Photo by frank.thorp.

With the Redskins up 27-10 late in the third quarter of Sunday’s game against the Texans, I took a quick break to go fix some dinner, thinking that a three-score cushion would hold up. I forgot that I was watching the Redskins, who have only won five games by more than a single score dating back to 2006. What started out as a powerful offensive display by the Redskins ultimately turned into defensive surrender, as the Texans overcame the 17-point deficit to win 30-27 in overtime.

The offense was rolling early, with play-action passes being the main order of the day. As the game went along, it became kind of comical that the Texans would even bite on a play-action, as the run-blocking was atrocious, and neither Clinton Portis nor Larry Johnson could find any room to run. (It should be noted that even if Larry Johnson had any room to run, he would just turn around and walk the other way.) But bite the Texans did. While the passes were short early on, Donovan McNabb eventually hooked up with both Joey Galloway and Fred Davis for 62-yard gains, both of which eventually set up one-yard touchdown runs by Portis.

The defensive gameplan early on was working, as well. Texans quarterback Matt Schaub was able to complete passes underneath, but wasn’t given enough time to get the ball downfield. The Redskins had three sacks in the first half, one of which pushed the Texans back and led to a missed field goal. The pressure that the Redskins were able to get on Schaub masked the fact that receivers were consistently wide open everywhere you looked. Carlos Rogers, in particular, looked like a lost puppy out there, blowing coverages and missing tackles. DeAngelo Hall and Philip Buchanon were also terrible in coverage, but at least those two can tackle.