After allowing 352 yards to the Minnesota Vikings in a 29-26 loss on Sunday — including 102 in the fourth quarter alone — Washington Redskins coach Jay Gruden said the poor performance of the defense was the result of “a combination of a lot of guys.”
“We could have had better contain on the rush lanes,” Gruden said. “We could have called different coverages, yes, but overall, you can’t point your finger at one person. You can’t point your finger at one coach when you give up those two drives in the second half. I think it’s a total team effort, and I’m included in that.”
The Redskins led the Vikings 10-7 at halftime and twice answered scoring drives with a scoring drive of their own. But the Vikings had two drives of more than 70 yards in the second half and took advantage of a significant number of coverage lapses by the Redskins’ defense, including consecutive 21-yard passing plays by rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater midway through the fourth quarter.
Such a performance was hard to comprehend, especially a week after it was primarily the defense that allowed Washington to claim a 20-17 overtime victory at Dallas, which had, at the time, won six of its first seven games.
On Sunday, Gruden was so flummoxed by the play of his defense that he said he couldn’t believe it, and insisted he would try to find the source of the problems, especially the lack of an effective pass rush, by watching the film.
“In the first half, our four-man rushes got home,” Gruden said Monday. “In the second half, they didn’t get home. We lost contain and let Teddy out of the pocket and he found some guys down the field. … They did try. They just were very effective and whatever they called seemed to be working there in the second half — the last two drives.”
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• Zac Boyer can be reached at zboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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