{"id":7176,"date":"2012-12-11T06:05:06","date_gmt":"2012-12-11T10:05:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thehogs.net\/blogs\/?p=7176"},"modified":"2025-06-02T00:31:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-02T04:31:09","slug":"five-thoughts-ravens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/the-hogs.net\/blogs\/2012\/12\/11\/five-thoughts-ravens\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Thoughts: Ravens"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is it me or are the Washington Redskins actually starting to turn into a resilient football team? I’m not saying that they can overcome all odds or anything – but they proved on Sunday that they could overcome some pretty big ones. When Robert Griffin III went out with a right knee injury in the waning moments of the game, the ‘other rookie quarterback’ came in and polished off the come from behind 31-28 overtime win<\/a>. Who’d have thunk it?<\/p>\n

Here are five thoughts on the game:<\/p>\n

1) Kirk Cousins<\/strong> – Take a bow son, that was categorically poise under pressure. Not only did he hang in the pocket and pillow a beautiful pass to Pierre Garcon for the touchdown, but he looked like he was going to score on the two-point conversion, by hook or by crook. Sure he didn’t have to do a lot, but he didn’t make any mistakes and he led his team to victory – that’s about as much as you can ask for. From a rookie quarterback tossed into the final minutes of a game, it’s more than you can expect.<\/p>\n

2) Kyle Shanahan<\/strong> – Calling the ‘RG3 Goalline QB Draw’ play on the two-point Kyle? Cheeky. And Brilliant. I didn’t scream at my TV much about calls at all, and our offense bossed a pretty darn good defense for much of the game, so given my willingness to throw mud when he doesn’t call a good game – I have to give credit where it’s due – Kyle called a great game. He actually does so more often than not lately – save for a couple of seemingly brain fart type moments. He has molded this offense into one that defenses are struggling to handle – what else can you ask for? Expect a contract extension soon, because he’s established that he can be deadly with his offense, and with RGIII running it.<\/p>\n

3) Alfred Morris<\/strong> – Continues to be… unstoppable; unfortunately, he also put the ball on the ground again. I hate having to even put that asterisk on an otherwise fantastic performance, but it cost the Redskins 7 points – it certainly bears mentioning. Still, Morris might be the only person that can stop Morris right now, because he continues to run over would-be defenders, and smash out record rookie yardage. He hung 122 yards on a pretty good defense on his 23 carries, and posted his 7th touchdown of his inaugural campaign. It was his third 100-yard rushing game in a row, and his sixth of the season, to bring his total to 1228 yards and a bruising 4.9 yard average. It’s criminal that he’s only\u00a0 the ‘second best rookie’ on this team, but I’m pretty sure that Alfred can handle the slot designation.<\/p>\n

4) Richard Crawford<\/strong> – Enjoy the new digs rookie, you can keep the job! Brandon Banks was de-activated against the Ravens, and my guess is that his days in Washington are done. Crawford peeled off a 64-yard punt return to set up the game winning overtime field goal, and that, and that alone is enough to unseat Banks as it’s more than Banks has done all season. Grant Paulsen summed it up well in a tweet:<\/p>\n

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Richard Crawford returned three punts for 100 yards yesterday. Brandon Banks amassed 108 yards (13 returns) in his last 6 games. #Redskins<\/a><\/p>\n

— Grant Paulsen (@granthpaulsen) December 10, 2012<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n