TALK ABOUT IT

Wow.  The Washington Redskins have pulled off their fourth consecutive win in a bitter sweet victory over Beltway rival Baltimore in overtime, 31-28.  Bitter sweet because of the knee injury to QB Robert Griffin III.  And , folks, it doesn't look good for RG3  Who gets the Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down?

THUMBS UP:  There are several we can give, but we need to only give two because we always have.

QB Kirk Cousins:  Unlike bullpen relievers in baseball, Cousins had very little time to warm up.  I am almost positive that most Redskins fans thought the game was over who RG3 went down with a knee injury.  However, Kirk Cousins had a different outlook.  He delivered a huge TD strike to Pierre Garçon, rolling out under pressure, to pull the Redskins to within two points.  Cousins wasn't done.  On the two point conversion, Cousins took the snap, ran the ball right up the middle and converted the two point conversion, sending the game into overtime.  Cousins once again endeared himself to Redskins fans with a game saving performance in the midst of RG3 disaster.  He deserves a HUGE Thumbs Up!

K Kai Forbath:  What else can you say about this kid.  Forbath nailed 49 and 48 yard field goals and then connected the 34 yard game winner in overtime to lead the Redskins to a stunning 31-28 win in overtime.  Forbath's three field goals this game kept him perfect on the season at 14 for 14.  If you still had little doubt about Forbath, this game likely sealed any of that doubt.  Forbath's three converted field goals were right down the gut.  His accuracy is astounding.    The Redskins, after nearly twenty years, have found their kicker. 

Honorable Mention:  CB Richard Crawford:  How about that.  Mike Shanahan has finally given up on Brandon Banks in the return game, making him inactive.  Crawford came up huge in overtime, returning a punt 64 yards to put the Redskins within field goal range.  Forbath connected the 34 yarder to win it.  Right when the Redskins needed a huge return, Crawford delivered. 

THUMBS DOWN

CB DeAngelo Hall:  Hall gave up a TD pass, just clearly beaten.  Then, stunningly, Hall allowed Anquan Boldin to complete a 28 yard pass reception late in the fourth quarter, focusing too much on trying to punch the ball out of Boldin's hands, rather than make the tackle.  That allowed Boldin to pick up nearly 8 additional yards.  Pathetic display of defense by Hall.  Hall is what he is.  He is regularly inconsistent.  None more so than today.  A bad game for DHall.  

TE Niles Paul:  Paul had a dropped pass that would have been a first down.  Even more so, late in the game, he laid the ball on the field on a kick return.  Fortunately, the recovery by Baltimore was overturned by replay and the Redskins were able to keep the football.  If not, that would have been the back breaker.  Give me Aldrick Robinson on kick returns please.  

The Washington Redskins defeated the Baltimore Ravens today at FedEx Field 31-28 in overtime. Much more coverage to come, but backup rookie QB Kirk Cousins had to finish the game because Robert Griffin III was injured on a tackle off a scramble on the last Redskins drive of the fourth quarter. Cousins came in and finished the drive with a TD pass and a 2-point conversion to force overtime. Rookie PK Kai Forbath nailed a 34-yard FG to win the game in overtime. 

Griffin just addressed the media after the game and said he would probably be okay. He said he will get an MRI tonight, but he knows what a ACL tear feels like and he didn't feel it. Right now, the injury is being called a sprained knee. RG3 seemed hopeful he would be able to play on Sunday in Cleveland against the Browns. 

Apparently, an X-ray of the knee after the game looked good, but more information is required. The X-ray revealed no breaks in the leg or knee.

RG3 quotes after the game: 

"it was just a freak play. After I was getting down, my leg got hit. It was pretty painful. Prayerfully I'll be okI"

Here are your Washington Redskins inactives for today.

Qb Rex Grossman

OG Josh LeRibeus

WR Brandon Banks

OG Adam Gettis

LB Rodderick Muckelroy

OL Tom Compton

WR Dezmon Briscoe

Although most will be surprised to see Brandon Banks inactive, it really shouldn't be a shocker.  Banks has struggled with the return game,  which is his premier function on the roster.  

