Instant Analysis of Redskins 38-14 loss to the Falcons

I tweeted before the game that it could end up being one of the most telling about the Washington Redskins. With the Atlanta Falcon’s defense not highly-ranked — and especially with its banged-up the secondary — it would show whether Washington’s passing game could get better. In the past few games, even the wins, the unit has looked good early, thanks mostly to RB Adrian Peterson. But the air game has been anemic at best with QB Alex Smith not showing as the accurate, down-field passer he was last year with the Kansas City Chiefs. At best, he has been the prototypical game-manager, not throwing interceptions and mostly avoiding sacks. A couple of things that became apparent about this team in it’s 38-14 loss to the Falcons are: the defense is really pretty good but not good enough to win the game against a high-powered offense if its own offense isn’t going to help and; Smith may be an experienced QB but he is still working on a learning curve.

With the Falcons not-so-good secondary and another week into the season (for Smith to work with his receivers), the hope was that this game would provide an opportunity for the passing attack to become more effective. But it didn’t. As well, it’s clear that for Peterson to have a prolific game, the team needs All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams, who was inactive after thumb surgery, RG Brandon Scherff and LG Shawn Lauvao; the latter two who left the game with injuries in the first half.

The Falcons’ defense came out looking like a top-ranked unit against the Redskins seemingly feeble offense, holding them to 54 yards rushing in the first half and 25 in the second (for 79 total, 22 of which were Smith’s from scrambling) and 119 yards receiving in the first half and 187 in the second (306 total); even though Smith spread the ball around to nine different guys.

Wideout Josh Doctson had two horrible drops and a couple of good catches and Peterson and fellow RB Kapri Bibbs both had a couple of nice runs. But the ground game also had more rushes that went for little or no gain. Coach Jay Gruden tried to get tight end Jordan Reed involved but to no avail. He ended the game with four catches for 34 yards. Maurice Harris was the leading receiver with 124 yards on 10 throws.

The Falcons offense was its typical high-powered unit and, with Washington’s offense playing so badly, the combination of Atlanta QB Matt Ryan and WR Julio Jones took its toll on the Redskins defense. At times, Ryans much-maligned offensive line looked All-Pro and the Redskins front seven couldn’t get a consistent pass rush. Most any time a blitz was dialed up, Ryan made Washington pay with long completions to Jones. Just by the end of the first half, the score was 21-7 and the Falcons had converted eight of eight third downs and 289 total yards to the Redskins two of five third downs and 164 total yards.

The second half got no better really although there were plays made here and there.

Smith made some plays with his legs, RB Kapri Bibbs recorded a touchdown, Doctson had a touchdown and an amazing 24-yard catch that was, unfortunately, negated by a taunting penalty. A few other guys made plays like OLB Ryan Kerrigan with a sack and CB Quinton Dunbar logged an INT. But Washington scored only once after halftime and, even though the defense made a couple of good stops, they couldn’t keep the Falcons from scoring consistently again.

Late in the fourth quarter, Smith threw an interception on a possession right after an Atlanta touchdown and the Falcons immediately scored on the turnover. With 3:45 left in the game, it was 38-14 and that’s where it stayed.

The Redskins have a lot of potential, especially defensively (though many might not think so after this game). There were a few promising plays made in the game by various players. But they also have a lot of work to do, especially offensively, so that Alex Smith’s group can help its counterpart across the line of scrimmage when playing a high-powered offense like Atlanta’s.