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Cousins comes through late as Washington stuns Seattle 17-14

Washington Redskins head coach Jay Gruden speaks at a news conference after an NFL football game against the Philadelphia Eagles, Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017, in Landover, Md. Photo: Associated Press/AP Photo/Alex Brandon


TIM BOOTH, AP Sports Writer

SEATTLE (AP) — Kirk Cousins drove Washington 70 yards in 35 seconds, capped by Rob Kelley’s 1-yard touchdown run with less than a minute remaining, and the Washington Redskins rallied late to stun the Seattle Seahawks 17-14 on Sunday.

Seattle (5-3) took a 14-10 lead with 1:34 remaining after Russell Wilson found Doug Baldwin for a 30-yard touchdown pass after the Seahawks had scuffled on offense all day. But Cousins had an unexpected answer.

Taking over at his 30-yard line, Cousins hit Brian Quick for 31 yards and Josh Doctson for 38 on consecutive throws to get to the Seattle 1 with 1:02 left. Doctson beat rookie Shaquill Griffin down the sideline and made an impressive diving catch. Kelley bulled his way in from the 1 on the next play.

Kelley finished with two touchdown runs, while Cousins was 21 of 31 for 247 yards. He was responsible for a fumble in the first half, but otherwise took care of the ball against Seattle’s standout defense. He also withstood six sacks and a number of other quarterback hits behind a makeshift offensive line of backups and rookies.

Wilson couldn’t match his magic from last week against Houston, when he threw for a franchise-record 452 yards and put together a winning touchdown drive in the final minute. Wilson was 24 of 45 for 297 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. He got Seattle to the Washington 38 in the final minute. Instead of spiking the ball, Wilson tried to run a play and was sacked by Terrell McClain back to the Redskins 46. After a lengthy review, Seattle had the ball with 4 seconds left after Washington (4-4) called time out to get organized.

Wilson’s desperation toss on the final play in the direction of Jimmy Graham and Tanner McEvoy fell incomplete and Seattle saw its four-game win streak snapped.

SEAHAWKS ERRORS

Seattle was undone by its mistakes. The Seahawks committed 16 penalties, failed to find much rhythm on offense and saw kicker Blair Walsh miss three first-half field goals inside 50 yards. Walsh was 12 of 13 on the season, but missed from 44, 39 and 49 yards, the last on the final play of the first half.

Those misses and two failed 2-point conversion attempts got the better of the Seahawks thanks to Cousins’ heroics at the end.

UNDERMANNED

Washington was minus six starters, including three on the offensive line, yet became the first non-NFC West team to win in Seattle since Week 6 of the 2015 season, when Carolina beat the Seahawks.

INJURIES

While Washington had a larger quantity of key injuries, Seattle was without three very important pieces. Safety Earl Thomas (hamstring) and defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson (oblique) were inactive because of injuries. The Seahawks lost running back Eddie Lacy in the first quarter to a groin injury after Lacy was expected to be the featured back Sunday.

UP NEXT

Redskins: Washington returns home to host Minnesota.

Seahawks: Seattle has a short week and faces division foe Arizona on the road on Thursday night

 

 

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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