Eagles Defeat Redskins, 32 – 27
Today finds the Redskins licking their wounds after a 32 – 27 defeat to the Eagles. It was a loss most fans saw coming, though that hardly lessens the sting of an embarrassing halftime collapse. Since it’s early in the season, stay positive and remember the good moments, like Vernon Davis’ 48-yard TD pass and age-defying hurdle, or how the Eagles went 4 yards on 5 plays on their first drive. Remember Keenum’s zippy passes to Quinn, Davis, and McLaurin, and Dustin Hopkins’ 41-yarder to make the score 17 – 0. Or the Eagles turning over a long drive on downs. For a while there, things were really clicking!
In the second quarter, Terry McLaurin caught a beautiful 69-yard TD. The teams traded punts with Washington leading and the first half winding down. Would we defy expectations and actually win? Of course not. DeSean Jackson broke the punt streak with a 51-yard TD from Wentz and then everything went downhill. Washington’s offense stalled out and went for 0 yards on its next drive, then settled for a field goal on the last drive before halftime. These would be Washington’s final points before garbage time.
In the third quarter, Philly ate up 7 minutes on a 75-yard drive capped by a 5-yard Alshon Jeffery touchdown. Washington punted. Philly scored on another deep bomb to DJax. Washington punted. Philly ate another 5 minutes on a long drive, scored again, then scored the 2-point conversion. Essentially, in the span of about one quarter, the Eagles scored 22 points to make the score 29 – 20.
This was a baffling game. Washington’s receiving corps, which wasn’t projected to be all that successful this year, accounted for 380 yards in week one. The running backs, seen as a strength on paper, were disappointing; Peterson was a healthy scratch and Guice went for 18 yards on 10 carries. The offensive line, without Trent Williams for the foreseeable future, held their ground in pass protection but failed to open up any running lanes. The defensive backfield, bolstered by Josh Norman and Landon Collins, repeatedly gave DeSean Jackson free catches.
Defensively, it’s clear what happened. Our pass rushers couldn’t find pay dirt behind Philly’s excellent offensive line, and they lacked the stamina to play through drives lasting 7 minutes, 5 minutes, and 9 minutes. No one on this team has the speed to catch the league’s top receiving talent, and while we expected Jackson to get his requisite catches, we did an abysmal job at adjusting to limit the big plays.
Offensively, I can’t explain it. The team played competitively in the first half and fell completely flat in the second. The running game never got going – that’s true – but how can you explain a third quarter drive that included a badly overthrown ball to McLaurin and then back-to-back drops from Davis and Richardson? It’s just sloppiness. Penalties certainly didn’t help; Donald Penn logged two on a 4th quarter drive that could have gone somewhere, and Morgan Moses committed a false start in the 3rd quarter to back the team up 5 yards before Fletcher Cox blew up a run in the backfield for a 5-yard loss. This is classic Redskins football; avoidable mistakes compounded by general lack of discipline.
There’s some good to be found here. Keenum looked capable at times, even if his stats were padded by dump-offs and garbage time plays this week. McLaurin may be a legitimate talent. The team battled hard at times, fighting back from 2 and 20 to convert on 3rd down in the first half. The defense looked stout before they gassed out late in the game. Washington showed just enough to give fans some hope.
But a loss is a loss. I’m afraid this team resembles the Redskins of previous years, the one that beats the league’s bottom-shelf talent but can’t compete against teams with positive W/L records. We shall see. Next week brings Dallas to town, a team that put up 35 points in week one. Gruden and co. better be doing everything they can to rework a ramshackle offensive line that failed generate a rushing output. And they better be studying the game tape closely. If things start to stall out late in the first half, we’re going to need make legitimate adjustments to stay competitive and prevent another “tale of two halves” like we witnessed yesterday.