Third quarters are a stumbling block, and the Redskins can’t explain why

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/redskins/third-quarters-are-a-stumbling-block-and-the-redskins-cant-explain-why/2015/10/18/7dad426c-75e7-11e5-bc80-9091021aeb69_story.html

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EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Jay Gruden made his name in the NFL as a fresh-faced innovative offensive mind capable of producing results with a young quarterback. Now as head coach of the Washington Redskins, Gruden’s duties encompass so much more, with leadership, tone-setting and an ability to make in-game adjustments ranking high among them.

Six games into the season, and 22 into his head-coaching tenure, Gruden still finds himself searching for the keys necessary to establish himself as a quality game general.

The coach watched helplessly as his Redskins blew a halftime lead Sunday and fell, 34-20, to the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium.

Gruden and his players entered halftime leading 13-10 thanks largely to three first-half takeaways from the defense. The Redskins returned to the field and fell flat while the Jets stormed past and never recovered. In the same quarter, Gruden’s quarterback threw two interceptions and his defense got gashed for 208 yards.

It was the third come-from-behind victory of the season for a Redskins opponent, and the fifth third-quarter cold spell that has plagued the team this year.

Washington has been outscored 46-3 in its six third quarters.

“The third quarter has been a nightmare for us, and that’s been bad,” Gruden said in his postgame news conference.

Sunday’s third-quarter collapse began when the Jets moved downfield in four minutes and tied the game on a field goal, and then continued when cornerback Darrelle Revis intercepted quarterback Kirk Cousins at the 18 and set up Jets quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick for an 18-yard touchdown run up the middle. The Jets scored 10 points in less than five minutes to go up 20-13 and went on to score another 14 consecutive points (seven in the third quarter) to bury the Redskins.

No single area has proved crippling this season for the Redskins in third quarters. Instead, it’s a different problem every week, or reoccurring shortcomings in multiple areas.

Penalties were costly in the third period of the Week 1 game, and turnovers hurt in Weeks 2 and 3. Third-quarter penalties and a turnover kept the offense in check in Week 4, and the defense’s inability to get off the field on third downs in Week 5 kept Washington’s offense off the field for much of that quarter.

Sunday evening, Gruden seemed baffled when asked about the post-halftime struggles.

“I wish I knew,” he said. “We [have] had some good drives in third quarters. Just haven’t been very productive, and that’s something I’ve got to address. You know we have a plan at halftime. We preview the second-half plays. We talk to the team. They get rested. We show them what happened in the first half. We talk about our plan moving forward. They’re all eager and ready to go. They’re fired up, but we haven’t had much success or results . . . . I don’t know. We’ll figure it out.”

As has been the case for much of the season, Washington’s game plan didn’t appear to be altered significantly in the second half against the Jets.

With rushing yards hard to come by against a Jets defense that entered the game ranked second in the NFL against the run, Washington’s offense relied heavily on short throws toward the sidelines to quickly get the ball out of Cousins’s hands. That plan also was meant to ease the pressure on an offensive line using replacements at center and left tackle and young starters at both guard positions and right tackle.

With Cousins averaging 5.2 yards per pass attempt in the first half, the Jets anticipated more of the same in the second half. So, when Cousins took the snap on the second play of Washington’s first third-quarter possession, faked to his right then came back to his left and threw another out route to Ryan Grant, Revis waited back until Cousins cocked back to throw, then timed the pass and made a diving catch at the Washington 18.

Cousins’s second interception came on a throw into double coverage on what represented one of only two shots downfield.

Otherwise, Washington remained stagnant.

“I thought we came in and made good adjustments, but some of the looks we were expecting on a few plays that we ran early on, they didn’t really give us the looks that we wanted,” said running back Chris Thompson, who along with Alfred Morris combined for just 33 rushing yards. “That kind of affected us, and we’ve got to find a way to execute. We know every play is not going to be a perfectly called play, but we’ve got to find a way in these third quarters to win some games.”

Pierre Garcon, the only proven play-maker on the game-day roster with DeSean Jackson and Jordan Reed injured, didn’t receive a single second-half target. But Garcon, who for the game had five catches for 28 yards, said his quiet second half wasn’t a result of the Jets shutting him down.

“There’s always opportunities. We just have to find them,” he said. “I don’t know what it is.”

Defensive end Jason Hatcher also remained at a loss for words. He did, however, express hope that his coaches could eventually provide guidance needed for the team to break out of the slump.

“Third quarters have been hell for us the last couple weeks. I don’t know what it is,” Hatcher said. “Coaches do a great job of finding on film what’s going on, and we’ve got to do a great job of responding and bring it to life on Sundays.”