The play symbolized the afternoon, summing up a day in which the offense stumbled each time it gathered momentum. So here it was, moments before halftime, when guard Pete Kendall grabbed a tipped pass, tried to run, got hit, fumbled — and watched an opponent race 75 yards for a touchdown.
The Redskins recovered to take a lead. But they never really overcame this play, or several others that proved disastrous.
“The margin of error is so thin in a game and in a season,” Kendall said. “I’m not sure that this is the end of the repercussions from this.”
That feel-good vibes from a four-game winning streak evaporated Sunday, thanks to St. Louis’ 19-17 win. Josh Brown capped the stunner with a 49-yard game-winning field goal with no time remaining.
The Redskins (4-2) couldn’t overcome three turnovers or themselves in losing to a team that entered 0-4. A team that won at Dallas and Philadelphia couldn’t win as a double-digit favorite at home.
“We had a golden opportunity to establish ourselves,” said running back Clinton Portis. “We let it slip away. We’re playing up and down to our competition week in, week out. … Some games we should come in and dominate. This is one of those games.
“It’s a focus thing. The previous four games, the focus is there. We knew we couldn’t go out and put ourselves in that position. … All of a sudden you start to get pats on the back and feel like you’re a better team.”
Jason Taylor, for one, disagreed.
“I don’t think anyone took the Rams lightly,” Taylor said.
Regardless, it’s an ugly loss.
Here’s why they didn’t win:
TURNOVERS » The Redskins created the first turnover, with safety LaRon Landry recovering a Steven Jackson fumble at the St. Louis 3-yard line. That led to a three-yard Portis run and 7-0 lead with 10 minutes, 45 seconds left in the first quarter.
But that was the last time Washington created a turnover (Landry dropped an interception a minute later; linebacker London Fletcher also dropped one).
The Rams, though, caused three turnovers. The first two produced no points; but each one occurred in St. Louis territory, ending potential scoring drives for Washington. One resulted from a bad shotgun snap; another from miscommunication up front leading to an open blitzer.
“We never got into a rhythm early in the game,” Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell said.
The third, however, was the Kendall play, which started as a first down at the Rams’ 16 with 26 seconds left. It resulted in Oshiomogho Atogwe running 75 yards the other way for a touchdown.
“I wanted to bat it down and in my mind time was going so slow I felt like I had possessed it too long to throw it down,” Kendall said. “I panicked and kept the ball. I remembered thinking before the play that we needed a few more yards to get comfortably into field goal range. I just took off. I should have done my job and let the field goal kicker do his job. If I do that, all things being equal, we win the game.”
Said coach Jim Zorn, “I was frustrated because you could see how we were moving and right at the point of flipping it into the end zone, we would stop ourselves.”
Punting. Rookie punter Durant Brooks had a wildly inconsistent day. His first punt, a 51-yarder, pinned the Rams at the 3, leading to the Redskins first score.
But, punting from his own end zone late in the third quarter, his 26-yard punt set up a Rams field goal drive. Brown capped it with a 44-yard kick.
“I could kick a lot better,” Brooks said, “but we could have played a lot better.”
Zorn said after the game that Brooks’ status will be reviewed and there’s a chance other punters could come in this week for a tryout.
THE FINAL DRIVE » Still, despite all these woes, the Redskins took a 17-16 lead on a two-yard Portis run with 3:47 left in the game.
“We got into a rhythm,” Campbell said.
But the Rams caught some of that rhythm. Starting from their own 24, the Rams moved 20 yards on their first three plays. But on second and 10 from the 44, Jackson was stopped for a three-yard loss.
That’s when offensive coordinator Al Saunders, who spent the past two years with Washington, called for a deep ball. With receiver Donnie Avery matched one-on-one with corner Leigh Torrence, quarterback Marc Bulger went long. However, he underthrew Avery who adjusted and stepped back for a 43-yard grab to the Redskins’ 16.
“He had a blanket on him,” Zorn said of Torrence.
But Torrence stumbled when he tried to come back, allowing the long catch. After an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on St. Louis offensive lineman Richie Incognito pushed the ball back 15 yards, Brown nailed the game winner.
Now the Redskins have a long week ahead, searching for answers.
“This is one of those losses we’ll remember throughout the season,” Redskins end Andre Carter said. “Now it’s more a matter of how we’re gonna bounce back. Will we take another step and grow together as one or will we take another step back? I feel in my heart that we’ll grow more and look at ourselves and say, ‘Hey, it was a bad game. Never again will we play like that.’”
