Spiritless Redskins Succumb to Giants, 19-3
This year, there was no one-sided beatdown from start to finish, nor was there a handful of obvious miscues and mistakes that directly contributed to the result. But Washington fans, nevertheless, could not have found much joy in this Sunday's listless effort against the New York Giants. In the days leading up to the game, the news was filled with sharp words from former-Redskin-turned-Giant LaVar Arrington, who seemed bent on making the contest into a "something to prove" game. His intensity was never matched. While the Redskins, at times, played with credibility, they never displayed much competitiveness, going down to defeat, 19-3.
The game is likely to be cast as a victory for the Giant defense. And true, they did manage to hold Washington to 164 yards. Most importantly, however, they found ways of creating havoc on Washington's third downs all game long. The real story, though, was the timidity of the Washington defense. In the first half, they got away with a "bend, but not break" style of play that allowed New York an easy march downfield before the clamps came down. But it seemed very obvious during the game that the defense was very blitz shy, and while it's important to recognize that the blitz leaves big plays exposed, it's still not wise to remove the threat entirely. Giants' QB Eli Manning managed his game without much pass rush, and seemed relatively confident that the blitz would never come, allowing him to pick his way downfield to the tune of nearly eight yards a throw.
At halftime, however, Washington was down only 9-3, and with Portis running well and the opportunity to make some defensive adjustments, there was no reason to feel like the game was out of reach.
Two third quarter series sealed the game for New York, however. On the first drive after halftime, Washington's game-long failure to stop New York on third down -- a problem the defense has had in other games this year -- led to misery as the refs helped bail out the Giants on a third down pass that should have been ruled incomplete. On the very next play from scrimmage, Manning found Plaxico Burress isolated in the end zone for the score.
On the ensuing drive, Washington enjoyed one of their best offensive series of the game, balancing running with passing and finding ways to convert third downs. The drive, however, stalled at the New York 24 yard line. Down by thirteen and facing a fourth and one, Coach Gibbs, in a decision that likely made Washington partisans want to break things, elected to kick the field goal. Ugh. You're down two scores, in desperate need to seal the deal on this drive, you've got one of the best rushers in the game in your backfield, you need just one yard, and you've got to do something--ANYTHING--to light a competitive fire under your team. Kicking a field goal simply makes no sense.
The try went wide, just as it deserved to go, and from a competitive standpoint, the game was more or less over at that point.
The loss prevented Washington from taking an important step into the upper half of the NFC and into the playoff picture. Instead, Washington finds itself at the bottom of the NFC East division, two games behind the Eagles. Washington will return home to face the Tennessee Titans on Sunday.