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- The Giants’ scored on their second offensive play of the day. This was only the fourth contest all season in which the defense allowed an opening-drive score; Washington lost all four of those games (0-4). On the flip side, the Redskins were 7-5 when they didn’t allow their opponent to score points on the first drive.
Points- The Redskins allowed 18 points on Sunday, which marks the third consecutive game in which they’ve allowed under 20 points. That wasn’t good enough to help their overall 2017 ranking, though.
Washington allowed 388 total points this season, which ranked 27th in the league. Not many people would’ve expected the team to drop 8 spots from their 19th-place finish last season (383).
QB Pressure- The Redskins’ pass rush was only able to apply pressure on 7 of Eli Manning’s 30 dropbacks (23%). They only actually hit Manning twice in the entire game. However, they did record two sacks. Those numbers are not indicative of how strong the defense was in this area in 2017.
The Redskins finished the season ranked 7th in sacks (42), 7th in sack percentage (7.3%), 4th in adjusted sack rate (8.0%) and 1st in pressure rate (37.7%).
Those are some truly some impressive numbers for a highly underrated pass-rushing unit.
Passing Yards- The Giants gained 121 yards through the air on Sunday. It was the third consecutive game the Skins held an enemy passing attack to under 200 yards. The last time they accomplished this feat was in 2009.
This was the second fewest passing yards allowed by the Redskins in a loss in the last 10 years. The lowest? Well, that came just over a month ago when the Cowboys beat the Redskins by 24 despite only passing for 94 yards.
The Washington defense ranked 9th in passing yardage allowed (3,420), 10th in passer rating against (81.0) and 16th in yards per attempt (7.0).
Tight End Defense- Giants’ tight ends Rhett Ellison and Jerell Adams combined to catch 5-of-9 targets for 63 yards and 4 first downs; although, Ellison was the one who was responsible for all of the production.
Ellison was responsible for 50% of the Giants’ catches, 48% of their receiving yards and 57% of the team’s passing first downs. When a guy named Rhett Ellison does that to your defense you know you have a problem defending against tight ends.
The Washington defense allowed tight ends to catch 79 receptions for 970 yards and 8 touchdowns this season. Those are numbers ranked 7th, 4th and 7th worst in the NFL this season, respectively.
I wish I could say I was surprised, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Here are the team’s yardage rankings against the position from 2011 to 2016: 6th worst, worst, 11th worst, 4th worst, 7th worst and worst.
Dear Jay, Greg, Bruce, Doug, Scott and Eric: Please do something to address this problem.
3rd Down- Eli and the G-Men moved the chains on just 4 of their 16 plays on third down (25%). They only needed to gain 3 yards on three of the four third downs they converted.
The Burgundy and Gold have only given up first downs on 13 of the last 52 third downs they’ve faced (also 25%). If you look all the way back to Week 11, opponents have only picked up conversions on 32 of their 107 third downs (30%).
The Redskins’ third-down conversion rate allowed of 36.7% on the season ranked 9th in the NFL. The team ranked dead last on the money down in 2016 with a historically awful 46.4% against.
This was one of the front office and coaching staff’s biggest priorities last offseason. You may not be able to in any other regard, but you have to give the Redskins’ brass major props for this.
Red Zone- The defense only gave up 1 touchdown on New York’s 4 trips to the red zone.
They only allowed their opponents to convert on more than half of their red zone appearances five times this season. Their record in those games was 1-4.
Overall, the Burgundy and Gold’s 50.9% red-zone success rate ranked 13th in the NFL, which constitutes a massive improvement over the 59.3% clip and 26th-place ranking from last season.
The Redskins focus on improving on third down and in the red zone (on both defense and offense) paid off in a major way this season. That’s great and all, but I really wish they would have taken the same care to address their rushing defense woes. The fact that they didn’t really shows.
Rushing Defense- Wow. I mean what else can you say when the 29th ranked rushing offense in the league blows your doors off to the tune of 260 rushing yards, 8 first downs and a touchdown on 44 attempts (5.9)? The yardage and attempt totals were both season worsts for the Skins’ D. The 5.9 YPC average against the team was only bested by the Saints and their historic 2017 RB duo of Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara.
New York gained 10-plus yards on three rushes and ran for 5 or more yards a whopping 16 times. One of those big runs was a 75-yard Orleans Darkwa touchdown on the second play from scrimmage in the game. That was the longest run of the year allowed by the Redskins.
It was the first time anyone in the league scored on a play from scrimmage that gained 75-plus yards in the first 17 seconds of a game since Jamaal Charles did it 2012.
This was just the second 100-yard game for Darkwa in his four years as a pro. His 154 rushing yards in the game bested his old career high by 37 yards (117). Rookie Wayne Gallman also set a new personal record with 89 rushing yards. This was the Giants’ best day on the ground in terms of yardage since 2008 (361 yards) and their best performance in this regard since at least 1940 and probably of all time.
The Redskins gave up 11 100-yard games to opponents this season (tied for 3rd most in the NFL), with all 10 of those games taking place in the last 11 weeks. Jonathan Allen was placed on injured reserve the week before that stretch began (MESSAGE!). They allowed 183 rushing yards per game in their final five games and a 158 yards-per-game clip in the last 10 weeks of the year.
The 2,146 yards and 4.55 YPC average they gave up on the ground this season represents their 4th worst showings in both departments in the last 20 years.
