Pros
While RGIII got knocked around, needed stitches and has a concussion, Kirk Cousins stepped in and performed fairly well, all things considered. He kept the Redskins in the game with his 77 yard pass to Santana Moss, and showed a good arm with no fear. I will give him the second INT due to getting hit on the play, but the first INT was clearly on him. For a fourth round rookie taking the field due to injury, I was happy with his play.
Alfred Morris continues his strong play. The broadcast team even picked up the Terrell Davis comparisons. Morris absolutely tore up the Falcons defense and always seems to have positive plays. Today he rushed for 115 yards on 18 carries. If anything, the Redskins need to run him more. Morris also made positive yards on a 20 yard screen pass, and I'd like to see him get more involved in the passing game in future weeks.
Offensive line continues to do well, opening huge holes for Morris and only allowing two sacks in the game, both on Cousins. With everyone healthy, the performance of this unit does not surprise me, but lets hope that Williams can stay on the field and continue his strong play, as he and Lichensteiger are leading the unit.
Turnovers are the key. Ryan Kerrigan intercepted a pass from Ryan and took it in for a touchdown, and Perry Riley knocked a fumble. While the Redskins defense did allow some yards (as did the Falcons) getting turnovers and having a positive turnover ratio is huge.
Kerrigan also did well in pass protection, batted a pass down and was around the QB. Barry Cofield also did a great job, consistently helping pressure Ryan and he had a sack and a pass defensed as well.
London Fletcher had 20 tackles in the game. Fletcher's still got it, and up until the end, he did a great job containing Michael Turner and forcing the Falcons to pass.
Cons
RGIII suffered a concussion. Looked like Weatherspoon fell over and his leg hit RGIII in the head, but he had an opportunity to head out of bounds but attempted to turn it up field. Part of the strategy is getting RGIII out of the pocket, but hopefully this is a lesson to get out of bounds on these types of plays.
Pierre Garcon dropped two passes, including one late in the game. While Moss picked up that drive, I did not like seeing the drops flare up for Garcon, who has done a good job so far in the games he's played.
Billy Cundiff missed his first field goal wide right, and at the very least should have some competition come in this week, if not cut. He made his second field goal but that might not be enough.
Both Cedric Griffin and Brandon Meriweather missed the game today, and the secondary was at the will of Matt Ryan. You have to give Josh Wilson some credit, as he plays bigger than he is at times, but they are missing the physical aspect that both of those players bring, and Meriweather could have helped deter Tony Gonzalez some, but very few teams have an answer for him to shut him down.
This was a very winnable game, and I was encouraged by what I saw- the Redskins have definitely made progress. Falcons also played well, and Julio Jones had an awesome catch there on the side of the end zone too.