WHO: Baltimore Ravens @ Washington Redskins

WHAT: Week 14 of the 2012 NFL season

WHEN: Sunday December 9 at 1 PM

WHERE: FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland

After reviewing the film of the Redskins-Giants week 13 game several times, I hand out the following class grades to the Redskins defense.

HEAD OF THE CLASS

DE Stephen Bowen. I don't know if he was tired of NT Barry Cofield getting all the credit, but Bowen exploded against the Giants, dominating the line of scrimmage, shutting down the run to his side and accounting for 3 QB hurries. Bowen has been up and down this season and was demolished by the Giants offensive line the first time these two teams played this year. On Monday night, though, Bowen was sometimes all that stood between TB Ahmad Bradshaw and big yardage, since Cofield got steamrolled by the Giants repeatedly. He even drew a penalty on the offensive line. This was Bowen's most complete game in a month. 

A-STUDENTS

OLB Rob Jackson. Provided the most pass rush against the Giants on Monday night, particularly in the second half. He accounted for the team's only sack and added two QB hurries. I didn't like that he missed two tackles, but he was acceptable in run defense and did more than anyone else to make Eli Manning uncomfortable in the pocket in the second quarter. 

CB Josh Wilson. He started off the year so well, but then went into a big slump, culminating in a nightmare performance against the Panthers and then a sound whipping on Thanksgiving Day by Tony Romo and the Dallas wideouts. But Wilson bounced back against the Giants, drawing a penalty and accounting for five tackles. Best of all, Eli Manning got virtually nothing looking at Wilson all night. Manning only threw in Wilson's direction twice all night -- one was a 6-yard completion to Victor Cruz and the other an incomplete pass to Reuben Randle. Wilson's converage was solid on both plays and all night. This is how a stud cornerback plays on the big stage. 

ILB Lorenzo Alexander. Did a nice job in limited action on Monday night. Got two QB hurries despite rushing the passer only about ten times. Solid in rush defense, as well. 

NT Chris Baker. Like Alexander, he didn't play much, but made an impact when he was in the game. Three tackles and a QB hurry in less than 15 plays is good production. 

PASS

DE Jarvis Jenkins, OLB Ryan Kerrigan, CB Cedric Griffin, SS DeJon Gomes, FS Jordan Pugh, NT Barry Cofield

MUST DO BETTER

FS Madieu Williams, ILB Perry Riley

FAIL

ILB London Fletcher. Whew, what a horrible night in coverage for Fletcher. He gave up 73 yards on 5 completions out of 6 passes attempted. In particularl, TE Martellus Bennet destroyed Fletcher in the first half. London is playing hurt and trying hard, but he's become a serious liabiity in coverage, particularly down the middle and against tight ends. He made 7 tackles, but missed two and wasn't terribly good against the run either. 

CB DeAngelo Hall. Only rushed the QB twice, but got good pressure once. He's pretty good as a blitzer off the edge. However, he also missed a tackle and got repeatedly burned in coverage. Ten days after clearly out-playing Dallas wideouts, Hall was torched by the New York receivers. Victor Cruz burned Hall badly twice and he gave up more than half of Eli Manning's passing yardage. Even TEs Martellus Bennett and Bear Pascoe got the better of Hall on Monday night. 

SS Reed Doughty. Very solid in coverage, as only one pass -- to Martellus Bennett -- was thrown at Doughty and he defended it well. However, Doughty got plowed over by the Giants rushing attack. He was repeatedly blocked too easily and missed chances to make tackles near the line of scrimmage. He didn't miss tackles, he just wasn't in position to make them. 

After reviewing the film of the Redskins-Giants week 13 game several times, I hand out the following class grades to the Redskins offense. 

