With a Giant chance to supplant themselves as supreme NFC contenders, the Washington Redskins came out flat on Sunday. It was an emotional day from the get go, with the ceremony to enter former Redskin Sean Taylor into the Redskins Ring of Fame, and Clinton Portis carrying the flag numbered 21 for his fallen teammate, but unfortunately he couldn’t carry the the offense this week. The Giants came out knowing they had to stop CPort to prevent the Skins from getting their offense going, and they did.

The first couple drives were a sign of what was to come all game. When the Redskins had a 3rd down to convert they came up yards short almost every time, as the Giants managed to make the big throw and catch basically every time. On the opening drive Campbell managed to hit Thrash for 4 yards, too bad it was 3rd and 6. When The G Men had their first 3rd and 8, Eli comfortably hit Hixon on route over the middle for 13, where he managed to absorb a solid hit from Landry and convert the big first down. Later in the drive another 3rd and 9 confronted the Giants, and Eli smoothly hit Hixon again on a fade toward sideline that couldn’t have been executed better. Hixon has stepped in beautifully for the troubled Burress, and there seems to be immediate chemistry between Eli and Hixon. After this big momentum gaining first down Eli tossed a perfect 40 yd pass in strike to Amani Toomer to complete the opening scoring drive for The Giants. On Washington's second drive 3rd and 9 arose and Campbell hit Cooley short of the sticks again. Add to that the fact that Washington Punter Ryan Plackemeier failed to help change the field position both times by shanking one punt and launching the other in the end zone and it was clear from the get go that The Giants were the team that was going to execute when it counted.

Despite being completely outplayed all 1st half, The Redskins had an opportunity to get within 3 points at the half, but Washington kicker Sean Suisham’s struggles continued by errantly booting a 42 yder well wide of the target. This Left The Redskins behind 13-7 at halftime. Leaving hope that with a better second half, a victory could be earned. These hopes were quickly shattered for Redskin fans as the second half was even worse then the first.

So where is the blame being tossed? Well I’m hearing most of the criticism thrown at quarterback Jason Campbell. To me I throw the blame at the entire team, except for Clinton Portis.  It just seemed that the o line did nothing for Portis, as there were no holes or any running room for him.  It also seemed that when a big play was needed nobody was there to do it on offense or defense. If Campbell made a big throw it would be dropped by a wide receiver. If a wide out broke away from the defense, Campbell would have taken a second too long and given the defense the time to recover, and if the quarterback and wide receivers got on same page the offensive line would allow the pressure to dismantle the play.

On the defensive side, Washington did a great job in the first half of completely shutting down the #1 rushing team in the NFL’s running game. But the strength of the defense (The secondary), just seemed to be a step behind on almost every play. The simple quick ins and running backs out of the backfield 3rd down conversions were absolute killers. It also really seemed that the corners needed to press the Giant wide outs much more often, as quick passes due to big cushions were real costly. Also it’s clear to me that the Redskins don’t have that defensive playmaker making game changing plays, the way the great Sean Taylor used to. When staring at a list of the defensive roster for the Redskins you would think that they do though, as the list contains former defensive superstars in Jason Taylor, London Fletcher Baker, and D’Angelo Hall.

            The Redskins have proven to be very predictable on offense in the last few weeks, and in my opinion this is a direct result of not stretching the field. The Giants did a great job of stacking the line and run blitzing to stop Clinton Portis. When the Redskins fail to threaten the opponent’s defense with the Santana Moss deep threat early, the offense seems to crumble in my opinion. Clinton Portis cant do it all, especially with the long list of injuries he owns up to this year. It has been very frustrating to not see a second deep threat come through and develop for Washington. Yes, Chris Cooley is a key go to guy for the offense, but it seems all of his catches this year have been caught within 7 yds from scrimmage this year. Randel El seems to not be fit for a #2 wide receiver, and the two rookie wide outs have battled injuries and have not been quick developers.

             With 4 games remaining (at Balt, at Cincy, Phily, and at SF), winning out would most likely get The Redskins in the playoffs. 3-1 would be the most likely and require help from some of the other teams in the playoff race. So at 7-5, The Washington Redskins are still in the thick of the playoff race, but unless they really strap down and get back to playing good football immediately, they will be watching the playoffs from home this year.

                                                                                    Peter Lomuscio