Redskins Outlast Cardinals to Go 4-2
At first, it looked like a laugher in progress. It ended as a nailbiter. In a slogging game punctuated by missteps and flukes, the Washington Redskins escaped with a win at home against the Arizona Cardinals. How'd Washington pull out the win? On balance, they just reaped slightly larger benefits from the errors, but credit some missed kicks and the strangest two-point conversion call I've ever seen for the victory.
By and large, scoring opportunities came about only through the play of the defense, special teams, and the officials. That goes for both teams. The first twenty-one points of the contest were set up by interceptions; Sean Taylor's first quarter catch and return set up a Portis touchdown, and London Fletcher took his pick to the end zone. Washington was up 14-0 and everything felt right with the world. But, toward the end of the half, a tipped ball from the Savior ended up in the hands of Calvin Pace, and, like the Dolphins in Week One, the Cardinals got six points on a fourth-and-goal at the end of the half. Neil Rackers had his PAT try blocked, which prompted him to begin a fantasia of offsetting unnecessary roughness penalties with Carlos Rogers.
Washington's offense managed one sustained scoring drive in the third quarter, going up by fifteen and looking for all the world like they were in command. But Laron Landry and London Fletcher (who otherwise had a fantastic game) committed drive-sustaining penalties on the Cardinals' ensuing possession, allowing the Cardinals to score and momentum to change directions. After that score, the Redskins offense ground to a halt, managing only 16 yards in the fourth quarter.
Fortunately, the Cardinals ended up being too clever for their own good. After successfully unleashing the anger and fury that dwells inside the dark heart of Tim Rattay for a touchdown pass, Cardinal coach Ken Whisenhunt, seemingly unaware that he could just hand the ball to Edgerrin James, decided that he was so pretty that if he felt like inserting a wide receiver at quarterback to run a slow-moving option play, he was damned well gonna do it. The result? Baaaaad. Anquan Boldin, who last took regular snaps at QB whilst his pituitary gland was helping him grow pubes, displayed wretched form (leaning back and in the air on the throw, no follow-through with throwing arm) and did an even worse job reading the coverage, throwing it right to Laron Landry.
The Cardinals recovered the onside kick, but stuck Rackers with a 55 yard kick. He missed, but not by much, and at long last, Washington fans could start to untie the knots in the guts.
The win was an important one for Washington, who kept pace with divisional rivals Dallas and New York, both winners on Sunday. Things don't get any easier for the Redskins, though. Next week, they travel to New England to take on the Patriots.