Nothing epitomized the current states of the San Diego Chargers and the Washington Redskins – or for that matter, the entire NFC East – more than one of the halves of each of these teams in today’s overtime thriller.
One had its first two drives of the first half start at its own one-yard line (a blocked field goal and an interception in its own end zone were how those ended), its quarterback getting three of his first 10 passes deflected at the line of scrimmage (including one being intercepted in the end zone), had another field goal blocked on the last play of the half and were booed going into the locker room. They (Washington) ended up winning.
The other came back from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit, navigated its last two drives of the fourth for 77 and 91 yards in scything fashion and were just one play away – or more exact, six inches away – from winning a type game they have had a recent habit of coming up short in. They (San Diego) ended up losing.
Washington’s 30-24 overtime victory may prove to be a season-saver, although any win any member of the NFC East gets from here on out might qualify as that. The fact that it was the defense, much maligned for Washington’s poor start, that turned away San Diego when it was all but certain to let in the winning score, may have been as surprising as the hot Chargers offense not getting six more inches to seal the deal.
Robert Griffin III had an efficient passing day – 291 yards, completions on nearly 72 percent of his passes – but the hits he took both in and out of the pocket still remain a concern, and it is hard to see him make to through the 16-game schedule starting all of the team’s games. Specifically, RG3 was knocked head over heels and landed on his upper back/neck on a third-and-nine scramble by Chargers linebacker Thomas Keiser (he gained 10 on the play) and was crunched on an option pitch to the right on a play ruled as a pass completion to Santana Moss a few plays later. Griffin bounced back both times, and Darrel Young’s second touchdown of the game two plays into the final stanza capped the drive and broke a 14-14 deadlock.
Washington made it 24-14 two possessions later on a 47-yard Kai Forbath field goal after Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers threw his second interception of the game and going into the hands of rookie cornerback David Amerson. Only 7:06 remained after Forbath’s kick, and the Chargers offense needed to wake up quickly in another East Coast one o’clock game – its fourth such game already this season. And wake up it did.
After an incompletion to start, Rivers completed six consecutive passes on the next seven plays, with his 16-yard lob into the end zone to rookie receiver Keenan Allen cutting the Washington lead to three with 4:10 left. San Diego then forced the Redskins to punt, taking over the ball just ahead of the two-minute warning and 92 yards away from the win.
Five plays into what proved to be their final drive, the Chargers converted a fourth-and-two on another completion to Allen, for 22 yards. (Allen had seven catches for 128 yards) San Diego got to the Washington six-yard line with a half minute remaining, and on a second-and-one, Rivers dumped off a pass to Danny Woodhead, who dove for the far pylon and tried to stretch the ball over the plane for the go-ahead score. It was initially ruled a touchdown, but replays showed that Woodhead, on his dive, knocked the pylon over with his leg but was not able to make the ball cross the plane before landing out of bounds.
But no matter, because San Diego had 21 seconds, two timeouts and six inches to go from closing out a game in a way that it has had trouble doing this season and in the past few campaigns. A Danny Woodhead run for no gain, followed by two incomplete passes forced the Chargers to settle for the tying Nick Novak 19-yard kick with three seconds left. That last offensive play was really a head-scratcher, as future Hall-of-Fame tight end Antonio Gates stayed on the line of scrimmage as a blocker and did not go out on a pass pattern.
San Diego is now 4-4, with two of its losses coming when they blew fourth-quarter leads (Houston, at Tennessee) and today’s loss in which six inches separated them from holding on to the sixth spot in the AFC. The manner of these losses had been a pattern late in the regime of former head coach Norv Turner, and despite Mike McCoy now calling the shots, the losses remain in the same heartbreaking, and sometimes confounding, vain.
Although Dallas eked out a last-minute victory at home against Minnesota, Washington can take heart that they kept pace with the Cowboys, with only a game separating the two teams in the loss column. Two road games are up next, but those games against Minnesota and Philadelphia offer Washington a chance to creep to the .500 mark.
And in the NFC East, reaching .500 may very well earn you a playoff spot in 2013.
