Redskins Starter Snaps- The Washington Redskins played eight of their eleven offensive starters in Thursday night’s game (Jordan Reed, Paul Richardson and Trey Quinn sat out). Key role players Chris Thompson and Vernon Davis also saw action in this one.

Of that group of ten players, only two of them (Geron Christian and Ereck Flowers) played more than 15 snaps and appeared after the third drive.

On those 15 snaps and three drives, the starting offense gained 82 yards and picked up 3 first downs; however, they failed to score a single point and committed a pair of penalties that set them back a total of 20 yards.

Bengals Starter Snaps- The Bengals trotted out nine-of-eleven defensive starters, with the two exceptions being Geno Atkins and Dre Kirkpatrick.

Those players were only out there for 10 snaps and two drives, which is one drive and 5 snaps fewer than Washington played its offensive starters on. The Cincy first-team D gave up 48 yards, 2 first downs and no points during that time. This means 41% of the yardage gained by the Burgundy and Gold first teamers came against backups.

Points- The Redskins improved upon their 10-point performance a week ago, but not by much, as the team only put 13 points up on the scoreboard this time around. What’s even more disheartening from an offensive perspective is that one of their two touchdowns in this game came courtesy of a pick six by the defense.

The team has now scored 16 or fewer points in eight straight games dating back to Week 13 of last season (at Philadelphia).

Yards- Unsurprisingly, they’ve struggled from a yardage standpoint, as well. The offense gained just 212 yards on 45 plays from scrimmage (4.7 yards per play). The Skins haven’t hit 300 total yards in the past seven games, nor have they averaged better than 4.9 yards per play in their last five outings.

Giveaways- After coughing up the ball four times in Week 1 versus the Browns, the Redskins only turned it over once against the Bengals this week. The turnover came on a sack-fumble.

3rd & 4th Down- The Skins were only able to move the chains on 2-of-12 third-down plays, which gave them a pathetic 17% success rate on the money down. That is the second-worst conversion rate on third down for Washington in the team’s last 20 total games (0% in Week 17 vs. Philadelphia).

Three of the four sacks against the Redskins, including the aforementioned sack-fumble happened on third down. Although, to be fair, the team’s only offensive touchdown and their longest play of the night also came on a third down.

The main reason for their struggles in this regard was that the average distance from the line to gain on these plays was 10 yards; they needed to gain at least 8 yards on 75% (9) of the of them.

But how did they dig themselves into such a deep hole on these plays? Well, that’s because they were even worse on first downs on the same series. The offense lost an average of 0.08 yards on the twelve first downs just prior to the third downs; eight of those plays were runs, which they gained a combined one yard on.

The team’s lone official fourth-down play ended with a sack. Their other play on fourth down was negated by a penalty.

Red Zone & Field Position- The Washington offense didn’t reach the Cincinnati red zone once on Thursday night. They have made just one trip to the opposition’s red area on their 25 drives this August.

Just talking about the red zone doesn’t tell the whole story here, though. The Redskins only took 3 snaps and ran a single play from inside the Bengals’ 30-yard line, all of which came on the team’s first offensive drive of the game.

They took one snap and did not run a single official play inside Cincinnati territory after the second drive of the game (a penalty negated the one play).

Penalties- Eight of the twelve penalties called against the team were committed by the offense. Six of those infractions were accepted and accounted for 50 of the team’s 105 penalty yards.

QUARTERBACKS

Dwayne Haskins- Haskins did not start but led all Washington signal callers in snaps for the second straight week (30).

He finished the game with 7 completions for 114 yards, 4 first downs, a touchdown and no interceptions on 14 attempts (50% completion rate, 8.1 YPA and a 101.5 passer rating). He also turned a near sack into a 6-yard gain on his only rush.

The first touchdown of his NFL career came on a picture-perfect 55-yard strike on a 3rd-and-8 play to close out his first drive of the game. Haskins stood tall in the pocket despite being both blitzed and hit on the play.

The rookie was spectacular on the TD play, but didn’t do much outside of that. His YPA and passer rating on the other 13 passes he threw were 4.54 and 59.5. He left a lot of yards on the field with overthrown passes, was sacked three times (19 yards), all on third down, and fumbled on one of them.

Case Keenum- Case Keenum started for the second straight week, but actually played one fewer snap than he did last week (15 down from 16). He completed three of his seven passes for 52 yards (42.9%), 2 first downs and no touchdowns or interceptions (68.8 passer rating). He also had two first-down throws that would’ve counted for 54 yards get negated by penalties. All three of his completions were thrown to tight ends.

