Snaps- The Washington Redskins’ offense was only on the field for 53 snaps on Sunday, the second lowest snap total of the season (Week 4 at Kansas City).
Jay Gruden called on 18 of his 24 offensive players throughout the game. The 6 who did not play included 4 inactives (Robert Davis, Kyle Kalis, Demetrius Rhaney and Trent Williams) a player who only worked on special teams (Tony Bergstrom) and 1 that didn’t play in any capacity (Colt McCoy).
Only 13 offensive players took more than 4 snaps in the game. LeShun Daniels (4), Jeremy Sprinkle (3), Maurice Harris (3), Brian Quick (2) and Tyler Catalina (2) combined for 14 snaps. Every other active player on offense was out there for at least 16 snaps.
Time of Possession- Washington’s offense only possessed the ball 23:44 of the game. That is the second lowest time of possession figure for a winning team in all of 2017; the Bears beat the Panthers while only holding the ball for 21:25 of game time.
The only other time the Skins were victorious with such a low time of possession in the last 19 years was when they beat the Eagles last season with a 23:22 time of possession mark.
Yards- Gruden’s offense only gained 218 yards on Sunday. This was the third straight week the team has failed to hit 300 yards of total offense.
Gruden-coached Redskins teams have failed to hit 300 yards in two consecutive games on three other occasions, but it was the first time one of his teams couldn’t reach 300 in three straight games.
The last time a Redskins team did this was in Weeks 4 through 6 of the 2009 season. Jim Zorn was the coach of that team.
Quick Strike Capability- The Redskins scored their first offensive touchdown 90 seconds into the game. This was the fastest a Redskins team has scored on offense since Clinton Portis ran for a touchdown 66 seconds into a 2009 contest against the Panthers.
It was their quickest touchdown overall since cornerback Josh Wilson returned a fumble for a score 11 seconds into a game against the Rams in 2012.
Opening Drive Scoring- The touchdown on the team’s first drive was their ninth opening drive score of the year. Not only is that tied for second in the NFL this season, it represents a new franchise record (data dating back to 1999).
3rd Down- If you thought the Redskins couldn’t be worse on third down after last week’s 2-for-12 showing against the Chargers, then you thought wrong.
The offense converted on just 1 of their 9 third-down attempts the against the Cardinals. The single conversion and the 11.1% success rate on the money down are both new season-lows for Washington’s offense.
The last time the Skins’ offense only converted once on third down was in Week 4 of the 2014 season against the Giants. That was Jay Gruden’s fourth game as the team’s head coach. The team has never posted a lower conversion rate under Gruden than they did on Sunday.
Red Zone- The Redskins scored on one of their trips inside the Cardinals’ 20. The team hasn’t been this bad in the red zone since Week 1 when they failed to score a TD on their two trips inside the Eagles’ 20-yard line.
The Skins also went 1-for-3 in the red area against the Raiders, but objectively speaking this performance was worse because the only time they scored a touchdown was when the defense gifted them with a starting field position at the Arizona 6-yard line.
Penalties- The offense tied a season-high with 3 accepted penalties (at New Orleans).
Rushing- This was an utterly abysmal rushing performance by the offense. The Redskins ran it 20 times and posted new season lows in both rushing yards (31 yards) and yards per carry (1.60). The team picked up just 1 rushing first down on the ground, which ties the season low they set last week.
Even if you exclude Josh Doctson’s 14-yard loss and Cousins’ kneel down for a loss of 1, it would still be the team’s worst 2017 showing in rushing yards and their third worst performance in YPC average.
This is Washington’s second lowest rushing output in terms of yardage and average in the Jay Gruden era (since 2014). The only time they’ve done worse under Gruden was against the Panthers in the 2015 season, when the team only gained 14 yards on 12 rushes (1.2 YPC).
QUARTERBACKS
Kirk Cousins (Traditional Stats)- Kirk Cousins completed 18 of his 26 attempts for 196 yards, 10 first downs and 2 touchdowns. The completion and yardage totals are both the third lowest totals of the season for Cousins.
This was KC’s fourth consecutive game with fewer than 260 yards and his second straight with under 200 yards. The latter of which is a first for Cousins since he took over as the team’s starter at the beginning of the 2015 season.
Cousins certainly didn’t put up any gaudy counting stats, but he was efficient. His 116.8 passer rating and his 69.2% completion percentage were his 3rd and 4th best marks in those metrics respectively this season.
