MONDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2010


KLMNO HIGHPOINT


Safety LaRon Landry’s diving interception on the second play of the Packers’ second drive in overtime set the stage for Graham Gano’s game-winning field goal. Landry also led the team with 13 tackles, 10 of them unassisted.


LOWPOINT


Place kicker Graham Gano pushed a 51-yard field goal wide right early in the fourth quarter, leaving the Redskins with a 13-10 deficit and giving the ball to the Packers at their 41 with just 6:39 remaining in the game.


EZ SU


D13


“Unless you have a lot of character on your team, you usually don’t win games like that.” —Redskins Coach Mike Shanahan


NOTEBOOK In a short time, guard Dockery goes from 111 consecutive starts to inactive Lichtensteiger started at left BY JASON REID, BARRY


SVRLUGA AND RICK MAESE Derrick Dockery continued to


plummet on the Redskins’ depth chart Sunday. The veteran guard was inactive for the first time in his eight-year career. Washington’s coaching staff


determined in the preseason that Dockery, 30, was a bad fit for the team’s zone blocking scheme. In the first two games,Dockery split time with Kory Lichtensteiger, 25, who was out of football during the 2009 season.


guard inWeek 3 against St.Louis, ending Dockery’s string of 111 consecutive starts.Dockery’s role has continued to diminish since the Redskins lost to the Rams. “I think it’s tough,” said center


Casey Rabach, who has played alongsideDockery for years. “But the guy never shows it. The guy’s always smiling. The guy’s always upbeat. The guy’s always saying, ‘I’ll be all right. I’ll be all right.’ ” The Redskins selected Dock-


ery in the third round (81st overall) of the 2003 draft. He spent two seasons (2007-08)with


Buffalo after signing as a free agent and returned to the Red- skins before the 2009 season, after the Bills released him. Washington renegotiated


Dockery’s contract in March. He received a $5 million signing bonus and has a base salary of $2.91million this season.


Banks gets return duties With wide receiver Devin


Thomas’s release Saturday, rook- ie Brandon Banks inherited the kickoff return duties to go along with his responsibilities on punt returns. The results for the Red-


skins were encouraging. Banks returned three punts


for an average of 15.7 yards — including a 30-yarder that set up the Redskins’ only touchdown. He also had a 62-yard return that was called back when safety Chris Horton was flagged for an illegal block. Banks’s two kickoff returns were for an average of 16.5 yards, but he felt the entire day helped his progress. “Everything started to click,”


Banks said. “Like [veteran receiv- er] Santana [Moss] told me, I kind of grew up out there. I feel good. I feel like every time I touch


the ball, I can go the distance.” Banks clearly left the Packers


feeling that way, and they ap- peared to try to kick away from him as the game wore on. The 5-foot-7, 150-pounder, an un- drafted free agent out of Kansas State, was relegated to the prac- tice squad after training camp but signed to the 53-man roster before the Oct. 3 game at Phila- delphia.He is nowaveraging 18.7 yards on six punt returns. “I was just trying to make big


plays, and get good field position for the offense,” Banks said. “I had fun out there.”


Shanahan on Thomas On Saturday, Redskins Coach


Mike Shanahan released Thom- as, a third-year wide receiver. On Sunday, he explained. “I sat down and talked to


Devin many times and told him what he needed to do to be a pro football player,” Shanahan said, “both on and off of the football field. . . . until he does that—he’s got the talent. He sure does. But he’s going to have to commit to being a pro.”


reidj@washpost.com


svrlugab@washpost.com maeser@washpost.com


JONATHAN NEWTON/THE WASHINGTON POST Graham Gano and the Redskins celebrate the game-winning 33-yard field goal in overtime, the only timeWashington led in the game. Gano missed a 51-yard attempt wide right with 6:45 left in the fourth quarter. Redskins hang tough, remain tied atop division redskins from D1


career, made it happen by pick- ing off Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers at the Packers 39-yard line in overtime. Red- skins quarterback Donovan Mc- Nabb, who had a big second half to lead the comeback, quickly completed two passes, including one to tight end Chris Cooley that resulted in a 30-yard gain after Cooley broke two tackles and eluded another defender. GreenBay committed two pen-


alties on the drive to help the Redskins, who moved the ball into the middle of the field and called timeout to give Gano a chance to end the game. He did, with the successful kick with 8 minutes 6 seconds remaining in the extra session. The Redskins improved to 3-2 and remained tied atop the NFC East. Battered throughout the game


by Green Bay’s NFL-leading pass rush, McNabb finished with 357 yards passing. His outstanding deep pass towide receiverAntho- ny Armstrong early in the fourth quarter resulted in a 48-yard touchdown that Armstrong leaped high in the air to corral. That helped the Redskins cut the Packers’ lead to 13-10. Armstrong (three receptions,


84 yards) providedMcNabb with another target to complement top wide receiver Santana Moss, who had seven catches for 118 yards. “Unless you have a lot of


character on your team, you usually don’t win games like that,” CoachMike Shanahan said. “Too many mistakes, especially early. As I told our football team, I’m very proud of the way they handled themselves for the way they kept on fighting. No finger pointing. At any point in the game, you could tell that they were all going in the same direc- tion.”


