When the Washington Redskins took the field against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the two teams’ last preseason game, it was hard to have any idea how good or bad the game might be.
Tropical storm Hermine was threatening the west coast of central Florida so the game had been pushed up a day. A large number of Redskins did not even make the trip… the spotlight would be on the drafted and undrafted rookies and bubble players.
If many thought the game was going to be boring and sloppy they were wrong. At least, the first half for the Redskins was not.
The game began benign enough but it didn’t take long for the Redskins to establish themselves as the more dominant ballclub as Washington’s offense concentrated on running the ball and the defense focused on getting to the ball.
Rookie quarterback Nate Sudfeld looked like a rookie but continued to show what a gamer he is.
More than anything rookie Robert Kelley and second-year rusher Mack Brown both shined.
The two rushers showed patience getting to and beyond the line of scrimmage and a real bull-headedness as they ran through their holes. They put their heads down, cut and ran. By the time the clock dinged for the end of the half, Kelley had run for 11 carries and 58 yards and Brown – who owned the game – had 12 carries for 130 yards and a touchdown.
The defense could have been a starting one with safety Duke Ihenacho recording a fumble recovery and an interception and rookie LB Su’a Cravens logged four tackles.
ILB Martrell Spaight and Terence Garvin both played well with the former accurately reading protections and putting his unit in the right place to stop the Bucs.
By halftime the score was 13-0 and Redskins Head Coach Jay Gruden was probably fairly conflicted about how many sleepless nights he would have versus how glad he was that he had such great depth on his roster.