He was sacked just once and put up an even 0 rushing yards between his 1-yard scramble and his -1-yard kneel down to end the game.
Kirk Cousins (Advanced Stats)- It was another middling day for Cousins according to the both ESPN’s QBR (55.3) and PFF’s grading system (62.9).
He only completed 3-of-7 attempts which traveled 10 yards through the air and did not attempt one pass that traveled 20 or more yards. That’s a bit concerning considering he held the ball for an average of 2.83 seconds before throwing it, which was an average that ranked outside of the top-20 in Week 15.
Kirk Cousins (Turnovers)- Cousins did not commit a single turnover for the first time since Week 11. His career record in games where he does turn it over at least once is 9-23-1 (.288), compared to 16-6 (.727) when he is turnover free. Two of those six losses came in the bitter road defeats against the Chiefs and Saints.
Kirk Cousins (Opening Drive Stud)- Captain Kirk threw a touchdown to Jamison Crowder on his first pass of the game.
This was the first time since Week 11 of the 2012 season that the Redskins threw a TD on their first attempt of the game (Robert Griffin). Cousins passed for a TD on his first pass in relief of Griffin in Week 2 of 2014 against the Jaguars. Darrel Young was the recipient of both touchdown receptions.
Cousins’ 5 opening-drive touchdowns leads the entire NFL.
WIDE RECEIVERS
Josh Doctson- Somewhat surprisingly, Josh Doctson was not shadowed by Patrick Peterson in the game. Unfortunately, that didn’t boost Doctson’s production in anyway.
Last year’s first-round pick only hauled in 2 catches for 16 yards and a first down on 4 targets. He lost 14 yards on the first rushing attempt of his career (2 yards from scrimmage) and dropped a third-down pass inside Arizona’s 10-yard line.
On the plus side, he did draw a 16-yard pass interference penalty on the offense’s second touchdown-scoring drive.
This was Doctson’s 16th career game and the 10th time he put up 30 or fewer receiving yards. It was also his 10th game with fewer than 3 receptions.
Doctson ranks second among all Redskins backs and receivers (including tight ends) in snaps and routes run, yet he only ranks fifth on the team in receptions, receiving yards and receiving first downs.
Jamison Crowder- Jamison Crowder bounced back from a poor showing in L.A. and led the team in targets (7), receptions (5), receiving yards (55), air yards (68) and first downs (4).
He caught one of the game’s two touchdowns and his second TD of the year on the offense’s first pass of the day. This reception came against the great Patrick Peterson; although, to be fair, Peterson slipped and fell on the play.
He also picked up Washington’s lone third-down conversion of the game.
Crowder leads the Redskins in targets by 30 (92 to Vernon Davis’ 62), receptions by 20 (59 to Davis’ 39), receiving yards by 131 (717 to Davis’ 586) and receiving first downs by 9 (34 to Ryan Grant’s 25).
Ryan Grant- Grant was in for 87% of the offensive snaps and caught 2-of-3 targets for 20 yards and 0 first downs. It was something of a down game for Grant, but it doesn’t diminish the great strides he has made this year.
Coming into the season Grant’s career totals looked like this: 39 receptions, 412 yards, 28 first downs and 2 touchdowns.
Now here are just his 2017 numbers: 39 receptions, 465 yards, 25 first downs and 4 touchdowns.
With the exception of first downs (for now), he has matched or bested every one of those numbers this year alone and he has done it on 22 fewer targets (76 to 54).
Maurice Harris- Harris returned from a concussion injury that limited him to just 5 snaps between Weeks 13 and 14. Unfortunately for the second-year pro, he only was out there for 3 of the team’s offensive snaps and was not targeted.
Harris’ career-day against the Vikings seems like forever ago now. His snap (40), yardage (50), first down (2) and touchdown (1) totals from that game are greater than the numbers he’s produced in all of his other 2017 games combined (29 snaps, 12 yards, 1 first down and 0 touchdowns).
Brian Quick- Brian Quick, much like Harris, has had one good game in 2017, but hasn’t really made any meaningful contributions outside of that.
In the team’s epic road win in Seattle, Quick caught 3 passes for 49 yards and 2 first downs. In the five other games he’s taken offensive snaps in, he put up a combined total of 2 receptions for 18 yards and 2 first downs.
