LANDOVER, Md. — The Redskins came out of the tunnel Sunday ready to play football.
They knew that not many people gave them a chance to win against a high-powered Oakland Raiders offense, and they were already down three starters as Mason Foster, Rob Kelley and Jordan Reed were inactive. But, as the team has been saying since the win in Los Angeles last week, it’s a “next man up” mentality, and it showed again Sunday when they beat the Oakland Raiders 27-10 on a national stage.
The defense was dominant and good enough to win the game
Redskins defense has not been this dominant in quite some time. The Raiders gained a net of 128 yards, the fewest the Redskins have allowed since Oct. 12, 1992 against the Denver Broncos. The Raiders went over 100 yards on the night with under a minute to go in the game.
The Raiders were 0-11 on third-down conversions, as well.
This game should have been a shutout, but the Redskins gave the Raiders great field position after a couple of miscues, giving the defense a short field to defend.
There were many individual defensive performances that were worthy of mention on Sunday. DJ Swearinger, Montae Nicholson, Zach Brown, Ryan Kerrigan, Preston Smith and Jonathan Allen all made big plays. The defense sacked Carr four times and intercepted him twice. Carr finished with only 118 yards. The defense also forced a fumble.
Chris Thompson is the MVP
Running back Chris Thompson continues to be the Redskins MVP through three games. He just makes things happen. Quarterback Kirk Cousins hit Thompson for a 22-yard touchdown and then on a third and long, Thompson went 74 yards down to the Raiders 11-yard line.
Thompson had 188 all-purpose yards. He rushed for 38 yards and had five receptions for 150 yards in the air.
He has scored a touchdown in all three games so far.
Kirk Cousins finds his rhythm
We have been hearing for a few weeks that the offense was “close” to clicking and we saw some of it Sunday. Cousins was able to throw quickly and in rhythm early and maintained it throughout. He had a perfectly thrown touchdown pass to Vernon Davis, and then threw the ball for Josh Doctson to go up and get over former Redskin David Amerson for the touchdown. He finished 25-30 for 365 yards and three touchdowns.
Are the Redskins making people believe?
It’s early in the season, but at 2-1, the Redskins are starting to get the attention of people around the league. They have put together back-to-back complete football games and have done it with a balanced offensive attack and a swarming defense. The defense has been greatly improved from a year ago and you can already see the difference. The offense is still trying to find an identity, but there are playmakers on that side of the ball that are coming up big.
This is a team that is playing with a great deal of confidence and will have another chance next week to show the nation what they are capable of. The Redskins travel to Kansas City for Monday Night Football next week. The Chiefs are 3-0.
