Snaps- Jay Gruden used 18 of his 23 offensive players over the course of the 60 snaps taken against the Dallas Cowboys’ defense.
The 5 who did not play included 3 inactives (Brian Quick, Jordan Reed and Chase Roullier), 1 player who worked exclusively on special teams (LeShun Daniels) and a player who did not take a snap of any kind (Demetrius Rhaney).
3rd Down- The offense moved the chains on 6 of their 14 third downs. The 43% conversion rate was actually a major improvement for a team that hadn’t hit 36% in any of their last 6 contests.
The Skins’ 36.3% conversion rate on the money down this season is the lowest success rate by the team since Jay Gruden’s first year as the head coach (2014).
Red Zone- Cousins and company went 1-for-2 in the red zone against Dallas, but the one failure ended with an interception and not a field goal.
The offense scored their first TD of the game from a yard outside of the red area (20-yard pass to Ryan Grant).
Turnovers- The Redskins turned the ball over four times in the game, which tied the season high that was set in Week 1 against the Eagles. The team has now given the ball away in 10 of 12 games. This was the Skins’ fifth multi-turnover game of the year.
Only the Browns, Broncos and Texans have turned it over more than the 20 times that the Redskins have in 2017.
Drops- PFF credited the Redskins with 2 drops (both by Crowder) in the game. The site has the offense with a total of 25 drops on the year, the sixth most by any team this season (49ers, Giants, Raiders, Browns and Cardinals).
Rushing- Poor game script limited the offense to just 19 rushes. Unfortunately, the Redskins’ runners didn’t make the most out of their scant opportunity.
The team averaged under 3 yards per carry (2.9), only picked up 4 first downs on the ground and lost yardage on four times as many rushes as they gained 10 or more yards on (4 to 1).
Half of the rushing first downs (2) and 48% of the rushing yards (27) were racked up on the game’s first carry and the last four meaningless, clock-winding runs of the night. The Redskins rushed for just two first downs and 29 yards on their other 14 runs (2.07 YPC).
This was obviously a step in the wrong direction for a team that had gained over 120 yards on the ground in each of the last two games.
Consistent Failure- This was a major loss for the franchise. It effectively eliminated the team from playoff contention and added 2017 to the ever-growing list of poor to mediocre seasons since the first Joe Gibbs administration.
Don’t believe me, just consider these facts:
- The best possible record this team can finish with is 9-7. That means the Redskins will have not won 11 or more games in any of their last 26 seasons (since 1991). They are the only team in the NFL that can make this utterly pathetic claim.
- The team has only won 10 games three times in the last 26 years (23 of 26 seasons with under 10 wins).
- This will be the 20th time in the last 25 years that Washington has not made the playoffs.
- The Redskins are one of four teams with fewer than 3 total playoff wins in their last 25 seasons. The others are the Browns, the Bengals and the Lions.
- Only the Browns, Lions and Rams have a worse winning percentage (.419) in the last 25 years (all games, including playoffs).
QUARTERBACKS
Kirk Cousins (Traditional Stats)- Captain Kirk went 26-for-37 with 251 yards, 10 first downs, 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.
This was just the fourth time all season he has posted a YPA average below 7.0 (6.78) and a passer rating below 90.0 (84.4). His 70.3% completion rate, however, was his third best mark of the year.
Cousins also gained 6 yards and picked up a first down (on third down) on his three rushes in the game.
Kirk Cousins (Advanced Stats)- Cousins’ raw QBR of 13.8 was his lowest score in the advanced metric since Week 7 of the 2014 season (7.7), when he was benched against the Titans.
His 56.9 PFF rating, was the worst grade the site has given him since Week 1.
Kirk Cousins (Turnovers)- Kirk Cousins threw two interceptions and fumbled twice, one of which was recovered by the Cowboys. Cousins has only thrown a pick on 1.9% of his passes this season, but he leads the NFL with 12 fumbles and ranks 3rd in lost fumbles, with 5 of them.
He is on pace to fumble 16 times this season (1 per game), which would break Sammy Baugh’s 70-year-old franchise record of 15 fumbles in a single season.
Cousins has now thrown multiple interceptions in 13 career games; the team is 0-13 in those games. He has turned the ball over two or more times in 19 career contests, and he has not led the Skins to a win in any one of those games.