Quick played 2 snaps and was not targeted against the Cardinals.
Robert Davis- Davis has been on the active roster for the last two games, but has yet to dress on game day.
If the team is only going to use Maurice Harris and Brian Quick on a handful of offensive snaps (5 combined) then they might as well have Davis switch spots with one of those two for the last couple of games.
TIGHT ENDS
Vernon Davis- It looked as if Davis’ slump might be ending last week when he caught a touchdown against the Chargers, but things have not played out that way.
The veteran tight end finished the day with only 2 receptions for 18 yards and 1 first down on 4 targets, and he fumbled after one those catches; the Cardinals would score 3 points off of the turnover.
Davis committed a false start penalty, gave up the hit that injured Kirk Cousins and for the second week in a row, he didn’t fully extend to catch a downfield target on drive-ending play.
VD was averaging 4 receptions and 64 yards per game between Weeks 3 and 11; in his last four games, Davis has caught a total of 6 passes for 59 yards. Basically, the entirety of his production in the last month hasn’t matched what he was doing on a per-game basis in the previous two months.
On a positive note, Davis became just the ninth tight end in NFL history to top 7,000 career receiving yards.
Niles Paul- Niles Paul caught 1 of his 2 targets for 11 yards and a first down. The other pass thrown in his direction was deflected before it could reach the line of scrimmage.
In Weeks 1-10, Paul caught a total of 2 passes for 29 yards and 1 first down. Since then, he has 10 receptions, 65 yards and 3 first downs to his name. Paul has at least one reception in each of the last five games.
Jeremy Sprinkle- After playing on a season-low 2 snaps in each of the last two weeks, Jeremy Sprinkle saw the most modest increase in snaps possible against the Cardinals (3 snaps). That’s a total of just 7 snaps in his last three outings, a number he more than doubled in each of the four contests between Weeks 8 and 11.
One of his 3 snaps happened to come on the offense’s opening play of the game. The rookie has now started five times this season, despite only playing on 101 offensive snaps. This is a perfect example of how overrated starts are and how underrated snaps are.
Sprinkle continues to be used exclusively in the running game; he has not played on a single passing snap in the team’s last three games.
Jordan Reed- Reed was finally placed on injured reserve last week. He set new career lows in virtually every playing time and production metric.
Not only did he post low counting totals because of a lack of playing time, he was more inefficient even when he was out there.
Reed posted career-worst numbers in yards per game (35.2), receptions per game (4.5), yards per reception (7.8), yards per target (6.03), yards per route run (1.5) and Pro Football Focus grade (47.0).
Jordan Reed has only started 28 games for the Redskins since he entered the NFL in 2013; 33-year-old Vernon Davis, who has been with the club for less than two years, made his 28th start for the Burgundy and Gold on Sunday.
RUNNING BACKS
Samaje Perine (Playing Time)- This was fourth time in the last five weeks that Perine has handled over 60% of the Redskins’ running back snaps.
Samaje Perine (Rushing)- Samaje Perine only gained a total of 37 yards on his 14 rushes (2.6 YPC) and did not pick up a single first down. He only gained 5-plus yards twice, which is as many runs that he failed to gain any yardage on. His longest run of the day went for 6 yards.
Those are some pretty poor numbers, even by Perine’s 2017 standards; but the fact is he didn’t play quite as poorly as you might think. The line didn’t do him any favors, as 35 of the rookie’s 37 yards came after contact and he broke 2 tackles.
Samaje Perine (Receiving)- The Oklahoma product caught both of his targets for 29 yards and 2 first downs. This was Perine’s fourth straight game with multiple receptions. He led the team in yards from scrimmage (66 yards) for the second straight week.
Samaje Perine’s 84.5 PFF grade for the game ranked 1st on the offense.
Kapri Bibbs- Bibb’s first game as a Redskin was one to remember. On just 16 snaps, the third-year pro out of Colorado State caught 4-of-4 targets for 47 yards and a touchdown.
The score came on a fake-sweep screen pass that Bibbs took 39 yards to the house, which was the Redskins’ longest play of the day. It was both the second touchdown and the second longest play of his career (69-yard TD in Week 9 of last season against the Raiders).
His 6-yard rush was tied for the team’s longest run of the day and represented the team’s only rushing first down in the game.
