Redskins 2012 Season Schedule A Complete Breakdown Of Dates Matchups And Key Insights

What You're Actually Looking For

The 2012 Washington Redskins season is something people still dig up years later, mostly because it was the year everything briefly made sense. Mike Shanahan's squad went 10-6, won the NFC East, and sent a message in the playoffs before reality set in against Seattle. If you want the full breakdown of dates, matchups, and what actually happened, it's all here. I've watched this season replayed enough times that I can tell you the difference between Week 4 and Week 5 without checking anything. Both were home games, both felt important at the time, and both got buried under the noise of the Griffin injury drama later in the year. Let me lay it out properly. The season started on September 9th against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at home. Not the most eye-catching matchup on paper, but that game mattered because it was the first real test of whether Robert Griffin III could handle NFL defenses without panicking. He did. Won 38-10. Alfred Morris ran for 92 yards and a touchdown in his first career start alongside Griffin. It looked like the future had arrived.

Week 2 was at Cleveland on September 16th. The Browns were bad that year, and the Redskins showed it with a 35-10 victory. Morris had another strong game. Griffin threw for over 200 yards. Nothing scandalous, just a normal division-rival matchup that told you exactly what you needed to know about both teams' trajectories. Then came Week 3 in Philadelphia on September 23rd. This was the first real stumbling block. The Eagles controlled the line of scrimmage, and the Redskins dropped a 26-17 decision. Shanahan's offensive play-calling looked predictable that day, and Kirk Cousins filled in reasonably well when Griffin left with a shoulder injury late in the second quarter. That injury turned out to be the first crack in the foundation. Week 4 against Dallas on September 30th is the game people remember most. Griffin was back, Morris exploded for 143 yards, and Washington dominated 34-7. This was the peak of the season's optimism. The Cowboys looked lost, Tony Romo was having one of his worse days, and everyone in the DC area convinced themselves that this team could actually go somewhere. I was there, in the stands, and even I had to temper that feeling because we'd seen promising starts dissolve before.

The bye week hit in October, which is standard NFL scheduling but always feels different when your team is 3-0. It gave Griffin time to fully heal and gave the coaching staff a chance to reset before the schedule got harder. Week 6 at New Orleans on October 7th exposed some weaknesses. The Saints won 35-14, and it wasn't close. Drew Brees picked apart a Washington secondary that had no answer for vertical routes. Griffin looked rushed and uncomfortable, throwing two interceptions. The offensive line struggled to protect him, and Shanahan called too many conservative runs instead of going after New Orleans' vulnerabilities early. Week 7 against Chicago on October 14th was a letdown after the Saints game. The Redskins blew out the Bears 49-29, which sounds impressive until you remember Chicago was mediocre and Washington's defense was playing scared. Griffin threw three touchdown passes, and the offense looked coordinated again, but the 20-point margin masked some concerns about defensive consistency.

The Monday Night Football game against the Giants in Week 8 (October 22nd) was supposed to be a marquee matchup. Instead, New York won 23-20 in a game that came down to a last-second field goal attempt that missed. Griffin had one of his better games statistically, but the Redskins couldn't stop Eli Manning when it mattered. That loss dropped them to 4-2 and started a subtle shift in how the season would ultimately play out. Week 9 at Detroit on October 28th was another disappointing result. The Lions won 42-26 in a game where Washington's offense had no consistent identity. Morris was held to under 40 yards. Griffin threw two more picks. Shanahan's team seemed to forget how to run the ball entirely, which is strange because that had been their defining strength all season. Week 10 against San Francisco on November 4th was the worst game of the year. The 49ers won 35-10, and it was a complete mismatch. Alex Smith controlled the pace, and Washington's defense couldn't generate any pressure on him. Griffin missed most of the game with that shoulder injury from Philadelphia and was replaced by Kirk Cousins, who played adequately but couldn't match the offensive output. This was the point where playoff hopes started fading for a lot of observers.

