D6 EZ M2 THE WASHINGTON POST.FRIDAY, AUGUST 23 , 2019
concussion after he took a
helmet-to-helmet hit early on
that knocked his headgear off
and is in the concussion
protocol. The Redskins can
only hope that Reed passes, not
only for his sake as a player
with a history of brain injuries
but because Reed probably was
set to be their leading receiver.
Gruden said after the game
that Reed was “symptomatic”
and thus was placed in the
protocol.Ups and downs
Left guard Ereck Flowers got
the start, and while he helped
open some holes in the running
game, he also committed a
holding penalty that cost Guice
a goal-line touchdown and
whiffed on a block that cost
Case Keenum a possible
touchdown pass. Meanwhile,
wide receiver Cam Sims already
may have locked up a roster
spot, but he certainly didn’t
hurt his cause with three
catches for a game-high
48 yards. Fellow wide receiver
Robert Davis couldn’t quite
snare a pass in the end zone
after scoring on long
touchdowns in each of the first
two preseason games, but he
contributed by pouncing on a
muffed punt to get his team the
ball back. While rookie
quarterback Dwayne Haskins
almost certainly did not do
enough to unseat Keenum, he
made some good throws,
particularly after getting into a
rhythm in the fourth quarter.
— Des BielerExcerpted from
washingtonpost.com/redskinsWin is a blueprint
Whether teams win or lose in
preseason games doesn’t matter
a whole lot — the 2017
Cleveland Browns infamously
followed up a 4-0 preseason by
going 0-16 when it counted —
but getting their first win of
2019 had to feel good for the
Washington Redskins and
Coach Jay Gruden. More
importantly, the victory set
something of a likely template
for success this season. The
defense led the way by stifling
an opponent, while the offense
did just enough, particularly on
the ground, to hold up its end.Guice gets going
The major individual story, at
least from a positive standpoint,
centered around Derrius Guice.
The second-year running back,
whose rookie season was wiped
out after he tore a knee
ligament in his first preseason
game, returned to action for the
first time since then, and he
looked good. Guice ran for 44
yards on 11 carries, adding a
four-yard reception, and he
showed burst and vision, even
throwing in a solid stiff-arm.
Above all else, Guice showed
that he could take some hits and
get up and keep going.Reed in protocol
Tight end Jordan Reed was
evaluated during the game for athe moment his cleats hit the turf.
“We tend to take things for
granted,” Guice said as he stood
behind a lectern in a room behind
the locker room. “When football
was taken away from me, I was in
a place where I was lost. My
brothers were out there going to
war. I wasn’t with them after put-
ting all the work in training camp
with them. It was kind of like a
slap in the face that it happened
in the first game.... It humbled
me. I thought it was a sign of God
to slow down and take care of my
body.”
He won’t solve all of the Red-
skins’ problems. Their best play-
maker, Reed, was being evaluated
for a concussion late Thursday
night after taking a brutal shot to
the head. Quarterback Case
Keenum made some regrettable
decisions, and rookie Dwayne
Haskins didn’t do enough to take
the job from him. The left side of
the offensive line remains a seri-
ous concern, and the holdout of
star left tackle Trent Williams lin-
gers with no break in sight.
For now, the Redskins are
much what they were last year: a
good defense that lacks a potent-
enough offense to truly be domi-
nant, only this time the defense is
a little better and the offense a lit-
tle more questionable. The differ-
ence maker for this franchise over
the past year and a half has al-
ways been Guice.
On Thursday night he took his
first cuts, then his first hits, and
everything seemed right again.
[email protected]absorbing a shot from another
during one particularly aggres-
sive sideline run. When Washing-
ton found itself on the 1-yard line,
Guice lined up in the backfield
and ran three times into a wall of
Atlanta Falcons, finally scoring
on the third — a great leap over
the scrum — only to have the play
called back on a hold by guard
Ereck Flowers.
The touchdown-that-wasn’t
didn’t matter. Neither did the 44
yards Guice had on 11 carries or
the four other yards he had on a
pass reception. The important
thing for the Redskins was that
Guice was back on a field, he had
the ball in his hands again and he
didn’t get hurt. The Redskins’ of-
fense got a little more dynamicHis return seemed to take for-
ever, delayed at every step. He
wasn’t cleared for offseason work-
outs, allowed only the fewest of
carries in training camp. He raced
onto the field before the first pre-
season game in Cleveland only to
be told the doctors were holding
him back — just to be sure.
