The Washington Redskins went into Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. as huge underdogs to the New England Patriots and with a tall task to accomplish. They would have to play a solid game — no actually, a perfect game — in all three phases to put them in a position to win. It didn’t quite happen that way.
While they did win the coin toss and elect to defer the ball in first half for the first time this season; the strategy did not work well and, after New England scored on their first possession, it never got much better. The final score of this contest was 27-10, Patriots.
On the New England Patriots first drive, they would take the ball right down the field on a 13-play, 84-yard drive that took up 5:59. This resulted in a NE receiver Julian Edelman touchdown. The touchdown could have happened a bit earlier in the drive had it not been for a drop by RB Dion Lewis, who was wide open in the end zone after a nicely executed double move and perfectly placed ball by QB Tom Brady. Then Head Coach Bill Belichick decided to hit the Redskins with some early trickery, of course, to drive his dagger in.
A back-to-back series for Washington’s Joe Barry-led defense would seemingly spell doom for this team but four plays in to the Pats drive; the Redskins defense forced a fumble, ripping the ball from Edelman’s hands.
Washington would finally get the ball but it would be short lived as a crisp pass to receiver Pierre Garçon went through his hands, off his face mask and popped up into the air; to be intercepted by New England CB Logan Ryan.
This was the beginning of an ongoing struggle for the Burgundy and Gold offense to stay on the field.
This unit appeared to be feeling the significance of this game… as if they were a measuring stick, gaging where they are as a team.
Four dropped passes put the Redskins defense on the field more than any team would like their defense to be, especially against a team like the New England Patriots. Despite being out there for 17:44, the unit would hold the undefeated Pats to 17 points in the first half. To most this would seem pretty insignificant but the Redskins defense struggled to tackle consistently in the run game while holding their own in the red zone.
Cousins helped as well. The physical running from rookie RB Matt Jones orchestrated a 13-play, 75-yard drive that would take up 7:43 seconds. This resulted in a 23-yard field goal by Redskins kicker Dustin Hopkins.
One thing was evident in the first half. Despite the onslaught of the relentless Patriots, the Redskins would keep their composure and not become overwhelmed or rattled. All of Washington’s units continued to fight, scratch and claw to stay in this game. There was no head-hanging… none that was apparent anyway.
At the start of the second half it appeared that the case of the droppsies was still affecting the receivers.
There was a kickoff during which receiver Andre Roberts would drop the ball. Fortunately, he recovered it immediately. On the first offensive play of the second half Cousins dumped the ball to Jones, hitting him right in the hands. He dropped the ball as if it were a hot potato.
Miscues were definitely the story of this game for the Redskins offense.
The Redskins offense struggled mightily in the second half, needless to say… unable to sustain any drives.
Washington did put together a late 12-play, 83-yard drive that resulted in a touchdown pass to tight end Jordan Reed. Cousins finished the game completing 22 of 40 yards, gaining 217 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
This is all very unfortunate because the stats really don’t reflect how well Cousins threw the ball or how he gave his guys all the opportunities to be successful.
When asked by reporters about Cousins’ performance tonight Head Coach Jay Gruden couldn’t say much.
“It’s was hard to evaluate Cousins with all the dropped balls,” he said. “We had guys dropping balls that don’t drop balls often. It was just one of those days. You don’t expect it”.
It was definitely one of those days that the offense just couldn’t get the ball rolling. It was only able to get 16 first downs and the running game — again — was nonexistent. Running only 56 plays and possessing the ball only five times in the second half didn’t help things. But 37 rushing yards is not going to cut it against the league’s best… or any team for that matter.
The defense spent most of the second half trying to keep the Patriots out of the Redskins end zone. They managed to hold the Patriots to ten points during that period and a total of 27 points in the entire game.
There continues to be issues with gaps responsibility and the inability to make solid tackles. Washington has now allowed 748 yards on the ground and 161 of those were accrued today.
Today the Redskins fought hard but just couldn’t get out of their own way. What may be most frustrating about this loss for fans is that, given that the defense gave the Redskins offense several opportunities to take hold of this game and potentially take a sizable lead, they did not.
One thing is for sure. The Redskins know that they must play better. They will be kicking themselves after seeing the film on this game.
They may be short on talent in some areas (in part, due to injuries), but they seemed to continue to fight hard today throughout some serious adversity. Perhaps there is enough heart, will and determination preached — and heard — in this locker room to eventually result in wins.