Redskins Playoff Hopes/MNF Wrap-up

Running on three and a half hours sleep this morning. Got home from the game around 1 last night, got into the bed around 1:30. I had to be at work this morning at 6:15 in northeast, waking up at 5.  Was it worth it? YUP

On a Monday night football game that had the Skins statistically playing underdog, Washington pulled off a hard fought win. With the win, the Redskins ended their streak of 0-10 on Monday night home games that goes back to 2007.

The team started off the half shaky with a BIG play that was in all probability luck. Robert Griffin III was in the middle of an option play when he was hit and fumbled the ball in to the air; luckily the ball was caught by Josh Morgan, who scored the touchdown on a distracted Giants defense.

The Skins definitely made some adjustments that turned the odds into the their favor coming out of the half.

In the first half, the Giants’ offense converted 8-10 on third downs in the first, three of those possessions leading to scores. If it weren’t for the one field goal that Lawrence Tynes missed, we probably would be mourning today.

Coming out of the half it was a different story. The Washington defense didn’t shut Eli and the G-men down, but they cut their offense from a 80% third down converting game to just 1-6 in the second half, making it 9-15, 60% overall.

Another halftime adjustment that affected the outcome of the game was the defense’s pass rush. The first half was filled with long opportunities for Eli to find the open men on the plays, however in the second half he was rushed a lot more. The highlight from the defense’s pass rush came in the second to last G-Men possession. On a third and four on the NY 14 where LB Rob Jackson got to Eli for the only Redskin sack of the game that couldn’t have been more clutch.

The Washington offense didn’t score as much as they usually do, but they scored where it mattered. Kai Forbath remains perfect as he hit one last night for 33-yards. Pierre Garcon showed how much he could impact a game when he is in it; mind you that he is still not 100%. But most importantly, the rookies continued to shine.

Throughout the game, in between plays the stadium erupted in applause as on two occasions one of our two rookie stars faces appeared on the end zone screens with a record breaking announcement.

First was Griffin’s feat, who passed the short-lived record set by Cam Newton last year for most rushing yards by a rookie Quarterback with 703 yards. As of the end of the game last night, Griffin has 714 yards. The second occasion occurred when Alfred Morris broke the rookie rushing yard record previously held by Reggie Brooks and his 1,063 yards in 1993. With Morris’ 124-yard game last night, he now has 1,106 for the year. Both records have been broken with four games left in the season, so the record is sure to be set high enough that the next rookies to break them shouldn’t be for years to come.

Another thing I want to point out is the play call this week. I honestly am a little happier this week because I cannot think of a bad play call that I saw last night. I’m sure there may be one or two, but nothing that would have affected the game. Who didn’t love the pass call towards the end of the game that got us the first down that we needed to win the game? I do wish we could have given Griffin a couple of more deep balls, I can only think of two off the top of my head.

Washington is now one game back in the division where they have a 3-1 division record advantage and one game behind Seattle in the wild card race where we have a 6-4 to 5-4 conference record advantage.  The Skins also have the head-to-head advantage over the other NFC teams in the hunt in the Bucs, Vikes, and Clownboys.

New York has the revived Saints, blazing Falcons, tough Ravens, and Foles and the Eagles left in the final four games of the season. The Redskins will end the season against the same Ravens and Eagles, the hit and miss Browns, and the suspect Clownboys. Looking at the end of the season, the Skins definitely have the easier schedule so the NFC East is definitely in grasp.  I believe it was Lorenzo Alexander that said it best; we just have to take it one week at a time.

HTTR