Teamwork Needed to Start 99-yard Drive
The Redskins trailed the Giants 35-28 and after a downed-punt at the Washington 1, the Redskins were facing 3rd-and-8 at the Washington 3, with 5:36 remaining in the 4th quarter.
Redskins left tackle Donald Penn (72) wanting to get out as quickly as possible in his back-pedal unfortunately was quite early and commits a false start.
Penn protests demonstrably to the linesman, even moving towards the linesman verbally expressing his disagreement.
Bless his heart, I don’t think Penn has any idea how silly he looked protesting, because everyone in the stadium and watching on television knew Penn was unmistakably guilty of the false start.
The ball is moved back “half the distance” so Washington was facing a 3rd-and-9 at the Washington 1-and-a half-yard line.
The clock starts when the ball is spotted by the officials and will run down to 5:11 as the ball will be snapped.
In this formation, tight end Hale Hentges (88) is tight to the right of offensive tackle Geron Christian Sr (74).
Closely to his right (not out wide) is wide receiver Kelvin Harmon (13).
Quarterback Case Keenum (8) is five yards in the backfield and Chris Thompson (25) is off-set to the left, behind the inside leg of Penn.
In the slot on the left side is receiver Terry McLaurin (17) and out wide left is fellow receiver Steven Sims Jr (15).
The Giants have six on the line of scrimmage ready to rush Keenum.
Sims comes in motion to his right, and just as he is behind McLaurin, the ball is snapped to Keenum.
All six Giants rush Keenum, meaning someone else either Hentges or Thompson is going to have to pick up the extra Giant rusher or Keenum will be hit in the end zone.
Hentges picks up the outside Giant rusher outside linebacker Markus Golden (44), helping Christian, before releasing for a possible check-down pass from Keenum.
Thompson also does his job, sticking his body right in there picking up (55) the blitzing linebacker David Mayo.
Penn is getting beaten slightly around his left side by (53) linebacker Oshane Ximines, but Penn works hard staying with him long enough for Keenum to step up into the pocket.
The Giants while rushing six have five in coverage against the five eligible Redskins receivers.
Harmon runs a clearing route up the numbers on the right side.
Sims on the left side, instantly breaks behind McLaurin and his first step is quick enough he has Giants’ defensive back Corey Ballentine (25) trailing him to the middle of the field.
Keenum’s right foot is only about 18 inches from the back of the end zone, and if he were to have stepped on the line, that would have been a safety and two points for the Giants.
In addition, the Redskins would have had to punt to the Giants from the 20-yard line, trailing 37-28.
Keenum knowing his pocket is in danger, releases the ball with Sims in the middle of the field.
However, seeing Sims is a step ahead of Ballentine, Keenum calmly trusts Sims to get to the pass, as he leads him to the area at the numbers cleared-out by Harmon.
The ball arrives as Sims gets to the 19-yard line; Sims makes the catch and runs to the 34-yard line for the huge first down.
Teamwork was exhibited by so many on this play, and it was the beginning of several big plays on a 99-yard drive to tie the game, at 35-35.
Ivan Lambert is a lifelong die-hard Washington Redskins fan, raised in Berryville, Virginia. He is married and the father of two fine young men. He is currently a sports correspondent for The Ledger in Lakeland, Florida and can be found on Twitter @IvanLambert18
