It wasn’t a complete game, but it was enough and Washington Football Team beat the Cincinnati Bengals 20-9 Sunday at FedEx Field.
With the win, Ron Rivera’s side improved to 3-7 on the 2020 season and remains in the race for the NFC East crown. Washington is a half game behind the Philadelphia Eagles, who lost Sunday to fall to 3-6-1 on the season.
In his second start of the season, Alex Smith threw for 166 yards with a touchdown and an interception, to earn his first win since he sustained a gruesome leg injury in Nov. 2018. This was Smith's first win as a starter in 742 days.
"It felt really, really good," Smith told the media after the game. "Another thing, I thought I'd never be doing again."
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“We gotta continue to stay short-sighted, just living one week at a time," Smith said about a possible playoff push. "The division stuff will take care of itself. Obviously, we understand what it is, but for us just living week-to-week. We got a short week coming up, a big division game, (and) a quick turnaround.”
The game was marked by a nasty-looking leg injury to Bengals rookie quarterback Joe Burrow in the second half. Burrow was taken off the field on a cart and later indicated via a tweet he was done for the season.
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Washington got on the board first with an Antonio Gibson shortrun on a drive that was set-up by a 42-yard pass to Terry McLaurin.
McLaurin finished with 84 yards on five catches and Gibson ran for 94 yards on 16 attempts for a solid 5.9 yards per rush.
The Bengals moved the ball well and were close to scoring, but in a meeting of the No. 1 and No. 2 overall picks from the 2020 NFL Draft, Burrow was stopped at the goal line by Chase Young.
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The Bengals would take a lead into the second half after a touchdown and field goal put them ahead, 9-7 and were moving the ball quite well on offense.
But It was the injury to Burrow that would turn the tide.
Washington would score on each of their three posessions after the injury to the Bengals quarterback, first with a touchdown pass from Smith to Steven Sims.
And with Ryan Finley in at quarterback for the visitors, the Washington defense was able to let lose. They had four sacks on the day and held Finley to 30 yards passing and an interception on 10 attempts.
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Jack Del Rio's defense was able to shut out the Bengals in the second half and Washington improved their chances of making the playoffs in the process.
Washington got sacks from Ryan Kerrigan, Montez Sweat, Tim Settle and Jimmy Moreland and James Smith-Williams shared the honors on the team's fourth.
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