Carrying this team to the playoffs, perhaps? The defense splits the game ball with CP, he of the 126 yards on 25 carries (over 5 YPC) and a touchdown, they of holding the Giants to 10 points. Admittedly, help arrived in the form of chronic dropsies by the Giants but even with some of those catches it isn't obvious that New York scores 23 points. We'll do this offense this morning, the defense later.
Quarterback: Todd Collins set a record by going 10 years and 2 days without a start, the longest start-drought in NFL history. And while he didn't play the best game, the good guys won. The important stat here is that although he wasn't completing more than a 1/3rd of his passes, he was moving the ball semi-efficiently when he did complete them. On 8 of 25 he managed just 166 yards, but that's still 6.64 YPA. Eli, by comparison, went 18/52 for 184 yards: 3.55 YPA. I also felt that was an abnormally high amount of passes to call given the weather.
Offensive Line: Couldn't be happier. Somehow without the help of two starting linemen in Randy Thomas and Jon Jansen, both on IR, we held the sack happiest defense in the entire NFL to just two sacks. This also despite Todd Collins not being the most fleet of foot qb we've seen. More crucial than that, though, were the holes they opened up on our way to a 153 yard rushing decision.
Running Backs: Enough cannot be said about CP's performance, which I thought was personified by a run in the first half. I forget when, exactly, it happened, but it was a draw that Portis received less than a second before a Giants defender was on top of him. Portis calmly spun, made that guy miss, and then drove forward strong. Instead of resorting to dance moves after a great spin, he ran efficiently past one defender and then over the rest, picking up around 8-9 yards on a play that just as easily could have been a one yard loss. With the weather what it was, those 8-9 yards mattered, because 3rd and longs were nearly impossible to convert. And of course dap goes to Ladell Betts on a 14 yard touchdown run where he, too, looked just mean lowering his shoulders and forcing the ball into the endzone. Outstanding effort by both those guys. Mike Sellers: 19 yard catch.
Wide Receivers: There's only 8 catches so not a lot to go on, and we too dropped a few good passes. That said, the story here was that the catches mattered. S. Moss led both teams in receiving yards and receptions, but it was Santana who made the game with 3 catches for 75 yards (25 YPC). Very impressive 36 yard catch, and pass, on the sideline after a drop in the middle of the field. Had the pass been any lower it would have been deflected or intercepted. Moss deserves all the credit in the world for letting the ball get to him and not playing defense on it, he has about the best eye for where a football is going to be as any player I've seen. No other Redskins receiver caught a pass yesterday.
Tight Ends: Todd Yoder had a frustrating false start penalty but otherwise played fine. He had a 30 yard reception. Chris Cooley had two big catches for 19 and 15 yards respectively.
Was it offensive? In some instances. I'd just as soon watch our running game flourish in a win than see us pass the ball well and move downfield effectively just to see us lose a game in the final moments. Any fan who claims to prefer close games to grinding it out over a division rival disagrees strongly with me. Nothing pleases me more than watching the Redskins hold a lead and grind the opponent down by bleeding them to death. What's important is that we're still alive and kicking and ready for Minnesota next week. Be sure to root against the Saints.
Elsewhere: More to come from Curly R, Greg at Hog Heaven says the D won us the game and recognizes the performance of Reed Doughty (10 tackles!), something up with Al Saunders this offseason?, Queen Latifah loves Portis, etc. Check the blogroll for more.