But the Redskins made that all worth it last night, holding on to beat the Giants 17-16. For all the shame they usually provide their fans, it’s nice to have “Mike & Mike” gush about them once in a while on the drive into work. RG3 is almost at the point where his individual exploits aren’t worth mentioning. He delivers pretty much every week, so it’s hardly even worth bringing up a ho-hum game (for him) where he went 13/21 for 163, a touchdown throw, 0 picks, and added in 72 yards on the ground. He’s been consistently good to the point where it’s a bigger story if he has an off day.
No, this week let’s give some dap to some of Griffin’s helpers. How about a little bit of luck, with Griffin’s fumble popping right into the waiting hands of Josh Morgan for the game’s 1st touchdown? How about Pierre Garcon’s 106 yards and 4th quarter go-ahead touchdown catch? How about big Trent Williams, who might be the best left tackle in the league at the moment, playing through pain to do some road-grading in the running game and keeping RG3 mostly clean against a vaunted New York d-line? How about Alfred Morris’ 124 tough rushing yards, including consecutive gains of 4, 3, and 6 yards to effectively end the game with the Giants trying to get the ball back for some late game magic? We know all too well that Eli Manning only needs a couple plays to take his team down the field (against this D in particular).
Game, set, match...
And I guess a little credit does go to that much-maligned defense referenced above. They were the definition of “bend but don’t break,” but it’s hard to whine too much about them when they only gave up 16 points for the game, 3 in the 2nd half, and held that 1 point lead for most of the 4th quarter.
And yet, you couldn’t help but think the Giants gave the Redskins the game at least a little bit too. Washington’s D was so bad through 3 quarters that it seemed like the only way they could get off the field on 3rd down was for the Giants to commit a penalty. In the 1st half, New York had 3 drives with double digit plays, and they held on to the ball for nearly 34 minutes in the game. Those 16 points seemed like they could have easily been 24 or 27. And while Manning seemed to be able to throw the ball at will, the Giants curiously were very run-heavy in the 2nd half. Ahmad Bradshaw finished with good numbers – over 100 yards and averaging nearly 4.5 yards a carry – but I would much rather throw the ball against the Redskins than run it, and the run D was much better in the 2nd half. I’m not sure if the Giants were trying to run some clock in the 2nd half or they saw something they thought they could exploit in the running game, but it seemed interesting considering Giants’ receivers were running through Washington’s secondary wide open all night long.
The Giants probably regret not letting Eli keep chucking it in the 4th quarter last night.
Regardless, a win is a win. The Redskins are now at 0.500 and have creeped within a game of both the Giants for the division lead and a wild card spot. Even though Washington holds tiebreakers over the Giants for the division and some of their wild card competition like the Vikings, Bucs, and Saints, they still have an uphill climb, and it’s easy to play the what-if game now. What if they found a way to eke out even 1 win in close losses against the Rams, Bengals, Falcons, the lowly Panthers, and the Giants the 1st time around…but maybe that’s just the eternally pessimistic Redskins’ fan coming out again. Today is a good day. Let’s focus on that.
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