/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/65374823/1177920034.jpg.0.jpg)
Snaps- The Washington Redskins’ offense was on the field for just 51 snaps and 48 plays against the New York Giants, which were new season lows by margins of 11 snaps and 7 plays.
Record- The loss on Sunday dropped the Redskins to 0-4 on the year. There have been 222 0-4 teams in NFL history and just one of them (0.5%), the 1992 San Diego Chargers, made the playoffs. No team that has started a season 0-5 has ever won more than eight games. The Redskins play the undaunted, world champion New England Patriots in Week 5, translation: any hopes Washington had of making the playoffs are all but dead.
This streak of losing expands beyond just 2019, though. The Skins have now gone 1-10 since Alex Smith was injured in Week 11 of last season, which is tied for the worst record in the league during that span.
Yards- The Burgundy and Gold were only able to muster 176 yards of total offense and a 3.67 yards-per-play clip, both of which were easily new season lows. Those numbers are especially concerning considering that the Giants still rank 25th in yards allowed per game (389.3) and 26th in yards per play (6.23) even after the game.
Points- Washington hit yet another season low by scoring just 3 points in the game. They had put up at least 15 points in each of their other three games this year and have now seen their point total drop by at least six in each of the last three weeks (27 > 21 > 15 > 3).
The only other time the team had scored three or fewer points in the Jay Gruden era was when they were shut out by the Rams in 2014 and by the Eagles in the 2018 finale. The Giants, on the other hand, had given up at least 28 points in each of their last five contests.
3rd & 4th Down- The Skins were only able to convert on two of the 11 third downs they faced. The resulting 18.2% success rate was, you guessed it, a new season low for the club. Ironically, they also went 2-for-11 on the money down the last time they faced the Giants (Week 14 of 2018).
They needed to gain at least three yards on every one of these plays, but the average yards to go on them was 6.45, so it’s not as if they faced some set of insurmountable odds. Yet the offense only gained 21 yards on all their third downs combined, which was good for an average of 1.91 yards per play.
Two of these plays ended with and interception and another one with a sack. The Redskins rank 29th in third-down conversion percentage (28.6%) and have turned it over on a higher percentage of their third downs (7.1%) than anybody besides the Rams (9.1%).
Surprisingly, Jay Gruden opted not to go for it once on fourth down, despite doing so at least twice in each of team’s last three games.
Red Zone- The offense made one trip and ran five plays in the Giants’ red zone on Sunday. They were unable to score a touchdown despite the fact that two of those snaps were taken from the 1-yard line. This marked the first time the Skins didn’t find the end zone on at least one of their possessions inside their opponent’s 20-yard line since Week 13 of last year (at Philadelphia).
It would’ve helped if the team had more plays on New York’s side of the field in general, though. Of Washington’s 14 plays in New York territory, ten of those came on the aforementioned possession in the red area. The main reason they were able to get that kind of field position was that Quinton Dunbar intercepted a pass at the Giants’ 37-yard line. Two of the offense’s four other plays in New York territory ended with an interception of their own.
Giveaways- Washington’s two quarterbacks who played combined to throw 4 interceptions against the G-Men. The last time a Redskins’ team had 4 interceptions in a game was also in Week 4 against the Giants, with that one coming in 2014, Jay Gruden’s first season as head coach. Interesting callback there by the Football gods.
Penalties- The Redskins set a new season-high by committing 16 total penalties and tied their 2019 high of 12 accepted infractions (Week 1 at Philadelphia). The offense was at fault on just as many total (7) and accepted infractions (5) as the defense was, but it was the Washington O that was accountable for 60% of the team’s penalty yards on the day (35-of-58 yards).
Only the Falcons (42) and Browns (41) have committed more accepted penalties than the Redskins have (39) in 2019, with the offense being responsible for the majority of them (20-of-39).
QUARTERBACKS
Quarterbacks (3 Players) | ||
Player (* - starter) | Snaps | Snap % |
Dwayne Haskins | 33 | 65% |
Case Keenum * | 18 | 35% |
Colt McCoy | Inactive | N/A |
Case Keenum- Case Keenum struggled mightily for the second straight week and had what, at least by some measures, was his worst game of the year. He completed 6-of-11 (54.5%) passes for 37 yards (3.36 YPA), a single first down, no touchdowns and an interception (23.7 passer rating). He took a 2-yard sack and didn’t gain any rushing yards for the third time this season.
Don’t think that’s bad? Well, check out where some of his key metrics from this performance rank among Keenum’s 63 career games (including playoffs): 3rd-worst QBR (7.6), 3rd-worst PFF grade (41.9), 2nd-worst passing yards (minimum 1 attempt), worst passer rating, worst yards per attempt and worst net adjusted yards per attempt (-0.83).
