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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