2018 Washington Redskins Season
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The 2018 season was the
Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...
' 87th in the
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(NFL) and their fifth under
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Jay Gruden. This was the first season since
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that quarterback
Kirk Cousins Kirk Daniel Cousins (born August 19, 1988) is an American professional American football, football quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Michigan State Spartans football, Mi ...
was not on the roster, as he joined the
Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...
in the offseason as a free agent. The team tied their record from the previous season, and missed the playoffs for the third straight season. Despite a 6–3 start which was their best since
2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
plus leading the
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, the team suffered a late-season collapse, suffering four straight losses after the team lost their starting quarterback
Alex Smith Alexander Douglas Smith (born May 7, 1984) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons. He played college football for the Utah Utes, earning first-team All-American ho ...
to a catastrophic leg injury in their Week 11 loss to the
Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team plays its home games at N ...
. This would cause Smith to miss both the remainder of the 2018 season and the entire
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as Smith stated that he had taken a total of 17 surgeries to repair his leg and nearly had it amputated. Smith's injury also resulted in a quarterback hangover. First, it forced Colt McCoy into the starting role in Weeks 12 and 13 before also suffering a leg injury in a 28–13 loss to the
Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The team plays its ...
in Week 13, thus forcing the Redskins to start journeyman quarterback
Mark Sanchez Mark Travis John Sanchez (born November 11, 1986) is an American former professional American football, football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for 10 seasons. He played college football for the USC Trojans ...
in Week 14 before starting another journeyman quarterback Josh Johnson against the
Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team ...
after benching Sanchez at halftime against the
New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...
. After the
Alex Smith Alexander Douglas Smith (born May 7, 1984) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons. He played college football for the Utah Utes, earning first-team All-American ho ...
injury, the Redskins finished the last 7 games of the season with a record of 1–6. They were eliminated from playoff contention with a loss to the
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, including wins by the Seahawks and
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. The team's season ended with 25 players on injured reserve, which was a league high.


Draft

Draft trades *The Redskins traded their third-round selection (78th overall) and cornerback Kendall Fuller to Kansas City in exchange for quarterback
Alex Smith Alexander Douglas Smith (born May 7, 1984) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons. He played college football for the Utah Utes, earning first-team All-American ho ...
. *The Redskins traded safety Su'a Cravens and their fourth- (No. 113 overall) and fifth- (No. 149 overall) round selections to Denver in exchange for Denver's fourth- (No. 109 overall), two fifth-round selections (Nos. 142 and 163 overall) and a conditional
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selection. *The Redskins traded their sixth-round selection (No. 188 overall) to Cleveland in exchange for quarterback Kevin Hogan and Cleveland's sixth-round selection (No. 205 overall). *The Redskins traded tight end Derek Carrier to the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for the Rams' seventh-round selection (241st overall). Supplemental Draft * The Redskins selected
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cornerback Adonis Alexander in the 2018 Supplemental draft. As a result, the team forfeited their 6th-round selection in the
2019 NFL draft The 2019 NFL draft was the 84th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2019 NFL season. The draft was held on April 25–27 in Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville. The first round was held ...
.


Staff


Final roster


Preseason


Regular season


Schedule

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.


Game summaries


Week 1: at Arizona Cardinals

The Redskins started off 1–0.


Week 2: vs. Indianapolis Colts

Washington lost to Indianapolis, moving to 1–1.


Week 3: vs. Green Bay Packers

The Redskins fought back and started a 2–1 record, heading to their bye week.


Week 5: at New Orleans Saints

The Redskins hoped to get revenge for their loss in this game a year ago, where they blew a 31-16 lead with three minutes remaining and lost in overtime. Instead, the Redskins got blown out. This game was the point where Drew Brees passed
Brett Favre Brett Lorenzo Favre ( ; born October 10, 1969) is an American former professional American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons, primarily with the Green Bay Packers. Favre had 321 cons ...
and
Peyton Manning Peyton Williams Manning (born March 24, 1976) is an American former professional American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons. Nicknamed "the Sheriff", he spent 14 seasons with the In ...
on most passing yards. The Redskins fell to 2–2.


Week 6: vs. Carolina Panthers

This marked the first time since 2006 that the Redskins had defeated the Panthers. Then the Redskins started a 3 game winning streak and improved to 3–2.


Week 7: vs. Dallas Cowboys

The Redskins got their first win over the Cowboys at home since 2012. Also, Preston Smith forced a fumble returned for a touchdown off Dak Prescott. As time expired, Brett Maher missed the potential game-tying 52-yard field goal to give the Redskins the win. With this win, the Redskins improved to 4–2.


Week 8: at New York Giants

The Redskins improved to 5–2. This was the last time the Redskins beat the Giants until 2021.


Week 9: vs. Atlanta Falcons

The Redskins fell to 5–3. As of the 2024 season, this currently remains Washington's latest loss to Atlanta.


Week 10: at Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Redskins improved to 6–3.


Week 11: vs. Houston Texans

During the game, starter Alex Smith suffered a compound fracture injury to his right leg after being sacked by J. J. Watt and Kareem Jackson and was replaced by his backup, Colt McCoy. Coincidentally, this was exactly 33 years to the day of
Joe Theismann Joseph Robert Theismann (; born September 9, 1949) is an American former professional football player, sports commentator, corporate speaker, and restaurateur. He rose to fame playing quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) and Canad ...
's career-ending leg injury. Joe Theismann was also present during the game and witnessed the injury. The Redskins fell to 6–4 by losing 23–21, which ironically was the same score in the game where Theismann was injured. Alex Smith would not play again until Week 5 in 2020 against the Rams.


Week 12: at Dallas Cowboys

NFL on Thanksgiving Day Since its inception in 1920, the National Football League (NFL) has played games on Thanksgiving (United States), Thanksgiving Day, patterned upon the historic playing of college football games on or around the November holiday. The NFL's Thanks ...
The Redskins fell down to 6–5.


Week 13: at Philadelphia Eagles

Redskins fell to 6–6.


Week 14: vs. New York Giants

The Redskins fell down to 6–7.


Week 15: at Jacksonville Jaguars

The Redskins improved to 7–7. The Redskins would then eclipse 600 regular season wins in franchise, the fifth team to do so (with Bears, Packers, Giants, & Steelers) with a regular season record of 600-588-28 at that point.


Week 16: at Tennessee Titans

This loss dropped the Redskins to 7–8. Also with this loss, including wins by the Vikings and Seahawks eliminated the Redskins from playoff contention.


Week 17: vs. Philadelphia Eagles

The Redskins finished 7–9, failing to make the playoffs for the second year in a row.


Standings


Division


Conference


References


External links

* {{2018 NFL season by team
Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...
Washington Redskins seasons
Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...