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Redskins Date published: 12/2/2008
BY ADAM HIMMELSBACH LANDOVER, Md.--By the time Sunday's game began, a cold and steady rain had already drenched FedEx Field. And when the showers continued through kickoff, there was a sense it would be an old-fashioned, ground-based, smash-mouth football game. But the New York Giants had something else in mind. Their defense forced the Redskins to punt after three plays, and then their offense came out with an assault that was much more airplane than automobile. Five of New York's first eight plays were passes, the last of which was a 40-yard touchdown strike from Eli Manning to Amani Toomer. "We had the ball, and everyone was kind of wondering how we were going to play it with the wind and etc.," Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. "And that was a quick answer for us." After setting the tone, the Giants did not stray from it. Manning finished with a season-high 305 passing yards as New York rolled to a 23-7 win. And the Giants' passing fancy came without their top receiver, Plaxico Burress, who accidentally shot himself in the thigh at a nightclub last Friday night, and is now facing gun charges. After the game, Redskins cornerback Carlos Rogers stood at his locker and shook his head. "It's our toughest game as a secondary this year," he said. "A game like this, we were gonna play a lot of man-to-man, stick a guy in the box and stop the run. A lot's gonna be on the secondary." This effort came when the Redskins' secondary was as close to full strength as it has been in weeks. Cornerback Shawn Springs returned from a calf injury and DeAngelo Hall had another week to digest the system. But it did not matter. The missteps came from all sides. Fred Smoot was beat Springs and Hall collided in midair while going after what appeared to be a sure interception. "I didn't see him," Hall said of Springs. "And he didn't see me." The Redskins did stack the line of scrimmage, hoping to slow the Giants' top-ranked rushing offense. Still, Smoot said the Redskins defense was often caught off guard by the Giants' play selection. "When we thought they were gonna throw it, they ran the ball," he said. "When we thought they were gonna run it, they threw it. They always kept us on our heels. They were always one step ahead of us." After pointing the blame at themselves, the defensive backs began to point toward their next opponent. Next week, the Redskins will visit the Baltimore Ravens, whose passing offense ranks just 26th in the league. "But now that one team came in and threw on us," Rogers said, "another team is gonna come in and try to do the same thing." Adam Himmelsbach: 540/374-5442
Date published: 12/2/2008
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