Punter Smith throws first TD pass of career
Hunter Smith, sliding to shotgun formation on fourth-and-20, eyed the defense and had a thought he hasn’t had in more than a dozen years.
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“People are looking at you and ready to defend you,” he said. “That was intimidating for a second.”
Then Smith did something he once did routinely, even if it was as a Texas high school quarterback. He lofted a 35-yard touchdown pass to Mike Sellers, a play that might have turned the game around. Not only did it tie the score at 14, it provided much more momentum than a 52-yard Shaun Suisham kick would have given them in their 27-17 win over Denver on Sunday.
Washington lined up in field goal formation, then Suisham split out to the right and Smith lined up in shotgun. But the Redskins called time out because Fred Davis was not on the field. They stayed with the play.
“We had the upper hand with the trickery of the play,” said Smith, recruited to Notre Dame as a quarterback.
When he took the snap he ran to his right before lofting the first touchdown pass of his 11-year career — he’s also rushed for a touchdown this season.
“We were trying to play safe,” Denver coach Josh McDaniels said. “We thought it might be a pooch [punt].”
It wasn’t. Smith stopped and threw to a wide-open Sellers down the left side.
The Redskins needed the jolt. Denver had scored 14 first-quarter points on two pass plays, totaling 115 yards. Washington had tied the game at 7 in the first quarter on a two-yard touchdown pass from Jason Campbell to Todd Yoder.
The Redskins outscored Denver 13-3 after the fake field goal.
“We’ve been working on that for a couple weeks,” center Casey Rabach said. “Crazy [special teams coach] Danny Smith, he always believes in everything. Sometimes it worked in practice; sometimes it didn’t. To see it come to fruition in the game and give us a swing of momentum, that’s huge.”
