Washington Redskins vs. New York Giants: Washington Grades, Notes and Quotes

Breaking news, the Manning Passing Academy isn't just in the offseason. Continuing his dominance over the Washington Redskins, Eli Manning put on a passing clinic in the New York Giants' 32-21 win.

In throwing for 279 yards and two scores, Manning now has nine touchdowns to one interception in his last three run-ins with the Redskins.

Winning for the fifth-straight time at Washington's expense, unlike its past two games, New York maintained a double-digit lead throughout most of the game.

With a litany of miscues, the Redskins were their own worst enemy on this night. The team had three turnovers and seven penalties.

The owner of the NFL's top defense and rushing attack entering this contest, Washington didn't live up to its billing.

The team tallied all of 88 yards rushing, while surrendering 363 yards of offense.

Moving past the recap, here are the postgame grades, notes and quotes for the Redskins.

Position Grades for Washington

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Position	Grade
QB	D+
RB	C
WR/TE	C+
OL	C+
DL	B-
LB	C
DB	D+
Special Teams	C+
Coaching	C-

Can the real Kirk Cousins please stand up!

After turning in just the second turnover-free start of his career, Cousins regressed back to the mean in Week 3. Forced to air it out because of his team's double-digit deficit, he threw two interceptions.

He finished 30-of-49 on the night with 316 yards passing. The optics were far worse, though, as he missed countless open receivers.

On to Washington's skill positions.

The team's league-leading rushing attack was stopped cold in its tracks. On 20 carries, the Redskins tallied just 88 yards, roughly half of their season average.

In the passing game, Jordan Reed and Pierre Garcon did much of the heavy lifting; the duo was responsible for 160 passing yards. A safety net against the blitz, Chris Thompson hauled in a team-high eight receptions for 56 yards.

Dominant for long stretches in Weeks 1 and 2, Washington's offensive line fell back to Earth in this one. Through the aid of blitzes, New York was able to close off running lanes. This unit did hold up in pass protection, though, allowing just one sack. 

Even so, by sending extra defenders, the Giants forced Cousins to release the ball quickly.

Moving to the defensive side of the ball, Washington was again stout against the rush. New York had 84 yards rushing, averaging 2.7 yards per carry.

The pass rush was another matter, though. Simply put, it was never able to disrupt Manning. He wasn't sacked, and he was hit on just two occasions. This had much to do with Manning getting the ball out quickly.

Opting to keep everything in front of it, the Redskins secondary conceded underneath throws early on. As a result, Manning had little trouble establishing a rhythm, completing 23 of 32 passes.

And once Washington did meet New York's receivers at the line of scrimmage, Manning showed little hesitation in going up top. Throwing for 279 yards on the night, Manning connected with Odell Beckham Jr. and Rueben Randle for scores of 30 and 41 yards, respectively.

For the game, Beckham and Randle combined for 14 receptions and 195 yards.

On special teams, it was a double-edged sword for the Skins. A blocked Tress Way punt opened the scoring of this contest, netting the Giants a safety. Late in the fourth quarter, Rashad Ross returned a kickoff 101 yards to end the scoring on the night.

Looking to the performance of Washington's coaching staff, it's back to the drawing board for how to stop Manning. The disparity in runs to passes wasn't where the team wanted it on offense, but circumstance played a large role in that.

Unlike the season opener, there was little doubt who the better team was in this matchup. Across the board, it was New York in Week 3.

Important Note No. 1: Injury Tally

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And the hits keep on coming.

As if Washington's training room wasn't already full enough, the team lost both DeAngelo Hall and Shawn Lauvao to injury in this contest. 

Lauvao exited with an ankle injury early on. Looking at how poorly the team ran the football in this contest, it's hard not to correlate Washington's struggles with his absence.

In the case of Hall, his toe injury comes at a time when the Redskins were just getting healthy on the back end. Due to suspension and injury, this was the first game in which Bashaud Breeland, Hall and Chris Culliver suited up together.

With matchups on the horizon with the Philadelphia Eagles and Atlanta Falcons, in addition to the secondary needing to build chemistry, Washington has to hope Hall isn't out for an extended amount of time.

Important Note No. 2: Different Game, Same Cousins

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After completing 23 of 27 passes and throwing for zero interceptions against the St. Louis Rams, the thinking was maybe Cousins had turned the corner in relation to turnovers.

His outing in Week 3 proved otherwise. Following his two-interception performance, Cousins now has nine picks in three matchups with the Giants.

Turnovers are often part of the deal when an inexperienced quarterback starts, but this fact has little to do with Cousins' miscues.

Whether you call it overconfidence or simply poor decision-making, he has a knack for throwing the football in tight windows. On both interceptions, his targets were tightly covered. When backed against the goal line or in position to score, one simply doesn't make these throws.

With this being a recurring theme with him—peep his interception in Week 1—even upon DeSean Jackson's return, don't count on the team opening up the passing game.

Quote No. 1: Alfred Morris' Lack of Touches

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In Week 2, you could point to rookie Matt Jones leading the team in carries as Washington simply going to the hot hand at running back. 

He did average 6.5 yards to Alfred Morris' 3.3 yards per carry, after all. 

This explanation won't fly this time around. Morris had a career-low six carries in the defeat to Jones' 11, with both posting middling results.

Is this a change in the running back hierarchy?

Not according to head coach Jay Gruden, per the team's official Twitter feed.

Gruden said "different personnel groupings" were the reason for Morris' lack of touches. "We're not playing favorites," he said.

A 19-point deficit forced the team's hand and made it abandon the run. But going forward, this is a situation worth monitoring. 

Quote No. 2: Washington out of Its Comfort Zone

Bill Kostroun/Associated Press

The winning formula for Washington is a sound defense and productive running game. In lieu of Cousins' turnover history, you know why this is the case.

The thing is, for this game plan to take effect, the team kind of needs a lead first. Speaking postgame, per the Washington Post's Mike Jones, left tackle Trent Williams highlighted this point.

"We got behind early and never could establish our type of football," he said.

With Washington's run-pass ratio out of whack (49 passes to 20 runs), New York blitzed with reckless abandon in the second half and forced Cousins to make quick decisions, hardly his strong suit. 

Even earlier than that, the slow start of the Redskins offense put the defense in a precarious position.

For most of the first half, the Giants operated in Washington territory. Failing to win the time-of-possession battle for the game, the Redskins defense ultimately wilted late.

With the Eagles' tempo-driven offense on deck for Washington, the team will have to address this before Week 4.