Washington surged to an 11-0 second-quarter lead, but Green Bay stormed back in the second half to eliminate the Redskins from the 2016 NFL playoffs, 35-18, on Sunday.
It looked at the outset that the ‘Skins would run away and hide from the Pack, getting on the board first with a sack of Aaron Rodgers in the end zone for a safety, then getting an apparent touchdown pass from Kirk Cousins to DeSean Jackson on the ensuing drive.
But replay showed that Jackson had gone out of bounds a half-yard short of the end zone, and the Green Bay defense held and forced a short Dustin Hopkins field goal that made it 5-0 Redskins.
A 24-yard Cousins-to-Jordan Reed TD pass 1:58 into the second quarter made it 11-0, but Green Bay finally got things going thereafter.
Rodgers connected with Randall Cobb for a 12-yard touchdown on the Packers’ next drive, and a 43-yard Mason Crosby field goal and a 10-yard Rodgers TD pass to Davante Adams made it 17-11 Green Bay at halftime.
Cousins scored on a 3-yard quarterback sneak on Washington’s first drive of the third quarter to give the ‘Skins an 18-17 lead, but that was it for the day for the home team.
Green Bay took control with its running game. A James Stark 4-yard TD run capped an 11-play, 80-yard drive that gained 57 yards on the ground and made it 24-18 Green Bay with 4:12 to go in the third.
An Eddie Lacy 2-yard touchdown run and a two-point conversion play extended the lead to 32-18 with 12:23 to go in the fourth.
Washington sputtered on offense on its next two drives, and was eventually forced to go for a fourth down deep in their own territory inside of six minutes to go. Cousins was sacked on the play, setting up another short Crosby field goal at the 4:39 mark to close out the scoring.
Cousins put up impressive numbers in his playoff debut – 29-for-46 passing for 329 yards and a touchdown, but he was sacked six times, and lost a fumble on a key third-down drive.
Rodgers, the reigning NFL MVP, was 21-for-36 passing for 210 yards and two touchdowns.
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