Offense
Nineteen of Washington's twenty-three offensive players took a snap over the course of a season-high 71 snaps. Three offensive players were inactive (Nate Sudfeld, Josh Doctson and Arie Koundijo). Colt McCoy was active but did not record a snap. Rashad Ross and Robert Kelley were the only other offensive players with fewer than 15 snaps in the game.
The Redskins' offense ranks 5th in total yards (1,219). 5th in yards per drive (39.6), 4th in red-zone trips per game (4.7) and 3rd in drive scoring percentage (51.6%), but only 12th in points per drive (2.19) and 18th in total points (69).
You've heard this before, but the reason for this is that the team ranks 30th in red-zone touchdown percentage (21.4%). The Redskins also rank 30th in goal-to-go touchdown scoring percentage (16.7%). Against New York, the team was 0-4 on their red zone trips and 0-2 on their goal-to-go opportunities.
Quarterbacks (3) | ||
Player (* - denotes starter) | Snaps | Snap % |
Kirk Cousins * | 71 | 100% |
Colt McCoy | 0 | 0% |
Nate Sudfeld | Inactive | N/A |
- Kirk Cousins- The win against the Giants was Cousins' first against a team with a winning record in his career and his fourth career fourth-quarter comeback. He completed 21 of his 35 attempts for 296 yards and two touchdowns. Cousins ranked 8th in QB rating (106.4), 8th in QBR (74.5) and 6th in adjusted net yards per attempt (8.7) in Week 3. He led all Redskins offensive players in Pro Football Focus grading (79.0). His deep passing improved in the game, as he completed 3 of his 5 attempts that traveled 20 or more yards in the air (for 99 yards and a TD); he had only completed 3 of his 9 previous such attempts in the first two weeks of the season. He remained stagnant in the red zone, though. He completed just 2 of his 5 passes for 14 yards (2.8 average) for 0 touchdowns. He also was sacked (with a fumble on the play) and lost three yards on a rush in the red area.
- More Cousins- Despite all his shortcomings this year, Cousins has at least put up some respectable counting stats in the passing game. He currently ranks tied for 6th in passing first downs (43), tied for 4th in attempts (124), tied for 4th in completions (79) and 2nd in passing yards (909). Those numbers put him on pace to pass for 229 first downs, 661 attempts, 421 completions and 4,848 yards. Each of those numbers would set new team records. The current franchise highs in those categories are: 217 passing first downs (team), 543 passing attempts, 379 passes completed and 4,166 passing yards. Cousins would be breaking most of his own records, as he is already hold the franchise records for attempts, completions and yards in a single season.
Wide Receivers (6) | ||
Player (* - denotes starter) | Snaps | Snap % |
Pierre Garcon * | 55 | 77% |
DeSean Jackson * | 51 | 72% |
Jamison Crowder * | 44 | 62% |
Ryan Grant | 18 | 25% |
Rashad Ross | 2 | 3% |
Josh Doctson | Inactive | N/A |
- DeSean Jackson- Jackson caught 5 of his 8 targets for 96 yards and a touchdown (153.3 QB rating when targeted). Jackson's 44-yard touchdown was his 29th career TD of 40 or more yards. Since he entered the league in 2008, no other player has scored on more than 18 such plays. Jackson is tied for 10th in NFL history in that category. According to NFL Next Gen Stats, he reached a top speed of 20.95 mph on his touchdown play, the fastest speed by any wide receiver and the fourth fastest speed by any ball carrier in Week 3.
- Jamison Crowder- He caught four balls for 78 yards and a touchdown against the Giants. His 55-yard touchdown on a screen was the longest play of his career. On that play, he hit a top speed of 20.10 mph, which was the second fastest speed by a wideout in Week 3 (behind only DeSean Jackson). It also marked the first time in Crowder's career that he has scored a TD in consecutive games. Crowder is one of only five Redskins since at least 1970 to record 75 or more receptions in his first 19 games. He is younger now than each of the four players in front of him on that list were when they played their 19th career game. (Gary Clark, Jordan Reed, Charlie Brown and Kelvin Bryant). Crowder was the second highest graded player by PFF on the Redskins offense (75.2), and that does not even factor in his work as a punt returner, which we will discuss here in a bit.