When he stepped on the field
for the Redskins’ first possession
Thursday, he was still very much
a mystery. Would he be the same?
What would happen when he was
hit?
He took the first blow, the sec-
ond and the third and hopped
back up. Then he took the ball
again, and the feeling looked to
be back. He started looking for
contact, stiff-arming a tackler and“You really know how you feel
whenever you get hit,” Guice said
late Thursday night. When it
came, he tumbled to the turf and
said, “Next play.”
In those months after the sur-
geons cut open his knee and
mended the ligaments, the Red-
skins played a solid and predict-
able offense. Adrian Peterson
walked in cold from Houston,
dazzled in a workout with a wad
of tobacco shoved against his
cheek, never spitting once, then
ran for 1,042 yards. But his dili-
gent, powerful style made Wash-
ington’s offense one-dimensional.
With Jordan Reed and Paul Rich-
ardson and other playmakers bat-
tling injuries, the Redskins be-
came a lot of Peterson and not
much else.
Throughout a season that
started well and faded fast, Guice
was the ghost who lingered over
the Redskins, the one who would
make their offense erupt if only
he were there. They had seen they
way he burst through tacklers on
video highlights from LSU, then
felt it themselves in those few
magical weeks in Richmond,
where every time he touched the
ball the whole training camp
seemed to stop. His locker re-
mained when they came back to
Ashburn, yet he was largely invis-
ible. The only hints about his re-
covery came in clips he posted on
social media, pulling sleds and
leaping pads that had been
spread before him on the ground.
REDSKINS FROM D1
professional Football
BY KAREEM COPELANDatlanta — Derrius Guice
hopped in place in the end zone,
holding both hands in the air to
mimic the signal for a touch-
down. He was hoping for it, beg-
ging for it, but a yellow flag lay on
the turf at Mercedes-Benz Sta-
dium. The diving score was called
back because of a holding penalty
on guard Ereck Flowers, but it
was the lone pockmark on an
otherwise exquisite return for the
second-year Washington Red-
skins running back.
Washington beat the Atlanta
Falcons, 19-7, on Thursday in its
third preseason game, but the
result was less important than
the return of one of the organiza-
tion’s key players. In his first
game since he tore his ACL in last
year’s preseason opener, Guice
played the first four series and
finished with 44 yards on 11 car-
ries and four receiving yards on
one catch while officially an-
nouncing his healthy return.
“It’s been a long time, bro,”
Guice said. “I knew it was some-
thing I needed. I needed to get out
there, get my feet under me, get
some contact to really see where
I’m at.”
The Redskins played most of
their expected Week 1 starters for
the majority of the first half as
Guice, tight end Jordan Reed and
wide receiver Paul Richardson Jr.
made their preseason debuts. Un-
fortunately for Washington, the
oft-injured Reed left the game
and is in the NFL’s concussion
protocol following a nasty hel-
met-to-helmet hit in the second
quarter. The tight end had shined
during training camp and pre-
season practices, but another in-
jury brings back the biggest issue
for the Redskins’ best offensive
weapon. Reed continued to play
after the hit, but Coach Jay
Gruden said he developed symp-
toms after halftime.
Donald Penn started at left
tackle in front of Geron Christian
for the first time as the two
continue to battle for the No. 1 job
in the absence of Trent Williams,
who is holding out. Flowers con-
tinued to get first-team reps at
left guard in front of rookie Wes
Martin, though he struggled and
was beaten for a big hit on quar-
terback Case Keenum and was
called for the hold that wiped out
the Guice touchdown. On de-
fense, first-round rookie edge
rusher Montez Sweat got the start
in front of Ryan Anderson.
The first series of the game was
exactly what the organization
had been waiting to see from
Guice. He touched the ball on
four of the first eight plays and
showed why there was such ex-
citement before the injury. The
2018 second-round pick’s first
touch came on first down when
he took a handoff to the left, cut
back to the right and lowered his
pads at the end of a seven-yard
run.