I don’t know if the team hasn’t been good enough to overcome the turnovers or if Cousins just hasn’t been able to mentally come back from the mistakes, but there definitely seems to be something wrong here.
Kirk Cousins (Sacks)- The Cowboys registered 4 sacks on Cousins for a total of 27 yards, which brings KC’s totals on the year to 35 sacks for 296 yards.
Only Matthew Stafford (36 sacks) and Jacoby Brissett (43 sacks) have been sacked more this season. No player has lost more yards on sacks than Cousins has. Brissett (253) and Josh McCown (245) are the only other players with over 200 sack yards.
Cousins is currently on pace to finish 2017 with 47 sacks for 395 yards. That would be the third most sacks and the most sack yards taken by a Redskins quarterback since at least 1969, which is as far back as sack data goes.
I know the offensive line is, as Jay Gruden would like to say, “FUBAR”, but these sack and fumble numbers are historically bad. Some of the blame has to lie with Kirk Cousins, as well.
Kirk Cousins (Positive Stat of the Week)- I thought I would shoehorn a good stat in here since so many of them are bad this week.
Cousins is just barely on pace to become the third player to ever throw for 4,000 yards and 25 touchdowns while completing at least two-thirds of his passes and posting a passer rating over 95.0 in three or more seasons.
The only two players who have already done this; well, they go by the names of Drew Brees and Peyton Manning (6 times each).
Colt McCoy- McCoy saw his first action of any kind since the Redskins’ meaningless 2015 regular-season finale in Dallas. He was only in for the final four snaps of Thursday’s game, all of which were handoffs to Byron Marshall.
McCoy’s appearance snapped Kirk Cousins streak of 1,843 consecutive offensive snaps played in the regular season, which was the longest such active streak by a skill-position player in the NFL.
WIDE RECEIVERS
Josh Doctson- Josh Doctson played on every single snap for the second straight game. Again, I cannot stress to you how rare this is. Since 2012, not one other Redskins’ wide receiver or running back has done this once; Doctson has now done it twice in the last two weeks.
J-Doc totaled 3 receptions for 26 yards and a touchdown on 5 targets. He could’ve put up bigger numbers if he had been able to make difficult catches on his 2 other targets.
The touchdown was his team-high fifth of the season. So while Doctson has only topped 60 receiving yards once this season, he has now scored in five different contests in 2017, including once in each of the last two games.
He is the first Redskin to score a receiving TD in consecutive games since DeSean Jackson did it in Weeks 11 and 12 of the 2016 season. Chris Thompson (Weeks 1-3) and Rob Kelley (Weeks 8 and 9) are the only other Washington players with touchdowns in back-to-back games this year.
Doctson scored on a 14-yard red-zone pass from Cousins, his fourth touchdown in the red area this season. He caught those four passes on a total of ten RZ targets. Doctson’s 40% touchdown percentage in the red zone ranks 12th among the 86 players with 7 or more targets inside of their opponent’s 20-yard lines.
This TD, again the fifth of his career, came in his 14th career game. The last Redskin who scored 5 or more times in their first 14 games was Chris Cooley (2004). The only other Skins’ players who have accomplished this feat since 1950 are Charlie Brown, Kelvin Bryant, Darnerien McCants and Charley Taylor.
Ryan Grant- This was easily Ryan Grant’s best game as a pro.
He played on 88% of the snaps, the second highest snap rate of his career, and caught 5 of his 9 targets for 76 yards, 5 first downs and a touchdown.
He was clutch against the Cowboys, too. Three of his first downs, including his touchdown, came on third down.
The 9 targets, 76 yards and 5 first downs were all new career highs for Grant. He matched his career best in receptions (5 catches in 3 other games) and scored a touchdown for only the sixth time in his four years in the league. He had never had more than 61 yards (15 fewer yards) and 3 first downs (2 fewer 1Ds) in a game prior to this one.
Not only has Grant already set new career highs in receptions (36), receiving yards (417), first downs (24) and touchdowns (4) this season, he is on now pace to more than double his previous career best in every one of those categories by the end of the year.
I don’t believe I’m saying this, but the Redskins need to prioritize re-signing Ryan Grant in the offseason. He has been one of the most consistent players on the team this year.
