Washington Redskins 20 – New York Giants 7
Game Overview: This season has been mind-blowingly numbing. It’s surreal that a team that was 10-6 last year and seemingly on the rise will now be challenging for perhaps the top pick in the draft. I continue to watch the team play, but I rarely get excited anymore even when there is a good play because I know a screw-up is just around the corner. The Giants drive to the Redskins’ 8-yard line, the drive stalls, and PK Matt Bryant misses the 26-yard field goal. The Giants take a 7-3 lead, then immediately allow a huge kickoff return that sets up Washington with the go-ahead score. The Giants stop the Skins on 3rd-and-8, but an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty is called. They stop them again on 3rd-and-6, and DT Keith Hamilton commits another dumb roughing the passer penalty.
This season was headed downwards before the injuries hit. The inexcusable special teams gaffes against Dallas and Philadelphia cost the Giants two games and a share of the NFC East lead. Three overtime games in the first half were physically and mentally taxing. There were problems on the offensive line. Luke Petitgout’s back hasn’t been right all year. And the Giants were forced to move Chris Bober to right tackle early on before eventually moving him back to center. Also, on offense, the “star” players often didn’t produce as expected. Tiki Barber fumbled, Amani Toomer disappeared, and Kerry Collins threw too many picks. Defensively, both the personnel and coaching staff were left wanting.
The roots of a terrible season were sown in week two against Dallas and week seven against Philly, but the game that officially signaled the start of the current horror show was the 27-7 loss to Atlanta. The Giants were 4-4 at the time; they haven’t won a game since. The players started to tune the coaching staff out at this point. And the injury situation began to become a real nightmare. Gone from the line-up are TE Jeremy Shockey, LG Rich Seubert, CB Will Peterson, DE Kenny Holmes, SS Shaun Williams, CB Will Allen, and LG Wayne Lucier. Also missing time were CB Ralph Brown, TE Marcellus Rivers, WR Ike Hilliard, and WR Tim Carter. Now add QB Kerry Collins to the list. With these players, the Giants likely finish 8-8; without them, this team will finish 4-12.
Who is to blame? Everyone. This was probably Fassel’s worst coaching job during his tenure. Problems on the offensive line were not recognized early enough in training camp, he made questionable game day decisions (i.e., his decision to leave more time than was necessary on the clock against Dallas at the end of regulation, not ordering Feagles to kick the ball out of bounds against Philly), and there were a bunch of strange personnel moves (i.e., continuing to stick with Brian Mitchell on special teams, refusing to play Dorsey Levens early in the season, activating Frank Ferrara over William Joseph). But just as importantly, Fassel was not able to overcome a weakness that has caused him problems throughout his stay with the Giants: his players were never afraid of the man. There was no fear of reprisal for screw-ups, especially among the established veterans. In short, Fassel is too nice. This issue had been brewing under the surface for years. Events such as “The Guarantee” (2000) and the promotion (1999), then demotion (2002) of Sean Payton only bought time in an effort to distract everyone’s attention from this fact. Each year there was a crisis. Sometimes the Giants made the playoffs in crisis mode (1997, 2000, 2002), sometimes they did not (1998, 1999, 2001). The constant living on the edge took its toll and the players eventually developed Fassel-fatigue. You can only cry wolf only so many times, especially when you are really a softy at heart.
Some of the assistant coaching choices didn’t help matters. Fassel’s worst decision was to promote Johnnie Lynn to defensive coordinator. Lynn’s schemes are too cerebral and passive. They don’t fit the personnel on hand. Plus, he rarely adjusts and this makes it easy to game-plan against New York. And everyone knows the Giants have had one joke of a special teams coach after another ever since Fassel arrived on the scene.
Management deserves a big share of the blame. This was a team that was certainly capable of competing in the moribund NFC. On paper, the Giants’ skill position players looked great: Collins, Barber, Toomer, Shockey, and Hilliard. But General Manager Ernie Accorsi seemed to forget that his Ferrari also needed an engine (i.e., an offensive line). The problem was not penciling in Petitgout, Seubert, Bober, Diehl, and Allen as starters. The problem was not having any veteran depth on the team if something went wrong. And things did go wrong – as they are apt to do. Petitgout got hurt before the season started. Seubert fractured his leg. Allen struggled in the opener. Diehl had to constantly adjust to rookie growing pains and new flankmates. But there were no viable contingency plans. And there was little cap room to spend on upgrading the defense in free agency because of previous questionable free agent decisions (i.e., re-signing Jason Sehorn and Shaun Williams to such huge contracts). If current ownership wants to group think themselves out of the recognition that some terrible personnel decisions contributed as much to the Giants’ current downfall as anything, then this franchise is truly in trouble.
