When an opposing team offers you a chance for points, you take the opportunity.
And that's what the Redskins did during Monday night's 20-12 win over the Philadelphia Eagles.
Jason Campbell's 16-yard touchdown pass to Chris Cooley late in the first half proved to be a "huge momentum swing" in Monday night's game, head coach Joe Gibbs said.
Running an effective two-minute offense, Campbell had completed a 17-yard pass to Antwaan Randle El to the Eagles' 1-yard line with 14 seconds left in the half.
In a bizarre sequence, the Redskins had three consecutive penalties, including a delay of game penalty on Campbell and two false start penalties by right guard Jason Fabini, to push the offense back to the 16-yard line.
At one point, Joe Gibbs had the Redskins' field goal unit come in, but the Eagles called time out. Gibbs reconsidered his options, and the offense came back in.
Cooley ran an out pattern to the end zone and found open space between defenders Brian Dawkins and Joselio Hanson. He caught Campbell's perfectly thrown pass to give the Redskins a 10-6 halftime advantage.
"It was great to see him hit that," Gibbs said.
Wide receiver James Thrash had run a shorter route, drawing Hansen away from Cooley. That gave Cooley enough space to make the grab.
"James Thrash was our outside receiver, and he did a good job of running his route and trying to get the corner to bite," Campbell said. "That's the kind of play we've got to make throughout the season to get to where we want to go."
Asked about the Eagles' decision to call time out, Gibbs said: "I can't speak for anybody else, but on our side there was a lot of confusion--obviously a lot of stuff going on.
"The field goal unit started going out on the field, and I wasn't going to risk anything, so I decided to kick at that point. I didn't want to run the risk of a mess at the end of the half with no timeouts.
"Of course, I had a chance to rethink it with the time out and we decided to take a shot. I was nervous on that because a lot of bad things can happen in that situation, but we decided to take a chance."
Campbell said on Tuesday there was a helmet communication malfunction, adding to the confusion on the field.
Discussing the touchdown pass, Campbell said: "Everyone did a great job of holding their composure during that time. It helped that they took the time out, and we were trying to figure out if we wanted to kick a field goal, or if we wanted to take a chance and try to go for the end zone.
"During all of it, guys kept their heads, kept their focus, and we were able to finish the drive off. I thought it was a huge drive, going into halftime. We marched the ball right down the field."
The touchdown pass was a confidence booster for Campbell.
"It gives you a lot of confidence," he said. "It motivates you on the inside, that in all situations you can be successful if you stick true to your roles and just stay confident in what you're doing.
"I think [the confidence boost] did more for teammates than it did for me--for them to see you be able to hang in there and show a lot of confidence. The guys were able to rally around you."
