Redskins Report Card, Offense: Week 14
After reviewing the film of the Redskins-Ravens week 14 game several times, I hand out the following class grades to the Redskins offense.
LT Trent Williams was almost unstoppable last Sunday. [Photo - US Presswire]
HEAD OF THE CLASS
Trent Williams. It was an odd day for the Redskins offensive line, with great run blocking, but poor pass blocking. That wasn't the case for Williams, though. He was solid against the pass, as he almost alway is, and completely dominant in the run game, consistently moving aside his man and getting to the second level to clear a path for Alfred Morris. Like all the offensive linemen, Williams stayed away from penalties and was strong in the running game -- though Williams was the best of the bunch -- but he also did a good job protecting the quarterbacks. He did give up three hurries and he wasn't perfect, but it is clear Williams is playing at a very high level through the pain of his deep thigh bruise. Though he will probably be passed over by Pro Bowl voters, Williams is as good as any left tackle in the NFL right now.
A-STUDENTS
Chris Chester. He gave up a sack and a hurry, but was otherwise quite strong in pass protection, the only lineman apart from Williams to do a decent job protecting the quarterback. In the running game he was fantastic, perhaps even better than Williams in that regard. The Redskins ran five times for 30 yards [6.0] over Chester and when the Skins ran between Chester and Montgomery they gained 48 yards on 5 carries [9.8]. That's fantastic production running behind Chester and a major reason why he had such a good game.
Kirk Cousins. He was very productive in limited action and with almost no warmup time. Cousins threw three passes and each was successful. His first pass yielded a first down due to defensive pass interference. His second pass was a 15-yard completion to Leonard Hankerson in the middle of the field that set the ball up on the 11 yard line. His third pass was an 11-yard TD to Pierre Garcon. On his one running play, Cousins snuck up the middle and scored two points to tie the game with less than 30 seconds to play. Cousins was not asked to win the game in overtime -- that was left to the special teams -- but what he did do he did flawlessly.
Robert Griffin III. He didn't have his best game, but he did play very well, avoided turnovers and negative plays, and threw another TD pass. He showed his toughness by trying to play through a knee injury. Griffin was under pressure much of the day, but he actually had a higher passer rating under pressure than when he had plenty of time, though he as effective in those situations, too. As usual, Griffin was extremely accurate and effective when throwing the ball over the middle.
Alfred Morris. Another big day for Morris, who rushed for 122 yards on 23 carries [5.3]. Even more impressive is that he gained over 76% of those yards after contact, demonstrating yet again what a tough runner he is. He made 7 tacklers miss and was particularly effective in shaking defenders when running up the middle. The one bad mark on Morris' report card this week is the same as last weekk -- a costly fumble. If Morris can conquer his fumbling issues -- and he is working on it now -- there will be almost no holes in his game.
PASS
OG Kory Lichtensteiger, WR Pierre Garcon, C Will Montgomery, WR Joshua Morgan, FB Darrel Young
MUST DO BETTER
Tyler Polumbus. Did a nice job blocking for the run -- as did every lineman on Sunday. He gave up a sack and five hurries, the most of any lineman. He got beaten badly to the outside by Paul Kruger, which led to the sack and he seemed to have trouble most of the day.
Santana Moss. He had a beautiful 60-yard pass from RG3 bounce off his shoulder pads. Not acceptable.
FAIL
Logan Paulsen. His run blocking was fine, but he committed another penalty, dropped a pass and gave up three QB hurries. The offense would really take off with a good tight end like Fred Davis.
