Game Notes: Washington Redskins Second Half Woes Continue

The Washington Redskins lost an ugly one against the New York Jets Sunday, 34-20. Washington once again laid an egg in the third quarter, but this time the opposing team took full control of the steering wheel and never let off the gas.

Below are our game notes split-up by good and bad:

Good:

• Bashaud Breeland had an interception, forced fumble and two fumble recoveries all in the first half of this game. Last year I noted that in order for Breeland to truly take the next step, he needed to become a playmaker. Unlike a guy like Keenan Robinson, Breeland is doing just that. He’s becoming a game changer on this defense. He goes up hill like a safety and can cover the best of them at cornerback. Breeland did have two TDs scored against him. However, the first Brandon Marshall TD was just a good adjustment to a back-shoulder pass. Safety Dashon Goldson proceeded to tackle Breeland instead of Marshall — allowing the TD. The second TD to Eric Decker was just Breeland allowing Decker to get inside of him on the goal line. Overall, Breeland was the best Redskins player on Sunday.

Bad:

• Head Coach Jay Gruden has become the master of deflection, blaming things like wind for Kirk Cousins’ poor outing. It’s very clear that Gruden is completely tied to Kirk Cousins. They day Cousins is benched, it’ll (probably) essentially mark the end of Gruden’s tenure with the Redskins. For some reason, the Redskins have consistently come out of halftime playing extremely flat. Through six games, they’ve only scored three points in the third quarter. That’s simply unacceptable. I’m sure there’s numerous areas that could be attributed to, but coaching has a lot to do with it. The Redskins don’t pre-adjust to the opposing team’s halftime adjustments. Washington should understand that this is the NFL — what works in the first half doesn’t always work in the second half. It’s like playing two different games. Right when the opposing team figures out one thing, you need to have a counter to it. The Redskins rarely do that. On Sunday against the Jets, not only did they falter in the third quarter, but they were completely routed throughout the entire second half. The Redskins were not well coached.

• I also have no idea what’s up with the running game. Every since Matt Jones’ big game in week two against the Rams, Washington has struggled to run the football. Part of that is, every since that game they’ve committed to trying to get Chris Thompson more involved and have not committed to a bell cow. I’m not sure if OL Coach Bill Callahan deserves some blame in this team’s inability to run the football. He is the run game coordinator. But he isn’t the one who decides on playtime for the backs.

• Kirk Cousins, obviously, didn’t have a good game Sunday. Once again, let’s look beyond the two (very costly) interceptions — just consider the fact he continues to miss both high and behind receivers. I’ve been discussing this every since pre-season. Even on many completions, he’s taking away a chance for yards-after-the-catch with passes behind receivers. The Redskins started off in this game giving Cousins a lot of “in-your-face” shallow crosses to the receivers. He did very well with those passes. However, as soon as he had to throw outside-the-numbers, he started missing high and it took him out of rhythm. He is a hot or cold QB. So when things start to freeze over, he’s typically incapable of supplying the heat. Cousins typically does a good job making protection checks at the line and runs the offense verbatim. However, he misses too many opportunities and is always prone to turn over the football. His first interception was utterly inexcusable. I’ll have to go back and watch the film, but I believe Cousins worked the wrong side of the field (right) based on the post-snap coverage. If he worked the left side first, he would’ve noticed Ryan Grant being open from the very start of the play. Instead, Cousins went through his progressions slow and threw a duck across his body in the area of Darrelle Revis. You simply can’t do that. Jay Gruden claims Cousins’ second interception wasn’t as bad as the first one. But on 3rd and 10, down 14 points — in the third quarter, why force the football in double coverage? It was a bad throw and poor decision. I don’t know how much longer you ride with Cousins. He’ll be facing another team fresh off a bye week in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. As mentioned in the past, Cousins will not win QB battles. Jets’ QB Ryan Fitzpatrick played one of the more consistent games from the QB position than the Redskins have seen this year. Cousins wasn’t able to match that level of consistency.

•  The Washington Redskins run defense has struggled these past two weeks. I’m not sure exactly what’s up with that. Part of it is just poor tackling. However, based on last week’s film and watching Sunday’s game — the Redskins inside linebackers have not played up to the standard you’d expect them to play at. You’d expect issues for Perry Riley in coverage, but making plays upfield has never been an issue for him. The same for Keenan Robinson. But both have struggled the past few games. Last week I saw both Riley and Robinson attacking the same gap — leaving a hole for the RB on the backside. They did that again in this game against the Jets. Keenan Robinson has been missing tackles in-the-hole. When you’re playing an attack, one-gap scheme — your inside linebackers have to be disciplined and they have to make tackles. The Redskins need better play from both of those players.

Follow us: @Manny_PPI | @PlayerInsiders