Then there are the players themselves. While they have had their moments, the foundation players of the team have not played as well as they did last year. We’re talking about guys such as Collins, Toomer, Barber, Shockey, and Petitgout on offense. On defense, players such as Keith Hamilton, Shaun Williams, and Dhani Jones struggled. Mike Barrow slowed down. And the two top defensive draft picks did not contribute as much as hoped. On special teams, the kickers cost the Giants two NFC East games. And Brian Mitchell has been an embarrassment.
This is a terrible football team right now, perhaps the worst in the NFL. But it isn’t if everyone is healthy. With a quality new coaching staff, a good draft and free agent period, and some re-dedicated players, this team is capable of making the playoffs in 2004. The danger for most fans is to overanalyze the product on the field right now. There are too many injuries, especially on the offensive line and in the secondary. There is no sense of urgency with the playoffs out of reach. There is no confidence due to all the things that have gone wrong. Honestly, the players are playing out the string. They know the coaching staff is gone and they just want to get the season over.
So I will quickly review what transpired against Washington, but just remember to keep the situation in proper context.
Quarterbacks: QB Kerry Collins (5-of-14 for 62 yards) was not particularly sharp, but the windy conditions were a factor and he was not helped by dropped passes by Tim Carter. On the Giants’ second drive of the game, he made a good throw to Tim Carter for 15 yards on 3rd-and-15. But later in the drive, he badly overthrew Amani Toomer on the sideline and then missed seeing an open receiver in the end zone on 3rd-and-7 from the Washington 8-yard line because he was so focused on getting the ball to Ike Hilliard. The Giants’ third drive of the game – the lone scoring drive – was accomplished all on the ground.
On the 4th drive, Collins tried to hit Ike Hilliard deep on a fly pattern, but the official picked up the flag on what I thought was clearly a pass interference penalty. On 3rd-and-8, Tim Carter dropped a somewhat errant pass that would have picked up the first down. The next drive stalled due to short-yardage problems. On the last drive of the half, he started things off well with completions to Carter (19 yards) and Hilliard (10 yards). On 3rd-and-5, his well-thrown pass to Carter was bobbled by Carter and intercepted.
Collins was knocked out of the game on the Giants’ first drive of the second half. His first pass to Carter, a slant, was also dropped. The officials bear much of the responsibility for getting Collins hurt two plays later. The play should have been whistled dead even before the ball was snapped as the game clock had reached zero. But for some reason, the whistle was not blown until after Collins released the ball (you can hear it on the tape).
Things did not start off well for Jesse Palmer (7-of-11 for 73 yards). On his first pass attempt, he should have gotten rid of the ball in a situation where he was sacked (either thrown to a receiver or thrown the ball away). On the next possession, he double-clutched a slant pass. This led the defensive back right to the play. Only the DB’s drop saved a defensive touchdown. As Jim Fassel said: (Palmer) looked very rusty, misreading things, not seeing things, reacting to some things too quick, reacting to some things too slow.
In the 4th quarter, Palmer started to settle down somewhat and got rid of the ball quickly on two back-to-back plays, including a 3rd-and-1 throw to Tim Carter. His only deep throw of the game was held up badly by a gust of wind and almost picked. His worst decision came on the very next play when instead of getting rid of the ball after finding no one open, he scrambled to his left, holding the ball loosely. Palmer was sacked by Arrington and fumbled the ball away. This was a pure coverage sack as the line had picked up the stunt.
On the Giants’ last drive, Palmer got the ball out nicely to Tiki on a double-screen that picked up 36 yards. He found Tyree twice for short pick-ups, but was then sacked. On 4th-and-10, he threw a real nice pass (his best of the day) to a well-covered Amani Toomer (against Champ Bailey) for a first down. On an ensuing 4th-and-10, however, he missed his hot read as the blitzing defensive back left Shiancoe open for what could have been a first down.
Wide Receivers: The starters were invisible. Amani Toomer caught 2 passes for 30 yards. Ike Hilliard caught 2 passes for 15 yards before a knee injury forced him from the field. The good news was that Toomer and Hilliard both made key blocks on some big runs by Tiki Barber. Toomer’s biggest catch was his16-yard reception against Champ Bailey on 4th-and-10 late in the game.
