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                                                                                                       SPORTS Saturday 25 November 2017





























            Redskins beat Giants 20-10 in


            turkey of a Thanksgiving game





            By HOWARD FENDRICH           ton’s lone scoring “drive” of  four ended with punts, and
             AP Pro Football Writer      the half? A 37-yard flag for  another  dissolved  when
            LANDOVER,  Md.  (AP)  —  In  pass  interference  on  New  they  turned  the  ball  over
            one  particularly  embar-    York’s Ross Cockrell; the en-  on downs.
            rassing  fourth-quarter  se-  tire  possession  covered  38  “It’s no fun losing. It’s no fun
            quence  that  drew  boos  yards.                          not  scoring  enough  points
            from the home crowd, Kirk  But  Cousins,  for  whom  ev-  offensively. It can wear you
            Cousins  and  the  Washing-  ery  game  is  seemingly  a  out.  It  can  test  you,”  said
            ton  Redskins  went  from  referendum  on  whether  Manning,  who  was  13  for
            planning to punt on fourth-  Washington  (5-6)  should  27 for 113 yards. “You have
            and-1  to  calling  timeout  sign  him  to  a  long-term  to keep going to the draw-
            and deciding to go for it, to  deal,   connected    with  ing board and find ways to
            drawing  a  delay-of-game  Jamison Crowder on a 15-       play better.”
            penalty  and,  in  the  end,  yard pass in the third quar-  This  was  the  first  time  the
            punting anyway.              ter  that  broke  a  3-all  tie,  Redskins  had  hosted  a
            Which,  naturally,  elicited  and with Josh Doctson on a  game on Thanksgiving, and
            more jeers.                  14-yarder with 3 1/2 minutes  they and the Giants didn’t
            By  the  end,  Cousins  was  remaining in the game.       exactly  treat  the  national
            hearing  cheers,  because  On  the  Crowder  play,  TV  audience  to  a  thriller.
            he  made  up  for  a  pick-6  Cousins  was  flushed  out  More of a snoozer.
            by showing the patience to  of the pocket and bought  Given the ugliness, perhaps
            produce a pair of second-    time by moving to his right  it was fitting that it was con-
            half  TD  passes  on  slow-de-  before  throwing  into  the  tested  on  a  terrible-look-
            veloping plays, helping the  end  zone,  where  his  re-  ing  field.  A  large  swath  of   New  York  Giants  defensive  back  Ross  Cockrell  (37)  interferes
            Redskins beat the New York  ceiver  was  “pretty  wide  brown  ran  down  the  mid-    with  a  pass  intended  for  Washington  Redskins  wide  receiver
            Giants  20-10  on  Thursday  open,”  according  to  the  dle,  all  the  way  from  one   Josh Doctson (18) during the first half of an NFL football game in
            night  on  a  drab  field  in  a  QB. On the one to Doctson,  end zone to the other.   Landover, Md., Thursday, Nov. 23, 2017.
            drab  game  between  two  Cousins looked for another  Route-runners        stumbled                                            Associated Press
            injury-depleted  teams  that  receiver   but   eventually  and  fell  for  no  apparent  What?                      and holding.
            did not look ready for prime  came  back  to  last  year’s  reason.   Redskins   back  Yes.                         In  the  game’s  first  eight
            time.                        first-round  draft  pick,  say-  Samaje  Perine  gained  3  Maybe all the issues were a  possessions, the club com-
            “There  were  several  plays  ing,  “He  got  separation  yards on five carries in the  result of being so depleted  bined for seven punts and
            that I would chalk up to the  and made a great catch.”    first  half,  although  he  did  by injuries: Washington has  one  turnover  on  downs,
            fact  that  they  were  slop-  In  between,  cornerback  finish the game with 24 runs  placed  15  players  on  in-  when  the  Redskins  failed
            py  because  it  was  a  short  Janoris Jenkins intercepted  for 100 yards. Some fans on  jured  reserve  this  season,  to  convert  a  fourth-and-1
            week.  We  just  didn’t  have  Cousins’ pass and returned  Twitter  blamed  the  shaky  including  its  top  two  run-  in Giants territory thanks to
            the  reps  that  we  needed  the ball 53 yards to make it  footing  for  Cousins’  poor  ning backs, and New York’s  Doctson’s  dropped  pass.
            to,” said Cousins, who was  10-all.                       throw that turned into Jen-  total is 14, including star re-  Indeed,  there  were  the
            19 for 31 for 242 yards. “I’m  That  one  play  involved  kins’ score.                 ceiver Odell Beckham Jr.     same  number  of  drops  as
            just glad we found a way to  more  yardage  than  Eli  The  ineptness  was  on  dis-   Both  offensive  lines  have  first  downs  (four)  in  that
            win.”                        Manning and the Giants (2-   play  all  night,  never  mo-  been  particular  areas  of  stretch.
            The  two  NFC  East  rivals  9)  generated  in  the  entire  reso  than  on  what  Red-  concern, and Thursday was  CROWDER            COMES
            combined  for  more  punts  second half.                  skins  coach  Jay  Gruden  no  different.  The  Redskins  THROUGH
            (nine) than points (six) in the  “Not  very  good,”  coach  called  “football  folly”  —  were missing three starters,  Crowder had a game-high
            first half, which ended 3-all  Ben McAdoo summed up.      that  botched  fourth-down  while the Giants were using  seven catches — no other
            on a pair of short field goals  They  gained  47  yards  and  gong show that he blamed  their eighth starting combi-  player on either team had
            —  from  30  yards  by  New  one solitary first down over  on  a  player  who  was  sup-  nation of the season.     more than three — for 141
            York’s Aldrick Rosas, and 28  the  last  two  quarters.  One  posed  to  be  in  the  game  So maybe it was no surprise  yards  and  his  first  score  of
            by Washington’s Nick Rose.  possession  ended  with  an  but  wasn’t  because  he  that there were 10 sacks,        the season.q
            The  big  play  on  Washing-  interception  by  Manning,  had taken off a shoe.        plus penalties for false starts
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