May 24, 2013

Washington Redskins Postgame Audio: 24-14 Loss To Seattle

January 6, 2013 by

LANDOVER, MD–The Washington Redskins give up 24 unanswered points and fell to the Seattle Seahawks 24-14 as their season officially comes to an end.

The big story was Robert Griffin III.  Griffin III (10-of-19, 84 yards, two touchdowns, one interception) re-aggravated his right knee in the first quarter and looked gimpy the rest of the game.  He could barely run and an ugly play off a bad snap late in the fourth quarter left him in even more pain, allowing the Seahawks to recover a fumble at the Redskins five yard line which set up a chip shot field goal that put the game out of reach.

“I’m the quarterback of this team,”  Griffin III said. “My job is to be out there if I can play. The only time I couldn’t play was when I went down. I took myself out of the game. That’s just the way you have to play. Just to tackle the next question, I don’t feel like me being out there hurt the team in any way. I’m the best option for this team, and that’s why I’m the starter.”

Kirk Cousins came in, but didn’t have much time to work any magic.  Following the loss, Griffin III went straight to the hospital to have an MRI and will know the results sometime later tonight.

“I think I did put myself at more risk by being out there,”  Griffin III said.  “But every time you step on the football field in between those lines you’re putting your life, your career [and] every single ligament in your body in jeopardy. That’s just the approach I had to take toward it. My teammates needed me out there, so I was out there for them. When it comes to the impact of the injury, I’m not sure what it is. We’ll figure that out here in the next few days. Whatever it is, I’ll make sure I come back healthy from it.”

Redskins Head Coach Mike Shanahan had no problem with him being out there.

“Robert will have the MRI,”  Shanahan said.  “We always check that out to see how serious it is… I did and I talked to Robert and he said to me, ‘Coach, there’s a difference between being injured and being hurt.’ He said, ‘I can guarantee I’m hurt right now but give me a chance to win this football game because I guarantee I’m not injured.’ That was enough for me. I thought he did enough this year to have that opportunity to stay in the football game. It’s always a tough decision when to pull a guy and when not to. I talked to him at halftime and had to feel good about him to go back in. I told him we’re going to run the football and he’s going to have to prove to me and like I said before, he said, ‘Trust me. I want to be in there and I deserve to be in there,’ and I couldn’t disagree with him.”

Even though they lost, Shanahan was happy with how the team responded from a 3-6 record at the bye to finishing the season as NFC East Champions.

“I told the players after the game that not too many football teams can be 3-6 and have the type of character to play how they did in the last half of the season. It’s really a compliment to the guys in that locker room, really a compliment to the fans out there to support us the way they did – really got our team energized throughout the second half of the season. It was a fun run. I’m very disappointed today. You always want to play your best football during the playoffs. We probably had our best first quarter. After that first quarter, we just didn’t seem to get things done. It was very tough, but I’m excited about this football team – the direction we’re headed. We’re not very happy. There’s only one team that’s happy at the end of the year, and unfortunately, we’re going home a little bit earlier than expected.”

Listen here to what Mike Shanahan, Robert Griffin III, Pierre Garçon, Kirk Cousins, Darrel Young, Trent Williams, Ryan Kerrigan, Lorenzo Alexander, Logan Paulsen, London Fletcher, Josh Wilson & Stephen Bowen had to say as their season comes to an end.

Mike Shanahan Postgame Audio

01-06-13 Mike Shanahan Postgame RAW

Robert Griffin III Postgame Audio

01-06-13 Robert Griffin III Postgame RAW

Pierre Garçon Postgame Audio

01-06-13 Pierre Garcon Postgame RAW

Kirk Cousins Postgame Audio

01-06-13 Kirk Cousins Postgame RAW

Darrel Young Postgame Audio

01-06-13 Darrel Young Postgame RAW

Trent Williams Postgame Audio

01-06-13 Trent Williams Postgame RAW

Ryan Kerrigan Postgame Audio

01-06-13 Ryan Kerrigan Postgame RAW

Lorenzo Alexander Postgame Audio

01-06-13 Lorenzo Alexander Postgame RAW

Logan Paulsen Postgame Audio

01-06-13 Logan Paulsen Postgame RAW

London Fletcher Postgame Audio

01-06-13 London Fletcher Postgame RAW

Josh Wilson Postgame Audio

01-06-13 Josh Wilson Postgame RAW

Stephen Bowen Postgame Audio

01-06-13 Stephen Bowen Postgame RAW

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Washington Redskins might be RGIII’s team, but they’re more than just one man

December 17, 2012 by

Kirk Cousins guided the Redskins to a victory over the Browns. (photo by Brian Murphy)

The Washington Redskins announced Friday night they planned to face the Cleveland Browns — in Cleveland — without their leader, quarterback Robert Griffin III. Despite a week of encouraging news from practice, the team’s doctors and coaches decided to be cautious with their best playmaker, and likely rookie of the year, and sit him at least a week after spraining his knee the previous week against the Baltimore Ravens.

That left the reigns to Kyle Shanahan’s high-powered offense in fourth round draft pick Kirk Cousins.

