Doing Their Part

They did it together

Takeaway drill: Redskins hold serve; playing in weather, and it worked; running game resurgent; no night to have to pass, lots of dropped passes; no blown lead this time; Jeremy Shockey breaks leg.

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Monday walkthrough: the Redskins beat the Giants 22-10 in a cold and crappy game, move to 7-7, hang on to their playoff hopes. This gamewrap maybe should have been called Bubble Bursting in honor of the Giants' practice bubble at the Meadowlands collapsing in high winds early yesterday, unfortunately even though the Giants are down with this loss they are still not out and can clinch a playoff spot with a win next week but I tell you what if any of you Giants bloggers out there want to grab that headline it's yours.

Through the rest of the season, as long as the Redskins remain in contention Curly R will be reviewing the playoff checklist before the quarterly walkthrough. Here is a review of what the Redskins needed to happen, and what happened, in order of importance:

1. The Redskins needed to beat the Giants. Check. The Redskins now must beat the Vikings next week and the Cowboys in the finale.

2. The Saints needed to lose. Nope. The Saints got past the Cardinals. This can is kicked down the road a week, the Saints must lose at least one of the last two in order for the Redskins to overtake them on conference record.

3. The Cowboys needed to win. Nope. The Eagles went into Cowboys Stadium and banged up Tony Romo and the girl he's banging.

4. The Packers needed to lose. Nope. The Packers laid hurt on the Rams.

The Redskins went 1-3 in the four criteria for making the playoffs and got the most important one, winning this game.

It was obvious from the start of the first quarter that weather would play a role in this game. The Giants got the ball but could only manage five plays before punting then the two teams combined for three three and outs. On their third possession of the scoreless quarter the Giants actually managed a first down. On 2nd and nine at midfield defensive end Andre Carter poured through the left side of the Giants line and sacked Eli Manning (lol), the ball came out and second year defensive tackle Anthony Montgomery fell on the ball, but the Redskins could not capitalize and were forced to punt. Redskins three and out, Giants three and out and then finally after getting the ball at midfield the Redskins could only manage 18 yards before kicking a 49 yard Shaun Suisham field goal. It seemed too long for the weather and it hooked out then in. The Giants then three and outed and the Redskis got the ball back at the end of the quarter leading 3-0. Eli was 2 for 8 in this quarter, Todd Collins was 0 for 7 and Clinton Portis carried 7 times for 37 yards.

The game started to heat up in the second quarter even if the field did not. The Redskins' drive from the first quarter ended in a punt then a Giants three and out. Starting on their own 20 the Redskins started their next possession with a 36 yard pass to Santana Moss and a 30 yard catch and run to Todd Yoder. At the Giants 13 Washington stalled and settled for a 31 yard field goal. The next three possessions all ended in punts, no one could manage more than five offensive plays before the Redskins got the ball back at midfield and drove to the Giants 14. On 3rd and nine Todd Collins took the snap, faked a sideline throw to his right and handed off to Ladell Betts who ran it through the middle for a touchdown.

The Giants got the ball back and on 3rd and one at midfield Eli Manning (lol) fired a deep sideline pass to Plaxico Burress. LaRon Landry met Plaxico at the sidelines and delivered one signature hit, clean as a whistle. After the play LaRon hopped up and while Plaxico still lay beneath him pretended to lean down and backhand Plaxico, drawing a 15 yard taunting penalty giving the Giants new downs and new life, they stalled four plays later and settled for a Lawrence Tynes 35 yard field goal. The final possession of the half started on the Redskins 28 and ended in a Shaun Suisham 28 yard field goal as time expired, this Washington drive was aided by a 15 yard facemask call on Giants cornerback Sam Madison on top of Clinton Portis' 31 yard run. The half ended with the Redskins leading 16-3.

After recent performances we were nervous when the third quarter opened. The Giants started with a 15 yard penalty for a chop block on the kickoff play giving the Redskins the ball at midfield. Two long passes, one to Chris Cooley and one to Mike Sellers and three Clinton Portis runs later Clinton took it in for a touchdown. Inexplicably the Redskins then went for a two point conversion and missed it. The Giants suffered a loss on the next drive, Jeremy Shockey went down on a running play and left the field on a cart. Later it was reported that Jeremy broke his tibia and is most likely done for the season. The Giants had to punt then the Redskins, up by 19, ran Ladell three times before punting. The Giants took the next possession and drove down for a tight end Kevin Boss 19 yard touchdown catch. Each team had one more possession in the third before the quarter ended with the Redskins leading 22-10.

Down 12 points and with the ball the Giants entered the fourth quarter and stalled at the Redskins 20 yard line. Lawrence Tynes tried a 38 yard field goal. It wobbled and went wide left. The Redskins got the ball back and started milking the clock. Unable to move past midfield the Redskins punted. With less than ten minutes left in regulation the Giants went to the no huddle but could only get as far as the Redskins' 20. Forced to go for it on 4th Eli tossed a short pattern to Reuben Droughns who was tackled short.

But the Giants did not give up. With 5:22 left in the game and the Redskins with the ball New York called all three timeouts as the Redskins ran on every play, and Washington punted. The Giants then moved from their 37 to the Redskins 37 but once again forced to go for it on 4th the pass to Reuben Droughns fell incomplete. Three runs and the Redskins went into victory formation, two Todd Collins kneeldowns and it was over, Redskins win 22-10.