The next touch showed every-
thing in the Guice repertoire. He
took a counter to the left and used
a bit of speed to get to the corner.
He then straight-armed corner-
back Isaiah Oliver to the ground
while turning upfield. Guice fin-
ished the run by throwing a
shoulder into safety Keanu Neal
instead of simply stepping out of
bounds for six yards.
“When that corner came at me
with the angle he took, I knew I
had to give him an arm,” Guice
said. “The safety, [I] played him in
college [at LSU]. He went to
Florida. I’m a little salty with
Florida, so I had to give him a
little shoulder. Safeties, they get
big eyes when they see running
backs on the sideline. They feel
like it’s an open shot for them but
not me. I’m ready.... Felt like a
college run for me, for sure.”
That first series, an eight-play,41-yard drive, ended with a 48-
yard field goal from Dustin Hop-
kins to give Washington a 3-0 lead
with 4:03 left in the first quarter.
Keenum failed to lead a touch-
down drive in his half of action,
finishing 9 for 14 for 101 yards and
one fumble lost. He had a few
strong throws, including a 16-
yarder to Josh Doctson and a pair
of 28-yard gains to Jeremy Sprin-
kle and Cam Sims, but there were
drive-killing mistakes. The big-
gest was the fumble recovered by
defensive end Takk McKinley
when Keenum held on to the ball
too long in traffic and took a hit
from Deadrin Senat. Senat was
credited with a sack as the ball
floated straight to McKinley.
“The turnover was completely
my fault,” Keenum said. “Poor
decision. Held on to the ball too
long. Just something I was trying
to manipulate some coverage
with my eyes. Something I don’t
need to do. Silly mistake. I don’t
need to put our defense in that
situation.”
Atlanta needed just five plays
after starting on the Washington33-yard line for Ito Smith to
punch in a five-yard touchdown
run with 6:09 remaining in the
second quarter to take a 7-3 lead.
The Redskins’ normally stout
first-team defense allowed the
Falcons to get down to the Wash-
ington 21 on an opening drive
that was extended by a fake punt
on the fifth play of the game, but
Giorgio Tavecchio missed a 39-
yard field goal to waste it. Atlanta
quarterback Matt Ryan, a former
MVP, finished 9 for 14 for 74 yards
without a touchdown or intercep-
tion.
Rookie quarterback Dwayne
Haskins played the second half
for the Redskins and continued to
have his ups and downs. He fin-
ished 7 for 13 for 74 yards and had
the opportunity for more but
simply missed a few throws. Run-
ning back Samaje Perine scored
on a three-yard run in the third
quarter for the Redskins’ only
touchdown three plays after At-
lanta muffed a punt. Hopkins
finished 4 for 4 on field goals to
account for the rest of the scoring.
[email protected]Guice shines in preseason victory, but Redskins lose Reed
ON THE NFL
In his return, back shows he can take and give a hit
TAKEAWAYSJONATHAN NEWTON/THE WASHINGTON POST
Redskins linebacker Montez Sweat gets in the face of Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan. The rookie edge rusher started in place of Ryan Anderson in Thursday night’s win.JONATHAN NEWTON/THE WASHINGTON POST
In his first game since a knee injury last preseason, Derrius Guice
gained 44 yards on 11 carries and had a touchdown called back.Redskins 19, Falcons 7
Redskins ............................. 3 3 10 3 — 19
Falcons ............................... 0 7 0 0 — 7
FIRST QUARTER
Washington: FG Hopkins 48, 4:03.
SECOND QUARTER
Atlanta: I.Smith 5 run (Tavecchio kick), 6:09.
Washington: FG Hopkins 29, 1:21.
THIRD QUARTER
Washington: Perine 3 run (Hopkins kick), 11:33.
Washington: FG Hopkins 23, 1:59.
FOURTH QUARTER
Washington: FG Hopkins 40, 8:21.
Attendance: 70,126.
