On Sunday afternoon, Ryan Kerrigan passed upcoming Ring of Fame inductee Monte Coleman for the third most sacks in team history after two sacks on Giants quarterback Eli Manning.
With two sacks on Sunday afternoon in the Washington Redskins' 20-14 victory over the New York Giants, fifth-year linebacker Ryan Kerrigan passed Monte Coleman for the third most sacks in franchise history.
With his 44.5 sacks in 75 career games, Kerrigan now trails only Charles Mann (82) and Dexter Manley (91) for the most sacks as a member of the Redskins.
"It felt good to get a couple today," Kerrigan said. "Just got to keep working, just keep getting better. I was just happy the way we got pressure all day."
Kerrigan's first sack of the day came in the second quarter on a 3rd-and-9 situation from the Giants' 22-yard line.
Only two seconds after Eli Manning hiked the ball did the Purdue product take him down after getting leverage around Giants right tackle Marshall Newhouse.
The same thing would happen again in the third quarter, as Kerrigan was simply too quick for Newhouse, a sixth-year TCU product, who took Kerrigan to the ground and would be called for holding.
While Manning would fall just before Kerrigan, who also fell to the wet grass at FedExField, could get him in his clutches, he still got a hand on him and was credited for the sack.
"Yes, I did. I made sure of it," Kerrigan said. "I kind of got tackled by old No. 73 and I made sure I reached my arm out and got a little piece of him. That was definitely a point of emphasis."
If Kerrigan can continue to play the way has over the last two weeks – he also had a sack on Cam Newton in the Redskins' Week 11 game against the Carolina Panthers – it will start to free up other players on the defense as opposing offenses shift more focus onto the 2012 Pro Bowl selection.
"I know with Ryan being a dominant guy, a lot of protection and a lot of chippers will be thrown to his side," rookie linebacker Preston Smith said. "There will be a lot of one-on-one opportunities for me to show what I have, to show my edge, to try and give me a chance to win one-on-one opportunities and play as hard as I can to try to get me some sacks."
With the victory on Sunday, the Redskins pulled into first place of the NFC East with just five games left to play.
It's quite the turnaround from the past two seasons when the team was out of playoff contention by the time December rolled around.
As they look to make a playoff push over the final month of action, Kerrigan, who was on the team during the 2012 run to an unexpected NFC East title, said the team needs to come out and play to their best.
That starts a week from today when the historic Redskins-Cowboys rivalry starts back up on Monday Night Football.
"If you're not hungry for the Cowboys coming in after a big win like today, we have a problem," Kerrigan said. "This is a big game for us. We haven't been able to string together a couple wins in a row but we have to now. We're playing December football now and it's good to have these December games be meaningful, so this is going to be an exciting time."
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