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Soapbox: with a tip of the hat to mother nature, conditions at kickoff 36 degrees fahrenheit or 2 degrees celsius, winds 18 mph, to be honest it looked colder and windier than that, the Redskins played a Redskins football game. Todd Collins completed eight passes, Clinton Portis ran for 126 yards, Ladell Betts averaged more than four yards per carry.

Meanwhile the Redskins simply let the Giants put themselves into a position where they needed to throw it 52 (52!) times and let the percentages play out. As the game wound down, tick tock tick tock, the Giants got more desperate in a game when winds were moving passes off their routes and the cold made hands and footballs alike hard as rocks. Giants receivers dropped ten passes and the Redskins dropped almost as many.

So yeah, sticking to the run and making it work even when the other team knows it's coming, keeping the opposing defense honest with playfakes, in last night's case the quick drop sideline pass fake to force the defense to move in the wrong direction than handing it off for a center run, and passing when needed, was that some zip in Todd's passes as the night wore on? Welcome back Redskins football.

Despite this great performance the game management bugaboos were still present. After scoring a touchdown to go up 22-3 in the third quarter the Redskins inexplicably decided to go for a two point conversion, which failed. Al Saunders' scenario index may have shown that two points would give the Redskins an even three touchdown lead, but three scores up in that weather against an opponent that stole the first famous collapse from the Redskins in game three, it made no sense.

Fred Smoot and Shawn Springs are playing well. LaRon Landry and Reed Doughty are not a bad combination either.

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Chattering class: Mike Wise at the Washington Post walks us through the hectic week that was Todd Collins': yanked into a game and winning, wife giving birth 15 days early to a baby boy, welcome Jack Collins, and then his first start in ten years. Classy move by owner Dan Snyder to be sure neither hell nor high water would stop Todd from being there when Jack was born.

Tom Boswell at the same paper highlights a truism in football and sports: winning is a great deodorant and when it comes to Joe Gibbs now ain't no body talkin bout no timeout flameout.

The front page A1 story is back in the WaPo (op. cit.) and Les Carpenter has the duty, it is sandwiched between stories on area budget crunches and the Iraq and Afghanistan occupations.

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Omnibus: Weakside linebacker Rocky McIntosh hurt his knee in the first quarter and was replaced by HB Blades and Khary Campbell in rotation. Rocky will be reevaluated this week.

Todd Wade aka Big Head Todd aka 8 Ball was active but did not play, undrafted rookie Stephon Heyer started at right tackle and held his own against Michael Strahan, Michael was held to four tackles and no sacks.

On the other side Chris Samuels did a better job on Osi Umenyiora, he is credited with no tackles and one quarterback hurry.

Andre Carter my gosh he is a monster, two sacks and stuffed Reuben Droughns on 4th and one in the first quarter.

Once again London led the team in tackles with eight. The defense overall is fulfilling its promises: the last four opponents have been kept under 20 points and over the past 15 quarters of play the Redskins have allowed only two touchdowns (op. cit.).

Mike Sellers got another great hurdle, leaping over a Giants defender in the third quarter on a drive that would end with a Clinton Portis touchdown.

The weather was terrible, the Giants fans were loving it at first but it pretty quickly emptied the stadium. At one point in the first half the wind was swirling so much that an in game photo from the Giants sideline, probably of the Redskins offense, wafted across the field and like a scene out of Forrest Gump landed right into a Redskins coach's hands (both op. cit.) According to a commenter at Hogs Haven by the end of the game it was mostly Redskins fans gutting it out, huddled up to see the team go into the tunnel.

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Area 51: LaRon Landry continues to check the boxes necessary to become Sean Taylor's true successor. In game eight against the Jets it was a roughing the passer call on a sack. Last week it was an obvious and hard late hit on Muhsin Muhammad, this week LaRon laid a huge and clean hit on Plaxico Burress falling out of bounds in the second quarter. The pass fell incomplete and instead of running back to the huddle LaRon leaned over a prone Plaxico and showed him the back of his hand, yes that's right LaRon gave Plaxico a pretend bitchslap, it drew a 15 yard taunting penalty. As with last week's penalty and the one before that it did not affect the outcome of the game and therefore the Legend of LaRon continues to grow. Reed Doughty also had a good game, six tackles with four assists, and the Giants dropped ten passes and therefore the weather did his work for him. Both Reed and LaRon had a chance to intercept one of Eli's first passes, Reed stepped in front Amani Toomer and it bounced out of his hands and LaRon nearly scooped it before it fell to the ground.

Freddie Your Cruise Director: Fred Smoot was all over the place, he had another terrific game and was worth the money. I think he is enjoying himself out there, I just better not find out there's steroids or HGH in that energy bar.


Washington Post recap, box score, play by play, game photos. NFL recap, box score, full play by play, Gamebook (PDF), photos.

Other recaps: Hogs Haven, Redskins Insider, Redskins AOL Fanhouse, Hog Heaven, Covering the Redskins, Fake Todd Collins Blog game liveblog/weekly wrapup, Tandler's pregame, quarterly liveblog: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, review.


Next up, the Redskins travel to Minnesota to play the Vikings, another team fighting for a playoff spot. The Vikings currently are sitting on the sixth and final playoff spot. However the Redskins' path to the playoffs means winning next week whereupon the Vikings would have at best the same record as the Redskins and the Redskins would get the spot based on the head to head loss to Washington. This was a 4pm FOX game that the NFL has moved to 8pm so the Redskins will be on Sunday night Football Night in America two weeks in a row.



Clinton Portis and Todd Collins: Chris McGrath / Getty Images from here. Adrian Peterson, uncredited photo from here.