One play changed the game. Good luck picking out which play it was, however. It could have been a fourth-down stop by Lorenzo Alexander in the first quarter. It could have been the leaping catch by Anthony Armstrong that resulted in seven points and kick-started the offense.
Or it could have been LaRon Landry’s interception.
Take your pick.
But there’s no doubt about the last play: it was the game-winning 33-yard field goal by Graham Gano. And it gave the Redskins an improbable 16-13 overtime win against Green Bay. Improbable because for the first three quarters the Redskins’ offense generated three points and 181 total yards.
But Washington rallied from a 13-3 deficit in the fourth quarter behind the passing of quarterback Donovan McNabb. After completing 14 of 27 passes for 165 yards in the first three quarters, McNabb was 12 of 22 for 192 yards and a touchdown in the fourth quarter and overtime.
“Unless you have a lot of character on your team, you don’t win games like that,” Redskins coach Mike Shanahan said.
That, receiver Santana Moss said, is a difference from the past two seasons. The Redskins have now won three games that have come down to the final play. Sunday, Green Bay missed a 53-yard field goal bounce off the left upright with one second left in regulation.
“We have a different mentality,” Moss said. ‘We had guys on the team that when we’d get in those tough situations would just give in….
“In the fourth quarter someone said, ‘Hey, just make a play.’ And when that one play was made we just kind of built off it. It caught on like a wildfire, everybody wanting to make a play. It’s contagious.”
Landry set up the game-winning points with an interception at the Green Bay 39-yard line. Defensive lineman Jeremy Jarmon ran a stunt and applied pressure on quarterback Aaron Rodgers, forcing a pass that was too far inside.
From there, McNabb moved the Redskins to the 15-yard line with four completions. Gano took it from there. Earlier this season he had missed a 50-yard attempt that would have defeated Houston.
“I was glad I had the chance to redeem myself,” he said. “I didn’t really see it go through at all. My coaches had been telling me to keep my head down. That’s a key factor in whether I make or miss a kick.”
Gano made a 45-yard kick to tie the game with 1 minute, 11 seconds left in regulation – after missing a 51-yarder with 6:45 to play. His 26-yarder in the second quarter cut into a 10-0 Packers lead.
McNabb connected with Armstrong for a 48-yard touchdown pass with 11 minutes, 35 seconds left in the game to start the comeback. That cut the Packers lead to 13-10.
“Man, I was floating,” Armstrong said. “I had a Red Bull so it gave me a little wings. But I was up there for a little bit and the ball hit my hands and I couldn’t let that go.”
Green Bay rolled up 209 yards in the first quarter but could only manage a 7-0 lead on a five-yard Rodgers pass to tight end Donald Lee. But the Redskins’ defense prevented the score from being worse with a goal-line stand in the second quarter. Alexander deflected a pass in the end zone on fourth and goal from the 1 to cap the series.
“That was the turnaround in the game for us,” Redskins end Phillip Daniels said.
The Packers’ Mason Crosby kicked a 52-yard field goal in the second quarter and a 36-yarder in the third to extend their lead. But Crosby also missed two field goals, including a 36-yarder.
But it wasn’t enough. And the Redskins sprung the upset.
“We know if we can beat teams in the upper echelon,” Alexander said, “it puts you on the map.”
