This week's Redskins Drive of the Game, presented by Ford, was a13-play, 60-yard drive finished off by a Kirk Cousins one-yard touchdown sneak that gave the Redskins a temporary lead.
The Redskins' run game lost its steam in the second half of their 38-30 loss to the Vikings on Sunday as they tried to save time during a fourth quarter rally. But their second quarter scoring drive showed what a healthy rushing attack could do against a formidable defense.
With the starting offensive line mostly intact and healthy once again, running back Samaje Perine established the tone early and converted a fourth down to extend the drive that culminated with a one-yard quarterback sneak up the middle.
"It helped having them back," quarterback Kirk Cousins said of the offensive line. "[The Vikings have] a good defensive line; they were doing a lot of different games and twists and things to make things tough for us up front, but we got the ball out of my hands and the receivers were getting open and finding ways to avoid the sacks until the last play."
Perine got things going from the 40-yard line with nine-yard, four-yard, eight-yard and one-yard runs. The Redskins kept the ball on the ground with a two-yard run from Chris Thompson before tight end Vernon Davis was called for a holding.
That prompted quarterback Kirk Cousins to go to the air for the first time, and he hit wide receiver Jamison Crowder over the middle for 32 yards, as Crowder ran up the sideline to the Vikings 14-yard line. A short gain and incompletion forced a third down, where Cousins went back to Davis on a seven-yard pass play ending just shy of the first down marker.
Head coach Jay Gruden opted to go for it on fourth down, and Perine pushed up the middle for four yards. With a fresh set of downs on the one-yard line, Cousins threw an incompletion and Perine couldn't gain any yards on a run up the middle before Cousins decided to do the work himself.
He took the snap under center and crammed himself into the line, which initially looked like it would prevent him from scoring. But a second wave of pushing forced him over for six points.
"It's a unique game to come away from," Cousins said. "I rarely play a game where I felt like we had everything we wanted offensively throughout the entirety of the game. There was no ball or stretch where I felt like we couldn't move the ball and yet no matter what we did, it still felt like we weren't doing enough and it's because of – I think – a few missed opportunities here and there and just a couple of plays that if they go our way or if they don't go our way that could change the game and make a big difference probably there at the end. But still, despite of that, we scored 30 points and moved the football throughout the game but obviously it wasn't enough."
