Thd 2nd hslf is here and the Mason/Brennan nominations for this week will be all over the field. The Redskins lead the Patriots 17-3 going into the 3rd quarter. Matchup: Washington Redskins(0-0) vs New England Patriots(0-0) Date/Time: Thursday, Aug. 9 | 7:30 p.m. ET Location: Gillette Stadium (65,878) | Foxborough, Mass. TELEVISION: NBC4/NBC Sports Washington Kenny Albert (play-by-play) Joe Theismann (color) Clinton Portis (sidelines) RADIO: Redskins Radio Network Larry Michael (play-by-play) Chris Cooley (analysis) Rick “Doc” Walker (sidelines) Live Streaming: NFL.com Game Pass, fuboTV Odds: Redskins +3 Series history, news and notes Prediction: Redskins 24 - Patriots 20 Enemy Blog: PatsPulpit NFL News twitter feed: Redskins twitter feed:<doc-sep>Here are the winners and losers from the New England Patriots’ 26-17 win over the Washington Redskins in Thursday night’s preseason opener. In considering these winners and losers, we weighed the first half heavier than the second half when the Patriots’ reserves picked up the slack after a rough start by many of the team’s starters. It’s worth highlighting, however, Trent Harris’ strip sack, which Geneo Grissom scooped and returned to the 1-yard line. Winner: Jeremy Hill, RB He finished the game with 11 rushes for 55 yards and a touchdown. He added two receptions for 14 yards. What’s more, he provided solid pass protection, one of the most essential parts of earning a running back job with the Patriots. Hill pancaked Redskins linebacker Shaun Dion Hamilton while protecting Brian Hoyer. On a night when the Patriots struggled mightily to get things going on offense — something Bill Belichick was quick to note at halftime — Hill was consistent. Loser: Kyle Van Noy, LB The linebacker was in coverage for Byron Marshall’s 25-yard touchdown reception. Marshall beat Van Noy on a quick route, and then eluded an arm tackle while turning upfield for the end zone. Van Noy played for all of the first quarter and parts of the second, but finished with just one tackle. The linebacker, who said the Patriots defense was sneaky good, couldn’t quite back it up against Colt McCoy. The New England defense is a work in progress.<doc-sep>Halftime: Redskins 17, Patriots 3 Washington lost its shutout after allowing New England to go 56 yards on four plays in less than a minute and kick a field goal late in the second quarter, but Redskins Coach Jay Gruden has to be pleased with the way his team played in the first half. Washington has 13 first downs to the Patriots’ four, and New England is 0 for 5 on third down against Greg Manusky’s defense. The main concern for the Redskins at halftime is the status of rookie running back Derrius Guice, who rushed for 19 yards on six carries before leaving the game to be evaluated for a knee injury.<doc-sep>The Patriots opened up the preseason by scoring 26 unanswered points against the Washington Redskins to go from being down 17-0 in the 2nd quarter to a 26-17 win. A pair of rushing touchdowns in the 4th quarter proved to be the difference. Here are some of the winners and losers from the Patriots’ win. Winner: RB Jeremy Hill. The Patriots RB had an opportunity along with Mike Gillislee to showcase themselves with the first team offense. Gillislee struggled to get any traction going in the 1st quarter, so they put in Hill. Hill led the team with 51 yards on 11 attempts (4.6 YPC) and a 3rd quarter TD run from 1 yard out. He also caught 2 passes for 14 yards. In the tight competition for the early down RB with 1st rounder Sony Michel on the mend, Hill has definitely gotten ahead here. Hill fits the mold of Patriots bruiser RBs that come in on early downs to churn yards out in between tackles. And also this little blitz pickup highlight where he combined with center Cole Croston to knock down a blitzing LB. Jeremy Hill clearing real estate in blitz pickup. pic.twitter.com/qPqPpW5wPs — Oliver Thomas (@OliverBThomas) August 10, 2018 Winner: Ralph Webb. Webb might not make the roster, but he certainly turned some heads in this game. Webb played in the 2nd half and late into the game and saw 14 carries for 46 yards (3.3 YPC) with 2 TD while scoring on both 2-point conversion plays, 1 receiving and 1 rushing. After going undrafted out of Vanderbilt, Webb has shown early on that he could be a practice squad candidate for either the Patriots or someone else. Loser: Mike Gillislee. As I mentioned earlier, Gillislee struggled to get any traction going early. He finished the day with 43 yards on 14 carries (3.1 YPC). In a heated competition for possibly one roster spot between him and mostly Jeremy Hill, who had a good day, that’s not a good development for a back who got a significant investment last offseason. Loser: 1st Team Defense. 