The 5 O'Clock Club: Early reactions to the Chiefs game

The 5 o’clock club aims to provide a forum for reader-driven discussion at a time of day when there isn’t much NFL news being published. Feel free to introduce topics that interest you in the comments below.

This was a loss, but the Redskins fought through a lot of adversity to get into the last minute of the game with a chance to win it.

With a defense depleted by injuries, and no longer able to slow down the Kansas City offense by the time the 4th quarter rolled around, Cousins led the offense on what could have been a game-winning drive, throwing the perfect strike to Josh Doctson, who came down with one hand on the ball, unable to control it, and costing himself and the team the touchdown that would have put the Redskins up by 4 points with less than a minute to play.

In a fantastic effort by the team, a few players stood out in ways both good and bad.

Preston Smith was offside 3 times on third down. The first of those was on 3rd and 8, on the drive that ended up with a touchdown, the Cheifs’ first score of the game. The second was near the goal line, and kept the drive alive for the Chiefs again. In fact, it felt like Preston Smith’s role in much of this game was to keep drives alive for Kansas City. I noted that on the final drive of the game, Junior Galette was on the field instead of Preston Smith. Honorable mention to Baushaud Breeland, who made a number of plays, but also got flagged for 3 penalties - the worst might've been hands to the face away from the play that eliminated a successful defense on the other side of the field.

Kirk Cousins played an excellent game, protecting the football, and making two huge runs for first down when they were needed. Kirk ended up as the team’s leading rusher, with 38 yards on 7 runs. He had very few bad throws, and showed veteran poise in the rowdy atmosphere of Arrowhead Stadium. His potential game winning pass to Doctson was prefect. It's a shame Doc didn't hold on to it.

Rob Kelley ran hard; when he was in the game, this may have been the best I’d seen him look this year. When he was injured and Samajae Perine came in, he once against showed signs of Matt Jones disease, dropping a lateral in a crucial situation. I believe Chris Thompson played the rest of the game. I'd like to see more Mack Brown and less Samaje Perine in critical situations.

The offensive line looked good all night.

The defense started strong, and if it hadn’t been for the injuries piling up, might’ve been able to close out the game. I knew the injuries were biting deep when I heard Stephan McClure’s name called on a defensive tackle. The Redskins are going to need the bye week to recover from the brutality of this game.

I hate losing, but losing to the the only undefeated team in the league, on the road, by a field goal with :04 on the clock isn’t an embarrassment. This was a hard fought, high-quality football game on both sides of the ball, played by two excellent football teams in prime time on Monday night. The nation has seen the Redskins play at a high level two weeks in a row.

It’s time to rest and get healthy. The final 12 games won’t be a picnic, but if the team plays with the fire and energy they brought to Kansas City tonight, they have a good chance of reaching the end of the season with a lot more wins than losses.

There’s a winner and loser in every game. I’m proud of the way the team played, and I’m looking forward to the rest of the season.

Congratulations to the Kansas City Chiefs. I’ll be rooting for them to go undefeated through the rest of the season now; they still need to take care of the Cowboys and Giants to pay us back for the beatdowns we’re gonna put on Denver and the Chargers.

Those are my thoughts, typed in the minutes after the game ended; how about you?

The Redskins have finished the first quarter of the season. Now that you've had a chance to sleep in it, what do you think?

How are you feeling about the state of the Redskins as the team heads into its bye week?