LANDOVER, Md. -- Thoughts and observations after the Washington Redskins' 27-24 win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Saturday:
During the week leading up to the game, the Redskins did not look like a team ready to spring an upset. Their practices, demeanor and locker room atmosphere were the same as what had produced a 3-11 record. Now, could the Redskins be competitive? Sure. I had not sensed players quitting. The hard part was looking at the players who couldn’t play -- Keenan Robinson in particular -- and figuring out how the defense could stop this attack. Then they lost Trent Murphy during the game. It’s not that he’s a great player, but they had to replace him with two guys not on the roster a couple weeks ago.
Look at the numbers: The Redskins were bad on third down (2-of-9); were outgained by 190 yards; and were only even in the turnover margin. It helped that the Eagles missed field goals of 36 and 46 yards. But it helped even more that Washington committed only three penalties to the Eagles’ 13. For the season, the Redskins had the daily double no team wants: a team that commits a lot of penalties but also turns the ball over a lot. You can overcome penalties, but you can’t hurdle both problems.
Four of Philadelphia’s penalties directly affected scoring drives. The Eagles had defensive penalties on third-down incompletions in the red zone on two Redskins touchdown drives, so instead of a potential six points the Redskins scored 14. Washington also drew a pass interference penalty on a second-and-8 from the 11-yard line; again, another touchdown. Maybe the Redskins would have scored a touchdown anyway on that drive (and it was interference to prevent a touchdown). Still, the penalty helped. Finally, there was another roughing penalty on the game-winning drive. That, plus two pivotal turnovers, is how you win when the other numbers don’t add up.
Also, it matters when you have players such as Trent Williams and Kory Lichtensteiger return to a game in which they clearly are hurting. Williams in particular has played hurt for much of the last half of the season and has struggled. He re-entered a meaningless game for his team against the wishes of his position coach. “I was like, man, we’re right on the cusp of a big win,” Williams said. “I didn’t want to quit on my guys.” That mindset spills over onto others.
The Redskins caught the Eagles’ defense in the right look on Alfred Morris' 28-yard touchdown run. The Eagles were in a nickel package and the Redskins had the numbers on the left side, at least enough to make it one-on-one blocking. For tight end Niles Paul, that meant blocking a defensive back, which he does well, rather than a linebacker, which can be spotty. Receiver Pierre Garcon had a good block as well and corner Cary Williams stayed wide, giving a clean cutback lane for Morris. Good call; good execution.
The Eagles’ front causes problems because they do more movement than most. I saw them run blitz, stunt with their linemen on a run down -- right into the play -- or shift at the last second to the play side. They’d pack their three interior linemen in tight with the outside 'backers shading wide. It’s partly why they’ve done well against the run, but it leaves them susceptible when it doesn’t hit. So Morris had the 28-yard TD run but managed only 55 yards on his other 20 carries.
While the Redskins had 29 runs to 23 passes, keep in mind that Robert Griffin III kept the ball five times and was sacked twice or the pass attempts would have been higher. The Redskins are best when he’s around 25 pass attempts. I’ll focus more on his game in a later post; there were some things I definitely liked that he showed more of Saturday. There are real things he must fix, of course, to be consistent. But you can’t ignore the good, either.
Also, it’s up to coach Jay Gruden to make it work. He’s a straight shooter, which is good. But he won’t exactly have the juice after this season to force this issue with owner Dan Snyder, so he’ll have to adapt what he wants vs. what Griffin can do (if Griffin ends up as the 2015 starter; he must earn that distinction). The question is: Will that be good enough? Does Gruden trust Griffin with his future? I doubt one game changes a whole lot. But the other problem has always been: If not Griffin, then who? We can pick to death every one of these quarterbacks. It’s just that only one was the No. 2 pick in the draft and former Rookie of the Year. So the scrutiny of his game always will be more intense. That’s the way it is, folks.
Rookie corner Bashaud Breeland does a good job, typically, of adjusting to what’s happening. The Eagles ran a ton of hitches and had just done so with tight end Zach Ertz (18 targets, 15 catches; good lord. Yes, the Redskins missed Robinson). Breeland noticed earlier that the Eagles would then return with a hitch to a receiver. That’s why he played so tight on Jeremy Maclin on the game-changing pick. The throw was bad, but Breeland was in good position because of his anticipation. “That was their bread and butter,” Breeland said. “Send the tight end out and send the receiver on a hitch. As a game goes on, you get a feel for what they’re doing to you. Just about everything they ran, they showed on film.”
Yes, the Eagles miss DeSean Jackson. Here’s what I loved about Jackson’s two deep receptions: He gave Griffin plenty of room to work with, and that allowed the quarterback to take the safety even more out of the play by throwing to the outside. There was room to the outside on the interception, too; Griffin knows he underthrew Jackson and tossed it too far inside.