Washington Redskins Week 15 Recap

I am a die-hard and I mean seriously die-hard Washington Redskins fan, along with my entire family. It has been instilled in me from birth. Now, this season has been an absolute roller coaster ride. We first get off to a juicy 6-3 start while leading the division. Then we have our starting quarterback, Alex Smith, (whom we picked up from the Chiefs this past off-season) have a season-ending compound leg fracture. It could also be career-ending.

Then it was Colt McCoy’s turn to step up as a backup. We had seen some flashes of potential from him throughout his career, but I think most people knew what we were getting. I do have to say that I felt absolutely horrible for the guy despite him being from Texas, when like Alex Smith, Colt literally broke his leg also. Heartbreaking. Well then, what we had left was good old fashioned Mark Sanchez.

Now, when I first heard his name, I, of course, thought about what he will forever be synonymous for and that’s the butt fumble. I don’t think that’s entirely fair. Sanchez took the Jets to the 2010 and 2011 AFC title game. Sadly, it didn’t work out too well with the Skins and Jay Gruden decided to sign and go with journeyman QB, Josh Johnson. He is a guy that has bounced around with multiple NFL teams and other football leagues. And guess what, he helped the Washington Redskins beat the Jacksonville Jaguars this mid-December afternoon.

Here is my game synopsis:

The 1st quarter started off with Ryan Kerrigan (who is an absolute beast and one of my favorite players who I feel gives it everything he has every play and gets held every play… in my opinion, haha) getting a strip sack on Cody Kessler with the Redskins recovering the ball. The Redskins then end up going 3 and out to starting off on offense. This was followed up by a beautiful punt by Tress Way who always seems to do so.

The Jaguars tried to start the game off by feeding Leonard Fournette early and often to little to no avail thanks to the Redskins defense. Kessler completed one to DeDe Westbrook on this drive, Westbrook was a huge factor in this game for Jacksonville on offense but thanks to the Redskins young and hungry defensive line, Jonathan Allen gets a big 3rd down sack to end the drive. I also wanted to make it a point to say that Mason Foster was all over the field this whole game. 

The Redskins following drive led them to 3 points with nice runs by Adrian Peterson, first down catches by Jamison Crowder and a perfect 17-yard screen to Byron Marshall. Dustin Hopkins hits a 46 yarder for the Skins to take the lead. The following possession by the Jags was stifled thanks once again to Allen. God, I hope he plays for the Skins his whole career.

The 2nd quarter starts out with a barrage of penalties and incompletions by the Skins offense forcing them to punt. The following possession by the Jaguars was them trying to get Fournette going once again but thanks to Kerrigan and HaHa Clinton-Dix the Redskins force the Jags to punt. Washington could not get anything going on this possession due to the overwhelming amount of penalties and just an inability to get the run game going. Credit is due to the Jaguars defense though. Thanks to Fournette and some scrambles by Kessler, Kai Forbath hit a 33-yard field goal to tie things up. This drive could have been worse if Allen didn’t have another huge sack and pressure by the monster Matt Ioannidis.

Johnson had a couple completions to Peterson and Jeremy Sprinkle but then AP got stopped by Calais Campbell. There was a long incompletion to Vernon Davis then Tress Way drills a punt that is downed at the 2 by Danny Johnson. The Jags were then just trying to get some breathing room that led to a 3 and out for them.

Mo Harris then fields the punt for the Skins that leads to a drive with us punting a 4th consecutive time. Well, thats when Westbrook returned the punt 74 yards and a touchdown for the Jaguars going into halftime its 10-3 Jaguars.

My analysis for the first half is that the Redskins defense played well. The offense is pretty much what I expected due to the influx of injuries to the quarterback position and the offensive line. The scoring came from two field goals and a Jags punt return touchdown.

Second half recap:

The 3rd quarter starts out with one of the best drives for Josh Johnson and the Redskins all game. Johnson runs for two first downs and throws a crazy 30-yard pass that was tipped and completed to Crowder. Johnson then completed a nice pass on a slant route to Michael Floyd for the first down. Then two incompletions and a run for no gain by AP led to a Hopkins 33-yard field goal to put the score at 6-10 Jags. There were a couple non-eventful series minus a sack by Kerrigan.

The 4th quarter begins in the middle of a nice Jaguars drive. Westbrook and Williams (RB from Broncos practice squad out of Arkansas) moved the ball and was eventually stopped thanks to Josh Norman. Forbath hits a 41-yard field goal bringing the score to 6-13 Jaguars. The next drive for the Redskins was the best of the entire game.

Josh Johnson threw two passes to Vernon Davis that were good for a total of 15 yards. He also had a couple of nice scrambles and passes to tight end Jeremy Sprinkle, the last one being 6 yards for a touchdown. The Jaguars were then putting a late-game drive together when Fabian Moreau becomes the hero and intercepts a tipped pass to have the Redskins regain possession and eventually drive down the field thanks to maximum efforts by Adrian Peterson, the ageless wonder. This led to a 36-yard Hopkins field goal and a Redskins win. Just great effort from the Washington Redskins in a late-season important game that was not aesthetically pleasing by any means.

Hopefully, we continue to have success and earn a wildcard berth. The regular season is almost over so it does not allow much time. 

Featured Image – Ryan Kerrigan (91) rushing the Jaguars with Josh Harvey-Clemons (40). Photo Credit Washington Redskins.