Redskins fall to Pack at home preseason opener

Kirk Cousins led the Redskins to their first TD of the season     Moe Murphy/CCS

LANDOVER, Md.-  The Washington Redskins opened their home 2017 preseason against the Green Bay Packers on Saturday Aug. 19. Although Washington played their first string the entire first half, the team fell to the Pack 21-17.

“Yeah, I want to play them," Redskins coach Jay Gruden said. "We played them just two drives against Baltimore, just wanted to get their feet wet so to speak. And then today, being a home game and a couple of new receivers that we have, I just wanted to make sure we got some reps.”   

Kirk Cousins hit Jameson Crowder on a 4 yard touchdown pass with 13 seconds left in the half to get Washington's first touchdown in six quarters of preseason play.

“We felt good about the fact that we scored at the end of the half, made some good plays," Cousins said, "We didn’t run the ball probably as well as we would have liked, at times didn’t throw the ball as well as we would have liked. But it was a good step in the process to build towards Week 1, and I think we all believe we still got a lot of work to do.”   

Cousins finished the night completing 14 of 23 passes for 144 yards. 1 TD and a QB rating of 93.4.

Aaron Rodgers looked sharp     Moe Murphy/CCS

Cousins counterpart, Aaron Rodgers led the Packers to a score on their first drive and did not return to the game. Rodgers finished 6 of 8 for 37 yards with 1 TD and a QB Rating of 123.4.

“Yeah, it’s good for us. Good drive. You know, we caught them there on the first third down," Rodgers said. "We have to run the ball a little bit better next week,  did some good things. Jordy [Nelson] had some nice catches. Tey [Davante Adams] obviously had a nice conversion. Marty [Martellus Bennett] obviously had a touchdown. So, we hit the marks we wanted to hit.” 

Redskins rookie running back Samaje Perine had a solid night running for 45 yards on 8 carries for a 5.6 yard average.

13 Redskins managed at least one reception, with Chris Thompson leading the Redskins with 5 receptions for 52 yards.

Along with Crowder, Niles Paul caught a touchdown pass from Colt McCoy for 16 yards.

McCoy completed 7 of 11 for 70 yards and 1 TD, with a QB Rating of 111.9.

The Redskins will host the Cincinnati Bengals at 4:30PM on Sunday, August 27. The game will be televised nationally on FOX.

For More photography from the game go to Clarke County Sports on Facebook.

Green Bay at Washington Photo Gallery