When things were going poorly in the early stages on Sunday afternoon in Philadelphia, the Redskins looked around for something, anything, to get them going.
They found out that their kicker is a player who can help keep them afloat.
Shaun Suisham's second-quarter effort--which included three field goals of 40 yards or longer--had the effect of keeping the Redskin in the game.
And, of course, they eventually went on to a second straight NFC East road win 23-17.
Nothing seemed to be in place for Washington, now 4-1 for the first time since 1999, when it trailed by two touchdowns seven minutes into the game.
Then Suisham's field goals of 41, 48 and 50 yards in a 12-minute stretch gave the Redskins life.
"We stalled out a few times in the first half," Suisham said. "I was able to come though and hit my field goals in the second quarter. It seemed to give us a lift."
The one that really kept the Redskins in it, of course, was the 50-yarder with just two seconds remaining in the first half. That one advanced Washington to within 14-9 and set up a huge second-half surge.
On that field goal, Suisham's accuracy was outweighed only by his timing. He converted just when the Redskins needed a spark heading into their halftime conversations.
"That was really a lift for us going into halftime to have that long field goal," head coach Jim Zorn said.
Said Suisham: "The only thing I can say is that it's a lot of fun playing on this team right now. I'm glad to contribute. We came out with our offense and took control in the second half. It was pretty cool to watch."
The only blemish on Suisham's day came when he hooked a kickoff out of bounds and was penalized for it.
Through five games, Suisham is 11-of-14 on field goal attempts.
He was 3-for-3 at Philadelphia and surpassed his counterpart, one-time Redskin David Akers.
Akers missed from 50 yards late in the first quarter but made good on a 23-yarder with 7:18 left in the game.
To a man, the Redskins acknowledged Suisham's clutch kicks, especially because they came at a time when things were looking somewhat bleak.
The 6-0, 197-pound Suisham, who is in his third NFL season, took over as the Redskins' kicker full time in 2007.
He spent parts of 2005 and 2006 with the Cowboys before joining Washington for the last month of the 2006 campaign.
A native of Wallaceburg, Ontario, Suisham played in all 16 games, plus the Wild Card playoff game, for the Redskins last season. He connected on 29-of-35 field goal attempts and 29-of-30 PATs for 116 points during the regular season.
Suisham hit two overtime game-winners last season, a 39-yarder in Week 1 to beat the Dolphins and a 46-yarder in Week 9 to beat the Jets.
In last year's 23-20 overtime win versus the Jets in the Meadowlands, Suisham had a career-best day, with five field goals in as many tries. He was named NFC special teams player of the week after his 46-yard field goal in overtime proved to be the game-winner.
Late in the 2006 season, Suisham came up with a career-long 52-yard field goal for the Redskins in a game at St. Louis. The Rams are at FedExField on Sunday.