Jamison Crowder- This may have been Grant’s best game, but it may have also been one of Jamison Crowder’s worst.
That is not the case in terms of production, though. Crowder caught 5 of 7 targets for 67 yards and 2 first downs.
His 33-yard reception on a third down at the end of the first half was the Redskins’ longest play of the game and it was the catalyst for the team’s first scoring drive of the night. Three of his five receptions in the game came on that drive.
This marked the fifth straight game with 65 or more receiving yards for the third-year slot receiver. This is a first for Crowder, who is the only Redskin to hit 65 yards in five straight games since Pierre Garcon did it in 2012. Crowder is currently in the midst of the best 5-game stretch of his career in terms of targets (49), receptions (32) and receiving yards (479).
The problem on Thursday wasn’t with his numbers, it was with his mistakes and when he made them.
He dropped a game-high two passes, with the first one bouncing off of his hands at the the Dallas 10-yard line and into the waiting arms of Jeff Heath, who intercepted the pass. That play likely cost the Redskins 7 points when you consider that a catch there would’ve likely set them up with a 1st-and-Goal from inside the 5-yard line. Crowder is tied for the team lead in drops this season (5).
Then, just under two minutes later, he fumbled a punt and Dallas recovered it. He should consider himself lucky he wasn’t credited with a second fumble on the aforementioned scoring drive.
Crowder leads all non-quarterbacks with 6 fumbles this season. That’s right, the only players who have fumbled it more than Jamison Crowder this season are guys that touch the ball on every single offensive snap.
Maurice Harris- Mo Harris was limited to just 5 snaps because of a concussion. He was targeted once, but the play would’ve been negated by a holding penalty had he been able to haul in the pass.
In his season debut three weeks ago against the Vikings, Harris played on 41 snaps and went off for a line of 3 targets, 2 receptions, 50 receiving yards, 2 first downs and a touchdown. He has failed to either match or exceed those numbers in his last three games combined.
Check out his totals since then: 26 snaps, 3 targets, 2 receptions, 12 receiving yards, 1 first down and 0 touchdowns. This probably has something to do with the fact that basically half of his production this season has come on one play.
Brian Quick- Despite not being listed on the injury report this week, Quick was on the inactive list for the fifth time this season. He has only played 34 offensive snaps and been targeted 4 times the entire season.
I’m really not sure why the team seems so disinterested in playing him, considering they have gotten so little out of their receiving corps this season (3 games of 80 or more receiving yards by a Washington wideout).
Robert Davis- The Redskins will likely be shutting down a number of injured players after being eliminated from playoff contention on Thursday night. Now is the time for the team to sign 6th-round pick Robert Davis to the active roster.
Davis had over 700 receiving yards in all four years at Georgia State and is one of the most athletic wide receivers in recorded history. Yes, you read that last part right. His 9.77 relative athletic score (out of 10.0) ranks 39th out of the 1,600-plus wide receivers listed on the RAS website. He also has the 4th highest pSPARQ score by a WR in the last three years (139.3).
The Skins should sign Davis now to see what he can do in the regular season and to prevent other teams from snatching him off of their practice squad.
TIGHT ENDS
Vernon Davis- What has happened to Vernon Davis?
It’s not his playing time; Davis saw a snap rate of 90% in each of the last two weeks, his two highest percentages of the year. It’s not because he was staying in to block more; he ran 28 or more routes in both Weeks 12 and 13, including a season-high 38 pass routes against Cowboys.
Maybe the team isn’t calling plays for him and/or Cousins just isn’t looking his way. Davis was only targeted twice on Thursday, after getting just one look against the Giants on Thanksgiving. Perhaps, he’s just not getting open. I don’t know what’s been going on the last two weeks, but VD just is not producing like he was before.
Through the first 11 weeks of the season, Davis led the team with 527 receiving yards, a figure which ranked 6th at the tight end position.
He had 0 receptions in Week 12, and followed that up with 2 catches for 15 yards and 0 first downs against the Cowboys.
Niles Paul- Niles Paul had played on just under 50% of the snaps in each of Washington’s last two games, but saw that number drop to 28% against the Cowboys. The team was in comeback mode and used three receivers almost the entire night, so that didn’t leave much playing time for Paul.
