INDIANAPOLIS — Colt McCoy tried all week not to feel the weight of the Washington Redskins’ offense on his shoulders. It was one thing to be reinserted as the starting quarterback; it was another to have to replace Robert Griffin III, the one-time savior of the franchise, in that new role.
Nothing McCoy could do on Sunday, however, would rescue the Redskins from what seemed like a certain fate, regardless of who was behind center. Despite completing 31 of 47 passes for 392 yards and three touchdowns — the latter two marks each career highs — McCoy was no match for his counterpart, Andrew Luck, and the Indianapolis Colts, who racked up 487 yards of total offense in a 49-27 victory.
The Colts entered the game with the league’s No. 1-ranked offense and, on Sunday, surpassed the 400-yard threshold for the ninth time this season. McCoy, who was making his 23rd start over five seasons in the NFL, was unlikely to steer the Redskins’ offense in a similar direction.
He tried.
“Obviously, that first half wasn’t exactly how we hoped it would turn out, but the game is four quarters and he came back in the third quarter and got us a couple big drives there, made some good throws,” said coach Jay Gruden. “I don’t think it was the start we wanted, but I thought Colt competed and did some good things.”
Early last week, after Griffin faltered for the third consecutive game in a loss at San Francisco, Gruden suggested there would be significant changes to be made on offense.
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The only switch he made was at quarterback, inserting McCoy, who thrived in six quarters over two games in October. McCoy maintained last week that he wasn’t trying to focus on the responsibility handed to him — resuscitating a stagnant offense that, on Sunday, dropped Washington to 3-9 on the season — but it was clear that the Redskins were expecting McCoy to work some of that magic he had against Tennessee and Dallas.
“I just want to continue to approach the game the way that I have been approaching it all year and stay in my three-foot world and really know my responsibility and my job and try to give this team some life and some spark,” McCoy said. “I thought at times we did that, but I also felt like we were just playing catch-up all game — and that’s a hard game to play, especially when you’re going against the No. 1 offense in the league.”
Not only did the Redskins fail to generate any semblance of progress over the better part of the first half, they were frequently going in reverse. Washington went three-and-out on three of its first five drives, losing yards on each of them and consistently finding themselves in low-percentage, third-and-long situations.
The Redskins had only converted one third down attempt of 10 yards or greater this season — in Week 2, when Kirk Cousins found Ryan Grant for 10 yards on third-and-10 in the third quarter of a game against Jacksonville — and then faced attempts of 13, 10, 20 and 14 yards on Sunday.
It wasn’t until the Redskins’ first scoring drive that they moved the chains on third down — and even then, Andre Roberts broke what ended up being a 1-for-45 start to the season by snagging a high pass on a flag route for a 22-yard gain on third-and-10.
Three plays later, Washington scored its first touchdown of the game, with McCoy finding running back Roy Helu wide open over the middle for a 21-yard gain and six points. At halftime, the Redskins, despite gaining just 72 yards of total offense, trailed only 21-10.
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They got closer. In the third quarter, McCoy scrambled to keep a play alive, broke attempted tackles by three defenders and delivered a 16-yard strike to tight end Logan Paulsen for a touchdown, cutting the deficit to four points with 11:22 to play in the quarter.
Yet, it didn’t get better. On the Redskins’ next drive, with Gruden opting to attempt to convert on fourth-and-1 from his own 41-yard line, McCoy was sacked by defensive end Erik Walden, with Colts inside linebacker D’Qwell Jackson recovering the resulting fumble and returning it 35 yards for a touchdown.
At that point, the run was on. Luck, who completed 19 of 27 passes for 370 yards, threw three of his five touchdown passes after Jackson’s fumble recovery. Between his tosses and the 49-yard touchdown run by Daniel Herron in the second quarter, the Colts became the first NFL team to score six touchdowns of 30-plus yards in the same game since Washington in 1966.
McCoy will remain the starter for the Redskins’ game against St. Louis on Dec. 7, Gruden said. But with the Rams defeating Oakland 52-0 on Sunday, McCoy will still feel that pressure to lead his offense.
“I will take a lot of the blame,” McCoy said. “I really will. I’ve got to be better in the pocket, and there’s something that I can do better, especially early in the game. But it’s a team sport, and I think we all have a lot to clean up.”
• Zac Boyer can be reached at zboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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