It took a whole season of mediocrity, but finally, a team has come out and acted like a division winner for the NFC East. That team is, of course, the Washington Redskins. This 2015 NFL season hasn't been pretty at times for them, but Washington, led by Kirk Cousins, at last look the part of NFC East victors, even after a major blunder that they had to rebound from earlier in last night's game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
This matchup was expected to decide the NFC East. The Eagles and Redskins had that Saturday night game circled on the calendar for weeks, no question. But it was the Redskins who put the beat-down on the Eagles, and claimed their rightful place on top of the division.
Before they ended up dominating the second half and blowing out Philly, though, there was certainly some adversity brought about of their own doing.
If you didn't catch it (somehow), Cousins had one of the most boneheaded plays of the season to end the first half.
Driving down the field with under 30 seconds remaining, the Redskins got down to the Eagles' 6-yard-line, where Chip Kelly actually called a timeout. Cousins was able to get into the huddle, get the call and then run the play. There was no need to rush or have a cluttered mind about the upcoming play. However, the Redskins' starting QB took the snap and immediately kneeled the ball when they had no timeouts. That ran off the final six seconds of the quarter and took away any chance to score when they were inside the 10 and easily should have had a field goal at worst.
It was dumb. Really dumb.
And it could've changed the momentum of the game.
But Cousins responded and proved to many (including myself) that he and the Redskins are for real, scoring a touchdown on their half-opening drive and proceeding to dismantle the Eagles the rest of the way.
As this game had some doubt, the Redskins' whole season had some doubt.
They started 2-3. Then got to .500. Then lost. Then won. Then lost. Then won. Then lost. Then won. Then ... You get the point. They had a shaky start to the year and so did every other NFC East team. Even though lowly Dallas Cowboys were in the race way longer than they should've been.
That has changed in the past three weeks, though.
Three-straight wins for this Redskins team, starting with a win against a once-surging Chicago Bears team in Chicago. Then they took on the usually tough Buffalo Bills and won by double-digits, dropping 35 points. And last night, against the Eagles in a matchup that would decide the division, the Redskins won 38-24.
Washington has gotten hot at exactly the right time, and they're winning in convincing fashion both at home and on the road. I'm not saying they should be considered a favorite to go deep into the playoffs or anything, but the Redskins do, at this point in time, deserve their playoff spot. They've proven that much in the past few weeks, and that's positive not only for the franchise, but the NFL as well.
