It’s hard to argue that a late-December win over the Philadelphia Eagles is anything but a great thing for the Washington Redskins. And indeed, their 10-3 victory over their NFC East rival Sunday put the Eagles’ playoff hopes on life-support heading into the final week of the NFL season.
But none of that matters.
The Redskins fell victim to the intricacies of the NFL tiebreaker rules, as the Atlanta Falcons’ win over the Minnesota Vikings dashed Washington’s own slim mathematical chances at a playoff berth. The hot start, the big early-autumn road wins, the talk of January football: All remain mere memories.
The Redskins can finish 9-7 with a win next Sunday afternoon at San Francisco. But a victory there would do nothing to salvage a season that began with a 6-2 record and talk of a second-consecutive playoff berth, this time under the leadership of first-year head coach Jim Zorn.
With the postseason now impossible to reach, Redskins players and coaches emphasized the positive after the game, acknowledging that their playoff hopes were slim to begin with.
“It was good to rebound, because we need to defend our home,” quarterback Jason Campbell said. “For us to finish the season on a win here at home is good, and it’s even better that we beat the Eagles, because they are a good team that was playing good football.”
But over time, the team is also likely to reflect not on the two wins over the Eagles or the win at Dallas, but the losses to the lowly St. Louis Rams and Cincinnati Bengals. Through 16 weeks, those two teams have combined for just five wins.
“Really, it’s our fault,” said Zorn, who was unaware of the Falcons’ win until told by reporters after the game. “It’s our fault, that’s what it is. It’s nobody’s fault but ours. There were a couple of games we were going to look back on and be very frustrated about for years to come on a year like this.”
The Redskins may also reflect on their offense, which has averaged just 10 points in the last four weeks after averaging 20 for the first eight weeks. On Sunday, the defense won the game, as Campbell managed just 144 yards passing on 18 completions, while running back Clinton Portis had 70 yards on 22 carries.
It was the defense that helped give the Redskins a 10-0 lead early in the second half, after Portis scored on a 1-yard run set up by linebacker London Fletcher’s fumble recovery and return to the Eagles’ 18-yard line. It was punter Ryan Plackmeier who repeatedly pinned the Eagles inside their own 20-yard line.
And as the final seconds of the game ticked down, it was a hit by safety LaRon Landry that kept Eagles receiver Reggie Brown from crossing the goal line after catching a desperation heave from quarterback Donovan McNabb.
“I’m very, very proud of our guys,” Redskins defensive coordinator Greg Blache said. “I’m just happy for them that they had an opportunity to taste some success.”
The season has not gone without positive storylines, the vast majority of which came when leaves still covered the trees. The 6-2 start included back-to-back wins at Dallas and Philadelphia that capped a four-game win streak. There was the performance of Portis, who, for a stretch, was arguably the most productive offensive player in the league.
By mid-October, many viewed the Redskins as favorites for a playoff spot and saw the hiring of Zorn, who had no experience as a head coach or coordinator, as a possible stroke of genius by team owner Dan Snyder.
But as the season went on, the amount of positive news slowed to a trickle.
Losses mounted as a once-efficient offense turned inept. Portis made headlines with his mouth instead of his legs, criticizing Zorn during an interview on the Redskins’ own radio station. And a loss to the downtrodden Bengals last week left Zorn declaring he felt like “the worst coach in America.”
For the rookie coach, Sunday was a mixed bag. The offense once again failed to score points in abundance, though the Redskins moved the ball well at times, controlled the clock and avoided many of the mistakes that appeared in recent games.
There were several questionable calls, including the decision to let Shaun Suisham attempt to kick a 54-yard field goal into a swirling wind at the start of the second quarter. Suisham’s boot fell well short, and the Eagles’ Quintin Demps fielded the ball in the end zone and returned it to midfield.
It remains to be seen whether Zorn will return next season. Vinny Cerrato, the Redskins’ executive vice president of football operations, said on his radio show last week that the team has had no discussions about Zorn’s future. But there is no denying that the list of former head coaches under Snyder is long, while the list of NFL coaches who have been retained after such a poor second half is short.
After his eighth win, Zorn sounded like a man who would return.
“We haven’t always done the right thing, but we’ve given great effort, and certainly today was that,” he said. “We’re playing hard, and once we start putting in the confidence factor, where we have got super confidence about the play and the environment and how to get that done, we’re going to continue to get better and better.”
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