You Gotta Have Heart: Washington Redskins Shock Denver at Home

Larry French/Getty Images

The ’Skins got off the schneid! For now.

I’ll be honest and admit that I’ve been very critical of the performance of the Washington Redskins this season. I and many others in the Bleacher Report and Washington, D.C., communities, including my colleagues J.W. Nix and Keith Smooth, have seen better days from this franchise.

For ten-plus years, under the poor control of majority owner Dan Snyder, the ’Skins have stunk up the joint, only to be granted some relief in former head coach Joe Gibbs’s second stint here.

Despite my constant misgivings, I am PROUD (please let that be shown in all caps) to see Washington win—and win convincingly!—over the Denver Broncos, 27-17, at FedEx Field Sunday afternoon.

In doing so, the Redskins were able to snap a four-game losing streak, and, in what seemed an eternity, scored more than 17 points since last season.

I must say that for the first time the Washington Redskins played a decent, very decent, game with tons of heart, resilience and, yes, luck.

The Broncos, though, seem a bit shakier after their third consecutive loss. At one point, with new head coach Josh McDaniels at the helm, the team was off to an auspicious start at 6-0, especially with wins over Dallas and New England. After losing to the Ravens, Steelers and Redskins, Denver will face San Diego in an expectedly tough AFC West match-up next week.

Even with some high, inaccurate throws by Washington's Jason Campbell and a few, mishaps in the secondary that allowed two, big bombs from Denver quarterback Kyle Orton to star wide receiver Brandon Marshall, the ’Skins kept the game close throughout, and they should be applauded for their efforts.

After groaning when Marshall ran a nice slant route en route to a 40-yard touchdown pass from Orton, with 12:47 left in the first quarter, I thought that this would be a long day for the Redskins at home.

My hopeful-thinking, good conscience tapped me on the shoulder at that point and said to me (like commentator Lee Corso), “Not so fast, my friend!”

Lo and behold, the Redskins charged right back in the first quarter with aplomb, ending the drive on a Campbell two-yard touchdown pass to tight end Todd Yoder.

Interesting!

The Redskins defense seemed to give the offense even more hope than expected early in the afternoon with a forced fumble that was recovered by strong safety Reed Doughty.

However, not long after Denver got back the ball with time remaining in the first quarter, miscommunication and poor coverage in the secondary allowed Orton, who had great protection at the time, to strike another bomb to a wide-open Marshall, who was streaking long and hard on the right side of the field for a 75-yard touchdown.

According to ESPN, Marshall’s two, first-quarter touchdown passes of forty-plus yards made him only the eleventh player in the NFL to reach that record since 1940.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?