The offense never scored when he was in, but the team made it into Cincinnati territory on all three of the drives he led, whereas Haskins and McClendon didn’t run one play on the other side of the 50.

Case Keenum is not going to wow you with his arm talent like Haskins will, but he is also not going to make the mistakes Haskins will right now. Keenum has yet to be sacked and hasn’t fumbled or thrown an interception this preseason. The rookie first-rounder meanwhile has been sacked five times, has lost a fumble and has thrown two interceptions.

The reason for this is most likely that the experience gap between these two players is quite large. Keenum threw almost exactly as many passes last season with the Broncos (586) as Haskins did in his entire three-year college career (590). He was entering his first NFL season at the same time the former OSU quarterback started high school, and that was nearly a year after he set the all-time records for completions (1,546), passing yards (19,217), passing touchdowns (155) and total yards (20,114) in a college career.

I’m in no way saying Haskins shouldn’t start at some point this season (he most definitely should), but why rush it if he’s not ready. In all likelihood this is not a decision that will matter anyways, because the chances this team makes it to the playoffs are slim either way.

Jalan McClendon- The Redskins’ newest addition (and soon-to-be latest departure) at the quarterback position did not enter the game until there were just over six minutes left in the fourth quarter. He would man the controls for Washington’s offense on their last two drives and 8 snaps of the contest.

The rookie out of NC State and Baylor started off hot by picking up first downs of 14 and 42 yards; unfortunately, the 42-yarder was negated by a highly questionable OPI call. His next and final two dropbacks produced a completion that resulted in a 2-yard loss and a fourth-down sack.

McClendon couldn’t win a starting job at not one, but two colleges, so there is no reason to expect him to even have a chance at winning a job as a professional.

Colt McCoy- McCoy is still unable to suit up because of his offseason surgery, and it’s now gotten to the point where Gruden has said McCoy isn’t even a part of the QB competition right now.

The 32-year old Texas product has only thrown five or more passes in 30 regular season games and has only played more than 8 contests and over 452 snaps once in his eight-year career (13 games and 876 snaps in 2011). He is probably incapable of lasting anywhere close to 16 games as a starting quarterback behind anything less than a truly elite offensive line, and that is a luxury he would probably not have this season.

WIDE RECEIVERS

Trey Quinn- Trey Quinn missed the game with a minor thumb injury. Quinn, who ranks first all-time in receiving yards gained by a high school player (6,566) and who led Division I college football in receptions in 2017 (114), has an excellent shot to lead the Redskins in receiving this season if he can stay healthy.

Paul Richardson- P-Rich was out with a quad injury. This injury was presented as minor, but I think it’s fair to be a bit skeptical here considering who we’re talking about.

The former second-round pick has only played on more than 47% of his team’s offensive snaps once in his five years in the league (76.6% in 2017).

He has torn his left MCL, torn his left ACL twice and suffered multiple shoulder/AC joint injuries.

Terry McLaurin- The rookie wideout sat out with a bruised tailbone. The Redskins really seem to love McLaurin; they’ve gushed about him publicly and, apparently, privately and they’ve given him the kid-glove treatment that is typically only afforded to star players. I think most fans would sure like to see what the fuss is about.

Maybe there really is something to all the hype though. Last week, I gave you a few reasons to fade the hype, but this time I’ll do the opposite and add some fuel to the fire.

• McLaurin, who weighed 208 pounds at the time, ran a 4.35 forty at the combine. That is the 13th fastest time by a wide receiver since 2000 who weighed at least 200 pounds.
• His 14.3 yards per target last year ranked first among all drafted wide receivers.
• Dwayne Haskins had a 153.8 passer rating when targeting McLaurin at Ohio State, the second-best rating between a QB-receiver combo since 2014.

Josh Doctson- Let’s get to some people who actually played though, starting with Josh Doctson. He got the start, played 15 snaps and ran 7 routes against the Bengals. Doctson’s only target came on a 3rd-and-8 pass that he was not even close to catching; mainly because he lost track of the ball in the air.

The fourth-year receiver’s career preseason stat line looks like a typical regular season game for him: 71 snaps, 35 routes, 4 targets, 2 receptions and 23 yards (all across 4 games).

Brian Quick- Quick started for the second consecutive week, but saw his snap total fall from 22 down to 10.