Photo - Will McNamee of Getty Images

HEAD OF THE CLASS

LT Trent Williams. He looked barely fit to function in pregame warmups, but once the game began the team's best offensive lineman all season was that again. The Redskins averaged 9.4 yards per carry on 12 carries over left tackle against the Giants and New York often looked helpless to do anything about it. And it wasn't just one big RG3 run that did it -- TB Alfred Morris averaged 6 yards per carry on 8 carries over the left end and left tackle positions. Trent did well enough in pass-blocking -- allowing one QB hit and hurry -- that his run-blocking, which was so superb, earns him top honors this week. Williams suffered a very bad deep thigh bruise early in the Thanksgiving Day win in Dallas, but the extra rest helped him recover enough in time to play on Monday night, but it is literally incredible that he played at such a high level. 

Photo - Julio Cruz of AP Photo

A-STUDENTS

FB Darrel Young. What more can you ask from the young linebacker-turned-fullback? He's been terrific all season but he played his best game on Monday night. His lead blocking was just spectactular, as he took out linemen, linebackers and a safety or two. Many of Morris' 124 rushing yards happened because of great blocking in front of him by Young. But in addition to his blocking, Young also carried the ball twice for eight yards. Not a big deal, right? Wrong. Both carries were on third and short and both went for first downs. And he gained two yards after contact on each run. That's tough, hard running to get the yards the team needed to convert third and short into first down. It's easy to see why the Shanahans like Young so much -- he's a man's man and a ferocious football player. 

TB Alfred Morris. The rookie tailback ran for a career-high 124 yards and averaged 5.6 yards per carry. This eclipsed his previous high of 120 yards which also came against the Giants. Alfred did a solid job in pass protection, but it was his tough running that really helped the Skins win. He hurt himself and the team with a terrible fumble deep in Giants territory, but he bounced back and helped bury New York by picking up tough first downs in the fourt quarter. His 6-yard run on third and three with 1:07 left in regulation, which effectively ended the game, was a piece of brutal beauty, as he shrugged off the Giants defensive lineman who grabbed him short of the first down marker, and pushed forward, finally diving to the ground 6 yards past the line of scrimmage. Morris broke two tackles on the night and gained 67 yards after contact. The dude is a grown-ass man. 

QB Robert Griffin III. He fumbled deep in Giants territory because he wasn't covering up the ball, but got lucky when teammate Josh Morgan grabbed the ball out of the air and ran it into the end zone. However, he did run for 72 yards, threw a touchdown pass, no picks and made a huge throw with about two minutes left to pick up a first down in Giants territory, allowing the Skins to run out the clock. He threw some beautiful passes, particularly to Pierre Garcon, that were so perfectly on target that the receivers did not have to break stride and picked up big yards after the catch. Great games from RG3 are becoming routine. 

WR Pierre Garcon. Caught twice as many pases on Monday night [8] as he had in any one game this season. It was Garcon's best day as a receiver, as the Giants found it very difficult to cope with his rare blend of size and quickness. No Giants defender who tried to cover Garcon did particularly well, but CB Prince Amukamara and LB Chase Blackburn had the most trouble. He did drop a pass, but he also forced two missed tackles and caught Washington's only TD pass. 

PASS

WR Josh Morgan, WR Leonard Hankerson, LG Kory Lichtensteiger, C Will Montgomery, RG Chris Chester, RT Tyler Polumbus, TE Logan Paulsen.

MUST DO BETTER

WR Santana Moss. Only in for 15 plays, didn't catch a pass and didn't block particularly well, which isn't a shock since he's not a terribly good blocker. 

FAIL

TE Niles Paul. Only in for 13 plays and did nothing apart from dropping the only pass thrown his way. Drops are a problem for Paul, which probably explains why he rarely sees a football thrown his way. 

The Washington Redskins have released the injury report for this week's show down with the Baltimore Ravens. 

QUESTIONABLE:

CB DeAngelo Hall:  Hall suffers from a sore ankle.  He injured the ankle in the first quarter of last weeks 17-16 win over the Giants.  Don't worry about Hall.  Earlier in the week he said there was 'no way' he would miss the Ravens game.   

OT Trent Williams:  Williams continue to battle a sore ankle.  He was limited in practice this week.  With the playoff hunt alive and well, we fully expect to see Williams in the starting lineup. 

