Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down: Falcons 24 Redskins 17
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THUMBS UP
Alfred Morris -- He ran well early and kept the Redskins in the game by getting them out of bad field position and consistently moving the chains enough to put the Falcons in bad field position throughout the first half. Morris finished with 115 yards on 19 carries [6.1 ypc]. That's the rookie's second straight game with at least 100 rushing yards, though he did not score a touchdown in this game. I had Morris with about 55 yards after contact, which shows how hard he runs, but considering he got about 60 yards before contact, it's pretty obviously the Redskins offensive line was doing some nice blocking today.
Redskins linebackers -- ILB London Fletcher led everyone with 18 tackles, 14 of them solo and he was critical in holding Falcons runners to under 80 yards on the ground today. ILB Perry Riley added 10 tackles, 7 of them solo, and recovered a Matt Ryan fumble. Last, but definitely not least, OLB Ryan Kerrigan played a Falcons screen pass perfectly in the first half, anticipating the Matt Ryan pass and jumping perfectly to knock the ball down and then recovering to catch it before it hit the ground. Kerrigan then outran Ryan to the end zone for Washington's first touchdown of the game. It was a terrific football play by Kerrigan and further evidence that he's a much better athlete than he's been given credit for.
THUMBS DOWN
Pierre Garcon -- The Redskins dropped five passes today and WR Pierre Garcon was the guilty party three times. [TE Fred Davis and WR Santana Moss dropped the other two.] Garcon signed a contract with an $11 million signing bonus and $20.5 million guaranteed money and he owes the Redskins -- and his quarterbacks -- better than this. I understand his foot isn't completely healthy yet, but that shouldn't affect his hands. Time for Garcon to get his act together and be the wideout he promised to be.
Third Down Offense -- The Redskins came into the game converting 26% of t heir third down opportunites, last in the NFL. That percentage got worse today, as they turned only one third down play into a first down -- the 77-yard TD pass from Kirk Cousins to Santana Moss on third and nine. The Redskins lost the time of possession battle to the Falcons by almost 14 minutes despite having a running back who went for 115 yards. That left the defense exhaused late in the game and it showed, as the Falcons scored 17 points in the fourth quarter by running through arm tackles and past exhausted defensive backs. The Redskins either threw short of the first down marker on third and long or they ran a poorly-executed running play on third and short, with poor blocking not enabling Morris to pick up first down in short yardage twice and once to RG3. The Redskins really need to get this third down offense fixed because they can't keep scoring points on first and second down and the defense has enough trouble without playing tired because the offense can't sustain any long drives.