The rookie shook off a couple of rough series at the beginning of the game to lead the Skins to a fifth consecutive win and first place in the NFC East — thanks to tiebreakers — with a 38-21 win over the hapless Browns.

The Redskins now control their own playoff destiny by virtue of a victory delivered by their backup rookie quarterback.

Cousins, obviously, is not the only rookie that has delivered for the Redskins this season. Fellow first year player Alfred Morris, a sixth round pick, has emerged as a tough running tailback in the mold of Gerald Riggs — big enough to run folks over but with enough speed to break off a big run when the hole is available.

The Skins are getting contributions from unheralded young offensive linemen as well. Of course, that depth will be tested this upcoming week with the news of Will Montgomery’s knee injury, Troy Polumbus’ concussion and Jordan Black’s PED suspension.

Another big contributor has been wide receiver Pierre Garcon. Once he got back on the field from a foot injury, the fifth-year playmaker has developed a big-time rapport with Griffin and given the Redskins a young veteran receiver that opposing teams need to game-plan for. That gives room for younger receivers, such as Leonard Hankerson (two TDs against Cleveland) and Aldrick Robinson, to make plays. Even veteran Santana Moss is enjoying a renaissance season with seven touchdowns among his 37 catches.

Kyle Shanahan has designed and developed an offensive scheme to take best advantage of the talent that has been assembled. He’s also showed an ability to adjust the game plan when necessary depending on injury or opponent. The offensive coordinator — much as his head coach father — took a great deal of critique the last couple of unsuccessful seasons with less-than-NFL quality signal callers.

Now that the Skins look like they possess two of those, they are on the precipice of the playoffs. The team sent out a press release Monday morning announcing the plan for distributing playoff tickets — with two big NFC East games yet to play. It’s heady days for the Washington Redskins organization, and it seems like health will be the biggest challenge to the success this season, and for the foreseeable future.

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Washington Redskins Game 14 Review: Led by Cousins, Redskins Enter Tie for First with 38-21 Win over Browns

December 16, 2012 by

Filling in for an injured Robert Griffin III, Kirk Cousins led the Washington Redskins (8-6) to their fifth straight win and a three-way tie for first place in the NFC East after stunning the Cleveland Browns (5-9) 38-21.

Cousins finished 26-for-37 for 329 yards, two touchdowns and only one turnover on the night.

It wasn’t smooth sailing from start to finish for the fourth-round rookie quarterback, though. On the first drive of the game, the Redskins managed a false start and on third and 5, Cousins botched an easy pass to Evan Royster.

On their next possession, Cousins threw an incomplete pass to Pierre Garcon, pitched to Alfred Morris for no gain and then lobbed a huge interception to T.J. Ward. Ward scrambled 37 yards to bring it to Washington’s six-yard line and, on the next play, Trent Richardson ran the ball for the touchdown to put the Browns on the board 7-0.

The Redskins’ offense showed no signs of revival on the next two drives – the first of which resulted in a net loss of five yards, and the second of which produced no gain.

However, with one long toss, Cousins changed the momentum of the game.

From Washington’s own 46-yard line, Cousins fired downfield to Leonard Hankerson for a 54-yard touchdown to tie things up.

In the second quarter, Cousins showed his speed with a 17-yard run to help set up a 44-yard field goal for Kai Forbath who extended his perfect streak to make it 10-7 Redskins.

However, it took the Browns little time to answer. On their next drive, they chipped away at the Redskins’ defense. On third and 5, Lorenzo Alexander went down with an injury to his shoulder. Brandon Weeden then connected with Greg Little for a 30-yard pass before Richardson managed his second touchdown to make it 14-10 Browns.

The Redskins hit the ground running in the second half, this time on the celebratory side of an interception. Looking to connect with Little, Weeden’s pass instead landed in the arms of Rob Jackson. Then, Cousins tossed to Josh Morgan for 12 yards before pitching to Alfred Morris for the three-yard touchdown to allow the Redskins to retake the lead, 17-14.

The Cousins-Hankerson dynamic duo held its own on the Redskins’ next possession as Washington tacked on another seven points to give the Redskins a 24-14 cushion.

The Redskins may have had another shot to pile on more points right away had it not been for a hapless taunting penalty issued to none other than Pierre Garcon. After Cousins found Garcon for a 17-yard toss, Garcon carried out his traditional football spin maneuver, only to earn the Redskins a 15-yard penalty.

In the end, it didn’t matter much. Cousins tossed to Evan Royster for a four-yard touchdown to start the fourth quarter up 31-14.

Weeden launched a 69-yard touchdown pass to Travis Benjamin on the Browns’ next drive, but yet again, Kirk Cousins provided an immediate answer in the form of a touchdown pass to Alfred Morris.

With five minutes left, the Browns showed no ability to threaten and the Redskins solidified their 38-21 win.

By day’s end, Leonard Hankerson had two receptions for two touchdowns and 56 yards, and Alfred Morris added another two touchdowns and 87 rushing yards over 27 carries.

Forbath extended his perfect streak to 15 consecutive field goals. Should Forbath complete his next field goal attempt, he will tie the NFL record for a career start.

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