LB London Fletcher:  His injury has been a few weeks running.  He was limited in practice.  Like Williams and Hall, Fletcher has said he will manage it and continue to play.

WR Pierre Garcon seems fine and was in full practice all week.  Same with CB Josh Wilson, who has been banged up at times this season. 

As expected, the Washington Nationals have lost their premier lefty out of the bullpen, Sean Burnett.  Brunett signed a two year deal, with a club option for third year, with the Angels.  Burnett has been a solid main stay in the Nats bullpen since being acquired from the Pittsburgh Pirate via trade in 2009. 

The Nationals are still seeking relief help and could land significant help if they trade 1B/OF Mike Morse.  Trading Morse would be contingent on resigning 1B Adam LaRoche.  The Nats are in current negotiations with LaRoche.    With the trade two weeks ago with Minnesota that brought CF Denard Span to Washington, the Nationals would not keep both Morse and resign LaRoche.  The outfield appears set with Jayson Werth, Span, and Bryce Harper.  Morse could possibly net significant bullpen help. 

Below is our week 13 evaluation of all the rookie quarterbacks starting in the NFL this season. Below that is how we have evaluated all the rookie quarterbacks over the course of the 2012 season. 

Week 12

Nick Foles -- He continues to show the Eagles were correct to draft him, though he's not necessarily the QB of the future for the franchise. He's not mobile and he doesn't make enough big plays, but he's still learning. His arm is good -- he's just got to trust it a bit more. He helped keep the Eagles in the game with the Cowboys pretty much until the end. He has problems in the red zone, but there were no killing mistakes.

Robert Griffin III -- Shined again on the biggest stage he's been on so far -- Monday Night Football against the reigning Super Bowl champs. He led his team on two big fourth quarter drives -- the first one ended in the TD pass that gave us our final score and the second one ran out the clock to preserve the 1-point win. Poised and clutch in the second half, RG3 didn't have his best game statistically, but he beat a great quarterback and still had the highest passer rating of any rookie QB last week. He also set the rookie rushing record for a quarterback -- with four games left to play! RG3 just keeps getting better and better. 

Ryan Lindley -- He's terrible, but it isn't his fault. Lindley is a 6th round pick who has no business playing in NFL games any time soon and shame on head coach Ken Whisenhunt for putting his young QB in such an awful position. John Skelton gets the starting job back on Sunday so the ill-fated Ryan Lindley experiment ends. He shouldn't play again until he's made a lot of progress. 

Andrew Luck -- He got tons of kudos from the national press for leading a furious comeback against a Lions team that has now lost three straight games by blowing leads in the last two minutes of regulation -- something that had not happened in 12 years. While Luck's comeback was very impressive, he was the main reason the Colts had to come back in the first place. Luck was horrid in the first three quarters of that game and I'm still trying to figure out how a pro quarterback completes only 44% of his passes against the Detroit Lions defense. 

Ryan Tannehill -- Certainly not his best game, but he did what he could to keep the Dolphins close to the Patriots and the end result was a perfectly respectable loss to a vastly superior opponent. Accuracy took a step back last Sunday, but overall the needle is pointing up. 

Brandon Weeden -- He continues to make progress, like his team, though playing the Raiders helps anyone look better. His accuracy is improving and so is his decision-making. There are still too many turnovers, but bigger plays are slowly coming. 

Russell Wilson -- A huge week for Wilson and the Seahawks, who have been accused by many, including me, of being incapable of winning outside Seattle. They went into Soldier Field and Wilson led game-saving drives in the fourth quarter to pull out a tough road win against a quality component. Wilson was terrific with his arms and legs and showed great poise down the stretch. Sorry, Jay Cutler: the rookie Seahawks signal-caller was the best quarterback on the field last Sunday.

Weekly Winner: Russell Wilson. This was a close one and I nearly gave it to RG3 again, but Wilson proved the doubters wrong by leading his team to a road victory and Wilson himself continues to play at a very high level, whether at home or on the road. For all the media chatter about Andrew Luck, it is Wilson who has played at a level high enough for him to be truly considered the real Rookie of the Year alternative to Robert Griffin III. 