To make matters worse, Keenum’s interception came on the first drive of the game, which is not the way you want to start things off after you turned the ball over five times in the previous game. He also kept his streak of missing wide-open touchdown throws alive by overthrowing not one, but two long touchdown passes, with the second one of those being probably his worst of the season. Completions on those plays would’ve likely added an additional 128 yards to his stat line, as well.
The horrific showing got Keenum benched midway through the second quarter.
Dwayne Haskins- Keenum’s benching allowed the Redskins’ first-round pick to make his NFL debut with 6:35 on the clock in the second quarter and to man the controls of the Washington offense for roughly two-thirds of the snaps (64.7%).
To say that Haskins’ performance didn’t inspire a lot of confidence in his and the Redskins’ future would be putting it mildly. He went 9-for-17 on his passes (52.94%), gained 107 yards on those throws (6.29 YPA), picked up 6 first downs, scored no touchdowns, was sacked twice and threw 3 interceptions (32.8 passer rating), including a pick six. He also was responsible for a delay of game penalty that stalled a drive.
Haskins’ struggles were especially apparent when he was pressured. On his seven dropbacks under pressure, he was sacked twice, threw a pair of interceptions and failed to complete any of his four attempts.
On the bright side, he did lead the team to their only scoring drive of the game (field goal) and gained 9 and 14 yards on his two scrambles (24 yards rushing). Sadly, his 14-yard run was the team’s longest rush of the entire year by 3 yards.
Let’s take a step back though and try to put this performance in perspective as it relates to other rookie quarterbacks in their debut games. For starters, he and Kellen Moore (2015), are the only QBs who threw three or more picks in their first game since midway through the 2013 season.
And here’s how a few of Haskins’ key efficiency metrics from Sunday’s game rank among the debuts for all 30 first-round QBs drafted in the last ten years: 3rd-worst passer rating (ahead of Brandon Weeden and Josh Rosen), 3rd-worst adjusted QBR (19.5, ahead of Brandon Weeden and Ryan Tannehill) and worst adjusted net yards per attempt (-2.58).
These are certainly not the numbers you want to see, but let’s not forget that Haskins was playing in his first game, had limited playing experience while in college (14 starts and 590 attempts), came in when the team was already down by 14 and was leading an offense that was down six of its presumptive starters heading into the season (Reed, McLaurin, Guice, Williams, Scherff and Roullier).
Colt McCoy- McCoy was inactive once again this past week, but he has now been practicing for about a week, which means that Jay Gruden’s golden boy could get his first start of the year sooner rather than later.
WIDE RECEIVERS
Wide Receivers (6 Players) | ||
Player (* - starter) | Snaps | Snap % |
Paul Richardson * | 45 | 88% |
Trey Quinn * | 39 | 76% |
Kelvin Harmon | 29 | 57% |
Robert Davis * | 22 | 43% |
Steven Sims | 5 | 10% |
Terry McLaurin | Inactive | N/A |
Terry McLaurin- The team’s best offensive weapon in the first three games, Terry McLaurin, was forced to sit out with a hamstring injury. He never missed a single game at Ohio State and was reportedly on track to play, so his absence in this one was a bit of a surprise. Nevertheless, McLaurin still leads the team in receiving yards (257) and touchdowns (3).
Paul Richardson- Countless fantasy analysts pegged Paul Richardson as a prime candidate to have a big day if McLaurin were to miss the game. Unfortunately for the Redskins, things did not play out the way that experts had predicted and Richardson had a dud of a performance.
P-Rich was only able to turn his 5 targets into 3 receptions and 14 yards. His 4.67-yard average on his catches represented the third-lowest Y/R figure of his career. Richardson was unable to move the chains for the first time since his final game with the Seahawks and was the target on a pass that was intercepted for the second straight week.
Trey Quinn- Quinn should’ve finished the day with 4 receptions for 138 yards, 3 first downs and 2 touchdowns, but instead his final line was 4 targets, 2 receptions, 10 yards, 1 first down and no touchdowns.
Case Keenum overthrew him on not one, but two passes that likely would’ve resulted in long touchdown receptions. The initial missed opportunity came on the first play from scrimmage and could’ve gone for 75 yards, while the second such pass was nowhere close to an absolutely wide-open Quinn who would have walked in for a 53-yard score.
If nothing else, those incompletions were the primary reason he led the Redskins in air yards by a wide margin, more than doubling up the next highest total on the team by a count of 88 to 38 (Paul Richardson).
