The Takeaways – Week 17, Redskins at Giants
December 31, 2017
by Steve Thomas
Well, kids, that was an awful way to spend three hours of your New Year’s Eve. Today, the Washington Redskins were thoroughly humiliated and embarrassed by a team that was 2 – 13 and completely devoid of all offensive weapons. With a couple of exceptions, the Redskins players showed that they weren’t prepared and didn’t care enough to give a solid effort in their attempt to end the season on a high note. Instead, Washington went out in the meekest possible way, playing as poorly as they had all year and finishing the season with a losing record. This game was lacking almost any redeeming qualities and will most likely have long-term consequences throughout the offseason in the eyes of the fans and in the way the team is covered. It most certainly is not without our normal, “watercooler”-style Takeaways, though; for the final time this season, here’s what I think:
The Redskins quit and showed no heart
I honestly didn’t expect an effort like this. The final score of 18 – 10 does not adequately reflect just how bad this game was for Washington. The Redskins came out flat right from the opening gun, allowing the Giants to score on a 75 yard run by Orleans Darkwa on the second play from scrimmage, and then committing a turnover on the Redskins third play from scrimmage in the form of a Kirk Cousins interception that led to another quick Giants touchdown. The Redskins were never really in this game, showed very little fight, and generally played like they were only an hour away from a 7 month vacation. With the exception of a small number of players – Ryan Kerrigan, DJ Swearinger, Kapri Bibbs – players on both sides of the ball simply appeared flat and unmotivated, which was very disappointing to have to watch. It was a terrible, yet not wholly surprising event through which Redskins fans had to suffer. Hopefully, the players who remain on the roster for the 2018 season will remember this game and keep it at the forefront of their minds as motivation for next year, although I’m not going to hold my breath.
The Giants didn’t quit and showed that they had heart
The New York Giants, on the other hand, despite losing basically all of their offense weapons, having an interim coach, a locker room in turmoil, and as many injuries as the Redskins, played this game with fire from the beginning and acted like finishing the season on a high note was important to the franchise. The few Giants fans who were actually in the stands on a frigidly cold day were excited for their team and cheered as though this division rivalry game was important to them. The Giants didn’t really have any notable offensive talent left on the field, with Evan Engram and Sterling Shepard joining many others on the sidelines due to injury, but for one day, at least, it didn’t matter. A team that possessed at least some small amount of talent and had been able to summon up even a modicum of intensity would have been able to overcome the Giants effort, but the Redskins didn’t come close, or even appear to care about the result.
Kirk Cousins had one of the worst games of his career in what might be his last game in DC
Bad Kirk reared his ugly head today in the worst possible manner. If this was the last game of Cousins’ Redskins’ career, it was about as poor a way to go out as possible. Cousins posted his worst single game quarterback rating since 2013 and the second-worst of his career, throwing three interceptions, making a number of bad reads, and missing passes high, low, long, and short, to finish 20 of 37 for 158 yards, three interceptions, and no touchdowns. All three interceptions were Kirk’s fault, combining poor reads with poor passes. Cousins must shoulder a significant amount of the blame for the lack of offensive production today even despite the injury situation, which is uncharacteristic for a quarterback who has had far more good than bad during his Washington tenure. Today was unreflective of his usual performance as starting quarterback. The Anti-Kirk crowd will use this game as an example of why he needs to be shown the door, which is unfortunate both because it was avoidable and because it was a significantly worse game than anyone expected. Stay tuned for quite of bit of loud, irritating Cousins talk from both Team Kirk and Anti-Kirk folks in the weeks to come.
Kapri Bibbs shows that he belongs
If anything good came out of today, it was that Kapri Bibbs looked like a legitimate NFL player who deserves a shot at a roster next year. His stats – 12 carries for 47 yards and 8 receptions for 53 receiving yards – don’t blow anyone away, but he showed good athleticism and decision making, and a level of dynamic ability that Samaje Perine doesn’t have. Bibbs might end up as a victim of numbers, particularly if the Redskins also draft another running back in the upcoming draft (which seems like a very good idea), but he made the most of his opportunity when it came to him. He has reason to be hopeful.
The injury demon gets one last laugh
In a season filled with an incredible amount of injuries, it happened to the Redskins one last time. Running back Samaje Perine went out in the first quarter with an ankle injury, and left tackle Ty Nsekhe, who was filling in for All Pro Trent Williams, went down in the first quarter with a knee. Neither player returned. If not for the fact that this was the last game of the season, it seems likely that these two injuries would have resulted in yet more roster juggling. Somewhere, the Injury Demon is cackling, reveling in abandon at the chaos he was able to create on a team that was struggling to find weapons on both sides of the ball even when fully healthy early in the year. There’s no doubt that injuries played a very significant role in the story of the 2017 Redskins – if Washington had managed to eek out a victory against the Giants today, I would submit to you that the principal storyline headed into the offseason (other than the Cousins contract situation) would be the team’s “grittiness” and resolve in overcoming the loss of so many players. Of course, that didn’t happen.
That’s it for The Takeaways for the season. Thanks for reading these on a weekly basis. I’ll be back next season with another edition each and every week. Until then, stayed tuned to The Hog Sty Podcast on its offseason schedule and keep reading us at www.thehogsty.com for all of the latest offseason news and analysis.