Redskins Halftime Takeaways: Mistakes killing traces of momentum

The Redskins were expected to get their toughest test since the Saints game today, against a Texans team coming off a six-game winning streak.

There’s a specific statistic that’s haunted the Washington Redskins for the entirety of the 2018 regular season. When they score first, they lead the whole game, and they win the game. When the opposing team scores first, the Redskins trail for the entire outing, and they lose.

It’s been a common theme for the 2018 season, and that theme has continued halfway through today’s game. The Redskins’ offense punted twice, and the Texans drove down to the red zone twice on their first two drives, taking an early, 10-0 first quarter lead.

The Redskins got off to a better start in the second quarter, scoring a touchdown behind the legs of Adrian Peterson, and notching an interception on Deshaun Watson, courtesy of Josh Harvey-Clemons and Mason Foster. But when they had opportunities to take the lead, poor execution by players squandered those opportunities. Every time. Vernon Davis‘ two first half drops immediately come to mind. A pick-six by Alex Smith, after miscommunication between he and Jordan Reed, also stings the memory banks.

The Redskins have shown that it’s very hard for them to come back when behind this season, so they can’t spend that time beating themselves. The best teams transcend the circumstances, and while Washington has shown hints of that trait in games past, they haven’t been consistent enough to warrant confidence after nine games. In today’s game, they haven’t done it at all.

Any positives to take away? Well, Trey Quinn got his first career catch. But aside from that, we’re scraping the bottom of the barrel.

Games like these provide opportunities to make necessary changes to better your team in the long run. The teams that make those changes are the teams that go the farthest. With more mistakes, Washington will go nowhere but backward. At the half, they’re down 17-7 against Houston, and their vehicle is stuck in reverse.