The Redskins have a short trip home from Sunday’s road game in Baltimore and it will be a happy one.
They scored the only points of the second half and rallied from a 10-6 halftime deficit to leave Baltimore as 16-10 winners and owners of a three-game winning streak. It looked for a moment like the Ravens pulled out a comeback victory when Breshad Perriman got free of Josh Norman and caught a pass from Joe Flacco in the end zone with 33 seconds to play, but replays made it clear Perriman only got one foot down.
The Ravens would run three more plays, but none got them into the end zone and that meant a second straight loss for the Ravens after a 3-0 start to the year. Until that 14-play drive to end the game, the Ravens had run only 17 plays after halftime as their offense found no success against a defense missing a slew of defensive backs that had shown vulnerabilities against the run earlier in the game.
It’s the better performance that defensive coordinator Joe Barry said that he was hoping to put together this week when discussing his shortcomings this season. Allowing 306 total yards and stopping 12-of-15 third-down tries definitely qualifies as a step in the right direction for a team that had trouble getting off the field in previous weeks.
Those numbers won’t do much to make Flacco feel better about a unit he said makes it tough on themselves while discussing the lack of deep balls relative to other seasons. Flacco tried a few this week, but Perriman dropped one before failing to stay in the end zone at the end of the fourth quarter. Those misses proved to be too much for the Ravens to overcome and luck wasn’t on their side as an interception by C.J. Mosley deep in Redskins territory turned into a touchback when Mosley fumbled out the back of the end zone.
A failed fake field goal, which was telegraphed by Justin Tucker lining up as if he were a left-footed kicker, was another missed opportunity for points and the Redskins didn’t give too many other chances as the afternoon unfolded. Washington couldn’t run the ball and Kirk Cousins wasn’t sharp enough on third downs, but finished the day 29-of-41 for 260 yards and hit Pierre Garcon for the only touchdown of the second half.
That was enough because the defense made the lead stand up once the Redskins grabbed it on Garcon’s score. They’ll try to get the offense in gear when they host the Eagles next week in a game that could be for the lead in the NFC East.