WR Tim Carter (3 catches for 42 yards), who apparently was playing with yet another concussion, dropped three passes. One would have been a tough, diving catch, but he should have made the play (this ended a drive). Another hit him right in the hands, but he bounced it up into the air and it was picked off. This ended a promising drive near the end of the first half. His other drop was also bounced into the air and almost intercepted. Fassel seemed to indicate that the dropped passes could have been influenced by the concussion, as Carter was also having problems lining up in the right spot. Carter did a good job of getting open against Fred Smoot on 3rd-and-15 and picking up a first down in the 1st quarter. He also picked up a first down with a 7-yard reception on 3rd-and-1.
David Tyree caught 2 passes for 11 yards in the second half of the game. In all, the Giants’ receivers only caught 9 passes for 98 yards. Pretty pathetic.
Running Backs: If it were not for yet another lost fumble, Tiki Barber (16 carries for 99 yards for a 6.2 yards-per-carry average; 3 catches for 47 yards) would have had a good day. But Barber fumbled the ball away on the Giants’ second offensive play of the game. Indeed, it looked like Barber simply dropped the ball (or it was barely touched). This turnover handed the Skins a 3-0 lead. Other than that miscue (which was serious), Barber broke off some sizable runs against Washington, particularly to the left in the first half of the game. On the Giants’ second drive, he picked up 19 yards running off right tackle, 18 yards around left end, and 15 yards off left tackle. On the Giants’ third drive – the scoring drive – Tiki made a great second-effort run for 8 yards after it looked like he would only pick up a couple. Two drives later, he made a great effort on an outside run that was marginally blocked for a 1st down on 3rd-and-4. (By the way, I liked the play design of the following play where the Giants faked an end around to Tim Carter and then handed the ball off underneath to Barber running to the same side).
Barber also rambled for 36 yards on a screen pass that he almost broke for 75-yard touchdown. Barber was bull-rushed by Jessie Armstead on one blitz where Palmer was sacked. On the Giants’ last sack of the game, there were more rushers than blockers, but Tiki could have helped out more by blocking the blitzing linebacker coming from his left than trying to pick up the one coming from his right.
Dorsey Levens carried the ball 7 times for 21 yards (a 3.0 yards-per-carry average), but looked very good on his 5-yard effort on 3rd-and-1 on the Giants’ sole scoring drive. Two plays later, Levens run up the gut for a 5-yard touchdown carry. On this play, Levens carried a number of defenders into the endzone. I thought the officials made another bad call in the 2nd quarter when on 3rd-and-1, Levens was ruled short of the 1st down marker. If you look at the replay, Levens’ knees clearly were not touching the ground as he had Redskin defenders underneath him.
Tight Ends: Jeremy Shockey and Marcellus were missed as Visanthe Shiancoe and Darnell Dinkins had no catches in the game.
However, I continue to take issue with those (both in the press and fans) who say Shiancoe is a liability as a blocker. On most plays, Shiancoe was outstanding as a run blocker. He usually has no problem handling defensive ends by himself from the down position on the Giants’ bread-and-butter off tackle runs. Visanthe made key blocks on Barber runs of 19, 18, 15, and 8 yards in the first half as well as a Levens’ 5-yard effort. (Though on the 15-yard run, Shiancoe was lucky a holding call wasn’t made). There were two plays that I saw where he did not get good run blocks. On the first, the defensive end beat him when he was playing the move-TE (or H-Back) role. (I think Shiancoe is much more comfortable when blocking from the 2-point stance). The other was on a play where he and two linemen got stood up on a Barber run to the right. Shiancoe also had problems with LaVar Arrington on one pass rush where Palmer was sacked by Jesse Armstead.
Darnell Dinkins was up-and-down in the blocking department. He still looks like he needs to get bigger to me to be effective in this area. Dinkins got beat by the defender on a 2nd-and-2 run that only picked up 1 yard on the scoring drive. But on the very next play, Dinkins did get a good block on a 5-yard run that picked up a 1st down on 3rd-and-1.
Offensive Line: Surprisingly, the Giants didn’t simply replace Jeff Roehl with Jeff Hatch. Instead, they moved Ian Allen to left tackle and started Hatch at right tackle. Scott Peters started at left guard. Chris Bober and David Diehl were at their usual spots.
The six sacks giving up are a bit misleading. For most of the first half, this makeshift offensive line actually did a fairly decent job in pass protection – given the circumstances. Collins was not getting pummeled. The only time he was sacked was when the right side of the line (Hatch and Diehl) did not slide over to pick up the blitzing Arrington who came free to nail Collins. That was a mental mistake, not a physical one. Peters got bull-rushed on a play where Collins was forced to get rid of the ball quickly. On the last drive of the half, Arrington beat Allen to the inside and forced Collins out of the pocket.
