Receivers fail to hold on to estimated 10 passes
PITTSBURGH — The first one was perhaps the worst. Leonard Hankerson ran a deep out with Robert Griffin III rolling his way. The pass was there. A touchdown awaited. Hankerson got his hands on the ball — and then he turned his head upfield, and the ball fell to the ground.
Thus started a case of the drops for the Redskins’ receivers. When the game ended, the Redskins unofficially had 10 drops of various degrees. Some, like Hankerson’s, didn’t end up hurting Washington as the Redskins still scored on that drive. Dez Briscoe also had a contested drop in the end zone on the drive.
But the rest? Add it up and it partially explains why the Redskins managed a season-low 255 yards.
“It’s very deflating,” running back Alfred Morris said. “It’s a momentum killer.”
A stat killer, too, as quarterback Griffin completed just 16 of 34 passes for 177 yards. He was held to 8 yards on six rushes, too.
They dropped three passes on a three-and-out right before halftime. There was another early in the second half by Santana Moss on a first-and-15 on which he would have gained most of the needed yards and then some. The pass was low, but Moss had his hands on the ball. In fact, not every pass was right there, but in each case the intended target had his hands on the ball.
Others who dropped passes included fullback Darrel Young and receiver Josh Morgan.
“Just a bad weather game,” Morgan said. “Lack of concentration. We can’t point the finger at any one guy. It was slippery out there. Wet ball. Wet grass. Jersey’s wet. It makes our jobs 10 times harder. As a pro they expect you to make every catch and every play. All of us have good hands. [But] you can’t make every play. Robert’s not gonna make every throw. We’re all human. We make mistakes.”
Coach Mike Shanahan said, “They had the same weather we did, so I definitely don’t attribute it to the weather.”
As for where the passes were — sometimes a little behind or low — Shanahan didn’t want to hear excuses there, either.
“I don’t care where the placement is,” he said. “As long as it hits your hand, you better catch it or else you won’t be in the National Football League for long.”
