Washington Lets the Eagles Soar, 27-3
Earlier this week, Washington safety Pierson Prioleau spoke about his own season-ending knee injury as an ominous sign of setbacks to come. He seems prescient now. On Sunday afternoon, the Redskins took themselves out of contention early and often as the Philadelphia Eagles turned the match into a low-effort rout. Along the way, Washington gave up big plays, took the business end of a throttling fluke fumble, and, in the snakebitten way Prioleau described, suffered another piece of misfortune, losing Clinton Portis for at least a month with a broken hand.
This time last week, Washington was celebrating a miraculous finish over the Cowboys thanks to some heads-up play by Sean Taylor. But in the first quarter, with Philadelphia ahead 3-0, Taylor's game-IQ failed him as he joined three other defensive backs caught staring into the backfield at the wrong time, allowing Donte' Stallworth to get open deep down the field for a dramatic 84-yard touchdown reception. While it's true that Philadelphia's coach, Andy Reid, finally accepted the fact that his own pass-wacky tendencies were costing his team wins, allowing his offensive coordinator, Marty Mornhinwheg, to dial up a steady barrage of running plays, there was no excuse--in the first quarter, anyway--for properly prepared defenders to bite on the run-fake so badly.
There's something about the way the Redskins labor--even when they win games--that when you see their opponent have such an easy time of things, it makes you slump forward in your seat. Sure enough, things only got worse.
A couple of drives later, in the second quarter, Shawn Springs clocked Eagle wideout Reggie Brown, knocking the ball loose. It would have been a nice defensive play--an incomplete pass or perhaps a fumble--had the ball not landed right in the hands of the streaking Correll Buckhalter who blazed into the endzone for a 17-0 lead. At that point, the competitive portion of the game was all but over, and the ominous clouds Prioleau alluded to were suddenly part of the forecast. With the exception of a second quarter field goal, Washington never really threatened again--their deepest second half drive ended with Sheldon Brown intercepting Mark Brunell for a touchdown.
Washington, at 3-6, is all but mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, and despite the fact that backup rusher Ladell Betts has been performing superbly of late (he caught four passes and rushed for 83 yards yesterday), there's little chance that the ship is going to get righted without the services of Clinton Portis. Nine days ago, Post columnist Michael Wilbon called for the insertion of second-year quarterback Jason Campbell. Should the Skins drop a seventh game, look for the QB of the future to become the QB of now.
Washington will be in Tampa next week to take on the Buccaneers.