Redskins suffer insurmountable rash of injuries in Monday night loss to the Eagles

The Washington Redskins lost to the Philadelphia Eagles by a score of 28-13 in Week 13. While the team put forth a solid effort at times, a rash of injuries cost them any realistic chance they had to win.

Even if they had stayed healthy, it doesn’t seem like the Redskins would have won the game. On the opening drive of the game, Carson Wentz and the Eagles were able to march down the field with little-to-no resistance from the defense. The Redskins offense then went three-and-out, and that set the tone for the game.

The ‘Skins couldn’t mount any sort of consistent play on either side of the ball. And while they were able to find some solid moments — like the Adrian Peterson 90-yard TD run — the team largely was unable to move the ball consistently on offense.

Of course, the offensive issues did have a culprit. Injuries. Yes, injuries can’t be used as an excuse for everything, but this game was different. Colt McCoy suffered a broken fibula early in the game that ended his season. In his stead, Mark Sanchez had to come into the game.

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While Sanchez looked good at times against the Eagles, he made too many mistakes and just couldn’t move the ball against the Eagles. And given that he wasn’t on the team until mid-November and he hadn’t played in the league since 2016, it’s hard to blame him for underperforming. In fact, all things considered, Sanchez was decent.

Elsewhere on offense, the team lost two offensive guards in Jonathan Cooper and Tony Bergstrom. Those were already backup players for the squad. Ty Nsekhe had to come in and play guard along with Luke Bowanko, so the offensive line struggled badly as a result. Frankly speaking, the offense never had a chance because of all these injuries.

That said, the defense should have been better. The unit continues to struggle with basic fundamentals, including tackling in the hole, and they didn’t cover the middle of the field particularly well and were torn apart by Zach Ertz. Josh Norman also had issues covering Alshon Jeffery. And while Norman did have a pick, he’ll need to step up if he wants any chance of returning to the team next year.

Of all the losses this year, this is the hardest one to blame the team for. They fought as hard as they could, but injuries just decimated their offense. That said, Jay Gruden still deserves some criticism. Early on when all his players were healthy, the team didn’t look good. They didn’t look ready. They looked flat. All things that have been problems for the squad in the past. This needs to change in the final month, even with Sanchez at QB. If it doesn’t, it may be hard to justify keeping Gruden if these issues continue to struggle.

The Redskins will have to try and bounce back next week against the Giants. If they can’t show something more in that game, the seat will continue to get warmer for Gruden, even with the injury issues the team is dealing with.