Alex Smith can’t cap off rally as Washington falls to Giants

LANDOVER — Not long after Kyle Allen was carted off, with his fractured ankle in an air cast, Joe Theismann chimed in with a tweet. The former Redskins great perfectly put into words what so many others had to be thinking. And he didn’t even need the full 280 characters to do it.

“November is a lousy month for Washington QBs,” Theismann tweeted.

First, Theismann. Then, Alex Smith. Now, Allen. The 24-year-old became the latest Washington quarterback Sunday to suffer a horrific-looking leg injury as the team fell 23-20 to the New York Giants. Fortunately for Allen, his diagnosis doesn’t appear to be as serious: Multiple reports indicated that he only has a “small” fracture to his dislocated ankle.

But that doesn’t dampen the impact. If Allen is indeed lost for the season, Washington will have to get by with Smith — who missed almost two years with his own devastating leg injury — or Dwayne Haskins, whose already been benched for Allen.

It’s not an ideal situation, even though Smith was much better in his second appearance of the year.

The 36-year-old threw for 325 yards — his most in a game since arriving to Washington over two years ago. After trailing 20-3 at halftime, Smith almost completed a magnificent rally. But he tossed three interceptions, including two over the final two minutes left when Washington was trailing by three.

Smith’s third giveaway came with 1:15 left when Giants safety Logan Ryan picked him off.

With the loss, Washington fell to 2-6 on the year, falling further behind in the NFC East. The defeat dampened Washington’s hope to make a push for the division, which is led by the 3-4-1 Philadelphia Eagles.

When Washington returned from the bye this past week, it did so with a renewed confidence. To them, its previous win over Dallas, players and coaches said, was a sign that they were starting to take a leap under coach Ron Rivera. They had said that the effort in practices, even before the victory, was better and more reflective of how things needed to be. Rivera called them “a-ha” moments — key for any young team.

Historically, Rivera’s teams, too, have performed quite well in the second half of the season. In Carolina, the Panthers won eight straight games under Rivera in his second year after starting 1-3. The following year in 2014, Carolina won its last four games to make the postseason at 7-8-1.

“All of a sudden it’s: ’Ah, I see what the coaches are saying,” Rivera said last Monday. “’I see what they’re trying to show us.’”

But on Sunday, Washington looked nothing like the team that dominated Dallas. Instead, it was disorganized from the start. In the first quarter, the team had problems holding onto the ball — fumbling twice.

The first was almost comedic: Antonio Gibson lost control and the ball bounced 26 yards forward before the Giants recovered. The second was less so: Isaiah Wright muffed a punt inside the 20.

With the turnovers, Washington needed its defense to be able to limit the damage. It didn’t. After Wright’s fumble, Giants quarterback Daniel Jones led a short four-play, 16-yard drive to take a 10-0 lead.

Like it did in the first meeting less than a month ago, Washington’s defense struggled to get off the field. The Giants were 6 of 15 third down and able to consistently move the chains. This time, New York was boosted with an efficient rushing attack as Washington gave up 166 yards on the ground.

Allen was hurt with 1:04 left in the first.