The Redskins Portal - ESPN 980

Their biggest win in several years.  The good, bad, and more.

Good:

1.  The offense. The debate about the type of offense their running is over.  It's smart, it works, it's a step ahead of the defense most of the time, and it leverages the strengths and minimizes the weaknesses of the players that are running it.  The Redskins didn't have the ball much but still managed a very impressive 370 yards on 51 plays.   I loved Kyle's aggresive play-calling in the final 3:51.  He knew giving the ball back to Eli with any meaningful amount of time left would likely mean loss.  The throw to Garcon on 2nd and 8 for 17 yards was the perfect aggressive call.

2.  RG3. No explanation necessary.

3.  Alfred Morris. What a bounce-back after the 3rd quarter fumble.  10 carries for 54 yards including the final 12 to ice the game post-fumble.

4.  Pierre Garcon. He's the 3rd difference-maker on offense. They would be better than 6-6 if he hadn't missed time.

5.  2nd half 3rd-down defense. After allowing the Giants 8-10 on 3rd-down, they held NY to 1 for 7 in the 2nd half.  Giant penalties helped but the most important penalty of the game, Will Beatty's hold on Rob Jackson, was forced by Jackson's great jump on the snap.

6.  Sav Rocca. He punted effectively but more importantly, he did a nice job on a bad snap on the game-winning PAT.

7.  Darrell Young. He's so underrated.  He blocks, catches, and runs for first downs.

8.  Few penalties for 2nd straight week. Just 4 for 56 yards and the Paulson offensive P.I. was awful.  With that said, I thought they got away with a few defensive holds.

Bad:

1.  Pass rush and coverage. It's obviously not good enough but fortuneately tonight, Giant self-destructive penalties and a few Eli misses on deep balls in the first half made the final result look better than it really was.  Fletcher on a tight end in coverage just doesn't work.

2.  Banks' return yardage. He's just not producing on returns.  Is it all him or is it a combo of him and blocking?  Not sure but Niles Paul had a decent kickoff return in the first half.

More:

1.  I thought Coughlan might consider going for 4th and 11 from his own 43 after Kehl's running into the punter penalty.  He must have given some thought about not giving the ball up to an offense that had proven they could move the sticks.  The odds were probably no better than 50-50 that the Giants would get the ball back.

2.  The Paulson offensive pass interference penalty was awful and could've cost them the game.

3.  Shanahan time out on offense with 1:01 left in the first half cost his team 3 pts.  The goal should be to score while simultaneously leaving the Giants with the least amount of time possible.  He didn't achieve the latter and could have easily.

4.  Gruden was smitten with the Shanahans all night long and did a great job of illustrating why their offense is smart and working.

5.  How important did Mike Shanahan think getting the first score of the game was??  He challenged a seemingly 50-50 at best ball-spot on Paulson's 3rd and long on the first 3rd down of the game.