3 Drives: Midfield punt, TD, and long FG. The Patriots starting defense struggled to keep Colt McCoy and the Redskins offense from driving down the length of the field. The Patriots edge run defense was a bit leaky at times, but the bigger concern was secondary play. Preseason matchups for the most part are very vanilla offense/defense, so you’d like to see more effort from this group next week. Winner: Ja’Whaun Bentley. Bentley came in with the 2nd Team Defense in the 2nd quarter and looked solid overall. He led the team with 6 tackles (5 solo), with a couple ending drives on 3rd down. He was targeted two times on the day in coverage, allowing both passes to be completed for 10 yards and no first downs, and delivered a QB hit in the 2nd quarter to McCoy. On the 2nd team defense, Bentley got the green dot as the defensive signal caller, which may or may not be a significant development in terms of his overall roster standing. Winner: Trent Harris. Harris came in the game late, but flashed a bit. In the 4th quarter, he took advantage of a blown protection call that left him unimpeded to the QB and strip-sacked Kevin Hogan. Geneo Grissom recovered the ball and returned it inside the Redskins’ 1 yard line. On the next drive, Harris recorded a run stuff for a loss of 2 yards on a first down that started the series of downs that would end that drive after an Eric Lee sack and a short completion on 3rd down. It’s nice to see the undrafted FA out of Miami (FL) make an impact less than a week after the Patriots signed him. Undrafted Miami product Trent Harris with the strip-sack and Geneo Grissom with the scoop and run. pic.twitter.com/E5FsLT4kdm — Oliver Thomas (@OliverBThomas) August 10, 2018 Winner: Derek Rivers. Rivers played semi-competitive football for the first time in his NFL. On the game’s opening play, he made the stop on a short run play from the backside and flashed pass rush ability. Here he punishes an offensive lineman with a bull rush for oversetting to the edge before he and two other Patriots meet at the QB. Derek Rivers, playing in his first game in 364 days, off the left edge. pic.twitter.com/UhEAIRkZ80 — Oliver Thomas (@OliverBThomas) August 10, 2018 If Rivers can stay healthy, he should make a large impact on the defense as both an edge setter and pass rusher. Winner: Keion Crossen. In the crowded CB competition, the 7th rounder again continues to make plays. Crossen broke up a 3rd down pass in the 2nd quarter and got a QB hit on a nickel blitz. He was also in coverage on a 57-yard pass, although the gain would have been less severe if Jordan Richards didn’t whiff on the tackle attempt. Crossen though was able to stop the play at the 3 yard line to at the time keep Washington out of the end zone. His lack of height may limit him to slot duty in the NFL, but he has a solid skill set there with speed and quickness.<doc-sep>
The Redskins got off to a great start against the New England Patriots in their pre-season opener. The decision to give the starters the night off was extremely questionable given the circumstances. Washington has had a significant amount of turnover in the off-season, regardless of how many repetitions the starters get in the outing against New England, the bottom line is the starters should have seen some time on the field. Nonetheless, the Redskins got off to a 17-0 start offensively and allowed just one first down in the first 29 minutes of the game. The second-string offense, led by quarterback Colt McCoy, was able to pick apart the New England secondary ending his night going 13-18 for 189 yards and two touchdowns. Solid night overall for McCoy as multiple times he was able to extend plays outside of the pocket and convert for first downs and touchdowns. While receiver Maurice Harris had a good outing, second-year receiver Robert Davis and rookie Cam Sims had even better showings. The two, who combined for five catches for 109 yards, connected with Colt on numerous occasions and showed an ability to gain yards after the catch. Although his time was ended short due to a knee injury, rookie Derrius Guice displayed strength and vision in a couple of his carries. Unfortunately for Guice, his best run of the night was negated and happened to be the play he was injured on. If you want to bring Derrius Guice down, you better bring backup pic.twitter.com/9ini1BULRi — The Draft Network (@DraftNetworkLLC) August 10, 2018 Guice ended the night on six carries for just 19 yards, but it was his abilities with the football in his hand that made him separate himself from others on the depth chart. Defensively, inside linebacker Martrell Spaight and defensive end, Matt Ioannidis led the front seven in the first half. Washington’s second-string defense stifled the Patriots offense until the end of the second quarter’s final minute, when they began to show cracks in their armor. Rookies Greg Stroman and Tim Settle were very impressive in their debut with Washington as well. Stroman also displayed his versatility in being able to return punts and gain positive yards doing so. Although the Redskins third-string defense was putrid, allowing the Patriots to score 23 second-half points, Tim Settle dominated at the nose tackle position for Washington. Settle’s performance is an encouraging sign for the Redskins staff, he displayed his strength and motor with the ability to penetrate the offensive line the backfield nearly every snap. The lead did not last. The Patriots scored 26 unanswered, dominating the time of possession in the second half outgaining the Redskin by a large margin. Third-year quarterback Kevin Hogan had a very dull performance along with the other members of the third-string unit, ending his night with seven completions for just 44 yards and a fumble on the night. There were positives and negatives on the night, with all the positives belonging to the second team, and Tim Settle. The negatives, injuries to key players Derruis Guice and Matt Ioannidis whom both left with knee injuries, and the third string units on both sides of the football. It will be hard to say who made a case for themselves after this outing.