Quinn was one of just two Washington players who moved the chains on third down this week. On a 3rd-and-6 play, he caught Haskins’ pass a yard shy of the sticks and extended the ball as he was falling out of bounds to give the team a fresh set of downs; the Redskins ended the drive with their only points of the contest.
Trey Quinn has picked up a first down on the money down in three of the team’s four games this year and is tied for the team lead in third-down conversions. That’s a feather in his cap, but it also doesn’t take away from the fact he now ranks dead-last in the league among all non-running backs with 20-plus targets in yards per reception (7.27), target (4.54) and route run (0.75).
Kelvin Harmon- The injury to fellow rookie draft pick Terry McLaurin allowed Harmon to double the career snap total he had coming into the week in this game (29 snaps in Weeks 1-3 and in Week 4).
The NC State product hauled in a 9-yard pass on a 2nd-and-15 play on the team’s only scoring drive of the day and added a 5-yarder that picked up a first down on a 2nd-and-1. Harmon has caught all four passes thrown his way this year, picked up a first down on three of them and has gained a total of 45 yards between the plays.
Robert Davis- Davis, like Harmon, got more playing time in this contest than he had in all of his previous three career games combined; however, things did not go as well for Davis as they did for Harmon.
Davis started for the first time in his career and received his first target as a pro on the third offensive play of the game, but the pass was deflected into the air by Janoris Jenkins and intercepted by Giants rookie Ryan Connelly. Davis was able to haul in his first ever regular-season pass when he gained 11 yards and moved the chains on a 2nd-and-9 play at the end of the third quarter. A third target was negated by an illegal formation penalty; the pass fell incomplete out of bounds.
He was waived by the team on Tuesday.
Steven Sims- Sims was in for exactly 5 offensive snaps for the third time this year (7 in Week 3). He did not get a single target or carry in the game, after getting at least two touches on offense in both Weeks 2 and 3.
TIGHT ENDS
Tight Ends (4 Players) | ||
Player (* - starter) | Snaps | Snap % |
Vernon Davis | 38 | 75% |
Jeremy Sprinkle * | 21 | 41% |
Jerome Cunningham | 0 | 0% |
Jordan Reed | Inactive | N/A |
Vernon Davis- Vernon Davis got a lot of opportunities to make plays in clutch situations, but the production just didn’t materialize for him. He was targeted three times on third down, with one of them coming in the end zone, but he was unable to haul in any of those passes, the last of which bounced off his chest and into the hands of Janoris Jenkins for an interception.
This was the second consecutive week in which a VD target was picked off and was also arguably Davis’ second straight game with a dropped pass, despite him not officially being credited with one in Week 4. He is currently on pace to post the second-lowest yards-per-route-run clip of his 14-year career (0.99).
Davis is reportedly now in the league’s concussion protocol program, which brings the total of Washington tight ends who can make that claim to two.
Jordan Reed- Jordan Reed’s concussion symptoms caused him to miss his fourth straight game. The last time he played for the Redskins was in Week 14 of last season (vs. NYG), which brings him to a total of seven consecutive missed games, the second-longest such streak of his career. He is just two more missed games in a row away from tying the personal record he set back in 2017 (9).
Jeremy Sprinkle- The Skins’ backup tight end played 21 snaps and caught one of his three targets in the game.
The first target thrown his way would’ve gone for a 1-yard touchdown had Jabrill Peppers not broken the pass up. Sprinkle did, however, haul in his second look for a YAC-filled 20-yard gainer, which was the longest reception of his career and gave him his second-highest receiving yardage total in a single game as a pro.
On the very next play, Peppers thwarted Sprinkle again by picking off a target thrown in his direction and returning it 32 yards for a touchdown. It was the first interception ever thrown when targeting the third-year tight end.
He also was flagged for holding, but the Giants recorded another interception on the play and opted to decline the penalty and take the turnover.
So, sure, this might not have been the most productive game for Sprinkle, but at least 2019 is shaping up to easily be the best statistical season of his career. With only four games played, Sprinkle has already tied his career highs in targets (9) and receptions (5). He has set new personal records in receiving yards (58) and first downs (4), with both of those figures at least doubling his career total coming into the year.
Jerome Cunningham- Cunningham, who was signed last week, was active on Sunday, but did not play in any capacity. The 28-year-old tight end has only been on the field for 61 total regular season snaps (all last year) since 2015.