Tight Ends (3) | ||
Player (* - denotes starter) | Snaps | Snap % |
Jordan Reed | 64 | 90% |
Vernon Davis * | 35 | 49% |
Niles Paul | 15 | 21% |
- Jordan Reed- Jordan Reed's 64 snaps and 90% snap percentage against the Giants are both tied for the second highest such marks of his career. He ranks 10th and 11th in snaps and snap percentage among tight ends this season. His 5 receptions, 56 yards and 57% catch percentage in the game were all season lows. That probably has something to do with the fact that he was covered by defensive backs more in the game. More than half of his targets came on a play when he was covered by a DB. Reed still leads the team or is tied for the team lead in targets (25), receptions (18) and first downs (10).
- No Red Zone for Reed- Reed was not targeted on one of Kirk Cousins' five red-zone attempts. He has only been targeted on 3 of Cousins' 22 RZ passes this year (14%), compared to 21 targets on 78 attempts in 2015 (27%).
Running Backs (3) | ||
Player (* - denotes starter) | Snaps | Snap % |
Chris Thompson | 34 | 48% |
Matt Jones * | 33 | 46% |
Robert Kelley | 4 | 6% |
- Jones vs. Thompson- Chris Thompson out-snapped Matt Jones yet again, but it was Jones who got the vast majority of the work on Sunday and who was more efficient with his touches. Jones had 19 opportunities in the game to just 8 for Thompson. Both Jones and Thompson averaged 3.8 yards per carry in the game, But Jones bested Thompson in rushing success rate (47% to 33%), yards per carry after contact (2.7 to 1.2), catch percentage (100% to 50%) and yards per reception (7.0 yards to -7.0 yards). And while efficiency is important we can't over looked the fact that Jones outgained him by 42 yards on the ground, 21 yards through the air and 63 yards in total. Jones salted away the clock with 7 carries for 36 yards on the Redskins game-winning drive. Robert Kelley made his debut, but slipped on half of his carries and only totaled 7 yards (1.8 average).
- Redskins Rushing- The Redskins ran the ball more times in this game alone (30 rushes) than they had in their previous two games combined this season (29 rushes, previous single-game high was 17). After not running the ball on more than 26% of their plays in Week 1 or 2, they pounded the rock on 44% of the offensive plays against the Giants. And as a result, the team set new season highs in rushing yards (90 yards, the previous high was 82) and time of possession (33:26, the previous high was 27:09). After not finishing higher than 29th in rushing attempts and rushing percentage on a weekly basis in their first two games, Washington finished 9th and 13th in those categories this week (they ranked 32nd in both categories in Week 1 and 29th in both categories in Week 2). The Redskins still rank 29th in rushing attempts (59) and 30th in rushing percentage (31.4%) on the season. They need to stick to this strategy if they hope to have continued success on offense.
Offensive Linemen (8) | ||
Player (* - denotes starter) | Snaps | Snap % |
Morgan Moses * | 71 | 100% |
Brandon Scherff * | 71 | 100% |
Trent Williams * | 71 | 100% |
Spencer Long | 38 | 54% |
Ty Nsekhe | 36 | 51% |
Shawn Lavuao * | 34 | 48 |
Korey Lichtensteiger * | 34 | 48 |
Arie Koundijo | Inactive | N/A |
- Offensive Line- This was the first game this season in which all five starting offensive linemen did not play on every snap. Starters Korey Lichtensteiger and Shawn Lauvao were injured in the game and did not play in the second half. Spencer Long took over at center, and Ty Nsekhe replaced Trent Williams at left tackle, who filled in for Lauvao at left guard. On just 34 snaps, Lauvao allowed two hits and a hurry. Morgan Moses and Ty Nsekhe were each responsible for one of the sacks on Cousins.
