Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down: Redskins 17 Giants 16
THUMBS UP
Alfred Morris -- Alfred Morris is a grown-@ss man! He's rushed for 313 yards in these 3 victories over Washington's division opponents -- and he saved his best for Monday Night Football, when he gashed the Giants for 124 yards on 22 carries [5.7 ypc]. No run was more important than the last, when he blasted through a Giants defense for six yards on third down and three with one minute left in the game. The run yielded a first down and effectively ended the game, as Washington knelt down on the next play to end the game. Morris now has 1106 rushing yards on the season and is averaging 4.8 yards per carry. Morris is the first Redskins running back to rush for 1000 yards in a season since Clinton Portis in 2008 and he's only the second rookie in franchise history to hit the 1000-yard mark. His 1106 is a rookie rushing record for the Redskins -- with four games still to play.
Robert Griffin III -- It wasn't his best game -- he played better against the Eagles and Cowboys -- but he made very few mistakes and no killing mistakes. For the 8th time this season RG3 didn't throw an interception in a game and he made enough plays with his arm [13 of 21 for 163 yards and 1 TD] and legs [14.4 yards per carry on five carries for 72 yards] to beat a far more experienced and battle-tested opponent on the biggest stage Griffin has seen in his life. And I give kudos to the coaching staff for placing its trust where it belongs, with RG3. With 2:19 left in the game and the Redskins facing a 2 down and 8 yards to go from its own 41 yard line, the Skins did not do the safe thing and run the ball. Griffin faked the handoff and cooly fired a perfect spiral over the middle to WR Pierre Garcon [8 catchces, 106 yards, TD] who went to the ground at the New York 42 yard line. A 17 yard gain that helped the Redskins run out the clock, but it also demonstrated the faith the coaches correctly have in their rookie signal-caller.
Offensive Line -- We've only got one thumbs down tonight so I'll add a thumbs up in its place. The offensive line was terrific tonight, dominating a Giants defensive line that is probably the best in the NFL. Last week the Giants defensive line sacked Aaron Rodgers five times and racked up four tackles for loss. Against the Redskins, the Giants had no sacks and only one tackle for loss. Meanwhile, Washington rushed for 207 yards on 31 carries, an average of 6.7 yards per carry. Most of all, the Redskins ran the ball when they needed to do it. On Washington's final scoring drive, which spanned the third and fourth quarters, the Redskins ran 12 plays. Eight of those plays were running plays and they covered 55 of the 86 yards on the drive. The drive lasted 6 minutes and 38 seconds and was straight from the Joe Gibbs/Joe Bugel playbook of power football. Morris, Griffin, Darrel Young and Evan Royster all had at least one carry on the drive and the offensive line cleared the way for all of them.
THUMBS DOWN
Pass Rush -- I'm not going to waste time going on about this. If you've watched Redskins games this year you know the pass rush is virtually non-existent. That happened again tonight. The Redskins got one sack [Rob Jackson] and it happened in the fourth quarter when they needed it. However, other than that, Giants QB Eli Manning had plenty of time to throw on almost every passing play. That one sack was the only real hit on Manning during the entire game and he was almost never hurried either. I know the Skins are missing OLB Brian Orakpo and DE Adam Carriker, but the complete absence of a pass rush is not a tenable position to maintain. Something must be done. I doubt much can be done this year so getting more of a pass rush must be obtained -- somehow -- during the offseason.
