Redskins Lose Through Collective Effort

Despite dominating the undefeated New Orleans Saints, the Washington Redskins lost 33-30 in overtime. While the Redskins were certainly expected to lose, it was the way they lost that was so infuriating. With less than 2 minutes left to go in the game, the Redskins led 30-23 and had the ball on the Saints' 4 yard line. The Saints had no timeouts left. If you put any team in the NFL in this position, they win the game. Not the Redskins.

On fourth down, the Redskins lined up for a 23 yard field goal. A chip shot. Two yards closer is an extra point. Shaun Suisham, however, missed the kick. From the moment he kicked it, it was clearly wide. A 10 point lead at that point in the game would have forced New Orleans to score twice with less than 2 minutes and no timeouts. Instead, the Saints got the ball on the 20 yard line down only by one touchdown. I understand that sometimes kickers will miss kicks. Missing this kick, however, was unacceptable. Professional kickers who get paid millions should make those kicks whether they are winning by 7 or 70. Despite how much money Daniel Snyder likes to spend for players, the Redskins have not had a dependable kicker for several seasons. Suisham also cost the Redskins against Dallas with two missed field goals. A football team needs a kicker they can depend on to score from close yardage and in clutch situations. Suisham has shown he is not dependable in either situation.

Despite missing an easy field goal, the Redskins still held a 7 point lead with 1:52 left to go. It took the Saints only five plays and 33 seconds to score. After one play, Albert Haynesworth gave the Saints a time out as he went down with an injury. Even though Haynserworth played a good game, he seems to get injured at least once every week. Going down in such an important situation allows the Saints to regroup and get ready for the rest of the drive. If Haynesworth is injured, he's injured and there's nothing really he can do, but I'm getting pretty tired of watching him go down every game. He's getting paid too much money to sit out the majority of a game.

The biggest mistake that drive, however, cam from LaRon Landry. When it comes to stoping the run, Landry is very aggresive and seems to always be in the play. When it comes to the pass, however, he is constantly beat deep. His aggresiveness constantly gets him into trouble. What he doesn't seem to realize is that he is a safety, meaning he is the guy in charge of making sure the defense DOESN'T get beat deep. Robert Meachem managed to get behind Landry for a 53 yard touchdown that tied the game. Landry is a three year pro and should know his responsibility. It doesn't matter if he he can stop the run. If receivers can get behind him at will, he is useless to the team.

Even with the game tied, the Redskins still had a great opportunity to win the game. There was still 1:19 left on the clock and they had two timeouts. But, we can't forget the man playing quarterback, Jason Campbell aka Mr. Dependable. At the New Orleans 45 yard line, Campbell threw an interception right into the hands of Jonathan Vilma. People can show me all the stats they want on how Campbell played and I'll admit, to that point he had a good game. This interception, however, was terrible. There was little pressure on Campbell and Fred Davis was CLEARLY covered. An NFL quarterback should not have made that throw. I don't know what Campbell saw or how he could have missed Vilma standing right in front of Davis, but still the ball was thrown. I'm not going to blame Campbell for losing the game because for the most part he played well, but did anybody believe the Redskins were going to be able to drive for the win? Drew Brees is a great quarterback because he can lead foruth quarter come backs. So can Peyton Manning, so can Brett Favre. Jason Campbell? He tries to throw through the invisible Vilma. Further evidence that come the offseason, Campbell needs to go.

Was this all the Redskins had in store? Nope. In overtime Mike Sellers fumbled the ball on the Redskins 37 yard line, giving the Saints the ball at the edge of field goal range. All this capped off a game ending collapse for the Redskins. We also can't forget their earlier mistakes such as a miffed punt, and an interception by Kareem Moore who was stripped by Saints' receiver Robert Meachum who managed to return the fumble for a touchdown. Only the Redskins could lose a game in such spectacular fashion.