JOHN MCDONNELL/THE WASHINGTON POST


Redskins linebacker RockyMcIntosh, left, stops Packers running back JohnKuhn, center, in mid-air at the Redskins 1-yard line. Despite being outgained in


total offense, 427-373, the Red- skins completed a long climb after appearing frequently over- matched at the outset against the high-powered Packers (3-2). Green Bay failed on downs on fourth and goal at the Redskins 1-yard line in the first half and missed two field goal attempts after halftime, including a poten- tial game-winner in the final seven seconds of the game. Run- ning back Brandon Jackson had 115 yards for the Packers on only 10 rushes. Though Washington again


overcame its problems and found a way to win, the process is becoming nerve-wracking, play- ers said. “Alot of times, this is theway it happens in the NFL, and it’s


definitely the way we’ve been going so far,” outside linebacker Lorenzo Alexander said of the team’s tense, late-game situa- tions. “But we can’t keep playing like this, going down to the end of the fourth quarter every week, because it is mentally and physi- cally draining.” Early on, it appeared Green


Bay could be headed toward a rout. Washington was without two-


time all-pro defensive tackle Al- bert Haynesworth, whose young- er brother was killed in a motor- cycle accident Thursday in Nash- ville. Haynesworth was coming off his best performance of the season in theWeek 4 victory over Philadelphia, and it seemed he could have helped as the Packers’ offense got off to a fast start with


Rodgers at the controls. The Redskins also had major


problems along the offensive line. Veteran guard Derrick Dockery, who continued to slide down the depth chart, was inac- tive for the first time in his eight-year career. Kory Lichten- steiger, who supplanted Dockery as the starter at left guard in Week 3, struggled in pass protec- tion against blitzes. The Packers were slowed by


injuries to key players as well. Linebackers Nick Barnett and Frank Zombo did not play. Green Bay lost standout third-year tight end Jermichael Finley (knee) on the game’s second play from scrimmage and second-string tight end Donald Lee (shoulder) later in the first quarter. The Redskins also benefited late in


the game when Pro Bowl outside linebacker ClayMatthews—who had 1½ sacks Sunday and leads the league with 8½ — left the game late in the third quarter with a hamstring injury and did not return. “It was a challenge,” Packers


Coach Mike McCarthy said. “When you have injuries, you’ve got to make the appropriate game plan changes.” The Packers, however, held an


early 10-0 lead on Rodgers’s five- yard touchdown pass to Lee and place kicker Mason Crosby’s 52- yard field goal. Crosby missed from48 yards in the third and his 53-yard attempt in the closing seconds of the fourth hit the left upright. “I hit it all the way up the upright,” Crosby said. “It was one


of those that everything felt good and was tracking all the way and justmissed.” Rodgers (293 yards, one touch-


down and one interception) was outstanding in the first quarter, completing 11 of 14 passes for 130 yards with the touchdown. He had a 129.2 passer rating. But he struggled from the second quar- ter on and suffered a concussion, the Packers said. The Packers could have pro-


duced more on offense before halftime. They drove to the Red- skins 1-yard line, where Rodgers was stopped for no gain on a third down quarterback sneak. Leading, 7-0, Packers McCa-


rthy decided to go for it. On a fourth-down pass play, Alexan- der applied tight coverage against Packers third-string tight end AndrewQuarless in the right corner of the end zone, and the ball bounced off Alexander. “Well, it was the difference in


the game, obviously,” Shanahan said. “They went for it on fourth and one early, and obviously it [would have been] 14 points instead of seven. I thought that was the key to the game.” There were others, too. Trailing 10-3 at halftime,


Washington simplified things be- fore the third quarter, throwing more in a straight West Coast scheme, players said. “What we were doing wasn’t


working,” said Cooley, who fin- ished with 69 yards on seven catches. “We came in at halftime and made a complete adjust- ment. Offensively, we completely changed the game plan.” The McNabb-Armstrong con-


nection with 11:35 remaining in the fourth energized the Red- skins. “You can’t say enough about what Donovan can do,” Cooley said. “At any point in the game, Donovan can make a big play. He can turn a game.” reidj@washpost.com


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