I’ll wrap this sad story up by giving you their rankings in rushing defense one more time: last in rushing yards (2,146), 29th in YPC average (4.5), 18th in rushing touchdowns (18), 28th in rushing first downs (105), 22nd in first down percentage (22.2%), 29th in rushing DVOA, last in adjusted line yards allowed (4.91) and last in success rate allowed (53%). Like I said, wow
Points- The Redskins allowed 18 points on Sunday, which marks the third consecutive game in which they’ve allowed under 20 points. That wasn’t good enough to help their overall 2017 ranking, though.
Washington allowed 388 total points this season, which ranked 27th in the league. Not many people would’ve expected the team to drop 8 spots from their 19th-place finish last season (383).
QB Pressure- The Redskins’ pass rush was only able to apply pressure on 7 of Eli Manning’s 30 dropbacks (23%). They only actually hit Manning twice in the entire game. However, they did record two sacks. Those numbers are not indicative of how strong the defense was in this area in 2017.
The Redskins finished the season ranked 7th in sacks (42), 7th in sack percentage (7.3%), 4th in adjusted sack rate (8.0%) and 1st in pressure rate (37.7%).
Those are some truly some impressive numbers for a highly underrated pass-rushing unit.
Passing Yards- The Giants gained 121 yards through the air on Sunday. It was the third consecutive game the Skins held an enemy passing attack to under 200 yards. The last time they accomplished this feat was in 2009.
This was the second fewest passing yards allowed by the Redskins in a loss in the last 10 years. The lowest? Well, that came just over a month ago when the Cowboys beat the Redskins by 24 despite only passing for 94 yards.
The Washington defense ranked 9th in passing yardage allowed (3,420), 10th in passer rating against (81.0) and 16th in yards per attempt (7.0).
Tight End Defense- Giants’ tight ends Rhett Ellison and Jerell Adams combined to catch 5-of-9 targets for 63 yards and 4 first downs; although, Ellison was the one who was responsible for all of the production.
Ellison was responsible for 50% of the Giants’ catches, 48% of their receiving yards and 57% of the team’s passing first downs. When a guy named Rhett Ellison does that to your defense you know you have a problem defending against tight ends.
The Washington defense allowed tight ends to catch 79 receptions for 970 yards and 8 touchdowns this season. Those are numbers ranked 7th, 4th and 7th worst in the NFL this season, respectively.
I wish I could say I was surprised, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Here are the team’s yardage rankings against the position from 2011 to 2016: 6th worst, worst, 11th worst, 4th worst, 7th worst and worst.
Dear Jay, Greg, Bruce, Doug, Scott and Eric: Please do something to address this problem.
3rd Down- Eli and the G-Men moved the chains on just 4 of their 16 plays on third down (25%). They only needed to gain 3 yards on three of the four third downs they converted.
The Burgundy and Gold have only given up first downs on 13 of the last 52 third downs they’ve faced (also 25%). If you look all the way back to Week 11, opponents have only picked up conversions on 32 of their 107 third downs (30%).
The Redskins’ third-down conversion rate allowed of 36.7% on the season ranked 9th in the NFL. The team ranked dead last on the money down in 2016 with a historically awful 46.4% against.
This was one of the front office and coaching staff’s biggest priorities last offseason. You may not be able to in any other regard, but you have to give the Redskins’ brass major props for this.
Red Zone- The defense only gave up 1 touchdown on New York’s 4 trips to the red zone.
They only allowed their opponents to convert on more than half of their red zone appearances five times this season. Their record in those games was 1-4.
Overall, the Burgundy and Gold’s 50.9% red-zone success rate ranked 13th in the NFL, which constitutes a massive improvement over the 59.3% clip and 26th-place ranking from last season.
The Redskins focus on improving on third down and in the red zone (on both defense and offense) paid off in a major way this season. That’s great and all, but I really wish they would have taken the same care to address their rushing defense woes. The fact that they didn’t really shows.
Rushing Defense- Wow. I mean what else can you say when the 29th ranked rushing offense in the league blows your doors off to the tune of 260 rushing yards, 8 first downs and a touchdown on 44 attempts (5.9)? The yardage and attempt totals were both season worsts for the Skins’ D. The 5.9 YPC average against the team was only bested by the Saints and their historic 2017 RB duo of Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara.
New York gained 10-plus yards on three rushes and ran for 5 or more yards a whopping 16 times. One of those big runs was a 75-yard Orleans Darkwa touchdown on the second play from scrimmage in the game. That was the longest run of the year allowed by the Redskins.
It was the first time anyone in the league scored on a play from scrimmage that gained 75-plus yards in the first 17 seconds of a game since Jamaal Charles did it 2012.
This was just the second 100-yard game for Darkwa in his four years as a pro. His 154 rushing yards in the game bested his old career high by 37 yards (117). Rookie Wayne Gallman also set a new personal record with 89 rushing yards. This was the Giants’ best day on the ground in terms of yardage since 2008 (361 yards) and their best performance in this regard since at least 1940 and probably of all time.
The Redskins gave up 11 100-yard games to opponents this season (tied for 3rd most in the NFL), with all 10 of those games taking place in the last 11 weeks. Jonathan Allen was placed on injured reserve the week before that stretch began (MESSAGE!). They allowed 183 rushing yards per game in their final five games and a 158 yards-per-game clip in the last 10 weeks of the year.
The 2,146 yards and 4.55 YPC average they gave up on the ground this season represents their 4th worst showings in both departments in the last 20 years.
I’ll wrap this sad story up by giving you their rankings in rushing defense one more time: last in rushing yards (2,146), 29th in YPC average (4.5), 18th in rushing touchdowns (18), 28th in rushing first downs (105), 22nd in first down percentage (22.2%), 29th in rushing DVOA, last in adjusted line yards allowed (4.91) and last in success rate allowed (53%). Like I said, wow
