Harbaugh was asked about Griffin during the week and heaped the usual praised on RG3: “You kind of keep an eye on him,” he said. “You get so focused on your opponent, and you really don’t know other than from the little news that we see how he is doing. Being here in the area, of course, you get a little more of that. We’ve been following him from afar a little bit, and [we’re] very impressed. [I’ve] always been impressed with him. I knew of him because my brother recruited him four years ago to Stanford. He had recruited both Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III both out of Houston, both 4.0 [GPA] students, by the way, so they were Stanford guys. Andrew ended up going there, and obviously, RG III went to Baylor. I’ve known him for a little while, and I’ve got a lot of respect for him.”
Despite a 6-6 record, the Redskins were red hot coming into the game against the Ravens, having won three in a row over all three of their NFC East rivals – beating Philadelphia, Dallas, and New York to put themselves back in the playoff race.
With a mixed crowd of Redskins and Ravens fans packed into Fed Ex Field, the game moved at a frenetic pace, almost like a playoff game in its energy.
On the first series of the game, Griffin engineered a 10-play, 80-yard drive, hitting Josh Morgan for a 15-yard TD throw. The teams then traded touchdowns – Anquan Boldin caught a pair of Flacco throws for 19 and 31 yards while Griffin led another eight play, 83-yard drive to make the score 14-14 early in the second quarter.
Later in the half, Ravens defensive tackle Maake Kemoeatu stripped Alfred Morris of the ball and Paul Kruger fell on the ball at the Redskins 20. Three plays later, Flacco hit Dennis Pitta for a 14-yard TD throw to give the Ravens a 21-14 lead at the half.
The Ravens moved the ball well in the first half, but the Redskins tightened up defensively in the third quarter, sacking and stripping Flacco near midfield and getting a pair of Kai Forbath field goals to make it a 21-20 game heading into the fourth quarter.
Late in the fourth quarter, Flacco led another eight play, 62-yard touchdown drive, capped by a Ray Rice 7-yard run to lead 28-20 with 4:47 remaining.
From that point it was like something out of a movie.
On the ensuing kickoff, Courtney Upshaw hit returner Niles Paul knocking the ball loose. It appeared that Ravens wide receiver David Reed had fallen on the ball, but bobbled it briefly near the side line. After a review, the Redskins were awarded the ball.
Griffin, who already had a mild limp, started moving the Redskins. Near the two-minute warning he was sacked on two plays in row, the second a vicious plowing by Ngata with the massive left side of his body, a rugby tackle from a former rugby player in the open space. Griffin’s leg contorted in a very unnatural fashion as his body slammed to the ground.
Back up quarterback Kirk Cousins, a 4th round pick from Michigan State who was drafted along with Griffin to work as a team, was summoned by head coach Mike Shanahan. Cousins, who hadn’t appeared in a game in nine weeks, drew a pass interference call on new Ravens defensive back Chris Johnson with a pass to Pierre Garcon.
Griffin, like something he saw in old western, hobbled back onto the field and ran four more plays, hitting Garcon over the deep middle of the field, moving the Redskins to the 16 with 45 seconds remaining and down eight points. He finally fell to the ground in agony and couldn’t continue.
Cousins came back, completed a short pass to Leonard Hankerson and then hit Garcon in the corner of the end zone for an 11-yard TD pass. With the score 28-26, the Skins kept Cousins on for the two-point conversation and he ran an easy quarterback sneak to send the game to overtime tied 28-28.
The Ravens got the ball first, but Flacco and the offense went three and out bringing Sam Koch on for his fifth punt of the afternoon. Redskins punt returner Richard Crawford avoided the first tackle and streaked down the right side line until being caught by Koch at the 24. Three plays later, Forbath hit a 34-yard field goal and the Ravens were suddenly 9-4 and wondering what the hell happened on the field in Landover in a 31-28 overtime loss.
If the miracle 4th & 29 win in San Diego was the feeling of good fortune then this was the polar opposite. So many things transpired in the final minutes of regulation that you couldn’t point to any one player or play that was a defining moment.
It all kind of snowballed, the way it does any time a team falls apart on defense to surrender a lead and lose a game.
In the end, the offense disappeared, the special teams folded, and the defense collapsed. And they were beaten by a pair of rookie quarterbacks, one who was on one leg making plays in jaw-dropping fashion, and the other coming off the bench covered with rust to finish them off. It was kind of unthinkable, and it all happened quickly and painfully. The post-game locker room was silent. There was some disbelief and Pollard was especially angry at several of the young Ravens players who missed assignments on the final drive, screaming at them in front of members of the media.
It was a short bus ride home that felt much longer.
If the good fortunes of 4th & 29 were part of football, so was this meltdown against a second-string rookie quarterback with a defense full of street signings and backups. The good luck was “not for long” in the NFL paradigm. The breaks always seem to balance out.
The Ravens were now 9-4 on a two-game losing streak. It wouldn’t get any easier. The next two home games would be vs. the two youngest offspring of Archie and Olivia Manning. The Denver Broncos would be in Baltimore in seven days with Peyton and the defending World Champion New York Giants were coming after that with Eli.
It didn’t feel like Christmas season for anyone in the I-95 corridor who was wearing purple. Folks in Baltimore don’t like losses to the Redskins, especially ones like this. Like the World Cup in soccer, it’s bragging rights for four years.
And the folks wearing the burgundy and gold earned the right the strut proudly after claiming a 2012 regular win over a team that would hoist the Lombardi Trophy nine weeks later.
The loss to the Redskins changed the course of the season because the outcome pushed John Harbaugh over the edge. He didn’t like what he was seeing.
