Ceci Ferrara
December 8, 2014
Sports Writer
Sports Insider
When the Rams visited FedEx Field on Sunday, they made sure everyone knew who got the better end of their 2012 trade with the Redskins.
To call the pre-game coin toss, St. Louis head coach Jeff Fisher sent out six players his team acquired as a result of the 2012 trade in which Washington gave three first-round picks and one second-round pick to the Rams in exchange for their No. 2 draft pick that year. The Redskins used that pick to draft Robert Griffin III, whose days in D.C. appear to be numbered.
Unfortunately for Washington, that was just the beginning of a humiliating afternoon.
While Griffin has not been the answer to the Redskins’ woes, Colt McCoy doesn’t appear to be the solution. Though he completed 20-of-32 passes for 199 yards on Sunday, he was unable to convert any of those yards into points. He also had trouble escaping the Rams defense, getting sacked six-times and committing two turnovers in the Redskins’ shutout loss–their first since 2011.
The excessive hits took a toll on the quarterback near the end of the game, when he suffered a neck injury on his sixth sack right before the two-minute warning. Fans who had been chanting “R-G-3! R-G-3!” in the third quarter got their wish, as Griffin took over for his first appearance since getting benched two weeks ago. But his brief performance was more of the same–he was sacked before an incomplete pass ended the game.
The fans who bothered to stay ’til the end booed their team off the field.
“I’ve said rock-bottom once before,” linebacker Ryan Kerrigan said. “It downplays what rock-bottom is if you keep saying it every time you lose.”
The Redskins have now lost five straight, and head into the final three games of the season 3-10 for the second year in a row. With a losing record, quarterback uncertainty, and dissatisfied fan base, the Redskins will have to work hard to end the season on a positive note. Coach Jay Gruden, who may be on his way out after just one season, seems determined to do just that.
“So if I have to motivate a pro football player to play football, we need to get new pro football players,” he said after Sunday’s loss. “So this is a great chance for us, the last three games, to get this thing turned around, get this terrible taste out of our mouths, and move forward.”