In the second half, the pass protection was not as sound. On the play where Collins was hurt, Bruce Smith beat Allen to hit the quarterback. On the next drive, Bruce beat Allen again to pressure Palmer. Peters and Allen then had problems picking up a stunt on a play where Palmer was sacked. Palmer was later pressured on a play where Peters had problems picking up a blitzing linebacker. Palmer was then pressured when Allen failed to adjust to a stunt. However, on the very next play, Allen and Peters did a good job picking up the stunt (this is the play where Palmer fumbled).
There was one play where the blocking scheme was screwed up as Tiki Barber was left all alone to block Bruce Smith. Again, some of the breakdowns that were occurring were mental given the inexperience and lack of cohesion of the troops up front. On the Giants’ last drive, Smith sacked Palmer by beating him with an inside move. The last sack occurred when the Skins brought an all-out blitz and there were more rushers than blockers. The short of it was that the left side that played reasonably well in the first half, struggled in the second half. Keep in mind however that Allen was playing a position that he had no experience at playing and is not particularly well-suited.
The running game was also pretty effective in the first half. On the 2nd drive of the game, Barber picked up 19 yards on good blocks from Shiancoe, Hilliard, and a pulling Diehl; 18 yards behind blocks from Shiancoe and a pulling Peters; and 15 yards behind blocks from Allen, Toomer, and Shiancoe. On the next drive, Allen did look a bit cumbersome on a pull to his left where he was unable to effectively engage Arrington. But Tiki picked up 8 yards on the next play behind another good block from Shiancoe and a pulling effort from Peters. Allen got an excellent block on 3rd-and-1 along with Dinkins.
Peters actually looks pretty decent in the open, but he’s another guy who looks like he needs to get stronger. He got overpowered on one Barber run that picked up only 2 yards. He also got overpowered on one pull on a Barber run to the left. Peters worst moment came when he completely whiffed on his man on the failed 3rd-and-1 run by Levens.
The Giants didn’t run the ball much in the second half as they had fallen behind by 10 points and only had four possessions to work with. Also, the Giants did not run much to the right so it was tough to gauge how Jeff Hatch did as run blocker. He did get stood up (along with Shiancoe and a pulling Diehl) on one run to the right in the 3rd quarter; on another play in the 4th quarter, he did a good job of blocking one guy and then coming off to hit another on an inside running play. Chris Bober made a real nice block in the open field on Tiki’s 36-yard screen pass in the 4th quarter.
Defensive Line: DE Michael Strahan played extremely well with a 11-tackle, 2 sack effort. Both his sacks came in clutch situations. The first came when he was not fooled on a QB bootleg on 3rd-and-goal from the 1-yard line early in the game. Strahan probably saved a touchdown here. On the first play of the 2nd quarter, Strahan sacked Hasselbeck again on 1st-and-goal from the 4-yard line. Strahan had a few more good pressures in the game as well that did not result in sacks. Equally impressive was his work against the run. Strahan nailed HB Trung Canidate for a 2-yard loss in the 2nd quarter. Later, he stuffed RB Rock Cartwright for no gain on 3rd-and-1. In the 3rd quarter, he crushed HB Chad Morton for a 1-yard loss. The negatives? There was one 7-yard run to Strahan’s side that was successful because Michael wasn’t ready when the ball was snapped. Also, Strahan missed a tackle on one run to his side two plays before the Skins’ touchdown pass in the 3rd quarter.
The problem for the Giants (once again) was that aside from Strahan, no one up front got a lot of heat on the quarterback.
I thought both Keith Washington (3 tackles) and Osi Umenyiora (2 tackles) should have had more of an impact against a back-up left tackle. Neither really harried the quarterback. Their play against the run was better, but nothing outstanding. The good news about Umenyiora is that he doesn’t get blown off the line of scrimmage. He fights to keep his ground and this helped to gum up some runs, including the 2nd-and-goal effort from the 1-yard line early in the game and a 2nd-and-5 effort in the 3rd quarter. Three snaps after the latter play, Osi made an excellent play from the backside when he combined with Mike Barrow to hold Morton to no gain. Where Umenyiora sometimes struggles is in being too aggressive to run up the field on the pass rush, thus leaving an open gap in his area on what ends up being a running play. This is what happened late in the game when the Skins were running out the clock. With 5 minutes left, facing a 3rd-and-10, Chad Morton rushed for 21 yards through a big gap that Osi vacated. Big mistake.
