Redskins coming undone

TORONTO -- Redskins or Deadskins?

Playing against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday at Rogers Centre in Toronto, the Washington Redskins showed absolutely no life.

The scoreboard told the story: 23-0 for the Bills.

"I stopped looking at the scoreboard," linebacker DeAngelo Hall said.

Head coach Mike Shanahan, who lamented the team's inability to get anything going all game, admitted he had never been part of a shutout from an offensive point of view in all his years as coaching going right back to college -- and that's more than 35 years.

"It’s pretty humbling to take that," he said.

When asked if he was satisfied with the offensive execution, Shanahan shot back: "Do you think I’m satisfied? We didn’t score a point. Obviously I’m very disappointed in our execution. We’re going to go back and work on our execution."

The Redskins dropped to 3-4 with their third consecutive loss, putting their playoff lives in a precarious position nearing the halfway point of the season.

"I’d like to think if you go down this roster there’s guys that understand what’s going on and how to put a cork in the sinking ship," Hall said. "But it's going to take a lot of work. It’s going to take a lot of stuff.”

"We're not technically out of (the playoff race), but this is obviously frustrating – very frustrating – and very disappointing," added fellow linebacker Brian Orakpo. "It hurts. It feels bad. Every game sucks when you lose. You're pissed off, you're mad, you don’t know what went wrong. It's just a loss for words."

So how brutal was this game? The Redskins allowed nine sacks, two interceptions, one blocked field and two turnovers on downs.

The Redskins were playing minus some of their key offensive playmakers -- running back Tim Hightower (knee) and receiver Santana Moss (hand). Ryan Torain had only 15 yards on six carries as the feature running back.

Backup quarterback John Beck started for the second game in a row and finished with 208 yards on 20 of 33 completions. He also threw two interceptions.

Beck had one fumble when on the run without any pressure, but recovered the ball. It was one of the few breaks the Redskins had all game.

Beck shouldered some of the blame for the sacks, saying part of a quarterback's job is to get rid of the ball quickly but also added he was hardpressed to immediately give answers for the team's stunning loss, particularly its offensive woes.

"Coach Shanahan talks about being a character team," he said. "I believe we are a team of character and we will bounce back."

The turning point of the game came late in the second quarter. The Redskins picked off a pass in their end zone with the Bills ahead 10-0. But the Redskins' defence came undone allowing the Bills to mount a rally that began at Buffalo's 20-yard line and advanced in four plays to Washington's 23-yard line, highlighted by a 46-yard pass play between quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick and running back Fred Jackson. Redskins’ linebacker London Fletcher, the ex-Bill, rocked Fitzpatrick with a devastating hit, one of the few Washington applied in the game. Fitzpatrick showed off the injury, spiked the ball on the next play and the Bills nailed a 44-yard field goal. The Bills' 13-0 first-half lead turned into 20-0 on the first series of the third quarter.

Later in the quarter following a Bills' interception, the music on the loudspeakers played Bon Jovi's Living On A Prayer. It aptly summed up the Redskins' chances in the game. Whether it will sum up the team’s season will be answered in a few weeks.

It appeared that Fletcher and Hall had a verbal disagreement on the sideline at one point, but Shanahan dismissed it as something that happens emotionally following a touchdown. Hall dismissed it.

"Ain't nothing happened between me and London," Hall said. "We weren't even jawing. You all need to go back and look at the tapes or something. It definitely wasn’t me (he was shouting at). Everybody was frustrated. That's what happens in the heat of the battle. Tempers start to flare a little bit and cooler heads will prevail. I was out there trying to be cool for once in my life."

He added that it was frustrating not to be able to get things going defensively.

"I felt like we knew what was coming and we still couldn’t stop it," he said.

Perry Lefko keeps you connected to all the news in the CFL on Sportsnet.ca.