LANDOVER, Md. — As befitting a division battle, last night’s game was a rough one. The Giants lost to the Redskins 17-16 and it was never rougher than it was with 6:45 left in the third quarter when a melee broke out amid the game’s first turnover.
The Redskins were on the move after Robert Griffin III’s brilliant 46-yard run off a fake that left the Giants tackling Alfred Morris on third-and-1 even though he didn’t have the ball. On the next play Morris gained 6 yards to the Giants 9-yard line before Chase Blackburn stuck his right hand in and pried the ball loose. It settled just in-bounds and Keith Rivers pounced on it as a wild pileup ensued.
With scuffles breaking out as the pile took time to get untangled, Redskins center Will Montgomery, flat on his back, kicked at defensive tackle Linval Joseph, who retaliated by stomping down on Montgomery for a moment before backing off. Both were hit with offsetting penalties.
“The ball was on the ground, the guy hit one of my teammates in the shoulder so I pulled him off the ball, I turned around and he kicked me in my [groin],’’ Joseph said. “It took everything not to kick him back because I didn’t want to hurt the team and I didn’t want to get fined, none of that stuff. I started then I stopped, I thought about it.’’
* The Giants lost right tackle Sean Locklear midway through the fourth quarter with what is expected to be a season-ending knee injury when he went down after a horse collar haul-down by Redskins safety Madieu Williams. Locklear had to be carted off the field and was replaced by David Diehl.
* Giants co-owner John Mara, as chairman of the NFL’s management committee, was one of the owners at the forefront of hitting the Redskins with a $36 million salary cap punishment for their actions during the lockout. According to ESPN, Redskins coaches and officials hung sheets of paper with Mara’s quotes from last March about the punishment on the office doors at the team facility. Mara at the time said, “I think [the Redskins] are lucky they didn’t lose draft picks.” Mara also said “I thought the penalties imposed were proper.”
Those quotes, according to ESPN, convinced people in the Washington organization Mara attempted to have draft picks taken away from the Redskins in order to prevent them from completing the deal with the Rams for the rights to draft Griffin.
* A 16-yard run by Morris in the third quarter moved him past Reggie Brooks to set a Redskins rookie rushing record with 1,063 yards. … Griffin’s 7-yard run late in the third quarter gave him 707 rushing yards, breaking the NFL rookie rushing record for quarterbacks (706) set last season by Cam Newton. … Rivers started as one of the three linebackers in place of Mathias Kiwanuka. … Safety Tyler Sash left in the first quarter with a hamstring injury and did not return.