Monday, December 24th, 2007...1:57 am by Lee Gibbons
Redskins Take Control, Beat Vikings
Just a few weeks ago, a coaching gaffe put the Washington Redskins playoff hopes on thin ice. Yesterday, a coaching decision steered the team closer to the promise land of the NFL playoffs. Redemption is sweet.
The Redskins stormed out to a 25-0 lead, and held on for a 32-21 victory over the Minnesota Vikings. The victory moved the Redskins to 8-7 on the season and they can clinch a playoff berth with a victory over the Dallas Cowboys next week.
The Redskins were led by Todd Collins, who looked much sharper in his 2nd start, going 22 for 29 for 254 yards and 2 touchdowns. But the play of the game without a doubt was an astute challenge by the Redskins coaching staff, catching the Vikings with 12 men on the field and negated a fumble recovery by the Vikings. The Vikings were lurking and had taken momentum but the challenge and ensuing Redskins score ended any Viking comeback hopes.
The Redskins had touchdowns by Clinton Portis, Chris Cooley, Santana Moss and Antwaan Randle-El (on a pass from Portis). Shaun Suisham added a 26 yard field goal and Kedric Golston stuffed a Tony Richardson run for a safety to round out the scoring.
Defensively, Fred Smoot and Shawn Springs had interceptions, while Golston recovered a fumble. Randall Godfrey, starting in the place of the injured Rocky McIntosh, lead the team with nine tackles.
Merry Christmas and/or Happy Holidays to all visitors to The Redskin Report. We will be back after the holiday to look forward at the next ‘must-win’ game.
4 Comments
December 24th, 2007 at 10:56 am
Great game, for the most part, but here are a few nitpicky questions:
If I can turn to my wife and say “This is going to be an onside kick” before the “surprise” onside kick, you’d think that seasoned coaches would have known that (I’m not talking about the later, totally botched attempt; I’m talking about the one the Vikings recovered). Time-Momentum-Score-Defensive fatigue dictated that the Vikings were >80% likely to call an onside kick; I would have. How could the coaches have not warned of the kick?
This week, in practice, Casey Rabach and Todd Collins need to spend some high quality time getting to know each other much, much better. I realize that Todd had a great game; however, the single most important event in any offensive play is getting the ball from the center to the QB or other playmaker; the Redskins failed to do that 5% of the time.
Coverage of the game: I never did see a clear shot of whether or not Moss was in on the 23 yard reception; this isn’t a ‘Skins gripe; this is a TV gripe. Vikings fans are going to complain about that sequence for years (*Childress was whining about it last night in the press conference*), so it would have been nice to know the answer (all that can be said is “Officially, he was in”. Also, the unanswered question is, did the Redskins make any substitutions? If they did, Childress is right; the Vikings have the right to substitute. If not, then it’s all his fault. Since I work with a few Vikings fans, I need that info to bring happiness to the workplace.
Did Saunders consider making Portis the hot read for a TD pass? He would have then passed, caught, and run a TD in in one game. Nice.
The late decision not to kick a reasonable field goal: I can see the logic, but I’d still rather have a 21 point lead with <5 minutes left, than the 18 point lead. Yes, three scores is three scores, but one scenario has us LOSING if they make three scores, the other just puts us in Overtime.
The killer instinct: I know, it’s just three games, but where was this killer instinct the Redskins have suddenly gotten when it could have been in use much earlier? Of the games we’ve lost this season, if the Redskins had played this well late all year, we could easily be a 12-3 team, or perhaps better (we’ve been in EVERY game except the Patriots until the final 2 minutes, and only one, the Eagles, where we couldn’t have won in the last minute (because we gave up a late, long TD pass in the last two minutes…))
Injury bug: Only one Redskin season in my memory has had anywhere close to as many key injuries as this year; with all respect to the esteemed writers at WaPo, Washington DOES have full ability to complain about the injury situation this year. But the last time Washington had injuries like this, a relatively young team with a Rookie Head Coach, the ‘Skins mananged to go 8-8, earning a lot of valuable playing time for the young players, after an 0-5 start. The experience helped propel that young squad to their first Superbowl victory the following years, as Joe Jackson Gibbs earned Coach of the Year honors, followed up by another Superbowl appearance the following year. We aren’t going to be Super this year (I hope I’m wrong, though…); we probably won’t be Super next year, having already lost three of the young stud starters either permanently or for most or all of next season (Taylor, Rodgers, and McIntosh, respectively). Gibbs WILL be back next season (he said, at the very start, he would complete the five year contract, period). How long we have him, no one can predict, but I’m still glad as can be we’ve got him. And with Gibbs at the helm, and finally fully “Getting” his own team, and the team rallying around him incredibly these past few weeks, you have to look at a DIFFERENT team this year, with an embattled coach embarrassed by an on-field incident, who’s team (while very good), is not 15-0 good on paper, but rallyed to perform at a much higher level (both than what they SHOULD be, and by rest of the league). If Gibbs can keep the team in this same emotional frameset, he can make next season about the sins, travails, and tragedies of this one; do that, and our ‘Skins (looking to be a natural 9-7 or 10-6 team next year) could easily be the class of the NFC for 2008.
December 24th, 2007 at 11:55 am
Here’s a thread on Extremeskins showing that the Skins kept all the same players on the field on the challenge: http://www.extremeskins.com/forums/showthread.php?t=229277
December 24th, 2007 at 11:58 am
As it turns out, I’m not the only one who is questioning how the Redskins could have so badly missed the predictable “surprise” onside kick; Jim Ducibella at the Virginian-Pilot says almost the entire crowd knew it too, and that Danny Smith not only knew it, he expected his special teamers to have known it, too.
January 1st, 2008 at 2:05 pm
[...] Week Sixteen - Washington Redskins 32 Minnesota Vikings 21 [...]
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