Redskins Defeat Eagles 23-20

Captain Kirk finally did it, ladies and gentlemen.  The Redskins were down with just over 5 minutes remaining, and nothing short of a touchdown would do.  Kirk Cousins led his team on a 15 play, 90 yard drive to score on a pass to Pierre Garcon with just 27 seconds left on the clock.

In spite of the fact that they were playing the top run defense in the NFL and the running backs struggled to gain big yardage for most of the game, the Redskins held to a fairly balanced approach, running the ball 32 times (plus a "run" by Kirk Cousins into the end zone after a bobbled snap) and throwing it 46 times. Chris Thompson had two big yardage plays early in the game, and Alfred Morris finally managed to break through on the offense's last drive of the game.  When they went to the air, Cousins was a solid playmaker, going 31 of 46 for 289 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 fumble, and no interceptions.  Cousins spread the ball around to eight different receivers, with Jamison Crowder, Rashad Ross, and Garcon leading the crew.  Garcon made the game winning touchdown catch, Crowder led the group with 8 receptions for 78 yards, and Ross impressed with a big play of 1 catch for 43 yards.  Jordan Reed had some important catches, but he also had a costly fumble and left the game with an injury on the Redskins' final drive.

The defense, which struggled against the Giants last week, had a much better showing today.  When their backs were against the wall, this unit showed up.  They tallied five sacks; Chris Baker had two in the first half and Trent Murphy came up huge up with two sacks and an interception on three back-to-back plays during Philadelphia's final drive, ruining the Eagles' chance of a comeback.

The win wasn't without issues, including exposed holes in the secondary, missed sacks by otherwise reliable Ryan Kerrigan, a 45 yard punt return from Darren Sproles, and 10 penalties for 110 yards.  Those penalties included unnecessary roughness against recently promoted Quinton Dunbar, who tackled Sproles after Sproles signaled for a fair catch, and two controversial personal foul calls against Trenton Robinson.  However, this is a team that, in the past, would not have been able to overcome such issues.  It's a promising day when things don't go perfectly at FedEx field and the burgundy and gold still walk away with a win.