A mostly efficient performance by quarterback Robert Griffin III went to waste amid a flurry of second-half penalties, dropped passes and yet another special-teams misadventure as the Washington Redskins somehow reached a new low point. They lost to the New York Giants, 24-17, on Sunday night at FedEx Field in a game that ended with a furor over what down it was as the Redskins’ last-gasp drive fizzled.
The Redskins squandered a two-touchdown lead in the first half and lost their fourth straight game. Their record plummeted to 3-9, and they officially were eliminated from NFC playoff contention. They have a firm grip on last place in the NFC East, now two games behind the third-place Giants, who are 5-7 after beginning the season 0-6.
“When you’re out of it, it’s very disappointing,” Redskins Coach Mike Shanahan said. “Now you find out how guys step up and they play the remainder of the season. You don’t like to play for pride. But sometimes that’s the card that’s dealt, and that’s where we’re at right now.”
Griffin completed his first 12 passes. He went 16 for 17 in the first half en route to a 24-for-32, 207-yard passing performance. He also ran for 88 yards. The Redskins crafted a 14-0 lead on tailback Alfred Morris’s first-quarter touchdown run and Griffin’s second-quarter touchdown pass to tight end Logan Paulsen.
But the Redskins again came undone. The Giants got even by halftime on a touchdown run by tailback Andre Brown and quarterback Eli Manning’s touchdown pass to tight end Brandon Myers. The Redskins came unglued thereafter with unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on wide receiver Santana Moss and cornerback DeAngelo Hall, a five-yard penalty on wideout Pierre Garcon for kicking the football off the turf after a play and a botched snap on a punt by long snapper Kyle Nelson.
Brown’s second rushing touchdown of the game followed the bad snap, and the Giants held on from there as the Redskins’ only second-half points came on a field goal by place kicker Kai Forbath. Their final drive ended when Garcon had the ball taken from him by safety Will Hill after a fourth-down completion. That came after confusion over whether the Redskins had gotten a first down previously on that set of downs.
Shanahan said he was told by an official after the Redskins’ second-down play that they had gained a first down. A set of chains also were moved as if the Redskins had a first down.
“I told him I wanted a measurement because I knew it was close,” Shanahan said. “It was inches. And he said, ‘No, it’s a first down.’ And he moved the chains. And then after I saw it was fourth down, I asked him, ‘You already told me it was first down.’ . . . So it was quite disappointing.”
Referee Jeff Triplette told a pool reporter: “I feel like we signaled third down. The stakes just got moved incorrectly.”
Linebacker Brian Orakpo had two sacks for the Redskins, but Manning connected on 22 of 28 passes for 235 yards.
The Redskins were playing their second straight nationally televised game thanks to the decision by NBC and the NFL not to switch to a different game for the Sunday night telecast under the sport’s flexible scheduling plan. They scored a touchdown on their opening offensive possession of a game for the first time this season. With rookie tight end Jordan Reed on the inactive list for a second straight game since he suffered a concussion, Griffin turned to forgotten-man tight end Fred Davis for a key third-down catch on the opening drive. The 12-yard completion, Davis’s first catch since Sept. 15, gave the Redskins a first down at the New York 2-yard line. Morris scored on a second-down carry from the 1.
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