Logan Paulsen, Roy Helu, Pierre Garçon and Tyler Polumbus combined for six tackles on Thursday night. They start on offense for the Washington Redskins.
It was that kind of evening for the Redskins, who were walloped, 45-14, in front of a national television audience. Yet it wasn’t the nationally televised bout with Seattle, the defending Super Bowl champion, which looms in 11 days.
On Thursday, Washington faced the New York Giants, who finished out of the playoffs the last two seasons and, until a victory over Houston on Sunday, had struggled to find their footing in a new offensive system.
The three previous “Thursday Night Football” games this season were won by an average of nearly 28 points. The Redskins did their part to increase it.
“Not a lot to say,” said Redskins coach Jay Gruden. “The game was pretty evident. It was a total butt-kicking, from offense, defense, special teams.”
Four days prior, Washington had been flying high, its near-miss defeat at Philadelphia barely dampening the excitement of a thorough beating of Jacksonville a week before. After a stinker in Houston to open the season, the offense had surged to unfamiliar heights behind quarterback Kirk Cousins, who threw for an eye-opening 427 yards against the Eagles.
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The buzz on the airwaves had been not just whether Cousins should replace Robert Griffin III when he returns from injury, but what the Redskins should do with Griffin afterward. Is he comfortable being a backup? Could he be traded? Would he recoup a first-round pick?
After Cousins’ performance on Thursday, the hilarity of such hypotheticals cannot be overstated.
“He had quite a few interceptions,” said running back Alfred Morris — four, to be exact. “It’s unfortunate, but we’re still in Kirk’s corner. We’re still going to have his back. Win together, lose together, but we always stick together.”
Cousins said the interceptions, all in the second half, “just started to snowball.” After guiding an efficient, 83-yard touchdown drive to open the third quarter, he started to press, with the Giants snagging his passes on four out of the Redskins’ next five drives.
He forced a throw to a receiver on one play, overshot one on another, made a poor decision on the third and didn’t see a defender on the fourth. At that point, he sulked off the field, retreating to the sideline with nary a teammate to console him on his slow walk to the bench.
“I was trying to get everything back in one play, and you can’t do that,” Cousins said. “That’s not the way it’s gonna come back, so I was starting to force things and trying to do too much and just didn’t stay true to my reads and stay patient. I’m gonna learn from it, but not a good outing tonight.”
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Cousins, playing in his 11th game and making his sixth start in three years, has now thrown 15 career interceptions. He threw a pair of interceptions in three of his five appearances a year ago, and he threw one in the fourth quarter against the Eagles with seven and a half minutes remaining.
The quarterback also fumbled on the Redskins’ first possession, dropping the ball when Giants defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka beat Polumbus and took Cousins down.
“Coming off this performance, a part of you wants to get back in there and learn from it as much as possible and try not to let it happen again,” Cousins said. “At the same time, you want to be well-rested physically and mentally for the next week.”
The Redskins tried to downplay the effect of the four-day turnaround, which left them with just three full days between games. To reduce the strain on the players, Gruden didn’t hold any full practices, opting instead for hour-long walkthroughs and mental preparation.
And, to help players recover, he’s given them the extended weekend off, allowing them to reconvene for the first time on Monday. Cousins, still stung by the performance, couldn’t share what his plans were for the time away when asked after the game.
“One of the main things that I’ve said all along is one of the biggest traits you have to have as a quarterback, you’ve got to be mentally tough,” Gruden said. “You’re going to have some rocky games, rocky throws, rocky performances, and the great ones will bounce back. I think every great quarterback in the NFL has had a game like this before. You’ve just got to bounce back.”
• Zac Boyer can be reached at zboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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