Bibbs is not a good athlete by any stretch and he hasn’t accomplished much in his three years at the pro level, but he is only the third player in college football history (FBS) to have ever scored 30 or more touchdowns in a season (Barry Sanders and Montee Ball).
LeShun Daniels- Daniels only received 4 snaps and one carry on Sunday. He took his lone rush for a gain of 2 yards. Bibbs looks to already be well ahead of Daniels on the depth chart.
OFFENSIVE LINEMEN
Offensive Line (Team)- Even though Cousins dropped back fewer than 30 times, I still think you have to give credit to the line for only allowing 1 sack and 6 hits, especially considering that they were without the services of their best player, Trent Williams.
However, it’s tough to put a positive spin on the line’s performance in the run-blocking department. The team averaged a pitiful -0.52 offensive line yards before contact per attempt. Yes, you read that right. The little dash before the number indicates a negative average.
Ty Nsekhe- Nsekhe started at left tackle in place of the injured Trent Williams. He gave up the team’s only sack and also allowed a hit on Cousins.
I have to cut Nsekhe some slack in this situation, though. Those pressures came against the NFL’s sack leader, Chandler Jones.
Arie Kouandjio- Kouandjio was averaging a sack allowed per game in the team’s last three, so I can’t really complain when he only surrenders 1 hit and 1 hurry.
Chase Roullier- Roullier returned from injury and suited up for the first time since the Week 11 contest against the Saints. He played on 100% of the snaps and did not allow a single quarterback pressure.
Based on his play and what Jay Gruden said in Monday’s press conference, I would expect Roullier to be starting for the Redskins at center on the opening day of the 2018 season.
Brandon Scherff- Scherff manned the left guard spot for all 53 snaps versus Arizona’s defense. He only allowed 1 hit in the game.
Morgan Moses- Morgan Moses was out there with the offense for all but 1 snap. The iron man of the offensive line has played on at least 94% of the snaps in all but one game, despite appearing on the injury report 10 times this season.
Moses did not allow a single pressure on Cousins against the Cardinals. His 81.7 PFF grade ranked second on the offense.
It was not a perfect day for Moses, though. His holding penalty negated what would have easily been the Redskins longest run of the day (23 yards). Luckily, the Skins still ended up scoring 3 on the drive.
Tyler Catalina- Catalina subbed in for Morgan Moses and Arie Kouandjio on one snap each (2 total snaps played).
Tony Bergstrom- The 31-year-old third stringer filled in admirably at center while Chase Roullier recovered from a broken hand. With Roullier back, Bergstrom slides into a pure backup and special teams role. He played 7 special teams snaps on Sunday.
Kyle Kalis- Kalis was with the Redskins in the offseason and added to the team’s practice squad after being released.
The Colts signed him to their active roster and the rookie started at guard for Indianapolis twice. He allowed 9 pressures on 78 passing snaps during his time there, which is basically the equivalent of just under 5 pressures per game.
Kalis was released by the Colts and the Redskins resigned him last week. He was inactive against the Cardinals.
Demetrius Rhaney- Roullier is back, so why is he still here?
Trent Williams- Trent Williams did not play in on Sunday, but the team has yet to put him on the shelf.
Perhaps he is trying to play his way into a 6th straight Pro Bowl this season. That would tie Chris Samuels for the most Pro Bowls by a Redskins offensive linemen in team history. He would also become only the second Redskin to ever be named to six consecutive Pro Bowls. Ken Houston was an NFL All-Star a record seven consecutive seasons between 1973 and 1979.
ALL OFFENSIVE PLAYERS
*All statistics are courtesy of Air Yards, CSN Mid Atlantic, ESPN, Football Perspective, NFL.com, NFL Gamebooks, Player Profiler, Pro Football Focus, Pro Football Reference, Redskins.com, Relative Athletic Scores, Sharp Football Stats, Team Rankings and The Washington Post*
Poll
If Kirk Cousins left in free agency and you could pick any of the following quarterbacks for the Redskins to add which one would it be?
This poll is closed
-
5%
Teddy Bridgewater (Vikings)
-
23%
Case Keenum (Vikings)
-
9%
Tyrod Taylor (Bills)
-
10%
Josh Allen (Wyoming)
-
13%
Sam Darnold (USC)
-
4%
Lamar Jackson (Louisville)
-
19%
Baker Mayfield (Oklahoma)
-
13%
Josh Rosen (UCLA)
-
2%
Mason Rudolph (Oklahoma State)