Washington did make an excellent play in run defense when he nailed Canidate for no gain on Washington’s second drive of the contest. On the very next play, he expertly read a screen pass and helped to foul that up. But Washington also flagged for a costly 5-yard offsides penalty in the red zone on the Skins’ first touchdown drive. Washington also got crushed on a 3rd-and-1 play at the very end of the 2nd quarter. On the very first play of the 3rd quarter, Keith got suckered on a toss play to Canidate that picked up 17 yards. In the 4th quarter, Washington did pressure Hasselbeck on 3rd-and-5 to force an incompletion. With less than 2 minutes left in the game, Rock Cartwright was able to rush for 12 yards to salt the game when Washington got blocked out of his gap on 2nd-and-11.
The usual for the defensive tackles: Cornelius Griffin (3 tackles) did a good job of holding his ground up front while Keith Hamilton (3 tackles) got pushed around and hurt the Giants with a penalty. Griffin started off the goal line stand with his tackle of Canidate on 1st-and-goal from the 1-yard line early in the game. The only real negative run play I saw from him was Morton run for 7-yards in the 4th quarter where Griffin got clobbered. Big problem for Griffin this year has not been his run defense, but he’s not getting much of a pass rush. Strange.
On the Skins’ first series of the game, Hamilton was effectively blocked on a 6-yard run. He then left a big gap in the defense on 3rd-and-3 on a 4-yard run for a first down. In the 2nd quarter, he missed a tackle at the line of scrimmage on a Canidate run that picked up 5 yards. Two plays later, he committed an idiotic roughing the passer penalty that gave the Skins a 1st down on 3rd-and-6. Hamilton not only hit the quarterback in the head, but he then threw him to the ground for good measure. The moron then said he would do it again when asked by reporters what he thought of the flag. Late in the quarter, Hamilton got crushed on a 3rd-and-1 play that picked up a 1st down.
William Joseph was activated for the first time in a few weeks. He continues to struggle a bit against the run. At times, he has problems with the double-team. Other times, he holds his ground, but loses his gap responsibility. But you can see that the man is strong as his bull-rush sometimes occupies two blockers.
Based on season-long performance, Lance Legree probably deserves to be starting at right defensive tackle. While he isn’t a pass rusher, he has been for more consistent against the run than Hamilton or Joseph. He stuffed Canidate on a 2-yard run in the 2nd quarter.
Linebackers: A decent game for this group, but nothing special. Mike Barrow, Brandon Short, and Dhani Jones did accrue 25 tackles between each other. Dhani Jones made a nice play on the first defensive series for the Giants when he stopped Canidate for a 1-yard gain, but was left wanting for much of the game. Later in the 1st quarter, he got beat badly by the fullback in coverage for a 19-yard gain. He also got fooled on the pitch to Canidate that picked up 17 yards at the start of the 3rd quarter. Late in the game, he was nowhere to be seen on the play where Morton picked up 21 yards on 3rd-and-7 with 5 minutes left in the game.
Brandon Short combined with Osi Umenyiora to stuff Cartwright on 2nd-and-goal from the 1-yard line. In the 3rd quarter, he stuffed Morton on a 1-yard gain. Later he stopped Cartwright for no gain again. Late in the game, he combined with Johnnie Harris to tackle Cartwright for a 1-yard loss.
Mike Barrow did a good job of reading screen pass and tackling Canidate for a 1-yard loss on 3rd-and-10. But Barrow missed a tackle in the backfield when the Skins successfully ran out the clock at the end of the first half of play. In the 3rd quarter, Barrow combined with Umenyiora to hold Morton to no gain on 2nd-and-6.
Defensive Backs: With Peterson, Allen, and Williams out of the line-up, the makeshift secondary really struggled with Frank Walker (right corner), Ralph Brown (left corner), Johnnie Harris (strong safety), and Ryan Clark (nickelback) playing main roles. One got the sense that if the wind had not been such a factor that the Skins could have passed at will against the Giants. Indeed, I took a deep sigh of relief with each handoff the Skins made.
We’ve seen the good side of Frank Walker, we saw some of the bad side on Sunday. Frank is sometimes overanxious such as on his 15-yard pass interference penalty that put the ball on the Giants’ 1-yard line early in the game. He also demonstrates terrible technique at times as evidenced by the 30-yard completion to Rod Gardner; on this play, Walker never turned back to play the ball. Walker also isn’t the best tackler in the world and needs to improve in that department. His run force needs work as well as he failed to make a play on some outside runs in his direction.
