By: Stephen D. Riley
AFRO Staff Writer
Even the insertion of new offensive coordinator, Sherman Lewis, couldn’t save the Washington Redskins from another dismal offensive showing. (Courtesy Photo)
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(October 27, 2009) - Even the insertion of new offensive coordinator, Sherman Lewis, couldn’t save the Washington Redskins from another dismal offensive showing. And even the ring of honor induction of a former Redskin couldn’t save Washington from another disappointing loss. The Philadelphia Eagles trounced the Redskins, 27-17, on Oct. 26 at FedEx Field.
On a nationally televised stage that saw legendary kick returner Brian Mitchell inducted into the team’s ring of fame, it was the Eagles’ return man, DeSean Jackson, who stole the show.
Displaying his game breaking speed and open field quickness, Jackson scored on plays of 67 and 57 yards, single handedly outscoring the Washington offense in the first half, 12-10. Jackson’s first score came on a wide receiver reverse four plays into the game. The second-year wideout raced 67 yards up the left sideline to silence a lively crowd that had been buzzing from Mitchell’s induction and the rare sight of ESPN cameras. Jackson’s next score came on a third-and-22 when a mishap in the Redskins secondary allowed him to drift wide open and into the end zone.
Philadelphia (4-2) went into the half with a 27-10 lead and cruised for the rest of the night against an offense that failed to show any remarkable improvement under a new play caller.
“It’s not about the play calling,” Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell said after the game. “We just got to go out there and be more aggressive. Everyone puts so much emphasis on everything else but as players we also have to execute. It’s not just one thing or another as you can see, we all just got to execute. Everyone wants to talk about the play calling issue for us. It being taken from coach over to Sherm Lewis, that’s something that’s already happened and what we have to do is move forward, [we] can’t worry about all the things that’s been changed.”
By the time Washington scored their second touchdown with 1:38 remaining in the game, over half of the 88,241 fans were in their cars and the damage was already done. Campbell and the offense accounted for four turnovers, six sacks and a 3-for-12 third down conversion mark. The Redskins (2-5) will have the week off before they return to take on the 6-0 Denver Broncos on Nov. 8. Washington will have to adjust quickly after Pro Bowl tight end Chris Cooley broke his ankle on the first play of the second quarter.
The loss of Cooley marks the third offensive starter loss to injury this season. With Campbell and running back Clinton Portis both battling ankle and foot problems, Campbell knows the bye week couldn’t come at a better time.
“The first thing we have to do this bye week is get healthy,” Campbell said. “We have a lot of guys back there who have injuries, including myself and we just have to find a way to refocus. This is not time for us to fall apart, we’ve got to find some kind of way to stay positive and pull together and understand that at 2-5 we have put ourselves in a hole but anything can happen, we just got to keep pressing on.”