- Brandon Scherff- Scherff was the only starter that did not give up a pressure of any kind in the game. He was the third highest rated offensive player on the team by PFF (74.3). Scherff was the site's highest graded right guard in all of football this week.
Defense
Over the course of 67 defensive snaps against the Giants, 20 of the Redskins' 27 defenders saw the field. Duke Ihenacho, Bashuad Breeland and Houston Bates were the only ones of that group that played on 20 (30%) or fewer defensive snaps. Of the seven players that did not see any action on defense, four were inactive (Anthony Lanier, Kendall Reyes, Martrell Spaight and Kendall Fuller) and three only participated on special teams (Matt Ioannidis, Terence Garvin and Deshazor Everett).
On 41 Eli Manning ' dropbacks, the Redskins' got pressure on 7 occasions and blitzed 12 times (29%). The team also blitzed approximately 29% of the time last week. Unfortunately, this week, the overall pressure rate dropped from 37% to 17%. The defense notched two sacks, three QB hits and forced a season high three turnovers on the day.
The Redskins allowed both Shane Vereen (6.1) and Orleans Darkwa (5.3) to rush for over five yards per carry. The Giants averaged 5.7 yards per tote as a team. The Redskins missed 11 tackles in the game.
Washington currently ranks 29th in total yards allowed (1,274), 30th in yards per drive allowed (41), 30th in yards per play allowed (6.6) and 31st in first downs allowed (75). The defense ranks last in rushing touchdowns allowed (7), third down conversion percentage allowed (54.3%), scoring percentage allowed (51.6%) and points per drive allowed (2.97).
Defensive Linemen (7) | ||
Player (* - denotes starter) | Snaps | Snap % |
Chris Baker * | 51 | 76% |
Ziggy Hood * | 40 | 60% |
Cullen Jenkins | 23 | 34% |
Ricky Jean Francois | 20 | 30% |
Matt Ioannidis | ST Only | 0% |
Anthony Lanier | Inactive | N/A |
Kendall Reyes | Inactive | N/A |
- Defensive Linemen- Chris Baker led all Skins D-linemen in snaps and tackles (3) and was the only player on the unit to tally a sack (1), QB hit (1) or QB pressure (1). That's not a good look for the group. Baker forced a fumble on his sack. Ziggy Hood got his first start and played on the majority of the defensive snaps in consecutive games for the first time since 2013. Hood, Cullen Jenkins (1 TFL) and Ricky Jean Francois each recorded two tackles in the game. Jean Francois and Jenkins had much better tackles-per-opportunity percentages (14.3% and 12.5%) than Hood and Baker did (6.1% and 4.9%).
Outside Linebackers (4) | ||
Player (* - denotes starter) | Snaps | Snap % |
Ryan Kerrigan * | 55 | 82% |
Preston Smith * | 41 | 61% |
Trent Murphy | 37 | 55% |
Houston Bates | 1 | 1% |
- Ryan Kerrigan- Kerrigan chipped in with four tackles, two of which were for a loss. After a five pressure and one sack outburst in Week 2, he was relatively quiet in that department against New York. He is currently the Redskins lowest rated qualifying edge rusher on PFF and ranks 56th out of 96 in the NFL.
- Preston Smith- Preston Smith led the outside linebackers with five tackles, four solo tackles, four stops, one pass defense, a tackles-per-opportunity rate of 15.6% and a PFF grade of 81.9 (2nd highest on the team overall). He also added two quarterback hurries. Smith has at least two QB pressures in every game this season; so, while he's not having the same success at getting to the quarterback that he had last year, at least he is disrupting plays at a consistent rate.