RUNNING BACKS
Running Backs (4 Players) | ||
Player (* - starter) | Snaps | Snap % |
Chris Thompson | 27 | 53% |
Adrian Peterson * | 20 | 39% |
Wendell Smallwood | 4 | 8% |
Ryan Anderson | 2 | 4% |
Adrian Peterson- Another week in the books and another poor performance from Adrian Peterson. This time around, AP turned 11 carries into just 28 yards, a lowly 2.5 YPC average and a single first down. All but two of his rushes gained three or fewer yards, his longest run went for just 9 yards and he only picked up the yardage required to be considered a successful rush on 2-of-11 carries (18.2%). He was not targeted in the passing game for the first time this season.
So far in 2019, Peterson has yet to top 37 yards rushing or from scrimmage, has no gains of more than 10 yards, has only scored once, has picked up just 4 first downs and is averaging 2.73 yards per carry, which is the second-lowest mark of his career.
Chris Thompson- Chris Thompson led all Redskins runners in snaps (27) for the fifth consecutive game dating back to last year’s season finale against Eagles. He has out-snapped the entire running back corps in that span by a count of 165 to 132 (Peterson, Guice, Smallwood, Perine and Marshall).
CT was even worse as a rusher on Sunday than Peterson was. Here are the yardage totals on his four runs: 3, 0, 0 and 1. That brought him to a total of four rushes for 4 yards and a 1-yard average. Thompson, like Peterson, is averaging under three yards per carry (2.88).
Of course, Thompson’s wheelhouse is the receiving game, not running the football. He tied for the team lead in targets (5) and led the club in receptions (4), receiving yards (56), yards from scrimmage (60), YAC (50) and first downs (2).
His 39-yarder on a 2nd-and-21 screen pass was both the longest gain of the game and out-gained the all-purpose yardage total for every player on the team this past Sunday. It was the fourth-longest reception of Thompson’s career and it gave him 30-yard receptions in back-to-back games for the first time in his career.
Wendell Smallwood- Wendell Smallwood was in for 4 snaps and caught a 14-yard pass on one of those plays. The reception was made on a 1st-and-23 snap, and the Redskins ended up punting three plays later. Smallwood is easily on his way to setting new career lows in both touches (1.0) and scrimmage yards (6.8) per game.
Ryan Anderson- Anderson lined up at fullback on a pair of snaps from the Giants’ 1-yard line. The team’s play-action pass on his first snap fell incomplete and Adrian Peterson was stuffed for a loss of 2 yards on the second one. Those were the 20th and 21st offensive snaps of Anderson’s career and this marked the 12th game in which he’s played on offense.
The team has only picked up a first down and scored on one of his four snaps this year (25%), whereas between 2017 and 2018 they moved the chains and scored on 66.7% and 38.9% of his snaps, respectively.
Redskins Rushing- The Redskins ran the ball 17 times against the Giants, but only gained 55 yards (3.24 YPC) and rushed for a first down on just two of those plays. Only four of the team’s 17 carries were considered successful (23.5%), which is also the same number of their runs that gained more than three yards.
The team has failed to gain 70 or more rushing yards in each of their last five games, which is their longest such streak since at least 1940 and likely of all time.
That’s not the only first for Washington’s ineffective rushing attack in the last 80 years, as this marks the only time the team has failed to gain at least 200 yards on the ground in the first four games of the season during that span (again, and likely ever). Their 199 rushing yards this year is 30 yards fewer than the previous worst that was set by the historically bad 1961 squad (229 yards).
OFFENSIVE LINEMEN
Offensive Line (9 Players) | ||
Player (* - starter) | Snaps | Snap % |
Tony Bergstrom * | 51 | 100% |
Ereck Flowers * | 51 | 100% |
Wes Martin * | 51 | 100% |
Morgan Moses * | 51 | 100% |
Donald Penn * | 51 | 100% |
Geron Christian | 3 | 6% |
Ross Pierschbacher | ST Only | 0% |
Chase Roullier | Inactive | N/A |
Brandon Scherff | Inactive | N/A |
Offensive Line (Team)- Of the Skins’ 55 rushing yards, 32 of them were produced via a pair of quarterback scrambles; their 15 designed runs went for a total of 23 yards (1.53 YPC).
It wasn’t a banner day for the line in pass protection, either. Keenum and Haskins combined to take 3 sacks, be on the receiving end of 5 QB hits and face pressure on 30.3% of their dropbacks. Two of the four interceptions thrown by the Redskins occurred when the quarterback was under pressure.
If that all wasn’t bad enough, the O-line was responsible for four total and three accepted penalties (25 yards). Those three infractions played a major role in two early offensive drives being stalled.
