Washington Redskins Vs Detroit Lions: Lions Roar Past the Redskins

What a game. Another close game that many Redskins fans were willing to admit was going to be a tough matchup. Special teams and defense ruled the day.

Today's game was full of the usual stuff Redskins fans have come to know this season for.

Plenty of the defensive takeaways.

Key penalties at the worst possible times.

Third down conversions that never happen.

This Redskins team has gotten worse and worse over the past few games with third down conversions. 

For the folks who actually watched the game, I have to ask you something. Why in the world would Donovan McNabb throw into triple coverage with less than five minutes to go and the lead?

I'd also like to ask how many times Rocky McIntosh and Brian Orakpo were held and it was not called?

A little bit of credit is deserved to Philip Buchanon for his coverage and ability to strip Nate Burleson of the ball. London Fletcher also deserves a lot of credit for doing his usual job of following the play until the end and recovering the fumble.

The thing that made this game great was Scott Linehan and Jim Haslett matching wits with each other. Both of these coordinators have a big history with their time spent in St. Louis.

The two point conversion attempts by the Redskins baffled me in this game. They tried the first time to go to Fred Davis, and he misses an easily catchable ball, even though it was harshly overthrown by McNabb. They tried again the next touchdown and the same exact play is called, and it fails again. Seeing a pattern yet?

Brandon Banks was easily the most dangerous person in the stadium. His first career kickoff return for a touchdown could not have come at a better time.

If I could give Santana Moss one bit of advice, it is to continuously move your feet. Falling forward is good though.

This was just an aggravating game so I'll just move on to the grades for this week:

QB: F. For those of you who have been following my grades this season, you know I've been pretty easy on McNabb but not this week. He was missing wide open reads all game and threw an interception at the worst possible time.

His only decent pass was to Anthony Armstrong, and he under threw him. Armstrong had to stop on his route which could have been an easy touchdown if he's able to catch that, even on a jog. When Rex Grossman came in he was less than effective as well.

RB: C. It is not Torain and Williams' fault that they had no holes to run the ball, but they still need to make a play. They couldn't move the ball at all hardly and the only glimmer of hope in this game was Williams touchdown run and Torain was catching the ball well out of the backfield.

FB: A. Mike Sellers was blocking well, and he did hold onto the short kickoff.

WR: C. They have to break off their routes better. Also, Santana Moss needed to go after the ball directly on the Suh fumble return instead of hitting his body.

TE: D. Cooley missed a lot of time because of spasms. Davis flat-out sucked in Cooley's absence.

O-Line: F. Horrible pass protection, horrible run protection. What else is there to grade?

D-Line: C. The front line created some decent pressure for once but needed to wrap up their tackles better.

LB: A. Orakpo, Fletcher and McIntosh all played very well and were covering the field great.

CB: C. Hall got burned a few times. Philip Buchanon was 50-50, good coverage and a fumble forced then dropped zone coverage. Carlos Rogers was barely there.

S: A. LaRon Landry was everywhere. He was picking up the quick out routes and there was one hit that FOX actually replayed because it sounded so nasty. His play was so good it made up for the average play of Kareem Moore.

K: B. Graham Gano made all his kicks except for the one short kickoff, which eventually ended up hurting the Redskins.

P: A. Hunter Smith got a big workout today. He kicked a lot of high, deep kicks.

Coaching: F. Flat-out horrible play calling. Donovan McNabb's replacement with Rex Grossman at the end of the game? What was that? What seemed like it was going to be a great defensive battle just turned into pitch and catch for Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson. Allowing 23 points in the fourth quarter is just ridiculous.

To put it lightly, Redskins fans had plenty to yell at the television for this week. Plenty of missed calls had me screaming until I was red in the face, i.e. the Brandon Banks face mask call on the kick return that was missed.

Again, the Redskins are too cocky going into Detroit and again the Redskins come back to Washington losers.

Redskins fans will now think for a couple weeks on what happened at the end of the game with McNabb and Grossman. They'll also be stewing over the fact that they just gave the Lions their second win of the season.

Something has to give with this inconsistent offense. For now, I recommend we all take a week off and take a breathe. That way we can get back to work and start winning again when they play the Eagles on Monday night.