Then something shifted. Week 11 at Buffalo on November 11th. The Redskins won 35-10 in what felt like a statement game. Griffin was healthy again, Morris ran for over 100 yards, and the defense showed up for the first time all month. It wasn't pretty in every stretch, but the win mattered because it reminded everyone that this team had upside. Week 12 against Cincinnati on November 18th was a gritty 26-10 win. The Bengals weren't a great team, but neither was Washington at this point, and the Redskins controlled the game in a way that suggested maturity. The offensive line gave Griffin clean pockets for the first time in weeks, and that made everything simpler. Week 13 at Arizona on November 25th ended poorly. The Cardinals won 23-20 in a game that hung in the balance until the final minutes. Griffin threw an interception in the red zone that could have won the game, and the Redskins failed to respond. Thanksgiving night games always carry extra weight, and this one stung.

Week 14 against Pittsburgh on December 2nd was a struggle. The Steelers won 24-17, and Ben Roethlisberger exploited coverage mismatches all afternoon. The Redskins' secondary had no answer for Antonio Brown and Jake Lowery. Griffin played through discomfort again, and it showed in his mechanics on several throws. The December 9th game at Miami was a low point. The Dolphins won 34-14, and Washington looked like a team that had nothing left. Griffin was benched for Cousins late in the game. The offensive line couldn't block anyone. It was the kind of performance that makes you question everything about a season. Week 16 at Philadelphia on December 23rd was a must-win, and the Redskins delivered. They won 31-14, securing the NFC East title. Griffin had a strong game, and the defense kept the Eagles out of rhythm. This was the moment the season turned around, and it felt earned after everything that had come before.

Week 17 against NYG on December 30th was a form game. Washington won 24-13, and while it didn't mean much for standings, it gave the team confidence heading into the playoffs. The wild card round against Dallas on January 5th, 2013 is the game that defined the entire season. The Redskins won 24-17 in an ugly, physical contest that felt more like a playoff game than a exhibition. Griffin threw for two touchdowns, Morris added a third score, and the defense forced a critical fourth-down stop in the fourth quarter. It was the best moment of the year. Then came the divisional round against Seattle on January 13th. The Seahawks won 24-14, and while the margin suggests a blowout, the game was closer than it looked. Griffin was limited by that shoulder injury throughout, and the Seahawks' defense figured out how to disrupt his timing. The season ended there, but the journey to that point was remarkable.

What Made This Season Different

The 2012 Redskins season had a specific rhythm that most teams never achieve. They started fast, stumbled through the middle, and finished strong enough to win their division. The Griffin-Morris connection was genuine and terrifying for defenses that had to prepare for it weekly. Morris finished with 1,284 yards and nine touchdowns as a rookie, which is rare for a first-year running back in that era's NFL. The offensive line is where most breakdowns happened. When they were together and healthy, the rush game worked and Griffin had time. When they weren't, everything fell apart. The injury to Griffin in Week 3 rippled through the entire season, and Shanahan never fully recovered the quarterback's health before the playoffs. That's the edge case nobody talks about enough. The shoulder issue was managed poorly, and it cost them in the postseason. Kirk Cousins played solid football when called upon. He went 3-1 as a starter down the stretch, which proved the offense wasn't entirely dependent on Griffin's mobility. That's a nuance most people miss when they remember this season. The team had more depth at quarterback than the narrative suggested.

The defensive coordinator at the time, Joe Barry, ran a predominantly base 4-3 scheme that emphasized gap control and keeping offenses horizontal. It worked against conservative teams like Tampa Bay and Dallas, but it struggled against mobile quarterbacks and teams willing to attack vertically. New Orleans and San Francisco both exploited this schematic limitation repeatedly. If you're looking to download or reference the full schedule in a structured format, the NFL's official archives have the complete game-by-game data including dates, times, TV networks, and final scores. Most fantasy football sites and sports databases also maintain searchable versions. The key insight is that the middle portion of the schedule (Weeks 6 through 14) was where this season was won or lost, and Washington went 4-5 during that stretch despite being 4-0 to start. The playoff loss to Seattle is often remembered as a failure, but it was basically a one-score game. Griffin was clearly not at full capacity, and the Seahawks were a legitimate Super Bowl contender that year. The takeaway isn't that Washington choked; it's that the team's ceiling was higher than its floor, and injuries prevented consistency.