His final official numbers were one target and no catches, but he could’ve easily hauled two first-down grabs which would have gone for a total of 22 yards. It didn’t work out that way because he dropped what would’ve been a 12-yarder on his only officially recognized look of the night and had 10-yard chain mover on third down get negated by a holding penalty.

Quick hasn’t hit 50 yards in any game since Week 7 of the 2016 season. I’m looking forward to his inevitable release in the next couple of weeks, so I don’t have to keep coming up with new ways to describe his poor production.

Robert Davis- Robert Davis did it again. For the second straight game Davis caught a touchdown pass of 40-plus yards (55 yards). Those may have been his first scores as a professional, but he is no stranger to hitting the long ball, as 8 of his 17 touchdowns at Georgia State came from 45 or more yards out.

Davis is the only non-quarterback on the Redskins’ offense who has scored so far this preseason. And it’s worth noting that all three of his big plays this August (including him drawing a 43-yard DPI) have come on third-and-long plays.

Unfortunately, this also marked the second straight game in which he has caught exactly one pass. He dropped a 20-yarder and negated a 7-yard reception by committing an illegal shift prior to the catch.

Kelvin Harmon- The rookie wideout was robbed of a 30-yard pass inference by the referees and was instead tagged with an offensive pass interference on the play. He also had a 42-yard grab get overturned into another OPI infraction. Harmon was unable to haul in either of his only two official targets (the OPI plays don’t count), one of which he had no chance on because it was tipped at the line.

Kelvin Harmon was a couple of highly questionable calls away from having a really nice game. This isn’t something that should surprise anyone, as he already produced at high level in college. Harmon ranked either first or second among all ACC players in receiving yards in each of his last two years at NC State.

Darvin Kidsy- Last week’s leading receiver was much less impressive this time around. He caught both of the balls thrown his way, but only gained a total of 7 yards between them. He picked up 7 yards on his first catch, but was tackled for a loss of 2 yards on a failed wide receiver screen.

Kidsy will need to have another showing or two like the one he had in Cleveland if he hopes to have any shot at sneaking onto the final roster.

Cam Sims- The 2018 preseason sensation was only targeted once on his 18 snaps and 12 routes. Sims had his man beat on what could’ve been a gain of about 35 yards, but Dwayne Haskins overthrew the pass by several yards. Haskins also narrowly missed him on what could’ve been a 17-yard touchdown in the Week 1 game against the Browns.

The Alabama alum who had 131 yards and 5 first downs by this time in 2018, has just 6 yards on a single reception through the first two weeks of this exhibition season.

After last week’s game I warned everyone that it might be wise to pump the brakes a bit on Terry McLaurin because of his poor college production; now I’ll do the same with Sims, who only caught 41 balls for 467 yards and 2 touchdowns during his four-year career with the Crimson Tide.

Cam Sims was flagged on what was yet another questionable OPI. The penalty negated a 44-yard reception by another Washington wideout that would’ve set the offense up at the Cincinnati 3-yard line.

Steven Sims- There was some Sims on Sims crime going on, as it was Steven Sims who had his 44-yard gainer to the 3-yard line get wiped out by a Cams Sims penalty.

Sims Jr. was targeted three times on his other 18 snaps and 9 routes, but he was only able to turn those opportunities into a 16-yard reception on a 3rd-and-22 play. That’s not all his fault though; as Haskins overthrew him on what would’ve been at least a 20-yard reception.

He lost 5 yards on a running play, as well.

Jehu Chesson- Chesson caught his only target on the night for a gain of 14 yards. That is the most yards he has ever gained as a member of the Redskins and it is tied for his highest total since 2017, his first year in the league.

He was also flagged for holding, but the penalty was declined.

TIGHT ENDS

Jordan Reed- Reed was a healthy scratch for the second consecutive week. Apparently, he is in great shape and was easily the team’s best offensive player during offseason workouts.

The hope is that Reed can recapture some of the magic he had in the 2015 season when he ranked top five among all tight ends in receptions (87, 2nd), receiving yards (952, 5th), first downs (54, 1st), touchdowns (11, 2nd), catch percentage (76.3%, 1st) and yards per route run (2.45, 1st).

Vernon Davis- The ageless wonder that is Vernon Davis made his first appearance of the 2019 season. VD started and caught both passes thrown his way, gaining 26 and 17 yards on the plays, Washington’s second and fourth-longest plays of the night. He was the only non-quarterback on the team with more than a single first down (2). Amazingly, he did all this despite running just five routes in the game (8.60 YPRR).

