Throughout the 2015 NFL Season, the Washington Redskins have played good first halves only to falter in the third quarter and, for the most part, lose the game.
On Sunday at FedEx Field against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Burgundy and Gold played an atrocious first half, falling behind 24-0, only to storm back and win on Alumni Homecoming Weekend, 31-30 in front of a satisfied crowd of 72,912.
The comeback was the greatest in team history and was led by quarterback Kirk Cousins who completed 33 of 40 passes for 307 yards and three touchdowns. Cousins also ran for an eight-yard score to get Washington on the board in the second quarter. Two of Cousins’s touchdown passes were to tight end Jordan Reed, who caught 11 passes for 72 yards.
The Buccaneers did not help their cause because they committed 16 accepted penalties for 142 yards including six personal fouls. Tampa also was a victim of bad clock management as they used all three of their second-half timeouts with four minutes left. The Bucs wasted a solid performance by rookie quarterback Jameis Winston, who was 21-29 for 297 yards and two touchdowns.
Defensive lineman Chris Baker summed up the feelings of many in the Washington locker room. “We feel great,” Baker said. “We got onto the same page as a team in the second half and we got the win. It feels good to get the win going into the bye week.”
“Hats off to our players for coming back in the second half,” said Redskins Head Coach Jay Gruden. “We got into a rhythm in the second half and our players met the challenge. The offense rallied and the defense stepped up when needed.”
Washington will go into the bye week at 3-4. They have a week to prepare for the New England Patriots on Sunday, November 8 in Foxboro, Massachusetts.