LANDOVER — Kirk Cousins walked into his postgame press conference, approached the podium and gave the green light.
“Fire away,” Cousins said, welcoming the questions that were sure to follow.
This time, the answers were going to be easier for Cousins and the Washington Redskins after a 31-30 win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at FedEx Field on Sunday.
After a hard two weeks that resulted in consecutive road losses, the pressure was mounting — the importance of this game hardly understated. Seven weeks into the season, coach Jay Gruden was sounding the alarm for a must-win. A loss to the Buccaneers and the walls would have been closing in. Even with the bye week looming, there would have been no reprieve for the reeling Redskins — a road contest with the New England Patriots, still undefeated, waiting on the other end.
At halftime, the Redskins trailed the Buccaneers, 24-7, and that daunting disposition was 30 minutes away from becoming Washington’s reality.
Then came the comeback, sparked by two touchdowns in the third quarter for a team that had been outscored by opponents, 46-3, in that frame. It ended with Cousins’ six-yard pass to tight end Jordan Reed with 24 seconds remaining.
As a result, the Redskins head into the bye week at 3-4 record and with a sense of relief, if only for a week, that their season hadn’t entirely slipped away before the halfway point.
SEE ALSO: LOVERRO: Jay Gruden can breathe easy after Redskins finish comeback
“There’s a little bit of relief, but we’re 3-4,” Gruden said. “We’ve got a bye week, and we’re probably still going to be right around last place in our division. But, it’s a huge win for our psyche again, and we come back, we’ll have a great week of practice when we come back off the bye and get ready for the New England Patriots, you know what I mean? So, it’s going to be another great challenge. We can enjoy this for a little while — they deserve some enjoyment around here for some time — and we’ve got to get back to work. Not much relief in sight.”
The importance of this game was not lost on the Redskins as they prepared to play the Buccaneers this week. Various players pointed to the magnitude of this game and what it would mean to get a win.
Ultimately, the Redskins achieved that goal, though it wasn’t exactly pretty. They allowed themselves to fall behind, 24-0, with over eight minutes remaining in the second quarter.
The Buccaneers gained 264 yards in the first half compared to the Redskins’ 123, and they only ran four more plays than Washington did.
Cousins scored on an eight-yard scramble with 4:26 to play in the first half, cutting the deficit to 24-7. The Redskins were trending in the right direction, but it still was not a promising situation.
By the time they jogged off the field at halftime, fans were booing. By then, it was more obvious than ever that the Redskins needed to pick themselves up in the second half.
SEE ALSO: For once, Redskins use third-quarter performance as springboard to victory
“The first half, I feel like I don’t know if everyone expected this to be a tough game,” free safety Dashon Goldson said. “The way that we came out, it felt like we sat there and let them punch on us a little bit until we got mad and that’s how it looked. Second half, we came out, settled down, got off the field on defense. Our offense was able to put points on the board. It was us working together as a football team. That was a two-quarter game. Football is four quarters. You never give up. We did a good job to keep fighting.”
On the final drive, the Redskins’ hope of overcoming the largest deficit in franchise history was nearly dashed when Cousins fired a pass toward the end zone intended for Andre Roberts. It fell incomplete, but Cousins tried squeezing the throw into tight coverage.
“Just go to the next play and do what the play calls for you to do,” Cousins said. “You have to execute the best you can. As I said many, many times, there’s tight windows in this league and there’s really good coverage, and if you are afraid to let one go, it’s going to be tough to move the ball. So, you have to be able to see stuff quickly, get the ball out of your hand quickly, and make quick decisions.”
The next play, Cousins hit Reed on a slant route for the game-winner. After a win on Sunday, the what-ifs did not matter. The results did, and the Redskins got a win when they desperately needed one.
“The thing I never questioned was the heart of this team and the effort we put in week in and week out,” left tackle Trent Williams said. “We weren’t surprised, but it was extremely important we put something together.”
• Anthony Gulizia can be reached at agulizia@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.