Davis’ 36 targets last season were a new career low, but he was extremely efficient with his opportunities. He ranked 8th in yards per route run (1.86), 5th in receiving DVOA (19.0%) and 4th in yards per target (10.19) at the position.

Jeremy Sprinkle- Sprinkle started for the second straight week, which actually marks his sixth straight start in a preseason game he played in.

The third-year tight end tied his career high of 3 targets (set in Weeks 15 and 16 of last year) and caught two of those three passes for a total of 13 yards (gains of 9 and 4). Both receptions came on third down, with his four-yarder representing exactly half of the team’s third-down conversions. He dropped the third and final pass thrown in his direction on what would’ve been about an 8-yard gain on first down.

In his 34-game career (including preseason), Sprinkle has averaged 0.3 receptions and 2.4 yards per game. They certainly don’t call him a blocking tight end for nothing.

Matt Flanagan- After getting three looks in the passing game last week against the Browns, Matt Flanagan was not targeted on his 17 snaps and 6 routes run in the contest. He has blocked on more snaps this preseason than he has run a route on.

J.P. Holtz- Holtz also played 17 snaps against the Bengals. The fourth-year vet caught a 15-yard pass on the first play from scrimmage of the second half. Not only was that the longest gain of his career, it gave him a new single-game career high in receiving yards. This was the second straight week in which Holtz picked up a first down on his lone target of the game.

Donald Parham- The odds of the only other receiving tight end on the roster outside of Reed and Davis got even longer on Thursday night. After dropping a pass and getting flagged twice on his 14 snaps last week, Parham’s playing time on offense was cut to just 2 snaps. He was used as a run blocker on both plays.

RUNNING BACKS

Adrian Peterson- The legend of Adrian Peterson continued, as the 34-year-old Hall of Famer (let’s just start talking about him like he’s already in) put his famous jump cut on display when he juked Bengals’ safety Shawn Williams out of his shoes en route to a 26-yard run on the offense’s first play of the game. Sadly, that was the only rushing first down in the entire contest for the Burgundy and Gold.

AP gained 3 yards on his second and third runs, before losing a yard on his fourth and final attempt. He led all Redskins runners in rushing yards (31), yards per carry (7.8) and first downs (1).

Peterson ranks inside the top five all-time in rushing yards by a player in both their age-30 (5th)and age-33 seasons (2nd). He’ll need 704 yards to accomplish this feat at the age of 34. Another 80 yards on top of that (784) would put All Day in the top five in all-time career rushing yards.

Chris Thompson- Chris “Army Knife” Thompson played 8 snaps in his 2019 debut. He lost a yard on his only touch, a run out of the shotgun formation.

CT is looking to bounce from a down season in 2018 that saw him post the second-worst averages of his career on a per carry (4.1), reception (6.5) and target (4.9) basis.

Derrius Guice- Guice has looked good in practice and in offseason workouts, but he has still yet to be cleared to play in a game after tearing his ACL 374 days ago. It’s hard to imagine him dominating backfield touches early in the season considering he has to compete with a healthy Chris Thompson and a still spry-looking Adrian Peterson.

Samaje Perine- I was a big fan of Samaje Perine when the Redskins drafted him in 2017 (mainly because I believed him to be far superior to the now teamless Rob Kelley), but what little support I still have for him is seriously waning.

Simply put, Perine was horrible in this game. He got five carries on the night, but somehow gained just one yard on all of them combined (0.2 YPC). You may be wondering how this happened, so I’ll give you the yardage totals for each of his runs to provide some insight: 0, 2, -2, 0 and 1. Perine actually failed to gain any yards more often than he picked up positive yardage (60/40 split), and all of his rushes came at least 10 yards from the line to gain, so none of them were considered successful.

Through the first two games of the exhibition season, the third-year Oklahoma product has gained just 15 yards on his 12 total touches (1.25 average). Only one of those plays was deemed a success and/or picked up a first down (2-yard rush on 3rd-and-1) and he only gained more than 3 yards on one of them (7-yard rush on 3rd-and-22). Perine should not and probably will not make the team if he continues to play like this.

Byron Marshall- The veteran receiving back led all Washington running backs with 14 snaps. His only touches came on back-to-back third quarter plays. Marshall moved the chains with an 11-yard reception to start the drive, and followed that play up with a 2-yard rush on the next snap.