(Photo: Dennis Wierzbicki, US Presswire)

2012 Season To Date

SEASON WINNER TO DATE: Robert Griffin III, Washington Redskins

2. Russell Wilson [Seahawks]

3. Andrew Luck [Colts]

4. Ryan Tannehill [Dolphins]

5. Brandon Weeden [Browns]

6. Nick Foles [Eagles]

7. Ryan Lindley [Cardinals]

When: Sunday, December 9, at 1 p.m. ET

Where: FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland

Watch: CBS

Listen: ESPN 980 AM WTEM

Point Spread: Washington (-2.5)

The Redskins completed the NFC East "trifecta" with wins over Philadelphia, Dallas and New York over the past three weeks. Washington looks to make it four in a row and move over the .500 mark for the season when they host the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday at Fed Ex Field. A victory would give the 'Skins a winning record for the first this late in a season since 2008. A four game winning streak would also be the first since that same season. Fans attending the game on Sunday are encouraged to bring new, unwrapped toys to support the "Touchdowns for Tots" drive. United States Marines will be stationed at all gates and entrances to collect your toys.

DISCUSS THIS IN OUR REDSKINS FAN FORUM!

RAVENS: Aim for 3rd consecutive season with 10+ wins…For career, QB JOE FLACCO is 12-6 (.667) vs. NFC. Flacco (3,038) has reached 3,000+ pass yards for 4th consecutive season…RB RAY RICE has 11 TDs (10 rush, 1 rec.) in 17 games vs. NFC. Avg. 5 yards per carry vs. NFC. Leads AFC RBs with 49 receptions this season. Since 2009, avg. 119.4 scrimmage yards per game, 2nd-most in NFL. Rice (872) needs 128 rush yards to reach 1,000 for 4th consecutive season…WR TORREY SMITH (92) needs 8 catches to register 100 career. Ravens are 9-1 when he has TD rec. Smith (7) needs 3 rec. TDs to become 2nd Raven to reach 10 TD receptions (MICHAEL JACKSON, 14 in 1996) in season. WR ANQUAN BOLDIN (9,994) needs 6 rec. yards to reach 10,000. Has 3 TDs in past 2 vs. Was…LB PAUL KRUGER aims for 5th game in row with sack…S ED REED has NFL-best 61 INTs since entering NFL in ’02. Had 2 INTs in last game vs. Was…KR-WR JACOBY JONES ranks 2nd in NFL with 34.2 KR avg…REDSKINS: QB ROBERT GRIFFIN III aims for 4th in row with 100+ rating. In past 3, has completed 46 of 63 (73 pct.) for 667 yards with 9 TDs vs. 1 INT for 140 rating. Rushed for 72 yards (5 att., 14.4 avg.) last week & has 714 rush yards, most by rookie QB in NFL history. Is 1st QB in NFL history with 4+ TD passes of 60+ yards & rush TD of 60+ yards in season. In 6 home games, has 101.7 rating with 10 TDs (7 pass, 3 rush) & 428 rush yards…RB ALFRED MORRIS ties for 1st among rookies with 1,106 rush yards. Has 75+ rush yards in 10 of 1st 12 NFL games (5 100-yard games). Aims for 3rd in row with 100+ rush yards…WR PIERRE GARCON had 8 catches for 106 yards & TD last week. Aims for 3rd in row with TD & 85+ yards. Had 100-yard game (108 yards, 6 catches) vs. Bal. on 11/22/09 (with Ind.) WR SANTANA MOSS has 5 TDs in past 6…In last meeting, LB LONDON FLETCHER had 12 tackles, incl. 10 solo. CB DE ANGELO HALL has INT in 2 of past 3. Aims for 3rd in row vs. Bal. with FR. Since 2011, LB RYAN KERRIGAN is only NFL player with 10+ sacks (14) & 2+ INT-TDs (2).

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