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Redskins take Solace in Final Score

At the end of the game, the 90,000 plus that had packed FedEx field weren’t sure whether or not to boo or cheer the Redskins.

Certainly, the Redskins did not put in their best performance of the season Sunday, but it was clear when Anquan Boldin’s pass on a prospective game tying two point conversion attempt fell to the ground, that the Redskins would be victorious.

And then came the disaster.

In a game that was eerily similar to the Dallas-Buffalo game from two weeks ago, the Cardinals were able to follow a failed 2 pt conversion with a perfectly executed onside kick.  Clearly unprepared to defend such a situation, the Redskins allowed Kurt Warner to have the pass into the flat even after the Cards had burned their last timeout.  Just like the Monday night from two weeks before, the team on the verge of a collapse found themselves up against a field goal unit inside their own 40 yard line.

Perhaps very fittingly, as soon as the Redskins lost control of their own destiny, something they had controlled since the first drive, Neil Rackers was unable to put the game away for the Cardinals, and the Redskins walked off with a 21-19 victory in front of a dazed and confused crowd in Landover.

It takes a good eye to find any bright spots in the way the Redskins played.  Rest assured that there were positives in that game.  They tied a season high three turnovers forced.  Jason Campbell completed 12 of his 18 passes (67%).  Rock Cartwright had another huge return prior to straining a hamstring.  The offense did not put the ball on the ground, and Campbell’s only interception was a pretty fluky play off a screen pass attempt.  Antwaan Randle El continues his torrid pace, chipping in another 54 yards on 3 receptions.

Unfortunately, none of those positives can overshadow just how inept the Redskins offense on third and short is.  I doubt they could pick up three yards against “air” if they continue trying what they have been.  I will investigate these struggles in-depth later this week.

The offensive line was horrid.  Todd Wade may very well be hurt, but he is not playing well enough to block NFL caliber defensive ends.  Casey Rabach’s presence on the line was noticeably absent Sunday, and a few times the Cards were able to get guys coming free with only five rushers.  That’s inexcusable, and Joe Bugel has his work cut out for him.  Even Chris Samuels had (understandably) his roughest game of the year.

The Redskins ran 26 times compared to 21 designed pass plays (includes sacks and scrambles).  While this is not a bad idea against a team you feel you need to shorten the game against, Al Saunders and co. are going to catch a lot of flak (from people who aren’t me) on their run pass selection.  The Redskins have a far more efficient passing offense than a rushing offense, just to throw that out there.

In the second half, the Redskins defense struggled to get pressure on Warner.  Though they forced a fumble deep in their own territory, the Redskins defensive line could not get consistent pressure on Warner the way they were able to the week before.  Midway through the third quarter, Levi Brown came in to play left tackle for Arizona, and Warner seemed to keep his feet from that point on.  The end result was 282 passing yards on 41 passing attempts.  Warner is only the second quarterback to pass for more than 6 yards an attempt against the Washington pass defense this season.  Eli Manning was the other.  The interesting thing is that both quarterbacks were intercepted twice in those games.  In this case, those turnovers truly made the difference in this one.

At the end of the day, the Redskins have 4 wins in 6 tries, and have set themselves up for a showdown in New England next week.  It wasn’t pretty, and perhaps they were somewhat undeserving, but a win is a win no matter how you cut it, and if nothing else, it’s the final score that will allow Redskins fans to keep their sanity for one more week.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 21st, 2007 at 11:15 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.