In general, it’s a much better idea to throw to Marshall than it is to hand it off to him. He’s averaged over a yard-and-a-half more per target (4.73) than per carry (3.06) in his career (including preseason).

Craig Reynolds- The rookie UDFA out of DII Kuztown University got five carries, all of which came in the fourth quarter, on his 13 snaps and gained 25 yards on those plays (5.0 YPC).

Reynolds started off slow, by getting stuffed for a loss of a yard on his first tote, but turned things around with gains of 12, 5, 5 and 4 yards on his next four rushes. His 12-yarder represented the Skins’ second-longest run of the day.

Shaun Wilson- After playing 14 snaps in Cleveland, Wilson was limited to just two offensive snaps on Thursday against the Bengals. He was targeted in the passing game on one of those snaps and gained 6 yards on the play (5 YAC).

If Wilson makes this team it will likely have less to do with how he fares as a running back and more to do with how he plays on special teams. Unfortunately, he hurt his ankle on Cincinnati’s punt return touchdown.

OFFENSIVE LINEMEN

Brandon Scherff- Brandon Scherff returned to the field for the first time since tearing his pec in Week 9 of last season. The two-time Pro Bowler tapped an offsides defender to draw a neutral-zone-infraction penalty and did not allow a single pressure or commit a penalty on his 15 snaps against the Bengals.

He only surrendered one sack and one QB hit on his 301 pass-blocking snaps in 2018.

Morgan Moses- Like Scherff, the sixth-year right tackle did not make any major mistakes this past Thursday. He did, however, have to leave the game three snaps earlier than the rest of the starters did because of a slight hamstring pull.

Chase Roullier- Roullier also didn’t allow any pressures, but he did commit a holding penalty which wiped out a 10-yard third-down conversion that would’ve put the Washington offense in the red zone. Dustin Hopkins missed a field goal two plays later.

Fortunately, history tells us not to expect a trend here. This was just the third accepted and fifth total penalty committed by Roullier across his 35 games and 1,757 NFL snaps (both include preseason).

Geron Christian- Christian, who flashed a bit of improved play last week, regressed back to his normal self against the Bengals. He was responsible for a game-high 3 pressures on the night, with one of those coming on Keenum’s third-down throwaway on the first drive. His 39.2 PFF grade ranked dead last among the 37 offensive players who suited up for the Redskins.

Donald Penn- Donald Penn fared better than Christian, but not by much. Penn played 17 fewer snaps than Christian and faced lighter competition, yet he still allowed a sack fumble on a third down fairly deep in Washington territory and watched as his man took down Haskins outside of the pocket for another third-down sack (this one was not credited to Penn).

Left tackle is shaping up to be the Redskins’ biggest problem this season.

Ereck Flowers- In what was perhaps the most encouraging sign of the game for the O-line, Ereck Flowers did not give up a single quarterback pressure on his 26 snaps and earned the highest PFF pass-blocking grade on the team (85.4).

The last time he avoided allowing a pressure while playing 20 or more snaps was in Week 11 of the 2017 season (Kansas City), which was also the only other time he’s posted a better mark from PFF in pass protection (89.5).

Wes Martin- Martin slumped a bit after his strong performance against the Browns. He allowed pressure (a hurry) and was flagged for a false start; both of which occurred on third-down snaps.

Timon Parris- Timon Parris came in to replace the injured Morgan Moses at right tackle and promptly gave up a QB hit on his second play in the lineup. Luckily, that was the only pressure the second-year tackle surrendered on his 23 snaps. However, he still leads the team with 5 pressures allowed this August, thanks in large part to the four he was responsible against the Browns.

Zac Kerin- The journeyman interior O-lineman played left guard with the second-team offense once again. He was in for 28 snaps and allowed a hurry on one of those plays.

Tony Bergstrom- Bergstrom got beat for a third-down sack on one of his 30 snaps. He still looks to have the inside track to be the backup center again.

Third-Team Offensive Line- Corey Robinson, Jerald Foster, Ross Pierschbacher, Hugh Thornton and Blake Hance formed the third-team O-line from left to right.

Hance was the only one of the bunch who played on more than 8 snaps and the final two drives of the contest. The 23-year-old Northwestern grad was also the only one in this group who allowed a pressure or committed a penalty; he was flagged for holding and allowed a hurry.

ALL OFFENSIVE PLAYERS

*All statistics are courtesy of ESPN, NBC Sports, NFL.com, NFL Gamebooks, Pro Football Focus, Pro Football Reference, Redskins.com and The Washington Post*