- Trent Murphy- Murphy had another good day, as he recorded four tackles (1 solo and 3 assisted), a sack and a forced fumble. He also sacked the quarterback and forced a fumble in Week 2. This marks the third time that he has registered a sack in consecutive games in his career and the second time that he's forced a fumble two weeks in a row. He is one sack away from tying his career highs in both sacks and forced fumbles in a single season. Murphy also led the team in QB pressures (3) and hits (2). He had the best pressure rate (14.3%) among Washington OLBs for the second consecutive week.
Inside Linebackers (5) | ||
Player (* - denotes starter) | Snaps | Snap % |
Will Compton * | 67 | 100% |
Mason Foster * | 38 | 57% |
Su'a Cravens | 29 | 43% |
Terence Garvin | ST Only | 0% |
Martrell Spaight | Inactive | N/A |
- Mason Foster- Foster led the team's inside backers with five total tackles, five solo tackles and one tackle for a loss. He did not get much playing time by his standards, though. His 38 snaps and 57% snap percentage were his lowest since Week 13 of last season, which was the first game that he saw significant time on defense as a member of the Redskins (more than 10 snaps and 15% of the snaps).
- Will Compton- Will Compton played on 100% of the snaps for the second time this season. Compton only had one solo tackle, assisted tackle and defended pass. In two of the last three weeks, he's ranked last among Washington ILBs in tackles-per-opportunity rate (3.8% in this game). He ranks last on the season among the teams inside linebackers in that metric (15.4%). Compton missed a team-high two missed tackles (tied with 3 other players).
- Su'a Cravens- Craven's snap total and snap percentage increased for the second consecutive week. His totals and percentages through the first three weeks are: 18/26%, 20/29% and 29/43%. He's not just playing on obvious passing downs anymore, either (1 & 15+, 2 & 8+ and 3 & 2+). For the second consecutive week, he has seen more snaps than the number of times that the defense has encountered these situations (3 snaps more in Week 2 and 5 snaps more this week). Cravens had three tackles, two pass defenses and one game-winning interception against New York. In total, he only allowed 2 receptions for 15 yards on 6 targets, which was good for a 2.8 passer rating allowed. Cravens has been a top-three graded player on the defense by PFF in each of his three career games (1st, 3rd and 3rd).
- Cravens' Int- At 21 years and 80 days old, he became the youngest Redskin to pick off a pass since Tom Carter did it in 1993 at the age of 21 years and 70 days. Carter is the only Redskins player younger than Cravens to get a pick in a game since at least 1960. He is also the 8th youngest player on any team to do so since at least 1960. The only younger players to do so include: the aforementioned Carter, DeAngelo Hall, Patrick Peterson, Jacoby Shepherd, Donte Whitner, Kwon Alexander and Terrell Suggs. And, only one of these other players won the game with their interception. It was none other than DeAngelo Hall.
Cornerbacks (6) | ||
Player (* - denotes starter) | Snaps | Snap % |
Josh Norman * | 67 | 100% |
Dashaun Philips | 49 | 73% |
Greg Toler * | 43 | 64% |
Quinton Dunbar | 24 | 36% |
Bashaud Breeland * | 5 | 7% |
Kendall Fuller | Inactive | N/A |
- Josh Norman- Norman tied for the team lead in defensive snaps (67) and pass defenses (2). His five solo and six total tackles both ranked second on the team. He faced off against Odell Beckham on 53 of the Giants' 61 offensive plays (does not include plays on which penalties occurred). Norman allowed Beckham to catch 5 passes for 88 yards on 7 targets (113.7 passer rating against). The two passes that he defended came while covering Beckham. He has now defended two passes directed at an elite wide receiver in each week of the season (Brown, Bryant and Beckham). His PFF rating of 52.3 was his lowest of 2016. Josh Norman virtually locked down Brown and Bryant in Weeks 1 and 2, but Odell Beckham definitely got the better of him on the field in Week 3 (and for the second time in a row when they have played each other).
