Entering a Week 12 clash with the New Orleans Saints, the Atlanta Falcons are already thin offensively. Veteran signal-caller Kirk Cousins will draw the start in the wake of Michael Penix Jr.'s season-ending ACL tear, while superstar receiver Drake London will be held out due to a PCL sprain.
It's a disaster scenario for the Falcons, but it somehow just got even worse. While London is sidelined, the expectation was that Darnell Mooney, David Sills V, and Casey Washington would operate as Atlanta's starting receiver trio. But instead, Washington was listed as a surprise inactive for Week 12.
What makes this scenario even weirder is that the second-year wideout from Illinois wasn't listed on any of the Dirty Birds' Week 12 injury reports. That suggests that the receiver-needy Falcons are healthy scratching one of their only starting wide receivers despite their obvious weakness with London sidelined.
Falcons head-scratchingly choose to healthy scratch Casey Washington in Week 12
London's absence is a true concern, as he has more receiving yards than the rest of the Falcons' receiver room combined. However, Washington has shown flashes throughout the season, but has failed to catch a pass since Week 8 loss and hasn't been targeted since the Week 10 loss to the Colts in Berlin.
The only other start the 37-year-old made this season came back in Week 8 against the Dolphins, and that also came with his 24-year-old WR1 inactive. That contest resulted in a 34-10 drubbing at home which saw Cousins remind fans just how much disastrous that contract has turned out.
Healthy scratching Washington makes absolutely zero sense for Raheem Morris and company, and it's even more concerning when you consider what happened to Ray-Ray McCloud earlier this season. He was a healthy inactive back in Week 6, and that led to his release a few weeks later.
Week after week, this regime just continues to ignore the glaring red flag behind London at WR. They didn't add any talent before the deadline or bring anyone in free agency, which is just evidencing how much Terry Fontenot's dismal roster construction is setting Cousins up to fail as he replaces Penix.
With Washington inactive, it will be Mooney, Sills, and KhaDarrel Hodge receiving the bulk of the snaps at wide receiver. With that said, OC Zac Robinson will need to get Kyle Pitts and Bijan Robinson involved in the passing game if the 3-7 Falcons want to prevent their losing streak from continuing.
This regime is obviously coaching for the jobs, but if this decision and their five-game losing streak are any indication, they won't (and shouldn't) be employed by the Falcons for much longer.