Redskins Halftime Takeaways: Whole team struggles vs. Giants
The Washington Redskins are playing terribly to start their Week 4 game against the New York Giants. They trail 17-3 at halftime.
Things aren’t going well for the Redskins. In fact, that’s an understatement. They have been absolutely terrible in Week 4 against the New York Giants and it seems like they need drastic change if they want to be competitive moving forward.
The Redskins’ first defensive drive was a nightmare. After seemingly stopping the Giants on three straight plays following the Case Keenum interception, Jay Gruden accepted a holding penalty to create a third-and-17 in hopes of taking the Giants out of field goal range. Instead, they picked up 15 yards on third down, converted on fourth, and drove down the field for the touchdown.
Given that the Redskins have been historically bad at third-down defense, Gruden probably should have just let the Giants attempt a 46-yard field goal. Instead, he got a bit too cute and cost the team some points.
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The team simply offered little resistance to anything the Giants offered on the first drive. And on the score, there was a busted coverage that allowed Wayne Gallman to catch the ball and trot into the endzone easily.
The defense has far too much talent to keep allowing teams to move the ball that easily. The Giants faced little resistance throughout the first half and Gallman was a massive red-zone weapon. The Redskins had no answers for him and couldn’t do enough to rattle rookie quarterback Daniel Jones.
On the offensive side of the ball, Case Keenum had a really tough first half. He started the game by overthrowing Trey Quinn on a potential deep completion and then threw an interception where he stared down Robert Davis and allowed the defensive back to break on the ball. Later on, he would overthrow Quinn for another potential touchdown.
Keenum’s poor performance certainly hamstrung the team on offense. And that’s part of the reason that Dwayne Haskins entered the game midway through the second quarter. Haskins didn’t see a lot of action, but he led the team on a scoring drive though he too overthrew a touchdown pass in the red zone. The small sample size was a mixed bag so the second half should be a better barometer for his overall performance.
On both sides of the ball, the Redskins have struggled immensely with penalties. They have completely lacked discipline and continue to find themselves behind the chains as a result. If they want to win, they’ll need that to change.
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Frankly speaking, the Redskins desperately need change. And not just the in-game change we saw with Haskins. They weren’t ready for this game, a massive one against a divisional rival to avoid an 0-4 start. Gruden’s seat is absolutely on fire and if the Redskins continue to play this poorly, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him get canned sooner rather than later.