A season-high in turnovers proved costly for the Redskins in their NFC East Division opener last Sunday against the New York Giants.
The Redskins (3-4) committed four turnovers — all in the second half — after turning the ball over just five times in the first six weeks of the season.
Despite losing two fumbles and throwing one interception against the Giants, the Redskins still found themselves down just four points and on a potential game-winning drive with 1:13 remaining in the game.
But that drive ended 23 seconds later when wide receiver Santana Moss lost a fumble at the Washington 43-yard line after catching an 11-yard pass from quarterback Robert Griffin III.
Giants quarterback Eli Manning — whose 77-yard pass to Victor Cruz with 1:23 remaining in the quarter proved to be the game-winning score — sealed the victory after the fumble with a quarterback kneel, as the Redskins left MetLife Stadium wondering what could've been with just a couple less mistakes.
"That was a rough game," Shanahan said. "Sometimes it's hard to win games when you make those types of mistakes, but I was pleased with the effort of our football team"
Griffin III had his first two-turnover game as a professional, as he threw his third interception of the season in the third quarter — a play that led to an Ahmad Bradshaw one-yard touchdown run on the ensuing Giants drive — and then lost a fumble on a hit by defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul midway through the fourth quarter.
Griffin III said he was especially disappointed in his interception, a play in which he was trying to find tight end Logan Paulsen across the middle.
"It's just a miscommunication between me and Logan," Griffin III said. "Once I pulled it back I should've moved on to my next read or just thrown the ball away. That's my fault — it's not his fault."
Griffin III did say it was encouraging to see his team even have a shot at winning the game against the defending Super Bowl champion Giants, even after turning the ball over four times in the second half.
"We had turnovers [Sunday], and there are no excuses for that," Griffin III said after the game. "Like I was telling guys in the locker room, we still had a chance to win the game and we were ahead at the end of the game even with those turnovers. If we can come back from that and continue to put points up on the board, it's going to be hard to be stopped."
Despite committing four turnovers last Sunday, the Redskins are tied with the Houston Texans for the fifth-best turnover ratio in the NFL at plus-7.
They face the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, who rank 13th in the NFL with a plus-1 turnover margin.
"It's just part of the game," Moss said. "It's something you don't want to be a part of, and it's something that we need to go and look at and see what we can be better at."
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