1. Gutsy win. In the years I’ve covered the Redskins (which dates to 1994 and makes me $()*#$ years old), I can’t remember a more gutsy win. There have been some that are close and the most emotional was after Sean Taylor’s funeral. But this time the Redskins were coming off one of the ugliest losses in franchise history. Wasn’t worried about how they’d respond because there’s a lot of character guys in the locker room. But they were playing on the road … without half of their secondary … and with the starting right guard out. Then they lost their center and backup guard and their running back. No way they win this game. Honestly, I’m still not sure how the line did what it did. I’d see guys getting shoved back, yet never beat. I did see the Titans trying to blitz, yet rarely fooling the front. Did see some decent stunt pickups. The first series of the game summed up the day. The Redskins’ defense was faced with a short field and the Titans gashed them for 14 yards on first down, but Lorenzo Alexander forced a fumble; Washington recovered and the Titans lost a great opportunity.
2. The Redskins handled Chris Johnson – and he had great numbers. This is a bit silly to say Washington’s defense was good against a guy who averaged 6.2 yards per carry. But 78 of his yards came on four runs and none of them came on scoring drives; on his other 17 runs he gained 52 yards. He was good, but only in spurts and they made sure he didn’t beat them. They limited his ability to be more explosive by having the outside linebackers get upfield and pinch the ends. For the most part they did a good job with this; they got in trouble when Andre Carter would get moved too wide or when Brian Orakpo got suckered on the little wrap-around handoff, leaving a wide gap outside. The line was good about not getting shoved back too often; it happened, but not with regularity. The Redskins also used their 3-4 base front as much as they probably have all season (even in some situations where they would have gone to nickel in the past). Not sure that’s true, but it looked that way. Makes sense; if they went to a nickel look in certain situations, it could have resulted in bigger runs for Johnson as this defense does not play the run as well. It helped that Titans TE Craig Stevens, a good run blocker, was missing.
3. The Redskins did just enough on the ground. Bet Tennessee never thought it would need to use eight in the box to stop some kid named Keiland Williams running behind a makeshift line. But that’s what the Titans had to do in the fourth quarter and overtime at times. Williams only gained 68 yards on 23 carries, with a long of 14. But he was effective and it helped keep Tennessee off-balance. And the Titans had to honor the play-action. It also enabled Kyle Shanahan to stick with his game plan, which was excellent. Shanahan, perhaps because he’s faced the Titans a few times, seemed to know when – and where – the blitzes were coming. So, for example, when the Titans would blitz from a side; the Redskins would hit them with a screen to that area for a good run. They worked the edges quite hard with success. Also, the pass to Chris Cooley in overtime for 26 yards is similar to the long play that Fred Davis caught vs. Philly, just run the other way. It was a terrific time for the play as the Titans were left scrambling and only a good individual effort prevented a much longer gain. But it was a perfect time and by running the reverse of what they ran last week, it fooled the Titans.
4. Who knew these guys could play? Individually, it wasn’t like the Redskins interior linemen were mauling guys. I saw Stephon Heyer get beat; I saw Will Montgomery get pushed back and I saw Kory Lichtensteiger get buried one time. But I also saw him play a good game. And I saw a group that seemed to work in unison; that’s what line play is about. Slide protections helped and the blitz pickups were excellent (with a couple exceptions when rushers weren’t blocked). Again, good play calling helped too. The Titans worked hard to expose the interior, playing their linemen tight inside and trying to blitz the A gaps. But it rarely worked. Heck, once the ‘Steiger picked up two guys himself. Who knew, huh? Montgomery is better suited at center and if nothing else battled hard; though he would get pushed back he was able to limit the rush. Heyer has been a favorite target, but the guy has never played guard in the NFL and he was capable today. Individually I’m not sure they were impressive. Collectively they were. And they gave Donovan McNabb reason to trust them. That was a nice change. I also question how the heck Tennessee got so many sacks early in the season. Can’t say I was all that impressed with their defense, but that’s not to take any credit away from this line. They survived.
5. McNabb responded like a leader. The QB played in the pocket as if he really trusted the line and played relaxed, like nothing was going to bother him. Really, nothing did because though he was sacked three times (thanks in part to his linemen stepping on his feet) he was never rattled. Start of the fourth quarter; pressure bore down on him, but McNabb stayed calm and hit Cooley for 15 yards on third and six. McNabb could stay poised in that spot in part because he’d been protected all game; other games he might have felt that pressure more and thrown fading back or off to a side. This time, he stayed in the middle of the storm.
That’s why McNabb completed 60 percent of his passes – and had a couple dropped. The difference in the game is that the Redskins lost many players, but not the quarterback; the Titans lost two guys, but one was the quarterback. Made a huge difference in the outcome. Also, you want to know why coaches like McNabb? Did you see how Vince Young handled his situation after the game? He stormed out of the locker room and now he’s probably done. Imagine what would have happened had McNabb reacted poorly after the Detroit fiasco? McNabb led a late field goal drive in regulation that, had Graham Gano not been kicking into a stiff wind, might have won the game. Again, the game plan helped him because the Redskins ran a lot of quick routes so McNabb wasn’t going downfield too often. Yet they moved the chains and when he realized the Titans couldn’t cover Cooley, he hit him over and over again (all seven catches in the fourth quarter and overtime). McNabb missed on a couple throws and was intercepted. But he also was given time to throw, so we didn’t see the wild swing in mechanics – the drifting passes – that we had seen of late. Today, McNabb made others around him better. That’s the difference between he and Jason Campbell. Oh, by the way, I loved using Brandon Banks as a receiver. The safety actually made a good break on the ball, but Banks’ ability to get to his spot so fast prevented anything bad from happening. Also, McNabb does a good job throwing to short receivers; sounds odd, but he does a good job keeping the ball low. Sometimes it works to his advantage.
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