LANDOVER, Md – The Redskins’ inept offense plagued them yet again Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers as Washington fell 19-11, handing them their fourth straight defeat and putting them at 3-5 at the halfway mark of the season.
Though the scoreboard says they scored 11 points, the fact is the anemic offense had just three points when the game was still competitive through three and a half quarters.
“We have to get better offense, that’s the obvious” said head coach Mike Shanahan on his team’s four-week struggle to score.
Though the offense put up solid numbers in the final quarter, the vast majority of the stats gained were during garbage time. The true mark of this group’s ineffectiveness was seen after three quarters, as they gained just 187 yards, ten first downs, and three points. At that point, it was clear there was little chance that Washington had enough firepower to make a comeback in a two-score game.
Naturally, the offense’s trigger man, quarterback John Beck, was in the crossfires, as he had a second consecutive poor effort against Sunday against San Francisco. Beck finished the game going 30 for 47 for 254 yards, an interception and a garbage time touchdown pass.
“We obviously didn’t get things going the way we wanted to in the first half and into the third quarter,” the Redskins' QB said. “That’s something we look to improve.”
No kidding.
Although Beck was clearly one of the focal points of the team’s offensive ineptitude, Shanahan said the unit’s failures don’t necessarily fall on one player.
“Everybody looks at the quarterback position saying ‘that’s the guy,’” the Redskins head coach said. “Not saying that John played the perfect game –I’m not trying to go that way – but as a head coach I know that you’ve got to have eleven pieces of the puzzle and if you don’t everybody looks pretty ordinary.”
His players echoed that sentiment.
“It’s going to take all 11 of us [to turn it around],” said tackle Trent Williams, who returned from a high ankle sprain injury. “We’ve been going most of this season not coming together and if we want to turn this thing around, it’s going to take all of us coming together.”
Heading into the season’s second half, it’s clear that the frustration is building from all corners of the offense – from the quarterback, to the lineman, to the receivers and running backs.
The question remains whether or not they have the ability to stop the bleeding.
“I want to put my foot down and I want it to stop,” said Beck. “We have too many good players on this team, we have good character, we have guys that believe.”
“Losing like this shouldn’t happen and I don’t want it to happen any longer.”
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