NEW ORLEANS — The New Orleans Saints present many challenges the Redskins will have to solve in order to pull off an upset Sunday — particularly stopping the run and finding a way to attack a rejuvenated Saints defense.
But the Redskins have problems of their own to clean up — namely playing better near the end of the first half.
In the last two minutes of the first half this season, the Redskins have given up five touchdowns and one field goal. The Redskins offense, on the other hand, have scored just two touchdowns and one field goal.
Combined, opponents have run 71 plays in the final two minutes compared to the Redskins’ 42.
“It’s been really terrible, to be quite honest,” Redskins coach Jay Gruden said earlier in the week. “You try to call timeouts, get the ball back to your offense, try to sneak in another touchdown or a field goal and then it backfires, you throw a pick and they score. Then they get the ball coming out and score again.
“We’ve got to do a much better job of taking care of the football in the last two minutes on offense and then figuring out ways to get the opposing teams stopped in the last two minutes of the first half.”
Last week against the Minnesota Vikings was the ultimate example of this problem. With 1:47 left in the half, the Redskins got the ball back after the Vikings took a 21-17 lead on an Adam Thielen touchdown.
Instead of marching down the field, Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins threw a costly interception on just the first play of the drive, giving Minnesota great field position to add another score. The Vikings scored three plays later, taking a 28-17 lead into halftime.
Gruden said his goal during the final two minutes is to stay aggressive because “you’ve got to have faith in your team.”
“It’s hard sometimes when you play pretty damn good for 28 minutes and then all of a sudden, the last two minutes we give up 14 points and it affects your locker room sometimes and it affects you coming out,” Gruden said. “It’s just something that we’ve got to continue to focus on and make sure we finish as good as we start.”
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