In a quiet Redskins locker room, coach Jim Zorn reminded his players of one simple fact. They won the game. It was hard to tell if they believed him or not.
After a lackluster 9-7 win over St. Louis in the home opener, the Redskins spent the postgame rehashing negative plays and beating themselves up for missed opportunities.
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“You can’t keep on doing this, that’s for sure,” Redskins center Casey Rabach said.
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“We left a whole lot out there,” Redskins receiver Malcolm Kelly said.
That’s an understatement. The Redskins (1-1) gained 362 yards of offense, compared to 245 for St. Louis (0-2).
Yet they needed a forced fumble by Chris Horton early in the fourth quarter at the Rams’ 5-yard line, which teammate Carlos Rogers recovered to help win the game. And they needed a seven minute, 20 second drive in the fourth quarter to puncture St. Louis’ hopes.
This against a team that won two games last year (one vs. Washington) and was shut out, 28-0, in their opener. Oh, and a team that has now lost 12 straight games.
“I’m pretty sure we’ll get killed again in the papers,” Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell said.
While the defense had its usual problems on third downs — the Rams converted six of 12 — it was, once again, the Redskins’ offense that failed.
Washington settled for field goals of 21, 28 and 23 yards. In eight quarters, the Redskins’ offense has produced one touchdown. And yielded plenty of boos from the fans.
“We’re moving the ball, it’s the scoring that’s frustrating,” Zorn said. “We need every point we can get right now. We’re not going to stay there. That’s the bottom line. I have to look at this really hard. That’s my responsibility. I can wave all the magic wands. I have to come up with the right play and put our guys in the right position.”
The Redskins ran 13 plays inside the Rams’ 11-yard line. They tried running. It failed. They tried trickery. It failed. They tried passing. It failed.
They even went for it on fourth-and-1 from the Rams’ 2 — and lost two yards. St. Louis stacked the right side of its defense and stuffed Clinton Portis (19 carries, 79 yards) running left. The play had no chance.
On their first trip inside the 10, receiver Devin Thomas missed what would have been a nice sliding grab over the middle.
“Whether it’s an easy catch or hard catch,” he said, “the ball is in your area, you’ve got to catch it.”
Shaun Suisham then kicked the first of his three field goals.
Mike Sellers spoiled another drive when he dropped a pass that would have resulted in a touchdown.
“[Those plays] would put us up 14-0 and it’s a totally different game,” Campbell said. “When you keep getting field goals, it keeps teams hungry and they continue to fight.”
And a failed Portis option pass — after he had carried two straight plays and faced third-and-goal from the 5 — did not fool St. Louis. It fell incomplete.
“To win games,” Rabach said, “You have to score in the red zone.”
