Washington’s winning streak ends with a thud
Redskins can’t stop potent Atlanta offense, flagged 10 times in injury-riddled loss
LANDOVER — The Redskins were beaten on Sunday, beaten soundly by an Atlanta Falcons team that raced past their defenders on the FedEx Field turf. And as they stood in their locker room afterward, wondering how a 38-14 loss — which featured several injuries — had come after three straight victories, they shook their heads in disappointment.
Very little the Falcons did surprised them. They knew how dangerous Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan and receivers Julio Jones, Mohamed Sanu and Calvin Ridley could be. The 491 yards of offense put up against them wasn’t a total surprise. The shock for Washington’s coaches and players seemed to come from their inability to stop the Falcons at the most necessary of moments, their own ability to move the ball … and the officials.
The Redskins were called for 10 penalties on Sunday, and the yellow flags on the field added up to 147 yards. The calls stymied several of their own offensive drives and kept two of Atlanta’s moving. The more they thought about it, the angrier they got.
“It’s impossible,” Washington coach Jay Gruden said when asked how hard it is to come back in a game with that many penalties. “You might as well just give them the ball and give them the game. I have to check the tape to see what these penalties are all about. It’s very frustrating. We got a couple of token penalties [called on the Falcons] late. I have to look at the tape and if they are legit, we have to get them corrected.”
The key phrase seemed to be: “If they are legit.” The Redskins’ momentum was killed on the game’s second play when a first down pass from quarterback Alex Smith to tight end Jordan Reed was wiped out by a holding call on guard Shawn Lauvao. In all, they were called five times for holds, with two other holding calls declined by the Falcons. Adding to their annoyance were unsportsmanlike conduct penalties made against receiver Josh Doctson for spinning the ball after a first-down catch and tackle Morgan Moses after a play in which fellow lineman Brandon Scherff was injured.
“Hey man, you can’t beat the zebras and the team,” linebacker Zach Brown said.
The Falcons were holding he and the other Redskins defenders, Brown continued. His implication was that the officials were continually missing the holds.
“I feel if they refs aren’t going to be calling this, they should be fined just like we get fined,” he said. “Certain plays were clear as day and they weren’t calling it, but at the end of the day we still got to find a way to get the W.”
Brown was asked how much the no-calls contributed to Atlanta’s 491 yards and 38 points?
“It contributed a lot,” he said. “But it is what it is.”
Ultimately, the Redskins needed to get to Ryan and keep the Falcons receivers from running free. They did neither, sacking Ryan just twice and allowing Jones121yards receiving and Ridley 71. Each of those receivers had a touchdown (Jones’ first this season), while running back Tevin Coleman had two receiving touchdowns as well as 88 yards rushing.
Redskins defensive players used words l i ke “outschemed” and “beaten” to describe what happened on Sunday. They talked about the way the Falcons spread their offense wide and the Redskins played with more defensive backs, allowing Atlanta room to rush for a surprising 154 yards. Safety D.J. Swearinger seemed to question the team’s use of the alignment, calling it “help in the back” that he “didn’t need.”
Whatever the reasons, the Falcons converted on 77 percent of their third downs, making all eight in the first half as they built a 21-7 lead that essentially put the game out of reach.
“Really, it did surprise me, the way they were scoring,” Gruden said. “They had a bunch of third down conversions in the first half, we’ve been really good on third down all year and today — for whatever reason — we weren’t very good.”
And because, once again, the Redskins were not as explosive as they hoped to be this season on offense, they were unable to get back in the game. Quarterback Alex Smith had 306 yards passing on Sunday, but most of those yards came late, with the Falcons holding a big lead. The game got so far out-of-reach so quickly, Washington was unable to use running back Adrian Peterson hardly at all, and didn’t get more than 62 yards of offense from anyone but No. 4 receiver Maurice Harris, who had 12 catches for 124 yards.
But the Redskins were already without key playmakers Chris Thompson and Jamison Crowder, who again missed the game with injuries. They also missed star left tackle Trent Williams, who had thumb surgery late last week. Then, on Sunday, two more offensive linemen — Lauvao and Brandon Scherff — went down. By the game’s end, Geron Christian (who was playing his first NFL game) was at left tackle; Williams’s replacement, Ty Nsekhe, was at left guard and backup Tony Bergstrom was at right guard. None of them seemed comfortable with the situation.
When right tackle Morgan Moses left for a time in the first half, a fear swept the team that starting defensive tackle Matt Ioannidis would have to play on the offensive line.
That would have been a worst-case scenario. But in some ways, the worst had already happened to the Redskins. They Sunday, 1 p.m. TV: Ch. 5 The Redskins gave up 350 passing yards in Sunday’s loss to the Falcons, including this 40-yard touchdown by rookie wide receiver Calvin Ridley in the second quarter. were unable to stop the Falcons, or move the ball themselves, or do any of the things that had propelled them to a three-game winning streak and first place in the NFC East. If there was any consolation, they said, they are 5-3 and still in first place in the division ahead of the 4-4 Eagles, who were on their bye this week.
But with the regular season now half gone, the Redskins face many more questions about how long they can stay there.