Washington Redskins: 4 Players Who Stepped Up in Week 4

Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. On Sunday, the Washington Redskins did not play well, but they got lucky enough to squeak by the St. Louis Rams 17-10, giving the franchise its first 3-1 start since 2008.

The Redskins were lucky that the Rams receiving corps dropped pass after pass from quarterback Sam Bradford, whose stat line does not reflect the guts he displayed by staying in the pocket and taking a pounding from the Redskins defense so that he could deliver pinpoint passes to teammates whose hands acted like pigskin repellent. 

The Redskins were lucky that quarterback Rex Grossman did not give away a 17-point lead through his signature combination of poor decision making and weakly thrown passes. Grossman threw two fourth-quarter interceptions—one of which was the fault of receiver Santana Moss—and almost had another pass intercepted in the second quarter that could have been returned for a touchdown. Grossman's stat line and 49.5 quarterback rating do reflect how poorly he played, and his inability to effectively manage games is preventing the team from reaching its full potential.

But as luck would have it, the Rams could not capitalize on the Redskins' mistakes before the clock ran out, and now Washington is tied for first place in the NFC East. Winning ugly and getting lucky are as fundamental to the NFL as shoulder pads, and Mike Shanahan's team can at least relish the fact that they did not suffer a repeat of last season by losing to a previously winless team.

Here are four Redskins who didn't need luck, because they stepped up and made key contributions throughout Sunday's game.

Ryan Torain

Speaking of luck, anyone who started running back Ryan Torain on their fantasy team this week has to be feeling pretty good at the moment. Torain's name hasn't been heard that often around the Redskins' park this season. He missed the first two games with a broken hand, and did not play at all in Week 3, as fellow running backs Tim Hightower and Roy Helu played adequately enough to keep Torain on the bench.

But against the Rams, Torain showed why in the past Shanahan has implied that he would be the team's best running back. The second time he touched the ball, he broke through the left side of the offensive line for a 20-yard touchdown. He had a 39-yard scamper in the third quarter that set up a Graham Gano field goal and his four-yard run after the two-minute warning in the fourth quarter sealed the game. Torain finished with 135 yards on 19 carries, looking rested and confident in the process.

Torain's size makes him hard to tackle, his vision lets him effectively read defense and his first step allows him to explode through the holes Hightower and Helu merely step through. Shanahan's offense is predicated on establishing the run, and as long as Torain can stay healthy, there's no reason he won't end up as the Redskins featured running back.

Brian Orakpo

Players and coaches around the league are quickly learning that outside linebacker Brian Orakpo is one of the NFL's premier pass rushers. 

Against the Rams, Orakpo accumulated 2.5 sacks and hurried Bradford on several other occasions. But arguably his biggest play came early in the fourth quarter when, facing a second-and-goal on Washington's 4-yard line, Orakpo blew past offensive lineman Rodger Saffold, forcing Saffold to commit a holding penalty. That moved the ball back to the 14-yard line and the Rams were forced to settle for a field goal, halting the momentum they were slowly building. 

Orakpo's one mistake occurred later in the fourth quarter when he allowed Rams running back Steven Jackson to beat him in coverage and catch a 15-yard touchdown pass. But upon further review, the fault for that play lies with defensive coordinator Jim Haslett.

Last week, I defended Haslett's decision to call and all-out blitz against Dallas on a late-third down that resulted in a 30-yard pass play and set up the game winning field goal. This week, Haslett called the same defense when the Rams faced a third down on the Redskins 15-yard line. Orakpo was forced to abandon his pass rush at the last second and drop into coverage, and Jackson burned him for the Rams only touchdown.

Haslett's call was indefensible. At that point in the game, the Redskins defense had demonstrated it could pressure Bradford without sending extra pass rushers, so calling a risky blitz with the Rams inside the red zone just invited trouble. It's challenging for a linebacker to cover the multi-talented Jackson with no safety help over the top, so you can't blame Orakpo for failing on that play.

Haslett should not stop taking risks with his defense, but he needs to start making better decisions about when to take them. 

Ryan Kerrigan

Rookie outside linebacker Ryan Kerrigan didn't end up with as gaudy a stat line as Orakpo, but his impact was just as significant.  

Midway through the second quarter, Bradford and Co. were putting together their first impressive drive when Kerrigan went to work. With the ball on Washington's 28-yard line, Kerrigan beat his defender and drew a fifteen yard face mask penalty that put the Rams out of field goal range. On the very next play he sacked Bradford, forcing fumble that the Redskins recovered. That led to a second Redskins touchdown and a 14-point lead that would prove to be insurmountable. 

Kerrigan ended up with six tackles and helped the Redskin defense's front four keep Bradford under constant pressure.

It may sound cliché, but Kerrigan is a rookie who plays like a veteran, and if he keeps playing at such a high level, he may end up in Hawaii at the end of the season. 

Sav Rocca

Punting is the least sexy aspect of football, but having a good punter is like locking into a low interest rate on a mortgage: it provides peace of mind. 

I imagine that the Redskins coaching staff sleeps better at night knowing that punter Sav Rocca is their trump card in the weekly field-position game.  

Rocca has been spectacular this season. In fact, you could make the case that no other player on the Redskins has lived up to his potential the way Rocca has. He leads the NFL in punts inside the 20. On Sunday, he put three punts within the 20-yard line, and his 63-yard boot late in the fourth quarter forced the Rams to start at their own 28, as they attempted to march up the field to tie the game.

Two of Rocca's punts were marred by unnecessary roughness penalties that leave you wondering if the Redskins special teams players are aware that the league is making a conscious effort to crackdown on hits to defenseless players.

Over the long haul that is the NFL season, it's the little things, like punting, that separate good teams from the pack, and Rocca's consistency gives the Redskins a leg up, so to speak, on the other teams in their division.