He caught all 3 of the passes thrown his way for 12 yards and 0 first downs. His 3 receptions tied the season high he set for himself last week.
Paul, who had only received 3 total targets in the team’s first ten games, has been targeted 10 times in the last three weeks. That’s good for Paul, but he just isn’t doing anything of substance with the extra opportunities. He turned those last 10 targets into just 39 yards (3.9 yards per target) and 0 first downs.
Jeremy Sprinkle- Jeremy Sprinkle, who only played in 2 games and on 14 snaps prior to Week 9, played in his fifth straight contest. He played, just not much.
His 2 offensive snaps in the game represented a career low for a game that he was active in. I guess this makes sense because the team only ran the ball 19 times, and Sprinkle has primarily been used as an extra blocker in the running game.
He was not targeted for the second straight week and for the fifth time in his seven games played. The last time Sprinkle got a look in the passing game, he scored.
I’d like to see him build on his target total, which currently stands at 2, in the final month of the season. He is no Jordan Reed, of course; but the Redskins need to find out what he can do as a receiver.
Jordan Reed- This was the fifth straight game missed game for Jordan Reed. He has now been inactive six times this year.
If Reed sits out next week’s game against the Chargers, he will tie his career records for most consecutive games missed (6) and most games missed in a single season (7). He set both of those marks as a rookie (2013).
He will turn 28 next July. The Redskins can either pay him $9.7M APY over the next three years or cut him and eat a dead cap charge of $5.4M. I’d personally give Reed another year to prove he can stay healthy and produce, but I totally understand if you disagree.
RUNNING BACKS
Samaje Perine (Playing Time)- Samaje Perine played on 57% of the snaps after seeing a 70% playing-time clip in each of his first two games as the team’s starting running back.
His reduced PT was the result of him missing time to be evaluated for a concussion and the Redskins trailing for over two-thirds of the game.
Samaje Perine (Rushing)- Perine had a few nice runs against the Cowboys, but he struggled on the ground overall.
He ran the ball just 12 times for a total of 38 yards (3.17 YPC) and 2 first downs. Only 4 of his 12 rushes picked up the required yardage to be considered successful (33.3%). The last time he was this bad in terms of rushing average and success rate was in Week 6 against the 49ers.
The rookie back also failed to gain yardage or lost yards on 4 of his 12 runs (33.3%), which was the same number of times he gained 5 or more yards (33.3%). Of his 38 rush yards in the game, 15 or 39% of them came on his first carry of the night. Perine averaged just 2.3 yards on his other 11 rushes. His two first downs came over two quarters apart from each other.
He did not force a single missed tackle as a rusher.
Samaje Perine (Receiving)- Perine may not have run over the Cowboys for a third straight 100-yard game, but he did set a new career high as a receiver for the second week in a row.
After posting new highs in targets (4), receptions (3), receiving yards (30) and receiving first downs (2) last week against the Giants, Perine matched those reception and first down totals and set a new mark with 31 receiving yards.
Even though Rob Kelley is on IR, it’s definitely worth noting that Perine now has 25 more career receiving yards than Kelley (125 to 100) in 10 less games played (22 to 12) and on 227 less snaps (478 to 251).
Byron Marshall- The Redskins trailed for the vast majority of the night, so they called on their new third down back, Byron Marshall, to play a season-high 26 snaps.
Marshall set new career highs in targets (6), receptions (5) and receiving yards (24). He also forced multiple missed tackles after the catch and picked up just the second receiving first down of his career.
Marshall ran out the clock for the Redskins at the end of the game with four consecutive rushes. He gained 12 yards and picked up a first down on those plays (3.0 YPC).
LeShun Daniels- Just as he did last week, Daniels worked exclusively as a special teamer. This was his second career game.
He doesn’t look to have much ability as a receiver, so don’t expect to see him out there with the offense on early downs unless Samaje Perine gets seriously injured. Daniels only caught 10 balls for 81 yards in a college career that spanned 37 games.
OFFENSIVE LINEMEN
Offensive Line (Team)- This was another very poor showing for the Redskins’ banged-up O-line. Cowboys’ players racked up a total of 4 sacks and 9 hits on Cousins in the game, and Washington’s running game was limited to just 56 yards on 19 carries (2.9 YPC).