Redskins Falcons
First Downs .......................................... 16 17
Rushing ................................................... 4 10
Passing .................................................... 8 4
Penalty .................................................... 4 3
Third Down Eff .................................. 2-11 3-12
Fourth Down Eff ................................. 0-0 2-3
Total Net Yards ................................... 280 235
Total Plays ............................................ 56 58
Avg Gain ............................................... 5.0 4.1
Net Yards Rushing .............................. 108 155
Rushes .................................................. 28 36
Avg Per Rush ....................................... 3.9 4.3
Net Yards Passing .............................. 172 80
Sacked-Yds Lost ................................. 1-3 2-13
Gross-Yds Passing .............................. 175 93
Completed-Att. ............................... 16-27 11-20
Had Intercepted ...................................... 0 0
Yards-Pass Play ................................... 6.1 3.6
Kickoffs-Endzone-Tb ....................... 6-6-5 2-1-0
Punts-Avg. ..................................... 3-51.7 5-41.2
Punts Blocked. ........................................ 0 0
Fgs-Pats Blocked ................................ 0-0 0-0
Total Return Yardage ........................... 48 25
Punt Returns ..................................... 1-12 2-0
Kickoff Returns ................................. 2-36 1-25
Interceptions ...................................... 0-0 0-0
Penalties-Yds ................................... 6-35 9-89
Fumbles-Lost ...................................... 2-2 4-3
Time Of Possession ......................... 28:36 31:24RUSHING
Washington: Guice 11-44, Thompson 3-20, Reynolds
5-19, Perine 4-16, Marshall 4-11, Haskins 1-(minus 2).
Atlanta: Etling 7-48, Ollison 12-42, Smith 5-23, Brooks-
James 3-17, Ryan 2-9, Hill 4-7, Neasman 1-6, Freeman
2-3.
PASSING
Washington: Keenum 9-14-0-101, Haskins 7-13-0-74.
Atlanta: Ryan 9-14-0-74, Etling 2-6-0-19.
RECEIVING
Washington: Sims 3-48, Harmon 2-37, Kidsy 2-11,
Thompson 2-4, Sprinkle 1-28, Doctson 1-16, Holtz 1-12,
Reed 1-10, Guice 1-4, Perine 1-3, Marshall 1-2.
Atlanta: Sanu 3-23, Zaccheaus 2-19, Hardy 1-24, Smith
1-9, Ridley 1-9, Freeman 1-6, Hooper 1-2, Graham 1-1.
PUNT RETURNS
Washington: Stroman 1-12.
Atlanta: Zaccheaus 1-0, Green 1-0.
KICKOFF RETURNS
Washington: Marshall 2-36.
Atlanta: Green 1-25.
TACKLES-ASSISTS-SACKS
Washington: Bee 4-1-0, Bostic 4-1-0, McIntosh 3-1-0,
Collins 3-1-0, McKinzy 3-0-2, Dunbar 3-0-0, Reaves
3-0-0, Blunt 2-3-0, Anderson 2-2-0, Harvey-Clemons
1-2-0, Sweat 1-1-0, Allen 1-1-0, Apke 1-1-0, Williams
1-1-0, Maloata 1-1-0, Moreland 1-1-0, Smith 1-0-0,
Bonner 1-0-0, Nicholson 1-0-0, Flowers 0-4-0, Sprinkle
0-1-0, Ankrah 0-1-0, Payne 0-1-0.
Atlanta: Carter 3-0-0, Grace 2-2-0, Neal 2-2-0, Larkin
2-0-0, Allen 2-0-0, Neal 2-0-0, Phillips 1-4-0, Cooper
1-3-0, Senat 1-2-1, Neasman 1-2-0, Ishmael 1-2-0,
Bethune 1-1-0, Cominsky 1-1-0, Calhoun 1-0-0, Stanley
1-0-0, Ortiz 1-0-0, Jarrett 1-0-0, Riley 0-6-0, Tuioti-Mari-
ner 0-3-0, Middleton 0-2-0, Miles 0-1-0, Crawford 0-1-0,
Campbell 0-1-0, Zimmer 0-1-0, Odom 0-1-0, Miller 0-1-0,
Hageman 0-1-0, Martin 0-1-0.
INTERCEPTIONS
Washington: None. Atlanta, None.
MISSED FIELD GOALS
Atlanta: Tavecchio 39.REDSKINS 19,
FALCONS 7Tight end is placed
in concussion protocol