Donald Penn- The 36-year-old vet allowed his first sack of the season in this one, and while he was only credited with one sack you could make a strong argument that he was at least partially responsible for two of them.
He also gave up a hurry and was flagged for a false start. Penn has allowed multiple pressures and committed a penalty in three of his four games as the Redskins’ left tackle.
Ereck Flowers- The former Giant extended his streak of games without surrendering a QB hit or sack to five (one with Jacksonville). Flowers gave up a pair of hurries for the third time this year and was flagged for an illegal-use-of-hands penalty on a third-down play, but the penalty was ultimately declined because the play ended with a Haskins incompletion.
Chase Roullier- Chase Roullier was held out with an injury (knee). He is the only multi-game starter on the Washington O-line who has not committed a penalty this year and is one of two such players who have not allowed a sack (Flowers). This was the first time Roullier had missed a game since Week 13 of the 2017. In fact, he played on every single one of the team’s 1,395 offensive snaps in that 22-game span.
Tony Bergstrom- Bergstrom started at center in place an of injured Chase Roullier. It was his first start at center since Week 6 of last season (vs. Carolina) and it was the first time he had played on more than half of the offensive snaps since Week 13 (at Philadelphia).
He did allow a QB hit, but that was the only pressure he allowed in the whole contest. He also extended his streak of games without an accepted penalty to 18. His 66.6 PFF rating for the performance was the highest grade on the offense, but that says more about how poorly the offense as a whole played than it does about how well Bergstrom did.
Brandon Scherff- Scherff was sidelined with an ankle injury. After only missing a grand total of 17 snaps in his first two seasons and 33 games (including playoffs), the two-time Pro Bowler has now missed at least one entire contest in each of the last three seasons - 11 total games missed in that span. That number could grow, as he was reportedly spotted with a walking boot on.
Wes Martin- Wes Martin started at right guard in what was his NFL debut. He was not penalized and was only credited with allowing 2 hurries.
It was his man (Ryan Connelly) who recorded the sack on Case Keenum, but Keenum held the ball for about four seconds and scrambled up into the pocket before being taken down on the play, so that one could go either way.
Morgan Moses- Like Martin, Moses gave up a pair of hurries and was not charged with allowing a sack, but easily could’ve been. The Giants’ pass rusher he was blocking (Oshane Ximines) ended up splitting the first sack of Haskins. Moses was also flagged for a holding penalty that nullified a 3-yard rush on a first-down play and stalled the drive.
Geron Christian- Christian played on offense for the second time this season (Week 2 vs. Dallas). He operated as an extra offensive lineman on all three of his snaps in the game and committed a drive-stalling holding penalty on one of them.
Ross Pierschbacher- Rookie center Ross Pierschbacher made his NFL debut this week, but was limited to just a single special teams snap.
ALL OFFENSIVE PLAYERS
All Offensive Players (26 Players) | ||||||
Player (* - starter) | Snaps | Snap % | Player (* - starter) | Snaps | Snap % | |
Tony Bergstrom * | 51 | 100% | Adrian Peterson * | 20 | 39% | |
Ereck Flowers * | 51 | 100% | Case Keenum * | 18 | 35% | |
Wes Martin * | 51 | 100% | Steven Sims | 5 | 10% | |
Morgan Moses * | 51 | 100% | Wendell Smallwood | 4 | 8% | |
Donald Penn * | 51 | 100% | Geron Christian | 3 | 6% | |
Paul Richardson * | 45 | 88% | Ryan Anderson | 2 | 4% | |
Trey Quinn * | 39 | 76% | Jerome Cunningham | 0 | 0% | |
Vernon Davis | 38 | 75% | Ross Pierschbacher | ST Only | 0% | |
Dwayne Haskins | 33 | 65% | Colt McCoy | Inactive | N/A | |
Kelvin Harmon | 29 | 57% | Terry McLaurin | Inactive | N/A | |
Chris Thompson | 27 | 53% | Jordan Reed | Inactive | N/A | |
Robert Davis * | 22 | 43% | Chase Roullier | Inactive | N/A | |
Jeremy Sprinkle * | 21 | 41% | Brandon Scherff | Inactive | N/A |
*All statistics are courtesy of Air Yards, ESPN, Football Outsiders, NBC Sports, NFL.com, NFL Gamebooks, Pro Football Focus, Pro Football Reference, Redskins.com, Sports Info Solutions and The Washington Post*
Poll
Assuming each player is healthy, who should the Redskins start at Quarterback in Week 5?
This poll is closed
-
26%
Case Keenum
-
25%
Dwayne Haskins
-
48%
Colt McCoy