Redskins get bounced
They lose a chance for a playoff berth
LANDOVER, Md. — Josh Norman walked around toward the end of the Washington Redskins’ season-ending 19-10 loss to the New York Giants on Sunday wanting to thank fans for showing up for what should have been a playoff-clinching victory over an opponent with nothing to play for.
Instead, the Redskins came out flat, Kirk Cousins threw two costly interceptions and they blew their virtual winand-in opportunity to join the Giants in the playoffs.
“You don’t come out and lose and like that,” Norman said. “That right there was just disgusting, it was despicable. … That right there, it’s not football.”
With control of its playoff hopes, Washington (8-71) lost two of its final three games and four of six down the stretch with a combination of horrendous starts, ill-timed mistakes and lackluster offense. Cousins was picked off in the second half twice Sunday by Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, the second interception all but sealing the result.
Cousins was 22 of 35 for 287 yards with a touchdown and those two interceptions in what could be his final game with the Redskins after playing this season on the franchise tag.
“This isn’t my first time dealing with this,” said Cousins, who was sacked a seasonhigh four times. “Tough times don’t last; tough people do, right? I sound like a broken record, but I’m going to keep saying that until I retire.”
Redskins players complimented the Giants (11-5) for being “the better team,” which was jarring given that they were locked into the NFC’s first wild card with nothing at stake. Eli Manning played the entire game and was 17 of 27 for 180 yards as New York employed a conservative second-half approach and still came away with the victory.
Coach Ben McAdoo called it “a physical, hard-nosed football game against a hungry team on the road where we ran the ball, we stopped the run, we took care of the ball, and we took the ball away.”
For the Redskins, it was the ultimate failure.
“They just made more plays to win the game, and that’s what good teams do,” defensive end Chris Baker said. “Any time you have the situation in your hands to make it to the next level and you don’t capitalize on that, it’s a disappointment.
Norman and Odell Beckham Jr. added another dramatic chapter to their rivalry. Norman shoved Beckham out of bounds in the second quarter and slammed his facemask into the Giants receiver’s facemask for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in the third.