The Redskins’ offense currently ranks 23rd in sack percentage (7.8%) and 24th in rushing average (3.8 YPC).
Endless O-Line Combos- You may have heard the announcers mention that the Redskins had used a league-high 21 offensive line combinations coming into the game. Well, their lead in this department grew even larger as Morgan Moses and Trent Williams missed time with injuries.
This got me thinking about how well the line did before they were ravaged by injuries versus how they’ve fared since. Here’s what I found:
- In Weeks 1-6 and 10, the Redskins had at least four of their original starting linemen play on 90% or more of the offensive snaps. That has not been the case in any other games this season.
- In Weeks 1-6 and 10, the team gave up 9 sacks on 212 dropbacks (4.2% sack rate). In all other games they combined to allow 26 sacks on a 236 dropbacks (11.0% sack rate). Notice the difference there?
- Unsurprisingly, the team was also better at rushing when the line was healthy. The Redskins averaged 3.95 yards per carry and picked up a first down on 18.2% of their carries when the line was healthy. Their YPC and first-down percentage fell to 3.66 and 15.8% in games where multiple starting linemen missed significant playing time in.
Trent Williams- Outside of the game’s final meaningless drive, Trent Williams played on all but one snap and did not allow Kirk Cousins to be sacked or hit once.
However, it was Williams who was initially blocking David Irving, before Irving stunted inside and leveled Cousins for the Cowboys’ fourth and final sack of the night. Williams was also called for a third-down holding penalty that the Cowboys declined.
His 78.5 PFF grade for the game ranked 4th on the team and 2nd on the offense.
Trent Williams has been playing through a serious injury which requires surgery, so with the team now out of playoff contention he may be shut down for the remainder of the season.
Ty Nsekhe- Nsekhe was downright dreadful in this game, especially when he moved to right tackle.
He was at least partially responsible for giving up each of Dallas’ first 3 sacks in the game, two of which Cousins fumbled on. Here is how each of the three drives he allowed a sack on ended: Cowboys’ fumble recovery, Cowboys’ punt return for a touchdown and the Redskins punting it back to the Cowboys after their opening drive of the second half.
He also allowed several more pressures and was penalized for a false-start infraction.
It’s truly sad that a lineman who struggled so badly and who is probably still injured, was forced to play not one, not two, but three different positions on the offensive line in this game (LT, LG, and RT).
Tony Bergstrom- Bergstrom played on all 60 snaps and managed not to terribly embarrass himself. He was flagged for a false start and only allowed one pressure.
Brandon Scherff- This was another impressive outing for Scherff, who allowed only one pressure on the night (a hurry). He has only allowed 2 total pressures in his last three games combined.
He earned an 82.8 grade from PFF, which was the best rating on the team.
Morgan Moses- Moses suffered another ankle injury and was limited to a season-low 16 snaps.
He is one of only three Redskins’ players who have started every game on offense this season (Kirk Cousins and Vernon Davis), but that could change next week, as this injury looks to be his most serious one yet.
Arie Kouandijo- Arie Kouandijo came in to replace Ty Nsekhe at left guard, when Nsekhe shifted over to right tackle in place of the injured Morgan Moses.
He didn’t commit any penalties or allow any sacks, but that doesn’t mean the third-year player out of Alabama had a good game. Kouandijo allowed a hit and 3 hurries on just 22 snaps against the Cowboys.
Tyler Catalina- Catalina replaced Trent Williams in the lineup on the game’s final drive (4 snaps) and a play Williams sat out for due to injury (1 snap).
Demetrius Rhaney- Rhaney has been active for each of the last two games, but has yet to take a snap of any kind. Only Colt McCoy has been active more times without taking a single snap. He is obviously only on the roster in case of emergency. If called upon, Rhaney would be the fourth player to man the pivot for the Redskins this season.
Chase Roullier- The rookie center out of Wyoming missed his second straight game with a broken hand. Between Weeks 8 and 11, He started in all 4 contests and played 256 of the team’s 266 offensive snaps.
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
Which of these offensive positions should the Redskins prioritize improving in the offseason?
This poll is closed
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6%
Quarterback
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33%
Wide Receiver
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3%
Tight End
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16%
Running Back
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6%
Center
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33%
Guard