Aug. 16 (UPI) — The Washington Redskins returned a 96-yard interception for a touchdown on the first drive of the game, but ultimately lost to the Cincinnati Bengals in their preseason contest Thursday night.
Redskins rookie quarterback Dwayne Haskins looked better in his second preseason appearance, which resulted in a 23-13 loss at FedEx Field in Landover, Md.
Cincinnati marched to Washington’s 11-yard line on their first drive of the game. Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton took the snap on the next play and dropped back before he threw a pass toward Trayveon Williams. The ball was deflected near the line of scrimmage and fell into the hands of Redskins defender Montae Nicholson, who ran to his left and down the sideline untouched for the 96-yard score.
“If the ball doesn’t get tipped it’s a touchdown, so unfortunately he just went the other way with it,” Dalton told reporters. “It is one of those things, the ball doesn’t find the ground very much when they get tipped. I mean it’s exactly how you draw it up. We had a great play call and unfortunately it got tipped.”
Dalton remained in the game and Cincinnati went 3-and-out and punted on its next drive. The Redskins missed a field goal on their next possession before the teams exchanged punts. Bengals backup quarterback Ryan Finley led his team to a 12-play, 93-yard touchdown drive on the next possession. Finley threw a 5-yard score to Drew Sample for the Bengals’ first touchdown of the game.
Haskins completed a beautiful 55-yard scoring toss to Robert Davis in the second quarter for his first touchdown of the preseason, and Washington led 13-7 at halftime.
Finley threw another touchdown pass for the Bengals in the third quarter and Cincinnati connected on a Tristan Vizcaino 57-yard field goal in the fourth. The Bengals also returned a 75-yard punt for a touchdown from Alex Erickson in the fourth quarter for the final score of the game.
Haskins completed 7-of-14 passing attempts for 114 yards and a score in the loss. Dalton completed 5-of-9 passing attempts for 36 yards and an interception for the Bengals. Finley was 20-of-16 for 150 yards and two touchdowns in the win.
“It was good,” Haskins said. “I was just trying to move the ball and make smart decisions. Don’t put the ball in harm’s way. I did great with my protections today and didn’t miss at all. I’m just trying to put it all together and get better every day.”
Dwayne Haskins' first TD pass of the preseason is a BEAUTY #CINvsWAS pic.twitter.com/vRlB69sP8o— NFL (@NFL) August 16, 2019
The Bengals host the New York Giants in their next preseason game at 7 p.m. EDT Thursday at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati. The Redskins battle the Atlanta Falcons at 7:30 p.m. EDT Thursday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
“Like I told the guys, it feels good to win,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said. “You’ve got to get used to winning. This week, as we get ready for the Giants, we got a seven day week that’ll be like a normal week. So, I told those guys we’ve got to raise our standards in every area coming off this week because this week wasn’t quite good enough, and we got a lot to improve on.”
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