear that I want to take time this week," Callahan reiterated. "We have some time in the bye to go back and look and evaluate and look at ourselves -- self-scout evaluation -- look at personnel evaluations. Again, like I said, I'm just going to go back to my original statement and take my time and make the decision next Monday."
On Sunday, Haskins was 15-of-22 (68 percent) for 144 yards with zero touchdowns, zero interceptions, an 86.2 passer rating and four sacks sustained during a 24-9 loss to the Redskins. He did decently in a game in which he clearly wasn't asked to do much and the Redskins did little to nothing in the form of a 24-9 loss, future Hall of Fame running back Adrian Peterson emerging as the only offensive highlight for the team.
In his previous two appearances, Haskins came off the bench and combined for zero touchdowns and four interceptions.
In reality, Callahan didn't decide to give Haskins his first start ahead of the Bills game until it was clear Case Keenum couldn't play on Sunday.
Hesitancy certainly isn't novel when it comes to starting Haskins.
Jay Gruden was fired before he named Haskins the starter, electing to go with Keenum and then Colt McCoy.
It could be argued that Keenum gives Washington a better chance to win this season, but what kind of argument is that for a team that at least should be playing for the future.
Drafted as the hopeful future franchise quarterback, Haskins certainly hasn't dazzled, but in fairness to him hasn't really been given the time on the field to learn from his mistakes and work through them.
"I think we have some time here, we have a bye week -- we don't play for two weeks -- so I just want to gather all the information," Callahan said. "I want to look at a lot of things on film, go back into the self-scout and I just want to take my time and decide where we're going to go, the direction that we're going to go."