- Dashaun Philips- Dashaun Philips did not make a tackle in the game and missed one for the third consecutive week. Philips allowed 3 receptions, 50 receiving yards and a touchdown in the game. The Redskins have allowed opposing slot receivers to put up 53 or more receiving in each of the team's last five regular season games. Opposing slot men have averaged 5.4 receptions, 73 yards and 1 touchdown across those 5 contests. Philips is expected to miss next week with an injury; and as a result, we will finally see the seemingly long-awaited debut of rookie third-round pick, Kendall Fuller. Quarterbacks had a 42.1 passer rating when targeting Fuller in the preseason. His six defended passes ranked second in the NFL this past exhibition season.
- Quinton Dunbar- This was Dunbar's first appearance on the defensive side of the ball this season. He made some mistakes in the game (allowed 3 catches for 49 yards and caused a Redskins giveaway on a punt return), but he ultimately overcame them on the strength of two big plays. In the fourth quarter, his interception of Eli Manning saved the Redskins at least three points (his 2 career interceptions are both against Manning) and his 31-yard reception on a fake punt pass helped to keep the Giants off the board at the end of the first half. In doing so, Dunbar became just the 3rd Redskin (Dick James in 1961 and Champ Bailey in 2000) and 36th player in the NFL to record both a reception and an interception in the same game since 1960. There are some pretty impressive names on that list, including the late DeAngelo Hall (R.I.P.).
Safeties (5) | ||
Player (* - denotes starter) | Snaps | Snap % |
David Bruton * | 58 | 87% |
Will Blackmon | 44 | 66% |
DeAngelo Hall * | 32 | 48% |
Duke Ihenacho | 13 | 19% |
Deshazor Everett | ST Only | 0% |
- David Bruton & Will Blackmon- David Bruton missed another tackle in the game (he leads the team with 6 MTs in 2016), but he did lead all Washington players with eight solo and nine total tackles. Bruton was not bad in coverage either. He only allowed 3 receptions and 28 receiving yards in the contest. Will Blackmon played at safety and in the slot. Blackmon forced a fumble and was PFF's highest graded Redskin in the game (84.0). David Bruton received the fourth best defensive grade (77.4).
- DeAngelo Hall- DeAngelo Hall tore his ACL against the Giants and is out for the season. Hall has likely played his last game as a Redskin and in the NFL. He turns 33 in November and is the ninth and third oldest safety to play in a game and start a game respectively this season. This will be the third season in a row in which he has missed five or more games. At the end of the year, he will have missed 31 of 48 games over the course of the last three seasons (65% of his games in that span). The Redskins can save $4.25 million over their 2017 salary cap by releasing Hall in the offseason. Hall made five tackles and missed two in the game. Pour one out for Hall while you check out some of his franchise rankings in several key career defensive statistics (note that passes defended were not recorded prior to 2000).
DeAngelo Hall | FF | Def FR | FR Yards | FR TD | Int | Int Yards | INT TD | TO | TO Yards | Def TD | Pass Def |
Career Values | 8 | 9 | 161 | 3 | 23 | 369 | 3 | 32 | 530 | 6 | 80 |
Career Franchise Ranking | t-8th | t-12th | 1st | t-1st | 10th | 6th | t-2nd | 11th | 3rd | 2nd | 1st |
Special Teams
The Redskins used 34 players on special teams in New York. Those 34 consisted of 21 defenders, 10 offensive players and 3 specialists. Matt Ioannidis, Terrence Garvin and Deshazor Everett were the only non-specialists that saw time exclusively on special teams. Among all defensive players that have been active in at least one game this season, Chris Baker is the only defender that has not taken a special teams snap in 2016. Baker did not take a specials snap last year either and has only been on 143 such snaps since 2012; so, this is a trend that will likely continue.
