K Graham Gano: The heat on Gano would have been scorching if he had missed the decisive 34-yard kick in the final two minutes. He deserves credit for drilling it under pressure.
Oh, to have been inside Mike Shanahan‘s brain when he decided to go for it on fourth-and-3 from the Arizona 18 trailing by eight with 5:23 to play and all three timeouts. Sure, it was a product of his confidence in QB Rex Grossman and the offense, but it also might have been an indication about his belief in Gano.
GASSERS
Maybe I’ve gone soft, but there are no gassers to hand out this week. The offensive line opened running lanes and gave QB Rex Grossman time to throw. Grossman redeemed himself by engineering two late scoring drives.
Receivers weren’t consistently open for Grossman, but WR Santana Moss still caught a huge touchdown in the fourth quarter, and WR Jabar Gaffney caught a low pass on third-and-10 to extend the drive and make Moss‘ touchdown possible. Receivers generally blocked well, too. Aside from some isolated but costly breakdowns in the red zone, the offense played very well.
OBSERVATIONS
The Cardinals batted down six (!) of QB Rex Grossman‘s passes at the line of scrimmage. Their linemen made a concerted effort to get their hands up. All teams do, but it was more noticeable against Arizona.
It’s up to the offensive line to keep defenders’ hands down and create passing lanes for Grossman, who in turn must maintain a high release point.
TE Chris Cooley had no catches for the first time since Week 5 at Carolina in 2009, and he has a batted pass to thank for that. He was open in the right flat on a keeper with acres of room to run, but LB Clark Haggans knocked the ball down.
–
Speaking of Chris Cooley, let’s break down the tight ends participation. The Redskins ran 79 plays, including the kneel downs but excluding the 2-point conversion. By my unofficial count:
Fred Davis played 56 snaps. He was alone on 42.
Cooley played 37 snaps. He was alone on 23.
Davis and Cooley, just the two of them, played together on 13 snaps.
The Redskins went with three tight ends once, adding Logan Paulsen.
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