Ralph Brown admirably played with a shoulder injury. He (and Johnnie Harris) got beat deep by Lavernues Coles on what could have been a 80-yard touchdown strike had the ball not been overthrown. Brown also badly misplayed an end around by Coles that should have lost yardage. In the 2nd quarter, he got beat by Coles for 15 yards on 2nd-and-14; he had decent position, but he didn’t look back for the ball. Brown did make a nice, sure tackle on a quick throw to Gardner that lost a yard. In the 4th quarter, Brown had excellent coverage on Pat Johnson on a 3rd-and-6 crossing pattern that fell incomplete. However, later in the 4th quarter, Brown was beat deep by Coles again on what could have been a touchdown, but the ball was overthrown.
Ryan Clark got beat by Darnerien McCants for a touchdown on 2nd-and-goal from the 6-yard line.
Ike Charlton had a couple of rough moments in the 3rd quarter. He got beat on two slant passes: an 11-yarder to Coles on 3rd-and-7 and a 9-yarder to Johnson on 3rd-and-4.
The safety play was not real strong. As I mentioned earlier, Harris was late getting over to help out Brown on a deep pass attempt to Coles that fortunately fell incomplete. On the Redskins’ first touchdown drive, Harris could have forced a field goal attempt had he made a tackle in the backfield on 3rd-and-2 on Canidate. Later in the half, Harris kicked a flag after a 3rd-and-8 incompletion because he thought the refs were calling pass interference against the Giants. The penalty gave the Skins a first down. Late in the game, Harris did combine with Short to tackle the back for a 1-yard loss.
And the strange defense of Johnnie Lynn continues. In the 3rd quarter, McCants was left wide open on a 3rd-and-7 short crossing pattern that picked up 22 yards and kept a TD drive alive. Two plays later, the brain surgeons on the Giants put Harris on Coles in the slot. Talk about a mismatch…the play traveled 24 yards as Harris never turned around to play the ball. Same drive…on 3rd-and-5 from the Giants’ 7-yard line, Harris was called upon to cover Coles again in a short zone. An easy completion and TD resulted. Stupid defensive game design by the coaching staff. Late in the game, again, Harris was called upon to cover the slot receiver and gave up an 8-yard reception on 2nd-and-7.
Omar Stoutmire made one real nice play against the run when he stopped Canidate for a 1-yard gain in the 2nd quarter. But I also saw some tentative play from Stoutmire against the run…he was too easily blocked on a couple of plays. He also badly missed a tackle on Chad Morton.
Special Teams: I’ve had it with Matt Bryant. He’s really not that bad a kicker if you look at his career stats, but he’s been involved in too many screw-ups in his short stay with the Giants. In 2002, he missed costly field goals against the Texans, Eagles, and 49ers. His kick out of bounds on Monday Night against Dallas deprived the Giants of one of their greatest comeback games in history and caused irreparable psychological damage to the team. On Sunday against the Skins, he missed a 26-yarder. Enough!
Jeff Feagles punted very well in difficult (windy) conditions. He punted four times for a 51.5 yards-per-punt average and two of his punts landed inside the 20 (another should have been downed at the 1-yard line). Punt return coverage was good as Washington was limited to returns of 4 yards (David Tyree making the stop), touchback (Tyree should have down the ball), no return (ball downed by Delvin Joyce at 14-yard line), and no return (ball downed by Tyree at 18-yard line).
Kickoff coverage was not good and contributed in a big way to the Redskins regaining momentum after the Giants took the lead 7-3 late in the 1st quarter. A number of Giants missed tackles (Ryan Clark, Kato Serwanga, Carson Dach) on Pat Johnson’s 50-yard return that brought the ball to the New York 34-yard line. Six plays later, the Redskins regained the lead 10-7. Bryant’s kick into the wind was fielded at the 16 on this play. His only other kickoff was a wind-aided touchback.
Why in the world does Fassel continue to use Brian Mitchell as a returner? It’s mind-boggling! Mitchell returned 1 punt for 5 yards. His two kickoff returns went for 21 and 29 yards (however the latter was negated due to a holding penalty on Wes Mallard). Delvin Joyce returned two kickoffs for 11 and 26 yards.
The Giants were very lucky that an offsides penalty by Ralph Brown didn’t hand the Skins 3 points. Brown’s penalty gave the Skins a second chance to make a field goal that had been missed. Fortunately for Brown, the second kick was missed as well.