Chiefs-Redskins: End of 1st Half

Ugh.  The Redskins won the field position battle in the 2nd quarter, but couldn’t take advantage of it on offense.  The Skins’ punter (Glen Pakulak) is on; Jason Campbell is off.  He missed an open Santana Moss downfield, and then missed Chris Cooley on 3rd and 4.  This is not his best game so far.  I keep thinking How long can the Redskins’ defense keep playing well when they’re on the field more than the offense? Fortunately, it’s not hot and the Chiefs’ offense wasn’t sustaining most of its drives.  Sure enough though, Larry Johnson ripped off a 17 yard run after a long pass play for the Chiefs which included a 15 yard roughing the passer penalty on Albert Haynesworth.  Then, Bowe caught a 15-yard pass.

The Chiefs lead the league in scoring percentage when in the red zone.  But, Cassel missed Dwayne Bowe in the end zone when Bowe had a step on Hall.  Regardless, the first score of the game came with 5:34 left in the half.  The Chiefs got 3 points out of their best drive to this point.

After the KC field goal, the Skins got the ball on their 20.  They had accrued about 50 yards of 0ffense on 15 plays to that point.    That’s baffling.  On second thought, it’s not that baffling.  With 4:13 to go, Campbell was sacked for another 3 and out.  With 3:37 to go, the Chiefs got the ball on their 44 yard line.  They had to punt.

PLAY BY PLAY …

With 2:15 to go in the half, the Skins got the ball on their 11.  They’re 1 of 6 on 3rd down.  They must be playing the Giants’ defense.  Think about it – the Chiefs have given up over 27 points per game on average, and have lost by double digits both times they’ve played on the road.  Fred Davis did his best Chris Cooley imitation and got a first down on a short pass.  Sweet.

Uh oh – the Skins have completed two passes in a row.  They were short tosses, but so what?  The no huddle offense is working.  The Skins just got flagged for a 5 yard penalty on Will Montgomery – 2nd and 6.  No matter, Antwaan Randle El just caught a 17-yard pass with 1:15 to go.  The Skins have a 1st and 10 at their 45 and have two timeouts left.  They just burned one of them with 53 seconds left.  They converted a 3rd and 1 at the 50.  After a 5-yard pass to Portis which placed the ball at the Chiefs’ 40, the Skins called their final timeout.  The clock shows 26 seconds.

With 6 seconds left, Campbell ran the ball to the 36.  They won’t try a 53-yard field goal.  Instead, Campbell will throw.  Bad call – he just threw a long interception.  You have got to be kidding me!   I’m sorry, but every negative word that has been written about Jim Zorn seems true right now, though I do understand the offensive line is patchwork.  And, Campbell is playing worse than usual.  How a professional team could be down 3 to 0 to the Chiefs at home, especially given the way its defense has played, is beyond me.

Kansas City 3, Washington 0.