Game Notes: St. Louis Rams 31, Washington Redskins 28

(Sept. 17, 2012) - The Washington Redskins fell to 1-1 on the season Sunday after they lost a 21-6 lead at St. Louis and fell to the Rams, 31-28. Here are the game notes from the game provided by the Washington Redskins:

·         The Redskins fell to the St. Louis Rams on Sunday by a final score of 31-28 in front of an announced crowd of 53,979 people at the Edward Jones Dome.

·         Redskins Executive Vice President/Head Coach Mike Shanahan is now 3-2 against teams coached by Jeff Fisher and 23-16 in regular season games against the teams that currently comprise the NFC West.

·         Including a 40-point effort last week, the Redskins have now scored at least 28 points in consecutive games for the first time in the Shanahan era and the first time since posting 30 and 34 vs. New Orleans and at Oakland in the 2009 season.

·         The 68 points scored by the Redskins in the past two weeks represent the highest two-week point total for the Redskins since the team combined for 70 points in Weeks 15-16 of the 2005 season (35 vs. Dallas on Dec. 18 and 35 vs. New York Giants on Dec. 24).

·         The Redskins finished with 176 rushing yards one week after rushing for 153 yards against New Orleans last week. This represents the Redskins’ first back-to-back performances of 150 rushing yards or more since 2008, when the Redskins ran for at least 150 rushing yards in four straight games in Weeks 4-7.

·         The 176 rushing yards are the most since Week 4 of last season, when the Redskins ran for 196 yards at St. Louis on Oct. 2.

·         Quarterback Robert Griffin III completed 20-of-29 passes for 206 yards with one touchdown, one interception and a quarterback rating of 86.3.

·         Griffin III also added 11 carries for 82 yards and two rushing touchdowns. Griffin III’s 82 rushing yards are the most by a Redskins quarterback since the 1970 merger, surpassing Joe Theismann’s 64 rushing yards at Chicago on Nov. 9, 1980.

·         Griffin III now has 526 passing yards this season, the third-most by a rookie quarterback in Weeks 1-2 since 1970, trailing only Carolina’s Cam Newton (854 in 2011) and Houston’s Warren Moon (566 in 1984).

·         Griffin III scored his first career rushing touchdown on a five-yard run in the first quarter. The rushing touchdown was the Redskins’ first by a quarterback since Rex Grossman rushed for a four-yard touchdown vs. Dallas on Nov. 20, 2011.

·         Griffin III is the first Redskins rookie quarterback to run for and throw for a touchdown in the same game since Patrick Ramsey did so vs. New Orleans on Oct. 13, 2002.

·         Griffin III added his second rushing touchdown of the game in the third quarter, becoming the first Redskins quarterback with two rushing touchdowns in a game since Mark Rypien vs. Indianapolis on Nov. 7, 1993, a span of 297 regular season games ago.

·         Griffin III became the first rookie quarterback to score two rushing touchdowns for the Redskins since Norm Snead rushed for two touchdowns at Dallas on Nov. 19, 1961.

·         On the game’s first play from scrimmage, cornerback Josh Wilson returned a fumble 30 yards for a touchdown. It was the fifth defensive touchdown of Wilson’s career, but his first via fumble recovery.

·         The fumble recovery for touchdown was the team’s first since Sept. 12, 2010 vs. Dallas, when cornerback DeAngelo Hall had a fumble return for touchdown in the first game of the Shanahan era.

·         The touchdown was the first by the Redskins’ defense since linebacker Ryan Kerrigan’s interception return for touchdown vs. the New York Giants on Sept. 11, 2011.

·         The fumble was forced by linebacker Perry Riley, the first forced fumble of his career.

·         With the stop, the Redskins have kept opponents from scoring on their opening drive for six consecutive games, dating back to last season. The last time the Redskins had forced opening-drive stops in six consecutive games was from Weeks 6-12 during the 2008 season (Note: The team had a bye week in Week 10 that season).

·         Linebacker Brian Orakpo registered his first sack of the season in the first quarter, giving him 29.5 sacks for his career. He forced a fumble on the play, the sixth of his career.

·         Orakpo now has career 4.5 sacks against St. Louis, the most against any opponent.

·         The Redskins led after the first quarter, 14-3. It marked the second time in the Shanahan era that the Redskins have scored 14 first-quarter points, matching the team’s first-quarter output at Philadelphia on Oct. 3, 2010.

·         Leonard Hankerson scored the first touchdown of his career, hauling in a 68-yard touchdown pass from Griffin III in the second quarter. It was also Hankerson’s first reception of the season.

·         With the touchdown pass, Griffin III became the first Redskins quarterback to have a rushing touchdown and passing touchdown in the same game since Rex Grossman accomplished the feat vs. Dallas on Nov. 20, 2011.

·         According to the NFL, Griffin III is the first rookie to throw a touchdown pass of 65 or more yards in each of his team’s first two games of a season since Cincinnati’s Greg Cook in 1969.

·         Including an 88-yard touchdown pass last week and Hankerson’s 68-yard touchdown on Sunday, the Redskins had touchdown receptions of 68 yards or more in consecutive games for the first time since 2001, when wide receiver Rod Gardner and Michael Westbrook had touchdown receptions of 85 and 76, respectively, in Weeks 6-7 of that season.

·         The last Redskins quarterback to have more than two completions of 68 or more yards in a season was Mark Brunell, who had two completions of 68 yards or more during the 2006 season (74, Sept. 24 at Houston; 68t, Oct. 1 vs. Jacksonville).

·         Through two weeks, the Redskins have two plays this season longer than their longest play of 2011 (51-yard pass from Rex Grossman to Donté Stallworth).

·         Wide receiver Aldrick Robinson started his first career game and had a career-long 28-yard reception in the third quarter.

·         Running back Alfred Morris started his second consecutive game and registered a career-long 29-yard run in the third quarter.

·         Linebacker London Fletcher played in his 226^th consecutive game, the longest streak among active linebackers, and notched his 19^th interception of his career and first of the season in the third quarter.

·         Cornerback DeAngelo Hall secured the 10^th fumble recovery of his career in the fourth quarter, making him the 20^th active player to reach double digits in fumble recoveries.

·         The fumble was forced by Fletcher, the 19^th of his career, tying him with Baltimore’s Ray Lewis for 15^th most by an active player.

·         Rams wide receiver Danny Amendola finished with 15 receptions, setting a record for the most receptions by a Redskins’ opponent in a single game. The record was previously held by Chicago’s Mike Ditka (Oct. 25, 1964) and Dallas’ Lance Rentzel (Nov. 19, 1967), who each had 13 in a single game against the Redskins.

·         The Redskins are now 22-10-1 all-time record in regular season games against the Rams.

·         The Redskins are now 5-3 against the Rams in games played in St. Louis.