The Washington Redskins blew it again.
They messed up what would have been the tying extra point in the final seconds of a 17-16 loss to Tampa Bay on Sunday. A delay of game penalty near the end of the first half forced a field goal instead of a possible touchdown.
Washington fumbled the second half’s opening kickoff, and that led to three Tampa Bay points. The Redskins wasted Ryan Torain’s stellar first-half performance by running only six times in the third quarter.
It goes on and on. The Redskins dominated the Buccaneers and yet still fell to 5-8.
“We have some kind of bad luck around here,” linebacker Brian Orakpo said.
Only for the past decade or so. The Redskins regularly have found ways to lose rather than win. A turnover, a penalty, a dropped pass or a late opposing score — Washington often ends up the loser.
But this was a new one. There have been plenty of bad field goal attempts at the end of games — notably Dan Turk’s poor snap in the 1999 playoffs against Tampa Bay. But this was a botched extra point to decide the game. The two missed short field goals in the first three drives begged for a loss, especially when you have an offense that is struggling for points. Mike Shanahan messing up a timeout on third-and-goal at the 2-yard line was pure Jim Zorn-esque. Washington could have led 14-3 instead of 10-3 at halftime.
Washington was hurt by an obvious blown call on Tampa Bay’s go-ahead touchdown when Brian Orakpo was clearly held. Shanahan called it a mugging. Orakpo said a holding call was “clear as day.”
Still, bad calls happen. It shouldn’t have come to that.
“We got the win, but they outplayed us,” Bucs linebacker Barrett Ruud said. “I don’t think there is anything about being lucky. It was pretty evident they outplayed us, but we got the win.”
So now the Redskins are 1-0 in moral victories. It’s about the only winning record around town lately.
Still, the Redskins are definitely down emotionally with three games remaining. Consecutive road trips to Dallas and Jacksonville before a final game against the visiting New York Giants don’t bode well for avoiding a third straight losing year. The Redskins’ last eight coaches haven’t sported a winning mark in their first season. Jack Pardee was the last in 1978 at 10-6. That culture of losing has become too ingrained.
“When you’re just losing and you know you had a chance to win — I’m not talking about the last play — I’m talking about throughout the game, throughout the years, throughout the weeks, throughout this year,” receiver Santana Moss said, “when you are losing and you don’t have no say so as to why … that’s why it hurts, and that’s why I feel the way I feel. I’m just getting tired of it.”
Amen.
Examiner columnist Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Read more at TheRickSniderReport.com and Twitter @Snide_Remarks or e-mail [email protected].
