Redskins vs. Saints: Highlights, game tracker and more

The Washington Redskins faced the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, Nov. 19 in Week 11 of the 2017 NFL season. Here are highlights from the game.

The Washington Redskins (4-5) traveled to New Orleans (7-2) on Sunday afternoon to face a resurgent Saints squad. Winners of seven in a row, the Saints werere right behind Philadelphia for the battle for the No. 1 seed in the NFC. But the question was, could the Saints keep up this stellar play?

Early on, that didn’t seem to be the case as the Redskins were able to trade field goals first, and then find the end zone before the home team as Kirk Cousins found Chris Thompson for the 16-yard score. However, New Orleans answered with this season’s patented rushing attack as Mark Ingram broke loose for the 36-yard touchdown to tie it up.

In the second quarter, though, Washington rookie running back Samaje Perine looked like a workhorse and was able to find the end zone to cap off a nice drive and put the Redskins back ahead. Again it looked as if the Saints were going to be able to answer at the end of the half, but the Washington defense stood tall in the red zone to hold them to a field goal. Thus, Washington led, 17-13, going into the locker room.

After the majority of the third quarter seemed like both teams trying to gain momentum with little success, the visiting Skins caught a break. As the Saints sent an all-out blitz, Cousins stood tall and delivered a deep ball to a wide-open Ryan Grant to take a commanding 24-13 lead on the road. A Will Lutz field goal made it a one-possession game, but Washington was still in control.

Cousins asserted that further as he showed up again with another big drive and a pass to rookie tight end Jeremy Sprinkle from seven yards out for another score, making it 31-16 with under six minutes to play. However, never count out Drew Brees and the New Orleans offense at home.

Brees drove down the field in just over 3.5 minutes and found tight end Josh Hill for a score. They elected to kick the extra point and, with two timeouts left, kick off deep. Though Perine gashed them of first and second down runs, he was stuffed on third down to give Brees another shot. He made it happen in a flash as he moved the ball down the field thanks to a penalty and then two deep shots. Finally, it was Alvin Kamara who took it in on a crazy bobbled catch from 18 yards out. The rookie running back then tied it up on a two-point conversion run.

Washington still had a little over a minute left to work with, though, and Cousins targeted Jamison Crowder heavily. That drove them down the field and seemingly into field goal range, but then the quarterback made a questionable decision as he threw it away poorly, making for an intentional grounding call. After a 10-second runoff left the game at 18 seconds remaining, Cousins was sacked and fumbled to end regulation.

With all of the momentum, the Saints started overtime on defense. The Redskins had nothing working for them as Cam Jordan came up with a massive sack to force the punt. From there, it was two long Mark Ingram runs that put New Orleans in field goal range, and Lutz converted to get the big win, albeit an improbable one, to push the streak to eight-straight victories.

Highlights

Next: 2018 NFL Mock Draft: 49ers continue rebuilding

While the Saints defense is vastly improved, this game will be determined by New Orleans’ offense facing Washington’s defense. The Redskins are much better on that side of the ball this season, but injuries have decimated the unit. Washington could be getting back defensive end Matt Ioannidis for this game, which would be big.