Special Teamers (34) | Special Teamers (cont) | |||||
Player | Snaps | Snap % | Player | Snaps | Snap % | |
Houston Bates | 26 | 79% | Will Compton | 9 | 27% | |
Terence Garvin | 21 | 64% | Ryan Grant | 9 | 27% | |
Niles Paul | 21 | 64% | Ziggy Hood | 7 | 21% | |
Trent Murphy | 20 | 61% | Matt Ioannidis | 7 | 21% | |
Dashaun Philips | 18 | 55% | Spencer Long | 7 | 21% | |
Duke Ihenacho | 17 | 52% | Morgan Moses | 7 | 21% | |
Quinton Dunbar | 15 | 45% | Brandon Scherff | 7 | 21% | |
Deshazor Everett | 15 | 45% | Chris Thompson | 6 | 18% | |
Mason Foster | 15 | 45% | Ricky Jean Francois | 5 | 15% | |
Dustin Hopkins | 15 | 45% | Cullen Jenkins | 5 | 15% | |
Will Blackmon | 14 | 42% | Ryan Kerrigan | 5 | 15% | |
Su'a Cravens | 14 | 42% | Preston Smith | 5 | 15% | |
David Bruton | 12 | 36% | Shawn Lauvao | 4 | 12% | |
Ty Nsekhe | 12 | 36% | Josh Norman | 4 | 12% | |
Greg Toler | 12 | 36% | Jamison Crowder | 3 | 9% | |
Nick Sundberg | 11 | 33% | Trent Williams | 3 | 9% | |
Tress Way | 11 | 33% | Bashaud Breeland | 1 | 3% |
- Tress Way- Way punted twice for a total of 91 yards (45.5 average). One of those punts was returned for 14 yards. The only other punt that a Redskins opponent has returned this season went for just 7 yards (21 yards total in all games). The bigger story here, though, was Way's 31-yard fake-punt pass. Way became the just the 7th Washington player since 1960 to complete a pass and punt the ball in a single game since 1960 (the 1st since 2009 and 3rd since 1986).
- Dustin Hopkins- Dustin Hopkins made all five of his field goal tries (49, 33, 45, 25 and 37 yards). His five field goal makes were a career-high that tied the franchise record (done 8 other times). He is one of only four Redskins, since at least 1960, to connect on five field goals without a miss in the game. Dustin Hopkins leads the NFL with 11 made field goals. Hopkins, Justin Tucker and Cairo Santos are the only players that have attempted over six field goals without a single missed attempt. Seven of his eight kickoffs in the game went for touchbacks, with the only return going for just 15 yards. Hopkins' 15 touchbacks and 78.9 touchback percentage rank second and fourth among kickers with at least 10 kickoffs. He is playing at a pro bowl level right now.
- Kick Coverage & Snaps- Niles Paul, Will Compton and Will Blackmon were each credited with one solo special teams tackle, and Terence Garvin had one assist. Houston Bates and Terence Garvin have now ranked first and second in teams snaps in all three games this season. Garvin is the only player that has made more than one special teams tackle of any kind this season (2 assists). However, he was also primarily responsible for Tress Way's blocked punt, which was, fortunately, negated by a penalty.
- Kick Returns- Chris Thompson took the team's only kickoff return for 25 yards. Each of his two returns on the season have gone for 25 or more yards. Rashad Ross was active for the first time this season and did not take a special teams snap after operating as the team's primary kickoff-return man last season.
- Punt Returns- Jamison Crowder set a new career high in punt-return yardage in a game (58 yards), and his 50-yard return was also a personal best. Those numbers rank sixth and fifth among all returners in the 2016 season. He forced 5 missed tackles and traveled a Week 3 high of 126 yards on his 50-yard return. After ranking 25th in punt return yards (158) and 24th in return average (5.3) in 2015, Crowder ranks fourth (105) and second (21.0) in those categories this season.
*All statistics are courtesy of 4 for 4, Breaking Burgundy, CSN Mid Atlantic, Football Perspective, NFL.com, NFL Gamebooks, NFL GSIS, Over the Cap, Pro Football Focus, Pro Football Reference, Real Redskins, Redskins.com, Team Rankings and The Washington Post*