The Washington Redskins narrowly defeated the Arizona Cardinals 22-21 on Sunday. It may not have been the prettiest win ever, but teams don’t get any less credit for an ugly win than they do for a spotless one. Here is a look at some of the interesting stats and numbers from this week’s game.
455 – Total yards of offense for the Redskins. It’s the second week in a row that they have busted
172 – Yards rushing for the Redskins. Big number and more importantly, a dramatic improvement to 4.9 yards per carry this week, as opposed to just under 3 YPC in week 1.
162 – Career wins for Mike Shanahan. He moved ahead of Bill Cowher into sole possession of 15th place all-time.
96 – Yards rushing for Tim Hightower – most of it in the first half. He had 20 attempts to give him a very respectable 4.8 yards per carry.
93 – Yards rushing for the Cards’ Beanie Wells. On just 14 carries, that’s way too many yards. The Redskins interior struggled handling the draw, but in fairness, rarely cheated an 8th man into the box.
86 – Yards receiving for Fred Davis on another big day. The blossoming tight end caught 6 passes to lead the team for the second straight week, and his play has made Chris Cooley’s absence nearly moot. Only Jason Witten of the Cowboys has more yards through 2 games (Witten at 212yds, Davis at 191yds).
74 – Yards rushing on 10 carries for Roy Helu. The rookie out of Nebraska provided a great change of pace from Hightower, and also tacked on 38 yards receiving for an all-purpose day of 112 yards.
73 – Yard touchdown for Larry Fitzgerald. Take that catch away and he was just 6 for 60 yards. You’re never going to completely shut down the best receiver in the game, but considering the injury to Josh Wilson, the Redskins did a good job of at least making sure that he didn’t single-handedly beat them.
62 – Yards receiving for Jabar Gaffney. That might not sound all-pro, but he was clutch in possession-type receptions. He’s not flashy, but he IS effective.
38 – Plus minutes of possession for the Redskins. The Cards had the ball for 21-plus minutes for a difference of about 17 minutes – or more than a FULL quarter. Further to that, the Cards held the ball for just 1:24 in the fourth quarter. For Washington, that’s controlling the ball when it matters the most. Unless a team is playing a Colts team with Peyton Manning, they aren’t going to lose many games when they dominate TOP in such a significant way. In two games, the Redskins have now averaged 35:33 TOP per game – absolute tops in the NFL.
35 – Yard punt return for Brandon Banks. He finished with 4 returns for an 18.3 yard average. He may not get many touches, but the stadium is jumping every time he does. Electric.
33.3 – Percent on third down conversions for Arizona. They were just 3-of-9 thanks to another great team effort by the Redskins defense.
10 – Yellow hankies for the Cardinals. Ouch. In comparison, the Redskins had 3 penalties. Discipline.
8 – Tackles for Rocky McIntosh to lead the way. Did something just go off in Rocky’s head that made him, ‘get it’? He’s looked completely different the last two weeks – he seems to have figured out the 3-4 and the middle of that Redskins defense is much better for it.
3 – Big sacks for the Redskins defense (Brian Orakpo, Rocky McIntosh, Ryan Kerrigan). The front seven pressured Kevin Kolb all day long, and this linebacking corps is startingt o look lethal. The only LB to not register a sack, London Fletcher, had arguably the best day of the four.
2 – Red zone conversions in 7 tries. This stat is the ONLY reason that there was still a game in the balance in the fourth quarter.
0 – Catches for Chris Cooley. It’s only the third time in his career that he has suited up and not logged a reception.
As always, the only stat that really matters is the one that goes in the win column. At 2-0, the Redskins are off to a great start and sit atop the NFC East. There won’t be any time to rest on the laurels of the win this week though, Washington head to Dallas to take on their hated rivals in the Monday Night game.
Edit: This blog was archived in May of 2016 from our original articles database.It was originally posted by Mark Solway