Numbers are numbers. That's the beauty of them. There's something zen about looking at numbers after a game - they remove emotion. Here are the numbers and statistics from the Redskins 33-20 loss to the Carolina Panthers:
279 - Yards passing and 22 of 37, for John Beck. They aren't huge numbers, but they aren't bad either. Add to his stats, a touchdown passing, and another rushing, and Beck wasn't really the problem for the Redskins on Sunday. He threw an interception late that ended any comeback hopes, but other than that, Beck played as well or better than can be 'exbeckted'.
256 - Yard passing for Cam Newton. Really? Didn't it seem like twice that? He was a razor sharp 18 of 23, with a touchdown and no picks. The kid was pretty spectacular against Washington. See the next stat for his production with his feet.
175 - Yards rushing for the Panthers. The Redskin defense looked as ordinary as it has since 2010, and this statistic is where it was most noticeable. Jonathon Stewart had 68 yards on 14 carries, Newton added 59 yards on 10 carries, and DeAngelo Williams added another 35 yards on 10 carries. As a team, they averaged 4.7 yards per carry.
143 - Yards receiving for Steve Smith. The Redskins secondary needed to shut him down to neutralize the Panthers' offense - and couldn't. Smith took turns beating DeAngelo Hall and Josh Wilson, and averaged over 20 yards (20.4) on his 7 catches; his longest was 36 yards.
105 - Yards in penalties for the Panthers, on 13 calls. The Redskins only had 3 penalties for 26 yards, and it's rare that this statistic goes this way, and the game ends with the team giving up 80 yards fewer in penalties, losing the game handily.
88 - Yards rushing for Tim Hightower, on 17 carries. He was solid until he got hurt, and the Redskins couldn't make up the 12 yards to get to 100 between the lot of them. They finished with 92 yards, thanks to negative yardage totals from Roy Helu and Ryan Torain on 3 carries (-6 yards).
80 - Yards receiving for Fred Davis, on 6 catches. He led all Redskin receivers, caught the only touchdown pass, and had a good day with the exception of a bad drop.
63 - Offensive plays for the Redskins, to 64 offensive plays for the Panthers. A dead heat in numbers, but a vast difference in the result of those offensive plays.
49 - Yard field goal for Graham Gano. He was 2 for 2 and booted 3 of his 5 kickoffs for touchbacks. After a shaky start, he seems to have found his groove.
48 - Yards receiving for Logan Paulsen. He had 2 catches of 24 yards each and played a solid game. thanks to added play time due to Chris Cooley's injury. You won't see Logan Paulsen in By The Numbers very often, so enjoy it while it lasts!
24 - minutes of possession (24:30 to be exact), to Carolina's 35:30 of possession. The Redskins don't win games that they lose this battle - this Sunday was no exception.
9 - Tackles from London Fletcher to lead all Redskins (7 solo, 2 assisted); none more impressive than his helper on Newton on the goal line. Fletch was sidelined late in the second half with a hamstring injury.
3 - Turnovers for the Redskins - 2 on fumbles (Beck, Gaffney) and 1 on Beck's interception. The Panthers had zero turnovers. You can look at all kinds of statistics, but not very often does a team with 3 more turnovers than the other team, win the game.
2 - Catches for rookie Niles Paul - the first two of his NFL career. Congratulations young man.
2 - Red Zone conversions on 2 attempts for the Redskins. It seems insignificant, and was in the broadest of schemes, but why not end on a positive note?
What looked like a promising start to the season for the Redskins after a 3-1 first quarter, has come to a crashing halt after 2 straight tough losses. They head to Toronto, Canada next weekend to face the Buffalo Bills, and try to get back on the winning side of .500.
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