Head coach Joe Gibbs said he was encouraged by the play of Patrick Ramsey in Sunday's game against Philadelphia. The third-year quarterback started his first game in nearly a year after replacing Mark Brunell in the lineup earlier in the week.
Ramsey turned in an efficient performance against the Eagles, completing 21-of-34 passes for 162 yards with one interception. He was sacked only once.
"I thought Patrick managed things in that game very well," Gibbs said. "On the best plays, he did a good job when they were not there. I think he had real poise in there against a real tough defense in a tough environment. He handled himself very well."
But for the first time this season, the Redskins did not score an offensive touchdown in a game. Washington settled for two field goals--and had a third field goal attempt sail wide right. Philadelphia won the game 28-6.
Ramsey and the wide receivers were close to completing several big passes that could have resulted in touchdowns. But the throws were either just out of the receiver's reach or the defender had to commit a holding penalty to make sure the receiver didn't get past him.
"We had the pitch-and-run route with Laveranues Coles--we probably had a shot at a touchdown there but they held him," Gibbs said. "We got a first down on the play, but you don't get a touchdown. We had a corner route to L.C. that we missed by a little--that would have been a big play. And we had two shots to Darnerien McCants that would have been big plays.
"So we were taking shots. But we need to hit on one of those to get in the end zone."
Gibbs said that he did not have to scale back the offense for the less-experienced Ramsey. Other than making some offensive line adjustments due to Ramsey being a right-hander and Brunell being a lefty, Gibbs did not make many alterations to the offensive scheme.
"There weren't many changes," Gibbs said. "Obviously with Mark, who is left handed, there are some things you do differently when the quarterback is on the move. You would probably favor more of a right direction with Patrick. But the rest of the offense did not have a lot of changes.
"Each defense requires a special game plan. So you're trying to tailor what you're trying to do to what they're trying to do."
